The Importance of Biodiversity E-infrastructures for Megadiverse Countries

Addressing the challenges of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development requires global cooperation, support structures, and new governance models to integrate diverse initiatives and achieve massive, open exchange of data, tools, and technology. The traditional paradigm of sharing scientific knowledge through publications is not sufficient to meet contemporary demands that require not only the results but also data, knowledge, and skills to analyze the data. E-infrastructures are key in facilitating access to data and providing the framework for collaboration. Here we discuss the importance of e-infrastructures of public interest and the lack of long-term funding policies. We present the example of Brazil’s speciesLink network, an e-infrastructure that provides free and open access to biodiversity primary data and associated tools. SpeciesLink currently integrates 382 datasets from 135 national institutions and 13 institutions from abroad, openly sharing ~7.4 million records, 94% of which are associated to voucher specimens. Just as important as the data is the network of data providers and users. In 2014, more than 95% of its users were from Brazil, demonstrating the importance of local e-infrastructures in enabling and promoting local use of biodiversity data and knowledge. From the outset, speciesLink has been sustained through project-based funding, normally public grants for 2–4-year periods. In between projects, there are short-term crises in trying to keep the system operational, a fact that has also been observed in global biodiversity portals, as well as in social and physical sciences platforms and even in computing services portals. In the last decade, the open access movement propelled the development of many web platforms for sharing data. Adequate policies unfortunately did not follow the same tempo, and now many initiatives may perish

Influenza A virus infection in pigs from Mozambique

Swine  influenza  (SI)  is  an  acute  and  highly  contagious  disease  of  the  respiratory tract of pigs caused by swine influenza A virus (SIA). The disease causes economic losses in swine production and is of great public importance for its zoonotic potential. The aims of the present  study  were  to  report SIA infection  in  pigs  from  Mozambique  and  characterize  the anatomopathological  and  immunohistochemical  features  of  associated  lung  lesions.  Lungs from  457  slaughtered  pigs  were  subjected  to  gross  evaluation  and 38  (8.3%)  lungs  with cranioventral  consolidation  were  collected  from  a slaughterhouse  in  Matola  City,  Southern Mozambique. Consolidation areas in each lung lobe  were classified in 4 grades according to the lesion extension. Samples with consolidated lung tissue were examined for histopathology and  immunohistochemistry  for  the  presence  of  SIA,  Porcine  circovirus  type  2  (PCV2)  and Mycoplasma  hyopneumoniae  antigens.  The  lungs  had  multifocal  to  coalescing  areas  of consolidation observed most frequently in the craniallobes. The lesions involved mainly one or three  pulmonary  lobes  and  grade  1  and  2  lesions  were  the  most  frequent.  The  main histopathological  findings  were  necrotizing  bronchiolitis  (23/38),  alveolar  neutrophil infiltration (24/38), type II pneumocytes hyperplasia (26/38), peribronchiolar lymphoid tissue hyperplasia  (28/38)  and  interstitial  mononuclear  cells  infiltrate  (29/38). SIA  antigen  was detected by immunohistochemistryin 84.3% (32/38) of lung samples and all lung samples were negative  for  PCV2  and Mycoplasma  hyopneumoniaantigense. Pigs  that  presented  a  positive result on IHQ were from Matutuine district (5/32), Moamba district (2/32), Namaacha district (21/32), Boane district (3/32) and Matola city (1/32). These results demonstrate that SIA is a cause of pneumonia in pigs in Mozambique

Modulation of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor by a single dose of ayahuasca : observation from a randomized controlled trial

Serotonergic psychedelics are emerging as potential antidepressant therapeutic tools, as suggested in a recent randomized controlled trial with ayahuasca for treatment-resistant depression. Preclinical and clinical studies have suggested that serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels increase after treatment with serotoninergic antidepressants, but the exact role of BDNF as a biomarker for diagnostic and treatment of major depression is still poorly understood. Here we investigated serum BDNF levels in healthy controls (N = 45) and patients with treatment-resistant depression (N = 28) before (baseline) and 48 h after (D2) a single dose of ayahuasca or placebo. In our sample, baseline serum BDNF levels did not predict major depression and the clinical characteristics of the patients did not predict their BDNF levels. However, at baseline, serum cortisol was a predictor of serum BDNF levels, where lower levels of serum BDNF were detected in a subgroup of subjects with hypocortisolemia. Moreover, at baseline we found a negative correlation between BDNF and serum cortisol in volunteers with eucortisolemia. After treatment (D2) we observed higher BDNF levels in both patients and controls that ingested ayahuasca (N = 35) when compared to placebo (N = 34). Furthermore, at D2 just patients treated with ayahuasca (N = 14), and not with placebo (N = 14), presented a significant negative correlation between serum BDNF levels and depressive symptoms. This is the first double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial that explored the modulation of BDNF in response to a psychedelic in patients with depression. The results suggest a potential link between the observed antidepressant effects of ayahuasca and changes in serum BDNF, which contributes to the emerging view of using psychedelics as an antidepressant. This trial is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02914769)

Deep Learning-based Automated Aortic Area and Distensibility Assessment: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

This study applies convolutional neural network (CNN)-based automatic segmentation and distensibility measurement of the ascending and descending aorta from 2D phase-contrast cine magnetic resonance imaging (PC-cine MRI) within the large MESA cohort with subsequent assessment on an external cohort of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) patients. 2D PC-cine MRI images of the ascending and descending aorta at the pulmonary artery bifurcation from the MESA study were included. Train, validation, and internal test sets consisted of 1123 studies (24282 images), 374 studies (8067 images), and 375 studies (8069 images), respectively. An external test set of TAAs consisted of 37 studies (3224 images). A U-Net based CNN was constructed, and performance was evaluated utilizing dice coefficient (for segmentation) and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) of aortic geometric parameters by comparing to manual segmentation and parameter estimation. Dice coefficients for aorta segmentation were 97.6% (CI: 97.5%-97.6%) and 93.6% (84.6%-96.7%) on the internal and external test of TAAs, respectively. CCC for comparison of manual and CNN maximum and minimum ascending aortic areas were 0.97 and 0.95, respectively, on the internal test set and 0.997 and 0.995, respectively, for the external test. CCCs for maximum and minimum descending aortic areas were 0.96 and 0. 98, respectively, on the internal test set and 0.93 and 0.93, respectively, on the external test set. We successfully developed and validated a U-Net based ascending and descending aortic segmentation and distensibility quantification model in a large multi-ethnic database and in an external cohort of TAA patients.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

Antenna subtraction for gluon scattering at NNLO

We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the double real radiation infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. The antenna subtraction framework has been successfully applied to the calculation of NNLO corrections to the 3-jet cross section and related event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. Here we consider processes with two coloured particles in the initial state, and in particular two-jet production at hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We construct a subtraction term that describes the single and double unresolved contributions from the six-gluon tree-level process using antenna functions with initial state partons and show numerically that the subtraction term correctly approximates the matrix elements in the various single and double unresolved configurations.Comment: 71 pages, JHEP3 class; corrected typos, equivalent but more compact version of eq. (5.12), results unchange

Revista de Vertebrados de la Estación Biológica de Doñana

The Osteology of Barbus bocagei (Steindachner, 1866) (Pisces: Cyprinidae).El crecimiento del Cacho (Leuciscus cephalus pyraenaicus Günther, 1862) en el rio Jarama (cuenca del Tajo)Contribución al estudio de la bermejuela, Rutilus arcasi, Steindachner 1866 de la cuenca del Júcar (Osteichthyes: Cyprinidae) 1. MorfometríaDimensiones, estructura, forma y disposición en la cavidad de los nidos de Corvus monedula.Variaciones altitudinales en la composición de las comunidades nidificantes de aves de Sierra Nevada (Sur de España)Ecomorfología de una comunidadde Passeriformes en la Sierra de Cazorla, SE de EspañaLa Distribución del pez-sol (Lepolllis gibbostlS L.) en la Península IbéricaSobre la distribución de Barbus haasi (OSTARIOPHYSI: CYPRINIDAE)La Distribución de Barbus bocagei STEINDACHNER, 1865 (OSTARIOPHYSI: CYPRINIDAE) en la Península IbéricaLighy effects on circadian locomotor activity of Lacerta lepida under constant temperatureEvaluación de diferentes métodos para estimar el área de campeo de dos especies de iguánidos.Un Casal de Cartaxo-Nottenho (Saxicola rubetra) a criar em Portugal.Nidificación de Passer hispaniolensis en antiguos nidos de Dendrocopos major thanneri.Observación de un lince ibérico (Lynx pardina) en la provincia de Lugo. Norte de España.El Visón americano, Mustela vison SCHREBER, 1777 (MAMMALIA, MUSTELIDAE) en Cataluña, N.E. de la Península Ibérica.Peer reviewe

Proteomics-based identification of differentially abundant proteins reveals adaptation mechanisms of Xanthomonas citri subsp citri during Citrus sinensis infection

Background: Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xac) is the causal agent of citrus canker. A proteomic analysis under in planta infectious and non-infectious conditions was conducted in order to increase our knowledge about the adaptive process of Xac during infection. Results: For that, a 2D-based proteomic analysis of Xac at 1, 3 and 5 days after inoculation, in comparison to Xac growth in NB media was carried out and followed by MALDI-TOF-TOF identification of 124 unique differentially abundant proteins. Among them, 79 correspond to up-regulated proteins in at least one of the three stages of infection. Our results indicate an important role of proteins related to biofilm synthesis, lipopolysaccharides biosynthesis, and iron uptake and metabolism as possible modulators of plant innate immunity, and revealed an intricate network of proteins involved in reactive oxygen species adaptation during Plants'Oxidative Burst response. We also identified proteins previously unknown to be involved in Xac-Citrus interaction, including the hypothetical protein XAC3981. A mutant strain for this gene has proved to be non-pathogenic in respect to classical symptoms of citrus canker induced in compatible plants. Conclusions: This is the first time that a protein repertoire is shown to be active and working in an integrated manner during the infection process in a compatible host, pointing to an elaborate mechanism for adaptation of Xac once inside the plant.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao PauloFundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas GeraisBIGA grant-CAPESUniv Fed Ouro Preto, Inst Ciencias Exatas & Biol, Dept Ciencias Biol DECBI, Ouro Preto, MG, BrazilUniv Fed Ouro Preto, Nucleo Pesquisas Ciencias Biol NUPEB, Ouro Preto, MG, BrazilUniv Fed Rio de Janeiro, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim DBq, Rio De Janeiro, RJ, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista, UNESP, Dept Tecnol, Fac Ciencias Agr & Vet Jaboticabal, Jaboticabal, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Inst Quim, Campinas, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ciencias Biol, Diadema, SP, BrazilVirginia Tech, Biocomplex Inst, Blacksburg, VA USAUniv Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ciencias Biol, Diadema, SP, BrazilCAPESFAPESP: 04/02006-7Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais: CBB-APQ-04425-10BIGA grant-CAPES: 3385/2013Web of Scienc