Candida albicans isolated from urine:Phenotypic and molecular identification,virulence factors and antifungal susceptibility

Objective: To isolate Candida albicans(C. albicans) from the urine of hospitalized patients and assess the virulence factors and antifungal susceptibility profiles of the isolates.Methods: Yeasts were identified using the chromogenic medium CHROMagar?, the VITEK~?2 system, hypertonic Sabouraud broth, tobacco agar, polymerase chain reaction,and DNA sequencing. The evaluated virulence factors were proteinase production,phospholipase production, and biofilm production on polystyrene. The broth microdilution technique was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration.Results: All yeasts isolated from urine were identified as C. albicans using both classical and molecular methods. Although 91.3% of the isolates showed no phospholipase activity, 56.5% showed strong proteinase activity and 91.7% produced biofilm. All microorganisms were sensitive to fluconazole, voriconazole and amphotericin B, but 56.5% of the yeasts showed resistance to itraconazole.Conclusions: C. albicans isolates from urine have a high capacity for virulence and can be associated with infectious processes. Furthermore, the high percentage of isolates resistant to itraconazole is important because this antifungal agent is commonly used to treat fungal infections in the hospital environment.

Local and regional richness and rarity of leaf-litter ants:An overview from spacial scale in neotropical region

An unusual approach about richness and rarity of leaf-litter ant species is presented here from a dry forest reminiscent in Pantanal province (Chacoan subregion) suggesting the boundaries that defining local and regional scales for this particular ant community. We analysed the frequency of distribution of 170 ant species collected on 262 Winkler’s samples along Serra da Bodoquena National Park, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil and described some ecological mechanisms that made the species richness estimates be highly influenced by species with low frequencies of records in an extent regional of a pristine dry forest. Bayesian inference was conducted to provide if the probability of latitudinal gradient was correlated with the species richness to define alpha diversity.

Storage of Campomanesia adamantium(Cambess.)O.Berg Seeds:Influence of Water Content and Environmental Temperature

The present work evaluated the conservation of Campomanesia adamantium seeds under different conditions. The fruits used in the study were collected from matrices located in the city of Ponta Por&atilde-MS, Brazil. After processing, the seeds were slowly dried to different water content levels and subsequently exposed to various environmental conditions: 25&degC ± 2&degC, 35% relative humidity (laboratory);16&degC ± 1&degC, 40% relative humidity (cold and dry);8&degC ± 1&degC, 35% relative humidity (refrigeration);and -18&degC ± 1&degC, 42% relative humidity (freezing). Each treatment was conducted for 0 (recently processed seeds, with superficial drying of 40 minutes), 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days. Seed potential was physiologically evaluated based on radicle protrusion, percentage of normal seedlings, seedling length (primary root, shoot and total), and dry mass of the seedlings. The experimental design was a completely randomized factorial scheme with split-split plots (4 temperatures/environments × 5 water content × 7 storage periods). C. adamantium seeds tolerated a reduction in the water content to 15.3% but did not tolerate the storage period, confirming the recalcitrant behavior of the seeds.

Assessing physical habitat structure and biological condition in eastern Amazonia stream sites

The advance of agricultural frontiers and industrialization in Amazonia has increased natural resource deterioration,resulting in degraded physical habitat structure and reduced local aquatic biodiversity.We evaluated the relative sensitivities of the Biological Monitoring Working Party(BMWP)and Average Score Per Taxon(ASPT)biotic indexes based on EPT(Ephemeroptera,Plecoptera,Trichoptera)versus EPT taxa richness,EPT abundance,and Shannon-Wiener EPT diversity for evaluating anthropogenic impacts on Amazonian streams.We expected that EPT-BMWP and EPT-ASPT would be more sensitive in detecting environmental changes on stream biota than the other measures.We sampled 32 stream sites in eastern Amazonia distributed along an environmental gradient resulting from different land use intensities.All the biological metrics except EPT-ASPT were significantly responsive to anthropogenic pressures;however,EPT taxa richness was slightly more responsive.