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

Depressive morbidity among elderly individuals who are hospitalized, reside at long-term care facilities, and are under outpatient care in Brazil: a meta-analysis

Objectives: i) To investigate studies published between 1991 and 2010 on the prevalence of depressive morbidity (major depressive disorder [MDD], dysthymia and clinically significant depressive symptoms [CSDS]) among elderly Brazilians assisted at healthcare facilities; ii) to establish the prevalence of depression and identify its related factors; and iii) to conduct a meta-analysis to assess the prevalence of depressive syndrome among elderly individuals assisted or hospitalized at healthcare facilities. Methods: Studies were selected from articles dated between January 1991 and June 2010 and extracted from the MEDLINE, LILACS, and SciELO databases. Results: The final analysis consisted of 15 studies, distributed as follows: i) four sampled hospitalized patients, totaling 299 individuals, and found a prevalence of CSDS varying between 20 and 56%; ii) four sampled outpatients, totaling 1,454 individuals; the prevalence of CSDS varied between 11 and 65%, and the prevalence of MDD varied between 23 and 42%; and iii) seven sampled elderly individuals residing in long-term care facilities (LTCF), totaling 839 individuals, and the prevalence of CSDS varied between 11 and 65%. Conclusion: The present review indicated a higher prevalence of both MDD and CSDS among elderly Brazilians assisted at healthcare facilities

Profae e lógica neoliberal: estreitas relações Profae and neoliberal logic: close relations

O Projeto de Profissionalização dos Trabalhadores da Área de Enfermagem (Profae) representa, desde 2000, a principal política do Ministério da Saúde (MS) voltada para a qualificação da força de trabalho do setor. Sem negar tal condição, o esforço analítico deste artigo é guiado pelo exercício de compreensão do Profae a partir da sua condição de política social formulada e implementada em função dos preceitos e prescrições gerenciais típicos do Estado capitalista reformado segundo a orientação neoliberal. Este esforço constitui o objetivo principal deste trabalho. Inicialmente, o Profae é considerado a partir de sua visibilidade social, expressa na forma de projeto voltado para a qualificação de profissionais da área de enfermagem. Em seguida, a partir de uma breve contextualização dos dilemas em torno da formação desses profissionais no Brasil, problematiza-se a possibilidade de o Profae servir, efetivamente, de instrumento para a reversão dessa precariedade formativa. Este movimento permite buscar as mediações do Profae com a tipificação imposta às políticas de caráter neoliberal em curso e com as formas de privatização do fundo público, consideradas aqui como mecanismos implícitos ao seu financiamento. Por fim, são expostas reflexões acerca da instrumentalidade política e econômica do Profae, para além de sua aparência de simples projeto de profissionalização dos trabalhadores da área de enfermagem.<br>The Professionalisation Project for Nurse Practitioners represents the Ministry of Health's main educational policy for such labour force since 2000. Granted this condition, the analytical effort of this article is to understand Profae as a social policy formulated and implemented by management precepts and prescriptions typical of the neoliberal capitalist State. This is the main objetive of this paper. Firstly, the social visibility of Profae - considered as a project geared towards the educational training of nurse practitioners - will be examined. After that, the dilemmas that surround the formation of these professionals in Brazil will be briefly presented, followed by a discussion on the actual possibility of Profae serving as an instrument to revert the deficiencies in this formation. This allows us to seek the mediation between Profae and the typification imposed on the current neoliberal policies, as well as the privatisation forms of public funds, seen as implicit mechanisms for their financing. Finally, the political and economic instrumentality of Profae, beyond its aspect of a mere professionalisation project for nurse practitioners, is examined

Uma história das práticas alimentares de trabalhadores paulistanos em dois momentos do século XX A history of practices in nourishment among workers in São Paulo city in two moments of the 20th century

A partir de uma discussão sobre estudos que lidaram com os temas alimentares nas Ciências Humanas, este artigo aponta as possibilidades das Pesquisas de Padrão de Vida como fontes para uma história social da alimentação entre trabalhadores que viviam em São Paulo durante a primeira metade do século XX. Apresento os métodos de aplicação, as intenções dessas pesquisas e o perfil das famílias. Em seguida, os produtos e as quantidades consumidas pelas famílias são analisados em temporalidades distintas, tentando verificar o impacto da industrialização, da renda e da propaganda.<br>Based on studies about food issues in the Humanities, this article indicates the possibilities of the Living Standards Research as sources for a social history of nourishment between workers living in Sao Paulo during the first half of the 20th century. I present the methods of application, the intentions of this research and the profile of families analyzed. After, I analyze the products and quantities consumed by families in different times, trying to understand the impact of industrialization, wage income and advertisement

Characterization of a large cluster of HIV-1 A1 infections detected in Portugal and connected to several Western European countries

HIV-1 subtypes associate with differences in transmission and disease progression. Thus, the existence of geographic hotspots of subtype diversity deepens the complexity of HIV-1/AIDS control. The already high subtype diversity in Portugal seems to be increasing due to infections with sub-subtype A1 virus. We performed phylogenetic analysis of 65 A1 sequences newly obtained from 14 Portuguese hospitals and 425 closely related database sequences. 80% of the A1 Portuguese isolates gathered in a main phylogenetic clade (MA1). Six transmission clusters were identified in MA1, encompassing isolates from Portugal, Spain, France, and United Kingdom. The most common transmission route identified was men who have sex with men. The origin of the MA1 was linked to Greece, with the first introduction to Portugal dating back to 1996 (95% HPD: 1993.6-1999.2). Individuals infected with MA1 virus revealed lower viral loads and higher CD4+ T-cell counts in comparison with those infected by subtype B. The expanding A1 clusters in Portugal are connected to other European countries and share a recent common ancestor with the Greek A1 outbreak. The recent expansion of this HIV-1 subtype might be related to a slower disease progression leading to a population level delay in its diagnostic.Supported by FEDER, COMPETE, and FCT by the projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038 and IF/00474/2014; FCT PhD scholarship PDE/BDE/113599/2015; FCT contract FCT IF/00474/2014; European Funds through grant BEST HOPE (project funded through HIVERA, grant 249697) and by FCT PTDC/DTP-EPI/7066/2014. Global Health and Tropical Medicine Center are funded through FCT (UID/Multi/04413/2013). We would like to acknowledge all the patients and health care professionals from the Portuguese hospitals that contributed in some way to this study

ABC₂-SPH risk score for in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients

Objectives: The majority of available scores to assess mortality risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in the emergency department have high risk of bias. Therefore, this cohort aimed to develop and validate a score at hospital admission for predicting in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients and to compare this score with other existing ones. Methods: Consecutive patients (≥ 18 years) with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to the participating hospitals were included. Logistic regression analysis was performed to develop a prediction model for in-hospital mortality, based on the 3978 patients admitted between March–July, 2020. The model was validated in the 1054 patients admitted during August–September, as well as in an external cohort of 474 Spanish patients. Results: Median (25–75th percentile) age of the model-derivation cohort was 60 (48–72) years, and in-hospital mortality was 20.3%. The validation cohorts had similar age distribution and in-hospital mortality. Seven significant variables were included in the risk score: age, blood urea nitrogen, number of comorbidities, C-reactive protein, SpO2/FiO2 ratio, platelet count, and heart rate. The model had high discriminatory value (AUROC 0.844, 95% CI 0.829–0.859), which was confirmed in the Brazilian (0.859 [95% CI 0.833–0.885]) and Spanish (0.894 [95% CI 0.870–0.919]) validation cohorts, and displayed better discrimination ability than other existing scores. It is implemented in a freely available online risk calculator (https://abc2sph.com/). Conclusions: An easy-to-use rapid scoring system based on characteristics of COVID-19 patients commonly available at hospital presentation was designed and validated for early stratification of in-hospital mortality risk of patients with COVID-19.</p