Characterization of levan produced by a Paenibacillus sp. isolated from Brazilian crude oil

A levan-type fructooligosaccharide was produced by a Paenibacillus strain isolated from Brazilian crude oil, the purity of which was 98.5% after precipitation with ethanol and dialysis. Characterization by FTIR, NMR spectroscopy, GC-FID and ESI-MS revealed that it is a mixture of linear (26) fructosyl polymers with average degree of polymerization (DP) of 18 and branching ratio of 20. Morphological structure and physicochemical properties were investigated to assess levan microstructure, degradation temperature and thermomechanical features. Thermal Gravimetric Analysis highlighted degradation temperature of 218°C, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) glass transition at 81.47°C, and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis three frequency-dependent transition peaks. These peaks, corresponding to a first thermomechanical transition event at 86.60°C related to the DSC endothermic event, a second at 170.9°C and a third at 185.2°C, were attributed to different glass transition temperatures of oligo and polyfructans with different DP. Levan showed high morphological versatility and technological potential for the food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries.São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) within Grants 2020/13271-6 and 2018/25511-1. Additionally, the authors acknowledge the financial support by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq and by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Finance Code 001. In addition, this study was supported by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit and the Project FOSYNBIO (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029549).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The significance of cephalopod beaks as a research tool: An update

The use of cephalopod beaks in ecological and population dynamics studies has allowed major advances of our knowledge on the role of cephalopods in marine ecosystems in the last 60 years. Since the 1960's, with the pioneering research by Malcolm Clarke and colleagues, cephalopod beaks (also named jaws or mandibles) have been described to species level and their measurements have been shown to be related to cephalopod body size and mass, which permitted important information to be obtained on numerous biological and ecological aspects of cephalopods in marine ecosystems. In the last decade, a range of new techniques has been applied to cephalopod beaks, permitting new kinds of insight into cephalopod biology and ecology. The workshop on cephalopod beaks of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council Conference (Sesimbra, Portugal) in 2022 aimed to review the most recent scientific developments in this field and to identify future challenges, particularly in relation to taxonomy, age, growth, chemical composition (i.e., DNA, proteomics, stable isotopes, trace elements) and physical (i.e., structural) analyses. In terms of taxonomy, new techniques (e.g., 3D geometric morphometrics) for identifying cephalopods from their beaks are being developed with promising results, although the need for experts and reference collections of cephalopod beaks will continue. The use of beak microstructure for age and growth studies has been validated. Stable isotope analyses on beaks have proven to be an excellent technique to get valuable information on the ecology of cephalopods (namely habitat and trophic position). Trace element analyses is also possible using beaks, where concentrations are significantly lower than in other tissues (e.g., muscle, digestive gland, gills). Extracting DNA from beaks was only possible in one study so far. Protein analyses can also be made using cephalopod beaks. Future challenges in research using cephalopod beaks are also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Persistent symptoms and decreased health-related quality of life after symptomatic pediatric COVID-19: A prospective study in a Latin American tertiary hospital

OBJECTIVES: To prospectively evaluate demographic, anthropometric and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in pediatric patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) METHODS: This was a longitudinal observational study of surviving pediatric post-COVID-19 patients (n=53) and pediatric subjects without laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 included as controls (n=52) was performed. RESULTS: The median duration between COVID-19 diagnosis (n=53) and follow-up was 4.4 months (0.8-10.7). Twenty-three of 53 (43%) patients reported at least one persistent symptom at the longitudinal follow-up visit and 12/53 (23%) had long COVID-19, with at least one symptom lasting for >12 weeks. The most frequently reported symptoms at the longitudinal follow-up visit were headache (19%), severe recurrent headache (9%), tiredness (9%), dyspnea (8%), and concentration difficulty (4%). At the longitudinal follow-up visit, the frequencies of anemia (11% versus 0%, p=0.030), lymphopenia (42% versus 18%, p=0.020), C-reactive protein level of >30 mg/L (35% versus 0%, p=0.0001), and D-dimer level of >1000 ng/mL (43% versus 6%, p=0.0004) significantly reduced compared with baseline values. Chest X-ray abnormalities (11% versus 2%, p=0.178) and cardiac alterations on echocardiogram (33% versus 22%, p=0.462) were similar at both visits. Comparison of characteristic data between patients with COVID-19 at the longitudinal follow-up visit and controls showed similar age (p=0.962), proportion of male sex (p=0.907), ethnicity (p=0.566), family minimum monthly wage (p=0.664), body mass index (p=0.601), and pediatric pre-existing chronic conditions (p=1.000). The Pediatric Quality of Live Inventory 4.0 scores, median physical score (69 [0-100] versus 81 [34-100], p=0.012), and school score (60 [15-100] versus 70 [15-95], p=0.028) were significantly lower in pediatric patients with COVID-19 at the longitudinal follow-up visit than in controls. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric patients with COVID-19 showed a longitudinal impact on HRQoL parameters, particularly in physical/school domains, reinforcing the need for a prospective multidisciplinary approach for these patients. These data highlight the importance of closer monitoring of children and adolescents by the clinical team after COVID-19

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

The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiver sity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxo nomic 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 be yond 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 un equally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the coun try. 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.Fil: Gomes da Silva, Janaina. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro, BrasilFil: Filardi, Fabiana L.R. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Barbosa, María Regina de V. Universidade Federal da Paraíba: Joao Pessoa; BrasilFil: Baumgratz, José Fernando Andrade. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: de Mattos Bicudo, Carlos Eduardo. Instituto de Botânica. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Ecologia; BrasilFil: Cavalcanti, Taciana. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia; BrasilFil: Coelho, Marcus. Prefeitura Municipal de Campinas; BrasilFil: Ferreira da Costa, Andrea. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Museu Nacional. Department of Botany; BrasilFil: Costa, Denise. Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Dalcin, Eduardo C. Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute; BrasilFil: Labiak, Paulo. Universidade Federal do Parana; BrasilFil: Cavalcante de Lima, Haroldo. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Lohmann, Lucia. Universidade de São Paulo; BrasilFil: Maia, Leonor. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; BrasilFil: Mansano, Vidal de Freitas. Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Menezes, Mariângela. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Museu Nacional. Department of Botany; BrasilFil: Morim, Marli. Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Moura, Carlos Wallace do Nascimento. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana. Department of Biological Science; BrasilFil: Lughadha, Eimear NIck. Royal Botanic Gardens; Reino UnidoFil: Peralta, Denilson. Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais; BrazilFil: Prado, Jefferson. Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais; BrasilFil: Roque, Nádia. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Stehmann, Joao. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: da Silva Sylvestre, Lana. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Trierveiler-Pereira, Larissa. Universidade Estadual de Maringá. Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Biomedicina; BrasilFil: Walter, Bruno Machado Teles. EMBRAPA Cenargen Brasília; BrasilFil: Zimbrão, Geraldo. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Forzza, Rafaela C. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Morales, Matías. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Agronomía y Ciencias Agroalimentarias; Argentin

Wild boar density data generated by camera trapping in nineteen European areas

This report presents the results of field activities in relation to the generation of reliable wild boar density values by camera trapping (CT) in 19 areas in Europe, mainly in East Europe. Random Encounter Model (REM) densities ranged from 0.35±0.24 to 15.25±2.41 (SE) individuals/km2. No statistical differences in density among bioregions were found. The number of contacts was the component of the trapping rate that determined the coefficient of variation (CV) the most. The daily range (DR) significantly varied as a function of management; the higher values were detected in hunting grounds compared to protected areas, indicating that movement parameters are population specific, and confirming the potential role of hunting activities in increasing wild boar movement and contact rates among individual or groups. The results presented in this report illustrate that a harmonized approach to actual wildlife density estimation (namely for terrestrial mammals) is possible at a European scale, sharing the same protocols, collaboratively designing the study, processing, and analysing the data. This report adds reliable wild boar density values that have the potential to be used for wild boar abundance spatial modelling, both directly or to calibrate outputs of model based on abundance (such as hunting bags) or occurrence data. Future REM developments should focus on improving the precision of estimates (probably through increased survey effort). Next steps require an exhaustive and representative design of a monitoring network to estimate reliable trends of wild boar populations as a function of different factors in Europe. In this regard, the newly created European Observatory of Wildlife will be a network of observation points provided by collaborators from all European countries capable to monitor wildlife population at European level.EFSA-Q-2020-00677Peer reviewe

The significance of cephalopod beaks as a research tool: An update

The use of cephalopod beaks in ecological and population dynamics studies has allowed major advances of our knowledge on the role of cephalopods in marine ecosystems in the last 60 years. Since the 1960’s, with the pioneering research by Malcolm Clarke and colleagues, cephalopod beaks (also named jaws or mandibles) have been described to species level and their measurements have been shown to be related to cephalopod body size and mass, which permitted important information to be obtained on numerous biological and ecological aspects of cephalopods in marine ecosystems. In the last decade, a range of new techniques has been applied to cephalopod beaks, permitting new kinds of insight into cephalopod biology and ecology. The workshop on cephalopod beaks of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council Conference (Sesimbra, Portugal) in 2022 aimed to review the most recent scientific developments in this field and to identify future challenges, particularly in relation to taxonomy, age, growth, chemical composition (i.e., DNA, proteomics, stable isotopes, trace elements) and physical (i.e., structural) analyses. In terms of taxonomy, new techniques (e.g., 3D geometric morphometrics) for identifying cephalopods from their beaks are being developed with promising results, although the need for experts and reference collections of cephalopod beaks will continue. The use of beak microstructure for age and growth studies has been validated. Stable isotope analyses on beaks have proven to be an excellent technique to get valuable information on the ecology of cephalopods (namely habitat and trophic position). Trace element analyses is also possible using beaks, where concentrations are significantly lower than in other tissues (e.g., muscle, digestive gland, gills). Extracting DNA from beaks was only possible in one study so far. Protein analyses can also be made using cephalopod beaks. Future challenges in research using cephalopod beaks are also discussed