Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications 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, 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

Mapa do desenvolvimento da pecuária leiteira no estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil: nova abordagem na pecuária para integração espacial de variáveis produtivas

Com base nos dados absolutos do Censo Agropecuário 2006, estruturou-se um sistema geográfico de informação e aplicou-se o método de análise multicritério para categorizar e avaliar o desenvolvimento da pecuária leiteira em Minas Gerais, Brasil. As variáveis selecionadas foram representadas espacialmente, classificadas e reclassificadas. Considerando-se seus pesos ponderados, foram combinadas por procedimentos de álgebra de mapas, em que se conformou o mapa com a caracterização do desenvolvimento leiteiro. Dos 853 municípios, 53 foram classificados como altamente desenvolvidos, 55 desenvolvidos, 229 moderadamente desenvolvidos, 500 pouco desenvolvidos e 16 não desenvolvidos. Encontrou-se associação entre o tamanho dos municípios e o desenvolvimento leiteiro; os de maior desenvolvimento tiveram área média de 175.414ha, e os de menor desenvolvimento apresentaram área média de 44.947ha. Esta abordagem para a integração espacial de dados censitários da pecuária possibilita uma nova forma de conhecer a realidade no seu desenvolvimento e promove sua aplicação em outros temas relacionados com a saúde e a produtividade animal

Alpha-Terpineol as Antitumor Candidate in Pre-Clinical Studies

Background: Alpha-terpineol is monoterpene alcohol with anti-tumor activity against different tumor cell lines (lung, breast, leukemias and colorectal) through blockage of NF-kB expression, which play an important role in tumor cells growth. Objective: Evaluate the antitumor activity of alpha-terpineol in murine Sarcoma 180 cell line Methods:: For the tests, different cytotoxic and genotoxic assays were used, including Trypan blue, cytokinesis- blocked micronucleus assay, comet assay, agarose gel DNA fragmentation, flow cytometry and cell viability using fluorescence. Ascitic fluid cells from sarcoma 180 were obtained from Mus musculus peritoneal cavity and Alpha-terpineol was tested at 100, 250 and 500 μg/mL. Doxorubicin and Cisplatin were used as positive controls. Results: Cytotoxic effects of alpha-terpineol were found in all concentrations tested, reducing cell viability in 50.9; 38.53; 30.82% at 100, 250 and 500 μg/mL, respectively. Alpha-terpineol induced genotoxic effects due to DNA fragmentation (increased frequency and index of damage), and was clastogenic by increased micronuclei formation, nucleoplasmic bridges and nuclear buds. DNA fragmentation and increased cell death indicated that alpha-terpineol can cause early, late, and necrotic apoptosis. Conclusion: Our data indicate that alpha-terpineol has antitumor activity revealed by cytogenetic mechanisms and / or loss of cell membrane integrity. </jats:sec

Incorporation of bioactive glass in calcium phosphate cement: An evaluation

Item does not contain fulltextBioactive glasses (BGs) are known for their unique ability to bond to living bone. Consequently, the incorporation of BGs into calcium phosphate cement (CPC) was hypothesized to be a feasible approach to improve the biological performance of CPC. Previously, it has been demonstrated that BGs can successfully be introduced into CPC, with or without poly(d,l-lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) microparticles. Although an in vitro physicochemical study on the introduction of BG into CPC was encouraging, the biocompatibility and in vivo bone response to these formulations are still unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the in vivo performance of BG supplemented CPC, either pure or supplemented with PLGA microparticles, via both ectopic and orthotopic implantation models in rats. Pre-set scaffolds in four different formulations (1: CPC; 2: CPC/BG; 3: CPC/PLGA; and 4: CPC/PLGA/BG) were implanted subcutaneously and into femoral condyle defects of rats for 2 and 6 weeks. Upon ectopic implantation, incorporation of BG into CPC improved the soft tissue response by improving capsule and interface quality. Additionally, the incorporation of BG into CPC and CPC/PLGA showed 1.8- and 4.7-fold higher degradation and 2.2- and 1.3-fold higher bone formation in a femoral condyle defect in rats compared to pure CPC and CPC/PLGA, respectively. Consequently, these results highlight the potential of BG to be used as an additive to CPC to improve the biological performance for bone regeneration applications. Nevertheless, further confirmation is necessary regarding long-term in vivo studies, which also have to be performed under compromised wound-healing conditions