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

Proposal of profite in residues of "pau-rainha" (Brosimum rubescens) discarded for the lumber sector

Timber industry of Amazonas state (Brazil) contribute with the production of great amount of residues. This paper aims to indicating end-uses for this forest species pau-rainha (Brosimum rubescens Taubert, Moraceae). The residues discharged during the mechanical processing in timber production were used as manufactured goods such as: musical instruments and decorative articles generating less wastes in sawmills. They were carried sawdust of the heartwood and sapwood and extraction by maceration with hexane and methanol. The heartwood extractive yield was 19.87% and content of xanthyletin (2,2-dimethylchromene coumarin) was 2.35% with basis dry mass. It was not detected the coumarin in extracts of sapwood. Xanthyletin is reported as antiplatelet, antifungal and herbicide and some its derivatives have a leukaemic cells lineage activities. The proposal of adequate end-uses of "pau-rainha" as manufacture-goods is a great social benefit and the search of secondary metabolites is quite promising it can be transformed into novel products.A indústria da madeira do estado de Amazonas (Brasil) contribui com a produção de uma quantidade grande de resíduos. Este trabalho visa indicar o uso final para espécie florestal pau-rainha (Brosimum rubescens Taubert, Moraceae). Os resíduos descartados durante o processamento mecânico da madeira foram utilizados na confecção de artefatos comoinstrumentos musicais e artigos decorativos gerando resíduos menores (serragens). Foram obtidos extratos das serragens do cerne e alburno por maceração com hexano e metanol. O teor extrativo no cerne foi 19,87% e a porcentagem (com relação a serragem) de xantiletina (2,2-dimetilcromeno cumarina) obtida foi 2,35%. Não foi detectada a cumarina nos extratos do alburno. A xantiletina é reportada pelas atividades antiplaquetária, antifúngica e herbicida e alguns derivados possuem atividade em linhagens de células leucêmicas. A proposta de uso final adequado dos resíduos de pau-rainha para confecção de artefatos tem uma grande importância social e a busca de metabólitos secundários é bastante promissora pois estes podem ser transformados em novos produtos

Sociodemographic and clinical factors for microcephaly secondary to teratogenic infections in Brazil: an ecological study

Universidade Federal do Pará. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Unidade de Pesquisa Clínica e Experimental do Sistema Urogenital. Belém, PA, Brazil.Universidade Federal do Pará. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Unidade de Pesquisa Clínica e Experimental do Sistema Urogenital. Belém, PA, Brazil.Universidade Federal do Pará. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Unidade de Pesquisa Clínica e Experimental do Sistema Urogenital. Belém, PA, Brazil.Universidade do Estado do Pará. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais. Belém, PA, Brazil.Faculdade de Medicina. São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil.Universidade Federal do Pará. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Unidade de Pesquisa Clínica e Experimental do Sistema Urogenital. Belém, PA, Brazil.Universidade Federal do Pará. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Unidade de Pesquisa Clínica e Experimental do Sistema Urogenital. Belém, PA, Brazil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde e Ambiente. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Faculdade de Medicina Ceres. São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil.Universidade Federal do Pará. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Unidade de Pesquisa Clínica e Experimental do Sistema Urogenital. Belém, PA, Brazil.Microcephaly is a neurological condition characterized by anomalies in the growth of the cranial circumference. This study aims to examine the association between sociodemographic and clinical variables and the occurrence of secondary microcephaly in newborns in Brazil. It also aims to investigate the association between this congenital anomaly and teratogenic infections. This research adopts an observational approach with an ecological, descriptive, and analytical design. The sample includes infants aged ≤28 days and registered in the country’s Live Births Information System from January 2015 to December 2021. Newborns were categorized into G1, consisting of newborns with one of the three infections (Zika, toxoplasmosis, or syphilis), and G2, consisting of newborns with two of the three infections. A total of 1513 samples were analyzed and divided into two groups: one infection (syphilis n = 423; toxoplasmosis n = 295; or Zika n = 739) and two infections (n = 56). The northeastern region of Brazil has the highest prevalence of microcephaly. Regarding the population profile, the Zika virus infection is more common among white mothers, while the syphilis infection is more common among black mothers. Among newborns with microcephaly, boys have a lower prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection, while girls have a lower prevalence of Zika virus infection. This study provides pertinent information on each infection and contributes to the epidemiologic understanding of the association between teratogenic infections and microcephaly

Sociodemographic and Clinical Factors for Microcephaly Secondary to Teratogenic Infections in Brazil: An Ecological Study

Microcephaly is a neurological condition characterized by anomalies in the growth of the cranial circumference. This study aims to examine the association between sociodemographic and clinical variables and the occurrence of secondary microcephaly in newborns in Brazil. It also aims to investigate the association between this congenital anomaly and teratogenic infections. This research adopts an observational approach with an ecological, descriptive, and analytical design. The sample includes infants aged ≤28 days and registered in the country’s Live Births Information System from January 2015 to December 2021. Newborns were categorized into G1, consisting of newborns with one of the three infections (Zika, toxoplasmosis, or syphilis), and G2, consisting of newborns with two of the three infections. A total of 1513 samples were analyzed and divided into two groups: one infection (syphilis n = 423; toxoplasmosis n = 295; or Zika n = 739) and two infections (n = 56). The northeastern region of Brazil has the highest prevalence of microcephaly. Regarding the population profile, the Zika virus infection is more common among white mothers, while the syphilis infection is more common among black mothers. Among newborns with microcephaly, boys have a lower prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection, while girls have a lower prevalence of Zika virus infection. This study provides pertinent information on each infection and contributes to the epidemiologic understanding of the association between teratogenic infections and microcephaly