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

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Ginger Essential Oil Ameliorates Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Mice

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ginger essential oil (GEO) in an experimental model of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity.Methods: Male mice were divided into treatment six groups (n = 7), namely: Groups I (saline), II and III (cisplatin, 10 mg/kg, i.p.) euthanized in 3th and 6th days, respectively, and IV, V and IV (GEO, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/day, respectively, by gavage 3, 4, 5 and 6 days after cisplatin injection). Creatinine levels and protein/creatinine ratio were determined in plasma and urine, respectively. Bone morphogenic protein (BMP-7) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) levels of kidney tissues were determined while mRNA expression levels were obtained using real-time polymerase chain reaction.Results: GEO treatment reduced significantly creatinine levels to 0.53 +/- 0.02; 0.48 +/- 0.008 and 0.46 +/- 0.02 at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared with control (0.70 +/- 0.01) [p< 0.05] but increased protein : creatinine ratio to 0.21 +/- 0.01, 0.22 +/- 0.01, 0.24 +/- 0.02 compared with control (0.06 +/- 0.008) [p< 0.05]. Pro-inflammatory TNF-alpha mRNA expression was decreased to 1.46 +/- 0.21, 1.39 +/- 0.19 and 1.36 +/- 0.09, at GEO doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, while anti-fibrotic BMP-7 mRNA expression increased to 2.05 +/- 0.26 and 2.44 +/- 0.42 at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared with control (0.59 +/- 0.39, p < 0.05).Conclusion: GEO treatment attenuates cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, in part, by modulating some inflammatory cytokines.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Univ Estadual Maringa, Dept Pharmacol & Therapeut, Maringa, Parana, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Endocrinol, BR-04039002 São Paulo, BrazilUniv Estadual Maringa, Dept Chem, Maringa, Parana, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Endocrinol, BR-04039002 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc