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

G6PD deficiency in Latin America: systematic review on prevalence and variants

Plasmodium vivax radical cure requires the use of primaquine (PQ), a drug that induces haemolysis in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient (G6PDd) individuals, which further hampers malaria control efforts. The aim of this work was to study the G6PDd prevalence and variants in Latin America (LA) and the Caribbean region. A systematic search of the published literature was undertaken in August 2013. Bibliographies of manuscripts were also searched and additional references were identified. Low prevalence rates of G6PDd were documented in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, but studies from Curaçao, Ecuador, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad, as well as some surveys carried out in areas of Brazil, Colombia and Cuba, have shown a high prevalence (> 10%) of G6PDd. The G6PD A-202A mutation was the variant most broadly distributed across LA and was identified in 81.1% of the deficient individuals surveyed. G6PDd is a frequent phenomenon in LA, although certain Amerindian populations may not be affected, suggesting that PQ could be safely used in these specific populations. Population-wide use of PQ as part of malaria elimination strategies in LA cannot be supported unless a rapid, accurate and field-deployable G6PDd diagnostic test is made available

Polymorphisms and expression of inflammasome genes are associated with the development and severity of rheumatoid arthritis in Brazilian patients

OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we analyzed the possible association of inflammasome gene variants and expression to rheumatoid arthritis (RA)'s development and severity in the Brazilian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen single nucleotide polymorphisms within six inflammasome genes (NLRP1, NLRP3, NLRC4, AIM2, CARD8, CASP1) as well as IL1B and IL18 genes in two different Brazilian populations (from Northeast and Southeast Brazil) were analyzed. We also evaluated inflammasome gene expression profile in resting and LPS\u2009+\u2009ATP-treated monocytes from RA patients and healthy individuals. For genetic association study, 218 patients and 307 healthy controls were genotyped. For gene expression study, inflammasome genes mRNA levels of 12 patients and ten healthy individuals were assessed by qPCR. RESULTS: Our results showed that rs10754558 NLRP3 and rs2043211 CARD8 polymorphisms are associated with RA development (p value\u2009=\u20090.044, OR\u2009=\u20091.77, statistical power\u2009=\u20090.999) and severity measured by Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) (p value\u2009=\u20090.03), respectively. Gene expression analyses showed that RA patients display activation of CASP1, IL1B and IL1R genes independently of LPS + ATP activation. In LPS\u2009+\u2009ATP-treated monocytes, NLRP3 and NLRC4 expressions were also significantly higher in patients compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: The first reported results in Brazilian populations support the role of inflammasome in the development of RA