Estudo Bioestratigráfico com Base em Nanofósseis Calcários do Cretáceo da Bacia de Sergipe, Nordeste do Brasil

Esse trabalho apresenta os resultados bioestratigráficos obtidos no poço A1SE, localizado na Bacia de Sergipe, por meio da análise do conteúdo nanofossilífero recuperado em amostras de calha. O intervalo aqui estudado refere-se ao Cretáceo da Bacia de Sergipe, desde o Albiano até o Maastrichtiano. Durante a descrição das espécies em cada lâmina, investigações quantitativas e qualitativas foram realizadas. Pode-se observar a presença de alguns táxons, que possibilitaram o reconhecimento das biozonas e dos intervalos cronoestratigráficos associados. Dentre essas, destacam-se Nannoconus truitti truitti, Nannoconus truitti frequens, Braarudosphaera africana, Eiffellithus turriseiffelii, Reinhardtites anthophorus, Uniplanarius sissinghii, Uniplanarius trifidum, Reinhardtites levis. Fahrania varolli, Micrantholithus hoschulzii, Nannoconus quadriangulos apertus e Tegulalithus tesselllatus. Com a ausência de algumas biozonas é postulado um hiato que abrange o intervalo Cenomaniano-Santoniano. De acordo com as variações de abundância e diversidade foram interpretados intervalos transgressivos, regressivos e agradantes

Caracterização geológica da porção centro-sul da Bacia Pernambuco com base na integração de modelo digital de elevação, dados magnetométricos e geológicos

Este trabalho descreve os principais aspectos geológicos, em escala de detalhe, observados para a porção centro-sul da Bacia Pernambuco, localizada em parte dos municípios de Ipojuca e Sirinhaém (PE). Seis unidades litoestratigráficas puderam ser individualizadas: o embasamento cristalino (rochas metamórficas intemperizadas), a Formação Cabo (conglomerados polimíticos), a Suíte Magmática Ipojuca (riolitos, basaltos e rochas piroclásticas), as formações Estiva (folhelhos verdes, calcíferos, com ausência de microfósseis) e Algodoais (argilitos e arenitos médios a finos, com fácies sedimentar vulcanogênica associada), e depósitos quaternários. Foram utilizadas ferramentas como o modelo digital de elevação (MDE) da Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN), derivado dos dados topográficos da Folha Sirinhaém (escala 1:25.000) e o mapa de amplitude do sinal analítico para auxiliar a cartografia geológica. Os lineamentos topográficos e magnéticos (trends NNW-ESE, NW-SE e NE-SW) correspondem à fase rifte. Esses lineamentos estão relacionados a falhas de borda (evento inicial) e, principalmente, à reativação dessas falhas, combinada à geração de novas falhas. Vinte e seis anomalias magnéticas positivas e circulares foram identificadas e podem refletir a assinatura de possíveis centros vulcânicos. Atentamos a ocorrência de dois possíveis grandes centros vulcânicos que se propagam em direção ao Platô de Pernambuco, sendo que um está localizado na porção leste da área (CV1), onde ocorre o maior volume de sedimentação quaternária, e o outro está inserido na porção sudoeste (CV2), e excede os limites da área estudada

Gastropods Colour Patterns in Cassiopids and Naticids from Romualdo Formation, Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil

The phylum Mollusca includes one of the most beautiful examples of colour patterns in present-day shells. However, they are rare in the fossil record because they demand excellent fossilization. In Brazil, colour patterns in fossil mollusk shells are recorded in gastropods Natica aff. bulbulus White, 1887 from the Riachuelo Formation (Aptian-Albian), Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. This paper presents the first gastropod shells from the Romualdo Formation with colour patterns, visible under natural and UV light, belonging to the families Naticidae and Cassiopidae, collected at Santo Antônio outcrop municipality of Exu, Pernambuco and, Pinheiro and Serra do Mãozinha sites, municipality of Missão Velha and Romualdo site, municipality of Crato, Ceará. Among the cassiopids more than 100 specimens were tested, with 1/3 of them showing a residual colour pattern under UV light exposure, after chemical preparation. They correspond to the species Paraglauconia (Diglauconia) araripensis (Beurlen, 1964), Paraglauconia (Diglauconia) lyrica Maury, 1934, Gymnentome (Gymnentome) carregozica (Maury, 1934) and Gymnentome (Gymnentome) romualdoi Beurlen, 1964. The colour pattern is virtually similar in both genera, with fluorescent stripes on a dark background, showing the taxonomic similarity between them. As for the naticids, about 20 specimens were collected and 15 show good preservation, observing the visible colour pattern under natural light in Natica sp. and Euspira sp.; both new taxa for the Araripe Basin. The residual colour pattern in naticids ranges from spiral stripes to sigmoidal lines and blotches of brown and yellowish tones on a paler background, as observed in fossil species of the same family in the Cenozoic. The new occurrences increase the fossiliferous diversity of mollusks of the Romualdo Formation and extend the understanding of the diversity of colouration patterns of Lower Cretaceous gastropods

Health-related quality of life in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus in the different geographical regions of Brazil : data from the Brazilian Type 1 Diabetes Study Group

Background: In type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) management, enhancing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is as important as good metabolic control and prevention of secondary complications. This study aims to evaluate possible regional differences in HRQoL, demographic features and clinical characteristics of patients with T1DM in Brazil, a country of continental proportions, as well as investigate which variables could influence the HRQoL of these individuals and contribute to these regional disparities. Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study performed by the Brazilian Type 1 Diabetes Study Group (BrazDiab1SG), by analyzing EuroQol scores from 3005 participants with T1DM, in 28 public clinics, among all geographical regions of Brazil. Data on demography, economic status, chronic complications, glycemic control and lipid profile were also collected. Results: We have found that the North-Northeast region presents a higher index in the assessment of the overall health status (EQ-VAS) compared to the Southeast (74.6 ± 30 and 70.4 ± 19, respectively; p < 0.05). In addition, North- Northeast presented a lower frequency of self-reported anxiety-depression compared to all regions of the country (North-Northeast: 1.53 ± 0.6; Southeast: 1.65 ± 0.7; South: 1.72 ± 0.7; Midwest: 1.67 ± 0.7; p < 0.05). These findings could not be entirely explained by the HbA1c levels or the other variables examined. Conclusions: Our study points to the existence of additional factors not yet evaluated that could be determinant in the HRQoL of people with T1DM and contribute to these regional disparities

Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains

Ruiz JC, D'Afonseca V, Silva A, et al. Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(4): e18551.Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity. Methodology and Findings: We characterized two C. pseudotuberculosis genomes (Cp1002, isolated from goats; and CpC231, isolated from sheep). Analysis of the predicted genomes showed high similarity in genomic architecture, gene content and genetic order. When C. pseudotuberculosis was compared with other Corynebacterium species, it became evident that this pathogenic species has lost numerous genes, resulting in one of the smallest genomes in the genus. Other differences that could be part of the adaptation to pathogenicity include a lower GC content, of about 52%, and a reduced gene repertoire. The C. pseudotuberculosis genome also includes seven putative pathogenicity islands, which contain several classical virulence factors, including genes for fimbrial subunits, adhesion factors, iron uptake and secreted toxins. Additionally, all of the virulence factors in the islands have characteristics that indicate horizontal transfer. Conclusions: These particular genome characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis, as well as its acquired virulence factors in pathogenicity islands, provide evidence of its lifestyle and of the pathogenicity pathways used by this pathogen in the infection process. All genomes cited in this study are available in the NCBI Genbank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) under accession numbers CP001809 and CP001829

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

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost