Comparison of different diagnostic tests in dogs uninfected and naturally infected with visceral leishmaniasis

Uninfected dogs (n = 10) and those naturally infected with leishmaniasis (n = 10) were subjected to several diagnostic tests, namely: hemoculture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of hemoculture, indirect immunofluorescence (RIFI), cytological examination of lymph node aspirate, culture of lymph node aspirate and PCR of lymph node aspirate. RIFI - followed by PCR of lymph node aspirate culture - presented more positive results in infected dogs than in uninfected ones. In infected animals, RIFI was more effective than PCR of lymph node aspirate culture. There was no statistical difference in positivity between RIFI and hemoculture; lymph node aspirate culture/cytological examination of lymph node aspirate and PCR of hemoculture; and between PCR of lymph node aspirate culture and PCR of hemoculture. All infected and uninfected animals had positive and negative results in at least one test. In conclusion, the association of several tests improves the efficacy of canine visceral leishmaniasis diagnosis.

Immunotherapy with the saponin enriched-Leishmune vaccine versus immunochemotherapy in dogs with natural canine visceral leishmaniasis.

Leishmune, the first licensed vaccine for prophylaxis against canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) and is also immunotherapeutic when used with double saponin adjuvant concentration. The Leishmune therapeutic vaccine was assessed for immunotherapy (IT) in 31 infected dogs and for immunochemotherapy (ICT) in combination with allopurinol or amphotericinB/allopurinol, in 35 dogs. Compared to infected untreated control dogs, at month 3, both treatments increased the proportion of dogs showing intradermal response to Leishmania antigen to a similar extent (from 8 to 67%, in the IT and to 76%, in the ICT groups), and conversely reduced from 100 to 38% (IT) and to 18% (ICT) the proportion of symptomatic cases, from 54 to 12% (IT) and to 15% (ICT) the proportion of parasite evidence in lymph nodes and from 48 to 19% (IT) and 12% (ICT) the proportion of deaths, indicating that the immunotherapy with enriched-Leishmune vaccine promotes the control of the clinical and parasitological signs of CVL rendering most dogs asymptomatic although PCR positive. By month 8, negative lymph node PCR results were obtained in 80% of the ICT-treated dogs, but only in 33% of the IT group (p=0.0253), suggesting that the combination of additional chemotherapy with Leishmune-enriched saponin vaccination abolished, not only the symptoms but also the latent infection condition, curing the dogs. The animals were followed up until 4.5 years after the beginning of the experiment and, compared to the untreated control group at month 3 (12/25 dogs; 48%), a decrease in the rate of CVL deaths was only seen after ICT treatment (7/35 dogs; 20%; 0.0273) but not after IT treatment (10/31 dogs; 32%; p=0.278), pointing out an additional advantage of the ICT treatment with the enriched-Leishmune in the control and cure of CVL.

First-order phase transition in easy-plane quantum antiferromagnets.

Quantum phase transitions in Mott insulators do not fit easily into the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm. A recently proposed alternative to it is the so-called deconfined quantum criticality scenario, providing a new paradigm for quantum phase transitions. In this context it has recently been proposed that a second-order phase transition would occur in a two-dimensional spin 1/2 quantum antiferromagnet in the deep easy-plane limit. A check of this conjecture is important for understanding the phase structure of Mott insulators. To this end we have performed large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on an effective gauge theory for this system, including a Berry-phase term that projects out the S=1/2 sector. The result is a first-order phase transition, thus contradicting the conjecture.

Leishmune vaccine blocks the transmission of canine visceral leishmaniasis: absence of Leishmania parasites in blood, skin and lymph nodes of vaccinated exposed dogs.

Leishmune vaccine is the first licensed vaccine against canine visceral leishmaniasis. It contains the Fucose-Mannose-ligand (FML) antigen of Leishmania donovani. The potential Leishmune vaccine effect on the interruption of the transmission of the disease, was assayed by monitoring, in untreated (n=40) and vaccinated dogs (n=32) of a Brazilian epidemic area: the kala-azar clinical signs, the FML-seropositivity and the Leishmania parasite evidence by immunohistochemistry of skin and PCR for Leishmanial DNA of lymph node and blood samples. On month 11 after vaccination, untreated controls showed: 25% of symptomatic cases, 50% of FML-seropositivity, 56.7% of lymph node PCR, 15.7% of blood PCR and 25% of immunohistochemical positive reactions. The Leishmune-vaccinated dogs showed 100% of seropositivity to FML and a complete absence of clinical signs and of parasites (0%) in skin, lymph node and blood PCR samples (p<0.01). The positivity in FML-ELISA in untreated dogs significantly correlates with the PCR in lymph node samples (p<0.001) and with the increase in number of symptoms (p=0.006) being strong markers of infectiousness. The absence of symptoms and of evidence of Leishmania DNA and parasites in Leishmune-vaccinated animals indicates the non-infectious condition of the Leishmune-vaccinated dogs.

Metal-insulator transition in two- and three-dimensional logarithmic plasmas.

We consider the scaling of the mean square dipole moment in a plasma with logarithmic interactions in a two- and three-dimensional systems. In both cases, we establish the existence of a low-temperature regime where the mean square dipole moment does not scale with system size and a high-temperature regime where it does scale with system size. Thus, there is a nonanalytic change in the polarizability of the system as a function of temperature and hence a metal-insulator transition in both cases. The relevance of this transition in three dimensions to quantum phase transitions in (2+1)-dimensional systems is briefly discussed.

Criticality in the (2+1)-dimensional compact Higgs model and fractionalized insulators.

We use a novel method of computing the third moment M3 of the action of the (2+1)-dimensional compact Higgs model in the adjoint representation with q=2 to extract correlation length and specific heat exponents nu and alpha without invoking hyperscaling. Finite-size scaling analysis of M3 yields the ratios (1+alpha)/nu and 1/nu separately. We find that alpha and nu vary along the critical line of the theory, which however exhibits a remarkable resilience of Z2 criticality. We propose this novel universality class to be that of the quantum phase transition from a Mott-Hubbard insulator to a charge-fractionalized insulator in two spatial dimensions.

[Recreational activities for parents of risk babies: experience at the Clinics Hospital of Ribeirao Preto]. / Lazer para pais de bebês de risco: a experiência junto ao Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto.

The nursing team at the University of São Paulo Hospital has implemented actions directed to parents, such as support groups, training for hospital discharge and their involvement in the progressive care to their children. Aiming at expanding such care, the authors have implemented a support program involving ludic and recreational activities with the parents of hospitalized preterm babies under risk. The account of this experience is the object of this work. The interventions were performed by a group of nursing students who gather with the parents weekly for a period of two hours and develop group-dynamics techniques; leisure activities; creativity workshops involving manual work and discussions on themes concerning personal and environmental hygiene. Through these new care strategies directed to parents, the authors expect to contribute to the process of construction of more integral and humanized care in the area of neonatology by focusing on the family.

Silagem de sorgo de porte baixo com diferentes teores de tanino e de umidade no colmo. III. Quebra de compostos nitrogenados / Forage sorghum silage with different tannin concentrations and moisure in the stem. III. Effect on nitrogenous compounds

Foram estudadas silagens de quatro híbridos de sorgo, com diferentes teores de umidade no colmo combinados com teor alto ou baixo de tanino, em silos de laboratório feitos de tubos PVC, lacrados com fita crepe e dotados de uma válvula tipo Bunsen. Usaram-se 24 tratamentos com quatro repetiçöes cada, sendo quatro hídridos (T1=colmo suculento e baixo tanino, T2=colmo seco e baixo tanino, T3=colmo seco e alto tanino, T4=colmo suculento e alto tanino) combinados com seis tempos para abertura do silo, sendo o primeiro tempo antes de ensilar (P1), seguido de 1, 7, 14, 28 e 56 dias de ensilagem. Determinaram-se os teores de matéria seca (MS), proteína bruta (PB), nitrogênio amoniacal (N-NH3 e tanino. Utilizou-se o teste de Tukey para comparaçäo entre médias. Todos os híbridos produziram N-NH3 ao longo da fermentaçäo. Os valores obtidos da fraçäo N-amoniacal/N-total encontram-se abaixo dos valores citados na literatura. Silagens de híbridos com tanino alto apresentaram menores valores de N-amoniacal e maiores teores de matéria seca (P<0,05) que silagens de baixo tanino

Silagem de sorgo de porte baixo, com diferentes teores de tanino e de umidade no colmo. IV. Influência dos taninos sobre a digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca / Forage sorghum silages with different tannin concentrations and moisture stem. IV. Tannin effect on in vitro dry matter digestibility

Foram estudadas silagens de quatro híbridos de sorgo, com diferentes teores de umidade no colmo combinados com teor alto ou baixo de tanino, feitas em silos de tubos "PVC" em laboratório, lacrados com fita crepe e dotados de uma válvula tipo Bunsen. Usaram-se 24 tratamentos com 4 repetiçöes cada, sendo 4 híbridos (T1=colmo suculento e baixo tanino, T2=colmo seco e baixo tanino, T3=colmo seco e alto tanino, T4=colmo suculento e alto tanino) combinados com 6 tempos para abertura do silo, sendo o primeiro tempos antes de ensilar (P1), seguido de 1, 7, 14, 28 e 56 dias de ensilagem. Os teores de matéria seca, tanino, componentes da parede celular e de digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca (DIVMS) foram determinados nas silagens e nas forragens antes de ensilar (P1), após pré-secagem e moagem. Utilizou-se o teste de Tukey para comparaçäo entre médias. A ensilagem provocou reduçäo significativa nos teores de tanino, apesar de näo ter essa dminuiçäo resultado em aumento na digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca. Ao contrário do que se esperava, a presença de taninos näo reduziu a digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca

Silagem de sorgo de porte baixo com diferentes teores de tanino e de umidade no colmo. II - Alteraçöes nos carboidratos durante a fermentaçäo / Forage sorghum silage with different tannin concentration and moisture in the stem. II - Variation on carbohydrates during fermentation

Foram estudadas silagens de quatro híbridos de sorgo, com diferentes teores de umidade no colmo combinados com teor alto ou baixo de tanino, feitas em silos de laboratório de tubos "PVC", lacrados com fita crepe e dotados de uma válvula tipo "Bunsen". Usaram-se 24 tratamentos com quatro repetiçöes cada, sendo quatro híbridos (T1=colmo suculento e baixo tanino, T2=colmo seco e baixo tanino, T3=colmo seco e alto tanino, T4=colmo suculente e alto tanino) combinados com seis tempos para abertura do silo, sendo o primeiro tempo antes de ensilar (P1), seguido de 1, 7, 14, 28 e 56 dias de ensilagem. Foram determinados os teores de carboidratos solúveis em álcool, de amido e de carboidratos estruturais. Adotou-se um esquema fatorial 4x6 e utilizou-se o teste de Tukey para comparaçäo entre médias. A maior parte dos carboidratos solúveis foi consumida até P3. Foi verificada queda nos valores de amido ao longo de fermentaçäo, assim como de FDN e hemicelulose. Os híbridos de colmo suculento apresentaram maiores teores de FDA. Os híbridos com alto tanino apresentaram maiores concentraçöes de lignina