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

Cultural adaptation and reproducibility of the breathing problems questionnaire for use in patients with COPD in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To translate the Breathing Problems Questionnaire (BPQ) into Portuguese and adapt it to the Brazilian culture, as well as to evaluate its reproducibility in patients with COPD. METHODS: After the BPQ had been translated and adapted to the Brazilian culture, it was administered to a subgroup of 8 patients in order to identify their uncertainties and difficulties. The questionnaire was reviewed by an expert committee, and its final version was arrived at. A second translator back-translated the final version into English, which was sent to the original author in order to verify that the original meaning of the questionnaire had been maintained. After the approval of the original author, the final Portuguese-language version of the questionnaire was administered to 50 patients with COPD, in order to evaluate its reproducibility. RESULTS: The mean response time was 9.5 min. Of the 50 patients, 21 were female and 29 were male. The mean age was 65.8 ± 7.5 years. Most of the patients were classified as having moderate COPD (29.16%) or severe COPD (52%). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the total score was 0.94. The ICCs for the eleven BPQ domains and its two subscales were also above 0.70. Moderate correlations were found between the BPQ domains and subscales. CONCLUSIONS: The translation and cultural adaptation of the BPQ for use in Brazil was deemed appropriate, because the patients could easily understand and answer the questions. In addition, the Brazilian version of the BPQ questionnaire was found to be reliable, showing good reproducibility.OBJETIVO: Traduzir para o português e adaptar para a cultura brasileira o Breathing Problems Questionnaire (BPQ, questionário para problemas respiratórios), assim como avaliar a sua reprodutibilidade em pacientes com DPOC. MÉTODOS: Após a tradução e a adaptação do BPQ para a cultura brasileira por um tradutor, a primeira versão foi aplicada em oito pacientes visando conhecer suas dúvidas e dificuldades. O questionário foi analisado por uma comissão de especialistas e sua versão final foi definida. Foi realizada a retrotradução por um segundo tradutor, que foi enviada para o autor original com intuito de assegurar o sentido original do questionário. Após a aprovação final do autor, 50 pacientes portadores de DPOC responderam o BPQ para avaliar sua reprodutibilidade. RESULTADOS: O tempo médio de resposta foi 9,5 min. Dos 50 pacientes, 21 eram do sexo feminino e 29 do sexo masculino, com média de idade de 65,8 ± 7,5 anos. A maioria foi classificada com DPOC moderada (29,16%) e grave (52%). O coeficiente de correlação intraclasse (CCI) para o escore total foi de 0,94. Os onze domínios do BPQ e as suas duas subescalas também tiveram valores de CCI acima de 0,70. Houve correlações moderadas entre os domínios e as subescalas do BPQ. CONCLUSÕES: A tradução e adaptação do BPQ para uso no Brasil foi adequada, pois os pacientes não apresentaram dificuldades para entendê-lo e respondê-lo. Além disso, o BPQ mostrou-se confiável por apresentar boa reprodutibilidade

Gephyrin Cleavage in In Vitro Brain Ischemia Decreases GABAA Receptor Clustering and Contributes to Neuronal Death

GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, and changes in GABAergic neurotransmission modulate the activity of neuronal networks. Gephyrin is a scaffold protein responsible for the traffic and synaptic anchoring of GABAA receptors (GABAAR); therefore, changes in gephyrin expression and oligomerization may affect the activity of GABAergic synapses. In this work, we investigated the changes in gephyrin protein levels during brain ischemia and in excitotoxic conditions, which may affect synaptic clustering of GABAAR. We found that gephyrin is cleaved by calpains following excitotoxic stimulation of hippocampal neurons with glutamate, as well as after intrahippocampal injection of kainate, giving rise to a stable cleavage product. Gephyrin cleavage was also observed in cultured hippocampal neurons subjected to transient oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD), an in vitro model of brain ischemia, and after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in mice, a model of focal brain ischemia. Furthermore, a truncated form of gephyrin decreased the synaptic clustering of the protein, reduced the synaptic pool of GABAAR containing γ2 subunits and upregulated OGD-induced cell death in hippocampal cultures. Our results show that excitotoxicity and brain ischemia downregulate full-length gephyrin with a concomitant generation of truncated products, which affect synaptic clustering of GABAAR and cell death

In vitro Activity of Caryocar Brasiliense Cambess (Caryocaraceae) Extracts and Fractions with Antibacterial Activity

Apesar dos avanços técnico-científicos no campo da saúde, as doenças infecciosas continuam sendo umas das principais causas de morte em todo o mundo, sendo a resistência microbiana o principal agravante desse problema. As plantas medicinais possuem uma composição muito rica em fitoquímicos que podem ser estruturalmente otimizados e processados ​​em novos medicamentos. O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar o potencial antibacteriano do extrato e frações preparadas a partir da casca do caule e das folhas de Caryocar brasiliense Cambess, utilizando ensaios in vitro. A triagem fitoquímica de plantas foi realizada usando métodos de precipitação e coloração e a atividade antibacteriana utilizando o método de difusão em disco e microdiluição em caldo contra cepas padronizadas de Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa e Staphylococcus aureus. Os resultados da triagem fitoquímica revelaram a presença de flavonoides, esteroides livres, triterpenóides pentacíclicos livres, saponina e alcaloides. Neste estudo, os extratos brutos e frações de C. brasiliense apresentaram efeito inibitório contra S. aureus, K. pneumomiae e P. aeruginosa com halos de inibição que variou de 7,5±1,40 a 18,3±6,06 mm, sendo S. aureus mais sensível aos testes de difusão em disco. Pela microdiluição em caldo os extratos foram mais efetivos contra K. pnuemoniae (Concentração Inibitória Mínima (CIM) = 125-1000 µg/mL) seguido de S. aureus (CIM = 250-1000 µg/mL). Os extratos foram inativos contra E. coli. Com base nos resultados, os extratos de C. brasiliense podem vir a ser agentes alternativos para o controle de infecções associadas a essas bactérias, após estudos de toxicidade e testes in vivo.Despite the technical and scientific advances in the health field, infectious diseases continue to be one of the main causes of death worldwide, with microbial resistance being the main aggravating factor of this problem. Medicinal plants have a very rich composition of phytochemicals that can be structurally optimized and processed into new drugs. The objective of this study was to investigate the antibacterial potential of the extract and fractions prepared from the stem bark and leaves of Caryocar brasiliense Cambess using in vitro assays. Plant phytochemical screening was performed using precipitation and staining methods and antibacterial activity using disk diffusion and broth microdilution method against standardized strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The results of phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, free steroids, free pentacyclic triterpenoids, saponin and alkaloids. In this study, the crude extracts and fractions of C. brasiliense Cambess showed inhibitory effect against S. aureus, K. pneumomiae and P. aeruginosa with inhibition halos ranging from 7.5±1.40 to 18.3±6.06 mm, being S. aureus more sensitive to disc diffusion tests. By broth microdilution the extracts were most effective against K. pnuemoniae (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) = 125-1000 µg/mL) followed by S. aureus (MIC = 250-1000 µg/mL). The extracts were inactive against E. coli. Based on the results, C. brasiliense Cambess extracts may become alternative agents for the control of infections associated with these bacteria after toxicity studies and in vivo testing