Levantamento de Ep?fitas vasculares em for?fitos de fragmentos florestais no sudoeste do Paran?

In recent years it was carried out important studies with epiphytes in Brazil. This study aimed to raise the species of communities of the epiphytes in phorophytes, in addition to building key and planks with images for the recognition of epiphytes. The phorophytes are located in southwestern Paran? in semideciduous forest fragments with some influence of Ombrophilous Mixed Forest. Samples were collected from November 2014 to February 2015, in private fragments in the cities of Realeza and Ampere. We have found 18 species of vascular epiphytes, 15 angiosperms and 3 ferns, including one parasite, distributed in 12 genera and 8 families, wherein the families most numerous were Cactaceae (6) and Bromeliaceae (4). Among the floristic surveys of Paran?, many had species in common with this study, but presented a distinction of orchid family considered as the most representative, have been represented by only one individual. From the results it was built species identification key and the description of the species, as well as planks with images. The work was important for the knowledge and divulgation of vascular epiphytes in the region, and served to perceive the importance of preserving and conserving these fragments and consequently its flora.Nos ?ltimos anos foram realizados importantes estudos com ep?fitas no Brasil. Este trabalho objetivou levantar as esp?cies da comunidade epif?tica presente em for?fitos, al?m de construir chave e pranchas com imagens para o reconhecimento das ep?fitas. Os for?fitos est?o localizados no Sudoeste do Paran? em fragmentos de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual com alguma influ?ncia de Floresta Ombr?fila Mista. As coletas foram realizadas de novembro de 2014 a fevereiro de 2015, em fragmentos de s?tios particulares nas cidades de Realeza e Amp?re. Foram encontradas 18 esp?cies de ep?fitas vasculares, 15 angiospermas e 3 pterid?fitas, incluindo 1 parasita, distribu?das em 12 g?neros e 8 fam?lias, sendo que as fam?lias de maior n?mero de esp?cies foram Cactaceae (6) e Bromeliaceae (4). Dentre os levantamentos flor?sticos do Paran?, haviam muitas esp?cies em comum com este estudo, por?m o mesmo apresentou uma distin??o da fam?lia Orchidaceae considerada a mais representativa na maioria destes, ter sido representada por apenas um indiv?duo. A partir dos resultados foi constru?da uma chave de identifica??o de esp?cies e a descri??o das esp?cies, al?m de pranchas com imagens. O trabalho foi importante para o conhecimento e divulga??o das ep?fitas vasculares da regi?o, al?m de servir para perceber a import?ncia de se preservar e conservar estes fragmentos e consequentemente sua flora

Characterization of Planktochlorella nurekis Extracts and Virucidal Activity against a Coronavirus Model, the Murine Coronavirus 3

Certain members of the Coronaviridae family have emerged as zoonotic agents and have recently caused severe respiratory diseases in humans and animals, such as SARS, MERS, and, more recently, COVID-19. Antivirals (drugs and antiseptics) capable of controlling viruses at the site of infection are scarce. Microalgae from the Chlorellaceae family are sources of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, antiviral, and antitumor activity. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate various extracts from Planktochlorella nurekis in vitro against murine coronavirus-3 (MHV-3), which is an essential human coronavirus surrogate for laboratory assays. Methanol, hexane, and dichloromethane extracts of P. nurekis were tested in cells infected with MHV-3, and characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS), and the application of chemometrics through principal component analysis (PCA). All the extracts were highly efficient against MHV-3 (more than a 6 Log unit reduction), regardless of the solvent used or the concentration of the extract, but the dichloromethane extract was the most effective. Chemical characterization by spectrophotometry and NMR, with the aid of statistical analysis, showed that polyphenols, carbohydrates, and isoprene derivatives, such as terpenes and carotenoids have a more significant impact on the virucidal potential. Compounds identified by UPLC-MS were mainly lipids and only found in the dichloromethane extract. These results open new biotechnological possibilities to explore the biomass of P. nurekis; it is a natural extract and shows low cytotoxicity and an excellent antiviral effect, with low production costs, highlighting a promising potential for development and implementation of therapies against coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2.This research was funded LVA-MIP-CCB-UFSC/Sigpex: 201917940, and CNPq, CAPES-DS

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

Padrões biogeográficos de macroalgas marinhas do Brasil

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia de Fungos, Algas e Plantas, Florianópolis, 2018.A biogeografia fornece uma base importante para pesquisas em conservação. No Brasil estudos em biogeografia de macroalgas marinhas têm sido realizados basicamente de forma descritiva. Esse estudo teve como objetivo testar hipóteses sobre a presença de estrutura biogeográfica entre as comunidades de macroalgas marinhas brasileiras e identificar quais propostas de organização biogeográfica melhor explicam essa estrutura. Foram utilizados valores de presença e ausência de registros de espécies de macroalgas de 16 estados da costa brasileira, obtidos do herbário virtual Reflora, artigos científicos, dissertações e teses. Foram encontradas 869 espécies de macroalgas marinhas, sendo 570 de Rhodophyta, 193 de Chlorophyta e 106 de Phaeophyceae. As análises revelaram a presença de um padrão estatisticamente significativo formado por de três grupos biogeográficos. Os fatores salinidade, temperatura máxima da superfície do mar, amplitude da clorofila e nitrato foram os fatores abióticos que melhor explicaram o padrão encontrado. As classificações biogeográficas testadas foram significativas para os níveis taxonômicos mais baixos, havendo perda de sinal biogeográfico quando se utiliza os níveis hierárquicos superiores. Encontramos resultados significativos para seriação e dispersão multidimensional entre as regiões geopolíticas brasileiras. A curva de coletor evidenciou através de estimadores que ainda existem espécies de macroalgas marinhas a serem registradas para o Brasil. Assim como nesse estudo, trabalhos futuros devem abordar diferentes componentes da diversidade de macroalgas marinhas brasileiras sempre buscando a implementação de testes estatísticos de hipóteses nulas e modelagem ecológica.Abstract : Biogeography provides important theoretical and quantitative foundations for conservation research. In Brazil, marine macroalgae biogeography has been mostly descriptive. This study focused on applying a hypothesis testing approaches to detect the presence of significant biogeographic structuring among Brazilian marine macroalgal assemblages. We also tested whether some bioregionalization proposals help to explain the observed structure. Species distributional information was based on historical presence / absence records across 16 coastal Brazilian states derived from the Reflora digital database and the literature. A total of 869 marine macroalgal species were found along the Brazilian coast, divided in 570 Rhodophyta, 193 Chlorophyta, and 106 Phaeophyceae. Results identified the presence of a statistically significant biogeographic patterns formed by three distinct bioregions that coincide with Brazil s geopolitical regions. Salinity, maximum sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a and nitrate concentration range were the abiotic factors that best explained the observed biogeographic structure. Presence of biogeographic structured tested across multiple levels of biological organization revealed the presence of statistically significant results only at lower levels, i.e. species and genera (compared to families, orders, and classes). The presences of significant linear seriation along the Brazilian coast and of differences in multidimensional dispersion between geopolitical regions were also detected. Species accumulation curves, including jackknife and bootstrap estimators, suggested that the total number of known species for the Brazilian coast has not been reached yet. Future studies should expand the comprehension about the Brazilian marine flora to include different aspects of marine macroalgal diversity (e.g. functional diversity), always implementing hypothesis testing approaches and ecological modeling

Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions