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The Ore Treatment Unit was a uranium mining company that is currently being decommissioned. The local rainfall index makes it necessary to release effluents into the environment. After releasing, the wastewater is available for unrestricted use. Current study aims to use national and international recommendations to assess the radiological potability of released effluents at one of the three points of company's interface with the environment. Twenty-four samples of water were collected and activity concentrations (AC) were obtained by gross alpha count, gross beta count, and for arsenazo spectrophotometry. Statistical analysis techniques were applied to the data with the purpose of understanding the results for the soluble, particulate, and total fractions. The mean AC for effluents were 3.580, 0.082, 0.103, 0.063, and 0.090 Bq L−1 for Unat, 226Ra, 210Pb, 232Th, and 228Ra, respectively, for the total fraction. The analysis of variance pointed to Unat as a critical radionuclide, since it presented more than 90% of the total AC released into the environment. Pearson's R2 pointed to soluble fraction as a major contributor to the total AC released. The guidance level proposed by WHO was used to assess the radiological potability of the effluents. The results obtained indicated the need for trigger other analyses. Committed effective dose was estimated due to the unrestricted use of effluents and the value obtained, 0.23 mSv year−1, was below the maximum allowed limit. Finally, the radiotoxicity of the released effluent was evaluated and the value obtained was ~ 50% of the maximum allowed limit. In conclusion, the present study showed that the level of radioactivity released into the environment by the Ore Treatment Unit does not present a radiological risk to the surrounding population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chagas Disease (CD) affects 6–7 million people worldwide and is related to poverty-promoting conditions. Chronic asymptomatic cases are mostly invisible to health systems. Aiming (1) to translate CD discoveries into education/information practices to raise alertness and empowerment of affected people; and (2) to perform an active search of CD cases, articulating intersectoral actions to improve the access of infected people to the local health service for the treatment of CD; our research group developed and tested under field conditions as innovative social technology: an itinerant education interdisciplinary setting named "Chagas Express XXI" (CE21). Methodology: CE21 was created as an "imaginary train" with ~40 ArtScience workshops, games, laboratory activities and conversation circles. An entry/exit plus six activity modules combined associations of affected people, microscopic observations, One Health education, and wellness activities. CE21 was conceived as a social technology, since all the processes were co-created with CD patients and inter-sector local partners. Descriptive statistics showed quantitative data collected throughout the expeditions (CD knowledge, serological results). Qualitative data accessed the public perceptions about the education activities. Principal findings: CE21 was exhibited in local educational institutions (schools, universities) in four cities, engaging 2,117 people that evaluated the 41 activities carried out. Citizens and health professionals enjoyed acquisition of information related to blood, parasites, vectors, reservoirs, environmental changes, and social determinants of CD. Further, local legacies of 600 participants volunteer for health promotion groups and CD associations, local empowerment groups to fight for better health conditions, and 05 mural paintings. We observed that 81% of the participants ignored the possibility of treating CD while 52% of the participants requested a blood test for CD showing seropositivity in 20% of them. Conclusions: CE21 is a social technology potentially useful for health and science education and active search of asymptomatic CD chronic cases. Moreover, this technology may be adapted to understand and to cooperate in other potentially epidemic situations, especially NTDs related. Author summary: In the last decade one important issue concerning Chagas Disease (CD) is the active engagement of CD affected persons (patients, families, friends, students, and health professionals) as protagonists of a global struggle against neglection. Since 2015 CD patients of Fiocruz-Rio de Janeiro were in close contact with our education research group, where they were able to develop ArtScience activities related to information, education, and self-consciousness. This work paved the way for the creation of the Rio Chagas Association in 2016. However, its members often requested opportunities to offer activities of this nature in their birthplaces, where their families still live in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability and at risk of infection. To address this request, our group developed a social technology called "Chagas Express XXI" (CE21), an expedition that offered 41 practical ArtScience activities that were co-created and co-mediated by people affected by DC, researchers, and graduate students. We tested CE21 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where 2,117 people filled out the participation forms. Among them, 1,100 adults requested the available serological test, and 20% were diagnosed with positive CD. These results support that CE21 could be used as a tool for active search of chronic asymptomatic cases. Further, 600 participants were registered to collaborate in health promotion nuclei to foster new associations of CD affected persons. Our study presents an innovative social technology to address prevention and health care for CD using non-formal learning and its corresponding educational resources. This education technology can be applied to other NTD by direct communication to people at risk of infection and/or affected in endemic areas. Science and health education are intimately related and the association with the art tools helps to improve knowledge communication to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characterization of karyotypes is an important aspect in understanding the structure and evolution of genomes. Polybia is a genus of social wasps of the family Vespidae. This genus has 58 species, but for only 8 of these chromosome number and morphology have been reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to describe and characterize the Polybia fastidiosuscula Saussure karyotype, presenting the first case of a B chromosome in Vespidae. In addition, we investigated the chromatin composition of this species through C-banding, base-specific fluorochrome staining, and physical mapping of 7 microsatellites and 18S rDNA. Four colonies of P. fastidiosuscula from Minas Gerais and Paraná states, Brazil, were analyzed. The chromosome number identified was 2n = 34, and 2 colonies presented a B chromosome. We characterized the chromatin composition of this species, analyzing the existence of different microsatellite- rich heterochromatic regions which are also enriched with AT or GC base pairs. We suggest an intraspecific origin of the B chromosome based on the homology of the heterochromatic composition with A chromosomes and also verify that the TTAGG and TCAGG sequences are not telomeric, but only microsatellites that occur in the centromeres of most chromosomes, as well as GAG and CGG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]