Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul

About: Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul is a education organization based out in Campo Grande, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 6903 authors who have published 9030 publications receiving 78977 citations. The organization is also known as: UFMS & Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Percepção de risco, atitudes e práticas no uso de agrotóxicos entre agricultores de Culturama, MS

Abstract: OBJETIVO: Avaliar a percepcao de risco, praticas e atitudes no uso de agrotoxicos por agricultores. PROCEDIMENTOS METODOLOGICOS: Estudo qualitativo realizado em Culturama, Mato Grosso do Sul, em fevereiro de 2005. Sete grupos focais (N=40), com cinco a sete integrantes cada, discutiram questoes relacionadas a agrotoxicos, incluindo a apresentacao da embalagem de um inseticida para subsidiar discussao sobre rotulos e bulas. As falas foram gravadas, transcritas e analisadas seguindo o metodo de analise do discurso. ANALISE DOS RESULTADOS: Os agricultores se mostraram cientes dos riscos de exposicao direta e indireta ao utilizar agrotoxicos; muitos se mostraram preocupados com a contaminacao potencial do meio ambiente. As informacoes que os agricultores tinham sobre agrotoxicos eram restritas principalmente a dosagem do produto, cuja principal fonte eram os revendedores. Os agricultores reclamaram do tamanho das letras e da linguagem tecnica do rotulo e da bula, mas muitos souberam interpretar os pictogramas e o codigo de cor de toxicidade presentes neles. CONCLUSOES: Os agricultores nem sempre transformam sua percepcao de risco e suas experiencias pessoais em atitudes e praticas mais seguras no uso de agrotoxicos, como o uso adequado de equipamentos de protecao individual. Eles sentem-se indefesos diante das situacoes de risco, principalmente devido aos fatores ambientais nao controlaveis e a vulnerabilidade economica. Sao essenciais programas governamentais de extensao agricola que enfatizem tecnicas alternativas de manejo de pragas e praticas seguras de uso de agrotoxicos, direcionados a essa populacao.

Abundance of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) and urban transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in Campo Grande, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

Abstract: The outspread and urbanization of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Campo Grande, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, lead us to undertake the present study over diversity and abundance of sand flies in the urban area to compare with previous search carried out during 1999/2000, before the identification of the disease in the human population.The captures were carried out with automatic light traps, weekly, from February 2004 to February 2005 on three sites including a forested area (Ze Pereira), two peridomicilies (shelters of domestic animals and cultivation areas), and intradomicilie. In the present study 110 collections were obtained during 13 months for 1320 h of collections, resulting in 5004 specimens, 3649 males and 1355 females belonging to the 20 following species: Brumptomyia avellari, Brumptomyia sp., Bichromomyia flaviscutellata, Evandromyia lenti, E. termitophila, E. cortelezzii, E. borrouli, Lutzomyia sp., L. longipalpis, Micropygomyia quinquefer, N. antunesi, N. whitmani, Pintomyia christenseni, Pi. damascenoi, Psathyromyia aragaoi, Ps. campograndensis, Ps. hermanlenti, Ps. shannoni, Pychodopygus claustrei, and Sciopemyia sordellii. L. longipalpis was the most abundant species in the anthropic environment with 92.22% of the captures. This shows an increase of sixty times in the density of L. longipalpis compared to the last sand fly evaluation in 1999/2000. The high density of L. longipalpis in Campo Grande is the main factor of risk in transmission of the disease to human in the urban area. The capture of N. antunesi, typical specie from Amazonian region, in Mato Grosso do Sul is reported for the first time.

Reproductive Strategies of Leptodactylus chaquensis and L. podicipinus in the Pantanal, Brazil

Abstract: A reproductive strategy may be viewed as the combination of physiological, morphological, and behavioral traits that act together to produce the optimal number of offspring under given environmental conditions (Duellman and Trueb, 1986). Thus, different strategies can increase the efficiency or minimize the costs and/or risks associated with reproduction (Harvey and Pagel, 1993). Reproductive effort is an important component of a reproductive strategy because it allows one to measure the costs of reproduction (Stearns, 1992). A great diversity of anurans occur in the American tropics (Duellman, 1988). Nevertheless, there are few detailed studies on the reproduction of these anurans and studies focusing on reproductive effort are even rarer (e.g., Lampo and Medialdea, 1996). For the Pantanal, a great flat plain with an area of approximately 140,000 km2 in southwestern Brazil, there are only preliminary studies on the composition of the anuran fauna and few comments on their reproductive biology (Lutz, 1946, 1972). Based on comparative morphology and behavior, Heyer (1969) divided the genus Leptodactylus into five species groups, where L. chaquensis Cei belongs to the 'ocellatus' group and L. podicipinus (Cope) to the 'melanonotus' group. According to the classification of Duellman and Trueb (1986), L. podicipinus and L. chaquensis have the same reproductive mode: eggs inside a foam nest on the surface of ponds with aquatic feeding larvae. Leptodactylus chaquensis occurs in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil (Frost, 1985) and L. podicipinus is found in open formations of Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and central Brazil (Heyer, 1994). In spite of the wide geographical distribution of these species, information about their reproductive biology is scarce (Vizotto, 1967; Gallardo, 1987; Martins, 1996; Rossa-Feres and Jim, 1994, 1996). Our aim was to study the reproductive strategies of L. chaquensis and L. podicipinus, which are very common in the study area. We investigated the reproductive period of each species, breeding sites, clutch and egg sizes, reproductive efforts, effects of female body size parameters on reproductive potential, and the occurrence of parental care and sexual size dimorphism. Data were collected monthly from December 1996 to January 1998. Adults of L. chaquensis and L. podicipinus were hand-captured at night near ponds and flooded areas at Base de Estudos do Pantanal-Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (57?00'W; 19?34'S), in the municipal district of Corumba, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The climate is hot and humid, with a dry period from May to September and a rainy season from October to April. Seasonal floodings are common in the area from January to April. Reproductive period was determined based on calling activity of males, presence of amplectant pairs, and/or tadpoles. Breeding sites were characterized according to water depth, presence or absence of vegetation, and type of water body, which were classified as puddles, flooded areas, or permanent ponds. Occurrence of parental care was based on direct observations of the behavior of adults relative to nests and

The taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of Trypanosoma vivax from South America and Africa

Abstract: The taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of Trypanosoma vivax are controversial. It is generally suggested that South American, and East and West African isolates could be classified as subspecies or species allied to T. vivax. This is the first phylogenetic study to compare South American isolates (Brazil and Venezuela) with West/East African T. vivax isolates. Phylogeny using ribosomal sequences positioned all T. vivax isolates tightly together on the periphery of the clade containing all Salivarian trypanosomes. The same branching of isolates within T. vivax clade was observed in all inferred phylogenies using different data sets of sequences (SSU, SSU plus 5.8S or whole ITS rDNA). T. vivax from Brazil, Venezuela and West Africa (Nigeria) were closely related corroborating the West African origin of South American T. vivax, whereas a large genetic distance separated these isolates from the East African isolate (Kenya) analysed. Brazilian isolates from cattle asymptomatic or showing distinct pathology were highly homogeneous. This study did not disclose significant polymorphism to separate West African and South American isolates into different species/subspecies and indicate that the complexity of T. vivax in Africa and of the whole subgenus Trypanosoma (Duttonella) might be higher than previously believed.