β-globin haplotypes in normal and hemoglobinopathic individuals from Reconcavo Baiano, State of Bahia, Brazil

Five restriction site polymorphisms in the β-globin gene cluster (HincII-5‘ ε, HindIII-G γ, HindIII-A γ, HincII- ψβ1 and HincII-3‘ ψβ1) were analyzed in three populations (n = 114) from Reconcavo Baiano, State of Bahia, Brazil. The groups included two urban populations from the towns of Cachoeira and Maragojipe and one rural Afro-descendant population, known as the “quilombo community”, from Cachoeira municipality. The number of haplotypes found in the populations ranged from 10 to 13, which indicated higher diversity than in the parental populations. The haplotypes 2 (+ - - - -), 3 (- - - - +), 4 (- + - - +) and 6 (- + + - +) on the βA chromosomes were the most common, and two haplotypes, 9 (- + + + +) and 14 (+ + - - +), were found exclusively in the Maragojipe population. The other haplotypes (1, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16) had lower frequencies. Restriction site analysis and the derived haplotypes indicated homogeneity among the populations. Thirty-two individuals with hemoglobinopathies (17 sickle cell disease, 12 HbSC disease and 3 HbCC disease) were also analyzed. The haplotype frequencies of these patients differed significantly from those of the general population. In the sickle cell disease subgroup, the predominant haplotypes were BEN (Benin) and CAR (Central African Republic), with frequencies of 52.9% and 32.4%, respectively. The high frequency of the BEN haplotype agreed with the historical origin of the afro-descendant population in the state of Bahia. However, this frequency differed from that of Salvador, the state capital, where the CAR and BEN haplotypes have similar frequencies, probably as a consequence of domestic slave trade and subsequent internal migrations to other regions of Brazil

Caracterização de uso e cobertura da terra na Amazônia utilizando imagens duais multitemporais do COSMO-SkyMed

The use of radar imagery is an alternative source of information to support the monitoring of the Amazon region, since the optical images have imaging limitations in tropical areas due to the occurrence of clouds. Therefore, the goal of this study is to analyze the radar images in X-band multi-temporal polarized obtained by COSMO-SkyMed satellite (COnstellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation), in the intensity mode, isolated and/or combined with textural information, to thematic characterization of land use/land cover in the Humaitá, Amazonas State region. The methodology used includes: analysis of the dual images obtained during two subsequent acquisitions, in order to explore the potential of the dataset as a quad-pol intensity; extraction of textural attributes from the co-occurrence matrix (Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix) and subsequent contextual classification; statistical assessment of the thematic performance of the intensity and textural images, isolated and in polarized groups. Within the results achieved, the group formed only by the intensity images presented a better performance if compared to those containing the textural attributes. In this discrimination, the classes involved were forest, alluvial forest, reforestation, savannah, pasture and burned areas, yielding 66% overall accuracy and a Kappa value of 0.55. The results showed that X band images, from COSMO-SkyMed, StripMap mode (Ping-Pong), multi-polarized, presents a moderate potential to characterize and monitor the dynamics of land use/land land cover in the Brazilian Amazon.A utilização de imagens de radar é fonte alternativa de informações para subsidiar o monitoramento da região amazônica, visto que as imagens ópticas têm limitações de imageamento em zonas tropicais face a ocorrência de nuvens. Por conseguinte este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a capacidade das imagens-radar de banda X multitemporais e polarizadas obtidas pelo satélite COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation), no modo intensidade, isoladamente e agregados às informações texturais, na caracterização temática de uso e cobertura da terra no município de Humaitá/AM. A metodologia empregada consistiu daanálise das imagens duais obtidas em duas aquisições subsequentes, de forma a explorar a potencialidade do conjunto de dados na forma quad-pol intensidade; extração dos atributos texturais a partir da matriz de coocorrência (Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix) e posterior classificação contextual; avaliação estatística de desempenho temático das imagens intensidade e texturais, isoladas e em grupos polarizados. Dentre os vários resultados alcançados, foi verificado que o grupo formado somente pelas imagens intensidade apresentou o melhor desempenho, comparado àqueles contendo os atributos texturais. Nesta separabilidade, estavam envolvidas as classes de floresta, floresta aluvial, reflorestamento, savana, pasto e queimada, obtendo-se 66% de acurácia total e valor Kappa de 0,55. Os resultados mostraram que as imagens de banda X do COSMO-SkyMed, modo StripMap (Ping-Pong), multipolarizadas, têm potencial moderado para a caracterização e monitoramento da dinâmica de uso e cobertura da terra na Amazônia brasileira

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high in-hospital mortality. Alveolar recruitment followed by ventilation at optimal titrated PEEP may reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and improve oxygenation in patients with ARDS, but the effects on mortality and other clinical outcomes remain unknown. This article reports the rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART). Methods/Design: ART is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized (concealed), controlled trial, which aims to determine if maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with ARDS compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). We will enroll adult patients with ARDS of less than 72 h duration. The intervention group will receive an alveolar recruitment maneuver, with stepwise increases of PEEP achieving 45 cmH(2)O and peak pressure of 60 cmH2O, followed by ventilation with optimal PEEP titrated according to the static compliance of the respiratory system. In the control group, mechanical ventilation will follow a conventional protocol (ARDSNet). In both groups, we will use controlled volume mode with low tidal volumes (4 to 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight) and targeting plateau pressure <= 30 cmH2O. The primary outcome is 28-day survival, and the secondary outcomes are: length of ICU stay; length of hospital stay; pneumothorax requiring chest tube during first 7 days; barotrauma during first 7 days; mechanical ventilation-free days from days 1 to 28; ICU, in-hospital, and 6-month survival. ART is an event-guided trial planned to last until 520 events (deaths within 28 days) are observed. These events allow detection of a hazard ratio of 0.75, with 90% power and two-tailed type I error of 5%. All analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: If the ART strategy with maximum recruitment and PEEP titration improves 28-day survival, this will represent a notable advance to the care of ARDS patients. Conversely, if the ART strategy is similar or inferior to the current evidence-based strategy (ARDSNet), this should also change current practice as many institutions routinely employ recruitment maneuvers and set PEEP levels according to some titration method.Hospital do Coracao (HCor) as part of the Program 'Hospitais de Excelencia a Servico do SUS (PROADI-SUS)'Brazilian Ministry of Healt

A miragem da miscigenação

Neste artigo abordamos alguns aspectos da natureza da sociedade escravista - na África e no Brasil - especialmente os significados da liberdade, cor, protesto entre os séculos XVII a XIX. Partimos de um diálogo crítico sobre as perspectivas de miscigenação, políticas de domínio e dinâmicas sociais nas sociedades escravistas e os desdobramentos para o seu funcionamento e mudança.<br>This article aims to focus some aspects concerning slave societies in Brazil and in Africa. In special, those related to the meanings of freedom, color, and protest between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These issues are discussed from a critical dialogue on the perspectives about miscegenation, domination politics, social dynamics, and change in the slave societies