Evaluation of quality of life of gymnastics practitioners

Introdução: A qualidade de vida (QV) de trabalhadores vem sendo alvo de pesquisas há algum tempo no Brasil. Sendo assim verifica-se a necessidade de avaliar QV e parâmetros antropométricos de participantes, funcionários e estagiários, de instituição de ensino que realizaram a prática da ginástica laboral com o objetivo de melhorar sua rotina diária de trabalho. Material e Métodos: Foi realizada ginástica laboral para os participantes e a versão brasileira do questionário SF-36 foi aplicada, além disto, foram avaliados peso e altura e calculado o índice de massa corporal (IMC). Resultados: Foram avaliados 21 indivíduos, sendo 19% masculinos e 81% femininos, com idade média de 35,47±12,90 anos. A amostra tinha média de peso de 63,26±5,80 gramas e média de 1,64±3,90 centímetros de altura e foi calculado o IMC, e obteve-se média de 23,25±2,90. Os aspectos motores, emocionais, além dos sociais e mentais têm determinantes no aspecto que influenciam a QV dos praticantes demonstrando que a realização de tal atividade, mesmo que em um período curto (três meses) parece trazer influências benéficas no cotidiano do praticante de tal atividade, pois a maioria dos entrevistados relatam boa saúde física e emocional, e sem prejuízos de suas atividades laborais. Conclusões: Os participantes estão satisfeitos e motivados com a liberdade de expressão, participações em decisões e satisfação com a QV no trabalho, sendo assim com o conhecimento do grau de satisfação dos trabalhadores, instituições podem ajuda a direcionar estratégias de prevenção, orientação e suporte dos seus trabalhadores, afim de proporcionar um ambiente saudável de trabalho. Observou-se que a prática de ginástica laboral contribui para estes resultadosIntroduction: Quality of life (QOL) of workers has been the subject of research for some time in Brazil. Therefore, there is the need to assess QOL and anthropometric parameters of participants, employees and trainees, teaching institution that carried out the practice of gymnastics in order to improve their daily work routine. Methods: gymnastics was held for the participants and the Brazilian version of the SF-36 questionnaire was applied were assessed height and weight and calculated body mass index (BMI). Results: A total of 21 subjects, 19% male and 81% female, mean age 35.47 ± 12.90 years. The sample had an average weight of 63.26 ± 5.80 grams and average of 1.64 ± 3.90 cm in height and calculated BMI, and obtained an average of 23.25 ± 2.90. The engines, emotional aspects, as well as social and mental are determinants in the aspect that influence QOL of practitioners demonstrating that the performance of such activity, even in a short period (three months) seems to bring beneficial influences on practicing everyday in such activity because the majority of respondents reported good physical and emotional health, and without prejudice to their work activities. Conclusions: Participants are satisfied and motivated with freedom of expression, participation in decisions and satisfaction with QOL at work, so with knowledge of the degree of employee satisfaction, institutions can help to direct prevention strategies, guidance and support of its employees in order to provide a healthy working environment. It was found that practicing gymnastics contributes to these result

Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors

Multiple effects of toxins isolated from Crotalus durissus terrificus on the hepatitis C virus life cycle

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the main causes of liver disease and transplantation worldwide. Current therapy is expensive, presents additional side effects and viral resistance has been described. Therefore, studies for developing more efficient antivirals against HCV are needed. Compounds isolated from animal venoms have shown antiviral activity against some viruses such as Dengue virus, Yellow fever virus and Measles virus. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the complex crotoxin (CX) and its subunits crotapotin (CP) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2-CB) isolated from the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus on HCV life cycle. Huh 7.5 cells were infected with HCVcc JFH-1 strain in the presence or absence of these toxins and virus was titrated by focus formation units assay or by qPCR. Toxins were added to the cells at different time points depending on the stage of virus life cycle to be evaluated. The results showed that treatment with PLA2-CB inhibited HCV entry and replication but no effect on HCV release was observed. CX reduced virus entry and release but not replication. By treating cells with CP, an antiviral effect was observed on HCV release, the only stage inhibited by this compound. Our data demonstrated the multiple antiviral effects of toxins from animal venoms on HCV life cycle

Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict thatmost of the world’s >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types