Divergence of Ant Communities Over Time in a Fragmented Atlantic Rain Forest Landscape

Habitat fragmentation changes biological communities and its spatiotemporal dynamics – which may lead to either biotic homogenization or heterogenization along time and space. Both processes can occur by addition, replacement or loss of species within communities, altering compositional similarity across the landscape. We investigated which of these two processes (biotic homogenization or heterogenization) occurs, and its possible underlying mechanism, over 15 years in an Atlantic Forest landscape using ants as model organisms. We sampled ants in 17 forest fragments across three different years, compared their composition similarity, species richness, and species richness of groups classified according to their habitat preferences. We sampled a total of 132 ant species. Ant communities in fragments diverged over time, suggesting they experienced an idiosyncratic structuring process. This biotic heterogenization occurred through an additive process, as ant species richness increased over time, mainly due to an increase of generalist ant species, and a decrease of forest specialist ant species. These changes occurred despite the higher forest cover in the landscape along years. Since different species can perform different functions in ecosystems, this biotic heterogenization may have implications for ecosystem functioning. Investigating how disturbances structure biological communities over time, especially those performing important ecosystem functions, can shed light to our understanding of possible changes in ecosystem functions and consequently for forest regeneration

Top-down factors contribute to differences in insect herbivory between saplings and mature trees in boreal and tropical forests

Ontogenetic changes in herbivory are generally not consistent with ontogenetic changes in defensive traits of woody plants. This inconsistency suggests that other factors may affect ontogenetic trajectories in herbivory. We tested the hypothesis that top-down factors contribute to differences in foliar losses to insects between juvenile and mature trees in tropical and boreal forests. We used artificial caterpillars made of modelling clay to compare predation rates between saplings and mature trees of two common forest species, Siparuna guianensis in Brazil (tropical site) and Betula pubescens in Finland (boreal site). Leaf area losses to chewing insects in saplings were 2.5-fold higher than in mature trees in both species. Physical plant defences (measured as specific leaf area, SLA) did not differ between saplings and mature trees in the boreal forest, whereas in the tropical forest, SLA was greater in saplings than in mature trees. Attack rates on the model prey by birds were higher in the boreal forest, whereas attack rates by arthropod predators were higher in the tropical forest. Overall, predation rates on model prey were consistently higher on mature trees than on saplings at both sites, but in the boreal site, this pattern was primarily driven by birds, whereas in the tropical site, it was primarily driven by arthropod predators. We conclude that the effect of predation on herbivorous insects may considerably contribute to ontogenetic differences in herbivory, but the relative roles of different predatory groups and of top-down and bottom-up factors may vary between environments

PERFORMANCE OF SOCCER PLAYERS OF DIFFERENT PLAYING POSITIONS AND NACIONALITIES IN A 30-METER SPRINT TEST

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of soccer players of different playing positions and different nationalities on a 30-meter sprint test. The players were instructed to run at full speed. Tests were performed on a Soccer field. The mean speed for 10 (V10), 10-30 (V20) and 30m (V30) were determined. The results of 75 Brazilian players of different positions were compared between themselves and 21 first division professional Brazilian players were compared with 18 J-League Japanese players. No difference was found between the performances of Brazilian players of different positions. The performance of Brazilian players in V20 and V30 (8.69 ± 0.64 and 7.68 ± 0.28m•s-1) was better than that of Japanese players (8.11 ± 0.26 and 7.42 ± 0.22m•s-1;

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

International Olympic Committee consensus statement on pain management in elite athletes

Pain is a common problem among elite athletes and is frequently associated with sport injury. Both pain and injury interfere with the performance of elite athletes. There are currently no evidence-based or consensus-based guidelines for the management of pain in elite athletes. Typically, pain management consists of the provision of analgesics, rest and physical therapy. More appropriately, a treatment strategy should address all contributors to pain including underlying pathophysiology, biomechanical abnormalities and psychosocial issues, and should employ therapies providing optimal benefit and minimal harm. To advance the development of a more standardised, evidence-informed approach to pain management in elite athletes, an IOC Consensus Group critically evaluated the current state of the science and practice of pain management in sport and prepared recommendations for a more unified approach to this important topic

Síndrome de Young: Young's Syndrome

Introdução: A Síndrome de Young refere-se à condição rara e hereditária, de etiologia desconhecida, que acomete homens de meia idade causando-lhes a tríade rinossinusite, bronquiectasias e azoospermia obstrutiva. Apresentação do caso: paciente do sexo masculino, 36 anos, encaminhado ao ambulatório de urologia por dificuldade para engravidar. Apresenta tosse crônica e rinossinusite de repetição desde a infância. Exames complementares possibilitaram o diagnóstico de Síndrome de Young. Discussão: A ocorrência de azoospermia persistente com espermatogênese normal, associada a episódios recorrentes de infecções pulmonares, além da exclusão de fibrose cística ou discinesia ciliar primária caracterizam a Síndrome de Young, que não tem cura, contudo é passível a tratamento individualizado e dependente da sintomatologia do paciente. Conclusão: Apesar de ser um distúrbio raro, o diagnóstico precoce é capaz de prevenir complicações associadas, entre elas a infertilidade. No entanto, a escassez de estudos acerca deste distúrbio pode afetar negativamente a qualidade de vida e a morbimortalidade dos pacientes, portanto ressalta-se a importância da produção de evidências científicas

Síndrome de Trotter: Trotter's Syndrome

Introdução: A Síndrome de Trotter refere-se ao quadro clínico característico de neoplasias da nasofaringe, principalmente quando os tumores são encontrados em estágios mais avançados. Apresentação do caso: paciente do sexo masculino, 55 anos, com dor mandibular à esquerda, que iniciou- se com otalgia, zumbido, hipoacusia e cefaléia fronto-temporal à esquerda, evoluindo para dor em região de mandíbula e trismo. Foi solicitado tomografia de base de crânio e nasofaringe, com sinais sugestivos da Síndrome de Trotter. Discussão: O caso trata- se de uma síndrome pouco conhecida devido apresentar sinais e sintomas muitas vezes banalizados, sendo que, a maioria das neoplasias são descobertas em casos bastantes avançados  e com um prognóstico muito reservado. Conclusão: Se descoberta precocemente, aumentaria então, as chances de sucesso no tratamento. Ademais, cabe aos profissionais odontólogos e médicos se atentar e buscar conhecimento acerca da clínica desta síndrome a fim de corroborar no diagnóstico precoce

How much leaf area do insects eat? A data set of insect herbivory sampled globally with a standardized protocol

Herbivory is ubiquitous. Despite being a potential driver of plant distribution and performance, herbivory remains largely undocumented. Some early attempts have been made to review, globally, how much leaf area is removed through insect feeding. Kozlov et al., in one of the most comprehensive reviews regarding global patterns of herbivory, have compiled published studies regarding foliar removal and sampled data on global herbivory levels using a standardized protocol. However, in the review by Kozlov et al., only 15 sampling sites, comprising 33 plant species, were evaluated in tropical areas around the globe. In Brazil, which ranks first in terms of plant biodiversity, with a total of 46,097 species, almost half (43%) being endemic, a single data point was sampled, covering only two plant species. In an attempt to increase knowledge regarding herbivory in tropical plant species and to provide the raw data needed to test general hypotheses related to plant–herbivore interactions across large spatial scales, we proposed a joint, collaborative network to evaluate tropical herbivory. This network allowed us to update and expand the data on insect herbivory in tropical and temperate plant species. Our data set, collected with a standardized protocol, covers 45 sampling sites from nine countries and includes leaf herbivory measurements of 57,239 leaves from 209 species of vascular plants belonging to 65 families from tropical and temperate regions. They expand previous data sets by including a total of 32 sampling sites from tropical areas around the globe, comprising 152 species, 146 of them being sampled in Brazil. For temperate areas, it includes 13 sampling sites, comprising 59 species

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio