Continental fishes from the Tambaba Environmentally Protected Area, Paraíba State, Brazil

A Área de Protenção Ambiental de Tambaba localiza-se na costa sul do Estado da Paraíba, no bioma Mata Atlântica da região Nordeste do Brasil. A Área de Protenção Ambiental de Tambaba é composta por uma série de drenagens independentes: microbacias do Rio Graú, Mucatú e do Rio Bucatú, e sub-bacia do rio Caboclo, pertencente à microbacia do rio Gurugi. Amostras da ictiofauna foram coletadas em cinco expedições científicas entre os meses de junho e julho de 2015. Vinte e nove locais ​​de diferentes habitats (por exemplo, abrangendo tributários, córregos, rios e estuários) foram acessados ​​para amostragem. Um total de 44 espécies distribuídas em 38 gêneros, 25 famílias e 17 ordens foram distribuídas na região hidrográfica de Tambaba. Espécies de água doce compreendem 36% (n = 16) e espécies marinhas-estuarinas 64% (n = 28) do total de espécimes coletados. Duas espécies invasoras ocorrem nos locais de água doce: Cichla monoculus e Poecilia reticulata. Cheirodon jaguaribensis, Cichlasoma orientale e Crenicichla brasiliensis são endêmicos da região Nordeste do Brasil, com as primeiras espécies restritas à ecorregião hidrográfica Nordeste Caatinga e Drenagens Costeiras.Tambaba environmentally protected area is situated on the south coast of Paraíba State, within the Atlantic forest biome of the northeastern region in Brazil. The Tambaba environmentally protected area consists of a series of independent drainages: Graú, Mucatú, and Bucatú river micro-basins, and Caboclo River sub-basin that belongs to Gurugi River micro-basin. Ichthyological samples were collected in five scientific expeditions between months of June and July in 2015. Twenty-nine sites from different habitats (e.g., spanning tributaries, streams, rivers, and estuaries) were accessed for sampling. A total of 44 species distributed within 38 genera, 25 families, and 17 orders were assigned to the Tambaba hydrographic region. Freshwater species comprised 36% (n = 16) and marine-estuarine species 64% (n = 28) of the total collected specimens. Two invasive species occur in the freshwater sites: Cichla monoculus and Poecilia reticulata. Cheirodon jaguaribensis, Cichlasoma orientale, and Crenicichla brasiliensis are endemic to the Brazilian Northeast region with the first species restricted to the Northeast Caatinga and Coastal drainages hydrographic ecoregion

Effect of slow release urea in sheep feed on nitrogen balance

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of inclusion of 0.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, and 1.2% slow release urea (SRU) in sheep feed on nitrogen balance (intake, fecal and urinary excretion, nitrogen absorbed and retained and/or nitrogen balance). Four sheep with an average body weight (BW) of 30.8 ± 1.7 kg were distributed using a Latin square experimental design. Sheep were allocated in metabolic cages and received two meals a day. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and differences were tested using a regression equation with a 5% probability. The inclusion of 0.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, and 1.2% SRU in sheep diets did not change (p > 0.05) nitrogen intake (NI), with an average value of 20.49 g animal day-1 and 1.57 g (kg0.75)-1. The inclusion of 0.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, and 1.2% SRU in sheep diets did not affect (p > 0.05) fecal nitrogen (FN) in g (kg0.75)-1, with an average value of 0.65 g (kg0.75)-1. However, the inclusion of SRU changed (p 0.05) the NB expressed as g animal day-1 (10.86) and g (kg0.75)-1 (0.82). However, the NB expressed as % NI or in relation to the NI responded in a quadratic manner (p < 0.05) to the inclusion of different levels of SRU in sheep food. The maximum value for NB was 59.68% NI and it was obtained at 0.68% SRU. Thus, the inclusion of 0.6% to 0.8% slow release urea in sheep diets provides the lowest fecal and urinary nitrogen losses. In addition, these levels provide the best NB values, expressed as a percentage of NI

Arbustus unedo essence: morphological and genetic characterization of the strawberry tree of Castelo de Paiva

O medronheiro é um arbusto da região mediterrânica que pode ser encontrada por todo o país. Ao contrário do que verifica na região sul do país, no concelho de Castelo de Paiva é atribuída uma reduzida importância económica a esta espécie. Com o intuito de preservar e potenciar a produção desta espécie e contribuir para a dinamização da economia do concelho, procedeu-se à caracterização morfológica e genética de uma amostra da população de medronheiros de Castelo de Paiva. A caracterização morfológica e genética foi realizada para um total de 10 genótipos. Para tal recolheram-se 70 folhas aleatoriamente em cada árvore. Em 40 folhas mediu-se o comprimento, largura, comprimento do pedúnculo, peso fresco, peso seco e determinou-se a área foliar. Dos caracteres morfológicos analisados, aqueles que se revelaram mais úteis na distinção dos vários genótipos foram: comprimento do pedúnculo, peso fresco e peso seco. As restantes 30 folhas foram utilizadas para a caracterização genética. Esta caracterização foi realizada recorrendo a um marcador de DNA, ISSR. Os 5 primeiros exemplaresutilizados na técnica de ISSR demonstraram-se polimórficos. Os resultados da caracterização genética sugerem que a variabilidade genética na população é média a alta.The strawberry tree is a shrub native in the Mediterranean region and it can be found throughout Portugal. Unlike the case in the southern region of the country, in Castelo de Paiva a minor economic importance is given to this species. In order to preserve, to enhance the production of this species and to contribute to the boosting of the economy of the region, we proceeded to the characterization of a small sample population of this fruit tree of Castelo de Paiva in what concerns to its morphology and genetics. The morphological and genetic characterization was performed for a total of 10 genotypes. For this, 70 leaves were randomly collected from each tree. For 40 leaves, it was measured the length, the width, the peduncle length, the wet weight, the dry weight and determined the leaf area. Of the morphological characteristics analyzed, the ones that proved most useful in distinguishing the various genotypes were: the length peduncle, the wet weight and the dry weight. The remaining 30 leaves were used in the genetic characterization. This characterization was performed using a DNA marker, the ISSR. The 5 primers used in the ISSR technique proved to be polymorphic. The results from the genetic characterization suggest that variability in population genetics is medium to high

Educomunicação e diversidade: tecendo saberes

Com esta publicação Educomunicação e Diversidade: Tecendo Saberes, a Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores e Profissionais de Educomunicação socializa uma importante contribuição para o aprofundamento e aprimorando de estudos e práticas educativas e comunicativas numa perspectiva de respeito às diversidades. A publicação está estruturada em quatro partes, a saber: I. Educomunicação e Políticas para a Cidadania; II. Práxis Educomunicativa: o principio da indissociabilidade entre ensino-pesquisa-extensão; III. Educomunicação e Formação em EAD; IV – Mediação Tecnológica. Trata-se, assim, de um trabalho coletivo que contém 19 capítulos onde contribuem 35 autores e coautores. Eis uma publicação que se destina não somente aos educomunicadores, mas a todos os que assumem o desafio de pensar numa outra forma possível de educar e de comunicar, mais colaborativa, intercultural, criativa e emancipatória, menos colonizadora e arrogante. Desejamos à leitora-interlocutora, ou ao leitor-interlocutor, uma leitura prazerosa, crítica e problematizadora dessa publicação que se&nbsp; apresenta como um ensaio, mas com a pretensão e o potencial de contribuir para o avanço dos estudos em torno do campo de interface entre Comunicação e Educação, sempre com o imprescindível respeito às diversidades

Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal

Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Statement of Second Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Ventilarion : part I

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Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three genomic nomenclature systems to all sequence data from the World Health Organization European Region available until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation, compare the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2

The complete genome sequence of Chromobacterium violaceum reveals remarkable and exploitable bacterial adaptability

Chromobacterium violaceum is one of millions of species of free-living microorganisms that populate the soil and water in the extant areas of tropical biodiversity around the world. Its complete genome sequence reveals (i) extensive alternative pathways for energy generation, (ii) ≈500 ORFs for transport-related proteins, (iii) complex and extensive systems for stress adaptation and motility, and (iv) wide-spread utilization of quorum sensing for control of inducible systems, all of which underpin the versatility and adaptability of the organism. The genome also contains extensive but incomplete arrays of ORFs coding for proteins associated with mammalian pathogenicity, possibly involved in the occasional but often fatal cases of human C. violaceum infection. There is, in addition, a series of previously unknown but important enzymes and secondary metabolites including paraquat-inducible proteins, drug and heavy-metal-resistance proteins, multiple chitinases, and proteins for the detoxification of xenobiotics that may have biotechnological applications

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway

Vaccines based on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are a cornerstone of the public health response to COVID-19. The emergence of hypermutated, increasingly transmissible variants of concern (VOCs) threaten this strategy. Omicron (B.1.1.529), the fifth VOC to be described, harbours multiple amino acid mutations in spike, half of which lie within the receptor-binding domain. Here we demonstrate substantial evasion of neutralization by Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants in vitro using sera from individuals vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273. These data were mirrored by a substantial reduction in real-world vaccine effectiveness that was partially restored by booster vaccination. The Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 did not induce cell syncytia in vitro and favoured a TMPRSS2-independent endosomal entry pathway, these phenotypes mapping to distinct regions of the spike protein. Impaired cell fusion was determined by the receptor-binding domain, while endosomal entry mapped to the S2 domain. Such marked changes in antigenicity and replicative biology may underlie the rapid global spread and altered pathogenicity of the Omicron variant