Monitoramento e distribuição de ocorrência de Thaumastocoris peregrinus no Estado do Paraná.

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Impact of climate change on climatic zoning of common bean in the South of Brazil.

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Agroclimatic zoning for eucalyptus in the state of Paraná and the new scenarios defined by global climate change.

Brazil is a country with one the largest areas of forest plantations in the world. The state of Paraná (PR) has the largest area of designated plantations in the country. The main cultivated species belong to the genus Eucalyptus. In this work, the areas of better favorability for planting the main species of commercial value eucalyptus were defined. Additionally, changes may also occur in these zones in the coming decades, due to global climate change. For this purpose, future scenarios were elaborated using a stochastic time series simulation software, to assess the possible changes of the climate and indicate potential consequences regarding the changes of eucalyptus plantation zones. The results show that there will be an increase in areas favorable to the commercial plantations of E. grandis and E. urograndis, species cultivated in the Cfa climate zone (subtropical zones). For E. benthamii, a species cultivated mostly in the Cfb climate zone (temperate zones), there will be a reduction of suitable areas for commercial plantations in Paraná, with displacement to areas located to the south and at higher altitudes, where edaphic limitations may occur

New drugs targeting Th2 lymphocytes in asthma

Asthma represents a profound worldwide public health problem. The most effective anti-asthmatic drugs currently available include inhaled β2-agonists and glucocorticoids and control asthma in about 90-95% of patients. The current asthma therapies are not cures and symptoms return soon after treatment is stopped even after long term therapy. Although glucocorticoids are highly effective in controlling the inflammatory process in asthma, they appear to have little effect on the lower airway remodelling processes that appear to play a role in the pathophysiology of asthma at currently prescribed doses. The development of novel drugs may allow resolution of these changes. In addition, severe glucocorticoid-dependent and resistant asthma presents a great clinical burden and reducing the side-effects of glucocorticoids using novel steroid-sparing agents is needed. Furthermore, the mechanisms involved in the persistence of inflammation are poorly understood and the reasons why some patients have severe life threatening asthma and others have very mild disease are still unknown. Drug development for asthma has been directed at improving currently available drugs and findings new compounds that usually target the Th2-driven airway inflammatory response. Considering the apparently central role of T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of asthma, drugs targeting disease-inducing Th2 cells are promising therapeutic strategies. However, although animal models of asthma suggest that this is feasible, the translation of these types of studies for the treatment of human asthma remains poor due to the limitations of the models currently used. The myriad of new compounds that are in development directed to modulate Th2 cells recruitment and/or activation will clarify in the near future the relative importance of these cells and their mediators in the complex interactions with the other pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cells and mediators responsible of the different asthmatic phenotypes. Some of these new Th2-oriented strategies may in the future not only control symptoms and modify the natural course of asthma, but also potentially prevent or cure the disease

Análise da ocorrência de geadas no Estado do Paraná com base na temperatura de superfície obtida dos dados AVHRR/NOAA.

A ocorrência de geadas no Paraná tem sido um dos principais fatores causadores de perdas de safras de culturas anuais e perenes. Uma das culturas mais atingidas por esse fenômeno é a do café, localizado na região Norte do estado, em região de transição sujeita à ocorrência periódica de geadas (Caramori et al., 2001). O trigo também é suscetível às geadas nas fases de espigamento e enchimento dos grãos, quando mesmo geadas moderadas podem causar prejuízos severos. Neste caso a estratégia adotada é fugir das épocas de maior risco através do planejamento da época de semeadura (Gonçalves et al., 1998), mas a ocorrência de geadas precoces ou tardias ocasionalmente afeta a cultura, causando grandes prejuízos. Os estudos de risco de ocorrência de geadas, baseados em séries históricas de temperaturas mínimas do ar obtidas em estações meteorológicas, representam dados pontuais que necessitam serem interpolados para se obter a representação espacial da região de interesse. Por meio de imagens de satélite, pode-se obter o valor de pixel e desta forma contar com maior nível de detalhe, possibilitando identificar variações regionais que não são identificadas com dados das estações. Neste trabalho são apresentados resultados que fazem parte de um projeto que visa determinar as variações regionais dos riscos de geada, com base na temperatura de superfície obtida do sensor AVHRR a bordo dos satélites NOAA

The anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory response of COPD airway smooth muscle cells to hydrogen sulfide

BACKBROUND: COPD is a common, highly debilitating disease of the airways, primarily caused by smoking. Chronic inflammation and structural remodelling are key pathological features of this disease caused, in part, by the aberrant function of airway smooth muscle (ASM). We have previously demonstrated that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) can inhibit ASM cell proliferation and CXCL8 release, from cells isolated from non-smokers. METHODS: We examined the effect of H2S upon ASM cells from COPD patients. ASM cells were isolated from non-smokers, smokers and patients with COPD (n = 9). Proliferation and cytokine release (IL-6 and CXCL8) of ASM was induced by FCS, and measured by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and ELISA, respectively. RESULTS: Exposure of ASM to H2S donors inhibited FCS-induced proliferation and cytokine release, but was less effective upon COPD ASM cells compared to the non-smokers and smokers. The mRNA and protein expression of the enzymes responsible for endogenous H2S production (cystathionine-β-synthase [CBS] and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulphur transferase [MPST]) were inhibited by H2S donors. Finally, we report that exogenous H2S inhibited FCS-stimulated phosphorylation of ERK-1/2 and p38 mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs), in the non-smoker and smoker ASM cells, with little effect in COPD cells. CONCLUSIONS: H2S production provides a novel mechanism for the repression of ASM proliferation and cytokine release. The ability of COPD ASM cells to respond to H2S is attenuated in COPD ASM cells despite the presence of the enzymes responsible for H2S production

Spirometric Assessment of Lung Transplant Patients: One Year Follow-Up

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare spirometry data between patients who underwent single-lung or double-lung transplantation the first year after transplantation. INTRODUCTION: Lung transplantation, which was initially described as an experimental method in 1963, has become a therapeutic option for patients with advanced pulmonary diseases due to improvements in organ conservation, surgical technique, immunosuppressive therapy and treatment of post-operative infections. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of the 39 patients who received lung transplantation in our institution between August 2003 and August 2006. Twenty-nine patients survived one year post-transplantation, and all of them were followed. RESULTS: The increase in lung function in the double-lung transplant group was more substantial than that of the single-lung transplant group, exhibiting a statistical difference from the 1st month in both the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and the forced vital capacity (FVC) in comparison to the pre-transplant values (p <0.05). Comparison between double-lung transplant and single lung-transplant groups of emphysema patients demonstrated a significant difference in lung function beginning in the 3rd month after transplantation. DISCUSSION: The analyses of the whole group of transplant recipients and the sub-group of emphysema patients suggest the superiority of bilateral transplant over the unilateral alternative. Although the pre-transplant values of lung function were worse in the double-lung group, this difference was no longer significant in the subsequent months after surgery. CONCLUSION: Although both groups demonstrated functional improvement after transplantation, there was a clear tendency to greater improvement in FVC and FEV1 in the bilateral transplant group. Among our subjects, double-lung transplantation improved lung function

High resolution computed tomography quantitation of emphysema is correlated with selected lung function values in stable COPD.

BACKGROUND: The literature shows conflicting results when high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scores of emphysema were correlated with different indices of airflow obstruction. OBJECTIVES: We correlated HRCT scores of emphysema with different indices of airflow obstruction. METHODS: We performed HRCT of the chest in 59 patients, all smokers or ex-smokers, with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of different severity [GOLD stages I-IV; mean age \ub1 SD 67.8 \ub1 7.3 years; pack/years 51.0 \ub1 34.6; percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)% predicted) 52.3 \ub1 17.6; post-bronchodilator FEV(1)% predicted 56.5 \ub1 19.1; FEV(1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio 50.8 \ub1 10.2; post-bronchodilator FEV(1)/FVC ratio 51.6 \ub1 11.0; percent diffusion lung capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO%) 59.2 \ub1 21.1; DLCO/percent alveolar volume (VA%) 54.5 \ub1 18.2; percent residual volume 163.0 \ub1 35.6; percent total lung capacity (TLC%) 113.2 \ub1 15; residual volume/TLC 1.44 \ub1 0.2]. All patients were in stable phase. RESULTS: The mean \ub1 SD visual emphysema score in all patients was 25.6 \ub1 25.4%. There was a weak but significant correlation between the percentage of pulmonary emphysema and numbers of pack/years (R = +0.31, p = 0.024). The percentage of emphysema was inversely correlated with the FEV(1)/FVC ratio before and after bronchodilator use (R = -0.44, p = 0.002, and R = -0.39, p = 0.005), DLCO% (R = -0.64, p = 0.0003) and DLCO/VA% (R = -0.68, p < 0.0001). A weak positive correlation was also found with TLC% (R = +0.28, p = 0.048). When patients with documented emphysema were considered separately, the best significant correlation observed was between DLCO/VA% and HRCT scan score (p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of varying severity, the presence of pulmonary emphysema is best represented by the impaired gas exchange capability of the respiratory system