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

Repercussão da terapia de suplementação de proteína em detrimento das alterações na composição muscular de idosos: uma revisão: Repercussion of protein supplementation therapy to the detriment of changes in muscle composition in the elderly: a review

INTRODUÇÃO: O ato de envelhecer traz consigo inúmeras mudanças fisiológicas, dentre elas, destaca-se a sarcopenia, que por vezes pode levar a perda da capacidade funcional, podendo prejudicar a mobilidade e por fim acarretar em acidentes graves ou mortes. A atual concentração diária recomendada de proteína por quilograma não foi projetada para uma população em fase de envelhecimento, o que pode levar a uma concentração de proteína insuficiente. A suplementação proteica surgiu como forma alternativa de preservar a manutenção muscular. OBJETIVO: Analisar os efeitos da suplementação proteica na manutenção da capacidade funcional muscular na população idosa. METODOLOGIA: Para tanto, foi realizada uma revisão integrativa da literatura de aspecto qualitativo, no qual, a partir de uma pesquisa em bases de dados selecionadas, baseou-se em estudos que apresentaram efeitos da suplementação proteica na manutenção da capacidade funcional muscular de idosos. Ao final foram selecionados seis estudos que contemplavam o tema em questão. RESULTADOS E DISCUSSÃO: A melhora do estado nutricional está relacionada ao desempenho muscular, com base nisso, foram analisados nos estudos os seguintes aspectos: ganho de massa muscular, exercício físico em jejum, membros inferiores, velocidade da marcha e outros parâmetros funcionais e 25-hidroxivitamina D, todos colocando-se em comparação com a suplementação proteica como forma intervencionista e de manutenção da capacidade funcional muscular. Ainda, foi realizada uma análise da suplementação dietética com aminoácidos de cadeia ramificada (BCAAs) em relação a desnutrição. CONCLUSÃO: A análise dos dados supracitados revelou a relevância da busca pela melhoria na qualidade de vida e bem-estar da população senil, de maneira que o consumo diário recomendado de proteína seja preconizado como principal medida para manutenção da massa muscular nesta parcela populacional. Deve-se estimular o consumo diário de alimentos ricos em proteínas, tais como carnes, ovos, leite e derivados e suplementos alimentares, quando sua prescrição se faz necessária. Diante da corroboração da sarcopenia no aumento da incidência de quedas em idosos, se faz necessário orientar e estimular a população senil para a prática regular de exercício físico resistido, além do acompanhamento de equipe multidisciplinar

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

Use of Protein Thin Film Organized by External Electric Field as a Template for Protein Crystallization

The well-known difficulty to obtain high-quality protein crystals has motivated researchers to come up with new methods or modifications of established crystallization methods to stimulate the growth of good diffracting crystals. In the present work, a new approach, using a protein thin film organized by external electric field (EEF) as a template for protein crystal growth, is introduced. This method increased nucleation of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) in comparison with the classical vapor diffusion method, besides improving crystal morphology and size. X-ray diffraction analyses indicated improvements in crystal quality. When HEWL was crystallized at pH 6.2, in which this protein presents biological activity, the control crystal presented a poorly ordered crystalline structure and a low resolution cutoff at 3.42 Å, whereas the crystal grown with the EEF protein film revealed a high-resolution limit at 1.67 Å. These results suggest that protein films organized by EEF may improve protein crystals and their data quality

Clinical evaluation of postoperative sensitivity using self-etching adhesives containing glutaraldehyde

The present clinical study aimed to assess the postoperative sensitivity (POS) after 48 hours and seven days in occlusal restorations bonded with three different adhesive systems, two of them containing glutaraldehyde. The restorative procedures were performed using the three-step etch-and-rinse Adper SBMP-Plus adhesive (SBMP), the two-step etch-and-rinse Gluma Comfort One Bond + Desensitizer adhesive (GC+D) and the all-in-one self-etching/priming I Bond (IB) adhesive, which also has glutaraldehyde in its formula. All cavities were restored with Filtek Supreme nanoparticle composite resin. After 48 hours and seven days the patients were recalled and the postoperative sensitivity evaluated. The data analyzed by non-parametric Friedman test showed no significant differences in POS among the three tested groups after 48 hours and seven days

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora

Global variation in postoperative mortality and complications after cancer surgery: a multicentre, prospective cohort study in 82 countries

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licenseBackground: 80% of individuals with cancer will require a surgical procedure, yet little comparative data exist on early outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared postoperative outcomes in breast, colorectal, and gastric cancer surgery in hospitals worldwide, focusing on the effect of disease stage and complications on postoperative mortality. Methods: This was a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for primary breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer requiring a skin incision done under general or neuraxial anaesthesia. The primary outcome was death or major complication within 30 days of surgery. Multilevel logistic regression determined relationships within three-level nested models of patients within hospitals and countries. Hospital-level infrastructure effects were explored with three-way mediation analyses. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03471494. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2019, we enrolled 15 958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries (high income 9106 patients, 31 countries; upper-middle income 2721 patients, 23 countries; or lower-middle income 4131 patients, 28 countries). Patients in LMICs presented with more advanced disease compared with patients in high-income countries. 30-day mortality was higher for gastric cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (adjusted odds ratio 3·72, 95% CI 1·70–8·16) and for colorectal cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (4·59, 2·39–8·80) and upper-middle-income countries (2·06, 1·11–3·83). No difference in 30-day mortality was seen in breast cancer. The proportion of patients who died after a major complication was greatest in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (6·15, 3·26–11·59) and upper-middle-income countries (3·89, 2·08–7·29). Postoperative death after complications was partly explained by patient factors (60%) and partly by hospital or country (40%). The absence of consistently available postoperative care facilities was associated with seven to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications in LMICs. Cancer stage alone explained little of the early variation in mortality or postoperative complications. Interpretation: Higher levels of mortality after cancer surgery in LMICs was not fully explained by later presentation of disease. The capacity to rescue patients from surgical complications is a tangible opportunity for meaningful intervention. Early death after cancer surgery might be reduced by policies focusing on strengthening perioperative care systems to detect and intervene in common complications. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit