Ana Beatriz Gorini da Veiga

Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre | UFCSPA · Department of Basic Health Sciences

Background and Objectives: Most individuals infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms of COVID-19, which usually resolve after few days. Regardless of symptoms, infected people can transmit the virus to others especially on the first days of infection. Quantitative reverse transc...

Chikungunya is a reemerging arthropod-borne virus that has been causing large outbreaks in the Americas. In Brazil, Asian Caribbean and ECSA genotypes have been detected and lead to large outbreaks in several states since 2014. In Rio Grande do Sul (RS), the southernmost State, the first autochthonous cases were reported in 2016. We employed genome...

We evaluated epidemiologic and molecular characteristics of monkeypox virus (MPXV) infections sampled from 2 healthcare nurses. Five days after collecting samples from an infected patient, the nurses showed typical MPXV manifestations; quantitative PCR and whole-genome sequencing confirmed MPXV infection, most likely transmitted through contact wit...

Zoonotic spillover is a phenomenon characterized by the transfer of pathogens between different animal species. Most human emerging infectious diseases originate from non-human animals, and human-related environmental disturbances are the driving forces of the emergence of new human pathogens. Synthesizing the sequence of basic events involved in t...

We performed an epi and molecular characterization of two healthcare workers MPXV occupational infection. Five days after the sampling collection, nurses developed typical MPXV infection symptoms. Infection was confirmed by qPCR and whole genome sequencing. The most likely transmission route was through contact with fomites in the patient belonging...

Epidemiological surveillance and notification of respiratory infections is important for management and control of epidemics and pandemics. Fact-based decisions, like social distancing policies and preparation of hospital beds are taken based on several factors, including case numbers, hence health authorities need quick access to reliable and well...

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 is paramount for understanding viral dynamics, contributing to disease control. This study analyzed SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, including the first reported case in each Regional Health Coordination and cases from three epidemic peaks. Ninety SARS-CoV-2 genomes from RS were sequ...

Background: Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 is paramount for understanding viral dynamics, contributing to disease control. This study analyzed SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, including the first case of each Regional Health Coordination and cases from three epidemic peaks. Methods: Ninety SARS-CoV-2 genomes from...

Any condition leading to chronic liver disease is a potential oncogenic agent for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Alterations in the expression of antioxidant enzymes could alter the redox balance. Our aim was to evaluate the expression of the genes GPX1, GPX4, SEP15, SELENOP, SOD1, SOD2, GSR, CAT, and NFE2L2 in patients with HCC. Differential gene...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caught the attention of the global community and rekindled the debate about our ability to prevent and manage outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics. Many alternatives are suggested to address these urgent issues. Some of them are quite interesting, but with little practical application in the short or medium term. To...

Introduction Influenza B virus (IBV) causes respiratory tract infections with mild, moderate or life‐threatening symptoms. This study describes the epidemiology of IBV infection in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, along 17 years. Method Nasopharyngeal samples were collected from outpatients presenting acute respiratory illness (ARI) between 2003 an...

Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) are associated with respiratory infection in the human population worldwide, but HAdV is underreported and less studied than other respiratory viruses. We investigated HAdV in patients with respiratory infection in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, between 2004 and 2018. The frequency and seasonality of HAdV, clinical sympt...

Introduction Respiratory viral infection can cause severe disease and hospitalization, especially among children, the elderly, and patients with comorbidities. In Brazil, official surveillance system of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) investigates influenza A (IAV) and B (IBV) viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (HAdV),...

New challenges (such as the rapid unfolding of a pandemic) demand new paradigms in scientific publication. In this study a “live figure” that is updated daily with new data is available at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/wladimir.alonso#!/vizhome/Dashboard_Covid-19_EN/DashboardEN The main objective of this study was to provide historical and...

Background: Allergic respiratory diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis have increased considerably in the last decades. Objective: The present study estimates prevalence trends of asthma, allergic rhinitis and pollinosis in the population of a city of Southern Brazil, without restriction of age, from 2011 to 2018, using the ISAAC standardiz...

Amazonian biodiversity is increasingly threatened due to the weakening of policies for combating deforestation, especially in Brazil. Loss of animal and plant species, many not yet known to science, is just one among many negative consequences of Amazon deforestation. Deforestation affects indigenous communities, riverside as well as urban populati...

Influenza surveillance is important for disease control and should consider possible coinfection with different viruses, which can be associated with disease severity. This study analyzed 34 459 patients with respiratory infection from 2009 to 2018, of whom 8011 were positive for influenza A virus (IAV) or influenza B virus (IBV). We found 18 cases...

Nineteen influenza co-infection cases, including one triple infection, are reported. Compared with mono-infected cases, co-infection was associated with cardiopathy and death outcome. Co-infections occurred in years when different influenza viruses circulated at similar frequencies, reinforcing the importance of epidemiological surveillance. Abstr...

Background: The number of fungal infections has increased in recent years in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. Epidemiological studies are important for proper control of infections. Aims: To evaluate the etiology of fungal infections in patients in RS, from 2003 to 2015. Methods: This is a retrospective and longitudinal study carried out at Myc...

Objective: This study analyzes and describes trends in prevalence of asthma and rhinitis in children 6–7 years old living in Santo Angelo, Brazil, by comparing data from 2007, 2012 and 2017. Methods: The ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) standardized written questionnaire was used in a three cross-sectional survey. Th...

Influenza virus is one of the most critical viruses in epidemiology. The 2009 pandemic was caused by a reassortment of the human-avian-swine virus with 8 RNA segments responsible for all virus proteins. Segment 7 codifies for matrix proteins M1 and M2. These proteins use to show low mutation rate since the matrix is fundamental for virion encapsida...

Aims Influenza A virus (IAV) can cause severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), and disease outcome may be associated with changes in the microbiome of the nasopharynx. This is a pilot study to characterize the microbiome of the nasopharynx in patients hospitalized with SARI, infected and not infected by IAV. Methods and Results Using target seq...

Objective: Respiratory infections cause high morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study aims to estimate the relationship between allergic respiratory diseases with the occurrence of recurrent respiratory infection (RRI) in children and adolescents. Methods: The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire and a ques...

The first autochthonous dengue case in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Southern Brazil, occurred in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, only imported cases were reported in RS, but from 2010 to 2013, reports of autochthonous infections increased significantly. This study analyzes and discusses laboratory, demographic, and clinical data regarding dengue cases in RS, fr...

Infection by hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a worldwide public health problem. Chronic HBV infection with high viral replication may lead to cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. Mutant HBV strains, such as the HBV A1762T/G1764A double mutant, have been associated with poor prognosis and higher risk of the patient for developing cirrhosis and/or h...

Background Due to the high prevalence of co-infection by hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the severity of these infections, the understanding of the biological mechanisms involved in these processes, including viral behavior and host genetic profile, is of great importance for patient treatment and for public healt...

AIM To evaluate the occurrence of resistant mutations in treatment-naïve hepatitis C virus (HCV) sequences deposited in the European hepatitis C virus database (euHCVdb). METHODS The sequences were downloaded from the euHCVdb (https://euhcvdb.ibcp.fr/euHCVdb/). The search was performed for full-length NS3 protease, NS5A and NS5B polymerase sequenc...

Background & aims: Development of resistance results from mutations in the viral genome, and the presence of selective drug pressure leads to the emergence of a resistant virus population. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of genetic variability on the genetic barrier to drug resistance to DAAs. Methods: The genetic barrier was qua...

euhcvdb-NS3-1a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS3-3a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS3-1b. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5a-2a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5a-2b. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5b-1a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5b-1b. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS3-2a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS3-1b. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5a-1a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5a-1b. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5a-3a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5b-2b. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5b-3a. (FAS)

euhcvdb-NS5b-2a. (FAS)

For most mammalian species, maternal behavior has an essential role in the development of the offspring. The frequency of licking/grooming (LG) the pups has been used as a parameter to evaluate maternal care, having mothers with high (HL) or low (LL) frequencies of LG. This study aimed to analyze the gene expression of the receptors for dopamine (D...

Objective: A growing number of published articles report the expression of specific genes with different behavior patterns in rats. The levels of messenger ribonucleic acid transcripts are usually analyzed by reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction and quantified after normalization with an internal control or reference gene (h...

Background According to official records, dengue was introduced in Brazil in the 80's; since then several epidemics have occurred. Meanwhile, in Rio Grande do Sul (RS, Southern Brazil) the first autochthonous case occurred only in 2007. Methodology and Principal Findings In this study we report laboratory surveillance of dengue cases and seasonali...

The bilin-binding proteins (BBP) from lepidopteran insects are members of the lipocalin family of proteins and play a special role in pigmentation through the binding of biliverdin IXγ. Lopap, a BBP-like protein from the venom of the toxic caterpillar Lonomia obliqua has been reported to act as a serine protease that activates the coagulation proen...

During the 2009 influenza A pH1N1 pandemics in Brazil, the state that was most affected was Rio Grande do Sul (RS), with over 3,000 confirmed cases, including 298 deaths. While no cases were confirmed in 2010, 103 infections with 14 deaths by pH1N1 were reported in 2011. Genomic analysis of the circulating viruses is fundamental for understanding v...

Context Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause fulminant hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and is one of the most common causes of acute and chronic liver failure. The genetic variants of HBV can be decisive for the evolution of these diseases as well as for the election of therapy. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate and...

Many active principles produced by animals, plants and microorganisms have been employed in the development of new drugs for the treatment of human diseases. Among animals known to produce pharmacologically active molecules that interfere in human cell physiology, the caterpillar Lonomia obliqua has become the focus of toxicological studies due to...

Influenza viruses are highly contagious and circulate in all geographical regions. During the 2009 pandemics caused by influenza A(H1N1), the State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) was the first to detected A(H1N1) cases. In 2010, a broad vaccination program was applied in RS when 44.9% of the population joined the program. During the 2011, a total of 1,4...

Correlation between virologic profile and clinical features of patients infected by influenza virus provides important information for epidemiological control and clinical management of future disease outbreaks. Samples from patients in Southern Brazil, from June to December 2009, were examined and the viral load was correlated with epidemiological...

Molecular Biology is a relatively recent field of the Biological Sciences and there is still a lot to be discovered about it. This area of knowledge becomes even more complex and hard to understand in a distance education course. In order to access solutions to this problem, our group came up with the use of modern teaching resources – based on int...

The control of viral infections, mainly those caused by influenza viruses, is of great interest in Public Health. Several studies have shown the presence of active properties in the hemolymph of arthropods, some of which are of interest for the development of new pharmacological drugs. Recently, we have demonstrated the existence of a potent antivi...

The natural variation in maternal care is an interesting model to analyze the physiological mechanisms that lead to differences in the mother-infant interaction. Several studies have shown differences in the expression of brain receptors such as the dopamine, estrogen and oxytocin receptors in areas classically involved in the onset and/or maintena...

No Rio Grande do Sul, a vigilância da Influenza iniciou sua estruturação no começo de 2000, baseada em três unidades-sentinela e na investigação de surtos de Síndrome Gripal. Com a questão da SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) e da ameaça do vírus da Influenza Aviária A (H5N1), a preparação para o enfrentamento de uma possível pandemia ganhou...

Many active principles produced by animals, plants and microorganisms have been employed in the development of new drugs to treat diseases such as cancer. Among the animals that produce pharmacologically active molecules capable of interfering in human cellular physiology, the highlights are venomous arthropods, such as scorpions, bees, wasps, spid...

We investigated the effects of low lipoprotein receptor deficiency in cholesterol blood concentrations, blood pressure, hemostatic factors, and the autonomic nervous system in three groups: control mice fed standard diet (CO, n=9), lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice (LDLr(-/-), n=9) fed standard diet (LDLr-S) or hypercholesterolemic diet (LDLr-H,...

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is characterized by left ventricular dysfunction, resulting in hemodynamic changes, sustained inflammatory state, as well as increase in oxidative stress. Physical exercise has been described as an important nonpharmacological procedure in the treatment of CHF, contributing to the improvement of the clinical outcomes in...

Accidents with the caterpillar Lonomia obliqua are often associated with a coagulation disorder and hemorrhagic syndrome in humans. In the present study, we have constructed cDNA libraries from two venomous structures of the caterpillar, namely the tegument and the bristle. High-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analyses were performed in pa...

Lyophilized Lonomia obliqua crude bristle extract (LOCBE) diluted in physiological saline (15, 35 and 50 microg of protein/paw) was injected in the plantar surface of the hind paw of the rat, causing a nociceptive response which lasted from 30 to a maximum of 50 min, peaking in the first 5 min. The animals also presented hematuria and nasal bleedin...

Envenomation caused by Lonomia obliqua caterpillars is an increasing problem in Southern Brazil. The clinical profile is characterized by a profound hemorrhagic disorder. In the present study, we describe the characterization of a fibrin(ogen)olytic factor (lonofibrase) isolated from a venomous secretion of the caterpillars. The crude extract showe...

The hemorrhagic syndrome caused by accidents with caterpillars of the genus Lonomia has been the focus of several clinical and biochemical studies, since its venom is composed of many active principles that interfere with the hemostatic system. Whereas a fibrinolytic agent has been characterized in the venom of Lonomia achelous, in Lonomia obliqua,...

The number of accidents caused by injection of the venom of Lonomia obliqua caterpillars in Southern Brazil has increased in the last years. Even though this kind of envenomation has an important social and medical impact, nothing is known about the cellular structures responsible for the production and secretion of this venom. Here we identify and...