Survey of selected viral agents (herpesvirus, adenovirus and hepatitis E virus) in liver and lung samples of cetaceans, Brazil

Hepatic and pulmonary lesions are common in cetaceans, despite their poorly understood viral etiology. Herpesviruses (HV), adenoviruses (AdV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV) are emerging agents in cetaceans, associated with liver and/or pulmonary damage in mammals. We isolated and molecularly tested DNA for HV and AdV (n = 218 individuals; 187 liver and 108 lung samples) and RNA for HEV (n = 147 animals; 147 liver samples) from six cetacean families. All animals stranded or were bycaught in Brazil between 2001 and 2021. Positive-animals were analyzed by histopathology. Statistical analyses assessed if the prevalence of viral infection could be associated with the variables: species, family, habitat, region, sex, and age group. All samples were negative for AdV and HEV. Overall, 8.7% (19/218) of the cetaceans were HV-positive (4.8% [9/187] liver and 11.1% [12/108] lung), without HV-associated lesions. HV-prevalence was statistically significant higher in Pontoporiidae (19.2%, 10/52) when compared to Delphinidae (4.1%, 5/121), and in southeastern (17.1%, 13/76)-the most industrialized Brazilian region-when compared to the northeastern region (2.4%, 3/126). This study broadens the herpesvirus host range in cetaceans, including its description in pygmy sperm whales (Kogia breviceps) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Further studies must elucidate herpesvirus drivers in cetaceans.

CHARACTERIZING COVID-19-RELATED RETINAL VASCULAR OCCLUSIONS: A Case Series and Review of the Literature

PURPOSE

To describe clinical and ophthalmologic features and outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease-19 with retinal vascular occlusions.

METHODS

Retrospective multicenter case series and PubMed review of cases reported from March 2020 to September 2021. Outcome measures are as follows: type of occlusion, treatments, best-corrected visual acuity, and central macular thickness on optical coherence tomography.

RESULTS

Thirty-nine patients were identified. Fifteen patients with a median age of 39 (30-67) years were included in the multicenter study. Vascular occlusions included central retinal vein occlusion (12 eyes), branch retinal vein occlusion (4 eyes), and central retinal artery occlusion (2 eyes). Three cases were bilateral. Baseline best-corrected visual acuity was 20/45 (no light perception-20/20). Baseline central macular thickness was 348.64 (±83) μm. Nine eyes received anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents, dexamethasone intravitreal implant, or both. Final best-corrected visual acuity was 20/25 (no light perception-20/20), and central macular thickness was 273.7 ± 68 μm (follow-up of 19.6 ± 6 weeks). Among the 24 cases from the literature review, retinal vein occlusion was the predominant lesion. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were similar to those found in our series.

CONCLUSION

Coronavirus disease-19-associated retinal vascular occlusions tend to occur in individuals younger than 60 years. Retinal vein occlusion is the most frequent occlusive event, and outcomes are favorable in most cases.

Virulence genes, antibiotic resistance and integrons in Escherichia coli strains isolated from synanthropic birds from Spain

The aim of this study was to determine the presence of virulence genes and antibiotic resistance profiles in 164 Escherichia coli strains isolated from birds (feral pigeons, hybrid ducks, house sparrows and spotless starlings) inhabiting urban and rural environments. A total of eight atypical enteropathogenic E. coli strains were identified: one in a house sparrow, four in feral pigeons and three in spotless starlings. Antibiotic resistance was present in 32.9% (54) of E. coli strains. The dominant type of resistance was to tetracycline (21.3%), ampicillin (19.5%) and sulfamethoxazole (18.9%). Five isolates had class 1 integrons containing gene cassettes encoding for dihydrofolate reductase A (dfrA) and aminoglycoside adenyltransferase A (aadA), one in a feral pigeon and four in spotless starlings. To our knowledge, the present study constitutes the first detection of virulence genes from E. coli in spotless starlings and house sparrows, and is also the first identification worldwide of integrons containing antibiotic resistance gene cassettes in E. coli strains from spotless starlings and pigeons.

[A state without memory. The ideological abolition of the insane asylum in Mexico (1945-1968)]

The present article analyzes a campaign by the Mexican government, among the public and the medical profession, to disseminate a health care reform that culminated with the opening of thirteen Farms for the mentally ill and the ideological abolition of the insane asylum in the sixties of the twentieth century. To do this, renowned psychiatrists who held public positions built a black legend over the most emblematic insane asylum of the country, pointing out as the main cause of failure the constraint to which patients were subjected. In doing so, they resembled the mental hospital to a prison and the insane to a social threat, because they reduced that institution's function and denied the many experiences that would ?t in it: a place of confinement and refuge, a therapeutic and knowledge production space. Even though Mexican psychiatry was professionalized in the space of the asylum, the State wanted to erase the memory of that past to suggest the establishment of a new era in mental health, where the patients would no longer be subject to any restrictions which could curtail their freedom. Overcoming the asylum model meant creating "open door" therapeutic alternatives, but the decision was to distort the past to exalt the future.

[For the good of the nation's economy: therapeutic work and public assistance at La Castañeda asylum in Mexico City, 1929-32]

Founded in 1910, by 1930 Mexico City's La Castañeda insane asylum was grappling with the problem of a massive number of chronic patients, a situation that earned it an image as a warehouse for the sick more than a place of treatment. Psychiatrists endeavored to restore the asylum's legitimacy by publicizing a nineteenth-century treatment which projected the public image that the mentally ill could be as productive as anyone else: work therapy. The government born of the Mexican revolution supported this proposal because the guiding objective behind public assistance for underprivileged groups was to make them part of the country's productive life via the market.

In situ analysis of B7-2 costimulatory, major histocompatibility complex class II, and adhesion molecule expression in schistosomal egg granulomas

Immunopathological damage in schistosomiasis consist of egg granuloma formation, which is a hypersensitivity reaction mediated by antigen-specific CD4+ T helper (Th) lymphocytes. Th cells are dependent on accessory cell-bound co-stimulatory signals for activation. The B7 molecules provide critical costimulation, as in their absence T cells are rendered unresponsive. We investigated the kinetics of B7-2 molecule expression in schistosomal egg granulomas by immunocytochemical analysis in situ. We also monitored major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) expression, as well as the presence of macrophages, T cells, and B cells. B7-2 expression was elevated in cells of the large granulomas of the acute (6-1/2 week) infection, and sharply declined thereafter. MHC class II expression was similarly elevated in the acute granulomas, but in contrast to B7-2, remained relatively constant throughout 12 1/2 weeks of infection. Moreover, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 were expressed in acute and chronic granulomas. However, whereas ICAM-1 was constitutively expressed in normal liver, VCAM-1 was dramatically induced in the livers upon onset of disease. The findings suggest that the acute granulomas are rich in accessory cells with overall phenotypic configurations that support Th-cell activation, although at subsequent times, granulomas contain increasing numbers of B7-poor accessory cells capable of inducing Th-cell unresponsiveness. Thus, cellular interactions in early granulomas may be able to amplify egg-induced immunopathology, whereas interactions taking place in succeeding granulomas appear to precipitate its down-regulation.