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

Avaliação da toxicidade de materiais endodônticos em células-tronco da polpa dentária / Toxicity evaluation of endodontic materials in dental pulp stem cells

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2012-12-12T19:32:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Miura, Carlos A.S. Avaliação da toxicidade....pdf: 423981 bytes, checksum: 6279bf4e6521d2e970b79f2fe9c45ea6 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2012-12-12T19:32:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miura, Carlos A.S. Avaliação da toxicidade....pdf: 423981 bytes, checksum: 6279bf4e6521d2e970b79f2fe9c45ea6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru da USP. São Paulo, SP, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, BrasilUniversidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco. Faculdade de Medicina. Petrolina, PE, BrasilUniversidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru. Bauru, SP, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Faculdade de Odontologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilO objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar ao efeito citotóxico doHidróxido de Cálcio, Paramonoclorofenol Canforado, Otosporin eFormocresol diluído em células-tronco da polpa de dente permanentehumano (DPSC). As DPSC foram semeadas em placa decultura na concentração de 1,5X104 células/poço. Foram feitasdiluições das drogas em 1:9, 1:27 e 1:81 e deixadas em contatocom as células por 2 horas, sendo que o grupo controle foi mantidoem DMEM completo. As células foram lavadas com soluçãosalina duas vezes. Foram realizadas avaliações do metabolismo(MTT). Concluiu-se que o Hidróxido de Cálcio e o Otosporinforam as drogas menos tóxicas para as DPSC, enquanto que oParamonofenol Canforado e o Formocresol foram letais em todas asconcentrações.The aim of this paper was analyze the cytotoxicity effect ofCalcium Hydroxide, Paramonoclorofenol Canforado, Otosporinand Formocresol deluded in dental pulp stem cells (DPSC).Material and Methods: DPSC were grown in 96 wells cultureplate in the concentration of 1.5 X104 cells per well. Dilutionsof drugs were as followed: 1:9, 1:27 and 1:81, and control withDPSC in DMEM. The cells were cultured for an additional 2hours. The cells were washed with bufferin saline solution for2 times and MTT test was performed. Results: The Ca(OH)2and Otosporin were the drugs less toxic to the DPSC, while theParamonophenol Canforated and formocresol were lethal in allconcentrations. Conclusions: all drugs tested were toxic to theDPSC

An association between successful engraftment of osteosarcoma patient-derived xenografts and clinicopathological findings

Although osteosarcoma is a rare disease, with a global incidence rate estimated at 5.0/million/ year, it is the most frequent primary bone sarcoma in children and adolescents. In translational research, the patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model is considered an authentic in vivo model for several types of cancer, as tumorgrafts faithfully retain the biological characteristics of the primary tumors. Our goal was to investigate the association between PDX formation and clinical findings of osteosarcoma patients and the ability of the model to preserve in immunocompromised mice the characteristics of the parental tumor. A fresh sample of the patient tumor obtained from a representative biopsy or from surgical resection was implanted into nude mice. When tumor outgrowths reached ~1,500 mm 3 , fresh PDX fragments were re-transplanted into new hosts. Engraftment in mice was obtained after a latency period of 19-225 days (median 92 days) in 40.54% of the implanted samples. We confirmed the histopathological fidelity between the patient tumor and their respective established PDXs, including the expression of biomarkers. PDX take rate was higher in surgical resection samples, in post-chemotherapy surgical samples and in samples from patients with metastatic disease at presentation. In conclusion, we have shown that the osteosarcoma PDX model reliably recapitulates the morphological aspects of the human disease after serial passage in mice. The observation that more aggressive forms of osteosarcoma, including those with metastatic disease at presentation, have a higher efficiency to generate PDXs provides a promising scenario to address several unanswered issues in clinical oncology

In vitro pharmacological screening of macrofungi extracts from the Brazilian northeastern region

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2014-11-28T18:44:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva FS In vitro pharmacological...pdf: 120784 bytes, checksum: b8a905c9901d16a955fcb3c0eb916d21 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2014-11-28T18:44:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva FS In vitro pharmacological...pdf: 120784 bytes, checksum: b8a905c9901d16a955fcb3c0eb916d21 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2014-11-28T18:56:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva FS In vitro pharmacological...pdf: 120784 bytes, checksum: b8a905c9901d16a955fcb3c0eb916d21 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Engenharia Tecidual e Imunofarmacologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Engenharia Tecidual e Imunofarmacologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Engenharia Tecidual e Imunofarmacologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilUniversidade Estadual de Feira de Santana. Laboratório de Química de Produtos Naturais e Bioativos. Feira de Santana, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Engenharia Tecidual e Imunofarmacologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilUniversidade Estadual de Feira de Santana. Laboratório de Química de Produtos Naturais e Bioativos. Feira de Santana, BA, BrasilUniversidade Estadual de Feira de Santana. Laboratório de Pesquisa em Microbiologia. Feira de Santana, BA, BrasiHospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Engenharia Tecidual e Imunofarmacologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Engenharia Tecidual e Imunofarmacologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilAlthough the use of macrofungi in popular medicine is very common, especially in East Asia, the knowledge about their pharmacological properties is poorly investigated. The aim of this work was to evaluate the pharmacological potential of six species of macroscopic fungi: Phellinus rimosus (Berk.) Pilát (Hymenochaetaceae), Pycnoporus sanguineus (L.) Murrill (Poyporaceae), Hymenochaete rheicolor (Mont.) Lév. (Hymenochaetaceae), Hexagonia papyracea Berk. (Polyporaceae), Datronia caperata (Berk.) Ryvarden (Polyporaceae), and Lepiota sp. (Agaricaceae), collected in the state of Bahia, in north-eastern Brazil. Extracts of these species were obtained and tested to determine their cytotoxicity in normal mouse spleen cells. Immunomodulatory, antineoplasic and antiparasitic activities were investigated. Four macrofungi extracts (Phellinus rimosus, Hymenochaete rheicolor, Lepiota sp., and Datronia caperata) inhibited the lymphoproliferative response stimulated by concanavalin A in 65–96% of inhibition in mitogen-induced lymphoproliferation assay, three (Hymenochaete rheicolor, Pycnoporus sanguineus, and Lepiota sp.) inhibited 60–70% of production of nitric oxide by J774 activated by IFN-γ and LPS, and two (Phellinus rimosus and Pycnoporus sanguineus) had antimalarial activity against chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum (over 60%). We did not find inhibition greater than 60% to the growth of both Leishmania amazonensis and Trypanosoma cruzi. To our knowledge, this is the first description of immunomodulatory activity of Hymenochaete rheicolor (HR), Datronia caperata (DC) and Pycnoporus sanguineus (PS). These results indicate that macrofungi species from the Brazilian north-east have pharmacological activity and are thus a potential source of natural products with medicinal interest