Browsing by Author "Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho"

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    Brazilian microbiome project : revealing the unexplored microbial diversity-challenges and prospects.
    (2014) Pylro, Victor Satler; Roesch, Luiz Fernando Wurdig; Ortega, José Miguel; Amaral, Alexandre Morais do; Tótola, Marcos Rogério; Hirsch, Penny Ruth; Rosado, Alexandre Soares; Góes Neto, Aristóteles; Silva, Artur Luiz da Costa da; Rosa, Carlos Augusto; Morais, Daniel Kumazawa; Andreote, Fernando Dini; Duarte, Gabriela Frois; Melo, Itamar Soares de; Seldin, Lucy; Lambais, Márcio Rodrigues; Hungria, Mariangela; Peixoto, Raquel Silva; Kruger, Ricardo Henrique; Tsai, Siu Mui; Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho
    The Brazilian Microbiome Project (BMP) aims to assemble a Brazilian Metagenomic Consortium/Database. At present, many metagenomic projects underway in Brazil are widely known. Our goal in this initiative is to co-ordinate and standardize these together with new projects to come. It is estimated that Brazil hosts approximately 20 % of the entire world’s macroorganism biological diversity. It is 1 of the 17 countries that share nearly 70 % of the world’s catalogued animal and plant species, and is recognized as one of the most megadiverse countries. At the end of 2012, Brazil has joined GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), as associated member, to improve the access to the Brazilian biodiversity data in a free and open way. This was an important step toward increasing international collaboration and clearly shows the commitment of the Brazilian government in directing national policies toward sustainable development. Despite its importance, the Brazilian microbial diversity is still considered to be largely unknown, and it is clear that to maintain ecosystem dynamics and to sustainably manage land use, it is crucial to understand the biological and functional diversity of the system. This is the first attempt to collect and collate information about Brazilian microbial genetic and functional diversity in a systematic and holistic manner. The success of the BMP depends on a massive collaborative effort of both the Brazilian and international scientific communities, and therefore, we invite all colleagues to participate in this project.
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    From Spanish Flu to Syndemic COVID-19 : long- standing sanitarian vulnerability of Manaus, warnings from the Brazilian rainforest gateway.
    (2021) Ribeiro, Sérvio Pontes; Reis, Alexandre Barbosa; Cruz, Wesley Francisco Dáttilo da; Silva, Alcides Volpato Carneiro de Castro e; Barbosa, Eduardo Augusto Gonçalves; Vital, Wendel Coura; Góes Neto, Aristóteles; Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho; Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson Afonso
    A second deadlier wave of COVID-19 and the causes of the recent public health collapse of Manaus are compared with the Spanish fl u events in that city, and Brazil. Historic sanitarian problems, and its hub position in the Brazilian airway network are combined drivers of deadly events related to COVID-19. These drivers were amplifi ed by misleading governance, highly transmissible variants, and relaxation of social distancing. Several of these same factors may also have contributed to the dramatically severe outbreak of H1N1 in 1918, which caused the death of 10% of the population in seven months. We modelled Manaus parameters for the present pandemic and confi rmed that lack of a proper social distancing might select the most transmissible variants. We succeeded to reproduce a fi rst severe wave followed by a second stronger wave. The model also predicted that outbreaks may last for up to fi ve and half years, slowing down gradually before the disease disappear. We validated the model by adjusting it to the Spanish Flu data for the city, and confi rmed the pattern experienced by that time, of a fi rst stronger wave in October-November 1918, followed by a second less intense wave in February-March 1919.
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    Severe airport sanitarian control could slow down the spreading of COVID-19 pandemics in Brazil.
    (2020) Ribeiro, Sérvio Pontes; Silva, Alcides Volpato Carneiro de Castro e; Cruz, Wesley Francisco Dáttilo da; Reis, Alexandre Barbosa; Góes Neto, Aristóteles; Alcantara, Luiz Carlos Junior; Giovanetti, Marta; Vital, Wendel Coura; Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson Afonso; Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho
    Background: We investigated a likely scenario of COVID-19 spreading in Brazil through the complex airport network of the country, for the 90 days after the first national occurrence of the disease. After the confirmation of the first imported cases, the lack of a proper airport entrance control resulted in the infection spreading in a manner directly proportional to the amount of flights reaching each city, following the first occurrence of the virus coming from abroad. Methodology: We developed a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model divided in a metapopulation structure, where cities with airports were demes connected by the number of flights. Subsequently, we further explored the role of the Manaus airport for a rapid entrance of the pandemic into indigenous territories situated in remote places of the Amazon region. Results: The expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 virus between cities was fast, directly proportional to the city closeness centrality within the Brazilian air transportation network. There was a clear pattern in the expansion of the pandemic, with a stiff exponential expansion of cases for all the cities. The more a city showed closeness centrality, the greater was its vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2. Conclusions: We discussed the weak pandemic control performance of Brazil in comparison with other tropical, developing countries, namely India and Nigeria. Finally, we proposed measures for containing virus spreading taking into consideration the scenario of high poverty.
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    Unraveling the secrets of a double-life fungus by genomics : ophiocordyceps australis CCMB661 displays molecular machinery for both parasitic and endophytic lifestyles.
    (2023) Menezes, Thaís Almeida de; Aburjaile, Flávia Figueira; Peixoto, Gabriel Quintanilha; Tomé, Luiz Marcelo Ribeiro; Fonseca, Paula Luize Camargos; Pereira, Thairine Mendes; Araújo, Daniel Silva; Melo, Tarcisio Silva; Kato, Rodrigo Bentes; Delabie, Jacques Hubert Charles; Ribeiro, Sérvio Pontes; Brenig, Bertram; Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho; Santos, Elisandro Ricardo Drechsler; Andrade, Bruno Silva; Góes Neto, Aristóteles
    Ophiocordyceps australis (Ascomycota, Hypocreales, Ophiocordycipitaceae) is a classic entomopathogenic fungus that parasitizes ants (Hymenoptera, Ponerinae, Ponerini). Nonetheless, according to our results, this fungal species also exhibits a complete set of genes coding for plant cell wall degrading Carbohydrate-Active enZymes (CAZymes), enabling a full endophytic stage and, consequently, its dual ability to both parasitize insects and live inside plant tissue. The main objective of our study was the sequencing and full characterization of the genome of the fungal strain of O. australis (CCMB661) and its predicted secretome. The assembled genome had a total length of 30.31 Mb, N50 of 92.624 bp, GC content of 46.36%, and 8,043 protein-coding genes, 175 of which encoded CAZymes. In addition, the primary genes encoding proteins and critical enzymes during the infection process and those responsible for the host–pathogen interaction have been identified, including proteases (Pr1, Pr4), aminopeptidases, chitinases (Cht2), adhesins, lectins, lipases, and behavioral manipulators, such as enterotoxins, Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases (PTPs), and Glycoside Hydrolases (GHs). Our findings indicate that the presence of genes coding for Mad2 and GHs in O. australis may facilitate the infection process in plants, suggesting interkingdom colonization. Furthermore, our study elucidated the pathogenicity mechanisms for this Ophiocordyceps species, which still is scarcely studied.
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    Vaccination with enzimatically cleaved GPI-anchored proteins from Schistosoma mansoni induced protection against challenge infection.
    (2012) Martins, Vicente de Paulo; Pinheiro, Carina da Silva; Figueiredo, Bárbara de Castro Pimentel; Assis, Natan Raimundo Gonçalves de; Morais, Suellen Batistoni de; Caliari, Marcelo Vidigal; Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho; Borges, William de Castro; Wilson, R. Alan; Oliveira, Sergio Costa
    The flatworm Schistosoma mansoni is a blood fluke parasite that causes schistosomiasis, a debilitating disease that occurs throughout the developing world. Current schistosomiasis control strategies are mainly based on chemotherapy, but many researchers believe that the best long-termstrategy to control schistosomiasis is through immunization with an antischistosomiasis vaccine combined with drug treatment. In the search for potential vaccine candidates, numerous tegument antigens have been assessed. As the major interface between parasite and mammalian host, the tegument plays crucial roles in the establishment and further course of schistosomiasis. Herein, we evaluated the potential of a GPI fraction, containing representative molecules located on the outer surface of adult worms, as vaccine candidate. Immunization of mice with GPI-anchored proteins induced a mixed Th1/Th2 type of immune response with production of IFN-γ and TNF-α, and low levels of IL-5 into the supernatant of splenocyte cultures. The protection engendered by this vaccination protocol was confirmed by 42% reduction in worm burden, 45% reduction in eggs per gram of hepatic tissue, 29% reduction in the number of granulomas per area, and 53% reduction in the granuloma fibrosis. Taken together, the data herein support the potential of surface-exposed GPI-anchored antigens from the S. mansoni tegument as vaccine candidate.
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    Worldwide COVID-19 spreading explained : traveling numbers as a primary driver for the pandemic.
    (2020) Ribeiro, Sérvio Pontes; Cruz, Wesley Francisco Dáttilo da; Barbosa, David Soeiro; Vital, Wendel Coura; Chagas, Igor Aparecido Santana das; Silva, Alcides Volpato Carneiro de Castro e; Morais, Maria Helena Franco; Góes Neto, Aristóteles; Azevedo, Vasco Ariston de Carvalho; Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson Afonso; Reis, Alexandre Barbosa
    The spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the distribution of cases worldwide followed no clear biogeographic, climatic, or cultural trend. Conversely, the internationally busiest cities in all countries tended to be the hardest hit, suggesting a basic, mathematically neutral pattern of the new coronavirus early dissemination. We tested whether the number of flight passengers per time and the number of international frontiers could explain the number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide by a stepwise regression. Analysis were taken by 22 May 2020, a period when one would claim that early patterns of the pandemic establishment were still detectable, despite of community transmission in various places. The number of passengers arriving in a country and the number of international borders explained significantly 49% of the variance in the distribution of the number of cases of COVID-19, and number of passengers explained significantly 14.2% of data variance for cases per million inhabitants. Ecological neutral theory may explain a considerable part of the early distribution of SARS-CoV-2 and should be taken into consideration to define preventive international actions before a next pandemic.