Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a pathogenic fungus that undergoes a temperaturedependent cell morphology change from mycelium (22 • C) to yeast (36 • C). It is assumed that this morphological transition correlates with the infection of the human host. Our goal was to identify genes expressed in the mycelium (M) and yeast (Y) forms by EST sequencing in order to generate a partial map of the fungus transcriptome. Individual EST sequences were clustered by the CAP3 program and annotated using Blastx similarity analysis and InterPro Scan. Three different databases, GenBank nr, COG (clusters of orthologous groups) and GO (gene ontology) were used for annotation. A total of 3938 (Y = 1654 and M = 2274) ESTs were sequenced and clustered into 597 contigs and 1563 singlets, making up a total of 2160 genes, which possibly represent one-quarter of the complete gene repertoire in P. brasiliensis. From this total, 1040 were successfully annotated and 894 could be classified in 18 functional COG categories as follows: cellular metabolism (44%); information storage and processing (25%); cellular processes -cell division, posttranslational modifications, among others (19%); and genes of unknown functions (12%). Computer analysis enabled us to identify some genes potentially involved in the dimorphic transition and drug resistance. Furthermore, computer subtraction analysis revealed several genes possibly expressed in stage-specific forms of P. brasiliensis. Further analysis of these genes may provide new insights into the pathology and differentiation of P. brasiliensis. All EST sequences have been deposited in GenBank under Accession Nos CA580326-CA584263.

We report the prevalence of human papillomavirus type

HPV-16 is the most prevalent human papillomavirus genotype found in cervical intraepithelial neoplasias. The regulatory region of the HPV genome, LCR, has several binding sites for cellular and viral transcription factors, and nucleotide substitutions in this genomic region can interfere with the viral oncogenic expression. The present study aims to determine the LCR variability of European and non-European HPV-16 variants found in Brazil. Through automated sequencing, it was possible to characterize the LCR of ten non-European (eight Asian-American, one African 1, one African 2) and twelve European isolates. Among the 22 isolates analyzed, nine may be new variants of HPV-16, with different combinations of previously reported nucleotide substitutions, and three showed new substitutions not previously reported. Two new nucleotide substitutions, the insertion of T at position 7621 and the substitution of A to G at position 7836, were found in a single isolate, Bsb-14, a putative new African 1 variant. The characterization of the LCR of human papillomaviruses can be of pivotal importance to the understanding of the viral replication and pathogenicity.

O Brasil, país de grande desigualdade social, apresenta pequena parcela da população com acesso aos mais recentes avanços da tecnologia médica e grande parcela desta mesma população que vive a incerteza de uma possível refeição. Diante da situação de interação de fatores responsáveis por dificuldades diversas, desde os problemas mais caros do ponto de vista financeiro até os mais caros do ponto de vista da dignidade humana, a Bioética de Intervenção estabelece conceitos necessários para integrar ações concretas: bioética das situações emergentes e persistentes; países centrais e periféricos; ética e moral; eqüidade e igualdade; empoderamento, libertação e emancipação; e imperialismo moral. Como fundamentos, são elencados: a concentração de poder; a globalização; a finitude dos recursos naturais; a corporeidade, o prazer e a dor; os direitos humanos; os “4 Ps” (prudência, prevenção, precaução e proteção); a solidariedade crítica; e a responsabilidade. A Bioética de Intervenção impele ações de forma a almejar a diminuição das iniqüidades sociais por meio de práticas intervencionistas duras conforme sugere a denominação original desta corrente: hard bioethics.

No abstract