In Brazil, rabies surveillance is based on monitoring domestic and wild animals, although the most prevalent lineage of the rabies virus (RABV) currently diagnosed in Brazil is associated with bats, particularly non-haematophagous bats. Disease control is based on the mass vaccination of dogs and cats. We used data collected by the passive surveillance system of the city of Campinas from 2011 to 2015, to describe the temporal and geographic distributions of the bat specimens and RABV and discuss the current rabies surveillance with the advent of the declaration of canine and feline rabies-free areas in Brazil. We described the species, locations and health statuses of the collected bat specimens. Moreover, all samples were submitted for RABV diagnosis. Then, we performed a time series decomposition for each bat family. Additionally, we determined the spatiotemporal relative risk for RABV infection using the ratio of the kernel-smoothed estimates of spatiotemporal densities of RABV-positive and RABV-negative bats. From the 2537 bat specimens, the most numerous family was Molossidae (72%), followed by Vespertilionidae (14%) and Phyllostomidae (13%). The bat families behaved differently in terms of seasonal and spatial patterns. The distribution of bats varied geographically in the urban environment, with Molossidae and Phyllostomidae being observed downtown and Vespertilionidae being observed in peripheral zones. Concurrently, a significant relative risk of RABV infection was observed downtown for Vespertilionidae and in peripheral zones for Molossidae. No RABV-positive sample clusters were observed. As a result of the official declaration of RABV-free areas in southern Brazil, mass dog and cat vaccinations are expected to halt in the near future. This stoppage would make most dog and cat populations susceptible to other RABV lineages, such as those maintained by non-haematophagous bats. In this scenario, all information available on bats and RABV distribution in urban areas is essential. Currently, few studies have been conducted. Some local health authorities, such as that in Campinas, are spontaneously basing their surveillance efforts on bat rabies, which is the alternative in reality scenario of increased susceptibility to bat-associated RABV that is developing in Brazil.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Shell morphological features of the larvae and early postlarvae of species from two venerid (Mollusca: Lamellibranchia) subfamilies, Chioninae (Mercenaria mercenaria, M. campechiensis, M. campechiensis texana and Chionecancellata) and Pitarinae (Pitar morrhuanus), were examined using scanning electron microscopy. A single elongated fold on the anterior half of the left valve became more robust and a small fold in the centre of the right valve increased in length along the hinge line throughout the larval period. A MANOVA of shell length, shell height and provinculum length detected statistically significant (P) differences between the larval shells of Chioninae and Pitarinae, and within the Mercenaria.

Mature eggs were stripped from ripe adult specimens of Arctica islandica and exposed to a dilute solution of ammonium hydroxide for various lengths of time before addition of stripped sperm. Larval and early post-larval stages were cultured under experimental laboratory conditions using standard bivalve rearing techniques. Larval cultures were maintained at various controlled temperatures ranging from 8·5 to 14·5 °C. Minimum time to settlement was 32 days at a temperature of approximately 13 °C; at temperatures between 8·5 and 10·0 °C, settlement was not observed until approximately 55 days after fertilization. Larval growth rates were significantly faster at temperatures between 11·0 and 145 °C than at temperatures between 8°C. Morphometry of the larval shell and morphology of the larval hinge apparatus were independent of larval growth rates and experimental culture conditions.

Fifty-six accessions of Triticum monococcum and one accession each of T. beoticum and T. sinskajae were analysed for their storage protein compositions and breadmaking quality as determined by the SDS-sedimentation test. In total 30 different alleles at the Glu-A1m locus coding for high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), 25 alleles at the Gli-A1m locus coding for ω- and γ-gliadins and 45 alleles at the Gli-A2m locus controlling the synthesis of α/β-gliadins were detected. Most accessions contained one x-type and one y-type HMW-GS and two genotypes were null for both types of subunits. Two polypeptides within the mobility range of HMW-GS in SDS-PAGE were shown to be ω-type gliadins encoded by genes on the short arm of chromosome 1 A. T. sinskajae and several ‘monococcum’ accessions were shown to share the same alleles at Gli-A1m, Gli-A2m and Glu-A1m, confirming sinskajae as a subspecies of T. monococcum. The SDS-sedimentation volumes of most accessions were very low (11–35 ml), a few accessions showing mean sedimentation volumes as high as 90–93 ml. Through the comparison between biotypes occurring in some accessions of ‘monococcum’, good bread-making quality was found to be associated with the presence of alleles y, c and i at the Gli-A1m locus. All accessions were resistant to leaf rust and rich in protein (≥ 16·5%), and most of them showed resistance to powdery mildew.

We describe the design and performance of a slow atomsource based on a 2D magneto-optical trap (MOT) that uses aninnovative simple optical configuration. Metal-coatedretro-reflecting prisms replace mirrors and quarter-wave plates sothe optical power of the cooling laser beam is recycled. Thissource has been characterised for three different configurations:with and without transverse magnetic field gradient, and with apusher beam to obtain a 2D+-MOT. The longitudinal velocity isof the order of 25 m·s−1, with a transverse velocityspread ≤1 m·s−1, while the typical atomic fluxdensity obtained is up to1.3×1014 at ·s−1·m−2 for a cesiumvapour pressure of ~4×10−8 mbar in the source. Weuse this slow atom beam, instead of cesium vapour, to load a 3Dmoving optical molasses that feeds a continuous cold atomfountain. We obtain a gain of a factor ~20 in the atomicflux launched by the fountain.

The use of fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) in the near IR is proposed as a simple, fast, and totally non destructive method to detect alteration products. Indeed gypsum and calcium oxalates show very distinctive absorption bands in the near IR due to theovertones and/or combination bands of the 0-H and C-O vibrational modes. The present communication reports the results obtained on laboratory samples and on actual artworks.

Moreover it will be stressed that the FORS procedure, being quite safe for artworks, allows to record a large number of spectra in order to give the possibility of building up a map of the alterations and to perform a statistical analysis of the data.

This paper deals with the role of charging conditions and strain rate on the embrittlement of several Fe.Al and Fe3Al alloys. Fracture paths are transgranular or mixed mode in both air and after precharging of the iron aluminides, unlike the intergranular cracking typical of Ll2 superlattices exposed to hydrogen. The fractographic observations are consistent with a decohesion mechanism. The role of long range order in transport of hydrogen will be discussed.