Maria Elizabeth Menezes

Publications (7) View all

• Article: 15 STR loci frequencies in the population from Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil.

  Maristela Ocampos, Roberto Cid Fernandes, Ana Frederica Sutter Latorre, Cláudia Maria Dornelles da Silva, Fabíola Pozza Korndorfer, Adriana de Carvalho Giamarusti, Maria Elizabeth Menezes
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  ABSTRACT: Allele frequencies for 15 short tandem repeats (STR) loci were determined with a sample of 3000 unrelated individuals from the population of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. The loci are most commonly used in forensic and paternity testing, being analyzed by the Powerplex 16 (Promega) commercial kit. The data shows that most polymorphic loci were Penta E and FGA. The distributions of the genotypes in the evaluated loci are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Comparative analyses between our population data and other Brazilian populations are presented. The calculated forensic parameters showed that the loci are useful for the solution of forensic problems in Brazilian Southern region.
  Forensic science international. Genetics 10/2009; 3(4):e129-31. · 2.42 Impact Factor
• Article: High proportion of hepatitis C virus genotypes 1 and 3 in a large cohort of patients from Southern Brazil.

  Cláudia Maria Dornelles da Silva, Cintia Costi, Luciano Percival Krug, Ana Beatris Ramos, Tarciana Grandi, Vitório Luiz Gandolfi, Maria Elizabeth Menezes, Maristela Ocampos, Christian Niel, Maria Lucia Rosa Rossetti
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  ABSTRACT: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolates have been divided into six genotypes (1 to 6). The duration of hepatitis C standard treatment is 48 weeks for patients infected with HCV genotype 1 vs 24 weeks for those infected with genotypes 2 and 3. A total of 1544 HCV isolates from chronic patients living in the southern Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul (RS, n=627) and Santa Catarina (SC, n=917) were genotyped by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. In RS, 338 (53.9%; 95% CI 50.0-57.8%), 34 (5.4%; 95% CI 3.8-7.4%) and, 255 (40.7%; 95% CI 36.9-44.6%) samples were from genotypes 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In SC, 468 (51%; 95% CI 47.8-54.2%), 26 (2.9%; 95% CI 1.9-4.1%) and, 423 (46.1%; 95% CI 42.9-49.3%) samples were from genotypes 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Genotyping results were confirmed by direct nucleotide sequencing of PCR products derived from 68 samples, without any discrepancy between PCR-RFLP and nucleotide sequencing methods. In conclusion, almost half of the hepatitis C patients from South of Brazil are infected by genotypes 2 and 3 and, these results have important consequential therapeutic implications as they can be treated for only 24 weeks, not 48.
  Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 12/2007; 102(7):867-70. · 2.15 Impact Factor
• Article: TT virus infection in children and adults who visited a general hospital in the south of Brazil for routine procedure

  Vasconcelos Helena CF, Menezes Maria E, Christian Niel
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  ABSTRACT: TT virus (TTV) is a newly described nonenveloped human virus, with a circular, negative-stranded DNA genome, that was first identified in the blood of a patient with posttransfusion hepatitis of unknown etiology. PCR primers and conditions used for TTV DNA amplification may greatly influence the level of TTV detection in serum. Three PCR assays, with different regions of the genome as targets, were used to test TTV DNA in 130 sera from children and adults visiting a hospital in the south of Brazil, most of them for routine procedure. Forty-four percent of adult sera and 73% of sera from children aged 0-10 years were TTV positive with at least one PCR assay. However, the three assays were able to detect only 33%, 35%, and 70% of the total positive samples. Our results showed a high prevalence of TTV infection in the south of Brazil, particularly among young children, and confirmed the necessity of performing several PCR assays to assess the true TTV prevalence in a determined population.
  Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. 01/2001;
• Article: Chlamydia pneumoniae and atherosclerosis. Identification of bacterial DNA in the arterial wall

  Coutinho Mário Sérgio Soares de Azeredo, Nakamae Fernando Joo Daniel, Menezes Maria Elizabeth
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  ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: The intracellular Gram-negative bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae has been associated with atherosclerosis. The presence of Chlamydia pneumoniae has been investigated in fragments of the arterial wall with a technique for DNA identification. METHODS: Arterial fragments obtained from vascular surgical procedures in 58 patients were analyzed. From these patients, 39 were males and the mean age was 65±6 years. The polymerase chain reaction was used to identify the bacterial DNA with a pair of primers that codify the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia pneumoniae. The amplified product was visualized by electrophoresis in the 2% agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide, and it was considered positive when migrating in the band of molecular weight of the positive controls. RESULTS: Seven (12%) out of the 58 patients showed positive results for Chlamydia pneumoniae. CONCLUSION: DNA from Chlamydia pneumoniae was identified in the arterial wall of a substantial number of patients with atherosclerosis. This association, which has already been described in other countries, corroborates the evidence favoring a role played by Chlamydia pneumoniae in atherogenesis.
  Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia. 01/2000;
• Article: The lac permease pf E. coli: site-directed mutagenisis studies on mechanism of H+ coupled active lactose transport

  Menezes, M.E, Roepe, P.D, Consler, T.G, Kaback, H.R
  Research in Microbiology 10/1990; · 2.76 Impact Factor