Symptoms of anxiety and depression and their relationship with barriers to physical activity in patients with intermittent claudication

OBJECTIVES: Although the practice of physical exercise in patients with intermittent claudication (IC) is often encouraged, adherence is low. The difficulty in performing physical training may be related to the psychological characteristics of patients with claudication. To verify the association between anxiety and depression symptoms and barriers to physical exercise and walking capacity in patients with IC. METHODS: One-hundred and thirteen patients with a clinical diagnosis of IC were included in the study. Patients underwent clinical evaluation by a vascular surgeon, answered the Beck Depression Inventory, and Beck Anxiety Inventory tests were applied by the psychologist. The patients performed the 6-minute test and reported their barriers to physical activity practice in a questionnaire. RESULTS: Patients with signs of depression had a shorter pain-free walking distance (p=0.015) and total walking distance (p=0.035) compared to patients with no signs of depression. Pain-free walking distance (p=0.29) and total walking distance (p=0.07) were similar between patients with and without signs of anxiety. Patients with symptoms of moderate to severe depression reported more barriers to physical activity practice compared to patients without signs of depression. CONCLUSION: Symptoms of anxiety and depression are prevalent among patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD). Depression symptoms are associated with personal barriers to exercise, while anxiety symptoms are not. The main barriers to physical activity among patients with IC are exercise-induced pain and the presence of other diseases

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

LEVANTAMENTO DO POTENCIAL DE ARBORIZAÇÃO E PROPOSTA PARA TRÊS BAIRROS NO MUNICÍPIO DE PIRACICABA/SP, BRASIL.

A maioria dos municípios do Brasil apresenta grande déficit de indivíduos arbóreos urbanos, o que acarreta problemas ambientais diversos. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi avaliar o potencial e propor desenhos alternativos de arborização urbana para três bairros com situação de cobertura arbórea crítica na cidade de Piracicaba/SP. Cada bairro foi avaliado pelo processamento, com uso do software TNT Mips 7.2, de imagens aéreas obtidas por videografia multiespectral e pelo reconhecimento em campo. Com base nas informações geradas e considerando a baixa ocorrência de indivíduos arbóreos, foram selecionadas, de forma sistemática, 10 quadras de cada bairro, para a realização das propostas de intervenção. As alternativas de desenho propostas, para os três bairros, foram arborização de: (i) calçadas, sempre que as condições de fiação, rede de esgoto e entrada de garagem permitissem, (ii) canteiros centrais em ruas com leito carroçável largo, situação comumente encontrada nos bairros, (iii) rotatórias e (iv) praças e áreas verdes. Os bairros estudados apresentaram condições de intervenção paisagística e implementação de arborização (novas árvores), o que proporcionaria uma melhoria das condições ambientais futuras, com a previsão de um efetivo aumento da cobertura arbórea destes bairros e, conseqüentemente, do bem estar de sua comunidade

Bartonella henselae AS A PUTATIVE CAUSE OF CONGENITAL CHOLESTASIS

SUMMARY Severe anemia and cholestatic hepatitis are associated with bartonella infections. A putative vertical Bartonella henselae infection was defined on the basis of ultrastructural and molecular analyses in a three-year-old child with anemia, jaundice and hepatosplenomegaly since birth. Physicians should consider bartonellosis in patients with anemia and hepatitis of unknown origin

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Genetic Structure of Leishmania infantum Populations in Brazil and Its Possible Association with the Transmission Cycle of Visceral Leishmaniasis

Leishmania infantum is the etiologic agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the Americas, Mediterranean basin and West and Central Asia. Although the geographic structure of L. infantum populations from the Old World have been described, few studies have addressed the population structure of this parasite in the Neotropical region. We employed 14 microsatellites to analyze the population structure of the L. infantum strains isolated from humans and dogs from most of the Brazilian states endemic for VL and from Paraguay. The results indicate a low genetic diversity, high inbreeding estimates and a depletion of heterozygotes, which together indicate a predominantly clonal breeding system, but signs of sexual events are also present. Three populations were identified from the clustering analysis, and they were well supported by F statistics inferences and partially corroborated by distance-based. POP1 (111 strains) was observed in all but one endemic area. POP2 (31 strains) is also well-dispersed, but it was the predominant population in Mato Grosso (MT). POP3 (31 strains) was less dispersed, and it was observed primarily in Mato Grosso do Sul (MS). Strains originated from an outbreak of canine VL in Southern Brazil were grouped in POP1 with those from Paraguay, which corroborates the hypothesis of dispersal from Northeastern Argentina and Paraguay. The distribution of VL in MS seems to follow the west-east construction of the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline from Corumbá municipality. This may have resulted in a strong association of POP3 and Lutzomyia cruzi, which is the main VL vector in Corumbá, and a dispersion of this population in this region that was shaped by human interference. This vector also occurs in MT and may influence the structure of POP2. This paper presents significant advances in the understanding of the population structure of L. infantum in Brazil and its association with eco-epidemiological aspects of VL