Extensão em Microbiologia: mudas inoculadas com microrganismos benéficos na bacia do rio Doce

A extensão universitária, enquanto um dos três pilares de Universidades Públicas, cria oportunidade para a troca de conhecimentos e (re)significação de saberes, contribuindo para diminuir a lacuna pesquisa-aplicação e para ampliar a democratização do conhecimento técnico-científico. O presente relato de experiência objetivou apresentar a importância de projetos de pesquisa (com)partilhados com a extensão universitária, sobretudo diante de desafios complexos, tal como a produção de mudas de espécies florestais nativas inoculadas com microrganismos benéficos para a recuperação da bacia do rio Doce. O projeto “Seleção de microrganismos e produção massal de substrato inoculado para a produção de mudas, visando o repovoamento das áreas afetadas pelo rompimento da barragem de Fundão” surgiu diante do desastre ambiental de Mariana – MG, que ocorreu em novembro de 2015, com o rompimento da barragem de Fundão. Deste modo, o projeto foi construído buscando incluir pequenas empresas e produtos de origem local, juntamente com atividades de extensão. Dentre os princípios que nortearam as atividades de extensão relatadas neste artigo destacam-se o compromisso em estabelecer estratégias para diminuir as lacunas pesquisa-aplicação, a comunicação participativa, a multidisciplinaridade e a necessidade de devolver os resultados de pesquisas para os diversos atores envolvidos com o projeto. As atividades de extensão permitiram ampliar possibilidades e parcerias, bem como selecionar espécies de plantas florestais nativas para inoculação com microrganismos benéficos, de modo participativo, dando maior significado social para a pesquisa. Ressalta-se que são necessários esforços contínuos para estabelecer relações sujeito-sujeito e para ampliar as atividades de extensão a todos os envolvidos, direta ou indiretamente, com o projeto. O alinhamento de pesquisa e extensão em microbiologia, com foco na produção de mudas de espécies florestais nativas inoculadas com microrganismos benéficos para a revegetação da bacia do rio Doce, tem contribuído para (com)partilhar ações que favorecem a participação e o engajamento mútuo dos atores envolvidos: pesquisadores, técnicos e viveiristas

Como reduzir desperdícios financeiros gerados por sucatas? / How to reduce financial waste generated by scrap?

Este estudo é uma pesquisa de campo e tem como objetivo apresentar uma proposta para reduzir os desperdícios financeiros gerados por sucatas, foi realizado em uma empresa localizada na cidade de São José dos Pinhais no estado do Paraná, a qual atua no ramo automotivo. Para ter um melhor entendimento sobre esse ramo fez-se necessário visitar a empresa e realizar a abordagem de temas relacionados a gestão de produção, processos e qualidade e quais os impactos esse conjunto de atividades se não realizados da maneira correta geram para a empresa. Para a identificação das causas foram utilizadas a observação participativa e não participativa, o brainstorming, pesquisa documental e a entrevista informal, a Matriz GUT foi essencial para priorizar as causas. Para buscar alternativas de soluções foi realizado um brainstorming entre os pesquisadores e o supervisor da área de produção do setor de solda da empresa em estudo, bem como foi realizado o benchmarking em uma empresa global que atua nos setores da agricultura e construção. Para elaborar o plano de ação foram utilizadas as ferramentas 5W2H e o cronograma e as soluções apresentadas são: aumentar o tamanho do lote de verificação; criar cronograma de manutenção e check-list de peças; elaborar um plano de substituição de maquinário; programar a venda dos maquinários antigos; criar um processo de reciclagem de treinamento para os colaboradores e elaborar um controle dos treinamentos. Se implantadas as ações apresentadas a empresa poderá melhorar o desempenho e principalmente reduzirá os desperdícios financeiros gerados por sucatas, que é o objetivo do estudo

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Environmental drivers of the benthic macroinvertebrates community in a hypersaline estuary (Northeastern Brazil)

Abstract Introduction The estuarine community of benthic macroinvertebrates spatially varies in response to changes in environmental variables in these ecosystems. Understanding this variability helps our understanding the mechanisms structuring these communities. Aim Assess the structural aspects of the benthic macroinvertebrate community in a hypersaline estuary, and to relate to environmental variables that influence the community structure along the estuary. Methods The study was conducted at Tubarão river estuary in May 2015. We sampled two estuarine areas (upper and lower), and in each zone were sampled six points composed of two replicas, one sampled in sandy bottom and the other in muddy bottom. Samples of benthic macroinvertebrates and estuarine environmental variables were collected. Environmental drivers of the benthic macroinvertebrate community were determined by Distance-based Linear Models analysis. The contribution of individual species to the dissimilarity between the areas and substrate types were determined by analysis of the percentage of similarity. Results The composition of benthic macroinvertebrate community differed between the upper and lower areas, although it was similar between the muddy and sandy bottoms. The variation in the benthic community between areas was mainly related to the influence of salinity in the upper area. In the lower area, the variation of the macroinvertebrates was related to salinity, associated with other variables in the sandy (temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen) and muddy (temperature, total dissolved solids and dissolved oxygen) substrates. Taxa which contributed most to the dissimilarity between the upper and lower areas were Nereididae (17.89%), Anomalocardia brasiliana (15%) and Cirratulidae (10.43%). Conclusions Salinity was the main driver of the structural aspects of the benthic macroinvertebrate community in the upper area of the estuary, although in the lower area a set of variables have structured benthic macroinvertebrates in the hypersaline estuary studied. In addition, the largest mangrove cover and less influence of the tide, may have favored the greater abundance of macroinvertebrates in the upper area

Environmental drivers of the benthic macroinvertebrates community in a hypersaline estuary (Northeastern Brazil)

Abstract Introduction The estuarine community of benthic macroinvertebrates spatially varies in response to changes in environmental variables in these ecosystems. Understanding this variability helps our understanding the mechanisms structuring these communities. Aim Assess the structural aspects of the benthic macroinvertebrate community in a hypersaline estuary, and to relate to environmental variables that influence the community structure along the estuary. Methods The study was conducted at Tubarão river estuary in May 2015. We sampled two estuarine areas (upper and lower), and in each zone were sampled six points composed of two replicas, one sampled in sandy bottom and the other in muddy bottom. Samples of benthic macroinvertebrates and estuarine environmental variables were collected. Environmental drivers of the benthic macroinvertebrate community were determined by Distance-based Linear Models analysis. The contribution of individual species to the dissimilarity between the areas and substrate types were determined by analysis of the percentage of similarity. Results The composition of benthic macroinvertebrate community differed between the upper and lower areas, although it was similar between the muddy and sandy bottoms. The variation in the benthic community between areas was mainly related to the influence of salinity in the upper area. In the lower area, the variation of the macroinvertebrates was related to salinity, associated with other variables in the sandy (temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen) and muddy (temperature, total dissolved solids and dissolved oxygen) substrates. Taxa which contributed most to the dissimilarity between the upper and lower areas were Nereididae (17.89%), Anomalocardia brasiliana (15%) and Cirratulidae (10.43%). Conclusions Salinity was the main driver of the structural aspects of the benthic macroinvertebrate community in the upper area of the estuary, although in the lower area a set of variables have structured benthic macroinvertebrates in the hypersaline estuary studied. In addition, the largest mangrove cover and less influence of the tide, may have favored the greater abundance of macroinvertebrates in the upper area

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data