Modelação de pradarias marinhas intertidais numa laguna costeira mesotidal

Seagrass meadows are important habitats of marine plants, adapted to the colonization of coastal and estuarine environments, which provide important functions within the ecosystem. The remarkable decline of seagrass meadows at regional/local (Ria de Aveiro) and global scales has presented however negative implications for the sustainability of the ecosystems where they follow this trend. In this context, the main objective of this work was to improve the present knowledge about seagrass dynamics in the Ria de Aveiro, from a multidisciplinary viewpoint (experimental data collection and treatment and numerical modelling), as well as to anticipate potential changes at the system level in these communities. Therefore, it is intended to contribute to the promotion of adequate management and conservation strategies to minimize its decline and enhance its recovery. From the application of a conceptual DSPIR framework (Drivers-Pressures-State-Impacts- Responses), the results pointed that gradual changes in hydrodynamic characteristics are the basis of the local decline of these communities, presently colonized by monospecific intertidal meadows of Zostera noltei. The scarce availability of seagrass models is even more prominent when dealing with intertidal communities, subject to alternating periods of exposure to air and submergence. As so, the inherent peculiarities of intertidal seagrass Z. noltei communities were investigated, showing a greater influence of the sedimentary characteristics on the relative water content of the plant, rather than the air exposure time. Afterwards, it was developed a seagrass biological model together with a desiccation model of the plant, in order to suppress the previously identified gap, both of which were later coupled to the water quality model (Delft3D-WAQ). The numerical model was calibrated using experimental data collected in the study area (Mira Channel), showing a reliable reproduction of the state variables described by means of above and belowground biomass. However, the present set up needs to be improved, namely in what regards sedimentplant interface and internal nutrient dynamics, before it can be applied to other systems with similar challenges. The performance of the numerical model was analysed through different methodologies that presented divergent results, which suggests the application of further approaches for a robust conclusion. A sensitivity analysis was computed, showing that the parameters used to describe the dependence of the ambient temperature (water and air) are the most sensitive, suggesting that these should be particularly addressed in future experimental surveys, by increasing the frequency of the in situ measurements. Two exploratory simulations of extreme event, extreme river flow and heat-wave, respectively showed a decrease in the favourable conditions for seagrass presence, according to the water velocity and salinity; and clear negative impacts on seagrass growth. Following a prospective viewpoint, different evolutionary scenarios to the future, resulting from the foreseen climate change, were set according to the more and less pessimistic projection (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). The numerical model projections pointed out for a noticeable loss of colonised areas by seagrass (between around 30 and 70%, respectively) compared to the present situation. The multiple stressors analysed generally showed a synergistic effect on the loss of the relative area of seagrass, compared to the isolated sum of each of the factors, which highlights the complex and intrinsic relations established between them. The areas colonized by seagrass meadows that showed greater resilience, to the two simulated climate change scenarios, are located in the south and northwest areas of the central lagoon. The spatial distribution of the anomalies between the reference and the climate change scenarios, showed no uniform pattern of variation, occurring areas with descreased favourable conditions for seagrass presence, but also some areas that verified an improvement of these conditions. For a more effective and holistic approach to the natural evolution and modelling of these systems, a wider spatial and temporal coverage of biotic and abiotic descriptors of these communities should be performed. Moreover, the overview of the ongoing and forthcoming anthropogenic actions must also be included, in the context of the socio-economic development of the region, as well as the framework of the future scenarios in the scope of climate change (temporal scale referred to the end of the century). As so, the management actions can be implemented to promote the resilience of these habitats and assure the services provided by the ecosystem.As pradarias marinhas constituem importantes habitats de plantas superiores, adaptadas à colonização de ambientes costeiros e estuarinos, que desempenham importantes funções nestes ecossistemas. O seu declínio acentuado verificado a escalas regionais/locais (Ria de Aveiro) e globais tem, no entanto, apresentado implicações nefastas para a sustentabilidade dos ecossistemas onde estão inseridas. Neste contexto, o objectivo principal deste trabalho consistiu em aprofundar o conhecimento presente da dinâmica das pradarias marinhas na Ria de Aveiro, sob o ponto de vista multidisciplinar (colheita e tratamento de dados experimentais e modelação numérica), bem como prever as potenciais alterações ao nível do sistema nestas comunidades. Desta forma, pretende-se contribuir para a promoção de estratégias de conservação adequadas para minimizar o seu declínio e potenciar a sua recuperação. Partindo da aplicação de um modelo conceptual DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures- State-Impacts-Responses), concluiu-se que as alterações graduais nas características hidrodinâmicas estão na base do declínio local destas comunidades, presentemente colonizadas por pradarias monoespecíficas intertidais de Zostera noltei. A escassez de modelos numéricos de pradaria é acentuada, sendo ainda mais proeminente quando se tratam de comunidades intertidais, sujeitas a períodos alternados de exposição ao ar e submersão. Desta forma, as particularidades inerentes às comunidades de pradarias intertidais foram investigadas, mostrando maior influência das características sedimentares no teor relativo de água da planta, em detrimento do tempo de exposição ao ar. Posteriormente, foi desenvolvido um modelo biológico de pradaria, juntamente com um modelo de dessecação da planta, com vista a suprimir a lacuna previamente identificada, sendo ambos posteriormente acoplados ao modelo de qualidade da água (Delft3D-WAQ). Utilizando os dados experimentais colhidos na área de estudo (Canal de Mira) calibrou-se o modelo numérico, tendo-se verificado uma reprodução fiável das variáveis-estado descritas pela biomassa aérea e subterrânea. Porém, a presente configuração requer melhorias adicionais, nomeadamente no que respeita à interface sedimento-planta e dinâmica interna de nutrientes, previamente a ser passível de ser aplicado a outros sistemas com desafios semelhantes. O desempenho do modelo numérico foi analisado por diferentes metodologias que apresentaram resultados divergentes, o que sugere a necessidade de desenvolvimento e aplicação de metodologias adicionais para uma conclusão robusta. Foi realizada uma análise de sensibilidade, que permitiu aferir que os parâmetros usados para descrever a dependência da temperatura ambiente (água e ar) são os mais sensíveis. Deste modo, salienta-se a sua potencial importância e sugere-se a sua consideração em planeamentos experimentais futuros com maior frequência de amostragem nas medições in situ. Numa abordagem exploratória, simularam-se dois eventos extremos, caudal fluvial extremo e onda de calor, tendo os resultados apresentado, respectivamente, uma diminuição das condições favoráveis para a presença de pradarias em termos de velocidade da corrente e salinidade, e um claro decréscimo no crescimento da planta. Seguindo uma abordagem prospectiva, estabeleceram-se diferentes cenários evolutivos para o futuro, resultantes das expectáveis alterações climáticas, de acordo com a projecção mais e menos pessimista (RCP 4.5 e RCP 8.5). As previsões numéricas obtidas indicam uma perda acentuada de áreas colonizadas por pradarias marinhas (entre aproximadamente 30 e 70%, respectivamente) comparativamente à situação presente. As áreas colonizadas por pradarias que mostraram uma maior resiliência, nos dois cenários de alterações climáticas, situam-se na zona sul e noroeste da laguna central. Na análise espacial da anomalia entre o cenário de referência e de alterações climáticas, não se verificou um padrão uniforme, havendo áreas que apresentam um decréscimo nas condições favoráveis para a presença de pradarias marinhas, simultaneamente à ocorrência de áreas que apontam para um melhoramento das mesmas condições. Para uma abordagem mais efectiva e holística da evolução natural e modelação destes sistemas, deve considerar-se uma maior cobertura espacial e temporal dos descritores bióticos e abióticos destas comunidades. Deve ser ainda incluído o levantamento das actividades antropogénicas decorrentes e previstas no contexto do desenvolvimento socio-económico da região (escala temporal até meio do século), e ainda, deve ser feito o enquadramento nos cenários futuros no contexto das alterações climáticas (escala temporal até final do século), para que medidas de gestão possam ser implementadas no sentido de promover a resiliência destes habitats, de forma a garantir os serviços prestados.Projecto LAGOONS – FP7/2007-2013; Projecto AquiMap (MAR-02.01.01-FEAMP-0022)Programa Doutoral em Biologi

Mucopolysaccharidosis I, II, and VI: Brief review and guidelines for treatment

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are rare genetic diseases caused by the deficiency of one of the lysosomal enzymes involved in the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) breakdown pathway. This metabolic block leads to the accumulation of GAG in various organs and tissues of the affected patients, resulting in a multisystemic clinical picture, sometimes including cognitive impairment. Until the beginning of the XXI century, treatment was mainly supportive. Bone marrow transplantation improved the natural course of the disease in some types of MPS, but the morbidity and mortality restricted its use to selected cases. The identification of the genes involved, the new molecular biology tools and the availability of animal models made it possible to develop specific enzyme replacement therapies (ERT) for these diseases. At present, a great number of Brazilian medical centers from all regions of the country have experience with ERT for MPS I, II, and VI, acquired not only through patient treatment but also in clinical trials. Taking the three types of MPS together, over 200 patients have been treated with ERT in our country. This document summarizes the experience of the professionals involved, along with the data available in the international literature, bringing together and harmonizing the information available on the management of these severe and progressive diseases, thus disclosing new prospects for Brazilian patients affected by these conditions

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

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

Rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high in-hospital mortality. Alveolar recruitment followed by ventilation at optimal titrated PEEP may reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and improve oxygenation in patients with ARDS, but the effects on mortality and other clinical outcomes remain unknown. This article reports the rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART). Methods/Design: ART is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized (concealed), controlled trial, which aims to determine if maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with ARDS compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). We will enroll adult patients with ARDS of less than 72 h duration. The intervention group will receive an alveolar recruitment maneuver, with stepwise increases of PEEP achieving 45 cmH(2)O and peak pressure of 60 cmH2O, followed by ventilation with optimal PEEP titrated according to the static compliance of the respiratory system. In the control group, mechanical ventilation will follow a conventional protocol (ARDSNet). In both groups, we will use controlled volume mode with low tidal volumes (4 to 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight) and targeting plateau pressure <= 30 cmH2O. The primary outcome is 28-day survival, and the secondary outcomes are: length of ICU stay; length of hospital stay; pneumothorax requiring chest tube during first 7 days; barotrauma during first 7 days; mechanical ventilation-free days from days 1 to 28; ICU, in-hospital, and 6-month survival. ART is an event-guided trial planned to last until 520 events (deaths within 28 days) are observed. These events allow detection of a hazard ratio of 0.75, with 90% power and two-tailed type I error of 5%. All analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: If the ART strategy with maximum recruitment and PEEP titration improves 28-day survival, this will represent a notable advance to the care of ARDS patients. Conversely, if the ART strategy is similar or inferior to the current evidence-based strategy (ARDSNet), this should also change current practice as many institutions routinely employ recruitment maneuvers and set PEEP levels according to some titration method.Hospital do Coracao (HCor) as part of the Program 'Hospitais de Excelencia a Servico do SUS (PROADI-SUS)'Brazilian Ministry of Healt

Alterações na comunidade bentónica intertidal resultantes da cultura das ostras

Mestrado em Biologia Aplicada - Biologia MarinhaO presente trabalho foi desenvolvido numa cultura intertidal de ostras, explorada na Ria de Aveiro (Noroeste de Portugal). O objectivo principal deste estudo consistiu em verificar se a referida actividade induz efeitos, na comunidade de macrofauna bentónica, devidos ao enriquecimento orgânico. A cultura de ostras na Ria de Aveiro é efectuada sobre mesas elevadas e o desenho experimental incluiu áreas de cultura sem ostras (com e sem mesas), áreas com ostras juvenis e áreas com espécimes de maiores dimensões. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que nas áreas com ostras, o sedimento superficial localizado sob as mesas apresentou teor em finos e em matéria orgânica mais elevado, com os valores mais altos de ambos os descritores verificados nas áreas com ostras de maiores dimensões. Nas áreas com ostras de menores dimensões foi também demonstrado que o sedimento superficial localizado sob as mesas de cultura apresentou teor em finos e teor em matéria orgânica mais elevados do que nos corredores entre as mesas. Estes resultados mostraram alterações associadas ao enriquecimento orgânico, sob as mesas de cultura. Os descritores da comunidade bentónica foram testados considerando como hipótese nula a não existência de diferenças significativas entre áreas com diferente enriquecimento orgânico. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que as comunidades bentónicas presentes sob as mesas apresentaram menor diversidade, verificada a partir do decréscimo da riqueza específica e abundância, comparativamente às restantes áreas amostradas. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que a comunidade de macrofauna bentónica e os índices riqueza específica (S) e abundância (A) apresentaram diferenças muito significativas entre áreas com e sem cultura de ostras. No entanto, aquando da utilização dos índices bióticos H’ (diversidade de Shannon), d (riqueza específica de Margalef), 1-λ’ (Simpson), AMBI e M-AMBI, mostrou-se não ser possível evidenciar o empobrecimento da comunidade bentónica, nomeadamente na riqueza específica e abundância, associado ao enriquecimento orgânico resultante da cultura de ostras. Deste modo, a aplicação de índices bióticos deve ser efectuada com precaução em áreas cujo enriquecimento orgânico determina um empobrecimento da macrofauna existente em detrimento de uma alteração ou substituição de espécies.The present work was developed in an intertidal mudflat oyster farm located in Ria de Aveiro, Northwestern Portugal. The aim of this study was to assess if this practice causes organic enrichment upon the benthic community. The oyster culture in Ria de Aveiro is developed off-bottom, with oysters placed above trestles. The experimental design included farm areas where no oysters were introduced (with or without trestles), areas populated with juvenile oysters and other with larger specimens. The results showed that the superficial sediment located under the trestles in areas with oysters presented both higher fines content and organic matter, with the higher values found in areas with the culture of larger oysters. In the areas with smaller oysters, it was also shown that the superficial sediment under the trestles with oysters had a higher fines content and organic matter, in comparison with the corridors between trestles. These results showed effects associated to organic enrichment, under culture trestles. The benthic community descriptors were tested under the null hypothesis of no significant differences between areas with distinct organic enrichment. The results showed that the benthic community living under the trestles with oysters, presented less diversity, which was verified by the decreasing of both species richness and abundance, comparing with the remaining areas. The results obtained revealed that the benthic macrofauna community and the indices species richness (S) and abundance (N) showed very significant differences between areas with and without oyster culture. However, the biotic indices H’ (Shannon diversity), d (Margalef richness), 1-λ’ (Simpson), AMBI and M-AMBI failed to reject the null hypothesis revealing that these indices were not able to show the benthic community impoverishment, namely in species richness and abundance, associated to organic enrichment due to oyster culture. Therefore, special attention must be paid when using biotic indices in areas where the organic enrichment results into a macrofauna impoverishment and not into a species replacement