Large and medium-sized mammals of Carajás National Forest, Pará state, Brazil

The Carajás National Forest is located in the Amazonian region, Pará State, Brazil and is part of a mosaic of conservation units comprising over one million hectares. This region has been explored for its mineral reserves, but knowledge of the distribution of animals and plants is lacking. The objective of this paper is to provide a list of the medium and large-sized mammals recorded from the Carajás NF. We used four methods to record mammals: linear transects, camera traps, records of road-killed animals, and opportunistic observations. We recorded 45 species distributed in nine taxonomic orders, eight of them currently on the Brazilian list of threatened species and seven in the IUCN red list. The area has high mammalian diversity and holds 56% of the threatened species known for the State, confirming that the study area is correctly categorized as Extremely High Priority for the conservation of Brazilian biodiversity

Mammalia, Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae, Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 and Chironectes minimus (Zimmermann, 1780): distribution extension for eastern Amazonia

We report a new record for the bushy-tailed opossum Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 and the water opossum Chironectes minimus (Zimmermann, 1780) in the Floresta Nacional de Carajás, municipality of Parauapebas, state of Pará, Brazil (06°03’00” S, 50°15’00” W). This study represents the second record of Glironia venusta, but the first voucher specimen for eastern Brazilian Amazon. For Chironectes minimus, this record extends the range of the species 558 km southeastwards from the closest known locality in Pará

A method for testing the host specificity of ectoparasites: give them the opportunity to choose

Host-choice experiments were carried out with rodent and bat ectoparasites on Ilha Grande, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We constructed experimental chambers that enclosed three different rodent or bat host species, and then introduced a selected set of ectoparasitic arthropods. When given the opportunity to choose among host species, the ectoparasites showed a strong tendency to select their primary hosts, and reject novel host species. These kinds of simple experiments can be valuable tools for assessing the ability of ectoparasites to locate and discern differences between host species, and make choices about which hosts to infest, and which hosts to avoid

Effect of solvent and extraction temperatures on the antioxidant potential of traditional stoned table olives “alcaparras”

This paper reports the first approach to the antioxidant potential evaluation of traditional stoned table olives ‘‘alcaparras’’. This kind of olives are largely produced and consumed in Trás-os-Montes region (Northeast of Portugal). Different solvents and temperature extraction conditions were employed in order to achieve the best method to obtain phenolic compounds and a higher antioxidant activity. The optimum method (water at boiling temperature) was applied on 10 samples from the traditional market. The total phenol content ranged between 5.58mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g and 29.88mg GAE/g and effective concentration (EC50) values were in the range 0.36–1.64 and 0.34–1.72 mg/mL for reducing power and radical scavenging effect, respectively. A significantly negative linear regression was observed between the total phenol content found in the samples and its antioxidant activity

Surface modification of electrospun polycaprolactone nanofiber meshes by plasma treatment to enhance biological performance

A critical aspect in the development of biomaterials is the optimization of their surface properties to achieve an adequate cell response. In the present work, electrospun polycaprolactone nanofiber meshes (NFMs) are treated by radio-frequency (RF) plasma using different gases (Ar or O2), power (20 or 30 W), and exposure time (5 or 10 min). Morphological and roughness analysis show topographical changes on the plasma-treated NFMs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicate an increment of the oxygen-containing groups, mainly –OH and –C––O, at the plasma-treated surfaces. Accordingly, the glycerol contact angle results demonstrate a decrease in the hydrophobicity of plasma-treated meshes, particularly in the O2-treated ones. Three model cell lines (fibroblasts, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts) are used to study the effect of plasma treatments over the morphology, cell adhesion, and proliferation. A plasma treatment with O2 and one with Ar are found to be the most successful for all the studied cell types. The influence of hydrophilicity and roughness of those NFMs on their biological performance is discussed. Despite the often claimed morphological similarity of NFMs to natural extracellular matrixes, their surface properties contribute substantially to the cellular performance and therefore those should be optimized.This work was partially supported by the European Integrated Project GENOSTEM (LSH-STREP-CT-2003-503161) and the European Network of Excellence EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT2004-500283). The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the project Naturally Nano (POCI/EME/589821 2004) and the Ph.D. grant of A. Martins (SFRH/BD/24382/2005) is also acknowledged

Chemical composition, antioxidant activity and bioaccessibility studies in phenolic extracts of two Hericium wild edible species

Mushrooms are rich sources of bioactive compounds such as phenolic acids. When ingested, these molecules have to be released from the matrix to be transformed/absorbed by the organism, so that they can exert their bioactivity. Several in vitro methodologies have been developed in order to evaluate the bioavailability of bioactive compounds. Herein, two Hericium species were analyzed for their chemical composition and antioxidant activity. Furthermore, an in vitro digestion of the mushrooms and mushroom phenolic extracts was performed, and the digested samples were also submitted to antioxidant activity evaluation in order to evaluate the bioaccessibility of the phenolic acids identified in the samples. Hericium species showed similar chemical profiles (except for tocopherols), varying only in the concentration of the compounds. The phenolic extracts revealed higher antioxidant activity than the in vitro digested samples, meaning that this process decrease the antioxidant properties of the extract/mushroom. Nevertheless, phenolic acids were found in the digested samples, meaning that those molecules are bioaccessible.The authors are grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011), S.A. Heleno grant (BD/70304/2010) and L. Barros contract under “Programa Compromisso com a Ciência-2008”