Colonization of Pomacea haustrum (Reeve, 1856) at localility with Schistosomiasis mansoni: Baldim, MG (Brazil)

In the region of Baldim, MG (Brazil) - a well-known Schistosoma mansoni endemic area where transmission control had already been unsuccessfully attempted through molluscicide, sanitary education and clinical treatment - 5,421 specimens of Pomacea haustrum (Prosobranchia, Pilidae) were introduced into 5 brooks and 2 ditches where Biomphalaria glabrata (primarily) and B. straminea (secondarily) predominated. From 1968 to 1971, the infection rate of B. glabrata by S. mansoni ranged from 2.1% to 11.9%. None of the B. straminea specimens collected, however, were seen to be liberating cercariae of this trematode. After the introduction of Pilidae, only once were two positive B. glabrata specimens (1.8%) detected. A decrease in the planorbide population was observed, as well as an increase in the pomacea density to 20.0 and 121.6 specimens per square meter in the brooks and ditches, respectively. P. haustrum density was estimated by the "quadrat" method. Of the planorbides in the experiment, 65.2% (1,526) were collected from July/68 to July/72 and the rest were obtained after the introduction of the predator-competitor species, as follows: 15.0% (352) in 1976; 16.1% (377) in 1977; and 3.7% (87) in 1978. Although transferred from a lenitic medium (Sete Lagoas, MG), the pomaceae became perfectly adapted to the lotic collections of Baldim, and proved to be capable of replacing the original B. glabrata populations of several biotopes or, at least, of becoming predominant, with no damage to the new ecosystems. Based on the data presented above and the knowledge previously acquired in the study of the biology and ecology of the species, it is believed that, under similar conditions, Pomacea haustrum (Reeve, 1856) - and, by extension, P. lineata (Spix, 1827) and P. canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822), as well as other species from the same genus - may be successfully used in the biological control of the intermediate hosts of S. mansoni.Na localidade de Baldim, MG, Brasil, foram introduzidos, em agosto de 1972, 5.421 exemplares de Pomacea haustrum (Prosobranchia, Pilidae) em 5 córregos e 2 valas, nos quais predominavam Biomphalaria glabrata (Say, 1818) e, secundariamente, B. straminea (Dunker, 1848). Entre 1968 e 1971, os índices de infecção da espécie B. glabrata por Schistosoma mansoni oscilaram de 2,1% a 11,9%. Em nenhum momento foram capturados B. straminea liberando cercárias daquele trematódeo. Após a introdução do pilídeo, apenas uma única vez detectou-se 2 (0,8%) B. glabrata positivas. Observou-se decréscimo populacional de planorbineos e aumento de densidade de pomácea até 20,0 e 121,6 exemplares/m² em córregos e valas, respectivamente. A estimativa da densidade de F. haustrum foi feita através do método dos "quadrats". Foram coletados, de junho de 1968 a julho de 1972, 65,2% (1.526) dos planorbíneos. Porém, após a introdução do predador-competidor, foram registrados os seguintes dados: 1976, 15% (352); em 1977, 16,1% (377) e, em 1978, apenas 3,7% (87) do total dos exemplares capturados. As pomáceas, transferidas do ambiente lenítico (Sete Lagoas, MG), adaptaram-se às coleções lóticas de Baldim e foram capazes de substituir as populações originais de B. glabrata em vários biótopos, ou tornaram-se, pelo menos, dominantes, sem danos visíveis para os novos ecossistemas. Acredita-se que em outras situações análogas, Pomacea haustrum (Reeve, 1956) - e, por extensão, P. lineata (Spix, 1827), P. canaliculata (Lamark, 1822) e outras do mesmo táxon - poderão ser utilizadas, com sucesso, no controle biológico dos hospedeiros intermediários de Schistosoma mansoni

Arquitectura de Analítica de Big Data para Aplicaciones de Ciberseguridad

The technological and social changes in the  cur- rent information age pose new challenges for security analysts. Novel strategies and security solutions are sought to improve security operations concerning the detection and analysis of security threats and attacks. Security analysts address security challenges by analyzing large amounts of data from server logs, communication equipment, security solutions, and blogs related to information security in different structured and unstructured formats. In this paper, we examine the application of big data to support some security activities and conceptual models to generate knowledge that can be used for the decision making or automation of security response action. Concretely, we present a massive data processing methodology and introduce  a  big data architecture devised for cybersecurity applications. This architecture identifies anomalous behavior patterns and trends to anticipate cybersecurity attacks characterized as relatively random, spontaneous, and out of the ordinary.Los cambios tecnológicos y  sociales  en  la  era de la información actual plantean nuevos desafíos para los analistas de seguridad. Se buscan nuevas estrategias y soluciones de seguridad para mejorar las operaciones de seguridad relacionadas con la detección y análisis de amenazas y ataques a la seguridad. Los analistas de seguridad abordan los desafíos de seguridad al analizar grandes cantidades de datos de registros de servidores, equipos de comunicación, soluciones de seguridad y blogs relacionados con la seguridad de la información en diferentes formatos estructurados y no estructurados. En este artículo, se examina la aplicación de big data para respaldar algunas actividades de seguridad y modelos conceptuales para generar conocimiento que se pueda utilizar  para  la  toma de decisiones o la  automatización  de  la  acción  de  respuesta de seguridad. En concreto, se presenta una metodología de procesamiento   masivo   de   datos    y   se   introduce una arquitectura  de  big   data  ideada   para   aplicaciones de ciberseguridad. Esta arquitectura identifica patrones de comportamiento anómalos y tendencias para anticipar ataques de ciberseguridad caracterizados como relativamente aleatorios, espontáneos y fuera de lo común

Alguns dados bioecológicos de Pomacea haustrum (Reeve, 1856), predador-competidor de hospedeiros intermediários de Schistosoma mansoni Sambon, 1907

Observations carried out in the laboratory and the field (Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil) offered the following biological and ecological informations Pomacea haustrum (Reeve, 1853), mollusk pilid, predator and competitor of Schistosoma mansoni intermediary host.Foram feitas observações no laboratório e no campo, em Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, com a finalidade de se obter informações biológicas e ecológicas sobre Pomacea haustrum (Reeve, 1856), molusco pilídeo, competidor-predador de hospedeiros intermediários de Schistosoma mansoni Sambon 1907

Susceptibilidade de Biomphalaria tenagophila (d'Orbigny, 1835), de Itajubá (MG), à infecção pela cepa "LE" de Schistosoma mansoni Sambon, 1907, de Belo Horizonte, MG (Brasil)

Infecções experimentais de descendentes de Biomphalaria tenagophila de Itajubá, MG (Brasil) foram realizadas utilizando-se a conhecida cepa "LE" de Schistosoma mansoni, isolada em Belo Horizonte. Como controle, utilizou-se B. glabrata de Belo Horizonte, MG. Em conseqüência, assinalou-se, pela primeira vez, a infecção de B. tenagophila de Itajubá, à cepa de S. mansoni adaptada à B. glabrata de Belo Horizonte. Isto é, ao final do experimento, 5 (3,3%) entre os 149 exemplares sobreviventes, infectaram-se. Face ao atual surto industrial da região, com grande aporte de migrantes, foi chamada a atenção para a necessidade de medidas profiláticas, em decorrência da possibilidade de instalação de foco da doença no Sul de Minas Gerais.Descendents of Biomphalaria tenagophila from Minas Gerais, Brazil were experimentally infected with the Schistosoma mansoni. B. glabrata from Belo Horizonte was used as control. The "LE" strain of S. mansoni used in both cases was isolated in Belo Horizonte. B. tenagophila from Itajubá was shown, for the first time, to be susceptible to the strain of S. mansoni adapted to B. glabrata from Belo Horizonte. A 3.3% infection rate was observed, i.e., 5 of the 149 specimen which survived until the end of the experiment were infected

estudos artísticos

Há cegueira nos pintores? A escuta e revisitação dos trabalhos que nos antecedem permite acrescentar riqueza ao presente e ao alargar as opções para as intervenções do futuro. Este é um desígnio que nos importa onde a educação artística se entrecruza com a história da arte, na perspetiva de um passado que aos criadores é uma parte do seu corpo. A arte significa-se e ressignifica-se a cada resgate de uma obra perdida, a cada descoberta de um autor menos conhecido. Há capítulos que se reabrem depois da publicação alargada de um corpus desconhecido – veja-se o caso de Claude Cahun (Doy, 2007), que possibilitou um novo entendimento dos temas de género e da autorrepresentação na arte contemporânea. Esta é uma opção de resgate, de reconhecimento, para procurar sentidos desconhecidos ou mais ou menos esquecidos. Também é uma opção que experimenta a reflexão mais demorada, recusando a política fast fashion de alguns sectores que tomam as artes como um dos apartados da secção de tendências. As obras pedem maturação, tempo para produzir efeito, latência para uma disseminação eficiente. É este o sentido dos 17 artigos selecionados para o número 7 da Revista Gama, estudos artísticos: dar a conhecer, pela voz dos próprios agentes criadores, obras e autores que é preciso visitar, reaprender, reconhecer. Reuniram-se aqui algumas possibilidades de reconhecimento, autores desconhecidos, obras agora reveladas, inéditos que são divulgados. Lança-se pontes para conhecer o percurso de autores como Villari Herrmann, Edgard da Rocha Miranda, Raymonde Carasco, Armínio Kaiser, António Alfredo, Roberto Rodrigues, entre outros autores e outras obras. Após o livro de Júlio Pomar (1986) Da cegueira dos pintores, encontramos uma justificação da Revista Gama: lançar o olhar de artistas, um olhar plástico, operativo, sobre as obras de outros artistas, para um retomar do seu conhecimento.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Lidar Observations in South America. Part I - Mesosphere and Stratosphere

South America covers a large area of the globe and plays a fundamental function in its climate change, geographical features, and natural resources. However, it still is a developing area, and natural resource management and energy production are far from a sustainable framework, impacting the air quality of the area and needs much improvement in monitoring. There are significant activities regarding laser remote sensing of the atmosphere at different levels for different purposes. Among these activities, we can mention the mesospheric probing of sodium measurements and stratospheric monitoring of ozone, and the study of wind and gravity waves. Some of these activities are long-lasting and count on the support from the Latin American Lidar Network (LALINET). We intend to pinpoint the most significant scientific achievements and show the potential of carrying out remote sensing activities in the continent and show its correlations with other earth science connections and synergies. In Part I of this chapter, we will present an overview and significant results of lidar observations in the mesosphere and stratosphere. Part II will be dedicated to tropospheric observations

Measuring universal health coverage based on an index of effective coverage of health services in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) involves all people receiving the health services they need, of high quality, without experiencing financial hardship. Making progress towards UHC is a policy priority for both countries and global institutions, as highlighted by the agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO's Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13). Measuring effective coverage at the health-system level is important for understanding whether health services are aligned with countries' health profiles and are of sufficient quality to produce health gains for populations of all ages. Methods Based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, we assessed UHC effective coverage for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. Drawing from a measurement framework developed through WHO's GPW13 consultation, we mapped 23 effective coverage indicators to a matrix representing health service types (eg, promotion, prevention, and treatment) and five population-age groups spanning from reproductive and newborn to older adults (≥65 years). Effective coverage indicators were based on intervention coverage or outcome-based measures such as mortality-to-incidence ratios to approximate access to quality care; outcome-based measures were transformed to values on a scale of 0–100 based on the 2·5th and 97·5th percentile of location-year values. We constructed the UHC effective coverage index by weighting each effective coverage indicator relative to its associated potential health gains, as measured by disability-adjusted life-years for each location-year and population-age group. For three tests of validity (content, known-groups, and convergent), UHC effective coverage index performance was generally better than that of other UHC service coverage indices from WHO (ie, the current metric for SDG indicator 3.8.1 on UHC service coverage), the World Bank, and GBD 2017. We quantified frontiers of UHC effective coverage performance on the basis of pooled health spending per capita, representing UHC effective coverage index levels achieved in 2019 relative to country-level government health spending, prepaid private expenditures, and development assistance for health. To assess current trajectories towards the GPW13 UHC billion target—1 billion more people benefiting from UHC by 2023—we estimated additional population equivalents with UHC effective coverage from 2018 to 2023. Findings Globally, performance on the UHC effective coverage index improved from 45·8 (95% uncertainty interval 44·2–47·5) in 1990 to 60·3 (58·7–61·9) in 2019, yet country-level UHC effective coverage in 2019 still spanned from 95 or higher in Japan and Iceland to lower than 25 in Somalia and the Central African Republic. Since 2010, sub-Saharan Africa showed accelerated gains on the UHC effective coverage index (at an average increase of 2·6% [1·9–3·3] per year up to 2019); by contrast, most other GBD super-regions had slowed rates of progress in 2010–2019 relative to 1990–2010. Many countries showed lagging performance on effective coverage indicators for non-communicable diseases relative to those for communicable diseases and maternal and child health, despite non-communicable diseases accounting for a greater proportion of potential health gains in 2019, suggesting that many health systems are not keeping pace with the rising non-communicable disease burden and associated population health needs. In 2019, the UHC effective coverage index was associated with pooled health spending per capita (r=0·79), although countries across the development spectrum had much lower UHC effective coverage than is potentially achievable relative to their health spending. Under maximum efficiency of translating health spending into UHC effective coverage performance, countries would need to reach $1398 pooled health spending per capita (US$ adjusted for purchasing power parity) in order to achieve 80 on the UHC effective coverage index. From 2018 to 2023, an estimated 388·9 million (358·6–421·3) more population equivalents would have UHC effective coverage, falling well short of the GPW13 target of 1 billion more people benefiting from UHC during this time. Current projections point to an estimated 3·1 billion (3·0–3·2) population equivalents still lacking UHC effective coverage in 2023, with nearly a third (968·1 million [903·5–1040·3]) residing in south Asia. Interpretation The present study demonstrates the utility of measuring effective coverage and its role in supporting improved health outcomes for all people—the ultimate goal of UHC and its achievement. Global ambitions to accelerate progress on UHC service coverage are increasingly unlikely unless concerted action on non-communicable diseases occurs and countries can better translate health spending into improved performance. Focusing on effective coverage and accounting for the world's evolving health needs lays the groundwork for better understanding how close—or how far—all populations are in benefiting from UHC