Associação entre incidência de dengue e variáveis climáticasAssociation between dengue incidence and climatic factors RESUMO OBJETIVO: Descrever a ocorrência de casos de dengue autóctone segundo sexo, faixa etária e local provável de infecção e sua relação com variáveis climatológicas. MÉTODOS: CONCLUSÕES:A associação entre o número de casos de dengue e fatores abióticos identificou o intervalo de tempo em que a chuva e a temperatura contribuíram na geração de novos casos. Tais aspectos, associados à vulnerabilidade turística da região litorânea, propiciaram condições para ocorrência da doença. A urbanização sem a devida estrutura de saneamento possivelmente influenciou na densidade de mosquitos e na incidência de dengue. Esses fatores podem ter contribuído para a dispersão do mosquito e disseminação dos vários sorotipos da doença. CONCLUSIONS:The association between the number of dengue cases and abiotic factors identified the time lag in which rain and temperature favored the occurrence of new cases. These aspects, associated to tourist vulnerability in the coastal area, promoted conditions for dengue occurrence. The urbanization without sanitary infrastructure possibly affected mosquito density and dengue incidence. Such factors may have contributed to mosquito dispersion and dissemination of different dengue serotypes.

BackgroundMeasure the populations of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus adults according to sex and location inside or outside the residence, estimate Ae. aegypti female density per house and per resident, and test the association with abiotic factors.MethodsAdult mosquitoes were collected monthly with a hand net and portable electric catcher in the peridomiciliary and intradomiciliary premises of residences in an urban area with ongoing dengue transmission in the municipality of São Sebastião, Brazil, from February 2011 to February 2012.ResultsOf the 1,320 specimens collected, 1,311 were Ae. aegypti, and nine were Ae. albopictus. A total of 653 male and 658 female of Ae. aegypti were recorded, of which 80% were intradomiciliary. The mean density of Ae. aegypti adult females was 1.60 females/house and 0.42 females/resident. There was an association between the number of females and the number of residents in both intradomiciliary and peridomiciliary premises (r2 = 0.92; p < 0.001 and r2 = 0.68; p < 0.001, respectively). There was an association between the number of females and the mean and total rainfall; the correlation was better in peridomiciliary premises (p = 0.00; r2 = 77%) than intradomiciliary premises in both cases (p = 0.01; r2 = 48%). Minimum temperature was associated in both environments, exhibiting the same coefficient of determination (p = 0.02; r2 = 40%). The low frequency of Ae. albopictus (seven females and two males) did not allow for detailed evaluation.ConclusionsAe. aegypti is well established within the urban area studied, and the frequency of isolation is higher inside the houses. Female density was directly proportional to the number of residents in the houses. Our data show that human population density positively affects the number of Ae. aegypti females within the residence. Meteorological variables also affected mosquito populations. These data indicate a high probability of human-vector contact, increasing the possible transmission and spread of the DEN virus. Entomological indicators of adult females revealed important information complimenting what was obtained with traditional Stegomyia indices. This information should be a part of an interconnected data set for evaluating and controlling the vector.

BackgroundThis study focused on the distribution and abundance of the eggs of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.MethodsEighty ovitraps were exposed for four days of each month in peri- and intradomiciliary environments of 40 urban residences on 20 street blocks that were drawn monthly in Sebastião, SP, between February 2011 and February 2012. The monthly distribution of positive ovitrap indices (POI) and mean egg counts per trap (MET) of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by the Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner (DSCF) test. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and simple linear regression were used to determine the association between the meteorological variables of temperature and rainfall and the number of ovitraps with eggs and the egg count.ResultsThe POI and MET of Ae. aegypti were higher in peridomiciliary premises. A positive correlation was found between the temperature and the number of ovitraps with eggs and the egg count of this species in domestic environments. There was no difference in the POI and MET of Ae. albopictus between the environments. A positive correlation was found between temperature and positive ovitraps of Ae. albopictus in peridomiciliary premises. The POI and MET of Ae. aegypti were higher than those of Ae. albopictus.ConclusionsPeridomiciliary premises were the preferred environments for oviposition of Ae. aegypti. The use of ovitraps for surveillance and vector control is reiterated.

This work investigated the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of water from the River Paraíba do Sul (Brazil) using Allium cepa roots. An anatomo-morphological parameter (root length), mitotic indices, and frequency of micronuclei were analysed. Eight bulbs were chosen at random for treatment for 24 to 120 hours with the River water collected in the years of 2005 and 2006 from sites in the cities of Tremembé and Aparecida (São Paulo state, Brazil). Daily measurements of the length of the roots grown from each bulb were carried out throughout the experiment. Mitotic index (MI) and frequency of micronuclei (MN) were determined for 2000 cells per root, using 3-5 root tips from other bulbs (7-10). Only in the roots treated with samples of the River water collected in 2005 in Tremembé city was there a decrease in the root length growth compared to the respective control. However, a reduction in MI values was verified for both sites analysed for that year. Considering the data involving root length growth and especially MI values, a cytotoxic potential is suggested for the water of the River Paraíba do Sul at Tremembé and Aparecida, in the year of 2005. On the other hand, since in this year the MN frequency was not affected with the river water treatments, genotoxicity is not assumed for the river water sampled at the aforementioned places.

A mutagenicidade pode estar relacionada com quebras cromossômicas induzidas por poluentes ambientais. O objetivo deste estudo foi caracterizar o potencial mutagênico dos poluentes presentes na água do rio Paraíba do Sul, cidade de Tremembé-SP, analisando alterações cromossômicas em células meristemáticas de Allium cepa, no verão (abril) e inverno (agosto) de 2008. Os bulbos foram expostos aos tratamentos por 72 h: água do rio, solução de Hoagland (controle negativo) e 15 µg/L de MMS-metilmetanosulfonato (controle positivo). Em cada tratamento, 3 bulbos foram expostos, para cada bulbo, 5 lâminas foram confeccionadas. Para análise do índice mitótico (IM) e frequência de micronúcleos (MN) foram analisadas 2.000 células por raiz/lâmina e 100 células para aberrações cromossômicas (AC). Em abril, os poluentes exerceram alto potencial mutagênico nas células meristemáticas de A. cepa, a frequência de MN, stickiness (cromossomos pegajosos) e AC do tipo não identificadas, foram maiores em relação ao controle negativo. Em agosto, a única alteração encontrada em nível significante foram as pontes cromossômicas. Não houve alteração significante para o IM. Esses resultados indicam que os efluentes de origem variada estão exercendo efeitos nocivos no bioindicador utilizado, sendo importante manter o biomonitoramento e adotar medidas de controle de efluentes. Essas medidas são importantes porque essas águas são utilizadas para abastecimento público, irrigação, entre outras utilidades. Palavras-chave: poluição de rios; mutagenicidade; teste Allium cepa; aberrações cromossômicas.

Although the Allium cepa test has been widely used to identify potentially cytotoxic and genotoxic pollutants in aquatic environments, variable non-standardized choices have been made regarding the number of plant bulbs and roots analyzed. We propose numbers for bulbs and roots per bulb when comparing the frequencies of micronuclei, mitotic anomalies and mitotic index with this test. Roots that had been treated with aqueous solutions, such as water samples collected in August 2007 from the Paraíba do Sul River at the Brazilian cities of Tremembé and Aparecida; negative and positive controls were used for bioassays. The presence of pollutants in the river water had been presumed based on our previous cytological data and an official report by the São Paulo State Environmental Agency (Brazil) on presence of fecal contaminants (Tremembé and Aparecida) and elevated dissolved aluminium (Aparecida) in the water under study. The sampling of ten bulbs and five roots per bulb was found adequate for comparative studies to evaluate with the A. cepa test the potential damage inflicted by pollutants in aquatic environments. Furthermore, even one bulb and one root per bulb was sufficient in discerning this damage, thereby shortening the time required to attain a statistically confident comparative evaluation. However, to allow for the use of statistical programs based on the evaluation of average values, and to avoid criticism based on genetic variability, we propose that three bulbs and three roots per bulb be considered as standard sample sizes for the A. cepa test.

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As comunidades de formigas que vivem em fragmentos de Mata Atlântica rodeados por um ecossistema urbano bem desenvolvido, foram investigadas. Avaliou-se a riqueza, a freqüência de ocorrência das espécies bem como a similaridade entre três áreas da cidade de São Paulo: Parque da Previdência (PP), Reserva Florestal "Armando Salles de Oliveira" (CUASO) e Horto Oswaldo Cruz (HOC). Foram colocadas armadilhas do tipo "pitfall" em locais onde não ocorre visitação pública, durante uma semana, nos meses de março, junho, setembro e dezembro de 2001. Em todos os fragmentos foram coletadas 79 espécies de formigas, pertencentes a nove subfamílias e 32 gêneros. A subfamília Myrmicinae e os gêneros Pheidole e Hypoponera foram os mais ricos. No PP foram registradas 62 espécies, na CUASO 46 e no HOC 43, sendo que PP e CUASO são mais similares entre si. Tal similaridade possivelmente esteja relacionada ao tamanho de ambas as áreas e, também, a uma semelhança nos sítios de nidificação e de alimentação. No geral, a fauna de formigas é generalista, com a presença de alguns gêneros especialistas, como Discothyrea, Acanthognathus, Gnamptogenys, Oxyepoecus e Pyramica; ou de gêneros cujos hábitos alimentares ainda são desconhecidos (Heteroponera e Myrmelachista). A presença de espécies caracteristicamente de áreas domiciliares também foi constatada: Pheidole megacephala Fabricius, 1793, Linepithema humile Mayr, 1868, Wasmannia auropunctata Roger, 1863, Paratrechina fulva Mayr, 1862, P. longicornis Latreille, 1802 e Tapinoma melanocephalum Fabricius, 1793.