Identifying interactions between species is essential for understanding ecosystem dynamics. With their central position in trophic networks, anurans underscore the importance of studying their interactions with other organisms. Traditionally, collecting and describing anuran helminth parasites rely on lethal methods, posing challenges for studying threatened species. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of non-invasive fecal metabarcoding and compared its accuracy to traditional invasive methods for identifying parasites and dietary components. We collected anurans from 6 families in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest and analysed their feces using the 18S marker while performing necropsies for traditional identification. Traditional methods identified 12 parasite taxa and 3 dietary items at lower taxonomic resolution. Fecal metabarcoding, on the other hand, revealed greater diversity and fine taxonomic resolution for dietary items, although with lower accuracy for parasites due to database limitations. The metabarcoding approach demonstrated a high potential for non-lethal biodiversity assessments, offering a more comprehensive view of dietary diversity and a viable alternative for studying parasites in vulnerable populations. However, its effectiveness depends on improving reference databases, especially for parasite taxa. The advancement of non-invasive approaches that integrate parasitological data holds great potential to improve conservation strategies and enhance the ecological understanding of amphibian-parasite interactions.

The objective of this study was to assess the fermentation profile, chemical composition, aerobic stability and taxonomic diversity of corn grain silages rehydrated with water or cactus pear. Two rehydration methods were tested: corn grain silage rehydrated with water (CW) and corn grain silage rehydrated with cactus pear (CCP), each subjected to four opening times (30, 60, 90 and 120 days). The experiment employed a 2 × 4 factorial completely randomized design (two rehydration methods and four opening times) with four repetitions, units 32 experimental units. pH values were higher in water-rehydrated corn grain silage compared to cactus pear-rehydrated silage at 60 (average of 4.78 and 4.33) and 90 days (average of 4.33 and 3.83). For NH3-N, CW surpassed CCP at 30 days (average of 0.73% and 0.63%) and 60 days (average of 1.09% and 0.74%), respectively. Regarding rehydration, CCP had a higher dry matter (DM) content at 30 and 60 days, while CW showed the highest DM content at 90 and 120 days. Initially, the microbiota of CW and CCP treatments differed, primarily in the abundance of the Weissella genus, more abundant in CCP. However, from 30 to 120 days, microbiotas in all treatments became taxonomically similar, with no significant differences. Both silage experienced an increase in bacteria of the Lactobacillus genus. The use of cactus pear for rehydration in ensiling rehydrated corn grain is viable, showing superior results for fermentation profile and aerobic stability compared to water rehydration. It is recommended to open the silo after 60 days of fermentation.

Biological invasions pose a major threat to biodiversity conservation in protected areas, with roads, tracks, and trails being the main pathways for the spread of non-native species. This study aimed to assess the distribution patterns of non-native and native plant species in relation to elevational gradient, public use intensity, and disturbance by roads and trails in a protected tropical mountain forest in southeastern Brazil. Specifically, we recorded plant species along this gradient and tested whether the richness of native and non-native species differed with elevation. Additionally, we investigated whether the high-altitude non-native species community was a subset of lower-elevation communities and whether non-native species richness was linked to anthropogenic disturbances and public use intensity. Our findings revealed that native and non-native species richness varied along the elevational gradient. Native species exhibited a hump-shaped pattern, with richness peaking at mid-elevations. In contrast, non-native species did not show a clear trend along the altitudinal gradient. Notably, higher non-native species richness was observed in roadside and trailside plots. The non-native species communities at higher altitudes were not simply subsets of those found at lower elevations. Thus, while the richness and composition of native species appeared to be driven by environmental factors along the elevational gradient, the presence of non-native species was more closely associated with anthropogenic disturbances. In summary, our results indicate that non-native plants, although widespread along trails and roads, establish primarily in the most disturbed areas. Therefore, roads, trails, and human and vehicular traffic are key determinants of biological invasions in this mountainous protected area.

Clay minerals are suitable matrices to anchor organic molecules such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) so that their bioactivity is maintained, enabling the formation of new materials with potential for new applications in biotechnology. The objective of the present study was to develop a nanostructured film where the properties of palygorskite (Plg) were combined at the molecular level with Dermaseptin 01 (DRS 01), in which the clay mineral also served as a substrate for the immobilization of this peptide. The films were prepared using the Layer-by-Layer (LbL) self-assembly technique. Crude palygorskite without purification (Plg IN) was subjected to physical and chemical procedures to increase its adsorptive properties. The structure, chemical composition, and morphology of Plg were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). LbL films were adsorbed onto ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) and characterized electrochemically by cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV-Visible spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). For the ITO/DRS 01 and ITO/Plg/DRS 01 films, an oxidation process at +0.77 V was observed, confirming that the DRS 01 maintained its electroactive behavior and intrinsic properties. The results also showed that Plg served as excellent support for the immobilization of DRS 01, increasing its concentration and availability in the film form. This work reported immobilizing the DRS 01 peptide with Plg for the first time in an ultrathin film with bioactive properties. Thus, the film developed can be explored for applications such as biosensor devices and antimicrobial coating materials as well as other biotechnological applications.

Consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) has been associated with several chronic diseases and poor diet quality. It is reasonable to speculate that the consumption of UPF negatively associates with flavonoid dietary intake; however, this assumption has not been previously examined. The present study aims to assess association between the dietary contribution of UPF and flavonoid intake in the US population aged 0 years and above. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of dietary data collected by 24-h recalls from 7640 participants participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017–2018. Foods were classified according to the Nova classification system. The updated US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods (Release 3.3) database was used to estimate total and six classes of flavonoid intakes. Flavonoid intakes were compared across quintiles of dietary contribution of UPF (% of total energy intake) using linear regression models. The total and five out of six class flavonoid intakes decreased between 50 and 70 % across extreme quintiles of the dietary contribution of UPF (Pfor linear trend < 0·001); only isoflavones increased by over 260 %. Our findings suggest that consumption of UPF is associated with lower total and five of six class flavonoid intakes and with higher isoflavone intakes, supporting previous evidence of the negative impact of UPF consumption on the overall quality of the diet and health outcomes.

We present the investigation and control of an extensively drug-resistant Serratia marcescens outbreak in a 30-bed intensive care unit (ICU). Within 6 weeks, 4 critically ill trauma patients were infected by the same strain. Intensive containment measures limited the spread of this strain while sustaining the capacity of the trauma ICU.

Despite the considerable advances in the last years, the health information systems for health surveillance still need to overcome some critical issues so that epidemic detection can be performed in real time. For instance, despite the efforts of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) to make COVID-19 data available during the pandemic, delays due to data entry and data availability posed an additional threat to disease monitoring. Here, we propose a complementary approach by using electronic medical records (EMRs) data collected in real time to generate a system to enable insights from the local health surveillance system personnel. As a proof of concept, we assessed data from São Caetano do Sul City (SCS), São Paulo, Brazil. We used the “fever” term as a sentinel event. Regular expression techniques were applied to detect febrile diseases. Other specific terms such as “malaria,” “dengue,” “Zika,” or any infectious disease were included in the dictionary and mapped to “fever.” Additionally, after “tokenizing,” we assessed the frequencies of most mentioned terms when fever was also mentioned in the patient complaint. The findings allowed us to detect the overlapping outbreaks of both COVID-19 Omicron BA.1 subvariant and Influenza A virus, which were confirmed by our team by analyzing data from private laboratories and another COVID-19 public monitoring system. Timely information generated from EMRs will be a very important tool to the decision-making process as well as research in epidemiology. Quality and security on the data produced is of paramount importance to allow the use by health surveillance systems.

In the vast Neotropic seasonal environment, the most diverse family of bats, the Phyllostomidae (leaf-nosed bats), includes up to 93 species. As the quality and quantity of food resources fluctuate in the habitats, diet heterogeneity is observed among bat species and regions of the Neotropics. In this study, we investigated by faecal analyses, how the dietary niche (DN) of eight Phyllostomidae bat species (Artibeus planirostris, A. fimbriatus, Carollia brevicauda, C. perspicillata, Chiroderma villosum, Glossophaga soricina, Platyrrhinus lineatus, and Sturnira lilium) that occur in a karstic area in the Midwest region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, change in response to seasonal food availability. We recorded the consumption of insects and nine plant families. Moraceae was the most frequent, followed by Piperaceae. Given that seasonal dietary changes can be subtle and hardly noticeable along with fluctuating habitat conditions, we performed the DN decomposition of the eight bats species into subniches, by analysing the data with the WitOMI, which is a decomposition of the niche into temporal subniches. By improving the accuracy and details of the results, we assessed the effects of abiotic (precipitation and environmental temperature) and biotic (quantity and quality of food resources) interactions within the phyllostomid bat community. For each species, we compared niche breadth and overlap and found higher values for the dry season among morphologically similar species. The results of our study suggest that ecologically similar bat species coexist occupying different DNs.

We present the most recent data on the seasonal and spatial occupation of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) and fur seals (Arctocephalus australis) in the Wildlife Refuge of Ilha dos Lobos (WRIL) in southern Brazil throughout the year, based on aerial photographic counts. Thirty-one aerial photographic counts were conducted between July 2019 and November 2020 to assess monthly differences in the abundance of pinnipeds in the WRIL. The results were analysed using a generalized linear model. Spatial analysis was performed using kernel density. Subadult males of South American sea lion were the most abundant pinniped in the WRIL, followed by juveniles of South American fur seal. A juvenile of Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) was also recorded. South American fur seals showed a marked seasonality, occurring only between July and October, while South American sea lions occurred year-round. Among the months analysed, September exhibited the highest mean abundance (mean 113.75; SD: ± 8.58), followed by August (mean 103.00; SD: ± 15.69). The pinnipeds were more often concentrated in the northern and central parts of the island. This study reinforces the importance of the WRIL as a haulout site for pinnipeds. Considering the seasonal occupation of the island by South American pinnipeds, monitoring is recommended prior to the development of activities in the area.

Fifty years of deforestation in the Arc of Deforestation have put at risk species survival, ecosystem services and the stability of biogeochemical cycles in Amazonia, with global repercussions. In response, we need to understand the diversity, distribution and abundance of flagship species groups, such as primates, which can serve as umbrella species for broad biodiversity conservation strategies and help mitigate climate change. Here we identify the range, suitable habitat areas and population size of Vieira's titi monkey Plecturocebus vieirai and use it as an emblematic example to discuss biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation in one of the largest deforestation frontiers. Our findings show that deforestation for agriculture and cattle-ranching expansion is the major threat to P. vieirai and is responsible for present (56%) and projected (14%) reductions in habitat area and population size. We also found that human-driven climate change affects the P. vieirai niche negatively, triggering habitat degradation and further population decline even inside protected areas. Primate watching can be a profitable alternative to forest exploitation on private, public or Indigenous lands in the Arc of Deforestation and is a way to shift the traditional, predatory extraction of natural resources from Amazonia towards sustainable land use based on biodiversity conservation at local, regional and global scales, local people's welfare and climate change mitigation. New models of land use and income generation are required to protect the unique natural and human heritages of the Arc of Deforestation and the life-supporting ecosystem services and products provided by Amazonia.

Bayesian optimization (BO) has been a successful approach to optimize expensive functions whose prior knowledge can be specified by means of a probabilistic model. Due to their expressiveness and tractable closed-form predictive distributions, Gaussian process (GP) surrogate models have been the default go-to choice when deriving BO frameworks. However, as nonparametric models, GPs offer very little in terms of interpretability and informative power when applied to model complex physical phenomena in scientific applications. In addition, the Gaussian assumption also limits the applicability of GPs to problems where the variables of interest may highly deviate from Gaussianity. In this article, we investigate an alternative modeling framework for BO which makes use of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) to perform Bayesian inference with parametric models. We propose a BO algorithm to take advantage of SMC’s flexible posterior representations and provide methods to compensate for bias in the approximations and reduce particle degeneracy. Experimental results on simulated engineering applications in detecting water leaks and contaminant source localization are presented showing performance improvements over GP-based BO approaches.

Ankyrin (ANK) repeat proteins are coded by tandem occurrences of patterns with around 33 amino acids. They often mediate protein–protein interactions in a diversity of biological systems. These proteins have an elongated non-globular shape and often display complex folding mechanisms. This work investigates the energy landscape of representative proteins of this class made up of 3, 4 and 6 ANK repeats using the energy-landscape visualisation method (ELViM). By combining biased and unbiased coarse-grained molecular dynamics AWSEM simulations that sample conformations along the folding trajectories with the ELViM structure-based phase space, one finds a three-dimensional representation of the globally funnelled energy surface. In this representation, it is possible to delineate distinct folding pathways. We show that ELViMs can project, in a natural way, the intricacies of the highly dimensional energy landscapes encoded by the highly symmetric ankyrin repeat proteins into useful low-dimensional representations. These projections can discriminate between multiplicities of specific parallel folding mechanisms that otherwise can be hidden in oversimplified depictions.

Scientists are working to identify prevention/treatment methods and clinical outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Nutritional status and diet have a major impact on the COVID-19 disease process, mainly because of the bidirectional interaction between gut microbiota and lung, that is, the gut–lung axis. Individuals with inadequate nutritional status have a pre-existing imbalance in the gut microbiota and immunity as seen in obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. Communication between the gut microbiota and lungs or other organs and systems may trigger worse clinical outcomes in viral respiratory infections. Thus, this review addresses new insights into the use of probiotics and prebiotics as a preventive nutritional strategy in managing respiratory infections such as COVID-19 and highlighting their anti-inflammatory effects against the main signs and symptoms associated with COVID-19. Literature search was performed through PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus and Web of Science databases; relevant clinical articles were included. Significant randomised clinical trials suggest that specific probiotics and/or prebiotics reduce diarrhoea, abdominal pain, vomiting, headache, cough, sore throat, fever, and viral infection complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. These beneficial effects are linked with modulation of the microbiota, products of microbial metabolism with antiviral activity, and immune-regulatory properties of specific probiotics and prebiotics through Treg cell production and function. There is a need to conduct clinical and pre-clinical trials to assess the combined effect of consuming these components and undergoing current therapies for COVID-19.