Climate services in Brazil: Past, present, and future perspectives

From the devastating effects of the 1877–1879 Great Drought in the Northeast region to the creation of the Center for Weather Forecast and Climate Studies (CPTEC) at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in the early 1990 s, Brazil went from a total absence of meteorological expertise to becoming a member of a select group of nations with the infrastructure and technical expertise to build and run a global general circulation model. This article reviews the most critical moments in the development of climate services in Brazil, addressing the evolution of its infrastructure for observation, monitoring, modeling, and prediction, the still incipient efforts in systematically understanding users’ perspectives and needs, and the work required to incorporate the usable science and co-production paradigms into the main centers of production of climate information. Advances and challenges are analyzed, and actions for strengthening the climate services framework are proposed

Climate Change Impact on Neotropical Social Wasps

Establishing a direct link between climate change and fluctuations in animal populations through long-term monitoring is difficult given the paucity of baseline data. We hypothesized that social wasps are sensitive to climatic variations, and thus studied the impact of ENSO events on social wasp populations in French Guiana. We noted that during the 2000 La Niña year there was a 77.1% decrease in their nest abundance along ca. 5 km of forest edges, and that 70.5% of the species were no longer present. Two simultaneous 13-year surveys (1997–2009) confirmed the decrease in social wasps during La Niña years (2000 and 2006), while an increase occurred during the 2009 El Niño year. A 30-year weather survey showed that these phenomena corresponded to particularly high levels of rainfall, and that temperature, humidity and global solar radiation were correlated with rainfall. Using the Self-Organizing Map algorithm, we show that heavy rainfall during an entire rainy season has a negative impact on social wasps. Strong contrasts in rainfall between the dry season and the short rainy season exacerbate this effect. Social wasp populations never recovered to their pre-2000 levels. This is probably because these conditions occurred over four years; heavy rainfall during the major rainy seasons during four other years also had a detrimental effect. On the contrary, low levels of rainfall during the major rainy season in 2009 spurred an increase in social wasp populations. We conclude that recent climatic changes have likely resulted in fewer social wasp colonies because they have lowered the wasps' resistance to parasitoids and pathogens. These results imply that Neotropical social wasps can be regarded as bio-indicators because they highlight the impact of climatic changes not yet perceptible in plants and other animals

Perfusão pulmonar anterógrada "versus" retrógrada na preservação pulmonar para transplante em modelo canino de viabilidade pulmonar pós-morte Antegrade versus retrograde lung perfusion in pulmonary preservation for transplantation in a canine model of post-mortem lung viability

A doação pulmonar após parada cardiocirculatória tem sido estudada experimentalmente na obtenção de órgãos para transplante, porém a severa lesão isquêmica/reperfusão exigem métodos de preservação que permitam viabilidade pulmonar. A perfusão do enxerto com solução cristalóide hipotérmica via anterógrada (artéria pulmonar) é o método de preservação mais utilizado, porém esta via não perfunde a circulação brônquica, permitindo a retenção sanguínea neste território capaz de desencadear fenômenos de lesão de reperfusão. Isto nos levou a testar os efeitos da perfusão anterógrada versus retrógrada (via átrio esquerdo, capaz de perfundir a circulação brônquica) em modelo canino de transplante unilateral cujos pulmões foram extraídos 3 horas após parada cardiorrespiratória. Doze cães doadores foram sacrificados com tiopental sódico e mantidos à temperatura ambiente sob ventilação mecânica durante 3 horas, após as quais os animais foram randomizados e os blocos cardiopulmonares perfundidos via retrógrada (n = 6) ou anterógrada (n = 6) com solução de Euro-Collins modificada e extraídos. Os receptores (n = 12) foram anestesiados, pneumonectomizados e submetidos a transplante pulmonar esquerdo recebendo enxertos perfundidos por via retrógrada (grupo I) ou anterógrada (grupo II). Após a reperfusão do enxerto, os animais foram mantidos sob ventilação mecânica (FiO2 = 1) por 6 horas, sendo então sacrificados. Durante este período obtiveram-se medidas hemodinâmicas e gasometrias arteriais, além de amostras de tecido pulmonar para dosagem de ATP intracelular. As medidas hemodinâmicas não diferiram entre os grupos. Nos animais do grupo I a PaO2 e PaCO2 foram superiores às do grupo II (p = 0,016 e p = 0,008, respectivamente). O ATP intracelular não diferiu entre os grupos, embora tenha se reduzido nas amostras obtidas na extração do enxerto do doador quando comparados aos valores após a reperfusão (p = 0,01) e ao término do período de avaliação (p = 0,01). Os autores concluem que, neste modelo experimental, a perfusão retrógrada hipotérmica resulta em função superior do enxerto após 3 horas de isquemia normotérmica sob ventilação mecânica.<br>Lung retrieval following cardio-circulatory arrest has been studied experimentally, however severe ischemia/reperfusion injury requires improved methods of graft preservation. Allograft perfusion with crystalloid solution delivered via pulmonary artery (antegrade perfusion) remains the standard procedure, however it does not provide adequate washout of the blood retained within the bronchial circulation which may trigger reperfusion injury. This has led the authors to test the impact of antegrade versus retrograde (via left atrium) perfusion of lung grafts submitted to 3 hours of warm ischemia after cardio-circulatory arrest in a dog model of left lung allotransplantation. Twelve donor dogs were sacrificed with thiopental sodium and kept under mechanical ventilation at room temperature for 3 hours. They were randomized and the heart-lung blocks harvested after being perfused in a retrograde (group I, n = 6) or antegrade (group II, n = 6) fashion with modified Euro-Collins solution. Twelve recipient animals were submitted to a left lung transplant receiving the grafts from both groups and the assessment was performed during 6 hours. Hemodynamic parameters were similar for animals in both groups. The gas exchange (arterial PaO2 and PaCO2) in recipients of group I (retrograde perfusion) was significantly better when compared to recipients of grafts perfused via pulmonary artery. Intracellular ATP did not show difference between the groups, however there was a measurable drop in its values when samples obtained upon extraction were compared to those measured after reperfusion and at the end of the assessment. The authors concluded that retrograde perfusion yields better pulmonary function after 6 hours of reperfusion in this animal model of left lung allotransplantation following 3 hours of normothermic ischemia under mechanical ventilation