Genes Suggest Ancestral Colour Polymorphisms Are Shared across Morphologically Cryptic Species in Arctic Bumblebees

email Suzanne orcd idCopyright: © 2015 Williams et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Extreme Food-Plant Specialisation in Megabombus Bumblebees as a Product of Long Tongues Combined with Short Nesting Seasons

© 2015 Huang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The attached file is the published version of the article

Proposta para o compartilhamento de informações sobre o cuidado obstétrico entre a rede de atenção básica e a maternidade

Introduction: With the growing informatization of assistantial processes in all levels of healthcare, communication between computerized systems for data exchange regarding the assistance provided in each institution is necessary. For pregnant women, the significance of this interaction becomes even more evident since the timely and safe access to data on prenatal care can be one of the determinants of pregnancy success at the time of birth. However, in order for the exchange of clinical information to be effective, promoting continuity of care, the adoption of standards becomes fundamental to ensure semantic and syntactic coherence between systems. Objective: Propose a model of essential clinical records on prenatal care to support the communication between the basic care network and maternity in emergency care, using information systems. Methods: The present study is characterized as applied and exploratory research, in which medical experts raise indispensable information for decision-making in the obstetrical emergency scenario. A documentary research assessment investigated 90 existent clinical documents of a maternity clinic, aiming to enrich the model proposed by the specialists and to understand how health professionals perform the clinical registry in an information system. Results: A structured and validated Model of Information, with 56 data inputs, organized in 9 sections, was developed by the specialists. The documentary research revealed substantial fragility in the studied documents, with intense use of acronyms and abbreviations, a succession of spelling errors, and a frequent lack of completeness of information. Conclusion: The development and continuous use of health information systems, prepared to interoperate with each other, are priorities in reinforcing the transfer of care in the healthcare network. In this context, the standardization of clinical information is considered an emerging necessity. This study is expected to contribute with a standardized clinical document on prenatal care, capable of supporting obstetric decision-making and enabling the information continuity of maternal-infant care.Introdução: Com a crescente informatização dos processos assistenciais em todos os níveis de atenção à saúde, faz-se necessária a comunicação entre os sistemas informatizados para a troca de dados referentes ao cuidado prestado em cada instituição. Para uma gestante, a importância desta comunicação torna-se ainda mais evidente, pois o acesso oportuno e seguro aos dados sobre a assistência pré-natal pode ser um dos determinantes do sucesso da gravidez no momento do nascimento. Entretanto, para que o compartilhamento de informações clínicas seja eficaz, promovendo a continuidade do cuidado, a adoção de padrões se torna fundamental para garantir coerência semântica e sintática entre os sistemas. Objetivo: Propor um modelo de registros clínicos essenciais sobre o cuidado pré-natal para apoiar a comunicação entre a rede de atenção básica e a maternidade, em atendimento de urgência, por meio de sistemas de informação. Métodos: Este estudo caracteriza-se por uma pesquisa aplicada e exploratória, a qual médicos especialistas de domínio levantaram as informações indispensáveis para a tomada de decisão no cenário de urgência obstétrica. Uma pesquisa documental explorou 90 documentos clínicos reais de uma maternidade, com o objetivo de enriquecer o modelo proposto pelos especialistas e conhecer a forma como os profissionais de saúde realizam o registro clínico em um sistema de informação. Resultados: Foi construído um Modelo de Informação estruturado e validado pelos especialistas, com 56 entradas de dados, organizadas em 9 seções. A pesquisa documental revelou enorme fragilidade nos documentos analisados, com intensa utilização de siglas e abreviaturas, sucessão de erros de ortografia e frequente falta de completude da informação. Conclusão: O desenvolvimento e a utilização contínua de sistemas de informação em saúde, preparados para interoperar entre si, são prioridades para fortalecer a transferência do cuidado entre a rede de atenção à saúde. Neste contexto, a padronização das informações clínicas é uma necessidade emergente. Espera-se contribuir com um documento clínico padronizado sobre a assistência pré-natal, capaz de apoiar a tomada de decisão obstétrica e viabilizar a continuidade informacional do cuidado maternoinfantil

Aged garlic has more potent antiglycation and antioxidant properties compared to fresh garlic extract in vitro

Protein glycation involves formation of early (Amadori) and late advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) together with free radicals via autoxidation of glucose and Amadori products. Glycation and increased free radical activity underlie the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. This study investigated whether aged garlic has more potent antiglycation and antioxidant properties compared to fresh garlic extract in vitro in a cell-free system. Proteins were glycated by incubation with sugars (glucose, methylglyoxal or ribose) ±5–15 mg/mL of aged and fresh garlic extracts. Advanced glycation endproducts were measured using SDS-PAGE gels and by ELISA whereas Amadori products were assessed by the fructosamine method. Colorimetric methods were used to assess antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging capacity, protein-bound carbonyl groups, thiol groups and metal chelation activities in addition to phenolic, total flavonoid and flavonol content of aged and fresh garlic extracts. Aged garlic inhibited AGEs by 56.4% compared to 33.5% for an equivalent concentration of fresh garlic extract. Similarly, aged garlic had a higher total phenolic content (129 ± 1.8 mg/g) compared to fresh garlic extract (56 ± 1.2 mg/g). Aged garlic has more potent antiglycation and antioxidant properties compared to fresh garlic extract and is more suitable for use in future in vivo studies

Recent acquisition of Helicobacter pylori by Baka Pygmies

Both anatomically modern humans and the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori originated in Africa, and both species have been associated for at least 100,000 years. Seven geographically distinct H. pylori populations exist, three of which are indigenous to Africa: hpAfrica1, hpAfrica2, and hpNEAfrica. The oldest and most divergent population, hpAfrica2, evolved within San hunter-gatherers, who represent one of the deepest branches of the human population tree. Anticipating the presence of ancient H. pylori lineages within all hunter-gatherer populations, we investigated the prevalence and population structure of H. pylori within Baka Pygmies in Cameroon. Gastric biopsies were obtained by esophagogastroduodenoscopy from 77 Baka from two geographically separated populations, and from 101 non-Baka individuals from neighboring agriculturalist populations, and subsequently cultured for H. pylori. Unexpectedly, Baka Pygmies showed a significantly lower H. pylori infection rate (20.8%) than non-Baka (80.2%). We generated multilocus haplotypes for each H. pylori isolate by DNA sequencing, but were not able to identify Baka-specific lineages, and most isolates in our sample were assigned to hpNEAfrica or hpAfrica1. The population hpNEAfrica, a marker for the expansion of the Nilo-Saharan language family, was divided into East African and Central West African subpopulations. Similarly, a new hpAfrica1 subpopulation, identified mainly among Cameroonians, supports eastern and western expansions of Bantu languages. An age-structured transmission model shows that the low H. pylori prevalence among Baka Pygmies is achievable within the timeframe of a few hundred years and suggests that demographic factors such as small population size and unusually low life expectancy can lead to the eradication of H. pylori from individual human populations. The Baka were thus either H. pylori-free or lost their ancient lineages during past demographic fluctuations. Using coalescent simulations and phylogenetic inference, we show that Baka almost certainly acquired their extant H. pylori through secondary contact with their agriculturalist neighbors

A comunicação de valores éticos na interação entre público e organizações: um estudo das postagens da Vale sobre o caso de Brumadinho

Este texto delineia algumas relações entre ética, comunicação e crise organizacional a partir do estudo de vinte postagens e interações da empresa Vale na rede LinkedIn referentes ao rompimento da barragem de Brumadinho-MG, em 2019, publicadas entre janeiro e julho desse ano. A análise indica que os valores comunicados se modificam de acordo com a cronologia dos acontecimentos e as interações do público: (1) no momento do evento, ressaltam-se a preservação da vida, a apuração dos fatos e ações de resgate; (2) conforme mais informações circulam nas semanas seguintes, destaca-se o reconhecimento da responsabilidade; (3) dois meses depois, retoma-se a divulgação dos valores da empresa como funamento para evitar acontecimentos semelhantes. Esses resultados são discutidos a partir das pesquisas sobre ética e comunicação organizacional

Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals’ movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyze a global dataset of ∼2.8 million locations from >2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared with more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal microhabitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise, and declining oxygen content

Is there a role for melatonin in fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia, characterised by persistent pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and cognitive dysfunction, is a central sensitivity syndrome that also involves abnormality in peripheral generators and in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Heterogeneity of clinical expression of fibromyalgia with a multifactorial aetiology has made the development of effective therapeutic strategies challenging. Physiological properties of the neurohormone melatonin appear related to the symptom profile exhibited by patients with fibromyalgia and thus disturbance of it’s production would be compatible with the pathophysiology. Altered levels of melatonin have been observed in patients with fibromyalgia which are associated with lower secretion during dark hours and higher secretion during daytime. However, inconsistencies of available clinical evidence limit conclusion of a relationship between levels of melatonin and symptom profiles in patients with fibromyalgia. Administration of melatonin to patients with fibromyalgia has demonstrated suppression of many symptoms and an improved quality of life consistent with benefit as a therapy for the management of this condition. Further studies with larger samples, however, are required to explore the potential role of melatonin in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia and determine the optimal dosing regimen of melatonin for the management of fibromyalgia