Mixed pollination system and floral signals of Paepalanthus (Eriocaulaceae): insects and geitonogamy ensure high reproductive success.

Background And Aims: Eriocaulaceae exhibit a great variety of floral traits associated with insect (e.g. nectariferous structures) and wind pollination (unisexual flowers, exposed sexual organs and small pollen grains), as well as the 'selfing syndrome' (small flowers, short distance between stigma and anthers, and temporal overlap of male and female phases).

Unraveling the plant diversity of the Amazonian through DNA barcoding.

The of the Serra dos Carajás, in Eastern Amazon, is home to a unique open plant community, harboring several endemic and rare species. Although a complete flora survey has been recently published, scarce to no genetic information is available for most plant species of the ironstone outcrops of the Serra dos Carajás. In this scenario, DNA barcoding appears as a fast and effective approach to assess the genetic diversity of the Serra dos Carajás flora, considering the growing need for robust biodiversity conservation planning in such an area with industrial mining activities.

Flora of Ferruginous Outcrops Under Climate Change: A Study in the of Carajás (Eastern Amazon).

Climate change has impacted biodiversity, affecting species and altering their geographical distribution. Besides understanding the impact in the species, it has been advocated that answering if different traits will be differently impacted could allow refined predictions of how climate change will jeopardize biodiversity. Our aim was to evaluate if climate change will potentially impact plant species differently, considering their traits.

Plastome-based phylogenomics elucidate relationships in rare Isoëtes species groups from the Neotropics.

The genus Isoëtes is globally distributed. Within the Neotropics, Isoëtes occurs in various habitats and ecosystems, making it an interesting case study to address phylogenetic and biogeographic questions. We sequenced and assembled plastomes and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships in Isoëtes from tropical regions in the Neotropics.

Isolation, Biochemical and Genomic Characterization of Glyphosate Tolerant Bacteria to Perform Microbe-Assisted Phytoremediation.

The large-scale use of the herbicide glyphosate leads to growing ecotoxicological and human health concerns. Microbe-assisted phytoremediation arises as a good option to remove, contain, or degrade glyphosate from soils and waterbodies, and thus avoid further spreading to non-target areas. To achieve this, availability of plant-colonizing, glyphosate-tolerant and -degrading strains is required and at the same time, it must be linked to plant-microorganism interaction studies focusing on a substantive ability to colonize the roots and degrade or transform the herbicide.

Toward an effective use of laser-driven very high energy electrons for radiotherapy: Feasibility assessment of multi-field and intensity modulation irradiation schemes.

Radiotherapy with very high energy electrons has been investigated for a couple of decades as an effective approach to improve dose distribution compared to conventional photon-based radiotherapy, with the recent intriguing potential of high dose-rate irradiation. Its practical application to treatment has been hindered by the lack of hospital-scale accelerators. High-gradient laser-plasma accelerators (LPA) have been proposed as a possible platform, but no experiments so far have explored the feasibility of a clinical use of this concept.

Rediscovering two species in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado after 167 years.

and were the first two species of the genus to be collected from Brazil. was gathered by Richard Spruce in the Amazon basin near Santarém in the state of Pará in 1850. was collected by George Gardner in the current Dianópolis in Tocantins State in 1843.

Mapping and quantification of ferruginous outcrop savannas in the Brazilian Amazon: A challenge for biodiversity conservation.

The eastern Brazilian Amazon contains many isolated ferruginous savanna ecosystem patches (locally known as 'canga vegetation') located on ironstone rocky outcrops on the top of plateaus and ridges, surrounded by tropical rainforests. In the Carajás Mineral Province (CMP), these outcrops contain large iron ore reserves that have been exploited by opencast mining since the 1980s. The canga vegetation is particularly impacted by mining, since the iron ores that occur are associated with this type of vegetation and currently, little is known regarding the extent of canga vegetation patches before mining activities began.

Quillworts from the Amazon: A multidisciplinary populational study on Isoetes serracarajensis and Isoetes cangae.

Isoetes are ancient quillworts members of the only genus of the order Isoetales. The genus is slow evolving but is resilient, and widespread worldwide. Two recently described species occur in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon, Isoetes serracarajensis and Isoetes cangae.

Blind Testing: DNA Barcoding Sheds Light Upon the Identity of Plant Fragments as a Subsidy for Cave Conservation.

Plants living above and around caves represent an important, albeit poorly studied, resource within cave ecosystems. The presence of plant material (root-like structures or rhizothemes, saplings, seeds, and seedlings) correlates positively with the biodiversity of the cave dwelling animals as shown for iron-ore caves in Carajás, Pará, Brazil. Plant material collected in caves has proven to be difficult to identify by traditional botanical methods, thus this research aims to provide a qualitative insight into the taxonomy and morphology of rhizothemes and other plant fragments found in the caves.

Landscape Genomic Conservation Assessment of a Narrow-Endemic and a Widespread Morning Glory From Amazonian Savannas.

Although genetic diversity ultimately determines the ability of organisms to adapt to environmental changes, conservation assessments like the widely used International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Criteria do not explicitly consider genetic information. Including a genetic dimension into the IUCN Red List Criteria would greatly enhance conservation efforts, because the demographic parameters traditionally considered are poor predictors of the evolutionary resilience of natural populations to global change. Here we perform the first genomic assessment of genetic diversity, gene flow, and patterns of local adaptation in tropical plant species belonging to different IUCN Red List Categories.

Effects of short-term hyperoxia on erythropoietin levels and microcirculation in critically Ill patients: a prospective observational pilot study.

Background: The normobaric oxygen paradox states that a short exposure to normobaric hyperoxia followed by rapid return to normoxia creates a condition of 'relative hypoxia' which stimulates erythropoietin (EPO) production. Alterations in glutathione and reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be involved in this process. We tested the effects of short-term hyperoxia on EPO levels and the microcirculation in critically ill patients.

Dietary nitrate improves age-related hypertension and metabolic abnormalities in rats via modulation of angiotensin II receptor signaling and inhibition of superoxide generation.

Advanced age is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. A proposed central event is diminished amounts of nitric oxide (NO) due to reduced generation by endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and increased oxidative stress. In addition, it is widely accepted that increased angiotensin II (ANG II) signaling is also implicated in the pathogenesis of endothelial dysfunction and hypertension by accelerating formation of reactive oxygen species.

Establishment, Culture, and Scale-up of Brugmansia candida Hairy Roots for the Production of Tropane Alkaloids.

Brugmansia candida (syn. Datura candida) is a South American native plant that produces tropane alkaloids. Hyoscyamine, 6β-hydroxyhyoscyamine (anisodamine), and scopolamine are the most important ones due to their anticholinergic activity.

Alzheimer's Disease Risk and Progression: The Role of Nutritional Supplements and their Effect on Drug Therapy Outcome.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly population. Despite significant advancements in understanding the genetic and molecular basis of AD, the pathology still lacks treatments that can slow down or reverse the progression of cognitive deterioration. Recently, the relationship between nutrient deficiency and dementia onset has been highlighted.

Inorganic nitrite attenuates NADPH oxidase-derived superoxide generation in activated macrophages via a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism.

Oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of many disorders, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Immune cells are major sources of superoxide (O2(∙-)) as part of the innate host defense system, but exaggerated and sustained O2(∙-) generation may lead to progressive inflammation and organ injuries. Previous studies have proven organ-protective effects of inorganic nitrite, a precursor of nitric oxide (NO), in conditions manifested by oxidative stress and inflammation.

Higher Levels of Oxidized Low Density Lipoproteins in Alzheimer's Disease Patients: Roles for Platelet Activating Factor Acetyl Hydrolase and Paraoxonase-1.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with oxidative damage of low density lipoproteins (ox-LDL). In order to investigate whether higher levels of ox-LDL are related to alterations of the activity of enzymes involved in lipid metabolism, we studied the activity of paraoxonase-1 (PON1) and platelet activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) in AD patients and the relationship between biochemical markers and severity of the disease. Levels of ox-LDL, PON1 (paraoxonase, arylesterase, and lactonase activities), and PAF-AH activity were evaluated in plasma from 49 patients affected by AD and from 34 control subjects matched for gender and age.

Effects of in vitro supplementation with Syzygium cumini (L.) on platelets from subjects affected by diabetes mellitus.

The aim of this study was to assess the in vitro effects of Syzygium cumini (L.) (Sc) incubation on platelets from patients with diabetes, in order to test its efficacy as a potential adjuvant therapy. This study was performed on 77 patients with diabetes [29 in good (DMgc) and 48 in poor glycemic control (DMpc)] and 85 controls.

Interleukin-1β, cyclooxygenase-2, and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in asthenozoospermia.

Impaired male fertility may have a variety of causes, among which asthenozoospermia. In its etiology, several bioactive substances, such as cytokines may be involved. In this context, our aim was to evaluate the expression of interleukin-1β, cyclooxygenase-2, and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, in spermatozoa isolated from normospermic fertile donors and asthenozoospermic infertile patients.

Oxytocin, its antagonist Atosiban, and preterm labor: a role for placental nitric oxide.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to understand the role played by Atosiban, an oxytocin receptor antagonist, on trophoblastic human cells, and the molecular bases of its efficacy and safety in the treatment of preterm labor. NO, peroxinitrite production and NOS expression have been evaluated on placenta obtained from term and preterm labors.

Patients And Methods: We studied trophoblast cells isolated from selected placental tissue from 20 controls and 20 preterm patients after cesarean sections.

The floral scents of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae), the New World night-blooming water lilies, and their relation with putative pollinators.

Night-blooming water lilies are characterized by intense emission of floral VOCs. Their unique scent-oriented pollinators, cyclocephaline scarabs (Scarabaeidae, Cyclocephalini), are attracted to flowers that they use as reliable sources of food and as mating aggregation sites. Chemical analysis of floral scent samples of seven species of Nymphaea subg.

In vitro effects of resveratrol on oxidative stress in diabetic platelets.

To evaluate the in vitro effects of resveratrol (RSV) incubation on platelets from compensated and decompensated diabetic patients in order to use it as an adjuvant therapy. The study was performed on 77 diabetic patients and divided into two phases: 29 compensated and 48 decompensated diabetic platelets were analyzed at recruitment (T₀) and after in vitro RSV incubation (20 μg/ml) for 3 h at 37 °C (T₁). Lipoperoxide and nitric oxide (NO) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Na(+)/K(+) ATPase activities, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and membrane fluidity tested by anisotropy of fluorescent probes TMA-DPH and DPH were determined.

Spatially resolved analysis of Kα x-ray emission from plasmas induced by a femtosecond weakly relativistic laser pulse at various polarizations.

Spatially resolved K-shell spectroscopy is used here to investigate the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse (λ=800 nm, τ=40 fs) with a Ti foil under intense irradiation (Iλ(2)=2×10(18)Wμm(2)cm(-2)) and the following fast electron generation and transport into the target. The effect of laser pulse polarization (p, s, and circular) on the Kα yield and line shape is probed. The radial structure of intensity and width of the lines, obtained by a discretized Abel deconvolution algorithm, suggests an annular distribution of both the hot electron propagation into the target and the target temperature.