Meglumine antimoniate and miltefosine combined with allopurinol sustain pro-inflammatory immune environments during canine leishmaniosis treatment

Research Areas: Veterinary SciencesCanine leishmaniosis (CanL) caused by Leishmania infantum is a zoonotic disease of global concern. Antileishmanial drug therapies commonly used to treat sick dogs improve their clinical condition, although when discontinued relapses can occur. Thus, the current study aims to evaluate the effect of CanL treatments in peripheral blood, lymph node, and bone marrow cytokine profile associated with clinical recovery. Two groups of six dogs diagnosed with CanL were treated with miltefosine combined with allopurinol and meglumine antimoniate combined with allopurinol (MT+A and MG+A), respectively. At diagnosis and after treatment, during a 3-month follow-up, clinical signs, hematological and biochemical parameters, urinalysis results and antileishmanial antibody titers were registered. Furthermore, peripheral blood, popliteal lymph node, and bone marrow samples were collected to assess the gene expression of IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta, and IFN-gamma by qPCR. In parallel, were also evaluated samples obtained from five healthy dogs. Both treatment protocols promoted the remission of clinical signs as well as normalization of hematological and biochemical parameters and urinalysis values. Antileishmanial antibodies returned to non-significant titers in all dogs. Sick dogs showed a generalized upregulation of IFN-gamma and downregulation of IL-2, IL-4, and TGF-beta, while gene expression of IL-12, TNF-alpha, IL-5, and IL-10 varied between groups and according to evaluated tissue. A trend to the normalization of cytokine gene expression was induced by both miltefosine and meglumine antimoniate combined therapies. However, IFN-gamma gene expression was still up-regulated in the three evaluated tissues. Furthermore, the effect of treatment in the gene expression of cytokines that were not significantly changed by infection, indicates that miltefosine and meglumine antimoniate combined therapy directly affects cytokine generation. Both combined therapies are effective in CanL treatment, leading to sustained pro-inflammatory immune environments that can compromise parasite survival and favor dogs' clinical cure. In the current study, anti-inflammatory and regulatory cytokines do not seem to play a prominent role in CanL or during clinical recovery.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enteric methane mitigation strategies for ruminant livestock systems in the Latin America and Caribbean region: A meta-analysis

Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) is a developing region characterized for its importance for global food security, producing 23 and 11% of the global beef and milk production, respectively. The region's ruminant livestock sector however, is under scrutiny on environmental grounds due to its large contribution to enteric methane (CH4) emissions and influence on global climate change. Thus, the identification of effective CH4 mitigation strategies which do not compromise animal performance is urgently needed, especially in context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) defined in the Paris Agreement of the United Nations. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were to: 1) collate a database of individual sheep, beef and dairy cattle records from enteric CH4 emission studies conducted in the LAC region, and 2) perform a meta-analysis to identify feasible enteric CH4 mitigation strategies, which do not compromise animal performance. After outlier's removal, 2745 animal records (65% of the original data) from 103 studies were retained (from 2011 to 2021) in the LAC database. Potential mitigation strategies were classified into three main categories (i.e., animal breeding, dietary, and rumen manipulation) and up to three subcategories, totaling 34 evaluated strategies. A random effects model weighted by inverse variance was used (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V3.3.070). Six strategies decreased at least one enteric CH4 metric and simultaneously increased milk yield (MY; dairy cattle) or average daily gain (ADG; beef cattle and sheep). The breed composition F1 Holstein × Gyr decreased CH4 emission per MY (CH4IMilk) while increasing MY by 99%. Adequate strategies of grazing management under continuous and rotational stocking decreased CH4 emission per ADG (CH4IGain) by 22 and 35%, while increasing ADG by 22 and 71%, respectively. Increased dietary protein concentration, and increased concentrate level through cottonseed meal inclusion, decreased CH4IMilk and CH4IGain by 10 and 20% and increased MY and ADG by 12 and 31%, respectively. Lastly, increased feeding level decreased CH4IGain by 37%, while increasing ADG by 171%. The identified effective mitigation strategies can be adopted by livestock producers according to their specific needs and aid LAC countries in achieving SDG as defined in the Paris Agreement.Fil: Congio, Guilhermo Francklin de Souza. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; Brasil. Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria; ColombiaFil: Bannink, André. University of Agriculture Wageningen; Países BajosFil: Mayorga Mogollón, Olga Lucía. Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria; ColombiaFil: Jaurena, Gustavo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal. Cátedra de Nutrición Animal; ArgentinaFil: Gonda, Horacio Leandro. Uppsala Universitet; SueciaFil: Gere, José Ignacio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Cerón Cucchi, María Esperanza. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Ortiz Chura, Abimael. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tieri, María Paz. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Rafaela; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigación de la Cadena Láctea. - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Santa Fe. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela. Instituto de Investigación de la Cadena Láctea; ArgentinaFil: Hernandez, Olegario. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Tucuman-Santiago del Estero; ArgentinaFil: Ricci, Patricia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Sur. Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce. Instituto de Innovación Para la Producción Agropecuaria y El Desarrollo Sostenible. Grupo Vinculado Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Cuenca del Salado Al Ipads | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Innovación Para la Producción Agropecuaria y El Desarrollo Sostenible. Grupo Vinculado Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Cuenca del Salado Al Ipads.; ArgentinaFil: Juliarena, María Paula. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Lombardi, Banira. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Abdalla, Adibe Luiz. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Abdalla Filho, Adibe Luiz. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Berndt, Alexandre. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Oliveira, Patrícia Perondi Anchão. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Henrique, Fábio Luis. Colegios Asociados de Uberaba; BrasilFil: Monteiro, Alda Lúcia Gomes. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Borges, Luiza Ilha. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Ribeiro Filho, Henrique Mendonça Nunes. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Ribeiro Pereira, Luiz Gustavo. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Tomich, Thierry Ribeiro. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Campos, Mariana Magalhães. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Machado, Fernanda Samarini. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Marcondes, Marcos Inácio. Universidade Federal de Viçosa.; BrasilFil: Mercadante, Maria Eugênia Zerlotti. Agencia de Tecnología Agroindustrial de Sao Paulo; ArgentinaFil: Sakamoto, Leandro Sannomiya. Agencia de Tecnología Agroindustrial de Sao Paulo; ArgentinaFil: Albuquerque, Lucia Galvão. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Carvalho, Paulo César de Faccio. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Hristov, Alexander Nikolov. State University of Pennsylvania; Estados Unidos. University of Agriculture Wageningen; Países Bajos. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil. Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria; Colombi

A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area

Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity. A list of land plants of “Parque Nacional do Caparaó” (PNC) was previously built using online databases and published on the website "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil." Here, we provide and discuss additional information about plant species richness, endemism and conservation in the PNC that could not be included in the List. We documented 1,791 species of land plants as occurring in PNC, of which 63 are cited as threatened (CR, EN or VU) by the Brazilian National Red List, seven as data deficient (DD) and five as priorities for conservation. Fifity-one species were possible new ocurrences for ES and MG states

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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

Glotopolítica latinoamericana : Tendencias y perspectivas

Glotopolítica latinoamericana: tendencias y perspectivas recoge el resultado de presentaciones y deliberaciones del IV Congreso Latinoamericano de Glotopolítica, realizado en la Universidad de San Pablo (Brasil) en septiembre de 2019, que convocó a numerosos y destacados especialistas en el área. Su inscripción en una serie (los anteriores se realizaron en Chile, Colombia y Alemania) nos permite apreciar los grandes ejes de los que da cuenta el cuidadoso e inteligente armado del libro decidido por los editores, y fundamentado en la Presentación. El tramo que hemos recorrido como especialistas, en el cual los eventos internacionales son hitos significativos, ha ido mostrando la amplitud de un campo que se construye apelando a tradiciones académicas variadas, que insiste en su carácter interdisciplinario y crítico y que no deja de tener una dimensión militante que se expone en las reflexiones teóricas, las investigaciones empíricas y las prácticas institucionales

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