FIT Count Brasil: monitoramento de visitantes florais por contagem.

A Série de livros "Ciência Cidadã" tem como objetivo apresentar ao público diferentes questões científicas que podem ser trabalhadas com o auxílio de cientistas cidadãos e motivar diferentes pessoas (como você, por exemplo) a atuarem como cientistas cidadãos. No presente livro, apresentamos o protocolo intitulado "FIT COUNT: contagem cronometrada de visitantes florais"

Scientific, sustainability and regulatory challenges of cultured meat

Producing meat without the drawbacks of conventional animal agriculture would greatly contribute to future food and nutrition security. This Review Article covers biological, technological, regulatory and consumer acceptance challenges in this developing field of biotechnology. Cellular agriculture is an emerging branch of biotechnology that aims to address issues associated with the environmental impact, animal welfare and sustainability challenges of conventional animal farming for meat production. Cultured meat can be produced by applying current cell culture practices and biomanufacturing methods and utilizing mammalian cell lines and cell and gene therapy products to generate tissue or nutritional proteins for human consumption. However, significant improvements and modifications are needed for the process to be cost efficient and robust enough to be brought to production at scale for food supply. Here, we review the scientific and social challenges in transforming cultured meat into a viable commercial option, covering aspects from cell selection and medium optimization to biomaterials, tissue engineering, regulation and consumer acceptance

Development of a photosynthesis model with an emphasis on ecological applications

In this paper, a description of photosynthesis in a single leaf is developed that separates physiological sub-processes and that is practical to apply as an ecological tool. Temperature dependencies are emphasized with the ultimate aim of linking such a description of photosynthesis with equations describing the energy budget of particular leaves. The description of photosynthesis can be applied to C 4 plants at this time and is needed to describe photosynthesis in C 3 plants when photorespiration is included. If the model is used to analyze at various times the response of a plant adjusting its metabolism to changes in light, temperature, or other factors experienced during growth, we will obtain a dynamic picture of the acclimation process. It will also be possible to determine the phenotypic plasticity of particular plants with respect to the metabolic sub-processes outlined.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47715/1/442_2004_Article_BF00582888.pd

The integration of lipid-sensing and anti-inflammatory effects: how the PPARs play a role in metabolic balance

The peroxisomal proliferating-activated receptors (PPARs) are lipid-sensing transcription factors that have a role in embryonic development, but are primarily known for modulating energy metabolism, lipid storage, and transport, as well as inflammation and wound healing. Currently, there is no consensus as to the overall combined function of PPARs and why they evolved. We hypothesize that the PPARs had to evolve to integrate lipid storage and burning with the ability to reduce oxidative stress, as energy storage is essential for survival and resistance to injury/infection, but the latter increases oxidative stress and may reduce median survival (functional longevity). In a sense, PPARs may be an evolutionary solution to something we call the 'hypoxia-lipid' conundrum, where the ability to store and burn fat is essential for survival, but is a 'double-edged sword', as fats are potentially highly toxic. Ways in which PPARs may reduce oxidative stress involve modulation of mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP) expression (thus reducing reactive oxygen species, ROS), optimising forkhead box class O factor (FOXO) activity (by improving whole body insulin sensitivity) and suppressing NFkB (at the transcriptional level). In light of this, we therefore postulate that inflammation-induced PPAR downregulation engenders many of the signs and symptoms of the metabolic syndrome, which shares many features with the acute phase response (APR) and is the opposite of the phenotype associated with calorie restriction and high FOXO activity. In genetically susceptible individuals (displaying the naturally mildly insulin resistant 'thrifty genotype'), suboptimal PPAR activity may follow an exaggerated but natural adipose tissue-related inflammatory signal induced by excessive calories and reduced physical activity, which normally couples energy storage with the ability to mount an immune response. This is further worsened when pancreatic decompensation occurs, resulting in gluco-oxidative stress and lipotoxicity, increased inflammatory insulin resistance and oxidative stress. Reactivating PPARs may restore a metabolic balance and help to adapt the phenotype to a modern lifestyle