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

Androgen Deprivation Therapy And Morbid Obesity: Do They Share Cardiovascular Risk Through Metabolic Syndrome? [terapia De Privación De Andrógenos Y Obesidad Mórbida: ¿tienen En Común El Riesgo Cardiovascular Por Síndrome Metabólico?]

Background: Although the use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has resulted in improved survival in men with advanced prostate cancer, the resulting hypogonadism is associated with profound adverse effects comparable to those found in morbid obesity, being cardiovascular risk among the most lethal. Objectives: Evaluate metabolic syndrome, metabolic abnormalities and cardiovascular risk in patients with prostate cancer under ADT, not under ADT and morbid obese men. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that involves 79 men presenting prostate cancer, of whom 54 under ADT and 25 not under ADT and 91 morbidly obese patients paired by sex and age. To define metabolic syndrome, we used the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. Metabolic abnormalities, metabolic markers and Framingham score to predict the ten year coronary heart disease risk were compared among patients under ADT, not under ADT and morbid obese. Results: Patients under ADT presented significantly greater occurrence of diabetes and central obesity and higher levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) compared to eugonadal men. The mean cardiovascular risk was significantly higher in patients under ADT (39.97 ± 12.53% vs. 26.09 ± 14.80%; p = 0.021). Morbidly obese subjects had increased ten year coronary heart disease risk; comparable to patients under ADT (p = 0.054). Conclusion: This study suggests that patients under ADT show higher prevalence of metabolic abnormalities and cardiovascular risk similar to those found in morbidly obese subjects. It is possible that both processes share cardiovascular risk through metabolic syndrome. © 2010 AEU. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. 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Novos registros de Hyphomycetes decompositores para o Estado da Bahia, Brasil

Folhas mortas de Clusia melchiorii Gleason e C. nemorosa G. Mey. foram coletadas bimestralmente na Serra da Jibóia, Bahia, no período de outubro/2005 a junho/2006. As folhas foram lavadas em água corrente e mantidas em câmara-úmida durante 30 dias. As estruturas fúngicas foram coletadas e montadas em lâminas permanentes. São apresentadas descrições e ilustrações de sete novos registros de Hyphomycetes para o Estado da Bahia [Beltrania querna Harkn., Clonostachys compactiuscula (Sacc.) D. Hawksw. & W. Gams, Dictyosporium elegans Corda, Gyrothrix verticiclada (Goid.) S. Hughes & Piroz., Pseudobotrytis terrestris (Timonin) Subram., Sporendocladia bactrospora (W.B. Kendr.) M.J. Wingf. e Stachybotrys parvispora S. Hughes]

Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

International audienceOn 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of $\sim 1.7\,{\rm{s}}$ with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg(2) at a luminosity distance of ${40}_{-8}^{+8}$ Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 $\,{M}_{\odot }$. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at $\sim 40\,{\rm{Mpc}}$) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position $\sim 9$ and $\sim 16$ days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta