Profile of the Illegal Import of Products of Animal Origin to Brazilian Cities at the Border with Argentina and Uruguay.

International food transit is a risk to public and animal health when not subject to legal importation sanitation procedures. Due to the extensive border area, illegal food import in Brazil is a common practice, especially in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), a state that borders with Argentina and Uruguay. The objective of this study was to evaluate the profile of Brazilians living in cities in RS that border with Argentina (BR-AR) or Uruguay (BR-UR) regarding the practice of illegal import of products of animal origin and to determine associations between the population characteristics and illegal import. A questionnaire with information related to the personal profile, habits of acquisition of imported food, and knowledge of health risks deriving from the consumption of the imported products was elaborated. The questionnaire was administered in six cities in RS (three cities bordering Argentina and three cities bordering Uruguay) and responses were obtained from 744 individuals. The variables city, sex, level of education, and knowledge were subjected to the chi-square test to verify the association between these variables and food import. Part of the interviewees admitted to illegally importing products of animal origin at both BR-AR (65.17%) and BR-UR (76.28%) borders. Dairy products were the main imported goods, followed by raw and processed meat. The study revealed that illegal import is common at the frontier region of RS, especially that of products of animal origin, dairy, and raw and processed meat. Although illegal importation occurs at all the cities under study, it was higher at the BR-UR border. Also, knowledge of the health risks influences the decision to import food or not.

Overnourishment during lactation induces metabolic and haemodynamic heart impairment during adulthood.

AIM: In this study, the effects of postnatal overfeeding on heart energy homoeostasis and cardiac haemodynamics in adult male Swiss mice were examined. METHODS AND RESULTS: During the suckling period, the mice were divided into four groups of control or overfed pups in combination with baseline or ischaemia/reperfusion treatments (control group baseline, CGBL; overfed group baseline, OGBL; control group ischaemia/reperfusion, CGIR; and overfed group ischaemia/reperfusion, OGIR). End diastolic pressure (EDP), heart contraction speed (Max dP/dt), relaxation speed (Min dP/dt), isovolumetric relaxation time (Tau) and frequency by beats per minute (BPM) were measured. During baseline and ischaemia/reperfusion, key proteins such as AKT1, AKT2, AKT3, pAKT, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), pAMPK, insulin receptor beta (IRß), protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1), fatty acid binding protein (FABP), CD36, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α) were studied. The expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1) and uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) was studied as a marker of cardiac hypertrophy and energetic metabolism. Cardiac fibrosis was analyzed by quantifying collagen deposition, which is increased in the OGBL and OGIR groups compared with the control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The OGBL group showed reduced EDP compared with the CGBL group and high Max dP/dt compared with the OGBL group. Ischaemia/reperfusion increased EDP and Min dP/dt in the intragroup comparison. By contrast, Tau and frequency were not significantly different among groups. The OGIR mice showed significant alterations in heart metabolism proteins, including AKT2, pAKT/AKT1, pAKT/AKT2, AMPK, pAMPK/AMPK, PTP1B, IRS1, FABP and CD36. Furthermore, alterations in ANP, BNP, CPT1 and UCP3 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression indicated hypertrophy and reduction in their efficiency, such that exclusive overnutrition in childhood induces a long-term effect on haemodynamics, metabolism and heart remodelling.

Cleaning conveyor belts in the chicken-cutting area of a poultry processing plant with 45°c water.

Conveyor belts are widely used in food handling areas, especially in poultry processing plants. Because they are in direct contact with food and it is a requirement of the Brazilian health authority, conveyor belts are required to be continuously cleaned with hot water under pressure. The use of water in this procedure has been questioned based on the hypothesis that water may further disseminate microorganisms but not effectively reduce the organic material on the surface. Moreover, reducing the use of water in processing may contribute to a reduction in costs and emission of effluents. However, no consistent evidence in support of removing water during conveyor belt cleaning has been reported. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to compare the bacterial counts on conveyor belts that were or were not continuously cleaned with hot water under pressure. Superficial samples from conveyor belts (cleaned or not cleaned) were collected at three different times during operation (T1, after the preoperational cleaning [5 a.m.]; T2, after the first work shift [4 p.m.]; and T3, after the second work shift [1:30 a.m.]) in a poultry meat processing facility, and the samples were subjected to mesophilic and enterobacterial counts. For Enterobacteriaceae, no significant differences were observed between the conveyor belts, independent of the time of sampling or the cleaning process. No significant differences were observed between the counts of mesophilic bacteria at the distinct times of sampling on the conveyor belt that had not been subjected to continuous cleaning with water at 45°C. When comparing similar periods of sampling, no significant differences were observed between the mesophilic counts obtained from the conveyor belts that were or were not subjected to continuous cleaning with water at 45°C. Continuous cleaning with water did not significantly reduce microorganism counts, suggesting the possibility of discarding this procedure in chicken processing.

Refinement of the spinal muscular atrophy locus to the interval between D5S435 and MAP1B.

The childhood-onset SMA locus has been mapped to chromosome 5q13, in a region bounded by the proximal locus, D5S6, and the closely linked distal loci, D5S112 and MAP1B. We now describe a highly polymorphic, tightly linked microsatellite marker (D5S435) that is very likely the closest proximal marker to the SMA locus. Multipoint linkage analysis firmly establishes the following order of markers at 5q13: centromere-D5S76-D5S6-D5S435-MAP1B/D5S112- D5S39-telomere. The data indicate that SMA resides in an approximately 0.7-cM (range 0.1-2.1) region between D5S435 and MAP1B. This finding reduces by approximately fourfold the genetic region that most likely harbors the SMA locus and will facilitate the physical mapping and cloning of the disease gene region.

Artocarpus integrifolia lectin(s): use and applications in chromosome studies of lymphocyte cultures.

A simple procedure for extracting a lectin from the seeds of the jackfruit, Artocarpus integrifolia, is described. The extracts had an average protein concentration of 13.3 mg/ml, and were strongly erythroagglutinating with a 10(6) titre. Erythroagglutination was shown to be non-specific for A1-B-0 erythrocytes. Lymphoblastic transformation and mitogenic stimulation occurred in lymphocyte cultures both in man and Rhesus monkey, and chromosome preparations were obtained. Such preparations were of good quality and were adequate for chromosome analysis with chromosome banding techniques. In man, the response to the mitogenic stimulation did not vary significantly between individuals. In Rhesus monkey, where Phaseolus vulgaris phytohaemagglutinin produced a weaker mitogenic stimulation than in man, jacalin proved to be very effective.

Complicacoes do megacolon e megaesofago chagasicos observadas em necropsia. / Complications of Chagas' megacolon and megaesophagus in necropsy

182 casos autopsiados de megaesofago e/ou megacolon chagasicos foram estudados quanto as complicacoes nao relacionadas (pelo menos diretamente) ao tratamento. As complicacoes do megacolon se traduziram por: a) ulceras, com frequencias levando a peritonite aguda, por perfuracao ou mesmo na ausencia desta: b) volvo com peritonite.No megaesofago, foram escassas as complicacoes, representadas por: a) ulceracoes, como parte de esofagite cronica, sem mediastinite ou perfuracao; b) absceso pulmonar. De 85 casos de megaesofago (isolado ou associado a outros megas), em apenas dois houve, concomitantemente, carcinoma de esofago. Analisam-se as complicacoes relativamente a cor, idade, sexo e "causa mortis" dos pacientes