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Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease of importance in Argentina. It is important to be acquainted with its possible natural hosts and reservoirs. Bats have several reservoir attributes, which means they could fulfill these roles. The aim of this work was to investigate the presence of Leishmania sp. in bats that inhabit the city of Corrientes. Bats were captured and identified. From the captured specimens, spleen samples were taken and Leishmania sp. detection techniques were applied, including both optical microscopy and PCR. It was possible to capture 95 bat specimens belonging to 10 species. Using cytological preparations, a prevalence of 1.29% was detected and using PCR a prevalence of 32% was found. Our results confirm the presence of natural infection by Leishmania sp. in bats of the city of Corrientes which reveals the possibility of these animal species fulfilling a reservoir role for this disease.

La leishmaniose est une zoonose importante en Argentine. La connaissance de ses réservoirs possibles est essentielle. Les chauves-souris ont plusieurs attributs pour remplir ce rôle. L'objectif de ce travail était d'étudier la présence de Leishmania sp. chez les chauves-souris qui habitent la ville de Corrientes. Des captures de chauves-souris ont été faites et celles-ci ont été identifiées. Des échantillons de rates ont été prélevés sur ces spécimens pour rechercher Leishmania sp. en utilisant la microscopie optique et la PCR. Il a été possible de capturer 95 spécimens de chauves-souris appartenant à dix espèces. En utilisant des préparations cytologiques, une prévalence de 1,29 % a été détectée et en utilisant la PCR, une prévalence de 32 % a été trouvée. Nos résultats confirment la présence d'une infection naturelle par Leishmania sp. chez les chauves-souris de la ville de Corrientes, ce qui révèle la possibilité que ces espèces animales jouent un rôle de réservoir pour cette maladie.

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Fructans from agave have received specific attention because of their highly branched fructan content. We have previously reported that the degree of polymerization (dp) influences their biological activity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of unfractionated and fractionated fructans (higher and lower dps) from Agave tequilana in high-fat diet-induced (HFD) obese mice. Fructans with a lower dp (HFD+ScF) decreased weight gain by 30 %, body fat mass by 51 %, hyperglycemia by 25 % and liver steatosis by 40 %. Interestingly, unfractionated fructans (HFD+F) decreased glucose and triglycerides (TG), whereas fractionated fructans with a higher dp (HFD+LcF) decreased TG but not glucose; in contrast, HFD+ScF decreased glucose but not TG. Our findings suggest that both higher and lower dp agave fructans have complementary effects in metabolic disorders related to obesity. These findings may contribute to the development of improved food supplements with a specific ratio combination of fructans with different dps.

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AIMS: To calculate fermentation efficiency in a continuous ethanol production process, we aimed to develop a robust mathematical method based on the analysis of metabolic by-product formation. METHODS AND RESULTS: This method is in contrast to the traditional way of calculating ethanol fermentation efficiency, where the ratio between the ethanol produced and the sugar consumed is expressed as a percentage of the theoretical conversion yield. Comparison between the two methods, at industrial scale and in sensitivity studies, showed that the indirect method was more robust and gave slightly higher fermentation efficiency values, although fermentation efficiency of the industrial process was found to be low (~75%). CONCLUSIONS: The traditional calculation method is simpler than the indirect method as it only requires a few chemical determinations in samples collected. However, a minor error in any measured parameter will have an important impact on the calculated efficiency. In contrast, the indirect method of calculation requires a greater number of determinations but is much more robust since an error in any parameter will only have a minor effect on the fermentation efficiency value. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The application of the indirect calculation methodology in order to evaluate the real situation of the process and to reach an optimum fermentation yield for an industrial-scale ethanol production is recommended. Once a high fermentation yield has been reached the traditional method should be used to maintain the control of the process. Upon detection of lower yields in an optimized process the indirect method should be employed as it permits a more accurate diagnosis of causes of yield losses in order to correct the problem rapidly. The low fermentation efficiency obtained in this study shows an urgent need for industrial process optimization where the indirect calculation methodology will be an important tool to determine process losses.

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Bovine papillomaviruses (BPVs) are recognized as causal agents of benign and malignant tumors in cattle. Thirteen types of BPVs have already been described and classified into 3 distinct genera. Divergences in the nucleotide sequence of the L1 gene are used to identify new viral types through the employment of PCR assays with degenerated primers. In the present study, a method for identifying BPVs based on PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing allowed the identification of a new putative Deltapapillomavirus, designated JN/3SP (JQ280500.1). The analysis of the L1 gene showed that this strain was most closely related to the BPVs -1, -2, -13 , and OaPV1 (71-73% genetic similarity). In this study, we describe the detection of this new putative Deltapapillomavirus type and verify its phylogenetic position within the genus.

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Bovine papillomaviruses (BPVs) are recognized as the causal agents of economical relevant diseases in cattle, associated with the development of tumors in skin and mucosa. The oncogenesis process is mainly associated with different viral oncoprotein expressions, which are involved in cell transformation. The expression and characterization of recombinant viral oncoproteins represent an attractive strategy to obtain biotechnological products as antibodies and potential vaccines, Thus, the aim of this work was to clone and express the BPV-1 and BPV-2 E6 recombinant proteins and perform in silico analysis in order to develop a strategy for the systematic study of other papillomaviruses oncoproteins. The results demonstrated that BPV-1 and BPV-2 E6 recombinant proteins were expressed and purified from bacterial system as well as its in silico analysis was performed in order to explore and predict biological characteristics of these proteins.

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Due to variability of venom components from the same species of snakes that inhabit different regions, particular properties of the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus that inhabits the North-East of Argentina were studied. Gyroxin, a thrombin-like enzyme, was isolated from this venom by gel filtration and affinity chromatography, it was found to be homogeneous according to SDS-PAGE, with a molecular weight of 33 kDa. [quot ]Gyroxin syndrome[quot ] in mice was tested and it showed changes in the animal behavior, confirming that the isolated thrombin-like enzyme is gyroxin. Effects of this enzyme and the crude venom on mice plasmatic fibrinogen levels were determined. The mice plasma fibrinogen decreased rapidly until incoagulability during the first hour after thrombin-like enzyme injection, then reaching its normal level 10 hours after injection; whereas crude venom resulted in a 60% decrease of the mice plasma fibrinogen, reaching its normal level after the same period of time. After 1 hour of gyroxin inoculation, intravascular coagulation was observed in histological cuttings of lung, cardiac muscle and liver. The isolated enzyme showed strong hydrolyzing activity on fibrinogen and fibrin in vitro, whereas the crude venom exhibited weak hydrolyzing activity on both substrates. It is probable that this very low activity is due to the low percentage of the enzyme in the crude venom. Decreasing of plasmatic fibrinogen levels may be due to either the coagulant or hydrolyzing actions of the enzyme.

Teniendo en cuenta la variabilidadde los componentes del veneno de serpientes de una misma especie que habitan regiones diferentes, se decidióestudiar las propiedades particulares del veneno de Crotalus durissus terrificus que habita el nordeste de Argentina, Giroxina, una enzima con actividad trombínica, fue aislada del veneno por cromatografía de filtración por gel y de afinidad; se comprobó su homogeneidad y se determinó su peso molecular, 33 kDa, por SDSPAGE. Se ensayó el síndrome giroxina en ratones, los que mostraron cambios en el comportamiento, confirmandoque la enzima tipo trombina aislada es giroxina. Se evaluó la acción de esta enzima sobre los niveles de fibrinógeno plasmático en ratones, comparándola con la del veneno crudo. Se comprobó que la enzima provoca una disminución de los niveles plasmáticos de fibrinógeno hasta la incoagulabilidad, durante la primer hora de inoculación, mientras que el veneno entero produjo una reducción del nivel plasmático en un 60%; sin embargo, en ambos casos, se evidenció una rápida reposición de fibrinógeno plasmático, alcanzando sus valores normales en un plazo de 10 horas. Se observó coagulación intravascular con la administración de giroxina una hora después de la inoculación, evidenciados en estudios histológicos de tejido pulmonar, cardíaco y hepático. En ensayos realizados in vitro, la enzima aislada mostró capacidad de degradar fibrinógeno como así también coágulos de fibrina, mientras que el veneno exhibió débil actividad hidrolítica sobre ambos sustratos. Es probable que esta baja actividad sea debida a la baja concentración de la enzima en el veneno. La disminución de los niveles de fibrinógeno plasmático observado en ratones se debería a la acción coagulante de la enzima, sin embargo no se descarta que también contribuya a este proceso una acción hidrolítica sobrefibrinógeno y fibrina por parte de la enzima.

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Due to variability of venom components from the same species of snakes that inhabit different regions, particular properties of the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus that inhabits the North-East of Argentina were studied. Gyroxin, a thrombin-like enzyme, was isolated from this venom by gel filtration and affinity chromatography, it was found to be homogeneous according to SDS-PAGE, with a molecular weight of 33 kDa. [quot ]Gyroxin syndrome[quot ] in mice was tested and it showed changes in the animal behavior, confirming that the isolated thrombin-like enzyme is gyroxin. Effects of this enzyme and the crude venom on mice plasmatic fibrinogen levels were determined. The mice plasma fibrinogen decreased rapidly until incoagulability during the first hour after thrombin-like enzyme injection, then reaching its normal level 10 hours after injection; whereas crude venom resulted in a 60% decrease of the mice plasma fibrinogen, reaching its normal level after the same period of time. After 1 hour of gyroxin inoculation, intravascular coagulation was observed in histological cuttings of lung, cardiac muscle and liver. The isolated enzyme showed strong hydrolyzing activity on fibrinogen and fibrin in vitro, whereas the crude venom exhibited weak hydrolyzing activity on both substrates. It is probable that this very low activity is due to the low percentage of the enzyme in the crude venom. Decreasing of plasmatic fibrinogen levels may be due to either the coagulant or hydrolyzing actions of the enzyme.(AU)

Teniendo en cuenta la variabilidadde los componentes del veneno de serpientes de una misma especie que habitan regiones diferentes, se decidióestudiar las propiedades particulares del veneno de Crotalus durissus terrificus que habita el nordeste de Argentina, Giroxina, una enzima con actividad trombínica, fue aislada del veneno por cromatografía de filtración por gel y de afinidad; se comprobó su homogeneidad y se determinó su peso molecular, 33 kDa, por SDSPAGE. Se ensayó el síndrome giroxina en ratones, los que mostraron cambios en el comportamiento, confirmandoque la enzima tipo trombina aislada es giroxina. Se evaluó la acción de esta enzima sobre los niveles de fibrinógeno plasmático en ratones, comparándola con la del veneno crudo. Se comprobó que la enzima provoca una disminución de los niveles plasmáticos de fibrinógeno hasta la incoagulabilidad, durante la primer hora de inoculación, mientras que el veneno entero produjo una reducción del nivel plasmático en un 60%; sin embargo, en ambos casos, se evidenció una rápida reposición de fibrinógeno plasmático, alcanzando sus valores normales en un plazo de 10 horas. Se observó coagulación intravascular con la administración de giroxina una hora después de la inoculación, evidenciados en estudios histológicos de tejido pulmonar, cardíaco y hepático. En ensayos realizados in vitro, la enzima aislada mostró capacidad de degradar fibrinógeno como así también coágulos de fibrina, mientras que el veneno exhibió débil actividad hidrolítica sobre ambos sustratos. Es probable que esta baja actividad sea debida a la baja concentración de la enzima en el veneno. La disminución de los niveles de fibrinógeno plasmático observado en ratones se debería a la acción coagulante de la enzima, sin embargo no se descarta que también contribuya a este proceso una acción hidrolítica sobrefibrinógeno y fibrina por parte de la enzima. (AU)

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