Influence of precipitation and air temperature in production of litterfall in stretch of seasonal forest

A fragmentação e destruição da Mata Atlântica tornam a sua conservação fundamental. A serapilheira é um importante componente desse sistema e apresenta diferenças na deposição nos diferentes ecossistemas brasileiros. Com isso, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito da precipitação e da temperatura do ar no aporte de serapilheira em fragmentos florestais localizados em Sorocaba, SP. A quantidade média de serapilheira aportada foi de 6,9 ± 0,4 mg.ha-1.ano-1, formada por 65% de folhas. Houve diferenças entre as deposições nas estações do ano, sendo que a menor quantidade foi depositada no período seco. A correlação da serapilheira e suas frações não foram significativas quando analisada para o mesmo mês da avaliação da temperatura do ar e precipitação. Porém, quando se relacionam meses anteriores, a correlação é mais expressiva, demonstrando que a resposta da vegetação a variações ambientais não é imediata.Palavras-chave: Clima; sazonalidade; Mata Atlântica. AbstractInfluence of precipitation and air temperature in production of litterfall in stretch of seasonal forest. Fragmentation and destruction of the Atlantic Rainforest make its conservation essential. The litter is an important component of this system, and reveals differences in deposition in the different Brazilian ecosystems. This research aims to evaluate the effect of rainfall and air temperature on litterfall input in a forest fragment at the municipality of Sorocaba, São Paulo State, Brazil. The average contribution of litterfall was 6.9±0.4Mg ha-1 yr-1, comprising 65% of leaves. There were differences between the seasons, with the less amount in the dry season. The correlation of litter and its fractions was not relevant for the same month of air temperature and rainfall measurement. However, the correlation is significant when related to the previous month, demonstrating that the response of vegetation to environmental changes is not immediate.Keywords: Climate; seasonality; Atlantic forest.AbstractFragmentation and destruction of the Atlantic Rainforest make its conservation essential. The litter is an important component of this system, and reveals differences in deposition in the different Brazilian ecosystems. This research aims to evaluate the effect of rainfall and air temperature on litterfall input in a forest fragment at the municipality of Sorocaba, São Paulo State, Brazil. The average contribution of litterfall was 6.9±0.4Mg ha-1 yr-1, comprising 65% of leaves. There were differences between the seasons, with the less amount in the dry season. The correlation of litter and its fractions was not relevant for the same month of air temperature and rainfall measurement. However, the correlation is significant when related to the previous month, demonstrating that the response of vegetation to environmental changes is not immediate.Keywords: Climate; seasonality; Atlantic forest

Integrating economic costs and biological traits into global conservation priorities for carnivores

Background: Prioritization schemes usually highlight species-rich areas, where many species are at imminent risk of extinction. To be ecologically relevant these schemes should also include species biological traits into area-setting methods. Furthermore, in a world of limited funds for conservation, conservation action is constrained by land acquisition costs. Hence, including economic costs into conservation priorities can substantially improve their conservation cost-effectiveness. Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined four global conservation scenarios for carnivores based on the joint mapping of economic costs and species biological traits. These scenarios identify the most cost effective priority sets of ecoregions, indicating best investment opportunities for safeguarding every carnivore species, and also establish priority sets that can maximize species representation in areas harboring highly vulnerable species. We compared these results with a scenario that minimizes the total number of ecoregions required for conserving all species, irrespective of other factors. We found that cost-effective conservation investments should focus on 41 ecoregions highlighted in the scenario that consider simultaneously both ecoregion vulnerability and economic costs of land acquisition. Ecoregions included in priority sets under these criteria should yield best returns of investments since they harbor species with high extinction risk and have lower mean land cost. Conclusions/Significance: Our study highlights ecoregions of particular importance for the conservation of the world’s carnivores defining global conservation priorities in analyses that encompass socioeconomic and life-history factors. We consider the identification of a comprehensive priority-set of areas as a first step towards an in-situ biodiversity maintenance strategy

Cirurgia parendodôntica com o uso de biodetine como material retrobturador – revisão de literatura

A cirurgia endodôntica é uma opção valiosa quando o retratamento não cirúrgica falha ou não é viável. As técnicas cirúrgicas convencionais, embora eficazes, apresentam desvantagens, como maior remoção óssea e tempo cirúrgico prolongado. No entanto, avanços recentes, como a microcirurgia endodôntica, têm melhorado significativamente as taxas de sucesso, proporcionando resultados mais previsíveis e menos invasivos. O biodentine, um cimento a base de silicato de cálcio, mostrou-se promissor na retrobturação de raízes tratadas cirurgicamente. Este, apresenta propriedades superiores ao MTA, podendo ser utilizada para superar algumas de suas limitações. O biodentine demonstra manipulação relativamente mais fácil, menor tempo de presa, baixo custo, resistência à compressão e flexão superiores ao MTA, assim como, maior capacidade de vedação. Logo, a eficácia do biodentine tem sido comprovada em estudos clínicos, proporcionando altas taxas de sucesso em tratamentos endodônticos cirúrgicos

Efficacy of Dexrazoxane in Preventing Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity in Breast Cancer

Abstract Objectives The authors performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized trials on the efficacy of dexrazoxane in patients with breast cancer who were treated with anthracyclines with or without trastuzumab. Background Breast cancer treatment with anthracyclines and trastuzumab is associated with an increased risk of cardiotoxicity. Among the various strategies to reduce the risk of cardiotoxicity, dexrazoxane is an option for primary prevention, but it is seldom used in clinical practice. Methods Online databases were searched from January 1990 up to March 1, 2019, for clinical trials on the use of dexrazoxane for the prevention of cardiotoxicity in patients with breast cancer receiving anthracyclines with or without trastuzumab. Risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model meta-analysis. Results Seven randomized trials and 2 retrospective trials with a total of 2,177 patients were included. Dexrazoxane reduced the risk of clinical heart failure (RR: 0.19; 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.40; p Conclusions Dexrazoxane reduced the risk of clinical heart failure and cardiac events in patients with breast cancer undergoing anthracycline chemotherapy with or without trastuzumab and did not significantly impact cancer outcomes. However, the quality of available evidence is low, and further randomized trials are warranted before the systematic implementation of this therapy in clinical practice

Fine-tuning pre-trained neural networks for medical image classification in small clinical datasets

Funding We would like to acknowledge eurekaSD: Enhancing University Research and Education in Areas Useful for Sustainable Development - grants EK14AC0037 and EK15AC0264. We thank Araucária Foundation for the Support of the Scientific and Technological Development of Paraná through a Research and Technological Productivity Scholarship for H. D. Lee (grant 028/2019). We also thank the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) through the grant number 142050/2019-9 for A. R. S. Parmezan. The Portuguese team was partially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). R. Fonseca-Pinto was financed by the projects UIDB/50008/2020, UIDP/50008/2020, UIDB/05704/2020 and UIDP/05704/2020 and C. V. Nogueira was financed by the projects UIDB/00013/2020 and UIDP/00013/2020. The funding agencies did not have any further involvement in this paper.Convolutional neural networks have been effective in several applications, arising as a promising supporting tool in a relevant Dermatology problem: skin cancer diagnosis. However, generalizing well can be difficult when little training data is available. The fine-tuning transfer learning strategy has been employed to differentiate properly malignant from non-malignant lesions in dermoscopic images. Fine-tuning a pre-trained network allows one to classify data in the target domain, occasionally with few images, using knowledge acquired in another domain. This work proposes eight fine-tuning settings based on convolutional networks previously trained on ImageNet that can be employed mainly in limited data samples to reduce overfitting risk. They differ on the architecture, the learning rate and the number of unfrozen layer blocks. We evaluated the settings in two public datasets with 104 and 200 dermoscopic images. By finding competitive configurations in small datasets, this paper illustrates that deep learning can be effective if one has only a few dozen malignant and non-malignant lesion images to study and differentiate in Dermatology. The proposal is also flexible and potentially useful for other domains. In fact, it performed satisfactorily in an assessment conducted in a larger dataset with 746 computerized tomographic images associated with the coronavirus disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

productive and qualitative parameters of four physalis species cultivated under colored shade nets

Abstract The genus Physalis L. has great importance in the framework of Brazilian biodiversity especially in the Amazon region. The use of colored shading nets allow manipulating the light spectrum, and thus supplying the appropriate quantity and quality of light for each species and maximizing production. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of shade nets on fruit production and qualitative parameters of four species belonging to genus Physalis. The experimental design was random blocks with a 4 x 5 factorial scheme, four species of Physalis (P. peruviana, P. pubescens, P. minima and P. ixocarpa) and four colors of shade nets (white, blue, red and black), besides the control treatment under full sun exposure. Fruits were collected weekly and evaluated for longitudinal and transversal diameter and biomass with and without a calyx. Finally the percentage of calyx biomass compared to the total fruit biomass, number of fruits per plant and production were determined. A differentiated response was found among the species regarding the coloring of the converter shade nets. Plants of P. peruviana had the best productive and qualitative parameters of fruits when cultivated in full sunlight or under white shade nets, P. pubescens and P. minima when cultivated in full sunlight or under white and blue shade nets, and P. ixocarpa under red or black shade nets

Interactions among medicines under special control in the District Pharmacy Centro in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

A politerapia é uma prática útil no tratamento de patologias coexistentes ou para potencializar o efeito farmacológico em condições pouco responsivas, porém apresenta um grande risco para interações medicamentosas. Sendo assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi identificar em prescrições atendidas pela Farmácia Distrital Centro em Porto Alegre, RS, as interações medicamentosas de medicamentos sujeitos a controle especial e classificá-las quanto a potenciais interações medicamentosas e grau de severidade com auxílio da base de dados MICROMEDEX®. Após análise de 2.839 receituários, os resultados mostraram que grande parte dos pacientes pertencia ao sexo feminino e que 75% do total das prescrições apresentavam algum tipo de interação. Das 291 associações analisadas, 44,4% apresentavam risco forte de interação, 23,9% risco moderado e 6,5% risco leve. A maioria das interações com risco forte apresentava como principal risco a cardiotoxicidade. A elevada frequência de interações e o risco de efeitos tóxicos, aponta para a necessidade de um sistema adequado de informações sobre o uso de medicamentos e de orientação farmacêutica nessas unidades de saúde.Polytherapy is a useful practice in the treatment of coexisting conditions or to enhance the pharmacological effect in less responsive conditions, but it presents a significant risk for drug interactions. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify in prescriptions issued by the Farmácia Distrital Centro in Porto Alegre, RS, possible drug interactions of medicines under special control and to classify them about potential drug interactions and degree of severity using the database MICROMEDEX®. After analyzing 2,839 prescriptions, the results showed that the majority of the patients were female and 75% of prescriptions presented some interaction. Out of 291 drug-drug associations analyzed. 44.4% gave a substantial risk of interaction, 23.9% moderate risk and 6.5% minor risk. Most of the strong-risk interactions showed cardiotoxicity as the main risk. The high frequency of interactions and the risk of toxic effects, also point to the need for an adequate information system on the use of medications as well as pharmaceutical guidance in these health facilities

Psoríase Pustulosa gestacional recorrente: relato de caso conduzido em um pré-natal de alto risco / Recurrent Pustular psoriasis of pregnancy: case report in a high risk in prenatal care

Introdução: A psoríase pustulosa gestacional (PPG) é uma forma de psoríase específica da gestação inicialmente descrita por von Hebra em 18721. Frequentemente leva a insuficiência placentária e complicações como restrição de crescimento fetal, sofrimento fetal e óbito fetal8. Este trabalho objetiva relatar caso de caso de psoríase pustulosa gestacional recorrente em gestante com 2 gestações. Metodologia: estudo observacional de braço único com análise de prontuário e exames complementares (laboratoriais e anatomia patológica). Relato do caso: Gestante de 24 anos em sua segunda gestação apresenta quadro de lesões de pele compatíveis com PPG, sendo primariamente tratada com corticoterapia e reposição de cálcio, além de vigilância intensiva, com desfecho favorável. Resultados e Discussão: foi um caso clássico de PPG manejado primariamente com tratamento de suporte e corticoterapia, com bom desfecho devido ao acompanhamento em pré-natal de alto risco e internação hospitalar com vigilância materno-fetal adequada. Conclusões: É indispensável o diagnóstico e tratamento precoces devido ao risco de desenvolvimento de complicações irreparáveis ao binômio mãe-feto