More than just sweet: current insights into microplastics in honey products and a case study of honey.

Honey, traditionally known as a pure and natural substance, has become an unexpected reservoir for microplastic contamination. This study consisted of an experimental investigation to assess the occurrence of microplastics in honey produced by , a native bee species in Brazil. Our investigation covers eight areas (one sample per area), including built and vegetated areas located in São Paulo city, Brazil, to understand the distribution of microplastics in these environments.

Utilizing prospective space-time scan statistics to discover the dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019 clusters in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Background: The number of deaths and people infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Brazil has steadily increased in the first few months of the pandemic. Despite the underreporting of coronavirus cases by government agencies across the country, São Paulo has the highest rate among all Brazilian states.

Methods: To identify the highest-risk municipalities during the initial outbreak, we utilized daily confirmed case data from official reports between February 25 and May 5, 2020, which were aggregated to the municipality level.

Detecting space-time clusters of COVID-19 in Brazil: mortality, inequality, socioeconomic vulnerability, and the relative risk of the disease in Brazilian municipalities.

The first case of COVID-19 in South America occurred in Brazil on February 25, 2020. By July 20, 2020, there were 2,118,646 confirmed cases and 80,120 confirmed deaths. To assist with the development of preventive measures and targeted interventions to combat the pandemic in Brazil, we present a geographic study to detect "active" and "emerging" space-time clusters of COVID-19.

Methane emission suppression in flooded soil from Amazonia.

The coupling between ferrous iron and methane production has important global implications, with iron ions acting as electron acceptors for anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and inhibitors of methanogenesis in different environments, including floodplain soils. In this sense, we analyzed the relationship between Fe(II) concentration and methane production in soil layers collected at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm from flooded-forest and -agroforestry in Amazonian clear water floodplain incubated in anaerobic batch reactors using acetate, formate and glucose as organic sources. High throughput sequencing of archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA genes was employed to assess the abundance and composition of the active methanogenic and methanotrophic microbial groups potentially involved in Fe(III)-dependent AOM in the soil used as inoculum.

Spatial modeling applied to environmental monitoring: identifying sources of potentially toxic metals in aquatic system.

Aquatic contamination by potentially toxic metals is a problem that has been aggravated, especially due to the quantity and the diversity of sources. Locating these sources is not always an easy task, especially because of the wide variety of possibilities. In this context, the application of geostatistical methods may represent an excellent tool to find out sources of metal contaminants in aquatic systems.

Protected areas and agricultural expansion: Biodiversity conservation versus economic growth in the Southeast of Brazil.

The conversion of natural ecosystems to agricultural land and urban areas plays a threat to the protected areas and the natural ecosystems conservation. The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the agricultural expansion and its impact on the landscape spatial and temporal patterns in a buffer zone of a protected area located in the transition zone between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The land use and land cover were mapped between 1971 and 2008 and landscape metrics were calculated to provide a spatiotemporal analysis of the forest structure and the expansion of the croplands.

Racial and ethnic disparities in the pharmacologic management of diabetes mellitus among long-term care facility residents.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of racial and ethnic disparities of antidiabetic treatment among residents of long-term care facilities in five states.

Research Design And Methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional study of 50,427 elderly nursing home residents with diabetes in New York, South Dakota, Kansas, Mississippi, and Ohio between 1993 and 1997.

Results: Thirty to fifty percent of residents received no antidiabetic medications.

Populational genetic structure of free-living maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) determined by proteic markers.

Electrophoretic analysis of presumptive twenty gene loci products was conducted in hemolisates and plasma samples of twenty-eight maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) from an area in northeastern São Paulo State, Brazil. The area sampled was divided into three sub-areas, with the Mogi-Guaçu and Pardo rivers regarded as barriers to the gene flow. The polymorphism degree and heterozygosity level (intralocus and average) estimated in this study were similar to those detected by other authors for maned wolves and other species of wild free-living canids.

Racial disparities in receipt of secondary stroke prevention agents among US nursing home residents.

Background And Purpose: Although medications can significantly reduce the risk of recurrent stroke, little is known about the extent to which such therapies are given to nursing home residents. We sought to evaluate the extent to which people of color were less likely to receive pharmacological agents in the treatment of recurrent stroke while living in US nursing homes.

Methods: We identified 19 051 residents with a recent hospitalization and primary discharge diagnosis of 434 or 436 in 5 states from 1992 to 1996; of these, 7053 had concomitant conditions indicating anticoagulant therapy.