Effect of plot size and plant spatial arrangement on the efficiency of family selection in sugarcane

The purpose of this study was to identify the ideal sample size representing a family in its potential, to identify superior families and, in parallel, determine in which spatial arrangement they may have a better accuracy in the selection of new varieties of sugarcane. For such purpose, five families of full-sibs were evaluated, each with 360 individuals, in the randomized blocks design, with three replications in three different spacing among plants in the row (50 cm, 75 cm, and 100 cm) and 150 cm between the rows. To determine the ideal sample size, as well as the better spacing for evaluation, the bootstrap method was adopted. It was observed that 100 cm spacings provided the best average for the stalk numbers, stalk diameter and for estimated weight of stalks in the stool. The spacing of 75 cm between the plants allowed a better power of discrimination among the families for all characters evaluated. At this 75 cm spacing  was also possible to identify superior families with a sample of 30 plants each plot and 3 reps in the trial. Highlights The bootstrap method was efficient to determine the ideal sample size, as well as the best spacing for evaluation. The 75-cm spacing had the highest power of discrimination among families, indicating that this spacing is the most efficient in evaluating sugarcane families for selection purposes. From all the results and considering selective accuracy as the guiding parameter for decision making, the highest values obtained considering the number of stalks and weight of stalks in the stools were found at the 75-cm spacing.The purpose of this study was to identify the ideal sample size representing a family in its potential, to identify superior families and, in parallel, determine in which spatial arrangement they may have a better accuracy in the selection of new varieties of sugarcane. For such purpose, five families of full-sibs were evaluated, each with 360 individuals, in the randomized blocks design, with three replications in three different spacing among plants in the row (50 cm, 75 cm, and 100 cm) and 150 cm between the rows. To determine the ideal sample size, as well as the better spacing for evaluation, the bootstrap method was adopted. It was observed that 100 cm spacings provided the best average for the stalk numbers, stalk diameter and for estimated weight of stalks in the stool. The spacing of 75 cm between the plants allowed a better power of discrimination among the families for all characters evaluated. At this 75 cm spacing  was also possible to identify superior families with a sample of 30 plants each plot and 3 reps in the trial. Highlights The bootstrap method was efficient to determine the ideal sample size, as well as the best spacing for evaluation. The 75-cm spacing had the highest power of discrimination among families, indicating that this spacing is the most efficient in evaluating sugarcane families for selection purposes. From all the results and considering selective accuracy as the guiding parameter for decision making, the highest values obtained considering the number of stalks and weight of stalks in the stools were found at the 75-cm spacing

Associação entre líquen plano bucal e infecção pelo vírus da hepatite C

Objective: To present a literature review of the evidence of involvement of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in the etiology of oral lichen planus (OLP), addressing some aspects of this controversial topic.    Material and methods: We performed a literature search through the Virtual Health Library (VHL), identifying articles published in journals indexed in the following databases: BBO, LILACS and MEDLINE. In combination were used as descriptors: hepatitis C, lichen planus and leukoplakia, considering the time span of 10 years (between 1998 and 2008) and languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. Thus, 30 publications were included.    Results: It was found that the association between HCV infection and the LPB was investigated, but most results were inconsistent.    Conclusion: The results, additional studies are recommended to prove the current hypotheses about the association and the pathogenesis of lichen planus with HCV infection.  Objetivo: Apresentar uma revisão da literatura sobre as evidências de implicação do Vírus da Hepatite C (VHC) na etiologia do líquen plano bucal (LPB), abordando alguns aspectos deste controverso tema.  Material e métodos: Foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica através da Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS), identificando-se artigos publicados nas revistas indexadas nas seguintes bases de dados: BBO, LILACS e MEDLINE. De forma combinada utilizaram-se como descritores: hepatite C, líquen plano bucal e leucoplasia, considerando o intervalo de tempo de 10 anos (entre 1998 e 2008) e os idiomas: Português, Inglês e Espanhol. Dessa forma, foram incluídas 30 publicações.  Resultados: Verificou-se que a associação entre a infecção do HCV e o LPB foi investigada, mas a maioria dos resultados foi inconsistente.  Conclusão: Considerando os resultados obtidos estudos adicionais são recomendados para provar as hipóteses atuais a respeito da associação e da patogênese do líquen plano bucal à infecção pelo HCV

Survival and prognostic factors in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

This study aimed to evaluate sociodemographic and clinical factors influencing overall survival (OS) in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Medical charts of 547 patients with OSCC from a public hospital in northeastern Brazil seen between 1999 and 2013 were evaluated. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. The influence of age, sex, ethnicity, clinical stage, anatomical location, type of treatment, and comorbidities on the patients? prognosis was evaluated. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify independent prognostic factors. The 5-year OS was 39%. Multivariate analysis showed that age < 40 years (HR = 2.20; 95%CI: 1.02-4.72) and a single treatment modality (HR = 1.91; 95%CI: 1.37-2.67) were associated with a poor prognosis, while early clinical stage resulted in better outcomes (HR = 0.38; 95%CI: 0.25-0.58). OSCC patients in advanced clinical stages, diagnosed at a younger age, and submitted to a single therapeutic modality have a poorer prognosis

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

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

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

Estudo sobre mortalidade, co-morbidades, adesão ao tratamento e sobrevida de pacientes portadores de câncer bucal em Campina Grande PB.

Introduction: Oral cancer is a public health problem in Brazil, taking into consideration the high incidence and co-morbidities, mainly due to aggressive surgery to treat advanced tumors. Objectives: To determine the mortality, co-morbidities, treatment adherence and survival of patients with mouth malignant neoplasm seen at the Center for Oral Cancer Prevention from the Oncology Center Ulisses Pinto, FAP Hospital - Campina Grande-PB between 1999 and 2008. Materials and Methods: it was performed data collection from medical records of all patients with mouth malignant neoplasm diagnosed between 1999 and 2008. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and the chi-square and Pearson correlation were applied considering significant p values &#8804; 0.05. Results: Of the total sample of 473 oral cancer cases, it was observed that 62.71% were males, 65.5 ± 13 mean age and 59.96% were Caucasian. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most prevalent histological type (86.2%) and tongue (29.6%) was the main anatomical site affected. Most injuries were diagnosed in clinical stages III and IV. It was observed 25.42% mortality rate, with median overall prevalent survival among 6-12 months. Co-morbidities occurred in 51.69% of patients, the most prevalent were hypertension, diabetes and depression. Oral co-morbidities occurred in 52.54% of patients, xerostomia was the most prevalent with 32%, followed by mucositis (27.1%) and dysphagia (19.5%). Regarding treatment adherence, it was observed that 82.63% adhered to treatment. There was statistically significant association between the following variables: mortality and TNM classification (p = 0.026), type of treatment (p = 0.027), survival (p = 0.000) and treatment adherence (p = 0.000); the overall co-morbidity rate was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.034) and age (p = 0.040); and the adherence to treatment was associated with age (p = 0.009) and mortality (p = 0.000). The survival rate was significantly associated with TNM classification (p = 0.026) and mortality p = 0.000. Conclusion: Considering the results it is concluded that oral cancer has high mortality rate and low survival rate, being influenced by treatment and TNM classification; there was high prevalence of overall co-morbidities: hypertension, diabetes and depression were the most prevalent; The prevalence of oral co-morbidities was high, being the xerostomia, mucositis and dysphagia the most frequent; most individuals adhered to treatment and this variable influenced the mortality rate and patient survival; survival of patients was influenced by mortality and TNM classification.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível SuperiorIntrodução: O câncer de boca é um problema de saúde pública no Brasil, tendo em vista a alta incidência e as co-morbidades, decorrentes principalmente de cirurgias agressivas para tratar tumores avançados. Objetivos: Determinar o índice de mortalidade, co-morbidades, adesão ao tratamento e sobrevida de pacientes portadores de neoplasia maligna de boca atendidos no Núcleo de Prevenção ao Câncer Bucal do Centro de Cancerologia Ulisses Pinto no Hospital da FAP Campina Grande-PB, durante o período compreendido entre 1999 e 2008. Materiais e Métodos: Foi realizada coleta de dados em prontuários de todos os pacientes portadores de neoplasia maligna de boca, diagnosticadas entre 1999 e 2008. Os dados foram submetidos à análise estatística descritiva e aplicado teste qui-quadrado e de correlação de Pearson, considerando significantes valores de p&#8804;0,05.Resultados: Do total da amostra de 473 casos de câncer bucal foi observado que 62,71% eram do gênero masculino, com idade média de 65,5±13 e 59,96% dos indivíduos eram leucodermas (59,96%). O carcinoma espinocelular foi o tipo histológico mais prevalente (86,2%), tendo a língua (29,6%) como principal localização anatômica acometida. A maioria das lesões foi diagnosticada em estádios clínicos III e IV. Foi observada taxa de mortalidade de 25,42%, com tempo de sobrevida médio prevalente entre 6-12 meses. As co-morbidades ocorreram em 51,69% dos pacientes, sendo as mais prevalentes a hipertensão, o diabetes e a depressão. As co-morbidades bucais ocorreram em 52,54% dos pacientes, sendo a xerostomia a mais prevalente com 32%, seguida de mucosite (27,1%) e disfagia (19,5%). Quanto à adesão ao tratamento observou-se que 82,63% aderiram ao tratamento. Houve associação estatisticamente significativos entre as seguintes variáveis: mortalidade e classificação TNM (p=0,026), tipo de tratamento (p=0,027), sobrevida (p=0,000) e com adesão ao tratamento (p=0,000); A taxa de co-morbidade geral teve associação estatisticamente significante com gênero (p=0,034) e com idade (p=0,040); e a adesão ao tratamento teve com idade(p=0,009) e mortalidade (p=0,000). A taxa de sobrevida teve associação estatisticamente significante com a classificação TNM (p=0,026) e mortalidade p=0,000. Conclusão: Diante dos resultados conclui-se que o câncer bucal apresenta elevada taxa de mortalidade e baixa média de sobrevida, sofrendo influência da classificação de tratamento e da classificação TNM; verificou-se elevada prevalência de co-morbidades gerais, sendo hipertensão, diabetes e depressão as mais prevalentes; A prevalência de co-morbidades bucais foi elevada, sendo a xerostomia, a mucosite e a disfagia as mais freqüentes; a maioria dos indivíduos aderiram ao tratamento e esta variável influenciou da taxa de mortalidade e de sobrevida dos pacientes; o tempo de sobrevida dos pacientes sofreu influência das variáveis taxa de mortalidade e classificação TNM