Reproductive fluids, added to the culture media, contribute to minimizing phenotypical differences between in vitro-derived and artificial insemination-derived piglets

The addition of reproductive fluids (RF) to the culture media has shown benefits in different embryonic traits but its long-term effects on the offspring phenotype are still unknown. We aimed to describe such effects in pigs. Blood samples and growth parameters were collected from piglets derived from in vitro-produced embryos (IVP) with or without RF added in the culture media versus those artificially inseminated (AI), from day 0 to month 6 of life. An oral glucose tolerance test was performed on day 45 of life. We show here the first comparative data of the growth of animals produced through different assisted reproductive techniques, demonstrating differences between groups. Overall, there was a tendency to have a larger size at birth and faster growth in animals derived from in vitro fertilization and embryo culture versus AI, although this trend was diminished by the addition of RFs to the culture media. Similarly, small differences in hematological indices and glucose tolerance between animals derived from AI and those derived from IVP, with a sex-dependent effect, tended to fade in the presence of RF. The addition of RF to the culture media could contribute to minimizing the phenotypical differences between the in vitro-derived and AI offspring, particularly in males

Contribution for new genetic markers of rheumatoid arthritis activity and severity : sequencing of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene promoter

© 2007 Fonseca et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedThe objective of this study was to assess whether clinical measures of rheumatoid arthritis activity and severity were influenced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) promoter genotype/haplotype markers. Each patient's disease activity was assessed by the disease activity score using 28 joint counts (DAS28) and functional capacity by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score. Systemic manifestations, radiological damage evaluated by the Sharp/van der Heijde (SvdH) score, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug use, joint surgeries, and work disability were also assessed. The promoter region of the TNF-alpha gene, between nucleotides -1,318 and +49, was sequenced using an automated platform. Five hundred fifty-four patients were evaluated and genotyped for 10 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, but 5 of these markers were excluded due to failure to fall within Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium or to monomorphism. Patients with more than 10 years of disease duration (DD) presented significant associations between the -857 SNP and systemic manifestations, as well as joint surgeries. Associations were also found between the -308 SNP and work disability in patients with more than 2 years of DD and radiological damage in patients with less than 10 years of DD. A borderline effect was found between the -238 SNP and HAQ score and radiological damage in patients with 2 to 10 years of DD. An association was also found between haplotypes and the SvdH score for those with more than 10 years of DD. An association was found between some TNF-alpha promoter SNPs and systemic manifestations, radiological progression, HAQ score, work disability, and joint surgeries, particularly in some classes of DD and between haplotypes and radiological progression for those with more than 10 years of DD.This work was supported by grant POCTI/SAU-ESP/59111/2004 from Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CERCAMENTO DO PARQUE FARROUPILHA - PORTO ALEGRE/RS – REDENÇÃO OU PRISÃO?

O fenômeno paisagístico é um processo cultural que se estabelece a partir da interação entre sujeitos e espaço percebido. A paisagem é um fenômeno vivo, contínuo, que expressa diferentes tempos, materialidades e arranjos sociais. É a metonímia de um território. Tendo isso em vista, um grupo de pesquisa interdisciplinar buscou experimentar diferentes ferramentas teórico-metodológicas ao realizar o exercício de intervir em uma determinada paisagem urbana, e assim, estimular o debate sobre as controvérsias que lhe são inerentes. A problemática escolhida foi a proposta de cercamento do Parque da Redenção, oficialmente denominado Parque Farroupilha, discutida na Câmara de Vereadores de Porto Alegre (RS) e na mídia local desde a década de 1990. Em uma área próxima ao lago Guaíba e ao Centro Histórico da cidade, os 40 hectares de área verde com diversos ambientes são um importante marco da paisagem de Porto Alegre. Caso fossem cercados, quais os aspectos da paisagem e outros que se agregam a ela que estariam sendo alterados? Como realizar uma intervenção para sensibilizar a população sobre as implicações do cercamento, ou não, do parque? Desde essas questões realizou-se o exercício, em 08 de novembro de 2014, cujos registros orientaram o debate e a produção deste texto e de um vídeo. Neste texto, procuramos inicialmente realizar um diagnóstico a paisagem estudada e a tensão evocada pela proposta de alterá-la mediante a instalação de uma cerca. A seguir relatamos uma intervenção realizada no local pelo grupo, como ferramenta metodológica para estimular diferentes reações e assim registrar as sensações e opiniões da população frente à alteração provocada naquela paisagem. Posteriormente, apresentamos reflexões sobre diferentes aspectos e implicações que o fechamento do parque poderá acarretar

II Diretriz Brasileira de Transplante Cardíaco

Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Medicina Hospital das ClínicasIIHospital de Messejana Dr. Carlos Alberto Studart GomesUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaInstituto Dante Pazzanese de CardiologiaUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais Hospital das ClínicasFaculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio PretoPontifícia Universidade Católica do ParanáIHospital Israelita Albert EinsteinInstituto Nacional de Cardiologia, Fundação Universitária do Rio Grande do Sul Instituto de CardiologiaReal e Benemérita Sociedade de Beneficência Portuguesa, São PauloHospital Pró-Cardíaco do Rio de JaneiroSanta Casa do Rio de JaneiroUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

AimAmazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types.LocationAmazonia.TaxonAngiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots).MethodsData for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega-phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran's eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We tested the indicator value of lineages for geographic regions and edaphic forest types and mapped associations onto the phylogeny.ResultsIn the terra firme and várzea forest types, the phylogenetic composition varies by geographic region, but the igapó and white-sand forest types retain a unique evolutionary signature regardless of region. Overall, we find that soil chemistry, climate and topography explain 24% of the variation in phylogenetic composition, with 79% of that variation being spatially structured (R2 = 19% overall for combined spatial/environmental effects). The phylogenetic composition also shows substantial spatial patterns not related to the environmental variables we quantified (R2 = 28%). A greater number of lineages were significant indicators of geographic regions than forest types.Main ConclusionNumerous tree lineages, including some ancient ones (>66 Ma), show strong associations with geographic regions and edaphic forest types of Amazonia. This shows that specialization in specific edaphic environments has played a long-standing role in the evolutionary assembly of Amazonian forests. Furthermore, many lineages, even those that have dispersed across Amazonia, dominate within a specific region, likely because of phylogenetically conserved niches for environmental conditions that are prevalent within regions

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

Aim: Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types. Location: Amazonia. Taxon: Angiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots). Methods: Data for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega-phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran\u27s eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We tested the indicator value of lineages for geographic regions and edaphic forest types and mapped associations onto the phylogeny. Results: In the terra firme and várzea forest types, the phylogenetic composition varies by geographic region, but the igapó and white-sand forest types retain a unique evolutionary signature regardless of region. Overall, we find that soil chemistry, climate and topography explain 24% of the variation in phylogenetic composition, with 79% of that variation being spatially structured (R$^{2}$ = 19% overall for combined spatial/environmental effects). The phylogenetic composition also shows substantial spatial patterns not related to the environmental variables we quantified (R$^{2}$ = 28%). A greater number of lineages were significant indicators of geographic regions than forest types. Main Conclusion: Numerous tree lineages, including some ancient ones (>66 Ma), show strong associations with geographic regions and edaphic forest types of Amazonia. This shows that specialization in specific edaphic environments has played a long-standing role in the evolutionary assembly of Amazonian forests. Furthermore, many lineages, even those that have dispersed across Amazonia, dominate within a specific region, likely because of phylogenetically conserved niches for environmental conditions that are prevalent within regions

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by forest type, as predictor, our spatial model, to the best of our knowledge, provides the most accurate map of tree diversity in Amazonia to date, explaining approximately 70% of the tree diversity and species-richness. Large soil-forest combinations determine a significant percentage of the variation in tree species-richness and tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian forest-plots. We suggest that the size and fragmentation of these systems drive their large-scale diversity patterns and hence local diversity. A model not using location but cumulative water deficit, tree density, and temperature seasonality explains 47% of the tree species-richness in the terra-firme forest in Amazonia. Over large areas across Amazonia, residuals of this relationship are small and poorly spatially structured, suggesting that much of the residual variation may be local. The Guyana Shield area has consistently negative residuals, showing that this area has lower tree species-richness than expected by our models. We provide extensive plot meta-data, including tree density, tree alpha-diversity and tree species-richness results and gridded maps at 0.1-degree resolution

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types

Long-term thermal sensitivity of Earth’s tropical forests

The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate