Differential enzymatic activity of common haplotypic versions of the human acidic Mammalian chitinase protein

FWN – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications 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, 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

Conhecimento sobre aleitamento materno de puérperas atendidas em dois hospitais de Viçosa, Minas Gerais Knowledge about maternal nursing of mothers attended at two hospitals in the city of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar o conhecimento de puérperas sobre o aleitamento materno. Foram entrevistadas 266 puérperas atendidas em dois hospitais da cidade de Viçosa, MG. A amostra caracterizou-se por mulheres na faixa etária de 13 a 48 anos, das quais 58,3% residiam em Viçosa. A maioria delas tinha o 1º grau incompleto. Segundo a pesquisa, 32,7% das mães receberam informação sobre amamentação antes do parto e 14,3% delas foram orientadas no pré-natal. Apesar de 99,2% das entrevistadas manifestaram a necessidade de a criança ser amamentada, 54,8% não conheciam outra função do leite além da alimentar. A sucção foi lembrada por apenas 1,5% das puérperas como fator que aumenta a produção de leite, e 61,0% delas não conheciam a maneira correta de a criança abocanhar o mamilo. Quanto ao problema do ingurgitamento mamário, 57,0% não sabiam como resolvê-lo. Com relação às leis de proteção à nutriz trabalhadora, 84,6% as desconheciam. Concluiu-se que o baixo nível de conhecimento, por parte das puérperas, sobre questões fundamentais para o sucesso da amamentação reafirmam a importância do incentivo e da orientação para o aleitamento durante o pré-natal.<br>This study had the objective of investigating the mothers knowledge about maternal nursing. Two hundred and sixty-six mothers attended at two hospitals in the city of Viçosa, state of Minas Gerais, where interviewed.The sample was characterized by women in the age group from 13 to 48 years old, and 58,3% of them lived in Viçosa. The majority of them had not finished elementary school. From the total of mothers interviewed, 32.7% had received information on breast-feeding before the childbirth, and 14.3% of them were oriented in the prenatal period. Although of 99.2% of the mothers considered that the child should be breastfed, 54.8% did not know another function of milk besides feeding. The suction was remembered by only 1.5% of the mothers as a factor which increases the production of milk, and 61.0% of them did not know the child's correct way to seize the breast nipple with the mouth. Regarding the problem of mammary engorgement, 57.0% did not know how to solve it. Concerning the laws that favor the lactating workers, 84.6% ignored them. The mothers low level of knowledge about fundamental subjects for the breast-feeding success reaffirms the importance of the incentive and of the orientation towards nursing during the prenatal period

Behavior pattern of beef heifers supplemented with different energy sources on oat and ryegrass pasture

The objective of this study was to evaluate behavior patterns of heifers grazing on black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), fed supplementation with brown rice meal and/or protected fat. A total of 28 Charolais × Nellore crossbred heifers at average initial age of 18 months and with initial live weight of 274.9±4.97 kg were used in the experiment. Animals were kept in oat + ryegrass pastures and distributed in the following treatments: no supplementation; Megalac (MEG): protected fat supplementation; supplementation with brown rice meal (BRM); and supplementation with BRM + MEG. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake of pasture either in kg or in percentage of live weight was not changed by supply of supplement, but increased linearly (0.045 kg per day) over grazing periods. Supplementation with BRM and BRM + MEG reduced grazing time, 49.63%, in relation to non-supplemented animals and animals supplemented with MEG, 63.13%. Feeding seasons per minute increased over the experimental period with reduction in time spent in each feeding station. The number of bites per feeding station decreased linearly, with a variation of 34.48% in the late grazing period. Heifers supplemented with BRM and BRM + MEG require less time for grazing and increase their idle time, with no modification in displacement patterns within the paddocks and pasture ingestion. Grazing and idle time does not change in the distinct periods of pasture use, but rumination time increases with days of pasture use and with increase in NDF intake