Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Desenvolvimento e caracterização de filmes de xilana e gelatina para obtenção de formulações farmacêuticas transdérmicas

Filmes biodegradáveis desenvolvidos a partir de biopolímeros como polissacarídeos, proteínas, lipídeos ou através da combinação destes polímeros tem recebido grande interesse nos últimos anos. A xilana é a principal hemicelulose presente no reino vegetal e é responsável por um terço da biomassa renovável disponível na terra. O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver e caracterizar filmes biodegradáveis à base xilana de sabugo de milho com potencial uso em formulações transdérmicas. Os filmes foram produzidos através da secagem das dispersões filmogênicas com diferentes concentrações de xilana e glicerol. Adicionalmente, a gelatina foi incorporada aos filmes. De acordo com a caracterização macroscópica foram escolhidas três formulações para caracterização de espessura, solubilidade, biodegradabilidade, opacidade, conteúdo de água e análise microscópica. Com base nestes resultados foi escolhido o filme para os estudos de incorporação do fármaco (teor e perfil de liberação). Os resultados mostraram que o aspecto macroscópico dos filmes de xilana/gelatina foi melhor que o dos filmes de xilana, isso ocorreu provavelmente devido à alta solubilidade da gelatina. O aumento da concentração de xilana afetou a solubilidade, conteúdo de água, espessura e opacidade dos filmes. O teor de diclofenaco sódico presente no filme foi de 87,88% e a liberação do fármaco se deu principalmente nas primeiras 4 horas, seguida de uma liberação lenta até o final do estudo.Biodegradable films prepared from biopolymers such as polysaccharides, proteins, lipids or combinations of those components have received great interest in recent years. Xylan is the major hemicellulose in the plant kingdom and it accounts for onethird of renewable biomass available on earth. The aim of this work was to develop and characterize biodegradable films of xylan from corn cobs with potential use as transdermal formulations. Films were produced by casting the film-forming dispersions with different concentrations of xylan and glycerol. In addition, the gelatin was incorporated to xylan films. According to macroscopic characterization, three films were selected to evaluate the thickness, solubility, biodegradability, opacity, water content and microscopic morphology of the films. The best formulation was selected to study the incorporation of the drug (drug content and release profile). The results show that the macroscopic aspect of xylan/gelatin films was better than films containing only xylan, probably due the high solubility of the gelatin in the films. The increase in the polysaccharide concentration affected the films solubility, opacity, water content and thickness of films. The drug content was 87.88% and the drug release occurred mainly in the first 4h, followed by a slow release until the end of the study

Desenvolvimento de biofilmes à base de xilana e xilana/gelatina para produção de embalagens biodegradáveis

Resumo O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver e caracterizar filmes biodegradáveis à base de xilana extraída de sabugo de milho com potencial uso como uma nova matéria-prima para embalagens biodegradáveis. Para tanto, os filmes foram produzidos através da secagem das dispersões filmogênicas com diferentes concentrações de xilana (150 mg, 300 mg, 600 mg), e glicerol (5%, 10%, 15%), com ou sem adição de gelatina (1000 mg). A caracterização avaliou a morfologia, espessura, solubilidade, biodegradabilidade e opacidade. Os filmes com melhores propriedades foram testados como biocobertura em uvas ‘Itália’ em duas condições de temperatura: ambiente (25 °C) e refrigerada (4 °C). Os parâmetros de perda de massa e acidez objetivaram avaliar sua eficácia. Os resultados mostraram que os filmes a base de xilana/gelatina apresentaram os melhores aspectos macroscópicos. Além disso, o aumento da concentração de xilana fez decrescer sua solubilidade. Conclui-se que a eficácia dos filmes como bioembalagem foi dependente da concentração de xilana na formulação e do período de avaliação

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data