Overview of DNA Repair in Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leishmania major

A wide variety of DNA lesions arise due to environmental agents, normal cellular metabolism, or intrinsic weaknesses in the chemical bonds of DNA. Diverse cellular mechanisms have evolved to maintain genome stability, including mechanisms to repair damaged DNA, to avoid the incorporation of modified nucleotides, and to tolerate lesions (translesion synthesis). Studies of the mechanisms related to DNA metabolism in trypanosomatids have been very limited. Together with recent experimental studies, the genome sequencing of Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Leishmania major, three related pathogens with different life cycles and disease pathology, has revealed interesting features of the DNA repair mechanism in these protozoan parasites, which will be reviewed here

Simultaneous Papillary Carcinoma in Thyroglossal Duct Cyst and Thyroid

Thyroglossal duct cyst (TDC) is a cystic expansion of a remnant of the thyroglossal duct tract. Carcinomas in the TDC are extremely rare and are usually an incidental finding after the Sistrunk procedure. In this report, an unusual case of a 36-year-old woman with concurrent papillary thyroid carcinoma arising in the TDC and on the thyroid gland is presented, followed by a discussion of the controversies surrounding the possible origins of a papillary carcinoma in the TDC, as well as the current management options

Aneurisma de artéria ilíaca em equinos

Background: Aneurysm is a dilation and a weakening of the vessel, usually 2 times higher than the normal diameter of thevessel. Considering the complexity of the definitive diagnosis of iliac artery aneurysm, it is necessary to use technology byimaging, aiming an early diagnosis. Thus, application of Doppler ultrasound allows the study of the horse’s vascular systemallowing various types of diagnoses among these members and vascularization for diagnosing thrombi in the abdominalaorta and mesenteric arteries in side verminotic aneurysm. The aim of this study was to describe the occurrence of twocases of aneurysm involving the aortic-iliac diagnosed by Doppler ultrasound.Cases: The study describes two cases of the aneurism in horses diagnosed by Doppler ultrasound at the Veterinary Hos-pital of UPIS. The animals showed clinical signs of edema in the pelvic limb, with varied degree of lameness 3 to 4, pain and wound did not heal and septic arthritis. The final diagnosis was obtained by Doppler ultrasound. In case one, Doppler ultrasound analysis indicated high arterial distension and blood flow disorganized, suggesting aneurysm. The patient did not respond adequately to therapy and due to the severity of these changes, the euthanasia was performed for definitive diagnostic. On the other hand, in case two, in the imaging examination, it was diagnosed with a dilated aortic Iliac left four times larger than the right and disorganized blood flow suggesting aneurysm. As a result of diagnosis and unfavorable prognosis, it was decided to stop sports activities by the animal mainly due to the progressive increase of the aneurysm.Discussion: Between the two reported cases, one animal died with excessive extension of injury and in another it was possible to establish a palliative treatment being observed improvement in clinical symptomatology. The aneurysm was defined as a dilation of the artery, which may be congenital or acquired. In this case, it was not possible to define the main cause. However, their characteristics, visualized through ultrasound and necropsy corroborate to described in the literature, such as slow growth, achieve considerable volume may compress, displace and destroy neighboring structures. They also tend to increase in size until they break, causing bleeding. In the reports one and two it was found aneurysm verum, where in the animal of the report one was carried out euthanasia due to the rupture of the iliac artery. Surgical procedures are not usually indicated, due to the rapid evolution of the aneurysm culminating in hemorrhage and death of the patient. Ultrasound in these cases was also able to measure the extent of the lesion, to evaluate the blood flow and consequently the turbulence of blood. It is a disease with an unfavorable prognosis, by the progressive increase of the aneurysm or due to the possibility of aneurysm rupture. According to the results of this report can be concluded that Doppler ultrasound should be included in the routine practice of equine veterinary clinic, mainly in athletic horses to diagnose arterial lesions with complicated detection on clinical examination. The clinical symptomatology presented by the animals can be included in routine practice. The aneurysm of the iliac artery if was not diagnosed in time can cause death of the animal, however, if it was detected early, it can be established a palliative treatment extending the duration of animal life

Analysis of the composition and geographic distribution of the restinga avifauna of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

Three patterns of distribution were recognized: wide south-American distribution (85,31 %), Atlantic Forest endemics (14%) and study area endemics (0,69%). The dominance of widely distributed elements, those found at more than two morphoclimatic domains, shows that the studied avifauna is composed by generalists species, which use a great variety of ambients. However, rather than being an avifauna originated from many biomes, the avifauna of the study area seems to be an Atlantic Forest avifauna. The strong influence of the Atlantic Forest avifaunal elements is confirmed by the presence of the endemics and by the comparison with some disturbed lowland Atlantic Forest areas, in Rio de Janeiro state. The community composition is distinguished by the dominance of the suborder Oscines and superfamily Tyrannoidea, defining an open areas avifauna. However, the similarity with lowland forests in Rio de Janeiro state shows that the Restinga avifauna is typicaly a forest edge one. The low specificity may be explained by the history of successive Restinga drowning during the Holocene and by the lack of geographical barriers with other Tropical Atlantic Domain formations.Foi feita uma análise da composição e da distribuição geográfica da avifauna residente nas restingas do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Foram reconhecidos três padrões de distribuição: ampla distribuição sul-americana, táxons endêmicos da Mata Atlântica e táxons endêmicos da área de estudo, representados respectivamente por 85,31%, 14% e 0,69% dos táxons residentes. A preponderância de elementos de ampla distribuição, encontrados em mais de dois domínios morfoclimáticos, indica que a avifauna estudada é composta por generalistas, que podem utilizar uma grande gama de ambientes. No entanto, antes de ser uma avifauna oriunda de vários biomas, a avifauna das restingas fluminenses mostrou ser uma avifauna de Mata Atlântica. A forte influência de elementos da avifauna da Mata Atlântica é confirmada pela presença dos táxons endêmicos e pela comparação com algumas áreas de floresta atlântica alterada de baixada, no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. A composição da comunidade é marcada pela dominância de elementos da subordem Oscines e da superfamília Tyrannoidea, o que caracteriza uma avifauna de áreas abertas. A semelhança com as áreas de mata de baixada já citadas indica, no entanto, que a avifauna da Restinga é tipicamente de borda de mata, e não propriamente campestre. A baixa especificidade é explicada pela história de sucessivos afogamentos da Restinga ao longo do Holoceno e pela ausência de barreiras com outras formações dentro do Domínio Tropical Atlântico

The effects of leaf traits on litter rainfall interception with consequences for runoff and soil conservation

During rainfall, plant litter interception regulates overland flow with an impact on water runoff generation and sediment displacement. Besides the rainfall characteristics, the effects of litter mass, thickness, storage and drainage properties on rainfall interception are reasonably well understood. In contrast, less is known about the influence of leaf traits, which we hypothesized to affect interception, soil hydrology and conservation via litter structure assembly. We measured the runoff and soil loss generation as determined by litter layer structural and hydraulic properties of 16 coexisting tropical woody species with wide-range morphological leaf traits in a rainfall simulator experiment. Our results show that litter produced by coexisting species can differ in precipitation interception, thereby influencing runoff and soil loss. This is because there is important interspecific variation in litter water storage and drainage, which are negatively affected by leaf area (LA). Leaf water repellency positively affected litter water storage. Moreover, LA also negatively affected litter layer density. Litter density, in turn, increased runoff, but decreased soil loss, possibly due to protection against splash erosion. These results can be used to predict the effects of plant traits on the soil water balance and soil integrity protection through ecohydrological interception by the litter layer. The next research steps will be to extend our model to multiple-species litter layers, and to validate and calibrate our model in different field situations in different ecosystems. Synthesis: We revealed the direct and indirect effects of species leaf size and hydraulic traits on litter rainfall interception, runoff and soil loss. We propose a new litter-soil ecohydrological model, by using structural equation models, which can be used as a tool to predict ecosystem functioning, and guide management and restoration actions with water and soil conservation targets

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

ATLANTIC BIRD TRAITS: a data set of bird morphological traits from the Atlantic forests of South America

Scientists have long been trying to understand why the Neotropical region holds the highest diversity of birds on Earth. Recently, there has been increased interest in morphological variation between and within species, and in how climate, topography, and anthropogenic pressures may explain and affect phenotypic variation. Because morphological data are not always available for many species at the local or regional scale, we are limited in our understanding of intra- and interspecies spatial morphological variation. Here, we present the ATLANTIC BIRD TRAITS, a data set that includes measurements of up to 44 morphological traits in 67,197 bird records from 2,790 populations distributed throughout the Atlantic forests of South America. This data set comprises information, compiled over two centuries (1820–2018), for 711 bird species, which represent 80% of all known bird diversity in the Atlantic Forest. Among the most commonly reported traits are sex (n = 65,717), age (n = 63,852), body mass (n = 58,768), flight molt presence (n = 44,941), molt presence (n = 44,847), body molt presence (n = 44,606), tail length (n = 43,005), reproductive stage (n = 42,588), bill length (n = 37,409), body length (n = 28,394), right wing length (n = 21,950), tarsus length (n = 20,342), and wing length (n = 18,071). The most frequently recorded species are Chiroxiphia caudata (n = 1,837), Turdus albicollis (n = 1,658), Trichothraupis melanops (n = 1,468), Turdus leucomelas (n = 1,436), and Basileuterus culicivorus (n = 1,384). The species recorded in the greatest number of sampling localities are Basileuterus culicivorus (n = 243), Trichothraupis melanops (n = 242), Chiroxiphia caudata (n = 210), Platyrinchus mystaceus (n = 208), and Turdus rufiventris (n = 191). ATLANTIC BIRD TRAITS (ABT) is the most comprehensive data set on measurements of bird morphological traits found in a biodiversity hotspot; it provides data for basic and applied research at multiple scales, from individual to community, and from the local to the macroecological perspectives. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set. Please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications or teaching and educational activities. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ