Considering the importance of leptospirosis in both equine husbandry and public health, as well as the relevance of knowledge of current serogroup and the small number of studies addressing this disease in equines in Northeastern Brazil, the present study performed a serological survey of Leptospira spp. in a serum bank of 1,267 equines originating from 177 municipalities, located in four states in Northeastern Brazil: Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Pernambuco. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used for diagnosis of leptospirosis using 24 serovars as antigens. The frequency of reagent equines was 29.7% (376/1,267), and 68.9% (122/177) of municipalities had at least one positive reaction. The serogroups reagent were Australis (37.2%), Icterohaemorrhagiae (29.3%), Tarassovi (9.6%), Sejroe (5.8%), Pomona (5.3%), Grippotyphosa (4.5%), Pyrogenes (2.4%), Bataviae (1.9%), Ballum and Hebdomadis (1.3%), Mini (0.5%), Celledoni, Shermani, and Javanica (0.3% each). There were significant statistical differences regarding sex and age, with a higher frequency in females (P= 0.014), and in animals ≥ 6 years (P=0.001). We concluded that seropositivity to Leptospira spp. is high in equines in Northeastern Brazil, with a predominance of serologic reactions to the Australis serogroup in the border areas between the states, and the Icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup in coastal areas or their vicinity. The high degree of seropositivity found points to the need to implement prophylactic strategies, both intraspecies infection prophylaxis and rodent control. We also recommended avoiding animal crowding and separating animals according to sex and age group during handling.

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Abstract:The "Polígono das Secas" is a region in the Northeast of Brazil that stands out by its low precipitation, high temperatures, and dry climate. Geoprocessing and the remote sensing techniques used in this research demonstrate the effectiveness for the monitoring of environmental resources. The objective of this work was to use the normalized difference water index (NDWI) in a comparative analysis of the reduction of the water surface area of the dry periods, November 2009 and December 2016, of the Capoeira Reservoir using images from the Landsat 5 TM satellite and Landsat 8 OLI, respectively. The results showed high values of NDWI in 2009, corresponding to La Niña period, with high precipitation and overflow of reservoirs. NDWI values in 2016 were low due to the low precipitations typical of El Niño periods. NDWI can be used to detect and monitor the presence of water and is an excellent tool to assist water monitoring agencies through the monitoring of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in regions as the northeastern of Brazil.Key words: Water resources; Geoprocessing; Remote sensing; Semi-arid Resumo: O Polígono da Seca é uma região no Nordeste que se destaca por apresentar baixa precipitação, altas temperaturas e clima seco. As ferramentas do geoprocessamento e as técnicas de sensoriamento remoto podem ser utilizadas para demonstrarem a efetividade para o monitoramento de recursos ambientais. O objetivo foi utilizar o índice de diferença normalizada da água (NDWI) em uma análise comparativa da redução da área do espelho d'água dos períodos seco, novembro de 2009 e dezembro de 2016 da barragem Capoeira a partir das imagens do satélite Landsat 5 TM e Landsat 8 OLI., obtidas no site do Serviço Geológico dos Estados Unidos (USGS. Os resultados da comparação entre os anos apresentam altos valores de NDWI em 2009, o que corresponde a um alto teor de água, pois neste ano ocorreu uma maior precipitação, enchendo todo o reservatório, já os valores de NDWI em 2016 foram baixos, devido à baixa precipitação, desta forma, não havendo o aumento do volume considerável. O NDWI pode ser usado para detectar e monitorar a presença de água, sendo uma excelente ferramenta para auxiliar órgão fiscalizadores de recursos hídricos através do monitoramento de rios, lagos e reservatórios das regiões bem como é o caso na região Nordeste.Palavras-chave: Recursos hídricos; Geoprocessamento; Sensoriamento remoto; Semi-árido. Anjos et al. Denize Monteiro dos

A delimitação de habitats geomorfológicos proporciona a identificação de áreas com maior relevância ecológica. O objetivo deste trabalho foi delimitar, utilizando geotecnologias, a rede de drenagem e fragmentos da mata ciliar da sub-bacia do alto Piranhas/PB. O trabalho foi desenvolvido em trechos do rio Piranhas, iniciando no açúde de São Gonçalo, próximo ao município de Sousa, Paraíba, e seguindo cerca de 20 km a direção da nascente do rio, localizada no município de Bonito de Santa Fé. Foram utilizadas as imagens dos satélites Sentinel 2 B, e a composição de RGB (vegetação, corpos hídricos e solo) foi a RGB: 4 – 3 – 2. As Áreas de Preservação Permanente da sub-bacia foram desenhadas utilizando a ferramenta de delimitação (Buffer). Os layouts dos mapas foram confeccionados no software QGIS versão 2.18.1. Os dados cartográficos gerados se deram no sistema de referência datum SIRGAS2000 e em coordenadas geográficas. Foram identificados locais em que a faixa destinada à preservação sofria degradação. Os impactos ambientais ficam mais evidentes ao modo que se afasta do Açude de São Gonçalo, pondo em evidência a supressão da vegetação nativa, substituída pela pequena agricultura, pastagens e construção de moradias. Os pontos 1 e 3 se encontravam com o maior número de indivíduos de vegetação aberta e densa, e os pontos 2 e 4 com grandes áreas de cultivo e pastagens. Há uma escassez de vegetação nativa, pelo uso inadequado do solo em alguns pontos da Área de Preservação Permanente, em contraposição ao que rege a legislação.

Background: Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is a viral infection, caused by a lentivirus of the Retroviridae family, Orthoretrovirinael subfamily and its occurrence generates significant economic losses due to culling of positive animals as a measure of infection control. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence of horses positive for equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) and to identify the occurrence of areas with higher densities of cases in the states of Paraíba (PB), Pernambuco (PE), Rio Grande do Norte (RN) and Ceará (CE), Northeast region of Brazil, during the rainy (May and June) and dry (October and November) periods of 2017 and 2018.Materials, Methods & Results: Serum samples from 6,566 horses from the states of PB, PE, RN and CE, Brazil, provided by the Laboratório Veterinária Diagnóstico - Ltda., were used. Serological diagnosis of EIA was performed using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as a screening test and agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) as a confirmatory test. The apparent prevalence was obtained by dividing the number of seroreactive animals by the total number of animals, while the true prevalence was estimated by adjusting the apparent prevalence, considering the sensitivity (100%) and specificity (98.6%) of the diagnostic protocol used. For the construction of Kernel estimates, the Quartic function was used. In the dry season, of the 1,564 animals sampled, 28 were serologically positive, of which 19 belonged to the state of Ceará, 7 to Paraíba and 2 to Rio Grande do Norte. In 2018, it was observed that, during the rainy season, 26 of the 1,635 horses were seroreactive, with 19 cases resulting from Ceará, 4 from Paraíba and 3 from Pernambuco. In the dry season, 32 of the 1,526 animals were seroreactive to EIAV, of which 26 were from Ceará, 3 from Paraíba, 1 from Rio Grande do Norte and 2 from Pernambuco. In the dry period of 2017, the CE had a real prevalence of 1.22% (95% CI = 0.05 - 2.99%). In 2018, during the rainy season, prevalences of 0.03% (95% CI = 0 - 1.18%) were identified in CE and 1.69% (95% CI = 0 - 8.38%) in PE. Regarding the 2018 dry period, a prevalence of 1.32% (95% CI = 0.26 - 2.84%) was found in the state of CE. In both dry and rainy periods of 2017, the presence of spatial clusters of animals positive for EIA was observed, mainly in the border areas among the states of CE, PE, PB and RN. In 2018, there was a variation in the distribution of areas with higher densities of cases between the rainy and dry periods.Discussion: The state of CE had the highest prevalence of positive animals and the presence of areas with higher densities of EIA cases in both climatic periods, in the years 2017 and 2018. In some municipalities of the CE, important sporting events of agglomeration of animals take place, which can favor the transmission of EIAV by facilitating the contact of infected and susceptible animals. Population density may be a factor associated with the higher prevalence observed in this region, as it has the second largest herd among the states studied. Higher densities indirectly contribute to the occurrence of infectious diseases, as they favor the contact of infected and susceptible animals. The occurrence of higher densities of cases in the border areas of the states of PE, RN, CE, and PB may be related to the greater movement of animals in these regions, favoring the indirect contact of infected horses with susceptible ones. The observed results demonstrate the circulation of the EIAV in four states in the Northeast region of Brazil.Keywords: Equine infectious anemia virus, prevalence, spatial clusters, epidemiology.