Protocolo de simulação computacional do microclima urbano para a cidade de Lisboa, Portugal

As mudanças climáticas impoem às cidades a necessidade de buscas por estratégias mitigadoras e adaptativas. Uma forma de compreenção do clima é a utilização de tecnologias que decodificam a natureza urbana, como os programas de simulação computacional que fazem o uso de arquivos climáticos, muitas vezes disponíveis em bancos de dados. Dentre diversas metodologias computacionais, o programa ENVI-met 4.3, desenvolvido pelo Departamento de Geografia da Universidade de Bochum na Alemanha, apresenta-se como um software de modelagem tridimensional do microclima urbano que requer dados climáticos locais para o desenvolvimento das simulações computacionais. Cria-se um modelo tridimensional da área estudada e consideram-se os parâmetros climáticos, vegetação, superfícies e estruturas para compreensão e quantificação de suas interações, baseando-se na dinâmica dos fluidos e da termodinâmica. Contudo, a falta de arquivos climáticos que suportem simulações computacionais na área de clima urbano dá margem a erros de metodologia e resultados. O objetivo do estudo é apresentar um protocolo de simulação no programa ENVI-met 4.3 para o clima da cidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Assim, são estabelecidos dois arquivos climáticos criados a partir de dados fornecidos pelo Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera e pela Universidade de Wyoming nos Estados Unidos, para simulações que ocorram na cidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Percebe-se a necessidade de avaliar a sazonalidade dos climas não só de Lisboa, mas de toda e qualquer cidade em que se deseja utilizar como método de pesquisa a simulação computacional, para elaboração de arquivos climáticos mais específicos que fomentem a criação de um banco de dados

Sequenciação Total do Genoma aplicada ao estudo de caracterização de uma estirpe de Klebsiella pneumoniae isolada de pus de drenagem de abcesso hepático

Objetivo: O presente estudo teve como objetivo o completo esclarecimento de um caso de abcesso hepático adquirido na comunidade, tendo para tal sido solicitada aos laboratórios do Departamento de Doenças Infeciosas do Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) a caracterização de uma estirpe de K. pneumoniae isolada do pus de drenagem, de uma doente internada num hospital da região de Lisboa

Emergências hiperglicêmicas - aspectos epidemiológicos, fisiopatológicos e manejo terapêutico: Hyperglycemic emergencies - epidemiological, physiopathological aspects and therapeutic management

Diabetes mellitus (DM) corresponde a uma doença metabólica na qual há produção inadequada de insulina ou resistência periférica a este hormônio, correspondendo tais definições à DM do tipo 1 e 2, respectivamente. A doença apresenta alta prevalência e incidência em todo o mundo e pode levar à inúmeras complicações, tanto agudas quanto crônicas; nesse sentido, a cetoacidose diabética (CAD) e o estado hiperosmolar hiperglicêmico (EHH) correspondem às principais complicações agudas da doença; requerem diagnóstico e tratamento imediato devido à gravidade do quadro gerado pelas mesmas. Ademais, ambas as complicações são denominadas de emergências hiperglicêmicas, justamente por seus sinais e sintomas acontecerem na vigência de uma glicemia elevada em um paciente diabético. Outrossim, são diversas as causas da CAD e do EHH; no entanto, as principais causas estabelecidas pela literatura são a presença de infecções e o uso inadequado de insulina em pacientes portadores de DM. Além disso, o manejo adequado do paciente nestas circunstâncias envolve a administração precoce de fluidos intravenosos, terapia com insulina, reposição de eletrólitos e reconhecimento e tratamento das causas precipitantes. Contudo, a despeito da existências de inúmeros protocolos envolvidos no diagnóstico e tratamento da CAD e do EHH, pouco se tem feito na prevenção destas complicações; dessa forma, urge a necessidade de melhor esclarecer pacientes diabéticos a respeito de sua doença e suas prováveis complicações, bem como alertá-los sobre possíveis sinais de alerta, para que possam buscar assistência o mais precoce possível, diminuindo a probabilidade de desfechos negativos

Setting performance indicators for coastal marine protected areas: An expert-based methodology

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) require effective indicators to assess their performance, in compliance with the goals of relevant national and international commitments. Achieving and prioritizing shortlists of multidisciplinary indicators demands a significant effort from specialists to depict the multiple conservation and socioeconomic interests, and the large complexity of natural systems. The present paper describes a structured expert-based methodology (process and outputs) to co-define a list of multidisciplinary MPA performance indicators. This work was promoted by the management authority of coastal MPAs in mainland Portugal to gather a consensual and feasible list of indicators that would guide the design of a future national monitoring program. Hence, Portuguese coastal MPAs served as a case study to develop such a process between 2019 and 2020. In the end, participants (1) agreed on a shortlist of prioritized indicators (i.e., environmental, governance, and socioeconomic indicators) and (2) defined minimum monitoring frequencies for the indicators in this list, compatible with the potential replicability of the associated survey methods. The present approach recommends that management plans incorporate monitoring procedures and survey methods, with a validated list of indicators and associated monitoring periodicity, agreed among researchers, MPA managers and governance experts. The proposed methodology, and the lessons learned from it, can support future processes aiming to define and prioritize MPA performance indicatorsFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT, European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)info: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 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

Cutaneous and Skeletal Simultaneous Locations as a Rare Clinical Presentation of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a resurgent disease in most regions of the world, infecting one-third of the world’s population and having a multisystemic involvement. Incidence of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis has increased in the last few decades as a result of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. The authors report a clinical case of the rare concomitant cutaneous and skeletal tuberculosis in an immunocompetent patient transferred from endemic area

Succession and management of tropical dry forests in the Americas: Review and new perspectives

Understanding tropical forest succession is critical for the development of tropical forest conservation strategies worldwide, given that tropical secondary forests can be considered the forests of the future. Tropical dry forests (TDF) are among the most threatened tropical ecosystems, there are more secondary forests and forest restoration efforts that require a better understanding of successional processes. The main goal of this synthesis for this special issue on the ecology and management of tropical dry forests in the Americas is to present a summarized review of the current knowledge of the ecology and management implications associated to TDF succession. We explore specific issues associated to tropical dry forest succession with emphasis on the use of chronosequences, plant diversity and composition, plant phenology and remote sensing, pollination, and animal-plant interactions; all under the integrating umbrella of ecosystem succession. We also emphasize the need to conduct socio-ecological research to understand changes in land-use history and its effects on succession and forest regeneration of TDF. We close this paper with some thoughts and ideas associated with the strong need for an integrating dimension not considered until today: the role of cyberinfrastructure and eco-informatics as a tool to support sound conservation, management and understanding of TDF in the Americas. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved