Socioeconomic Motivations for Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Caatinga Biome

Nesse trabalho propõe-se contribuir com as discussões sobre a exploração sustentável da Caatinga através de uma atualização bibliográfica sobre o tema, destacando a importância desse bioma, suas potencialidades e a necessidade de sua preservação e conservação. Foram abordadas a importância socioeconômica do bioma, as estratégias de subsistência e geração de renda (como o extrativismo e bioprodutos de valor econômico), as políticas públicas e ameaças, além de avaliar o seu uso sustentável. Com base no exposto, compreende-se que o manejo sustentável é uma possibilidade real, tecnicamente comprovada. Faz-se necessário um intenso processo de conscientização e capacitação de todos os atores envolvidos por meio da formulação de políticas públicas, que priorizem a realidade ambiental e socioeconômica do bioma, da geração, sistematização e disseminação de informações, da construção de uma matriz de incentivos adaptados à realidade local e do fortalecimento institucional, como forma de garantir a sobrevivência do ecossistema.This paper aims to contribute with the discussions about the sustainable exploitation of Caatinga through an updated review of such topic. The research highlights the importance of this biome, thus, proposing its potential, and also the need for its preservation and conservation. This study, more specifically, exposes the socio-economic importance of the biome, on subsistence and income generation strategies, discussing the extraction and bio-products of economic value, public policies and threats, and evaluation of its sustainable use. Thus, considering this discussion it is understood that sustainable management is a real possibility and technically proven. It is necessary an intense process of awareness and training of all involved actors through formulation of public policies that prioritize the environmental and socioeconomic reality of biome. This can be done through the generation, systematization and dissemination of information, construction of incentives adapted to the local reality and institutional strengthening as a way to guarantee the survival of the ecosystem

Estudo mesoscópico da valva mitral e do seu anel fibroso Mesoscopic study of the mitral valve and its fibrous ring

OBJETIVO: Estudar o arranjo espacial dos elementos fibrosos que constituem os folhetos da valva mitral e do seu anel fibroso. MÉTODOS: Foram utilizados 20 corações adultos, de ambos os sexos, fixados em formol a 10%. Isolaram-se a valva mitral, juntamente com o anel fibroso, e uma pequena quantidade de tecido muscular ao seu redor. Parte desse material foi incluído em parafina, submetido a cortes seriados de 40µm de espessura e corados pelo tricrômio de Azan e pela resorcina-fucsina, e o restante das peças dissecadas sob lupa estereoscópica, com ajuda de delicadas pinças e agulhas, para se observar a disposição dos feixes miocárdicos ao nível do anel mitral. RESULTADOS: Observou-se que o anel fibroso mitral era constituído por feixes colágenos de trajetória semicircular, envolvendo de forma incompleta o óstio atrioventricular, uma vez que era ausente na região ântero-medial do óstio. Verificou-se que os feixes miocárdicos ventriculares inseriam-se de forma oblíqua, na borda externa do anel, sendo que na região ântero-medial assumiam uma trajetória semicircular. Os folhetos da valva mitral eram constituídos de feixes colágenos dispostos, paralelamente, no sentido do maior eixo da válvula, recobertos pelo endocárdio atrial e ventricular. Os feixes colágenos, presentes na base dos folhetos valvares, praticamente se continuavam com os do anel fibroso. Observou-se, em alguns casos, a existência de delgados feixes miocárdios atriais no folheto valvar anterior, que praticamente eram restritos à região central das válvulas. CONCLUSÃO: Os folhetos da valva mitral e seu anel fibroso possuem uma continuidade estrutural, que demonstra que estes elementos funcionam de forma integrada no fechamento do óstio atrioventricular esquerdo durante a sístole ventricular, no que seria auxiliado pela redução do diâmetro do anel fibroso, através da contração dos feixes miocárdicos semicirculares que nele se inserem.<br>PURPOSE: To study the spatial arrangement of the fibrous elements that form the leaflets of the mitral valve and its fibrous ring. METHODS: The study of 20 human adult hearts, of both sexes, fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution was made. The mitral valves with their fibrous rings and small parts of the adjacent atrial and ventricular muscles were removed. Part of this material was embedded in paraffin and cut serially at a thickness of 40µm and stained by Azan's trichrome and by resorcin-fuccin and another was dissected under stereoscope in order to verify the arrangement of the myocardial bundles at the level of the fibrous ring. RESULTS: It was observed that the fibrous ring is consisted of collagenous fibers which involved in an incomplete form the atrioventricular ostium, as they were absent in the anteromedial region of the ostium. The leaflets were made of collagenous fibers disposed parallel to the long axis of the valve. This collagenous fibers were covered by atrial and ventricular endocardium. The collagenous fibers of the leaflets were continuous, by their base, into the fibrous ring. It was observed, in a few cases, the presence of atrial muscle fibers into the anterior leaflet of the mitral, mainly in its central area. CONCLUSION: The leaflets of the mitral valve and its fibrous ring have a structural continuity suggesting that elements would act synchronously in the closure of the atrioventricular ostium during ventricular systole. The contraction of the myocardial bundles fixed in the fibrous ring contributes to decrease the diameter of the mitral ring

CCR2 and CCR5 genes polymorphisms in women with cervical lesions from Pernambuco, Northeast Region of Brazil: a case-control study

Polymorphisms in chemokine receptors play an important role in the progression of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) to cervical cancer (CC). Our study examined the association of CCR2-64I (rs1799864) and CCR5-&#916;32 (rs333) polymorphisms with susceptibility to develop cervical lesion (CIN and CC) in a Brazilian population. The genotyping of 139 women with cervical lesions and 151 women without cervical lesions for the CCR2-64I and CCR5-&#916;32 polymorphisms were performed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The individuals carrying heterozygous or homozygous genotypes (GA+AA) for CCR2-64I polymorphisms seem to be at lower risk for cervical lesion [odds ratio (OR) = 0.37, p = 0.0008)]. The same was observed for the A allele (OR = 0.39, p = 0.0002), while no association was detected (p > 0.05) with CCR5-&#916;32 polymorphism. Regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV) type, patients carrying the CCR2-64I polymorphism were protected against infection by HPV type 16 (OR = 0.35, p = 0.0184). In summary, our study showed a protective effect of CCR2-64I rs1799864 polymorphism against the development of cervical lesions (CIN and CC) and in the susceptibility of HPV 16 infection