FORTALEZAS E FRAGILIDADES DO SETOR PISCÍCOLA EM SANTARÉM E MOJUÍ DOS CAMPOS, PA –BRASIL

ABSTRACT: This paper aims to present the strengths and weaknesses of the producers and institutions that work in the aquaculture sector of Santarém and Mojuí dos Campos, PA - Brazil. As well, characterize these aquaculture producers; present the objectives and mission of institutions working in the aquaculture sector; and quantify the strengths and weaknesses of local producers and institutions. Qualitative interviews were carried out with the application of forms and semi-structured guides, with 44 fish farmers and 08 representatives of associations, cooperatives, development agencies and bodies responsible for aquaculture. Photographic records were also made, in audios and relevant literature research. It was verified the existence of ventures of continental pisciculture in its almost totality. However, these activities present problems related to the availability of inputs, production, disposal and processing, as well as obstacles in the institutional environment. The productive chain of fish farming in the West of Para requires investment in inputs and production of the chain in a professional way; which can be public or private, as well as greater integration and cooperation between peers and environments.KEYWORDS: Aquaculture, Producers and Institutions, Santarém and Mojuí dos Campos.RESUMEN: Este trabajo tiene como objetivo presentar las fortalezas y fragilidades de los productores e instituciones que actúan en el sector acuícola de Santarém y Mojuí de los Campos, PA - Brasil. Así como, caracterizar a esos productores acuícolas; presentar los objetivos y misión de las instituciones que actúan en el sector acuícola; y cuantificar las fortalezas y fragilidades de los productores e instituciones locales. Se realizaron entrevistas cualitativas con aplicación de formularios y de itinerarios semiestructurados, junto a 44 piscicultores y 08 representantes de las asociaciones, cooperativas, agencias de fomento y organismos responsables por la actividad acuícola. También se realizaron registros fotográficos, en audios e investigación de la literatura pertinente. Se constató la existencia de emprendimientos de piscicultura continental en su casi totalidad. Sin embargo, estas actividades presentan problemas relacionados con la disponibilidad de insumos, producción, desagüe y beneficiamiento, además de obstáculos en el ambiente institucional. La cadena productiva de la piscicultura en el oeste paraense demanda de inversiones en insumos y producción de la cadena de forma profesional; que pueden ser públicos o privados, así como una mayor integración y cooperación entre sus pares y ambientes.PALABRAS CLAVE: Acuicultura, Productores e instituciones, Santarém y Mojuí de los Campos.RESUMO: Este trabalho objetiva apresentar as fortalezas e fragilidades dos produtores e instituições que atuam no setor aquícola de Santarém e Mojuí dos Campos, PA – Brasil. Assim como, caracterizar esses produtores aquícolas; apresentar os objetivos e missão das instituições que atuam no setor aquícola; e quali-quantificar as fortalezas e fragilidades dos produtores e instituições locais. Realizou-se entrevistas qualitativas com aplicação de formulários e de roteiros semiestruturados, junto a 44 piscicultores e 08 representantes das associações, cooperativas, agências de fomento e órgãos responsáveis pela atividade aquícola. Também foram realizados registros fotográficos, em áudios e pesquisa da literatura pertinente. Constatou-se a existência de empreendimentos de piscicultura continental em sua quase totalidade. Contudo, essas atividades apresentam problemas relacionados à disponibilidade de insumos, produção, escoamento e beneficiamento, além de entraves no ambiente institucional. A cadeia produtiva da piscicultura no Oeste paraense demanda de investimentos em insumos e produção da cadeia de forma profissional; que podem ser públicos ou privados, assim como uma maior integração e cooperação entre seus pares e ambientes.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Aquicultura, Produtores e instituições, Santarém e Mojuí dos Campos.

Fully Resolved assembly of Cryptosporidium Parvum

BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidium parvum is an apicomplexan parasite commonly found across many host species with a global infection prevalence in human populations of 7.6%. Understanding its diversity and genomic makeup can help in fighting established infections and prohibiting further transmission. The basis of every genomic study is a high-quality reference genome that has continuity and completeness, thus enabling comprehensive comparative studies. FINDINGS: Here, we provide a highly accurate and complete reference genome of Cryptosporidium parvum. The assembly is based on Oxford Nanopore reads and was improved using Illumina reads for error correction. We also outline how to evaluate and choose from different assembly methods based on 2 main approaches that can be applied to other Cryptosporidium species. The assembly encompasses 8 chromosomes and includes 13 telomeres that were resolved. Overall, the assembly shows a high completion rate with 98.4% single-copy BUSCO genes. CONCLUSIONS: This high-quality reference genome of a zoonotic IIaA17G2R1 C. parvum subtype isolate provides the basis for subsequent comparative genomic studies across the Cryptosporidium clade. This will enable improved understanding of diversity, functional, and association studies

Susceptibilities of Nonhuman Primates to Chronic Wasting Disease

A species barrier may protect humans from this disease

Allelic spectrum of the natural variation in CRP

With the recent completion of the International HapMap Project, many tools are in hand for genetic association studies seeking to test the common variant/common disease hypothesis. In contrast, very few tools and resources are in place for genotype–phenotype studies hypothesizing that rare variation has a large impact on the phenotype of interest. To create these tools for rare variant/common disease studies, much interest is being generated towards investing in re-sequencing either large sample sizes of random chromosomes or smaller sample sizes of patients with extreme phenotypes. As a case study for rare variant discovery in random chromosomes, we have re-sequenced ~1,000 chromosomes representing diverse populations for the gene C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is an important gene in the fields of cardiovascular and inflammation genetics, and its size (~2 kb) makes it particularly amenable medical or deep re-sequencing. With these data, we explore several issues related to the present-day candidate gene association study including the benefits of complete SNP discovery, the effects of tagSNP selection across diverse populations, and completeness of dbSNP for CRP. Also, we show that while deep re-sequencing uncovers potentially medically relevant coding SNPs, these SNPs are fleetingly rare when genotyped in a population-based survey of 7,000 Americans (NHANES III). Collectively, these data suggest that several different types re-sequencing and genotyping approaches may be required to fully understand the complete spectrum of alleles that impact human phenotypes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available for this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00439-006-0160-y and is accessible for authorized users

Application of Equilibrium Models of Solution Hybridization to Microarray Design and Analysis

Background: The probe percent bound value, calculated using multi-state equilibrium models of solution hybridization, is shown to be useful in understanding the hybridization behavior of microarray probes having 50 nucleotides, with and without mismatches. These longer oligonucleotides are in widespread use on microarrays, but there are few controlled studies of their interactions with mismatched targets compared to 25-mer based platforms. Principal Findings: 50-mer oligonucleotides with centrally placed single, double and triple mismatches were spotted on an array. Over a range of target concentrations it was possible to discriminate binding to perfect matches and mismatches, and the type of mismatch could be predicted accurately in the concentration midrange (100 pM to 200 pM) using solution hybridization modeling methods. These results have implications for microarray design, optimization and analysis methods. Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of incorporating biophysical factors in both the design and the analysis of microarrays. Use of the probe ‘‘percent bound’ ’ value predicted by equilibrium models of hybridization is confirmed to be important for predicting and interpreting the behavior of long oligonucleotide arrays, as has been shown for shor

Complete Genome Sequence of Treponema paraluiscuniculi, Strain Cuniculi A: The Loss of Infectivity to Humans Is Associated with Genome Decay

Treponema paraluiscuniculi is the causative agent of rabbit venereal spirochetosis. It is not infectious to humans, although its genome structure is very closely related to other pathogenic Treponema species including Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum, the etiological agent of syphilis. In this study, the genome sequence of Treponema paraluiscuniculi, strain Cuniculi A, was determined by a combination of several high-throughput sequencing strategies. Whereas the overall size (1,133,390 bp), arrangement, and gene content of the Cuniculi A genome closely resembled those of the T. pallidum genome, the T. paraluiscuniculi genome contained a markedly higher number of pseudogenes and gene fragments (51). In addition to pseudogenes, 33 divergent genes were also found in the T. paraluiscuniculi genome. A set of 32 (out of 84) affected genes encoded proteins of known or predicted function in the Nichols genome. These proteins included virulence factors, gene regulators and components of DNA repair and recombination. The majority (52 or 61.9%) of the Cuniculi A pseudogenes and divergent genes were of unknown function. Our results indicate that T. paraluiscuniculi has evolved from a T. pallidum-like ancestor and adapted to a specialized host-associated niche (rabbits) during loss of infectivity to humans. The genes that are inactivated or altered in T. paraluiscuniculi are candidates for virulence factors important in the infectivity and pathogenesis of T. pallidum subspecies

A collaboratively derived environmental research agenda for Galapagos

Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced. </jats:p

Talek: Private Group Messaging with Hidden Access Patterns

Talek is a private group messaging system that sends messages through potentially untrustworthy servers, while hiding both data content and the communication patterns among its users. Talek explores a new point in the design space of private messaging; it guarantees access sequence indistinguishability, which is among the strongest guarantees in the space, while assuming an anytrust threat model, which is only slightly weaker than the strongest threat model currently found in related work. Our results suggest that this is a pragmatic point in the design space, since it supports strong privacy and good performance: we demonstrate a 3-server Talek cluster that achieves throughput of 9,433 messages/second for 32,000 active users with 1.7-second end-to-end latency. To achieve its security goals without coordination between clients, Talek relies on information-theoretic private information retrieval. To achieve good performance and minimize server-side storage, Talek intro- duces new techniques and optimizations that may be of independent interest, e.g., a novel use of blocked cuckoo hashing and support for private notifications. The latter provide a private, efficient mechanism for users to learn, without polling, which logs have new messages