FIRELAN - An ecologically based planning model towards a fire resilient and sustainable landscape. A case study in Center Region of Portugal

This paper explores the role of landscape planning as a tool for rural fire prevention. It presents a methodology for a fire resilient and sustainable landscape model (FIRELAN) that articulates the ecological and cultural components in a suitable and multifunction land-use plan. FIRELAN is a conceptual and ecologically based model that recognizes river basin’ land morphology, microclimate and species combustibility as the fundamental factors that determine fire behavior and landscape resilience, along with the ecological network (EN) for achieving ecological sustainability of the landscape. The model is constituted by the FIRELAN Network and the Complementary Areas. This network ensures the effectiveness of discontinuities in the landscape with less combustible landuses. It also functions as a fire-retardant technique and protection of wildland-urban interface (WUI). This model is applied to municipalities from Portugal’s center region, a simplified landscape severely damaged by recurrent rural fires. The results show that land-use and tree species composition should change drastically, whereas about 72% of the case study needs transformation actions. This requires a significant increase of native or archaeophytes species, agricultural areas, landscape discontinuities and the restoration of biodiversity in Natura 2000 areas. The EN components are 79% of the FIRELAN N area, whose implementation ensures soil and water conservation, biodiversity and habitats. This paper contributes to the discussion of the Portuguese rural fires planning frameworkinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Profissionalização por gênero em escritórios paulistas de advocacia

The article analyzes the differences in the professionalization of men and women lawyers in a survey of 216 young professionals from São Paulo law firms. It shows how professionalism and gender relations combine to stratify legal practice and differentiate careers according to a 'sexed script,' whether in terms of being a partner or an associate, or in terms of the size of the firm where people work (small, medium or large) and the main clients they represent (individuals or companies).O artigo analisa as diferenças na profissionalização de advogados e advogadas, em uma amostra de 216 jovens profissionais de escritórios de São Paulo. Mostra como o profissionalismo e as relações de gênero se articulam na estratificação da advocacia, com carreiras marcadas pelo "script sexuado", quanto a ser sócio(a) ou associado(a), quanto ao tamanho do escritório onde atuam (pequeno, médio ou de grande porte) e a clientela que representam prioritariamente (individual ou empresarial)

The role of salt abuse on risk for hypercalciuria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Elevated sodium excretion in urine resulting from excessive sodium intake can lead to hypercalciuria and contribute to the formation of urinary stones. The aim of this study was to evaluate salt intake in patients with urinary lithiasis and idiopathic hypercalciuria (IH).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between August 2007 and June 2008, 105 lithiasic patients were distributed into 2 groups: Group 1 (n = 55): patients with IH (urinary calcium excretion > 250 mg in women and 300 mg in men with normal serum calcium); Group 2 (n = 50): normocalciuric patients (NC). Inclusion criteria were: age over 18 years, normal renal function (creatinine clearance ≥ 60 ml/min), absent proteinuria and negative urinary culture. Pregnant women, patients with intestinal pathologies, chronic diarrhea or using corticoids were excluded. The protocol of metabolic investigation was based on non-consecutive collection of two 24-hour samples for dosages of: calcium, sodium, uric acid, citrate, oxalate, magnesium and urinary volume. Food intake was evaluated by the three-day dietary record quantitative method, and the Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated and classified according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Sodium intake was evaluated based on 24-hour urinary sodium excretion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The distribution in both groups as regards mean age (42.11 ± 10.61 vs. 46.14 ± 11.52), weight (77.14 ± 16.03 vs. 75.99 ± 15.80), height (1.64 ± 0.10 vs. 1.64 <b>± plusorminus </b>0.08) and BMI (28.78 ± 5.81 vs. 28.07 ± 5.27) was homogeneous. Urinary excretion of calcium (433.33 ± 141.92 vs. 188.93 ± 53.09), sodium (280.08 ± 100.94 vs. 200.44.93 ± 65.81), uric acid (880.63 ± 281.50 vs. 646.74 ± 182.76) and magnesium (88.78 ± 37.53 vs. 64.34 ± 31.84) was significantly higher in the IH group (p < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in calcium intake between the groups, and there was significantly higher salt intake in patients with IH than in NC.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study showed that salt intake was higher in patients with IH as compared to NC.</p

SARS-CoV-2 uses CD4 to infect T helper lymphocytes

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the agent of a major global outbreak of respiratory tract disease known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 infects mainly lungs and may cause several immune-related complications, such as lymphocytopenia and cytokine storm, which are associated with the severity of the disease and predict mortality. The mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infection may result in immune system dysfunction is still not fully understood. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infects human CD4+ T helper cells, but not CD8+ T cells, and is present in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage T helper cells of severe COVID-19 patients. We demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (S) directly binds to the CD4 molecule, which in turn mediates the entry of SARS-CoV-2 in T helper cells. This leads to impaired CD4 T cell function and may cause cell death. SARS-CoV-2-infected T helper cells express higher levels of IL-10, which is associated with viral persistence and disease severity. Thus, CD4-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection of T helper cells may contribute to a poor immune response in COVID-19 patients.</p

SARS-CoV-2 uses CD4 to infect T helper lymphocytes

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the agent of a major global outbreak of respiratory tract disease known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 infects mainly lungs and may cause several immune-related complications, such as lymphocytopenia and cytokine storm, which are associated with the severity of the disease and predict mortality. The mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infection may result in immune system dysfunction is still not fully understood. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infects human CD4+ T helper cells, but not CD8+ T cells, and is present in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage T helper cells of severe COVID-19 patients. We demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (S) directly binds to the CD4 molecule, which in turn mediates the entry of SARS-CoV-2 in T helper cells. This leads to impaired CD4 T cell function and may cause cell death. SARS-CoV-2-infected T helper cells express higher levels of IL-10, which is associated with viral persistence and disease severity. Thus, CD4-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection of T helper cells may contribute to a poor immune response in COVID-19 patients.</p

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 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 or ganism 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 ne glected 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 lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio