Evolutionary history underlies plant physiological responses to global change since the last glacial maximum

This is the author's accepted manuscript, also available here, http//dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12271.Assessing family- and species-level variation in physiological responses to global change across geologic time is critical for understanding factors that underlie changes in species distributions and community composition. Here, we used stable carbon isotopes, leaf nitrogen content and stomatal measurements to assess changes in leaf-level physiology in a mixed conifer community that underwent significant changes in composition since the last glacial maximum (LGM) (21 kyr BP). Our results indicate that most plant taxa decreased stomatal conductance and/or maximum photosynthetic capacity in response to changing conditions since the LGM. However, plant families and species differed in the timing and magnitude of these physiological responses, and responses were more similar within families than within co-occurring species assemblages. This suggests that adaptation at the level of leaf physiology may not be the main determinant of shifts in community composition, and that plant evolutionary history may drive physiological adaptation to global change over recent geologic time

The role of interleukin 17-mediated immune response in Chagas disease:High level is correlated with better left ventricular function

Interleukin 17A (IL-17A) has been associated with protective rather than pathogenic response in Chagas disease (ChD). However, it is not established whether or not IL-17A-mediated immune response is correlated with patient's left ventricular (LV) function in ChD. To address this question we have gathered cardiac functional parameters from ChD patients and analysed the possible relationship between their plasma IL-17A levels and LV function. Plasma IL-17A levels were measured by BD Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) in 240 patients with positive specific serology for Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) grouped as indeterminate (IND) and Chagas cardiomyopathy (CARD) forms. The levels of IL-17A in ChD patients were compared with 32 healthy individuals, mean age of 39 years, 50% male, that were also included as a control group (non-infected [NI]). The overall mean age of ChD patients was 46 years and 52% were male. The IND group included 95 asymptomatic patients, with ages ranging from 27 to 69 years (mean of 43 years), and 42.1% of them were male. The CARD group included 145 patients, which 58.6% were male, with ages ranging from 23 to 67 years (mean of 49). The IND group presented substantially higher levels of IL-17A, median of 26.16 (3.66-48.33) as compared to both the CARD group, median of 13.89 (3.87-34.54) (P <0.0001), and the NI group, median of 10.78 (6.23-22.26) (P <0.0001). The data analysis demonstrated that the IND group comprises a significantly greater proportion (P <0.001) of high IL-17A producers (52.6%, 50 of 95 subjects) than do the other groups. A significant direct correlation was verified between IL-17A levels and cardiac function expressed by LV ejection fraction (LVEF), LV diastolic diameter (LVDd), and body surface area (BSA)-indexed LVDd as well as ratio of the early diastolic transmitral flow velocity to early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E/e') in both groups. We demonstrated that plasma IL-17A levels has an accurate sensitivity and specificity to predict heart failure in serology-positive patients and might be a useful parameter to distinguish patients with or without cardiac impairment. This study indicates a consistent relationship between high expression of IL-17A and better LV in human chronic ChD. Our data raise the possibility that IL-17A plays an important immunomodulatory role in the chronic phase of ChD and might be involved in protection against myocardial damage

A Estratégia Da Aprendizagem Baseada Em Equipes Em Um Curso De Direito

O Curso de Direito da FADITU, assim como a maioria das Escolas de Direito brasileiras, utiliza extensivamente a Educação Tradicional no ensino-aprendizagem. Buscando aproximar os discentes e principalmente os docentes de formas ativas de aprendiza-gem planejou-se, no segundo semestre do ano de 2011, um momento na grade curri-cular de cada série do curso, denominada “oficina”, em que se utilizou a estratégia da Aprendizagem Baseada em Equipes (ABE), do inglês, Team Based Learning (TBL) como condutora do processo ensino-aprendizagem, pois ela possibilita a um professor tra-balhar com um grande grupo de estudantes, realidade de nossa instituição e de muitas no Brasil. Essa formatação permitiu aplicá-la nessa experiência no Curso de Direito da FADITU, na qual todas as disciplinas trabalharam de forma integrada, tendo como base uma mesma temática e utilizando-se do TBL

Macro-scale (biomes) differences in neotropical stream processes and community structure

The definition of conservation strategies and ecological assessment schemes requires understanding ecosystem patterns over multiple spatial scales. This study aimed to determine if macro-scale structural and functional (processes) patterns associated with stream ecosystems differed among three neotropical biomes (Cerrado, Amazon, Atlantic Forest). We compared the aquatic communities (benthic invertebrates and hyphomycetes) and processes (decomposition rates, primary production and biofilms growth and aquatic hyphomycetes reproduction rates-sporulation) of Cerrado stream sites (neotropical savannah) against those of stream sites in the connecting biomes of the Atlantic Forest and Amazon (rainforests). We expected that, contrary to the biome dependency hypothesis the community structure and processes rates of streams at the biome-scale would not differ significantly, because those ecosystems are strongly influenced by their dense riparian forests, which have a transitional character among the three biomes. Fifty-three stream sites were selected covering a wide range of geographic locations (Table 1), from near the Equator (2° S) in the Amazon, to intermediate latitudes in the Cerrado (12-19° S), and latitudes closer to the tropic of Capricorn in the Atlantic Forest (19º-25° S). We found that: 1) at the abiotic level, the aquatic ecosystems of the three biomes differed, which was mostly explained by large-scale factors such as temperature, precipitation and altitude; 2) functional and structural variables did not behave similarly among biomes: decomposition and sporulation rates showed larger differences among biomes than invertebrate and aquatic hyphomycete assemblages structure; 3) invertebrate assemblages structure differed between the rainforests and Cerrado but not between rainforests (Amazon and Atlantic Forest) whereas aquatic hyphomycetes were similar among all biomes; 4) biofilm growth and algae concentration in biofilms of artificial substrates were highly variable within biomes and not significantly different between biomes. Overall, aquatic ecosystem processes and community structure differed across biomes, being influenced by climatic variables, but the variation is not as pronounced as that described for terrestrial systems. Considering the potential use of these functional and structural indicators in national-wide ecological assessments, our results indicate the need to define different reference values for different biomes, depending on the variable used. The approach followed in this study allowed an integrative analysis and comparison of the stream ecosystems across three tropical biomes, being the first study of this kind. Future studies should try to confirm the patterns evidenced here with more sites from other areas of the three biomes, and especially from the Amazon, which was the least represented biome in our investigation. © 201

Caracterização da técnica de transição da alimentação por sonda enteral para seio materno em recém-nascidos prematuros

OBJETIVO: Verificar a idade gestacional corrigida do início da dieta por via oral (mama parcialmente cheia) e da alimentação exclusiva em seio materno e o tempo dispendido (em dias) de atendimento fonoaudiológico para alta de recém-nascidos prematuros submetidos à técnica da transição da alimentação enteral direta para o seio materno. MÉTODOS: Fizeram parte do estudo 35 recém-nascidos prematuros (RNPT) divididos em dois grupos. O Grupo 1 (G1) foi composto por 22 RNPT que não apresentaram intercorrências médicas importantes durante a internação e o Grupo 2 (G2) por 13 RNPT com histórico de intercorrências médicas importantes. Foram registrados os seguintes dados: idade gestacional ao nascimento, peso ao nascimento, peso do recém-nascido e idade gestacional corrigida durante avaliação fonoaudiológica, idade gestacional corrigida no momento do início da alimentação por via oral, número de dias em que o recém-nascido realizou a técnica de sucção não nutritiva, idade gestacional corrigida no momento do início da alimentação por via oral exclusiva e da alta fonoaudiológica, e o número total de dias de atendimento fonoaudiológico. RESULTADOS: Não houve diferença entre os grupos (G1 e G2) para nenhum dos parâmetros analisados. De maneira geral, o início da oferta por via oral ocorreu com média de idade gestacional corrigida de 36 semanas. A alimentação por via oral exclusiva ocorreu com média de 36,6 semanas de idade gestacional corrigida. A média de dias de atendimento fonoaudiológico total foi de 12,3, sendo que o treino de sucção não nutritiva (SNN) em "dedo enluvado" ou "mama vazia" durou em média 4,54 dias. CONCLUSÃO: A técnica possibilitou a alta hospitalar do recém-nascido prematuro com alimentação exclusiva em seio materno em idade gestacional corrigida correspondente a do recém-nascido termo e saudável. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: Purpose: To verify the corrected gestational age when oral feeding (breast half full) and exclusive breastfeeding were initiated in preterm newborns submitted to the transition technique from enteral feeding directly to breastfeeding, and time spent (in days) under speech-language pathology intervention until discharge. Methods: Study participants were 35 preterm infants (PTI) divided into two groups. Group 1 (G1) was composed by 22 PTI who did not present any important medical complications during hospitalization, and Group 2 (G2) comprised 13 PTI with a history of major medical complications. The following data were recorded: gestational age at birth, birth weight, weight and corrected gestational age during speech-language pathology evaluation, corrected gestational age when started oral feeding, number of days stimulated through the non-nutritive sucking (NNS) technique, corrected gestational age when oral feeding started and when they were discharged from speech-language pathology intervention, and total number of days under speech-language pathology intervention. Results: No differences were found between the groups (G1 and G2) for any of the analyzed parameters. In general, oral feeding started with an average of 36 weeks corrected gestational age. Exclusive oral feeding occurred with an average of 36.6 weeks corrected gestational age. In average, speech-language pathology intervention lasted 12.3 days, and the NNS technique in “gloved finger” or “empty breast” lasted an average of 4.54 days. Conclusion: The technique allowed the PTI to be discharged in exclusive breastfeeding at a corrected gestational age corresponding to that of healthy term newborns

Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors