Adaptação aos impactos das mudanças climáticas na perspectiva do plano diretor da cidade do Recife

Defining measures for climate change adaptation is a complex task given the existence of social, environmental, and economic demands, particularly in cities with poor urban infrastructure. As a result of analyzing the revision process of the Recife Master Plan, it is possible to observe that a reduction in the social and environmental vulnerabilities has implied carrying out more consistent studies, which may entail the implementation of structuring measures, and that environmental sustainability requires multilevel governance, with policy reforms on a global, regional and local scale, difficult to implement in the short term, although necessary for refocusing climate policies and for overcoming the inability to provide resources for a tailored adaptation infrastructure. The path to building a resilient city that provides a safer environment for the future depends on an inclusive development model, which enables the population to improve urban conditions and minimize the impacts brought about by extreme weather events.É complexa a tarefa de definir medidas de adaptação às mudanças climáticas diante da existência de demandas sociais, ambientais e econômicas, sobretudo em cidades que apresentam infraestrutura urbana deficiente. Como resultado da análise do processo de revisão do Plano Diretor do Recife (PDDR), vê-se que a redução das vulnerabilidades socioambientais implica a realização de estudos mais consistentes, que possam acarretar a implementação de medidas estruturadoras, e que a sustentabilidade ambiental demanda uma governança multinível, com reformas políticas em escala global, regional e local, de difícil aplicação no curto prazo, mas necessárias para reorientar as políticas do clima e superar a inabilidade de prover os recursos para uma infraestrutura adequada à adaptação. O caminho para construir uma cidade resiliente, que proporcione um ambiente mais seguro para as futuras gerações, depende de um modelo de desenvolvimento inclusivo, que permita melhorar as condições urbanas para a população e minimizar os impactos ocasionados pelos eventos climáticos extremos

Early exposure to high-sucrose diet leads to deteriorated ovarian health

Background: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is correlated with disorders of the reproductive system, such as the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). While consumption of a diet rich in carbohydrates is linked to the development of MetS, it is still unclear if this diet leads to ovarian dysfunction and PCOS. Objectives: We investigated the influence of a high-sucrose diet (HSD) on the ovarian milieu of Wistar rats and studied the correlation between high consumption of sugary drink and the prevalence of PCOS in women. Methods: Wistar rats were given standard laboratory diet (CTR, 10% sucrose, n = 8) or HSD (HSD, 25% sucrose, n = 8) from postnatal day 21 to 120. The animals were evaluated weekly to calculate food intake, feed efficiency and weight gain. Both onset of puberty and estrous cycle were monitored. Metabolic serum biochemistry, organ morphometry and ovarian histology were performed upon euthanasia. In parallel, fixed-effects multiple linear regression analysis was carried out using data from Brazilian states (459 state-year observations) to test the correlation between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and the prevalence of PCOS. Results: HSD animals were not obese, but showed increased adipose tissue accumulation, hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance when compared to CTR. Interestingly HSD rats also entered puberty earlier than CTR. Moreover, ovaries from HSD animals had an increased number of atretic antral follicles and cystic follicles, which were correlated with hypertrophy of periovarian adipocytes. Finally, there was a positive correlation between the intake of sugary drinks and prevalence of PCOS in women of reproductive age. Conclusions: HSD ingestion leads to ovarian dysfunction in rats and could be correlated with PCOS in women, suggesting these alterations could lead to public health issues. Therefore, we reinforce the deleterious impact of HSD to the ovarian system and suggest that the reduction of added sugars intake could be beneficial to ovarian health

Simultaneous CXCL12 and ESR1 CpG island hypermethylation correlates with poor prognosis in sporadic breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>CXCL12 is a chemokine that is constitutively expressed in many organs and tissues. <it>CXCL12 </it>promoter hypermethylation has been detected in primary breast tumours and contributes to their metastatic potential. It has been shown that the oestrogen receptor α (<it>ESR1</it>) gene can also be silenced by DNA methylation. In this study, we used methylation-specific PCR (MSP) to analyse the methylation status in two regions of the <it>CXCL12 </it>promoter and <it>ESR1 </it>in tumour cell lines and in primary breast tumour samples, and correlated our results with clinicopathological data.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>First, we analysed <it>CXCL12 </it>expression in breast tumour cell lines by RT-PCR. We also used 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-CdR) treatment and DNA bisulphite sequencing to study the promoter methylation for a specific region of <it>CXCL12 </it>in breast tumour cell lines. We evaluated <it>CXCL12 </it>and <it>ESR1 </it>methylation in primary tumour samples by methylation-specific PCR (MSP). Finally, promoter hypermethylation of these genes was analysed using Fisher's exact test and correlated with clinicopathological data using the Chi square test, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>CXCL12 </it>promoter hypermethylation in the first region (island 2) and second region (island 4) was correlated with lack of expression of the gene in tumour cell lines. In the primary tumours, island 2 was hypermethylated in 14.5% of the samples and island 4 was hypermethylated in 54% of the samples. The <it>ESR1 </it>promoter was hypermethylated in 41% of breast tumour samples. In addition, the levels of ERα protein expression diminished with increased frequency of <it>ESR1 </it>methylation (p < 0.0001). This study also demonstrated that <it>CXCL12 </it>island 4 and <it>ESR1 </it>methylation occur simultaneously at a high frequency (p = 0.0220).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first study showing a simultaneous involvement of epigenetic regulation for both <it>CXCL12 </it>and <it>ESR1 </it>genes in Brazilian women. The methylation status of both genes was significantly correlated with histologically advanced disease, the presence of metastases and death. Therefore, the methylation pattern of these genes could be used as a molecular marker for the prediction of breast cancer outcome.</p