This study aims to report the incidence of Calodium hepaticum among dogs and cats, pets or stray animals, captured by the Zoonosis Control Center (CCZ) in Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Fecal samples from 108 pet dogs and eight pet cats, and from 357 stray dogs and 97 stray cats, captured by CCZ, were analyzed within the period from July 2010 to November 2012. Coproparasitological exams were performed by techniques of sedimentation, centrifuge-flotation, and simple flotation. Among 465 fecal samples from dogs and 105 from cats, the overall spurious infections for C. hepaticum eggs were 1.05%. For dogs, this positivity was 0.43% and for cats it was 3.81%. The two positive dogs were stray and out of the four cats, three were stray and one was a pet. Although the occurrence of C. hepaticum eggs was low, these data reveal the existence of infected rodents, especially in public places, since, out of the six infected animals, five (83.33%) were stray. These results are discussed and analyzed with an emphasis on the risk to public health.

Optimization of cellulose enzymatic hydrolysis is crucial for cost effective bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. Enzymes involved in cellulose hydrolysis are often inhibited by their end-products, cellobiose and glucose. Efforts have been made to produce more efficient enzyme variants that are highly tolerant to product accumulation; however, further improvements are still necessary. Based on an alternative approach we initially investigated whether recently formed glucose could be phosphorylated into glucose-6-phosphate to circumvent glucose accumulation and avoid inhibition of beta-glucosidase from Bacillus polymyxa (BGLA). The kinetic properties and structural analysis of BGLA in the presence of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) were investigated. Kinetic studies demonstrated that enzyme was not inhibited by G6P. In contrast, the presence of G6P activated the enzyme, prevented beta glucosidase feedback inhibition by glucose accumulation and improved protein stability. G6P binding was investigated by fluorescence quenching experiments and the respective association constant indicated high affinity binding of G6P to BGLA. Data reported here are of great impact for future design strategies for second-generation bioethanol production.

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Animal ancylostomiasis co-occurs with gastrointestinal and respiratory disorders, emaciation, and developmental delay, and may progress to cachexia and death. A total of 357 fecal samples from stray dogs captured by the Center for Zoonotic Disease Control in Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil, from June 2011 to January 2012, were assessed by the Willis-Mollay method. The prevalence of positive dogs for Ancylostoma spp. eggs was 64.43% (230/357), affecting 63.16% (120/190) of females and 65.87% (110/167) of males. Animals aged 2 to 5 years showed higher parasite infection rates (77.78%), but no statistical difference was noted between age groups and sex of infected dogs. There was coinfection of Ancylostoma spp. with Trichuris vulpis and Toxocara spp. Summertime revealed a larger significant correlation with Ancylostoma spp. infection. Dogs infected by Ancylostoma spp. were detected in 44 (64.71%) out of 68 neighborhoods. Infected stray dogs are an important source of infection as they roam the streets and public squares. Zoonotic control measures are therefore crucial, mainly on the outskirts, where the number of infected dogs is larger