1,720,981 research outputs found
Molecular detection of Rickettsia africae in Amblyomma ticks collected in cattle from Southern and Central Mozambique
Full text linkThis manuscript is a part of the Master thesis of VM for the Master School in Biotechnology at the Eduardo Mondlane University.INTRODUCTION : Rickettsia are Gram-negative and obligate intracellular bacteria, which cause typhus and spotted fever-like diseases in humans. In Africa, Rickettsia africae of the Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (SFGR) is the etiologic agent of the African Tick-Bite Fever. The disease is transmitted by ticks of the genus Amblyomma, which serve as vectors and reservoirs of Rickettsia. In this study, we aimed to detect Rickettsia species in ticks collected from cattle in south and central Mozambique.
METHODOLOGY : DNA from 412 adult ticks and 22 pools of larvae were extracted and tested for the presence of Rickettsia genes gltA, ompA and ompB by PCR, followed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.
RESULTS : Our results showed that in adult ticks, 79.5% (n = 330), 66% (n = 274) and 67% (n = 275) samples were positive for gltA, ompA and ompB genes, respectively. Among the 22 pools of larvae analysed, 77.2% (n = 17) were positive for the three genes tested. The infection rates ranged from 43% to 100% for Rickettsia by gltA in all locations studied, with maximum values of 100% observed in the districts of Maputo province namely Changalane, Boane and Matutuine district. The phylogenetic analysis of amplified sequences revealed that samples under study grouped with R. africae for the 3 genes.
CONCLUSION : The study showed that Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia represented by R. africae widely circulate in Amblyomma ticks collected in south and central regions of Mozambique.This manuscript is a part of the Master thesis of VM for the Master School in Biotechnology at the Eduardo Mondlane University. VM and ET were supported by the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS) projects AID10524 and AID11096. The study was also implemented under the framework of the GeosAf project (www.rp-pcp.org/projects/) of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, and the authors acknowledge Dr Fernando Chanisso and Eng. Valter Nuaila for their support in the experimental work (Center for Biotechnology, Eduardo Mondlane University).The Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS)http://www.jidc.org/index.php/journalam2021Veterinary Tropical Disease
Environment, biodiversity and health in university scientific cooperation in Mozambique
Full text linkMozambique and Italy share a history of academic cooperation spanning almost half a century. The topical collection “Environment, biodiversity and health in university scientific cooperation in Mozambique” stems from the desire to collect the scientific progress achieved through this alliance. Research papers in the collection cover themes including biodiversity conservation for the sustainable use of natural resources, diagnostics and molecular epidemiology of genetic and infectious diseases, and the anthropogenic impact on the environment under the one health principle. The sustainable growth of a country depends, to a large extent, on the establishment of solid research capacity, ensuring the ownership and full involvement of local institutions. The availability of adequate scientific research frameworks is critical to guarantee the integrated conservation of the ecological, socio-economic and cultural value of biodiversity. The works published within this collection emphasize the importance of international cooperation in scientific research
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
DNA barcoding to assess species identification in museum samples of Amphiliidae and natural samples of Cichlidae from Southern Mozambique
No full textThe biodiversity protection and monitorning is one of main goals of natural history musems worldwide. Conservation issues are particularly important for freshwater fish which are one of the most threatened taxa for the consequences of climate change and human activies. In Mozambique freshwater rivers are poorly explored and the impact of aquaculture and human activities on local biodiversity in almost unknown. Here we propose the barcoding analysis of cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) mitochrondrial DNA of 41 frehswater fishes catched in four rivers of southern Mozambique and 53 from a museum collection. As evidence of previous knowledge gaps, barcoding results revealed twenty new haplotypes described for the first time in the taxa Cichlidae and Amphilidae. From a methodological point of view, the barcoding approach demonstrated a critical point connected to the requested 650 bp length of amplified sequences. In fact, high weight genomic DNA is unattainable from museum samples and also in wildlife samples collected in pristine rivers. For this reason we furtherly tested the efficiency of DNA mini-barcoding analysis for 53 fish from a museum collection. The Mini-barcode method retrieved 56.6% of sequences successfully analyzed versus 3% of barcoding. The high performance of this thecniques is discussed in relation to biodiversity monitoring and to fill the taxonomy gaps in museum collections
Polyclonal emergence of MDR Enterobacter cloacae complex isolates producing multiple extended spectrum beta-lactamases at Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique
No full textAbstract
Enterobacter spp. are important nosocomial pathogens responsible of a wide variety of infections, mainly due to Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) producing isolates, constituting a global public health issue in terms of clinical treatment and infection control, especially in low-income countries, where last-line treatment is often unavailable and there is weak nosocomial surveillance. In this study, we conducted a phenotypic and molecular characterization of 8 clinical Enterobacter spp. strains, isolated from patient’s blood in three hospitals in Mozambique. Isolates were identified by MALDI-TOF and anti-microbial Susceptibility Testing was performed by VITEK 2 system. Half of isolates were analyzed by PCR for β-lactamases genes, other isolates by Whole Genome Sequencing. We identified all isolates as Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECC), those from Maputo Central Hospital were polyclonal, multidrug resistant (5/8), and ESBL producers (50%), carrying blaCTX-M-15 and different assortment of blaSHV-12, blaTEM-1B and blaOXA-1, and AmpCs blaCMH-3, blaACT-7 and blaACT-9 genes. Resistance determinants linked to fluoroquinolone (aac(6')Ib-cr and qnrB1) and others antimicrobials were also found. Notably, one isolate showed phenotypically resistance to colistin, while another colistin susceptible isolate carried a silent mcr-9 gene. ECC nosocomial surveillance is urgently needed to contain and prevent the dissemination of ESBLs producing clones, and mcr-9 spread to other Enterobacteriaceae
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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