Publications by authors named "A Picado"

Estuaries are among the most sensitive systems to climate change. Previous studies have suggested that the Sado Estuary (Portugal) has decreasing trends for water temperature, which is uncommon in a global warming scenario. However, no long-term analysis regarding water column conditions has been conducted on this estuary to date.

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Background: Vertical transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi represents approximately 20% of new Chagas disease cases. Early detection and treatment for women of childbearing age and newborns is a public health priority, but the lack of a simple and reliable diagnostic test remains a major barrier. We aimed to evaluate the performance of a point-of-care loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for the detection of T cruzi.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Europe frequently experiences the introduction of bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes, with serotype 3 recently appearing in the Netherlands, largely spread by the Culicoides insect vector through wind.
  • - A new Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) method was created to evaluate the risk of BTV-3 being spread from Sardinia to mainland Europe, using advanced atmospheric models to predict how far the virus-carrying insects can fly.
  • - The study indicates that the risk of BTV introduction is mainly confined to the Mediterranean region, particularly affecting parts of Italy and neighboring areas, but longer flight durations suggest possible spread to northern and central Italy and parts of France and Spain, highlighting the need for better data
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Shipping activity can be a substantial source of pollution and impact on the environment, including air, water and ecosystems, as well as adverse health and climatic effects. Due to the distribution of maritime transport activity routes in the EU, a large portion of the population is exposed to shipping pollution throughout Europe. The ongoing European project EMERGE aims to investigate and quantify these impacts over Europe, and in more detail, in specific case studies regions.

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Leishmaniases are zoonotic diseases caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. In Bolivia, leishmaniasis occurs mainly in the cutaneous form (CL) followed by the mucosal or mucocutaneous form (ML or MCL), grouped as tegumentary leishmaniosis (TL), while cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are rare. The cases of TL are routinely diagnosed by parasitological methods: Direct Parasitological Exam (DPE) and axenic culture, the latter being performed only by specialized laboratories.

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