Late Quaternary vegetation and coastal environmental changes at Ilha do Cardoso mangrove, southeastern Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)A 190 cm mangrove sediment core from the Ilha do Cardoso State Park, State of Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil was analyzed for pollen, diatoms as well as carbon and nitrogen isotopes. The goal was to determine the dynamics of the coastal terrestrial/aquatic ecosystems, vegetation history and climate change in this region of the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The values for total organic carbon-TOC (from similar to 3 up to 40%), C/N ratios (from similar to 10 up to 130), and delta N-15 (similar to 0 to >8) are associated with well preserved aquatic and terrestrial organic matter and possibly influenced by nitrogen cycling (e.g., denitriflcation) that caused N-15 enrichment between >40,000 cal yr B.P. and similar to 23,000 cal yr B.P. Depleted delta C-13 values (similar to -28.0 parts per thousand) are also observed and indicate the predominance of C-3 plants. During this time interval, the pollen analysis reveals the presence of the genera Ilex. Alchomea, Weinmannia, Myrsine, Symplocos, Drimys and Podocarpus on a site currently occupied by mangrove vegetation. These data suggest that in the past prevailed a colder and more humid climate than today, with a low relative sea-level. From similar to 23,000 cal yr B.P. to similar to 2200 cal yr B.P. a sedimentary hiatus likely occurred, related to an erosive event associated to the post glacial sea-level rise. Since at least similar to 2200 cal yr B.P., sediments are marked by relatively low C/N ratios (from 2 to 27), exhibit more enriched delta C-13 (from similar to-26.0 parts per thousand to -24.0 parts per thousand) and delta N-15 (up to similar to 7) values and are characterized by the presence of marine diatoms. This indicates the return of the marine coastal line to its current position, and consequently the development of mangrove. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.3635768Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [04/00978-1, 04/15531-2

Exercise training in Tg\u3b1q*44 mice during the progression of chronic heart failure: cardiac vs. peripheral (soleus muscle) impairments to oxidative metabolism

Cardiac function, skeletal (soleus) muscle oxidative metabolism, and the effects of exercise training were evaluated in a transgenic murine model (Tg\u3b1q*44) of chronic heart failure during the critical period between the occurrence of an impairment of cardiac function and the stage at which overt cardiac failure ensues (i.e., from 10 to 12 mo of age). Forty-eight Tg\u3b1q*44 mice and 43 wild-type FVB controls were randomly assigned to control groups and to groups undergoing 2 mo of intense exercise training (spontaneous running on an instrumented wheel). In mice evaluated at the beginning and at the end of training we determined: exercise performance (mean distance covered daily on the wheel); cardiac function in vivo (by magnetic resonance imaging); soleus mitochondrial respiration ex vivo (by high-resolution respirometry); muscle phenotype [myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform content; citrate synthase (CS) activity]; and variables related to the energy status of muscle fibers [ratio of phosphorylated 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) to unphosphorylated AMPK] and mitochondrial biogenesis and function [peroxisome proliferative-activated receptor-\u3b3 coactivator-\u3b1 (PGC-1\u3b1)]. In the untrained Tg\u3b1q*44 mice functional impairments of exercise performance, cardiac function, and soleus muscle mitochondrial respiration were observed. The impairment of mitochondrial respiration was related to the function of complex I of the respiratory chain, and it was not associated with differences in CS activity, MHC isoforms, p-AMPK/AMPK, and PGC-1\u3b1 levels. Exercise training improved exercise performance and cardiac function, but it did not affect mitochondrial respiration, even in the presence of an increased percentage of type 1 MHC isoforms. Factors "upstream" of mitochondria were likely mainly responsible for the improved exercise performance.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Functional impairments in exercise performance, cardiac function, and soleus muscle mitochondrial respiration were observed in transgenic chronic heart failure mice, evaluated in the critical period between the occurrence of an impairment of cardiac function and the terminal stage of the disease. Exercise training improved exercise performance and cardiac function, but it did not affect the impaired mitochondrial respiration. Factors "upstream" of mitochondria, including an enhanced cardiovascular O2 delivery, were mainly responsible for the functional improvement

Discovering and linking public omics data sets using the Omics Discovery Index.

Biomedical data are being produced at an unprecedented rate owing to the falling cost of experiments and wider access to genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics platforms1, 2. As a result, public deposition of omics data is on the increase. This presents new challenges, including finding ways to store, organize and access different types of biomedical data stored on different platforms. Here, we present the Omics Discovery Index (OmicsDI; http://www.omicsdi.org), an open-source platform that enables access, discovery and dissemination of omics data sets