Geographic Tongue and Fissured Tongue in 348 Patients with Psoriasis: Correlation with Disease Severity

Geographic tongue (GT) and fissured tongue (FT) are the more frequent oral lesions in patients with psoriasis. The aims of this study were to compare the prevalence of GT/FT between psoriasis group (PG) and healthy controls (HC) and investigate the correlation between GT/FT and psoriasis severity using the PASI and age of psoriasis onset. Three hundred and forty-eight PG and 348 HC were selected. According to the age of psoriasis onset, the individuals were classified as having early psoriasis and late psoriasis. The severity of vulgaris psoriasis was determined according to PASI. A follow-up was conducted in patients with psoriasis vulgaris (PV) with GT to evaluate the progression of oral and cutaneous lesions. The FT and GT were more frequent in PG than in HC. The incidence of GT was higher in patients with early psoriasis and that of FT in late-psoriasis. There is association between psoriasis intensity and GT; and a higher monthly decrease of PASI score in patients without GT. The presence of GT and FT is higher in PG than in the HC. GT is associated with disease severity and may be a marker of the psoriasis severity

A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

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

Crescimento de Brachiaria subquadripara (Trin.) Hitchc. sob diferentes condições nutricionais e monitoramento sazonal de fatores ambientais no habitat natural

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o crescimento e caracterizar o ambiente de ocorrência de Brachiaria subquadripara, sendo constituído de três etapas: (i) avaliar a população e os fatores abióticos presentes no reservatório de Barra Bonita em duas épocas (seca e águas); (ii) seleção da solução nutritiva (solução base) favorável ao crescimento a partir de diferentes diluições (80, 60, 40, 20 e 0%) da solução nutritiva completa de Sarruge em casa-de-vegetação e (iii) avaliar o crescimento e absorção de nutrientes sob o efeito de diferentes concentrações (0, 25, 50, 75 e 100%) de N, P e K na solução base em casa-devegetação. As coletas foram realizadas nos dias 06/07/2004 e 14/01/2005 em pontos previamente selecionados e georreferenciados, os quais constituíram-se de 13 pontos no reservatório Barra Bonita (7 pontos no braço do rio Piracicaba e 6 pontos no braço do rio Tietê). Foram realizadas coletas de solo, sedimento, água e plantas. A distribuição em relação à área de infestação das populações de B. subquadripara foi considerada heterogenia entre os pontos amostrados no reservatório de Barra Bonita, principalmente no verão referente à 2ª época. A diluição de 20% da solução nutritiva propiciou melhores condições ao desenvolvimento da planta e foi considerada representativa para ser utilizada como solução base destinada à aplicação dos diferentes níveis de N, P e K. A variação sazonal influenciou na distribuição das populações, a qual ocorreu de forma heterogênea na estação chuvosa em relação à densidade populacional. O Rio Tietê foi considerado um ambiente mais eutrófico do que o Rio Piraracicaba tanto em relação ao solo quanto em relação à coluna d água. O crescimento de B. subquadripara apresentou melhor ajuste aos modelos exponencial e linear, sendo obtidos coeficientes...The objective of this work was to evaluate the growth and characterize the occurrence environment of Brachiaria subquadripara being consisted of three stages: (i) evaluate the population and the abiotic factors present in the reservoir of Barra Bonita in two seasons (drought and waters); (ii) selection of nutritious solution (base solution) favorable to growth from different dilutions (80, 60, 40, 20 and 0%) of Sarruge s complete nutritious solution, at green house and (iii) evaluate the growth and nutrients absorption under the effect of different N, P and K concentrations (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) in the base solution, at green house. Collections were carried out in July 6, 2004 and January, 14, 2005, in previously selected and georeferred places, which consisted of 13 places at Barra Bonita reservoir (7 places in the branch of the Piracicaba River and 6 places in the branch of the Tietê River). Soil, sediment, water and plants collections were carried out in each place. The distribution in relation to infestation area of B. subquadripara populations was considered heterogeneous among the places chosen in the Barra Bonita reservoir, mainly in the summer of the 2nd season. The 20% dilution of nutritious solution allowed better conditions for plant development and was considered significant to be used as base solution destined to the application of different levels 4 of N, P and K. Seasonal variation influenced the populations distribution, which heterogeneously occurred in the rainy season, in relation to population density. The Tietê River was considered the most eutrophic environment than the Piracicaba river, in relation to both soil and water column. B. subquadripara growth presented better adjustment to exponential and linear models, with determination coefficients above 90% and probability of 0,001 to 0,05. The absence of nitrogen affected the foliaceous area... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Crescimento, alocação de recursos e requerimento de nutrientes em Heteranthera reniformis Ruiz e Pav

O presente trabalho objetivou verificar o efeito de diferentes níveis de macronutrientes na extração destes elementos, no teor contido na massa seca, bem como no crescimento de Heteranthera reniformis. O experimento foi conduzido em casa-devegetação no Núcleo de Pesquisas Avançadas em Matologia (NUPAM), pertencente ao Departamento de Produção Vegetal da FCA/UNESP, Campus de Botucatu-SP. O estudo foi realizado em duas etapas: a primeira consistiu de um ensaio com cinco diluições correspondentes a 20, 40, 60, 80 e 100% da solução completa de Sarruge (1975), além de uma testemunha constituída por água destilada por 32 dias, com o intuito de selecionar uma solução base (diluição a 80%) que condicionasse o melhor desenvolvimento da planta sendo utilizada para a aplicação dos níveis de nutrientes para a etapa seguinte do estudo. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente ao acaso com duas testemunhas (solução base e água destilada) e quatro níveis (0, 25, 50, 75% da solução base) avaliados individualmente em N, P, K, Ca, Mg e S, com quatro repetições, conduzido no período de 35 dias. As avaliações foram constituídas pela massa seca (folha, caule, raiz e total), medidas biométricas na raiz (volume, comprimento e diâmetros), área foliar, número de folhas, teores dos nutrientes e quantidade de extração dos respectivos nutrientes (caule, raiz e total)...This research aimed to study the effect of different macronutrients levels, its extraction and amounts in dry biomass, as well as to verify its influence over Heteranthera reniformis growing. The trial was carried out inside green-house at Núcleo de Pesquisas Avançadas em Matologia (NUPAM) of Plant Production Department of FCA/UNESP, Campus of Botucatu-SP. The study was realized at two steps: the first one consisted of five dilutions correspondent at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% of complete Hoagland solution adjusted for Sarruge (1975). Distil water was used to select a complete check (dilution at 80%), and as a basic solution just to apply the nutrients levels for the second step. It was used the Complete Random Blocks as experimental design, with two treatments control (basic solution and distil water) 4 replications and four levels (0, 25, 50, 75 of the nutrient solution selected) and two evaluated alone in N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S during 35 days period. The characteristics evaluated were dry biomass (leaf, stem, root and total), root biometric dimensions (volume, length an diameters), foliar area, number of leaves, macronutrients grades (leaf, stem and root) and extraction quantity of respective nutrients. The limiting factors of H. reniformis growing were the omissions of N, P and Mg. The most favorable conditions for plant development occurred at solutions of 75% of P an 50% of N, K, Mg and S, that provided the biggest foliar area results (465.5; 512.6; 524.3 and 516.2 cm2, respectively) and leaves numbers (46; 75; 42; 69 and 53 leaves, respectively). The majors total dry biomass and stem dry biomass (3.77 and 2.81 g, respectively) were obtained with addition of 50% of N, while the biggest leaves dry biomass (1,27 g) occurred at 50% of Mg. The stem dry biomass showed the highest plant proportion, that varied between 49.9 and 74.6% related to the total plants components... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq