Entrevista com Marina Silva:: “O que há de mais sustentável no Brasil hoje é a sua própria natureza”

Entrevista com Marina Silva: “O que há de mais sustentável no Brasil hoje é a sua própria natureza

Quem disputa o Matopiba? Interesses e sustentabilidade na fronteira agrícola

Em 2015, o governo federal delimitou, oficialmente, a região do Matopiba, composta por 337 municípios de quatro Estados (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí e Bahia), território onde avança extensa fronteira agrícola, comandada pela soja, principal produto de exportação do Brasil. O Matopiba constitui mais de 10% da produção nacional do grão. Projeções do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento indicam que tanto a produção de grãos como a área plantada dobrarão nessa região em período de dez anos, até a safra de 2028/2029. O Matopiba representa, também, parcela do bioma Cerrado e reúne os maiores remanescentes de vegetação nativa deste, ao mesmo tempo rico em biodiversidade e ameaçado. Esta tese retoma questão da literatura sobre fronteiras agrícolas sobre se fronteiras orientadas pela demanda global por commodities avançam com sacrifício ambiental ou constituem oportunidade de conservação. Para responder a essa pergunta, em contexto ampliado de sustentabilidade, foram identificados, com base na análise dos discursos, quatro conjuntos de atores, na forma de coalizões de produtores rurais, de organizações populares, de ambientalistas e de compradores de soja. Essas coalizões compartilham crenças e atuam de forma coordenada para expansão da fronteira, para barrá-la ou, ainda, para conter o desmatamento, que acompanha seu avanço. As articulações entre coalizões esbarram na difícil conciliação de interesses. Se a Moratória da Soja na Amazônia conseguiu frear o desmatamento na floresta desde 2006, as negociações para conter o desmatamento no Cerrado esbarram no "direito de conversão" defendido por produtores rurais e relativizam os compromissos com a sustentabilidade assumidos pelas grandes tradings. O tema de garantia de territórios a comunidades tradicionais no Matopiba encontra negociações ainda incipientes. A sustentabilidade, como entendida em acordos internacionais, tem sido relegada a um segundo plano.In 2015, the Brazilian Federal Government officially established the region known as Matopiba, which includes 337 municipalities spread over four Brazilian states (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia). Matopiba is strongly impacted by an advancing agricultural frontier driven by soybeans, Brazil’s top export commodity. The region accounts for over 10% of Brazil’s soybean production, and the Brazilian Ministry for Agriculture, Livestock and Food. Supply projects that both soy production and cultivated area will more than double over the next ten years, i.e. by the 2028/2029 harvest. Matopiba also covers a portion of the Cerrado biome, and includes the largest remaining areas of native Cerrado vegetation, which is both rich in biodiversity and highly threatened. This study picks up on an issue already discussed in the literature regarding agricultural frontiers: whether frontiers driven by global demand for commodities advance to the detriment of the environment, or whether they may offer opportunities for conservation. In order to answer this question taking into account a wider sustainability context, we have applied discourse analysis techniques to identify four sets or groups of stakeholders, i.e., farmers, people’s organization, environmentalists and buyers. These coalitions share beliefs and act concertedly either to push these frontiers even further, or to prevent their expansion, or yet to prevent any resulting deforestation. However, conciliating their different interests is often difficult, so is their successful interaction. While Brazil’s Soy Moratorium in the Amazon has managed to curb deforestation since 2006, negotiations to contain deforestation in the Cerrado have found resistance in the “right to conversion” advocated by farmers, in an attempt to relativize the commitments to sustainability undertaken by large trading organizations. Negotiations relating to traditional communities’ right to land in Matopiba are still in their early stages, and sustainability, as understood under international agreements, has been relegated to the background.En 2015, el gobierno federal de Brasil delimitó oficialmente la región de Matopiba, integrada por 337 municipios de cuatro Estados (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí y Bahía), territorio en el que se expande la frontera agrícola, especialmente de soja, principal producto de exportación. Matopiba responde por más de 10% de la producción nacional de granos. Proyecciones del Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Abastecimiento indican que tanto la producción de granos como el área de plantío crecerán más del doble en esa región en un periodo de diez años, hasta la cosecha de 2028/2029. Matopiba es también parte del bioma Cerrado y conserva los mayores remanecientes de la vegetación nativa del Cerrado, que al mismo tiempo de tener gran diversidad se encuentra amenazado. Esta investigación recupera el tema de los trabajos sobre fronteras agrícolas, sobre si las fronteras orientadas por la demanda global por commodities avanzan con sacrificio ambiental o constituyen una oportunidad de conservación. Para responder a la pregunta en un contexto ampliado de sustentabilidad, fueron identificados, a partir del análisis de los discursos, cuatro conjuntos de actores, en la forma de coaliciones de productores rurales, de organizaciones populares, de ambientalistas y de compradores de soja. Esas coaliciones comparten criterios y actúan de forma coordinada en la expansión de la frontera, para detenerla o también para frenar el desmate que supone su avance. Las articulaciones entre coaliciones enfrentan la difícil conciliación de intereses. Si la Moratoria de la Soja en la Amazonía pudo frenar el desmate en el bosque desde 2006, las negociaciones para contener el desmate en el Cerrado se detuvieron en el “derecho de conversión” defendido por productores rurales y relativizan los compromisos con la sustentabilidad asumidos por las grandes tradings. El tema de la garantía de respeto a los territorios de comunidades tradicionales en el Matopiba se encuentra en negociaciones todavía incipientes. La sustentabilidad, como es entendida en acuerdos internacionales, ha sido relegada a un segundo plano.En 2015, le gouvernement fédéral a officiellement délimité la région du Matopiba, composée de 337 municipalités dans quatre États (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí et Bahia), un territoire où avance une vaste frontière agricole, dominée par le soja, principal produit d'exportation du Brésil. Le Matopiba représente en effet plus de 10 % de la production nationale de céréales. Les projections du Ministère de l'Agriculture, de l'Élevage et de l'Approvisionnement indiquent qu’aussi bien la production de céréales que la superficie plantée vont plus que doubler dans cette région dans les dix prochaines années. La région représente également une partie du biome Cerrado, dont elle contient les plus grands vestiges de végétation d’origine, à la fois riche en biodiversité et menacée. Cette recherche reprend un angle de la littérature sur les frontières agricoles, et interroge si celles-ci, tournées vers la demande mondiale de matières premières, avancent au prix de sacrifices environnementaux, ou si elles constituent une opportunité de conservation. Pour répondre à cette question dans un contexte plus large de durabilité, quatre ensembles, sous forme de coalitions d'acteurs, ont été identifiés à partir de l'analyse du discours : les producteurs ruraux, les organisations populaires, les écologistes et les importateurs de soja. Ces coalitions partagent des croyances et agissent de manière coordonnée pour étendre la frontière ou pour l'arrêter, ou encore pour contenir la déforestation qui accompagne sa progression. Les articulations politiques se heurtent cependant à la difficile conciliation des intérêts. Si le Moratoire du Soja en Amazonie a contribué à freiner la déforestation des forêts en Amazonie depuis 2006, les négociations pour enrayer la déforestation dans le Cerrado entrent en conflit avec le « droit à la conversion » revendiqué par les producteurs ruraux, et relativisent les engagements en faveur de la durabilité pris par les grandes entreprises commerciales. [Par ailleurs], la négociation concernant la garantie de territoires pour les communautés traditionnelles dans la région du Matopiba, se trouve encore à un stade initial. La durabilité, telle qu'elle est prévue dans les accords internationaux, a été reléguée au second plan

Evaluation of New Formulations of Antihelmintic Drugs for the Treatment of Schistosomiasis

La esquistosomosis es una enfermedad causada por parásitos trematodos del género Schistosoma. Afecta principalmente a áreas tropicales y subtropicales, siendo un principal problema de salud mundial por su alta incidencia en estas regiones. Una de las especies de mayor importancia, por su prevalencia y gravedad, es la causada por Schistosoma mansoni,responsable de la esquistosomosis intestinal. El tratamiento de elección esel praziquantel, con altas tasas de eficacia clínica. Sin embargo, el fármacono impide la reinfección y se ha observado fallos terapéuticos en zonasendémicas. Por ello, se hace necesaria la búsqueda de alternativas terapéuticas.El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar dos tipos de formulaciones denanopartículas de praziquantel (tipo A y tipo S) y un tratamiento alternativocomo la ivermectina mediante ensayos in vitro sobre adultos de S. mansoni.Los resultados demostraron que el tratamiento con nanopartículas presentauna eficacia similar o mayor que el empleo de praziquantel comercial. Sinembargo, el tratamiento con ivermectina no aportó evidencias de mayoreficacia. Trabajos futuros irán encaminados a evaluar estas formulacionesen otras fases del ciclo biológico, así como a realizar estudios in vivo enanimales de experimentación.Palabras clave: Schistosoma; esquistosomosis; praziquantel; nanopartículas;ivermectina.Fil: Castrillejo, Sergio A.. Universidad de Salamanca; EspañaFil: López Abán, Julio. Universidad de Salamanca; EspañaFil: Muro, Antonio. Universidad de Salamanca; EspañaFil: Salomon, Claudio Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Pastor Navarro, Marta. Universidad del País Vasco; España. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red; EspañaFil: Pedraz, José Luis. Universidad del País Vasco; España. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red; Españ

Enhancing Bioproducts in Seaweeds via Sustainable Aquaculture: Antioxidant and Sun-Protection Compounds

Marine macroalgae are considered an untapped source of healthy natural metabolites and their market demand is rapidly increasing. Intertidal macroalgae present chemical defense mechanisms that enable them to thrive under changing environmental conditions. These intracellular chemicals include compounds that can be used for human benefit. The aim of this study was to test cultivation protocols that direct seaweed metabolic responses to enhance the production of target antioxidant and photoprotective biomaterials. We present an original integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) design, based on a two-phase cultivation plan, in which three seaweed species were initially fed by fish effluents, and subsequently exposed to various abiotic stresses, namely, high irradiance, nutrient starvation, and high salinity. The combined effect of the IMTA’s high nutrient concentrations and/or followed by the abiotic stressors enhanced the seaweeds’ content of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) by 2.3-fold, phenolic compounds by 1.4-fold, and their antioxidant capacity by 1.8-fold. The Sun Protection Factor (SPF) rose by 2.7-fold, and the chlorophyll and phycobiliprotein synthesis was stimulated dramatically by an order of magnitude. Our integrated cultivation system design offers a sustainable approach, with the potential to be adopted by emerging industries for food and health applicationsPartial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

Scaling up cancer care for children without medical insurance in developing countries: The case of Mexico

Background: In 2006, the Mexican government launched the Fund for Protection Against Catastrophic Expenditures (FPGC) to support financially healthcare of high cost illnesses. This study aimed at answering the question whether FPGC improved coverage for cancer care and to measure survival of FPGC affiliated children with cancer. Procedure A retrospective cohort study (2006–2009) was conducted in 47 public hospitals. Information of children and adolescents with cancer was analyzed. The coverage was estimated in accordance with expected number of incident cases and those registered at FPGC. The survival was analyzed by using Kaplan–Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression modeling. Results: The study included 3,821 patients. From 2006 to 2009, coverage of new cancer cases increased from 3.3% to 55.3%. Principal diagnoses were acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, 46.4%), central nervous system (CNS) tumors (8.2%), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML, 7.4%). The survival rates at 36 months were ALL (50%), AML (30.5%), Hodgkin lymphoma (74.5%), Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (40.1%), CNS tumors (32.8%), renal tumors (58.4%), bone tumors (33.4%), retinoblastoma (59.2%), and other solid tumors (52.6%). The 3-year overall survival rates varied among the regions; children between the east and south-southeast had the higher risks (hazard ratio 3.0; 95% CI: 2.3–3.9) and 2.4; 95% CI: 2.0–2.8) of death from disease when compared with those from the central region. Conclusion: FPGC has increased coverage of cancer cases. Survival rates were different throughout the country. It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy to increase access and identify opportunities to reduce the differences in survival

Cripto enhances the tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and activates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in mammary epithelial cells

Cripto-1 (CR-1), a recently discovered protein of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family, was found to interact with a high affinity, saturable binding site(s) on HC-11 mouse mammary epithelial cells and on several different human breast cancer cell lines. This receptor exhibits specificity for CR-1, since other EGF-related peptides including EGF, transforming growth factor alpha, heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor, amphiregulin, epiregulin, betacellulin, or heregulin beta1 that bind to either the EGF receptor or to other type 1 receptor tyrosine kinases such as erb B-3 or erb B-4 fail to compete for binding. Conversely, CR-1 was found not to directly bind to or to activate the tyrosine kinases associated with the EGFR, erb B-2, erb B-3, or erb B-4 either alone or in various pairwise combinations which have been ectopically expressed in Ba/F3 mouse pro-B lymphocyte cells. However, exogenous CR-1 could induce an increase in the tyrosine phosphorylation of 185- and 120-kDa proteins and a rapid (within 3-5 min) increase in the tyrosine phosphorylation of the SH2-containing adaptor proteins p66, p52, and p46 Shc in mouse mammary HC-11 epithelial cells and in human MDA-MB-453 and SKBr-3 breast cancer cells. CR-1 was also found to promote an increase in the association of the adaptor Grb2-guanine nucleotide exchange factor-mouse son of sevenless (mSOS) signaling complex with tyrosine-phosphorylated Shc in HC-11 cells. Finally, CR-1 was able to increase p42(erk-2) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity in HC-11 cells within 5-10 min of treatment. These data demonstrate that CR-1 can function through a receptor which activates intracellular components in the ras/raf/MEK/MAPK pathway

Influence of geological complexities on local seismic response in the municipality of Forio (Ischia Island, Italy)

Seismic response studies carried out in the Municipality of Forio on Ischia (NA), southern Italy, following the 21st August 2017 earthquake allowed to detect local effects related to specific geological-structural settings that reflect the complexity of the volcanic context which characterises the entire island of Ischia and, more specifically, the western sector of Mt. Epomeo and the adjacent coastal plain of Forio. In particular, the following features have been observed: i) polarization and amplification effects in the proximity of tectonic elements that dissect the Zaro promontory, where volcanic deposits from massive to stratified widely outcrop; ii) stratigraphic resonances on significantly variable frequency values, changing within distances of a few hundred meters, which can be related to the juxtaposition of landslide debris (such as debris-/rockavalanches and lahar) in correspondence with the town of Forio; iii) seismic amplification in the sector involved in the ongoing gravitational deformation of Mt. Nuovo even in the absence of polarization of the particle motion. The peculiarities of the geological contexts analysed in the Forio Municipality allow to apply different interpretative schemes that vary from stratigraphic resonance (one-dimensional model of resonant column) mostly controlled by thickness and wave velocity in soft soils onto a stiff bedrock, to the resonance of jointed rock masses which are not completely released from the adjacent bedrock so avoiding typical free vibrations with normal modes (three-dimensional oscillating mass model), or to the interaction in the near surface with physical discontinuities responsible for modifying the physical properties of surface waves polarizing and amplifying them. The collected evidence of local seismic response in Forio exemplifies how not conventional interpretative keys for seismic zoning can be proposed to identify sectors whose response schemes do not necessarily fall within the standard of stratigraphic or topographical amplification adopted by current national guidelines for Seismic Microzonation (SM) studies. In particular, the evidence of local seismic response collected for the Forio Municipality were taken into account in the SM and relative products that were realised in the following year

Sub-surface characterization of the Anphiteatrum Flavium Area (Rome, Italy) through single-station ambient vibration measurements

The Amphiteatrum Flavium in Rome (Italy) is one of the most known monument in the world. With the aim of understand the seismic response of the area where the Amphiteatrum Flavium is build and investigate possible soil-structure interactions, we performed a seismic experiment in 2014, based on ambient vibration (AMV) recordings. The measurements were performed at the original ground level, on the foundation and at different floors of the monument. Data were analyzed in terms of standard Fourier analysis (FAS) and horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique (H/V). Moreover, we performed an active P-wave seismic tomography analysis of the foundation materials to better understand their influence on the recorded signals. Our results point out that there is a strong temporal and spatial stability of the H/V curves, suggesting a uniform seismic response at the monument site. Conversely, spectral amplitudes of AMV show relevant temporal and spatial variability at the investigated site, due to the daily variations of AMV levels and to the low-pass filtering effect of the stiff Amphiteatrum Flavium foundation that strongly attenuates the signals for frequencies above 4 Hz, i.e. those mostly originated by traffic vibrations. Moreover, we observe that the main vibration frequencies of the super-structure are not present as energetic peaks in the spectra of the ground-motion recorded at its base

Cytotoxicity of the Ascidian Cystodytes dellechiajei Against Tumor Cells and Study of the Involvement of Associated Microbiota in the Production of Cytotoxic Compounds

Many cytotoxic compounds of therapeutic interest have been isolated from marine invertebrates, and some of them have been reported to be of microbial origin. Pyridoacridine alkaloids are the main compounds extracted from the ascidian Cystodytes dellechiajei. Here we describe the in vitro antiproliferative activity against different tumor cell lines of the ascidian extracts and provide some insights on the role of the microbial community associated with the tunicate in the production of these compounds. C. dellechiajei extracts showed remarkably high antiproliferative activity (IC50 ≤5 μg/mL) in human lung carcinoma A-549, colon adenocarcinoma H-116, pancreatic adenocarcinoma PSN-1 and breast carcinoma SKBR3 cell lines. Moreover, we found that the maximum activity was located in the tunic tissue of the colony, which harbours a microbial community. In order to ascertain the involvement of this community in the synthesis of the bioactive compounds different approachs that included culture and culture independent methods were carried out. We undertook a screening for antiproliferative activities of the bacterial isolates from the ascidian, as well as a comprative analysis of the cytotoxic activities and the microbial communities from two color morphs of the ascidian, green and blue. In addition, the changes of the antiproliferative activities and the composition of the microbial communities were studied from ascidians kept in aquaria and treated with antibiotics for one month. Our data obtained from the different experiments did not point out to bacteria as the source of the cytotoxic compounds, suggesting thus an ascidian origin