Mapping of Vulnerability and Risk of Groundwater Pollution in the Eastern Portion of the Araripe Sedimentary Basin, Ceará, Brasil

The present work presents the assessment of the vulnerability and risk of groundwater pollution in the eastern portion of the Araripe Sedimentary Basin, Ceará, Brasil, through the GOD and POSH methods. The GOD method presented three classes of vulnerability: low, moderate and high, with a predominance of moderate vulnerability (80%). The POSH method classified the pollutant loads into three indexes: high, moderate and low. The vulnerability map associated with the risks of pollution facilitated the identification of the areas most susceptible to contamination, serving as a subsidy for municipal managers in future plans for use and occupation of urban and rural land

GEOQUÍMICA DAS ÁGUAS SUBTERRÂNEAS DA BACIA SEDIMENTAR DO CARIRI CEARENSE, NORDESTE DO BRASIL: Underground water geochemistry of the sedimentary basin of Cariri Cearense, Northeast of Brazil

The wells under study are located in the Araripe Sedimentary Basin, in the southeastern region of the state of Ceará, comprising Abaiara, Barbalha, Brejo Santo, Crato, Milagres, Juazeiro do Norte, Missão Velha and Porteiras. The objective of this study is to use the results of the water analysis informed in the 2011 Report - COGERH, to identify processes and mechanisms that affect the chemistry of groundwater. The hydrochemical facies showed a predominance of mixed bicarbonated waters in the rainy and dry periods. The waters are mostly alkaline earth and weak acid anions. Few wells had reverse ion exchange and none had the dedolomitization process. The rock dominance is predominant, revealing the chemical weathering of rock-forming minerals influencing the quality of groundwater through its dissolution through which it circulates, there is also the possibility of carbonate weathering due to the abundance of Ca2+ and Mg2+. Geochemical modeling using WATEQ4F allowed to predict the saturation level of the minerals halite, gypsum, calcite and dolomite.Os poços em estudo estão localizados na Bacia Sedimentar do Araripe, região sudeste do estado do Ceará, composta por Abaiara, Barbalha, Brejo Santo, Crato, Juazeiro do Norte, Milagres, Missão Velha e Porteiras. O objetivo deste estudo é empregar os resultados da análise da água informados no Relatório 2011 – COGERH, para identificar processos e mecanismos que afetam a química das águas subterrâneas. A fácies hidroquímica apresentou predominância de águas mistas bicarbonatadas nos períodos chuvoso e seco. As águas em sua maioria são alcalino-terrosas e ânions ácidos fracos. Poucos poços apresentaram troca iônica reversa e nenhum o processo de desdolomitização. A dominância da rocha é predominante, revelando o intemperismo químico de minerais formadores da rocha influenciando a qualidade da água subterrânea pela sua dissolução através da qual circula, há também a possibilidade do intemperismo carbonático devido a abundância de Ca2+ e Mg2+. A modelagem geoquímica por meio do WATEQ4F permitiu predizer o nível de saturação dos minerais halita, gipsita, calcita e dolomita

SIMILARIDADE DE ATRIBUTOS FÍSICO-QUÍMICOS COM USO DE ANÁLISE MULTIVARIADA APLICADA À GESTÃO QUALITATIVA DE ÁGUAS SUBTERRÂNEAS

Em regiões sedimentares, os recursos hídricos subterrâneos constituem uma reserva hídrica inestimável, notadamente em regiões de escassez quantitativa e/ou qualitativa dos recursos hídricos superficiais. Como a utilização das águas subterrâneas para fins diversos também está condicionada a qualidade, neste trabalho desenvolveu-se uma metodologia utilizando a técnica da análise fatorial, associada a análise de agrupamento multivariada, objetivando dar suporte à gestão qualitativa. Foram identificadas similaridades entre atributos físico-químicos capazes de explicar possíveis processos responsáveis pela qualidade das águas, tomando como estudo de caso a região de CRAJUBAR, no Vale do Cariri cearense. A análise fatorial aplicada a atributos físico-químicos identificou dois componentes responsáveis por aproximadamente 84% da variância total. O primeiro como indicador de poluição das águas subterrâneas por esgoto (Mg2+, K+, Cl-, NO2-, NO3- e Condutividade Elétrica) e o segundo, como indicador da dissolução dos minerais calcita e gipsita (Ca2+, SO42- e HCO3-). A análise de agrupamento multivariada por componente, nos períodos chuvoso e seco, apresentou três grupos identificados por amostras com diferentes faixas de concentrações. A evolução dos grupos, do período chuvoso para o seco, mostrou processos físico-químicos dinâmicos responsáveis pela poluição e estacionários, pela dissolução dos minerais

Challenges in implementing, developing and sustaining the policy of permanent education in health in Paraná, Brazil

Busca-se compreender o processo de implantação, desenvolvimento e sustentabilidade da Política Nacional de Educação Permanente em Saúde (EPS) no Paraná. Os dados são de nove grupos focais realizados em municípios das macrorregiões do Paraná. Participaram 77 sujeitos oriundos dos Polos Regionais de Educação Permanente em Saúde (Preps). A implantação descentralizada de 22 Preps permitiu maior capilaridade e valorização dos espaços locorregionais. As instituições de ensino tiveram papel relevante. Houve ampla articulação em torno da formação e do desenvolvimento dos trabalhadores da saúde, com destaque para o curso de formação de facilitadores em EPS. O processo vivenciado esteve permeado por dificuldades/facilidades. Comprometimento dos gestores com a política, a prática da avaliação e a mudança do modelo gerencial verticalizado foram apontados como condições para a sustentabilidade da EPS. Os modos operativos da política foram praticados/experimentados de forma única no Paraná. Como idealizada a EPS precisa ser uma política e não um programa de governo.This paper approaches the implementation, development and sustainability of the Policy of Permanent Education in Health (PEH) in the estate of Paraná, Brazil. Data was collected during nine focal groups that took place in municipalities located on the macro-regions of Paraná. Seventy-seven individuals took part in the groups; they were recruited at the Regional Nucleus of Permanent Education in Health (RNPEH). The decentralized implementation of twenty-two RNPEH increased the capillarity and valued loco-regional spaces. Educational institutions played a relevant role in that process. There was broad articulation regarding training and development of health professionals, especially regarding the training of PEH facilitating agents. Difficulties and facilities were experienced during this process. Managers' commitment to the policy, assessment implementation and changes in the vertical management model were reported as conditions to sustain the PEH. Operative strategies of this policy were applied/experimented in a unique way at Paraná State. As its original design sets it, the PEH must be a policy and not a government program

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

Panoramic snapshot of serum soluble mediator interplay in pregnant women with convalescent COVID-19: an exploratory study

IntroductionSARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy can induce changes in the maternal immune response, with effects on pregnancy outcome and offspring. This is a cross-sectional observational study designed to characterize the immunological status of pregnant women with convalescent COVID-19 at distinct pregnancy trimesters. The study focused on providing a clear snapshot of the interplay among serum soluble mediators.MethodsA sample of 141 pregnant women from all prenatal periods (1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters) comprised patients with convalescent SARS-CoV-2 infection at 3-20 weeks after symptoms onset (COVID, n=89) and a control group of pre-pandemic non-infected pregnant women (HC, n=52). Chemokine, pro-inflammatory/regulatory cytokine and growth factor levels were quantified by a high-throughput microbeads array.ResultsIn the HC group, most serum soluble mediators progressively decreased towards the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy, while higher chemokine, cytokine and growth factor levels were observed in the COVID patient group. Serum soluble mediator signatures and heatmap analysis pointed out that the major increase observed in the COVID group related to pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-12, IFN-γ and IL-17). A larger set of biomarkers displayed an increased COVID/HC ratio towards the 2nd (3x increase) and the 3rd (3x to 15x increase) trimesters. Integrative network analysis demonstrated that HC pregnancy evolves with decreasing connectivity between pairs of serum soluble mediators towards the 3rd trimester. Although the COVID group exhibited a similar profile, the number of connections was remarkably lower throughout the pregnancy. Meanwhile, IL-1Ra, IL-10 and GM-CSF presented a preserved number of correlations (≥5 strong correlations in HC and COVID), IL-17, FGF-basic and VEGF lost connectivity throughout the pregnancy. IL-6 and CXCL8 were included in a set of acquired attributes, named COVID-selective (≥5 strong correlations in COVID and <5 in HC) observed at the 3rd pregnancy trimester.Discussion and conclusionFrom an overall perspective, a pronounced increase in serum levels of soluble mediators with decreased network interplay between them demonstrated an imbalanced immune response in convalescent COVID-19 infection during pregnancy that may contribute to the management of, or indeed recovery from, late complications in the post-symptomatic phase of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women