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This research evaluates the behavior of plaster with a water-repellent additive when submitted to a natural aging process. Casting plaster and silane/siloxane-based water-repellent were used as materials. The water/plaster ratio was set at 0.7 and the contents of 0.2% and 0.4% of water-repellent were used, in relation to the plaster mass. Plaster pastes without water-repellent (reference) and containing mass water-repellent were evaluated at ‘zero’ age and after 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 days of natural aging. After 150 days of natural aging, it was observed that the mechanical properties of the material (compressive strength and hardness) did not undergo significant variations and remained above the minimum required by a standard. The addition of water-repellent resulted in a considerable reduction in water absorption, demonstrating the water repellency capacity of the material, compared to the reference specimen.

The leiuperid genus Pleurodema (Tshudi, 1838) currently comprises 15 species widely distributed in the Neotropical region (Frost, 2011), mainly in dry forests and open areas (Ferraro and Casagranda, 2009; Kolenc et al., 2009). Pleurodema diplolister (Peters, 1870) is the only species in the genus known to inhabit the Caatinga biome (shrub-like vegetation) (Cardoso and Arzabe, 1993). The species is also found in the Brazilian Cerrado and Cerrado-Caatinga transition zones (Andrade and Vaz-Silva, 2012).Pleurodema diplolister is a fossorial and omnivorous frog, and its explosive reproduction shows greater specialization between the anuran communities of the Caatinga (Hodl, 1992; Cardoso and Arzabe, 1993; Santos et al., 2003).Parasitological studies are important to understand host population dynamics, as well behavioral, morphological and dietary shifts, especially within highly specialized anurans such as P.diplolister. To date, only two records of parasitism in the genus Pleurodema are available, all of these by nematodes of the family Cosmocercidae: Aplectana meriodionalis Lent and Freitas, 1948 infecting Pleurodema borellii Peracca, 1895 (Baker, 1980) and Oxyascaris oxyascaris Travassos, 1920 in diplolisterP. (Vicente et al., 1990).Herein, we present data on helminth infection of the frog P. diplolister in the Caatinga of Pernambuco State, Brazil.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-03T15:30:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-11-01. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-11-04T10:15:53Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 S1519-69842014000400943.pdf: 801219 bytes, checksum: cbe9e69cc486a56335f0da3321496b65 (MD5) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Helmintos e pentastomídeos foram analisados em lagartos exóticos Hemidactylus mabouia e nativos Phyllopezus pollicaris, vivendo sinantropicamente em uma área urbana da cidade de Crato, Estado do Ceará, Nordeste do Brasil. Foram coletados 194 lagartos, sendo 76 espécimes de H. mabouia e 118 de P. pollicaris. Seis espécies de parasitas foram encontradas infectando H. mabouia: Oochoristica sp., Parapharyngodon sceleratus, Physaloptera retusa, Physalopteroides venancioi, Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis e Raillietiella mottae; enquanto em P. pollicaris foram encontradas quatro espécies: Oochoristica sp., P. sceleratus, P. retusa, and S. oxkutzcabiensis. Três novos registros de hospedeiros são reportados: P. retusa em H. mabouia e Oochoristica sp. e P. retusa infectando P. pollicaris. Cerca de 75% dos parasitas encontrados foram compartilhados pelas espécies de lagartos. Ainda, H. mabouia apresentou maior diversidade de parasitas do que P. pollicaris (6 espécies versus 4), enquanto P. pollicaris possui maior intensidade de infecção media do que H. mabouia (1.536 versus 121). Helminths and pentastomids were examined in exotic Hemidactylus mabouia and native Phyllopezus pollicaris lizards, living synanthropically in an urban area in the municipality of Crato, Ceara state, northeastern Brazil. A total of 194 lizards were collected, being 76 specimens of H. mabouia e 118 specimens of P. pollicaris. Six parasite species were found infecting H. mabouia: the cestode Oochoristica sp., the nematodes Parapharyngodon sceleratus, Physaloptera retusa, Physalopteroides venancioi, and Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis and the pentastomid Raillietiella mottae; while four parasite species were found associated with P. pollicaris: Oochoristica sp., P. sceleratus, P. retusa, and S. oxkutzcabiensis. Three new host records were reported: P. retusa infecting H. mabouia and P. retusa and Oochoristica sp. infecting P. pollicaris. About 75% of the parasites species found were shared by both lizards. Moreover, H. mabouia showed greater diversity than P. pollicaris (6 versus 4 species), while P. pollicaris had higher intensity of infection than H. mabouia (1536 versus 121 specimens). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioprospecção Molecular, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, CE, Brazil Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia – DSE, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza – CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba – UFPB, Cidade Universitária, Campus I, CEP 58059-900, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, CE, Brazil Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, CE, Brazil. Departamento de Biologia e Zootecnia, Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira, Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP, Passeio Monção, 226, CEP 15385000, Ilha Solteira, SP, Brazil. CNPq: PQ-311713/2012-2

Ethnozoological studies have shown that Spilotes pullatus Linn. (Colubridae: Ophidia), is associated with medicinal and magic-religious uses in Brazil.This study was designed to determine the chemical composition of the oil extracted from the body fat of S. pullatus and to test its antimicrobial properties, alone and in association with aminoglycosides, against fungi and bacterial strains in concentrations ranging between 1024 and 0.5 µg/mL.The snakes were collected in the Chapada do Araripe, county of Crato, Ceará State, Brazil. The oil was extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus using hexane. The methyl esters of the fatty acids present in the samples were identified using GC-MS. The antimicrobial and drug modulatory activities of oil were tested by microdilution against fungal and bacterial strains.The chemical composition of the fixed oils of S. pullatus identified 10 constituents representing 94.97% of the total sample. The percentages of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were 33.59 and 61.38%, respectively, with the most abundant components being elaidic (37.26%). The oil did not demonstrate any antimicrobial or antifungal activity when tested alone, presenting MIC values ≥ 1024 µg/mL. However, when associated with antibiotics, it demonstrated synergistic effects with gentamicin against all the bacterial lineages assayed, and antagonistic effects with amikacin and neomycin against strains of Escherichia coli.Oil extracted from the body fat of S. pullatus did not demonstrate any inhibitory effects on bacterial or fungal activities, but was effective in modulating the effects of certain antibiotics.

We present data on nematode infracommunity of the arboreal lizard Polycrhus acutirostris in the semiarid Caatinga biome, northeastern Brazil. Twenty- twolizard specimens collected in the municipality of Várzea Alegre in Ceará State and in the municipality of Exu in Pernambuco State were analyzed. Two species of nematodes were found, an Oxyuridae, Gynaecometra bahiensis, which had amean intensity of infection 23.5 ± 5.8 (prevalence 22%) and a Physalopteridae, Physaloptera retusa which had infection intensity of 21 (prevalence 9%). There were no significant differences between the parasitism rates of male or female lizards. Polychrus acutirostris demonstrated low richness of nematode parasites, but high levels of infection with G. bahiensis. Polychrus acutirostrisis reported here as a new host for P.retusa.