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

Educomunicação e suas áreas de intervenção: Novos paradigmas para o diálogo intercultural

oai:omp.abpeducom.org.br:publicationFormat/1O material aqui divulgado representa, em essência, a contribuição do VII Encontro Brasileiro de Educomunicação ao V Global MIL Week, da UNESCO, ocorrido na ECA/USP, entre 3 e 5 de novembro de 2016. Estamos diante de um conjunto de 104 papers executivos, com uma média de entre 7 e 10 páginas, cada um. Com este rico e abundante material, chegamos ao sétimo e-book publicado pela ABPEducom, em seus seis primeiros anos de existência. A especificidade desta obra é a de trazer as “Áreas de Intervenção” do campo da Educomunicação, colocando-as a serviço de uma meta essencial ao agir educomunicativo: o diálogo intercultural, trabalhado na linha do tema geral do evento internacional: Media and Information Literacy: New Paradigms for Intercultural Dialogue

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

Arginase as a Critical Prooxidant Mediator in the Binomial Endothelial Dysfunction-Atherosclerosis

Arginase is a metalloenzyme which hydrolyzes L-arginine to L-ornithine and urea. Since its discovery, in the early 1900s, this enzyme has gained increasing attention, as literature reports have progressively pointed to its critical participation in regulating nitric oxide bioavailability. Indeed, accumulating evidence in the following years would picture arginase as a key player in vascular health. Recent studies have highlighted the arginase regulatory role in the progression of atherosclerosis, the latter an essentially prooxidant state. Apart from the fact that arginase has been proven to impair different metabolic pathways, and also as a consequence of this, the repercussions of the actions of such enzyme go further than first thought. In fact, such metalloenzyme exhibits direct implications in multiple cardiometabolic diseases, among which are hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia. Considering the epidemiological repercussions of these clinical conditions, arginase is currently seen under the spotlights of the search for developing specific inhibitors, in order to mitigate its deleterious effects. That said, the present review focuses on the role of arginase in endothelial function and its participation in the establishment of atherosclerotic lesions, discussing the main regulatory mechanisms of the enzyme, also highlighting the potential development of pharmacological strategies in related cardiovascular diseases

CD36/Sirtuin 1 Axis Impairment Contributes to Hepatic Steatosis in ACE2-Deficient Mice

Background and Aims. Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is an important component of the renin-angiotensin system. Since angiotensin peptides have been shown to be involved in hepatic steatosis, we aimed to evaluate the hepatic lipid profile in ACE2-deficient (ACE2-/y) mice. Methods. Male C57BL/6 and ACE2-/y mice were analyzed at the age of 3 and 6 months for alterations in the lipid profiles of plasma, faeces, and liver and for hepatic steatosis. Results. ACE2-/y mice showed lower body weight and white adipose tissue at all ages investigated. Moreover, these mice had lower levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and nonesterified fatty acids in plasma. Strikingly, ACE2-/y mice showed high deposition of lipids in the liver. Expression of CD36, a protein involved in the uptake of triglycerides in liver, was increased in ACE2-/y mice. Concurrently, these mice exhibited an increase in hepatic oxidative stress, evidenced by increased lipid peroxidation and expression of uncoupling protein 2, and downregulation of sirtuin 1. ACE2-/y mice also showed impairments in glucose metabolism and insulin signaling in the liver. Conclusions. Deletion of ACE2 causes CD36/sirtuin 1 axis impairment and thereby interferes with lipid homeostasis, leading to lipodystrophy and steatosis

Physical Exercise on Inflammatory Markers in Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a serious disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. Scientific findings showed that physical exercise is an option for treatment of these patients. This study’s objective is to investigate the effects of supervised aerobic and/or resistance physical training on inflammatory markers in subjects with T2DM. Methods. A systematic review was conducted on four databases, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, LILACS, and Scopus, and manual search from 21 to 30 November 2016. Randomized clinical trials involving individuals diagnosed with T2DM, who have undergone supervised training protocols, were selected in this study. Results. Eleven studies were included. Studies that evaluated control group versus aerobic exercise reported controversial results about the effectiveness of physical training in modifying C-reactive protein (CRP) and cytokine levels. The only variable analyzed by the six studies in comparison to the control group versus resistance exercise was CRP. This protein showed no significant difference between groups. Between the two modes of exercise (aerobic and resistance), only one study demonstrated that aerobic exercise was more effective in reducing CRP. Conclusion. The evidence was insufficient to prove that aerobic or resistance exercise improves systemic levels of inflammatory markers in patients with T2DM

Natural products inhibitors of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE): a review between 1980 - 2000

Inhibition of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) is a modern therapeutic target in the treatment of hypertension. Within the enzyme cascade of the renin-angiotensin system, ACE removes histidyl-leucine from angiotensin I to form the physiologically active octapeptide angiotensin II, one of the most potent known vasoconstrictors. Therefore, a rationale for treating hypertension would be to administer drugs or natural compounds which selectively inhibit ACE. The present work constitutes a review of the literature of plants and chemically defined molecules from natural sources with in vitro anti-hypertensive potential based on the inhibition of ACE. The review refers to 321 plants, the parts utilized, type of extract and whether they are active or not. It includes also the names of 158 compounds isolated from higher plants, marine sponges and algae, fungi and snake venom. Some aspects of recent research with natural products directed to produce anti-hypertensive drugs are discussed. In this review, 148 references were cited

Nitric oxide availability and eNOS expression in ACE2^-/y mice.

<p>Plasma nitrite content <b>(A)</b> and 24-hour urinary excretion (<b>B</b>) of nitrate plus nitrite (NOx) in ACE2^-/y (n = 6) and WT (n = 6) mice. (<b>C)</b> eNOS activity, evaluated by ^•NO release in aorta rings upon application of ACh (DAF-FM bioassay) (ACE2 n = 5; WT n = 6). (<b>D</b>) arginase activity in aorta homogenates of ACE2^-/y (n = 6) and WT (n = 6) mice. Representative western blot and densitometric analysis of eNOS (<b>E</b>) and phosphorylated Ser1177-eNOS (<b>F</b>) protein levels in thoracic aortas from ACE2^-/y (n = 5) and WT (n = 5) mice. (<b>G</b>) Relative expression of phospho-eNOS normalized to the total eNOS levels. (<b>H</b>) eNOS mRNA expression levels (real time PCR analysis). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. *<i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.01, **<i>P</i><0.001, Student’s <i>t</i> test.</p