Os sistemas agroflorestais como alternativa de sustentabilidade em ecossistemas de várzea no Amazonas.

Os sistemas agroflorestais (SAFs) representam uma alternativa agroecológica de produção, sob regime sustentável, para os agricultores familiares na várzea dos Rios Solimões/Amazonas, principalmente no que se refere ao manejo florestal, à diversidade de produtos e à geração de renda. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi compreender as diferentes formas de apropriação e de manejo dos recursos naturais através dos SAFs, nos subsistemas roça, sítio e lagos, como componente para a sustentabilidade dos agricultores familiares da localidade Costa da Terra Nova, município do Careiro da Várzea, Amazonas. O método empregado foi o Estudo de Caso com aplicação de questionários, entrevistas e observação participante. A produção familiar na Costa da Terra Nova é representada pelos SAFs, constituído pelos os subsistemas: roça quintal e lago, que proporcionam produtos tanto para subsistência quanto para comercialização local, e estabelecendo a agricultura como fundamental atividade na localidade. O principal produto para comercialização é obtido das hortaliças cultivadas na época da vazante no subsistema roça nas comunidades São Francisco e Nossa Senhora da Conceição; e do extrativismo pesqueiro no subsistema lago, na época da cheia, principalmente na comunidade São José. A criação de animal se dá no subsistema sítio e é apenas para subsistência, sendo as aves e os suínos os principais animais domésticos criados nas três comunidades. Portanto os SAFs tradicionais, constituídos pelos subsistemas, roça, sitio e lago, são responsáveis pela sustentabilidade socioeconômica da localidade pesquisada, servindo, como alternativa agrícola melhor adaptada às condições locais das áreas de várzea na Amazônia

Limits on the gravity wave contribution to microwave anisotropies

We present limits on the fraction of large angle microwave anisotropies which could come from tensor perturbations. We use the COBE results as well as smaller scale CMB observations, measurements of galaxy correlations, abundances of galaxy clusters, and Lyman alpha absorption cloud statistics. Our aim is to provide conservative limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio for standard inflationary models. For power-law inflation, for example, we find T/S<0.52 at 95% confidence, with a similar constraint for phi^p potentials. However, for models with tensor amplitude unrelated to the scalar spectral index it is still currently possible to have T/S>1.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. Calculations extended to blue spectral index, Fig. 6 added, discussion of results expande

Análise da dinâmica de fragmentos florestais no município de Carandaí, MG, para fins de restauração florestal

A busca de conhecimento sobre fragmentos florestais nas propriedades rurais permite a aplicação de uma correta gestão agroambiental, favorecendo a sua conservação e restauração em áreas degradadas. Utilizando os softwares SPRING e FRAGSTATS, caracterizou-se a paisagem, com ênfase nos fragmentos de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual Secundária, localizada no Município de Carandaí, MG, e região de entorno, considerando sua evolução durante o período de 1984 a 2007. Concluiu-se que ocorreu aumento de quase 8% na área total de floresta nativa devido ao surgimento de 46 novos fragmentos, e a área individual de cada fragmento apresentou tendência de redução (31,9 para 30,6 ha), o que proporcionou aumento da densidade de borda (17,1 para 19,7 m/ha), diminuindo a porcentagem de cada fragmento, que é a área central (33,8 para 30,2%) durante o intervalo de tempo avaliado. Apesar da vantagem de predominância de fragmentos de forma geométrica simples (índice de forma médio de 1,738), com redução do efeito de borda, a qualidade da paisagem apresentou-se comprometida, por ser constituída predominantemente por pequenos fragmentos. Os fragmentos florestais mostraram-se ainda muito distanciados entre si (mais que 200 m), apresentando pequena tendência de aglomeração (reflexo do aumento no número de fragmentos), porém ainda insuficiente. Portanto, apesar de a cobertura de floresta nativa ter apresentado aumento de área total, de modo geral esta perdeu em qualidade no intervalo de tempo estudado. Essas informações podem ser utilizadas para uma gestão ambiental correta quanto ao manejo florestal nessa região.The knowledge on forest patches in rural properties allows the application of a correct environmental administration, promoting their conservation and restoration in degraded areas. By using the softwares SPRING and FRAGSTATS, the landscape was characterized with emphasis on the patches of secondary Seasonal Semidecidual Forest, located in the municipal district of Carandaí, MG, and the area around it, considering its evolution from the period of 1984 to 2007. It could be concluded that progressive increase in the total area of native forest occurred due to the appearance of new patches, and the individual area of each patch presented reduction tendency, what provided increase of the edge area, reducing the percentage of each patch which is the core area during the gap of the evaluated time. Despite the advantage of predominance of patches in simple geometric ways, with reduction of the edge effect, the quality of the landscape got threatened because it was predominantly constituted by small patches. The forest patches were still so distant one from the others (more than 200 meters), presenting small gathering tendency (result of the increase of the number of patches), however, still insufficient. Therefore, although the covering of native forest has presented increase of total area, in general, it lost in quality in the gap of the time considered

Study protocol for the multicentre cohorts of Zika virus infection in pregnant women, infants, and acute clinical cases in Latin America and the Caribbean: The ZIKAlliance consortium

Background: The European Commission (EC) Horizon 2020 (H2020)-funded ZIKAlliance Consortium designed a multicentre study including pregnant women (PW), children (CH) and natural history (NH) cohorts. Clinical sites were selected over a wide geographic range within Latin America and the Caribbean, taking into account the dynamic course of the ZIKV epidemic. Methods: Recruitment to the PW cohort will take place in antenatal care clinics. PW will be enrolled regardless of symptoms and followed over the course of pregnancy, approximately every 4 weeks. PW will be revisited at delivery (or after miscarriage/abortion) to assess birth outcomes, including microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities according to the evolving definition of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). After birth, children will be followed for 2 years in the CH cohort. Follow-up visits are scheduled at ages 1-3, 4-6, 12, and 24 months to assess neurocognitive and developmental milestones. In addition, a NH cohort for the characterization of symptomatic rash/fever illness was designed, including follow-up to capture persisting health problems. Blood, urine, and other biological materials will be collected, and tested for ZIKV and other relevant arboviral diseases (dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever) using RT-PCR or serological methods. A virtual, decentralized biobank will be created. Reciprocal clinical monitoring has been established between partner sites. Substudies of ZIKV seroprevalence, transmissio

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362