Diversity Of Medium-sized And Large Mammals From Atlantic Forest Remnants In Southern Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Studies on mammal diversity provide the essential groundwork for the development of conservation methods and practices. The region of the Poços de Caldas Plateau is lacks such studies, which may be a problem for future conservation actions. Here, we analyze the richness of medium-sized and large mammals from Atlantic Forest remnants on the Poços de Caldas Plateau, Minas Gerais state. Diurnal censuses of direct observations and mammal signs were conducted, and we documented 20 species of mammals belonging to eight orders. Three species of primates, one carnivore, one cingulate, one lagomorpha, three rodents, one artiodactyla, and two marsupials were found. The largest forest remnant that presented the greatest richness is currently a conservation unit. Forest remnants are important for the consolidation of management strategies and have fundamental role for the conservation of mammal diversity in the south of Minas Gerais state. © 2016 Check List and Authors.125CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e TecnológicoConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Monitoring Activity Of Living Cells Marked With Colloidal Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals in quantum confinement regime (quantum dots) present several well known features which make them very useful tools for biological labeling purposes. Low photo-bleaching rates, high chemical stability, active surface allowing conjugation to living cells, explains the success of this labeling procedure over the commonly used fluorescent dyes. In this paper we report the results obtained with high fluorescent core-shell CdTe-CdS (diameter = 3-7 nm) colloidal nanocrystals synthesized in aqueous medium and conjugated to glucose molecules, incubated with living yeast cells, in order to investigate their glucose up-take activity.6088Menezes, F.D., Brasil Jr., A.G., Moreira, W.L., Barbosa, L.C., Ferreira, R.C., Cerar, C.L., Farias, P.M.A., Santos, B.S., (2005) Microelectronics Journal, 36, pp. 989-991Alivisatos, A., (1996) J. Phys. Chem., 100, p. 13226Castro, V., Farias, P.M.A., Santos, B.S., Menezes, F.D., Ferreira, R., Fontes, A., Lima, P.R.M., Cesar, C.L., (2004) Blood, 104 (11), pp. 741aBrus, L.E., (1991) Appl. Phys. A, 53, p. 465Weller, H., (1993) Adv. Mater., 5 (2), p. 88Brus, L.E., Harkless, J.A.W., Stillinger, F.H., (1996) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 118, p. 4834Schaller, R.D., Klimov, V.I., (2004) Phys. Rev. Lett., 92, p. 186601Gao, M., Sun, J., Dulkeith, E., Gaponik, N., Lemmer, U., Feldmann, J., (2002) Langmuir, 18, p. 4098Pileni, M.P., (2000) Catal. Today, 58, p. 151Moreira, W.L., Fontes, A., Neves, A.A.R., Thomas, A.A., Barbosa, L.C., De Menezes, F.D., Farias, P.M.A., Cesar, C.L., (2005) Proc. Spie: Genet. Eng. Opt. Probes Biomed. Appl. III, 5704, p. 36Farias, P.M.A., Santos, B.S., Menezes, F.D., Cesar, C.L., Fontes, A., Barjas-Castro, M.L., Castro, V., Ferreira, R.C., (2005) Journal of Biomedical Optics, 10 (4), pp. 44023-44026Farias, P.M.A., Santos, B.S., Menezes, F.D., Cesar, C.L., Fontes, A., Barjas-Castro, M.L., Castro, V., Ferreira, R.C., (2005) Journal of Microscopy, 219 (3), pp. 103-108Borchert, H., Talapin, D.V., Gaponik, N., McGinley, C., Adam, S., Lobo, A., Möller, T., Weller, H., (2003) J. Phys. Chem. B, 107, p. 9662Rockenberger, J., Trögr, L., Rogach, A.L., Tischer, M., Grundmann, M., Eychmüller, A., Weller, H., (1998) J. Chem. Phys, 108, p. 780