Microplastics determination in gastrointestinal tracts of european sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilt-head sea bream (Sparus aurata) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)

Microplastic pollution has an extremely widespread distribution, to the extent that microplastics could be ingested by aquatic organisms, including species of commercial importance for fisheries and aquaculture. In this work, the anthropogenic particles content of the gastrointestinal tracts of 86 individuals of cultivated European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, n = 45) and gilt-head sea bream (Sparus aurata, n = 41) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) was determined. Samples were bought at local markets and directly transported to the laboratory. After the dissection of the fishes and digestion of the gastrointestinal tracts in 10% KOH (w/v) at 60◦C for 24 h, the digests were filtered (50 µm stainless-steel mesh) and visualized under a stereomicroscope, finding that most of the items were colourless (47.7% for Dicentrarchus labrax and 60.9% for Sparus aurata) and blue (35.3% vs. 24.8%) microfibers, with an average length of 1957 ± 1699 µm and 1988 ± 1853 µm, respectively. Moreover, 15.3% of the microfibres were analysed by Fourier transform infrared spec-troscopy, showing the prevalence of cellulosic fibres together with polyester, polyacrylonitrile, and poly(ether-urethane). This pattern (microplastics shapes, colours, sizes, and composition) clearly agrees with previous studies carried out in the Canary Islands region regarding the determination of microplastics in the marine environmen

Comparison between concrete stress diagrams according to the Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 6118: 2014

This study aims to compare methods for the determination of concrete properties by means of the stress diagrams present in the Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 6118: 2014. The area under the stress diagram, the internal reactions, and the application point of the resulting reactions for the parabola-rectangle and rectangular block diagrams are present in order to compare them. Deductions and numerical examples were used, and different results were obtained for each formulation. This is due to non-consideration of the relationship between stress and strain in the simplified rectangular block. The rectangular block is applicable only for cases in which the concrete reaches the ultimate strain. These cases are those that concrete crushing determines the section failure in compression with steel yielding in tension (domain 3) or without steel yielding (domain 4)

Diversidade genética entre diploides melhorados de bananeira por meio de variáveis canônicas e do método Ward‑MLM

The objective of this work was to estimate the genetic diversity of improved banana diploids using data from quantitative analysis and from simple sequence repeats (SSR) marker, simultaneously. The experiment was carried out with 33 diploids, in an augmented block design with 30 regular treatments and three common ones. Eighteen agronomic characteristics and 20 SSR primers were used. The agronomic characteristics and the SSR were analyzed simultaneously by the Ward‑MLM, cluster, and IML procedures. The Ward clustering method considered the combined matrix obtained by the Gower algorithm. The Ward‑MLM procedure identified three ideal groups (G1, G2, and G3) based on pseudo‑F and pseudo‑t2 statistics. The dendrogram showed relative similarity between the G1 genotypes, justified by genealogy. In G2, 'Calcutta 4' appears in 62% of the genealogies. Similar behavior was observed in G3, in which the 028003‑01 diploid is the male parent of the 086079‑10 and 042079‑06 genotypes. The method with canonical variables had greater discriminatory power than Ward‑MLM. Although reduced, the genetic variability available is sufficient to be used in the development of new hybrids.O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar a diversidade genética entre diploides melhorados de bananeira por meio de dados quantitativos e de marcadores de sequências simples repetidas (SSR), simultaneamente. O experimento foi conduzido com 33 diploides, em blocos aumentados com 30 tratamentos regulares e três comuns. Dezoito características agronômicas e 20 iniciadores SSR foram usados. Os dados agronômicos e de SSR foram analisados, simultaneamente, via os procedimentos Ward‑MLM, de agrupamento e IML. O método de agrupamento de Ward considerou matriz híbrida obtida pelo algoritmo de Gower. O procedimento Ward‑MLM identificou três grupos (G1, G2 e G3) baseados nas estatísticas de pseudo‑F and pseudo‑t2. O dendrograma mostrou similaridade relativa entre os genótipos do G1, justificada pela genealogia. No G2, 'Calcutta 4' aparece em 62% das genealogias. Comportamento similar foi observado no grupo G3, em que o diploide 028003‑01 é o parental masculino dos genótipos 086079‑10 e 042079‑06. O método com uso de variáveis canônicas teve maior poder discriminatório que o Ward‑MLM. Embora reduzida, a variabilidade genética disponível é suficiente para ser usada no desenvolvimento de novos híbridos

Palliative Cares To Older Person Under The Nurse's Optics

INTRODUCTION: Chronic-degenerative diseases need specialized health care, especially in palliative care, since from the beginning of the disease the elderly is in this classification. In this context, the study aimed to know the meaning of palliative care to the elderly person from the nurse METHODS: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, qualitative study carried out in a private tertiary hospital in the Northeast of Brazil. The survey was conducted from March to June 2016, with 19 nurses. In the data collection, a semi-structured interview, with four questions were used: what does palliative care mean to you? What does care for the elderly in hospice care mean to you? What strategies do you adopt to promote palliative care for the elderly? Tell me about your experience in providing palliative care to the elderly. The technique of data analysis and organization was the Discourse of the Collective Subject. RESULTS: Four categories of palliative care were produced: meaning palliative care; Experience in providing palliative care to the elderly; Meaning of caring for the elderly in palliative care; Strategies to promote palliative care for the elderly. CONCLUSION: The meaning of palliative care was synonymous with comfort and quality of life. It is important to emphasize the patient-centered care and to carry out further studies on the subject to make nursing professionals aware of the importance of promoting adequate behavior in palliative care

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high in-hospital mortality. Alveolar recruitment followed by ventilation at optimal titrated PEEP may reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and improve oxygenation in patients with ARDS, but the effects on mortality and other clinical outcomes remain unknown. This article reports the rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART). Methods/Design: ART is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized (concealed), controlled trial, which aims to determine if maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with ARDS compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). We will enroll adult patients with ARDS of less than 72 h duration. The intervention group will receive an alveolar recruitment maneuver, with stepwise increases of PEEP achieving 45 cmH(2)O and peak pressure of 60 cmH2O, followed by ventilation with optimal PEEP titrated according to the static compliance of the respiratory system. In the control group, mechanical ventilation will follow a conventional protocol (ARDSNet). In both groups, we will use controlled volume mode with low tidal volumes (4 to 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight) and targeting plateau pressure <= 30 cmH2O. The primary outcome is 28-day survival, and the secondary outcomes are: length of ICU stay; length of hospital stay; pneumothorax requiring chest tube during first 7 days; barotrauma during first 7 days; mechanical ventilation-free days from days 1 to 28; ICU, in-hospital, and 6-month survival. ART is an event-guided trial planned to last until 520 events (deaths within 28 days) are observed. These events allow detection of a hazard ratio of 0.75, with 90% power and two-tailed type I error of 5%. All analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: If the ART strategy with maximum recruitment and PEEP titration improves 28-day survival, this will represent a notable advance to the care of ARDS patients. Conversely, if the ART strategy is similar or inferior to the current evidence-based strategy (ARDSNet), this should also change current practice as many institutions routinely employ recruitment maneuvers and set PEEP levels according to some titration method.Hospital do Coracao (HCor) as part of the Program 'Hospitais de Excelencia a Servico do SUS (PROADI-SUS)'Brazilian Ministry of Healt

Microplastics Determination in Gastrointestinal Tracts of European Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Gilt-Head Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)

Microplastic pollution has an extremely widespread distribution, to the extent that microplastics could be ingested by aquatic organisms, including species of commercial importance for fisheries and aquaculture. In this work, the anthropogenic particles content of the gastrointestinal tracts of 86 individuals of cultivated European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, n = 45) and gilt-head sea bream (Sparus aurata, n = 41) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) was determined. Samples were bought at local markets and directly transported to the laboratory. After the dissection of the fishes and digestion of the gastrointestinal tracts in 10% KOH (w/v) at 60 °C for 24 h, the digests were filtered (50 µm stainless-steel mesh) and visualized under a stereomicroscope, finding that most of the items were colourless (47.7% for Dicentrarchus labrax and 60.9% for Sparus aurata) and blue (35.3% vs. 24.8%) microfibers, with an average length of 1957 ± 1699 µm and 1988 ± 1853 µm, respectively. Moreover, 15.3% of the microfibres were analysed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, showing the prevalence of cellulosic fibres together with polyester, polyacrylonitrile, and poly(ether-urethane). This pattern (microplastics shapes, colours, sizes, and composition) clearly agrees with previous studies carried out in the Canary Islands region regarding the determination of microplastics in the marine environment