The aim of this study was to characterize Mycobacterium bovis from cattle and buffalo tissue samples, from two Brazilian states, and to analyse their genetic diversity by spoligotyping. Tissue samples from tuberculosis suspect animals, 57 in Amazonas State (12 cattle and 45 buffaloes) and six from Pará State (5 cattle and one buffalo) from slaughterhouses under State Veterinary Inspection, were isolated in culture medium Stonebrink. The positive cultures were confirmed by PCR and analysed by the spoligotyping technique and the patterns (spoligotypes) were identified and compared at the Mycobacterium bovis Spoligotype Database (http://www.mbovis.org/). There was bacterial growth in 44 (69.8%) of the tissues of the 63 animals, of which PCR for region of differentiation 4 identified 35/44 (79.5%) as Mycobacterium bovis. Six different spoligotypes were identified among the 35 Mycobacterium bovis isolates, of which SB0295, SB1869, SB0121 and SB1800 had already been described in Brazil, and SB0822 and SB1608 had not been described. The most frequent spoligotype in this study (SB0822) had already been described in buffaloes in Colombia, a neighbouring country of Amazonas state. The other identified spoligotypes were also described in other South American countries, such as Argentina and Venezuela, and described in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso and Goiás, indicating an active movement of Mycobacterium bovis strains within Brazil.

Objective The effects of competition from public charter schools on district school budget decisions are theoretically ambiguous. Competitive pressures could increase desired budget autonomy since they give district school leaders more flexibility; however, competition could decrease desired budget autonomy if district school leaders are generally riskaverse or if they believe that central office staff are in better positions to make school‐level budget decisions. Competitive pressures could also increase or decrease changes in school‐level spending depending on school leaders’ beliefs about how to efficiently allocate resources. Methods We randomly assign surveys to district school leaders in Texas in the 2019–2020 school year to determine the effects of anticipated competition from public charter schools on reported desire for budget autonomy and expectations about future school‐level spending decisions. Results We find the first experimental evidence to suggest that anticipated charter school competition has large negative effects on school leaders’ reported spending on certain categories of support staff, and reduces, or has no effect on, the reported desire for more school‐level budget autonomy. The negative effects on spending for support staff tend to be larger for school leaders with more experience. Conclusion Although more research is needed, these results suggest that competition from public charter schools could lead to reductions in spending for certain categories in district‐run public schools if school leaders have the autonomy to make budget decisions.

Organ transplantation has evoked such mixed and even violent reaction that it would seem worthwhile to explore the ethics governing itand to do this by examining the three major areas of contention: the act itself, the recipient and the donor. IS TRANSPLANTATION ETHICAL?News coverage of transplantation in the popular mass media has been widespread, enthusiastic and, unfortunately, too often sensational and misleading. I t has been misconceived in certain sections of the public both as a panacea and as an unethical and unjustified form of treatment. Neither assertion is accurate.Within our currently limited understanding of immunological attack on an allograft and our inability to prevent such an onslaught, the transplantation of any organ must be accepted as palliative therapynot a final cure. It achieves palliation which equals, if it does not surpass, some forms of palliation which have been accepted for many years as the only way to deal with malignant diseases. This being established, one cannot accept as unjustifiable or unethical the palliation of symptoms and extension of life itself.