RELAÇÃO DO USO DO SOLO COM A DIVERSIDADE E A ATIVIDADE DA FAUNA EDÁFICA

Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito de diferentes usos do solo na abundância, riqueza, diversidade e atividade de organismos da fauna edáfica. A fauna do solo foi amostrada em: florestamento de Eucalyptus spp., florestamento de Pinus spp., lavoura de grãos, solo impactado pela construção civil e pastagem natural. Para a avaliação dos organismos da fauna epiedáfica empregou-se o método da armadilha de queda e para a amostragem dos organismos da fauna hemiedáfica utilizou-se o método TSBF. A atividade biológica do solo foi avaliada pelo método de lâminas bait. Foram coletados 5.413 organismos epiedáficos e 813 organismos hemiedáficos, distribuídos em 18 grupos taxonômicos. Os florestamentos de Pinus e Eucalyptus abrigaram as maiores abundâncias de organismos epiedáficos, com dominância de Collembola, o que resultou em menor índice de diversidade. O solo afetado pela construção civil apresentou as menores abundância e riqueza de organismos epiedáficos. A abundância, riqueza e diversidade de organismos hemiedáficos foram maiores na pastagem natural e menores no florestamento de Pinus e no solo impactado pela construção civil. A atividade biológica do solo foi maior no florestamento de Eucalyptus e menor no solo impactado pela construção civil. A abundância, riqueza e diversidade da fauna edáfica é afetada pelo uso do solo.Palavras-chave: atividade biológica do solo; bioindicadores; degradação do solo; invertebrados do solo; qualidade do solo; RELATION OF SOIL USE WITH DIVERSITY AND ACTIVITY OF EDAPHIC FAUNA ABSTRACT:This study evaluated the effect of different land uses on the abundance, richness, diversity and activity of edaphic fauna. The soil fauna was sampled in: Eucalyptus spp. afforestation, Pinus spp. afforestation, grain cropping, soil impacted by construction and natural grassland. The epiedaphic fauna was sampled by pitfalls and the hemiedaphic fauna by TSBF method. The soil biological activity was evaluated by the lamina-bait test. 5,413 epiedaphic organisms and 813 hemiedaphic organisms were collected, classified in 18 taxonomic groups. The afforestation of Pinus and Eucalyptus had the greatest abundance of epiedaphic organisms, with dominance of springtails, which resulted in a lower index of diversity. The soil affected by the construction had the lowest abundances and the richness of epiedaphic organisms. The abundance, richness and diversity of hemiedaphic organisms were higher in natural grassland; and smaller in Pinus afforestation and soil impacted by construction. Soil biological activity was higher in the Eucalyptus afforestation and lower in the soil impacted by construction. Soil use affects the abundance, richness and diversity of edaphic fauna.Keywords: soil biological activity; bioindicators; soil degradation; soil invertebrates; soil quality

Compliance assessment of ambulatory Alzheimer patients to aid therapeutic decisions by healthcare professionals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Compliance represents a major determinant for the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy. Compliance reports summarising electronically compiled compliance data qualify healthcare needs and can be utilised as part of a compliance enhancing intervention. Nevertheless, evidence-based information on a sufficient level of compliance is scarce complicating the interpretation of compliance reports. The purpose of our pilot study was to determine the compliance of ambulatory Alzheimer patients to antidementia drugs under routine therapeutic use using electronic monitoring. In addition, the forgiveness of donepezil (i.e. its ability to sustain adequate pharmacological response despite suboptimal compliance) was characterised and evidence-based guidance for the interpretation of compliance reports was intended to be developed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We determined the compliance of four different antidementia drugs by electronic monitoring in 31 patients over six months. All patients were recruited from the gerontopsychiatric clinic of a university hospital as part of a pilot study. The so called medication event monitoring system (MEMS) was employed, consisting of a vial with a microprocessor in the lid which records the time (date, hour, minute) of every opening. Daily compliance served as primary outcome measure, defined as percentage of days with correctly administered doses of medication. In addition, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of donepezil were simulated to systematically assess therapeutic undersupply also incorporating study compliance patterns. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS and Microsoft Excel.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Median daily compliance was 94% (range 48%-99%). Ten patients (32%) were non-compliant at least for one month. One-sixth of patients taking donepezil displayed periods of therapeutic undersupply. For 10 mg and 5 mg donepezil once-daily dosing, the estimated forgiveness of donepezil was 80% and 90% daily compliance or two and one dosage omissions at steady state, respectively. Based on the simulation findings we developed rules for the evidence-based interpretation of donepezil compliance reports.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Compliance in ambulatory Alzheimer patients was for the first time assessed under routine conditions using electronic monitoring: On average compliance was relatively high but variable between patients. The approach of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic <it>in silico </it>simulations was suitable to characterise the forgiveness of donepezil suggesting evidence-based recommendations for the interpretation of compliance reports.</p

Genotype‐environment interactions rule the response of a widespread butterfly to temperature variation

Abstract Understanding how organisms adapt to complex environments is a central goal of evolutionary biology and ecology. This issue is of special interest in the current era of rapidly changing climatic conditions. Here, we investigate clinal variation and plastic responses in life history, morphology and physiology in the butterfly Pieris napi along a pan‐European gradient by exposing butterflies raised in captivity to different temperatures. We found clinal variation in body size, growth rates and concomitant development time, wing aspect ratio, wing melanization and heat tolerance. Individuals from warmer environments were more heat‐tolerant and had less melanised wings and a shorter development, but still they were larger than individuals from cooler environments. These findings suggest selection for rapid growth in the warmth and for wing melanization in the cold, and thus fine‐tuned genetic adaptation to local climates. Irrespective of the origin of butterflies, the effects of higher developmental temperature were largely as expected, speeding up development; reducing body size, potential metabolic activity and wing melanization; while increasing heat tolerance. At least in part, these patterns likely reflect adaptive phenotypic plasticity. In summary, our study revealed pronounced plastic and genetic responses, which may indicate high adaptive capacities in our study organism. Whether this may help such species, though, to deal with current climate change needs further investigation, as clinal patterns have typically evolved over long periods

RELAÇÃO DO USO DO SOLO COM A DIVERSIDADE E A ATIVIDADE DA FAUNA EDÁFICA

Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito de diferentes usos do solo na abundância, riqueza, diversidade e atividade de organismos da fauna edáfica. A fauna do solo foi amostrada em: florestamento de Eucalyptus spp., florestamento de Pinus spp., lavoura de grãos, solo impactado pela construção civil e pastagem natural. Para a avaliação dos organismos da fauna epiedáfica empregou-se o método da armadilha de queda e para a amostragem dos organismos da fauna hemiedáfica utilizou-se o método TSBF. A atividade biológica do solo foi avaliada pelo método de lâminas bait. Foram coletados 5.413 organismos epiedáficos e 813 organismos hemiedáficos, distribuídos em 18 grupos taxonômicos. Os florestamentos de Pinus e Eucalyptus abrigaram as maiores abundâncias de organismos epiedáficos, com dominância de Collembola, o que resultou em menor índice de diversidade. O solo afetado pela construção civil apresentou as menores abundância e riqueza de organismos epiedáficos. A abundância, riqueza e diversidade de organismos hemiedáficos foram maiores na pastagem natural e menores no florestamento de Pinus e no solo impactado pela construção civil. A atividade biológica do solo foi maior no florestamento de Eucalyptus e menor no solo impactado pela construção civil. A abundância, riqueza e diversidade da fauna edáfica é afetada pelo uso do solo.Palavras-chave: atividade biológica do solo; bioindicadores; degradação do solo; invertebrados do solo; qualidade do solo; RELATION OF SOIL USE WITH DIVERSITY AND ACTIVITY OF EDAPHIC FAUNA ABSTRACT:This study evaluated the effect of different land uses on the abundance, richness, diversity and activity of edaphic fauna. The soil fauna was sampled in: Eucalyptus spp. afforestation, Pinus spp. afforestation, grain cropping, soil impacted by construction and natural grassland. The epiedaphic fauna was sampled by pitfalls and the hemiedaphic fauna by TSBF method. The soil biological activity was evaluated by the lamina-bait test. 5,413 epiedaphic organisms and 813 hemiedaphic organisms were collected, classified in 18 taxonomic groups. The afforestation of Pinus and Eucalyptus had the greatest abundance of epiedaphic organisms, with dominance of springtails, which resulted in a lower index of diversity. The soil affected by the construction had the lowest abundances and the richness of epiedaphic organisms. The abundance, richness and diversity of hemiedaphic organisms were higher in natural grassland; and smaller in Pinus afforestation and soil impacted by construction. Soil biological activity was higher in the Eucalyptus afforestation and lower in the soil impacted by construction. Soil use affects the abundance, richness and diversity of edaphic fauna.Keywords: soil biological activity; bioindicators; soil degradation; soil invertebrates; soil quality

Using clinical research networks to assess severity of an emerging influenza pandemic

BACKGROUND: Early clinical severity assessments during the 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic (pH1N1) overestimated clinical severity due to selection bias and other factors. We retrospectively investigated how to use data from the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials, a global clinical influenza research network, to make more accurate case fatality ratio (CFR) estimates early in a future pandemic, an essential part of pandemic response. METHODS: We estimated the CFR of medically attended influenza (CFRMA) as the product of probability of hospitalization given confirmed outpatient influenza and the probability of death given hospitalization with confirmed influenza for the pandemic (2009-2011) and post-pandemic (2012-2015) periods. We used literature survey results on health-seeking behavior to convert that estimate to CFR among all infected persons (CFRAR). RESULTS: During the pandemic period, 5.0% (3.1%-6.9%) of 561 pH1N1-positive outpatients were hospitalized. Of 282 pH1N1-positive inpatients, 8.5% (5.7%-12.6%) died. CFRMA for pH1N1 was 0.4% (0.2%-0.6%) in the pandemic period 2009-2011 but declined 5-fold in young adults during the post-pandemic period compared to the level of seasonal influenza in the post-pandemic period 2012-2015. CFR for influenza-negative patients did not change over time. We estimated the 2009 pandemic CFRAR to be 0.025%, 16-fold lower than CFRMA. CONCLUSIONS: Data from a clinical research network yielded accurate pandemic severity estimates, including increased severity among younger people. Going forward, clinical research networks with a global presence and standardized protocols would substantially aid rapid assessment of clinical severity