Objectives To evaluate the microbiological quality of a hospital's treated water distribution system, characterize opportunistic bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, investigate the genetic relatedness between environmental and clinical isolates from a One Health perspective. Study design Prospective observational study. Methods A total of 352 water samples were collected over six months from str...

The lima bean ( Phaseolus lunatus L.) is a legume of high agronomic and nutritional importance, particularly for smallholder farming in northeastern Brazil. The breeding program at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI, Brazil) developed lines from biparental crosses, selecting traits of agronomic relevance for crop improvement, such as determinate growth habit, earliness, and yield. This study evaluated the genetic diversity...

The CCR5Δ32 polymorphism is a 32-base pair deletion in the CCR5 gene that has been associated with slower HIV disease progression. However, its role in immune reconstitution during antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains unclear. We analyzed 236 virologically suppressed people living with HIV (PLHIV) after 24 months of ART, comprising 217 individuals homozygous for the wild-type CCR5 allele and 19 heterozygous carriers of CCR5Δ32...

Contamination by Alicyclobacillus spp. is a challenge in the juice and acidic beverage industry, since it can cause spoilage and, consequently, economic losses. Natural preservatives are interesting strategies as an alternative search for microbial growth control in food, in particular the use of D-limonene (DL) and nisin (Nis). This study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the DL combination and Nis against five...

Brazil is a country with an approximate 50% prevalence rate of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CR-PA). Therefore, monitoring the spread of high-risk clones from complex genotypes of CR-PA isolates is crucial for developing effective strategies to control antimicrobial resistance. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the dissemination of high-risk clones P. aeruginosa carrying bla KPC-2 in Brazil. In this stu...

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous anthropogenic pollutants that originate from diverse sources and pose a significant threat to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Bees are considered active bio-samplers of air quality due to the accumulation of MPs on their bodies. In addition, the ingestion of MPs alters body mass, locomotion, and hemocyte counts without impairing survival. Native bees hold ecological and economic rele...

Corn is a globally important crop; however, pest infestations during storage represent a major challenge. The maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a primary pest of stored maize, commonly controlled through phosphine fumigation. Nevertheless, extensive reliance on this insecticide has led to the emergence of resistant populations. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the contact and fum...

Lionfish ( Pterois spp.) are hypothesized to negatively influence cryptobenthic reef fish assemblages through predation. We evaluated these potential effects on Caribbean reefs in Costa Rica and tropical reefs in Brazil. Brazil provided a reference condition for cryptobenthic assemblages prior to lionfish invasion, while the Costa Rica sites enabled comparisons between reefs inside marine protected areas (MPAs), where lionfish...