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

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

Tratamento da esporotricose felina refratária com a associação de iodeto de potássio e itraconazol oral

Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-16T12:52:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 raphael_rocha_ini_mest_2014.pdf: 642237 bytes, checksum: a802d37d83e724e2764f7f4a10726035 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-10Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.A esporotricose é uma micose causada por espécies do complexo Sporothrix. Apesar do itraconazol ser o fármaco de escolha devido a sua efetividade e segurança, casos de falência terapêutica em gatos com esta micose têm sido descritos. O iodeto de potássio em cápsulas é uma opção terapêutica nos casos felinos. Adicionalmente, este fármaco é uma alternativa em pacientes humanos não responsivos ao itraconazol. A associação do iodeto de potássio e agentes antifúngicos pode apresentar melhores resultados quando comparada à monoterapia com estes fármacos. Foi realizado um estudo de coorte, o qual teve como objetivo descrever a resposta terapêutica ao iodeto de potássio em cápsulas via oral (5 mg/kg a cada 24 horas) associado ao itraconazol via oral (100 mg/gato a cada 24 horas) em gatos com esporotricose refratária ao itraconazol, assistidos no Laboratório de Pesquisa Clínica em Dermatozoonoses em Animais Domésticos do Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas/Fiocruz no período de 2012 a 2013. Foram incluidos no estudo 38 gatos, dos quais foi observado cura clínica em 24, falência terapêutica em cinco e óbito em três gatos Em seis casos houve abandono do tratamento. O tempo mediano de tratamento até a cura clínica foi 20 semanas. Vinte e nove animais apresentaram efeitos adversos clínicos, sendo 26 classificados como grau leve. Emagrecimento, hiporexia e vômitos foram os efeitos adversos clínicos mais observados. Quatro animais apresentaram efeitos adversos laboratoriais, representado pelo aumento dos valores das enzimas hepáticas. A utilização de iodeto de potássio em cápsulas associado ao itraconazol se mostrou um esquema terapêutico efetivo e seguro, sendo uma opção na esporotricose felina refratária ao itraconazolSporotrichosis is a fungal infection caused by Sporothrix species complex. Itraconazol is the drug of choice for the treatment of the disease due to its effectiveness and safety. However, cases of treatment failure in cats have been reported. Potassium iod ide capsules are an option for the feline cases. Additionally, the drug is an alternative to human patients unresponsive to itraconazole. The association of potassium iodide and antifungal agents may provide better results when compared to the monotherapy with these drugs. A cohort study was conducted, which aimed to describe the therapeutic response of oral potassium iodide (5 mg/kg every 24 hours) associated with oral itraconazole (100 mg/cat every 24 hours) in cats with sporotrichosis refractory to itrac onazole, followed up at the Laboratório de Pesquisa Clínica em Dermatozoonoses em Animais Domésticos do Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas/Fiocruz between 2012 and 2013. Of the 38 cats included in the study, 24 were cured, treatment failure oc urred in five and death in three cats. In six cases there was non - compliance with treatment. The median time from treatment until clinical cure with the combination was 20 weeks. Twenty - nine animals presented clinical adverse effects, which were classified as mild in 26 animals. Weight loss, hiporexia and vomiting were the most frequently observed. Four animals showed laboratory adverse effects represented by an increase in liver enzymes. The use of potassium iodide associated with itraconazole has proved to be an effective and safe therapeutic regimen and, therefore, represents an option in the treatment of feline sporotrichosis refractory to itraconazol

Canine Macrophage DH82 Cell Line As a Model to Study Susceptibility to Trypanosoma cruzi Infection

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2017-07-05T13:58:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 marise_nunes_etal_IOC_2017.pdf: 1246095 bytes, checksum: 548f464ca2e48448d7a0f90ad7b62711 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2017-07-05T14:12:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 marise_nunes_etal_IOC_2017.pdf: 1246095 bytes, checksum: 548f464ca2e48448d7a0f90ad7b62711 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-05T14:12:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marise_nunes_etal_IOC_2017.pdf: 1246095 bytes, checksum: 548f464ca2e48448d7a0f90ad7b62711 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Veterinária. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Veterinária. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Veterinária. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Veterinária. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Trypanosoma cruzi is an obligatory intracellular protozoan parasite, and it is the etiological agent of Chagas' disease that is endemic in the Americas. In addition to humans, a wide spectrum of mammals can be infected by T. cruzi, including dogs. Dogs develop acute and chronic disease, similar to human infection. T. cruzi can infect almost all cell types and after cell invasion, the metacyclics trypomastigotes localize in the cytoplasm, where they transform into amastigotes, the replicative form of T. cruzi in mammals. After amastigote multiplication and differentiation, parasites lyse host cells and spread through the body by blood circulation. In this work, we evaluated the in vitro ability of T. cruzi to infect a canine macrophage cell line DH82 compared with RAW264.7, a murine tissue culture macrophage. Our results have shown that the T. cruzi is able to infect, replicate and differentiate in DH82 cell line. We observed that following treatment with LPS and IFN-γ DH82 cells were more resistant to infection and that resistance was not related reactive oxygen species production in our system. In this study, we also found that DH82 cells became more susceptible to T. cruzi infection when cocultured with apoptotic cells. The analysis of cytokine production has showed elevated levels of the TGF-β, IL-10, and TNF-α produced by T. cruzi-infected canine macrophages. Additionally, we demonstrated a reduced expression of the MHC class II and CD80 by infected DH82 cell line

Brazilian consensus recommendations on the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune encephalitis in the adult and pediatric populations

Background Autoimmune encephalitis (AIE) is a group of inflammatory diseases characterized by the presence of antibodies against neuronal and glial antigens, leading to subacute psychiatric symptoms, memory complaints, and movement disorders. The patients are predominantly young, and delays in treatment are associated with worse prognosis

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora