Effects of heavy metals and light levels on the biosynthesis of carotenoids and fatty acids in the macroalgae Gracilaria tenuistipitata (var. liui Zhang & Xia)

We present here the effect of heavy metals and of different light intensities on the biosynthesis of fatty acids and pigments in the macroalga Gracilaria tenuistipitata (var. liui Zhang & Xia). In order to verify the fatty acid content, gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was employed. Pigments (major carotenoids and chlorophyl-a) were monitored by liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Cultures of G. tenuistipitata were exposed to cadmium (Cd2+, 200 ppb) and copper (Cu2+, 200 ppb), as well as to different light conditions (low light: 100 µmol.photons.m-2.s-1, or high light: 1000 µmol.photons.m-2.s-1). Cd2+ and Cu2+ increased the saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid content [14:0, 16:0, 18:0, 18:1 (n-7) and 18:1 (n-9)] and all major pigments (violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, chlorophyll-a and β-carotene). Both heavy metals decreased the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) [18:2 (n-6), 18:3 (n-6), 18:5 (n-4), 20:4 (n-6), 20:5 (n-3), 22:6 (n-3)]. G. tenuistipitata cultures were exposed to high light intensity for five days and no statistically significant differences were observed in the content of fatty acids. On the other hand, the levels of pigments rose markedly for chlorophyll-a and all of the carotenoids studied.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Ministério da SaúdeMinistério de Ciência e TecnologiaCNPq - INCT-Redoxom

O CUIDADO AO RECÉM-NASCIDO SUBMETIDO À DIÁLISE PERITONEAL: DESAFIOS PARA A EQUIPE DE ENFERMAGEM

Objetivou-se neste estudo caracterizar recém-nascidos que apresentaram Lesão Renal Aguda e necessitaram de diálise peritoneal em uma unidade de terapia intensiva neonatal do sul do Brasil no período de 2007 a 2010. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa descritiva do tipo estudo de caso, no primeiro semestre de 2012, a partir da busca de dados em prontuários, coletados por meio de um instrumento estruturado. Identificaram-se dez recém-nascidos com Lesão Renal Aguda; destes, dois foram submetidos à diálise peritoneal, pois eram prematuros extremos, porém apresentaram complicações e evoluíram a óbito. Conclui-se que conhecer os impasses no cuidado em diálise peritoneal leva à compreensão da necessidade de capacitação profissional e da educação continuada nos serviços de saúde neonatais.Se objetivó en este estudio caracterizar recién nacidos que presentaron Lesión Renal Aguda y necesitaron de diálisis peritoneal en una unidad de terapia intensiva neonatal del sur de Brasil en el periodo de 2007 a 2010. Para eso, fue realizada una investigación descriptiva del tipo estudio de caso, en el primer semestre de 2012, a partir de la búsqueda de datos en prontuarios, obtenidos por medio de un instrumento estructurado. Fueron identificados diez recién nacidos con Lesión Renal Aguda; de estos, dos fueron sometidos a la diálisis peritoneal, pues eran prematuros extremos, pero presentaron complicaciones y evolucionaron a óbito. Se concluye que conocer los obstáculos en el cuidado en diálisis peritoneal lleva a la comprensión de la necesidad de capacitación profesional y de la educación continuada en los servicios de salud neonatales.This study aimed to characterize newborns with Acute Kidney Injury and who needed peritoneal dialysis in a neonatal intensive care unit in the south of Brazil, in the period 2007 – 2010. To this end, a descriptive study of the case study type was undertaken in the first semester of 2012, based on a search for data in medical records, collected using a structured instrument. A total of 10 newborns with Acute Kidney Injury was identified; of these, two underwent peritoneal dialysis, as they were extremely premature. However, they presented complications and died. It is concluded that knowing the problems in the care in peritoneal dialysis leads to an understanding of the need for professional training and continuous education in the neonatal health services

Signal Integration in Quorum Sensing Enables Cross-Species Induction of Virulence in Pectobacterium wasabiae

This deposit is composed by the main article plus the supplementary materials of the publication.Bacterial communities can sense their neighbors, regulating group behaviors in response to cell density and environmental changes. The diversity of signaling networks in a single species has been postulated to allow custom responses to different stimuli; however, little is known about how multiple signals are integrated and the implications of this integration in different ecological contexts. In the plant pathogen Pectobacterium wasabiae (formerly Erwinia carotovora), two signaling networks-the N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) quorum-sensing system and the Gac/Rsm signal transduction pathway-control the expression of secreted plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, its major virulence determinants. We show that the AHL system controls the Gac/Rsm system by affecting the expression of the regulatory RNA RsmB. This regulation is mediated by ExpR2, the quorum-sensing receptor that responds to the P. wasabiae cognate AHL but also to AHLs produced by other bacterial species. As a consequence, this level of regulation allows P. wasabiae to bypass the Gac-dependent regulation of RsmB in the presence of exogenous AHLs or AHL-producing bacteria. We provide in vivo evidence that this pivotal role of RsmB in signal transduction is important for the ability of P. wasabiae to induce virulence in response to other AHL-producing bacteria in multispecies plant lesions. Our results suggest that the signaling architecture in P. wasabiae was coopted to prime the bacteria to eavesdrop on other bacteria and quickly join the efforts of other species, which are already exploiting host resources.IMPORTANCE Quorum-sensing mechanisms enable bacteria to communicate through small signal molecules and coordinate group behaviors. Often, bacteria have various quorum-sensing receptors and integrate information with other signal transduction pathways, presumably allowing them to respond to different ecological contexts. The plant pathogen Pectobacterium wasabiae has two N-acyl homoserine lactone receptors with apparently the same regulatory functions. Our work revealed that the receptor with the broadest signal specificity is also responsible for establishing the link between the main signaling pathways regulating virulence in P. wasabiae This link is essential to provide P. wasabiae with the ability to induce virulence earlier in response to higher densities of other bacterial species. We further present in vivo evidence that this novel regulatory link enables P. wasabiae to join related bacteria in the effort to degrade host tissue in multispecies plant lesions. Our work provides support for the hypothesis that interspecies interactions are among the major factors influencing the network architectures observed in bacterial quorum-sensing pathways.Fundação Para a Ciência e Tecnologia grants: (PTDC/BIA-BCM/101585/2008, SFRH/BD/33570/2008, SRFH/BD/113986/2015, PD/00133/2012); Marie Curie Intra-European grant: (PIEF-GA-2011-301365); Howard Hughes Medical Institute international early career scientist grant: (HHMI 55007436).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lower numbers of natural killer T cells in HIV-1 and Mycobacterium leprae co-infected patients

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a heterogeneous population of lymphocytes that recognize antigens presented by CD1d and have attracted attention because of their potential role linking innate and adaptive immune responses. Peripheral NKT cells display a memory-activated phenotype and can rapidly secrete large amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines upon antigenic activation. In this study, we evaluated NKT cells in the context of patients co-infected with HIV-1 and Mycobacterium leprae. The volunteers were enrolled into four groups: 22 healthy controls, 23 HIV-1-infected patients, 20 patients with leprosy and 17 patients with leprosy and HIV-1-infection. Flow cytometry and ELISPOT assays were performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We demonstrated that patients co-infected with HIV-1 and M.leprae have significantly lower NKT cell frequencies [median 0.022%, interquartile range (IQR): 0.0070.051] in the peripheral blood when compared with healthy subjects (median 0.077%, IQR: 0.0320.405, P < 0.01) or HIV-1 mono-infected patients (median 0.072%, IQR: 0.0300.160, P < 0.05). Also, more NKT cells from co-infected patients secreted interferon-? after stimulation with DimerX, when compared with leprosy mono-infected patients (P = 0.05). These results suggest that NKT cells are decreased in frequency in HIV-1 and M.leprae co-infected patients compared with HIV-1 mono-infected patients alone, but are at a more activated state. Innate immunity in human subjects is strongly influenced by their spectrum of chronic infections, and in HIV-1-infected subjects, a concurrent mycobacterial infection probably hyper-activates and lowers circulating NKT cell numbers.National Institutes of Health [R01-AI52731, AI060379]Fogarty International Center [D43 TW00003]Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo [04/15856-9/Kallas, 2010/05845-0/Kallas]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology [484230/2011-5]New York Community Trus

Apoio e participação da gestão escolar no programa residência pedagógica: a experiência do núcleo biologia na unidade integrada cincinato ribeiro rêgo do município de Barreirinhas-MA. / Support and participation of school management in the pedagogical residence program: the experience of the biology nucleus in the integrated unit cincinato ribeiro rêgo in the city of Barreirinhas-MA.

O Programa Residência Pedagógica teve o seu primeiro Edital publicado em 2018, e visa dar aos licenciandos a oportunidade de experiências concretas em sala de aula, complementando ou substituindo o estágio supervisionado. A partir de agosto de 2018, os estudantes da segunda metade do Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas do Instituto Federal do Maranhão (IFMA), Campus Barreirinhas, tiveram oportunidade de vivenciar 18 meses de atividades junto a escolas do Município. Este artigo traz a experiência dos alunos participantes do Programa Residência Pedagógica, Núcleo Biologia do Instituto Federal do Maranhão (IFMA), Campus Barreirinhas, com objetivo de analisar a importância do apoio da gestão escolar nas atividades realizadas pelos residentes na Unidade Integrada Cincinato Ribeiro Rêgo, relatando as experiências vivenciadas na escola e

Cinema: an humanist and pedagogical tool for themes in Health-Education. The experience of CineSocial

Study design: The approach to the research was qualitative. Objective: we used the audiovisual resources (movies) to make teachers, students and health professionals reflect, discuss and updatesocial subjects relevant to health and education. Methodology: The Project was structured as a coursewith five meetings that took place between 2008 August and December. Subjects relevant to PublicHealth and Education were focused (hunger, school violence, teenage pregnancy, health-disease process and teenage drug abuse); for each theme, specialists were invited. The instrument used to acquirethe participant perceptions was a questionnaire with 14 semi-structured questions and at the end ofeach meeting, a report was requested. A Thematic analysis of narrative was conducted with the materialfrom the individual reflection report. Results: The meeting had the presence of 49 participants (undergraduates, public teachers, health professionals, graduates and professors). In the analysis of thenarrative open question material from the individual reflection report, we could identify two sets of categories: the first one identified was the participants' expectancy before beginning the CineSocial project andthe second one identified was the participants' opinions about the course relevance. Discussion andConclusions: The cinema use enabled knowledge flow and experience diffusion; it also corroborated theidea that not only documentaries and fiction films could express the knowledge aimed by Science, butother types of cinema as well. Focusing on cinema was not the priority of this experience, the priority wasfocus on life, society, school, exclusion, current subjects present inside or outside of the school.Modelo do estudo: Abordagem qualitativa de pesquisa Objetivo: foi utilizado recurso audiovisual (filmes)para propiciar reflexões, discussões e atualização de professores, alunos e profissionais da saúde emtemas sociais pertinentes às áreas da saúde e educação. Metodologia: o projeto foi estruturado em formade curso de difusão com cinco encontros, entre agosto e dezembro de 2008. Foram abordados temasrelevantes em Saúde e Educação (fome, violência escolar, gravidez na adolescência, processo saúdedoença e drogas na adolescência) e foram convidados especialistas em cada temática para debate. Oinstrumento utilizado para captar as percepções dos participantes foi um questionário de 14 questõessemi-estruturadas e ao final de cada encontro foi solicitada a entrega de relatório. Foi realizada AnáliseTemática de Narrativa de material proveniente dos relatórios individuais de reflexão. Resultados: osencontros tiveram a presença de 49 participantes (estudantes de graduação, professores da rede municipal de ensino, profissionais da área da saúde, pós-graduandos e docentes do ensino superior). Naanálise do material narrativo advindo das questões abertas dos relatórios individuais de reflexão foipossível levantar dois blocos de categorias, sendo que o primeiro deles destacou as expectativas que osparticipantes tinham antes de iniciar o projeto CineSocial e o segundo bloco levantou a opinião dosparticipantes sobre a relevância do curso. Discussão e Conclusões: o uso do cinema possibilitou acirculação dos conhecimentos, tornou possível a difusão de experiências, corroborou a ideia de quedocumentários assim como filmes de ficção podem exprimir os conhecimentos orientados pela Ciência.Pensar a arte do cinema não foi a prioridade dessa experiência, a prioridade foi pensar a vida, a sociedade, a escola, a saúde, a exclusão social e temas do cotidiano presentes dentro ou fora das escolas

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

Potencial Utilização de Sistemas Antimicrobianos Naturais como Conservantes Alimentares / Potential Use of Natural Antimicrobial Systems as Food Conservatives

Os antimicrobianos naturais são compostos que apresentam capacidade de inibir o crescimento de microrganismos patogênicos e/ou deteriorantes, como bactérias e fungos. Os sistemas antimicrobianos podem ser de origem microbiana, animal e vegetal. Esses antimicrobianos vêm sendo considerados uma alternativa atrativa para a oferta de produtos seguros e de boa qualidade, além de aumentar o tempo de prateleira de diversos alimentos perecíveis. Diante dessa perspectiva, o objetivo do estudo foi identificar evidências disponíveis da literatura sobre a potencial utilização de sistemas antimicrobianos naturais como conservantes alimentares. O estudo trata-se de uma revisão de literatura acerca da utilização de sistemas antimicrobianos naturais como conservantes alimentares. Foram utilizadas revistas eletrônicas de saúde, com dimensão temporal entre 1997 a 2019. Os sistemas antimicrobianos naturais são representados por bacteriocinas, Peptídeos Antimicrobianos (PAMs) e Óleos Essenciais (OE), estes compostos inibem ou impedem a multiplicação de microrganismos contaminantes em alimentos. Os agentes antimicrobianos provenientes de fontes naturais são utilizados como agentes de conservação de forma a aumentar o tempo de prateleira dos alimentos e manter as características de qualidade dos alimentos. Quanto ao mecanismo antimicrobiano, esses compostos interferem nas funções das células de microrganismos principalmente gerando modificações nas propriedades da membrana citoplasmática e no metabolismo energético além de inibirem a síntese de ácido nucleico. Logo, os antimicrobianos naturais podem ser considerados alternativas viáveis para ampliar o tempo de prateleira, garantir a segurança e atender à demanda para a conservação dos atributos nutricionais e da qualidade dos alimentos