Ecology
May 2024
Camera traps became the main observational method of a myriad of species over large areas. Data sets from camera traps can be used to describe the patterns and monitor the occupancy, abundance, and richness of wildlife, essential information for conservation in times of rapid climate and land-cover changes. Habitat loss and poaching are responsible for historical population losses of mammals in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, especially for medium to large-sized species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present research objective was to analyze the offensive phase from Complex I in high-level male volleyball teams in a macro- and micro-level view, through the inter e intra-team variability analysis of eight best teams of the 2018 Men's Volleyball World Championship over the social network analysis and eigenvector centrality. The sample consisted of 22 matches and 2,743 offensive actions, resulting in 8 sub-networks with 368 nodes and 6221 edges. The results showed from macro view the variables that presented highest centrality values were Attack Zone 4 (range 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Our objective was to evaluate whether the normal lung index (NLI) from quantitative computed tomography (QCT) analysis can be used to predict mortality as well as pulmonary function tests (PFTs) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD).
Materials And Methods: Normal subjects (n=20) and patients with COPD (n=172) and ILD (n=114) who underwent PFTs and chest CT were enrolled retrospectively in this study. QCT measures included the NLI, defined as the ratio of the lung with attenuation between -950 and -700 Hounsfield units (HU) over the total lung volume (-1024 to -250 HU, mL), high-attenuation area (-700 to -250 HU, %), emphysema index (>6% of pixels < -950 HU), skewness, kurtosis, and mean lung attenuation.
Wellcome Open Res
September 2019
Global concern broke out in late 2015 as thousands of children in Brazil were born with microcephaly, which was quickly linked to congenital infection with Zika virus (ZIKV). ZIKV is now known to cause a wider spectrum of severe adverse outcomes-congenital Zika syndrome (CZS)-and also milder impairments. This study aimed to explore the social and economic impacts of CZS in Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study focuses on the discussion of different lines of evidence (LoEs) applied to a sediment-quality assessment that considered the following: chemical concentrations of metals; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in estuarine waters, sediments, and oysters (native and caged Crassostrea brasiliana); PAHs in semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs); simultaneously extracted metals-acid volatile sulfides (SEM-AVS); benthic community assessment (the exploratory benthic index and the relative benthic index); chronic toxicity tests with the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus; and bioaccumulation models. Significantly contaminated sediments from the Santos Estuarine System and the consequent toxicity of tested organisms were measured. Caged oysters presented bioaccumulation rates ≤2,500% of total PAH content and 200% of metal content when compared with control organisms from an uncontaminated area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough the Ibirité reservoir (an urban tropical eutrophic reservoir) has been the recipient of the discharge of a large volume of raw urban sewage, the key cause of ecosystem degradation has been historically solely attributed to the discharge of effluents from an oil refinery. This fact motivated an investigation to unravel the compositions of contaminants in the sediments to evaluate their distributions, possible sources, and potential impacts on sediment–water quality. The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons and of metals and metalloids were, in general, significantly lower than some selected polluted sites used for comparison.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLead concentrations was measured in samples of mineral mixtures used in beef cattle feed in the states of Sao Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Lead content was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Of the 60 analyzed samples, 21 had values greater than 30 ppm (range less 1.
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