No visit, no interest: How COVID-19 has affected public interest in world's national parks

The use of digital content has become a powerful tool to evaluate and track macro-scale trends in human-nature relations. This is an emerging field of study known as conservation culturomics, that seeks to understand human culture through quantitative analysis in large bodies of digital content. Here, we used relative search volume on Google Search as a culturomic metric of public interest to investigate the global impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic on national parks (NPs). Specifically, we focus on the impacts of limiting people?s mobility (through social isolation and lock-down measures) on public interest in NPs, since this is likely to have a strong causal relationship with park visitation. We generated public interest data for 2411 NPs from around the world for the period January 2016 to July 2020, to explore the relationship between relative search volume and periods of greater and lesser mobility restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed a global trend of declining public interest in national parks during the initial phase of the coronavirus pandemic, although there was considerable variation between both parks and countries. For example, contrary to the global trend public interest in NPs increased in Finland during the first lock-down. Significantly, countries whose national parks are highly dependent on international visitors (e.g., South Africa and India) had very severe declines in public interest. Our study reinforces the key role that visitation plays in driving public interest in national parks and illustrates the utility of culturomic methods for monitoring human-park interactions at scale.Peer reviewe

Public awareness and engagement in relation to the coastal oil spill in northeast Brazil

Social media data is a rich source of information to assess human activities in catastrophic events. Here, we use social media data to understand how the 2019 Brazilian oil spill influenced social attitudes. Data were collected from the globally popular Instagram platform between August 1, 2019 and March 1, 2020. First, we manually identified the 5 most popular (portuguese language) hashtags related to the oil spill #oleonononordeste;#desastreambiental;#ma rsemoleo;#sosnordeste;#ma rsempetroleo. In the sequence, we collected information on captions, post metadata and users associated with posts retrieved using the selected hashtags. We identified a total of 7,413 posts. These posts were grouped in topics: government (47.76%), protest (24.37%), volunteers (24.45%), biodiversity (0.003%), origin (0.006%), tourism (0.008%) and others (0.016%). All topics had the peak of posts in October and November 2019. Nevertheless, interest in the oil spill was temporary, with most posts appearing in the 2-4 months after the beginning of the disaster. Our findings illustrate the enormous potential of using social media data for understanding and monitoring human engagement with environmental disasters, but also suggest that conservationists and environmental groups may only have a limited 'window of opportunity' to engage and mobilize public support for remediation and restoration efforts.Peer reviewe

In vitro and in vivo assessment of the anti-malarial activity of Caesalpinia pluviosa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To overcome the problem of increasing drug resistance, traditional medicines are an important source for potential new anti-malarials. <it>Caesalpinia pluviosa</it>, commonly named "sibipiruna", originates from Brazil and possess multiple therapeutic properties, including anti-malarial activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Crude extract (CE) was obtained from stem bark by purification using different solvents, resulting in seven fractions. An MTT assay was performed to evaluate cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells. The CE and its fractions were tested <it>in vitro </it>against chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) and -resistant (S20) strains of <it>Plasmodium falciparum</it> and <it>in vivo </it>in <it>Plasmodium chabaudi</it>-infected mice. <it>In vitro </it>interaction with artesunate and the active <it>C. pluviosa </it>fractions was assessed, and mass spectrometry analyses were conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At non-toxic concentrations, the 100% ethanolic (F4) and 50% methanolic (F5) fractions possessed significant anti-malarial activity against both 3D7 and S20 strains. Drug interaction assays with artesunate showed a synergistic interaction with the F4. Four days of treatment with this fraction significantly inhibited parasitaemia in mice in a dose-dependent manner. Mass spectrometry analyses revealed the presence of an ion corresponding to <it>m/z </it>303.0450, suggesting the presence of quercetin. However, a second set of analyses, with a quercetin standard, showed distinct ions of <it>m/z </it>137 and 153.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings show that the F4 fraction of <it>C. pluviosa </it>exhibits anti-malarial activity <it>in vitro </it>at non-toxic concentrations, which was potentiated in the presence of artesunate. Moreover, this anti-malarial activity was also sustained <it>in vivo </it>after treatment of infected mice. Finally, mass spectrometry analyses suggest that a new compound, most likely an isomer of quercetin, is responsible for the anti-malarial activity of the F4.</p

SÍNTESE E CARACTERIZAÇÃO DE NANOFIBRAS DE C/BiVO4 VIA CARBONIZAÇÃO DO POLÍMERO PVA: UM POTENCIAL MATERIAL FOTOELETROCATALÍTICO

Entities around the world, are increasingly strengthening movements for a healthier and more sustainable planet. In this sense, the aim of this work is the construction of C/BiVO4 nanofibers via electrospinning and subsequent PVA polymer carbonization. Obtaining thus, nanofibers with high surface area when compared to the usual deposition methods. Enabling greater absorption of photons and consequently increasing the photoelectrocatalytic efficiency in energy conversion and organic pollutants degradation. The synthesized BiVO4 was characterized and thus confirmed the formation of the monoclinic. The electrospinning technique presented fibers with diameters in the nanometric scale with the presence of carbon, considerably increasing the surface area of the material, confirmed by optical and scanning electron microscopy.Entidades de todo o mundo estão cada vez mais fortalecendo movimentos em prol de um planeta mais saudável e sustentável. Neste sentido, o intuito deste trabalho é a construção de nanofibras de C/BiVO4 via eletrofiação e posterior carbonização do polímero PVA. Obtendo assim, nanofibras com elevada área superficial quando comparados aos usais métodos de deposição. Possibilitando maior absorção dos fótons e consequentemente elevando a eficiência fotoeletrocatalítica na conversão energética e degradação de poluentes orgânicos. O BiVO4 sintetizado foi caracterizado e assim confirmado a formação da fase monoclínica. A técnica de eletrofiação apresentou fibras com diâmetros na escala nanométrica com a presença do carbono, aumentando consideravelmente a área superficial do material, confirmado pelas microscopias óptica e eletrônica de varredura

The Bacterium Endosymbiont of Crithidia deanei Undergoes Coordinated Division with the Host Cell Nucleus

In trypanosomatids, cell division involves morphological changes and requires coordinated replication and segregation of the nucleus, kinetoplast and flagellum. In endosymbiont-containing trypanosomatids, like Crithidia deanei, this process is more complex, as each daughter cell contains only a single symbiotic bacterium, indicating that the prokaryote must replicate synchronically with the host protozoan. In this study, we used light and electron microscopy combined with three-dimensional reconstruction approaches to observe the endosymbiont shape and division during C. deanei cell cycle. We found that the bacterium replicates before the basal body and kinetoplast segregations and that the nucleus is the last organelle to divide, before cytokinesis. In addition, the endosymbiont is usually found close to the host cell nucleus, presenting different shapes during the protozoan cell cycle. Considering that the endosymbiosis in trypanosomatids is a mutualistic relationship, which resembles organelle acquisition during evolution, these findings establish an excellent model for the understanding of mechanisms related with the establishment of organelles in eukaryotic cells

Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors

The cyanobacterial saxitoxin exacerbates neural cell death and brain malformations induced by zika virus

The northeast (NE) region of Brazil commonly goes through drought periods, which favor cyanobacterial blooms, capable of producing neurotoxins with implications for human and animal health. The most severe dry spell in the history of Brazil occurred between 2012 and 2016. Coincidently, the highest incidence of microcephaly associated with the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak took place in the NE region of Brazil during the same years. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that saxitoxin (STX), a neurotoxin produced in South America by the freshwater cyanobacteria Raphidiopsis raciborskii, could have contributed to the most severe Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS) profile described worldwide. Quality surveillance showed higher cyanobacteria amounts and STX occurrence in human drinking water sup-plies of NE compared to other regions of Brazil. Experimentally, we described that STX dou-bled the quantity of ZIKV-induced neural cell death in progenitor areas of human brain organoids, while the chronic ingestion of water contaminated with STX before and during gestation caused brain abnormalities in offspring of ZIKV-infected immunocompetent C57BL/6J mice. Our data indicate that saxitoxin-producing cyanobacteria is overspread in water reservoirs of the NE and might have acted as a co-insult to ZIKV infection in Brazil. These results raise a public health concern regarding the consequences of arbovirus outbreaks happening in areas with droughts and/or frequent freshwater cyanobacterial blooms.Fil: Pedrosa, Carolina da S. G.. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; BrasilFil: Souza, Leticia R. Q.. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; BrasilFil: Gomes, Tiago A.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: de Lima, Caroline V. F.. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; BrasilFil: Ledur, Pitia F.. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; BrasilFil: Karmirian, Karina. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Barbeito Andrés, Jimena. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil. Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Alta Complejidad en Red El Cruce Dr. Néstor Carlos Kirchner Samic. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos; ArgentinaFil: Costa, Marcelo do N.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Higa, Luiza M.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Rossi, Átila D.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Bellio, Maria. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Tanuri, Amilcar. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Prata Barbosa, Arnaldo. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; BrasilFil: Tovar Moll, Fernanda. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Garcez, Patricia P.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Lara, Flavio A.. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Molica, Renato J. R.. Universidad Federal Rural Pernambuco; BrasilFil: Rehen, Stevens K.. D’Or Institute for Research and Education; Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi