Genomic epidemiology unveils the dynamics and spatial corridor behind the Yellow Fever virus outbreak in Southern Brazil

Despite the considerable morbidity and mortality of yellow fever virus (YFV) infections in Brazil, our understanding of disease outbreaks is hampered by limited viral genomic data. Here, through a combination of phylogenetic and epidemiological models, we reconstructed the recent transmission history of YFV within different epidemic seasons in Brazil. A suitability index based on the highly domesticated Aedes aegypti was able to capture the seasonality of reported human infections. Spatial modeling revealed spatial hotspots with both past reporting and low vaccination coverage, which coincided with many of the largest urban centers in the Southeast. Phylodynamic analysis unraveled the circulation of three distinct lineages and provided proof of the directionality of a known spatial corridor that connects the endemic North with the extra-Amazonian basin. This study illustrates that genomics linked with eco-epidemiology can provide new insights into the landscape of YFV transmission, augmenting traditional approaches to infectious disease surveillance and control

Movimientos en la Educación Matemática : temblores penetrantes en las verdades establecidas

Este artigo constrói – enquanto se faz – compreensões das autoras sobre uma Filosofia da Diferença para/na/da/sobre Educação Matemática, a partir de movimentos de pesquisa e de prática – de academia e de vida [de ser, de estar e de haver] – EXpostos nos artigos do Boletim online de Educação Matemática – BOEM que foram publicados na Edição Temática Educação Matemática e Filosofia da Diferença, em novembro de 2020, no número dezessete do volume oito. A provocação sobre tremores perfurantes nas verdades instituídas é nossa! É nossa, mas só despertada graças às dezesseis contribuições de colegas professores com/em formação, cujos textos colocam em evidência experiências, teorias e ideias sobre temas relacionados ao (des)foco da edição. Como resultado, apresentamos um convite à leitura e a reflexões para ampliação de compreensões a respeito da Filosofia da Diferença e de suas relações com a Educação Matemática.This article constructs – as it is done – the authors' understandings about a Philosophy of Difference to/at/of/about Mathematics Education, from research and practice movements – from academia and life [to being, to having] – exposed in the articles of the Online Bulletin of Mathematics Education - BOEM that were published in the Thematic Edition Mathematics Education and Philosophy of Difference, in November 2020, at number seventeen of volume eight. The provocation about piercing tremors in the established truths is ours! It is ours, but only awakened thanks to the sixteen contributions of teachers and researchers, whose texts highlight experiences, theories and ideas on topics related to the focus of the edition. As a result, we present an invitation to reading and reflections to broaden understandings about the Philosophy of Difference and its relations with Mathematics Education

Antioxidant capacity of Macaronesian traditional medicinal plants

The use of many traditional medicinal plants is often hampered by the absence of a proper biochemical characterization, essential to identify the bioactive compounds present. The leaves from five species endemic to the Macaronesian islands with recognized ethnobotanical applications were analysed: Apollonias barbujana (Cav.) Bornm., Ocotea foetens (Ainton) Baill, Prunus azorica (Mouill.) Rivas-Mart., Lousã, Fern. Prieto, E. Días, J.C. Costa & C. Aguiar, Rumex maderensis Lowe and Plantago arborescens Poir. subsp. maderensis (Dcne.) A. Hans. et Kunk.. Since oxidative stress is a common feature of most diseases traditionally treated by these plants, it is important to assess their antioxidant capacity and determine the molecules responsible for this capacity. In this study, the antioxidant capacity of these plants against two of the most important reactive species in human body (hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals) was determined. To trace the antioxidant origin total phenol and flavonoid contents as well as the polyphenolic profile and the amount of trace elements were determined. There was a wide variation among the species analysed in what concerns their total leaf phenol and flavonoid contents. From the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) electrochemically detected peaks it was possible to attribute to flavonoids the antioxidant capacity detected in A. barbujana, O. foetens, R. maderensis and P. azorica extracts. These potential reactive flavonoids were identified for A. barbujana, R. maderensis and P. azorica. For R. maderensis a high content (7 mg g-1 dry weight) of L-ascorbic acid, an already described antioxidant phytomolecule, was found. A high content in selenomethionine (414.35 μg g-1 dry weight) was obtained for P. arborescens subsp. maderensis extract. This selenocompound is already described as a hydroxyl radical scavenger is reported in this work as also possessing peroxyl radical scavenging capacity. This work is a good illustration of different phytomolecules (flavonoids, organic acids and selenocompounds), presents in leaves of the five traditional medicinal plants endemic to Macaronesia, all exhibiting antioxidant propertiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Epidemiologia das hospitalizações relacionadas ao estrabismo no Brasil: uma análise abrangente

As hospitalizações relacionadas ao estrabismo constituem um tema de crescente interesse na saúde ocular, refletindo não apenas a complexidade dessa condição oftalmológica, mas também suas potenciais ramificações clínicas. O estrabismo, caracterizado pela falta de alinhamento dos olhos, pode variar em gravidade e causar impactos significativos na visão e na qualidade de vida dos indivíduos afetados. A necessidade de intervenção hospitalar muitas vezes surge para correção cirúrgica ou tratamento de complicações associadas, destacando a importância do acompanhamento médico especializado e da pesquisa contínua para melhorar os resultados clínicos e reduzir as incidências hospitalares relacionadas a essa condição. A avaliação da epidemiologia do estrabismo é fundamental para compreender a prevalência, incidência e distribuição dessa condição oftalmológica na população. Esses dados não apenas fornecem uma visão clara da magnitude do problema de saúde pública, mas também orientam políticas de saúde, alocação de recursos e estratégias de prevenção e intervenção. O objetivo deste trabalho foi traçar o perfil epidemiológico das internações causadas por mioma uterino no período de 2019 a 2023, com intuito de identificar flutuações na prevalência e populações mais vulneráveis para a prevenção e controle desta enfermidade. Este é um estudo de séries temporais, que usou dados do Sistema de Informações Hospitalares (SIH) do DATASUS. Essa fonte abrangente oferece uma visão detalhada das internações causadas por miomas uterinos no Brasil. Neste estudo, observamos uma redução de 3% nas internações por estrabismo no Brasil ao longo do período analisado. O Sudeste destacou-se como a região com o maior número de internações e também com os maiores custos hospitalares associados à condição. Identificamos que mulheres brancas na faixa etária de 5 a 6 anos, foram os principais afetados pelo estrabismo, representando um grupo significativo entre as internações registradas. Essas descobertas são fundamentais para orientar estratégias de saúde que visem melhorar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes afetados pelo estrabismo, além de otimizar o uso dos recursos hospitalares e reduzir custos associados ao tratamento da condição em diferentes regiões do Brasil. &nbsp

roteiro para a gestão dos fluxos gerados na atividade agropecuária

A grande dimensão dos custos económicos e ambientais decorrente da intensificação dos sistemas agrícolas, pecuários e agroindustriais, torna imperiosa a procura de soluções que valorizem os seus efluentes e coprodutos, visando tanto a redução da sua toxicidade como o desenvolvimento sustentável de novos processos e de novos produtos. No Âmbito do Programa de Desenvolvimento Rural 2020, Medida 1. Promoção para a Inovação, Ação 1.1. Inovação por Grupos Operacionais, foi financiado o GoEfluentes - Efluentes de pecuária: abordagem estratégica à valorização agronómica/energética dos fluxos gerados na atividade agropecuária (PDR2020-1.0.1-FEADER-031831). (https://projects.iniav.pt/goefluentes), apoio que confirma a importância com que se revestem as preocupações ambientais do sector

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

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