SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info: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 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

Valores sanguíneos de pH, pCO2, pO2, e HCO3 e proteinograma sérico de cabritos de raça Saanem do nascimento aos quatro meses de idade

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar os valores de pH, pO2, pCO2 e HCO3- sangüíneos e proteinograma sérico de cabritos da raça Saanen, do nascimento aos quatro meses de idade. Foram utilizados vinte cabritos, filhos de cabras livres do vírus da Artrite Encefalite Caprina (CAEV), cujos partos foram acompanhados. O colostro, obtido da própria mãe, foi oferecido por meio de mamadeira em volume correspondente à 20% do peso corporal, dividido em cinco mamadas, sendo a primeira uma hora após o nascimento e as demais a cada seis horas, até completarem 24 horas. Para a realização do fracionamento eletroforético das proteínas séricas foram obtidas amostras de sangue antes de cada administração de colostro, às 48 e 72 horas e aos 7, 15, 30, 60, 90 e 120 dias. Foram colhidas, ainda, amostras de sangue total para a realização da hemogasometria em todos estes momentos e imediatamente após o nascimento. A eletroforese foi realizada utilizando-se gel de agarose. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que, ao nascimento, os cabritos da raça Saanen apresentaram primariamente quadro de acidose respiratória. As concentrações séricas das frações albumina e betaglobulina aumentaram em função da idade, ao passo que ocorreu declínio da fração alfaglobulina. A concentração das gama globulinas diminuiu após 24 horas da última administração de colostro voltando a aumentar apenas aos 30 dias de idade.The objective of the present study was to evaluate the blood pH, pO2, pCO2 and HCO3- values, and the serum protein concentrations in Saanen kids from birth to four months of age. The study used 20 kids, borne from CAEV free goats. The kids were fed with colostrum from their own mother, in a total volume corresponding to 20% of their body weight. The whole volume was divided in five parts: the first given one hour after birth; the others in intervals of 6 hours until 24 hours of age. Samples of blood for electrophoretic fractionation were obtained before each colostrum feeding; at 48 and 72 hours; and at 7, 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days of life. Blood samples for the hemogasometry were obtained in the same moments and few minutes after birth. The electrophoresis was performed on agarose gel. Results demonstrated that Saanen kids present a metabolic acidosis at birth. The albumin and beta-globulin concentrations raise with the age while the alfa-globulin declines. The gama-globulin concentration decreases 24 hours after the last colostrum feeding and raises again by 30 days of age.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Erithrogram, iron metabolism and serum erythropoietin concentration in female Saanen caprine in the pregnancy, parturition and postpartum periods

As alterações hematológicas durante o período de gestação, parto e pós-parto são de grande importância em humanos e têm sido estudadas em várias espécies de animais domésticos. O objetivo do trabalho foi determinar as alterações no eritrograma, no metabolismo do ferro e na concentração sérica de eritropoetina durante os períodos de gestação, parto e pós-parto em fêmeas nulíparas Saanen. Foram colhidas amostras de sangue de 20 fêmeas, clinicamente sadias, aos 49 (M1), 42 (M2), 35 (M3), 28 (M4), 21 (M5), 14 (M6), sete (M7), três (M8) dias antes do parto, no dia do parto (M9), três (M10) e sete (M11) dias após o parto, para a realização do eritrograma, proteína plasmática total, e dosagens séricas de eritropoetina, ferro, capacidade total de ligação do ferro, índice de saturação da transferrina e ferritina. Os dados foram analisados pelo teste de análise de variância (ANOVA) ao nível de 5% de significância (P<0,05). Houve diferença significativa (P<0,05) entre alguns momentos para as variáveis, número de eritrócitos, concentração de hemoglobina, volume globular, proteína total plasmática, concentração de ferro sérico, capacidade total de ligação do ferro (CLTF) e índice de saturação da transferrina (IST). Não houve diferença significativa (P<0,05) para as variáveis eritropoetina, volume corpuscular médio (VCM), hemoglobina corpuscular média (HCM), concentração de hemoglobina corpuscular média (CHCM), distribuição do diâmetro dos eritrócitos (DDE) e ferritina. Concluiu-se que não há aumento do estímulo para a produção de eritrócitos durante os períodos de gestação, parto e pós-parto em fêmeas Saanen e as alterações encontradas no eritrograma e no metabolismo do ferro não possuem significado clínico.Hematological changes during the pregnancy and parturition are of great importance in humans and have been studied in several species of domestic animals. The objective was to determine changes in erythrogram, iron metabolism and the serum concentration of erythropoietin in nuliparous female Saanen caprine during periods of pregnancy, parturition and postpartum. Blood samples were collected from 20 goats, clinically healthy, the 49 (M1), 42 (M2), 35 (M3), 28 (M4), 21 (M5), 14 (M6), seven (M7), three (M8) days in the pregnancy, parturition (M9), three (M10) and seven (M11) days postpartum for the erythrogram, plasma total protein and the serum of erythropoietin, iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation index and ferritin determination. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of significance (P<0,05). Significant difference (P<0,05) between a few moments for the variables, erythrocytes count, hemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, total plasma proteins, serum iron concentration, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and transferrin saturation index (TSI) determination. There were no significant difference for the variables erythropoietin, mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red cell distribution width (RDW) and ferritin. In conclusion, there was no stimulus for the increasing of the red blood cells production during the periods of pregnancy, parturition and postpartum in nuliparous Saanen goats. No clinical significance was observed in the in red blood cell count and in the iron metabolism

Museus e seus arquivos: em busca de fontes para estudar os públicos Museums and their archives: in search of sources for researching audiences

Aborda a relevância dos arquivos históricos dos museus como fontes documentais para o desenvolvimento de estudos sobre os públicos. Analisa o processo de construção do conhecimento sobre a relação dos museus com os seus diversos visitantes e usuários, contextualizando o surgimento dos públicos como categoria de entendimento e objeto de estudo nas ciências sociais. Apresenta, como importante subsídio para as pesquisas nesta temática, o Guia de fontes primárias: o Museu Nacional - seu público no século XIX e no início do XX, elaborado por Luciana Sepúlveda Köptcke e Marcelle Pereira. O guia de fontes consiste em ferramenta de orientação capaz de expandir o significado dos fundos documentais, revelando a natureza e o grau de importância atribuídos aos diferentes públicos pela instituição.<br>The article explores to what extent historical archives at museums may serve as documental sources in developing audience research. It analyzes the process by which we construct our knowledge of the relation between museums and their different visitors and also contextualizes the emergence of 'audience' as a category and object of study by the social sciences. The article presents Luciana Sepúlveda Köptcke and Marcelle Pereira's Guia de fontes primárias: o Museu Nacional - seu público no século XIX e no início do XX (Guide of primary sources: the National Museum - its audience in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), a valuable research tool that can enhance the significance of documental fonds and reveal the nature and import assigned to different audiences by these institutions