The environmental control of reproduction in the female dace, Leuciscus leuciscus

An investigation was made into the nature and control of the annual reproductive cycle of the dace, Leuciscus leuciscus. It includes 1) a study of the natural reproductive cycle, 2) the use of Carp Pituitary Extract (CPE) to induce final maturation and ovulation in captive fish, 3) the effect of artificial light treatments on ovarian development and 4) the measurement of serum melatonin levels under different photoperiod regimes. Ovarian development was monitored by endocrinological data, notably serum cycles of 17-oestradiol (E2), testosterone (T), and calcium (as an index of vitellogenin), oocyte diameter, the gonadosomatic index and histological studies of the ovary. Under natural conditions, ovarian development can broadly be divided into 4 stages: 1) oogenesis which occurs immediately after spawning; 2) a primary growth phase (previtellogenic growth) prevalent between spawning and June; 3) a secondary growth phase (yolk vesicle plus vitellogenic growth) occurring between June and December and 4) final maturation and ovulation which occurs in mid-March. During the annual ovarian cycle, the sex steroids E2 and T showed two clear elevations. The first occurred initially in April followed by a rise in serum calcium levels. This subsequently initiated the appearance of yolk granules in the oocytes in June. The second rise occurred in September and levels were maintained until December, after which there was a decline in serum E2 levels. It is proposed that in the dace, high serum E2 levels between September and December were required to maintain vitellogenin production and therefore its uptake into the developing oocytes which occurred during this time, albeit at a slower rate than in the summer months. After December, prior to final maturation, whereas serum E2 and calcium levels declined, serum T levels remained elevated. In captivity, final maturation beyond the germinal vesicle migration stage failed to occur suggesting that the stimuli required for these events were absent. However ovulation could be induced by a single injection of CPE, which induced ovulation between 6 and 14 hours after treatment. Endocrine events associated with the artificial induction of spawning included a rise in serum levels of E2, T and the maturation inducing steroid 1720-dihydroxy progesterone. Photoperiodic manipulation demonstrated that whereas short or increasing daylengths were stimulatory to ovarian development, long days delayed development. Changes from long to short and constant short daylengths early in the reproductive cycle advanced maturation (up to 5 months), suggesting that the stimulus for ovarian development and maturation was a short day. However, experiments conducted later in the reproductive cycle demonstrated that only a simulated ambient photoperiod could induce final maturation. It is proposed therefore that under natural conditions the environmental stimulus for ovarian development and final maturation are short and increasing daylengths respectively. Further support that photoperiod is the dominant timing cue in this species was provided by the pattern of serum melatonin levels. Under different photoperiod treatments, serum melatonin, which is believed to be the chemical transducer of photoperiodic information (similar to other photoperiodic species) was elevated for the duration of the dark phase, indicating that the dace at least has the ability to `measure' changes in daylength.

Investigation into the biochemical changes in Tourette Syndrome with a potential for pharmacological manipulation

Kynurenine (KYN) is the first stable metabolite of the kynurenine pathway, which accounts for over 95% of tryptophan metabolism. Two previous studies by this research group reported elevated plasma KYN in Tourette syndrome (TS) patients when compared with age and sex matched controls and another study showed that KYN potentiated 5-HT2A-mediated head-shakes (HS) in rodents. These movements have been suggested to model tics in TS. This raised the questions how KYN acts in eliciting this response and whether it is an action of its own or of a further metabolite along the kynurenine pathway. In the liver, where most of the kynurenine pathway metabolism takes place under physiological conditions, the first and the rate limiting enzyme is tryptophan-dioxygenase (TDO) which can be induced by cortisol. In extrahepatic tissues the same step of the pathway is catalyzed by indoleamine-dioxygenase (IDO), which is induced by cytokines, predominantly interferon-y (INF-y). Plasma neopterin, which shows parallel increase with KYN following immune stimulation, was also found elevated in one of these studies positively correlating with KYN. In the present work animal studies suggested that KYN potentiates and quinolinic acid (QUINA) dose dependently inhibits the 5-HT2A-mediated HS response in mice. The potentiating effect seen with KYN was suggested to be an effect of KYN itself. Radioligand binding and phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis studies were done to explore the mechanisms by which kynurenine pathway metabolites could alter a 5-HT2A-receptor mediated response. None of the kynurenine pathway metabolites tested showed direct binding to 5-HT2A-receptors. PI hydrolysis studies with KYN and QUINA showed that KYN did not have any effect while QUINA inhibited 5-HT2A-mediated PI hydrolysis. Plasma cortisol determination in TS patients with elevated plasma KYN did not show elevated plasma cortisol levels, suggesting that the increase of plasma KYN in these TS patients is unlikely to be due to an increased TDO activity induced by increased cortisol. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is commonly associated with TS. Salivary cortisol detected in a group of children primarily affected with ADHD showed significantly lower salivary cortisol levels when compared with age and sex matched controls. Plasma tryptophan, KYN, neopterin, INF-y and KYN/tryptophan ratio and night-time urinary 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) excretion measured in a group of TS patients did not show any difference in their levels when compared with age and sex matched controls, but TS patients failed to show the expected positive correlation seen between plasma INF-y, neopterin and KYN and the negative correlation seen between plasma KYN and night-time urinary aMT6s excretion seen in healthy controls. The relevance of the kynurenine pathway, melatonin secretion and cortisol to Tourette Syndrome and associated conditions and the mechanism by which KYN and QUINA alter the 5-HT2A-receptor mediated HS response are discussed.

Circannual rhythms of maturation in the female rainbow trout and their entrainment by changes in photoperiod

The importance of endogenous rhythms in the photoperiodic control of the annual reproduction cycle in female rainbow trout was investigated. The effect of photoperiod regimes on the different stages of maturation was assessed by recording the timing of ovulation and from quantifying associated changes in serum oestradiol-17,testosterone and total calcium. Maintained under constant 6L:18D and constant temperature for up to four years, rainbow trout exhibited an endogenous rhythm of maturation with a periodicity of approximately one year. This rhythm of maturation appears to be driven by an autonomous circannual oscillator or clock which can be dissociated from the neuroendocrine mechanisms controlling gonadal maturation. Under conditions of constant 18L:6D or LL the periodicity of the maturation rhythm was 5.5-6 months; it is suggested that this periodicity may be caused by a splitting or uncoupling of at least two circannual clocks involved in the control of maturation. Abrupt changes in the length of the photoperiod act as a zeitgeber to entrain the endogenous rhythm of maturation. Whether the timing of maturation is advanced or delayed depends primarily on the direction of the change in photoperiod and its timing in relation to the phase of the rhythm, with the magnitude of the alteration in photoperiod having only a supplementary effect. The effect of specific changes in photoperiod on the entrainment of the maturation cycle can be described in terms of a phase-response curve. Photic information is transduced, probably by the pineal gland, into a daily rhythm of melatonin; exposure of rainbow trout to skeleton and resonance photoperiod regimes indicated that daylength measurement is effected by endogenous circadian clock(s) rather than by hour-glass mechanisms. A gating mechanism is closely associated with the circannual clock which determines the timing of onset of maturation in virgin female rainbow trout, only allowing fish that have attained a threshold stage of development to undergo gonadal maturation. Collectively the results support the hypothesis that the female rainbow trout exhibits an endogenous circannual rhythm of maturation which can be entrained by changes in photoperiod.

Ocular and systemic vascular dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease

The important role played by vascular factors in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease has been increasingly realised over recent years. The nature and impact of ocular and systemic vascular dysfunction in the pathogenesis of comparable neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has however never been fully explored. The aim of this thesis was therefore to investigate the presence of macro- and micro-vascular alterations in both glaucoma and AD and to explore the relationships between these two chronic, slowly progressive neurodegenerative diseases. The principle sections and findings of this work were: 1. Is the eye a window to the brain? Retinal vascular dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease · Mild newly diagnosed AD patients demonstrated ocular vascular dysfunction, in the form of an altered retinal vascular response to flicker light, which correlated with their degree of cognitive impairment. 2. Ocular and systemic vascular abnormalities in newly diagnosed normal tension glaucoma (NTG) patients · NTG patients demonstrated an altered retinal arterial constriction response to flicker light along with an increased systemic arterial stiffness and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT). These findings were not replicated by healthy age matched controls. 3. Ocular vascular dysregulation in AD compares to both POAG and NTG · AD patients demonstrated altered retinal arterial reactivity to flicker light which was comparable to that of POAG patients and altered baseline venous reactivity which was comparable to that of NTG patients. Neither alteration was replicated by healthy controls. 4. POAG and NTG: two separate diseases or one continuous entity? The vascular perspective · POAG and NTG patients demonstrated comparable alterations in nocturnal systolic blood pressure (SBP) variability, ocular perfusion pressure, retinal vascular reactivity, systemic arterial stiffness and carotid IMT. · Nocturnal SBP variability was found to correlate with both retinal artery baseline diameter fluctuation and carotid IMT across the glaucoma groups.

Primary open-angle glaucoma vs normal-tension glaucoma:the vascular perspective

Objective: To compare and contrast the presence of ocular and systemic vascular function in newly diagnosed and previously untreated primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and normal tension glaucoma (NTG) patients with comparable, early stage, functional loss. Methods: The systemic vascular function of 19 POAG patients, 19 NTG patients and 20 healthy controls was assessed by means of 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM), peripheral pulse wave analysis (PWA) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). Retinal vascular reactivity to flicker light was assessed using dynamic retinal vessel analysis (DVA,IMEDOS, GmbH, Jena, Germany). Results: When compared to normal controls, both POAG and NTG patients exhibited similarly increased nocturnal systemic blood pressure variability (p=0.011); peripheral arterial stiffness (p=0.015), carotid IMT (p=0.040) and reduced ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) (p<0.001). Furthermore, on DVA analysis, both groups of glaucoma patients also exhibited steeper retinal arterial constriction slopes (slope AC) following cessation of flicker (p=0.007) and a similarly increased fluctuation in arterial and venous baseline diameter (p=0.008 and p=0.009 respectively) in comparison to controls. Conclusion: POAG and NTG patients exhibit similar alterations in both ocular and systemic circulation at the early stages of their disease process. This highlights not only the importance of considering vascular risk factors in both conditions, but also raises questions about the current separation of the two conditions into completely distinct clinical entities.

Strategic development and physicochemical analysis of oral preparations for unstable drugs

Oral liquid formulations are ideal dosage forms for paediatric, geriatric and patient with dysphagia. Dysphagia is prominent among patients suffering from stroke, motor neurone disease, advanced Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. However oral liquid preparations are particularly difficult to formulate for hydrophobic and unstable drugs. Therefore current methods employed in solving this issue include the use of ‘specials’ or extemporaneous preparations. In order to challenge this, the government has encouraged research into the field of oral liquid formulations, with the EMEA and MHRA publishing list of drugs of interest. The current work investigates strategic formulation development and characterisation of select API’s (captopril, gliclazide, melatonin, L-arginine and lansoprazole), each with unique obstacles to overcome during solubilisation, stabilisation and when developing a palatable dosage from. By preparing a validated calibration protocol for each of the drug candidates, the oral liquid formulations were assessed for stability, according to the ICH guidelines along with thorough physiochemical characterisation. The results showed that pH and polarity of the solvent had the greatest influence on the extent of drug solubilisation, with inclusion of antioxidants and molecular steric hindrance influencing the extent of drug stability. Captopril, a hydrophilic ACE inhibitor (160 mg.mL-1), undergoes dimerisation with another captopril molecule. It was found that with the addition of EDTA and HP-β-CD, the drug molecule was stabilised and prevented from initiating a thiol induced first order free radical oxidation. The cyclodextrin provided further steric hindrance (1:1 molar ratio) resulting in complete reduction of the intensity of sulphur like smell associated with captopril. Palatability is a crucial factor in patient compliance, particularly when developing a dosage form targeted towards paediatrics. L-arginine is extremely bitter in solution (148.7 g.L-1). The addition of tartaric acid into the 100 mg.mL-1 formulation was sufficient to mask the bitterness associated with its guanidium ions. The hydrophobicity of gliclazide (55 mg.L-1) was strategically challenged using a binary system of a co-solvent and surfactant to reduce the polarity of the medium and ultimately increase the solubility of the drug. A second simpler method was developed using pH modification with L-arginine. Melatonin has two major obstacles in formulation: solubility (100 μg.mL-1) and photosensitivity, which were both overcome by lowering the dielectric constant of the medium and by reversibly binding the drug within the cyclodextrin cup (1:1 ratio). The cyclodextrin acts by preventing UV rays from reaching the drug molecule and initiated the degradation pathway. Lansoprazole is an acid labile drug that could only be delivered orally via a delivery vehicle. In oral liquid preparations this involved nanoparticulate vesicles. The extent of drug loading was found to be influenced by the type of polymer, concentration of polymer, and the molecular weight. All of the formulations achieved relatively long shelf-lives with good preservative efficacy.

Diel Patterns of Patch Reef Community Dynamics in a Caribbean Back-Reef System

Back-reef seascapes represent critical habitat for juvenile and adult fishes. Patch reef, seagrass, and mangrove habitats form a heterogeneous mosaic, often linked by species that use reefs as structure during the day and make foraging migrations into soft-bottom habitat at night. Artificial reefs are used to model natural patch reefs, however may not function equivalently as fish habitat. To study the relative value of natural and artificial patch reefs as fish habitat, these communities in the Sea of Abaco, Bahamas were compared using roving diver surveys and time-lapse photography. Diel turnover in fish abundance, recorded with time-lapse photography and illuminated by infrared light, was quantified across midday, dusk, and night periods to explore possible effects of reef type (artificial vs. natural) on these patterns. Diurnal communities on natural reefs exhibited greater fish abundance, species richness, and functional diversity compared to artificial reefs. Furthermore, both types of reef communities exhibited a significant shift across the diel period, characterized by a decline in total fish density at night, especially for grunts (Haemulidae). Cross-habitat foraging migrations by diurnal or nocturnal species, such as haemulids, are likely central drivers of this twilight turnover and can represent important energy and nutrient subsidies. Time-lapse surveys provided more consistent measures of reef fish assemblages for the smaller artificial reef habitats, yet underestimated abundance of certain taxa and species richness on larger patch habitats when compared to the roving diver surveys. Time-lapse photography complemented with infrared light represent a valuable non-invasive approach to studying behavior of focal species and their fine-scale temporal dynamics in shallow-reef communities.

Ecologia e história natural de população Hemidactylus agrius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) em área de Caatinga, com avaliação da distribuição das espécies nativas do gênero no nordeste do Brasil

The genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 has cosmopolite distribution, with three species occurring in Brazil, two of them native, H. brasilianus and H. agrius, and one exotic, H. mabouia. Considering the studies about ecology of lizards conducted in the Ecological Station of the Seridó, from 2001 to 2011, this study aimed (1) to re-evaluate the occurrence of the species of Hemidactylus in this ESEC; (2) to analyze ecological and biological aspects of the H. agrius population; and (3) to investigate the current and potential distribution of the native species of the genus in northeastern Brazil, analyzing the suitability of ESEC to this taxon. For the first two objectives, a sampling area consisting of five transects of 200 x 20 m, was inspected in alternating daily shifts for three consecutive days, from August 2012 to August 2013. For the latter objective, occurrence points of H. agrius and H. brasilianus from literature and from the database of Herpetological Collections of the UFRN and the UNICAMP were consulted to build predictive maps via the Maximum Entropy algorithm (MaxEnt). In ESEC Seridó, 62 H. agrius individuals were collected (25 females, 18 males and 19 juveniles), and two neonates were obtained from a communal nest incubated in the laboratory. No record was made for the other two species of the genus. Hemidactylus agrius demonstrated to be a nocturnal species specialized in habitats with rocky outcrops; but this species is generalist regarding microhabitat use. In the population studied, females had an average body length greater than males, and showed higher frequencies of caudal autotomy. Regarding diet, H. agrius is a moderately generalist species that consumes arthropods, especially insect larvae, Isoptera and Araneae; and vertebrates, with a case of cannibalism registered in the population. With respect to seasonal differences, only the number of food items ingested differed between seasons. The diet was similar between sexes, but ontogenetic differences were recorded for the total volume and maximum length of the food items. Significant relationships were found between lizard body/head size measurements and the maximum length of prey consumed. Cases of polydactyly and tail bifurcation were recorded in the population, with frequencies of 1.6% and 3.1%, respectively. In relation xv to the occurrence points of the native species, 27 were identified, 14 for H. agrius and 13 for H. brasilianus. The first species presented restricted distribution, while the second showed a wide distribution. In both models generated, the ESEC Seridó area showed medium to high suitability. The results of this study confirm the absence of H. brasilianus and H. mabouia this ESEC, and reveal H. agrius as a dietary opportunist and cannibal species. Further, the results confirm the distribution patterns shown by native species of Hemidactylus, and point ESEC Seridó as an area of probable occurrence for the species of the genus, the establishing of H. brasilianus and H. mabouia are probably limited by biotic factors, a fact yet little understood

A cafeína como agente modulador do ciclo atividade-repouso e memória em saguis (Callithrix jacchus)

Caffeine is the most consumed psychostimulant, with effects on attention, memory, and arousal. But when this substance is ingested near to bedtime there is a decrease on sleep, interfering on mnemonic processes. So, our ain was to investigate how the caffeine ingested near to sleep onset acts on sleep and memory in marmosets. We used 16 adult marmosets, single housed, in a 12:12h light-dark cycle. For registering locomotor activity were used two kinds of sensors. The gyroscope sensor registers activity each 30 sec and detects motion with good accuracy. Because of this we used this sensor for detecting nocturnal activity. The second sensor was based on infrared and accumulates activity each 5 min and it’s not able to detect nocturnal activity, just diurnal activity. We also used camera for registering Rest phase of one marmoset. For the cognitive task, the animals needed to learn a rewarded context (CR) when compared to a non-rewarded context CNR). This experiment comprises 5 phases: 1) Two days of habituation to apparatus; 2)Training for 8 days; 3) oral administration of caffeine (10 mg/kg) or placebo administration ±1h before sleep onset, for 8 days, with marmosets receiving placebo or caffeine; 4) retraining to apparatus and after that, placebo administration (placebo group-GP), or caffeine administration (with continuous group-GC and acute groupGA); 5) Test, for evaluating learning to CR. The sessions were filmed and each one had 8 min of duration. At 7 am started the habituation, training and test sessions, and at 3:15 pm started retraining. The results for gyroscope sensor showed that there was coincidence of 68,57% with nocturnal register of the cameras. Then, the gyroscope sensors detected nocturnal activity for all experimental groups Moreover, when compared sensor gyroscope with sensor based on infrared, was observed that both sensor presented similarity on patterns of activity curve. When we observed the effects of caffeine on Activity-Rest Cycle in GP, GA and GC, is possible to see that that gyroscope sensors and based on infrared presented only intra group differences. As behavioral results, the marmosets learned to discriminate CR when compared to CNR. Moreover, GP presented deficits on memory recall during the test, and GA increased the memory recall, when both were compared to GP. We concluded that the marmosets were able to learning the cognitive task and that the caffeine ingested near to sleep onset acts modulating memory in these animals. Moreover the gyroscope sensor can be used as alternative tool for investigating nocturnal activity. Then, the utilization of this non-invasive device allows marmosets exhibit their behavior within the laboratory conditions as natural as possible.

Herpetofauna associada à bromélia rupícola, encholirium spectabile, no semiárido brasileiro: revisão da literatura, ecologia das espécies e comportamento de psychosaura agmosticha (squamata: mabuyidae)

Bromeliads are an important microhabitat for the herpetofauna, for being widely used as refuge from predators and their leaf architecture allows humidity maintenance and relatively constant temperature inside, setting a favorable environment for amphibians and reptiles, especially in areas under hydric stress. However, studies addressing this relationship are still incipient and more concentrated in fitotelmatas bromeliad. For non-fitotelmatas rupicolous bromeliads of the gender Encholirium, which develops into rocky outcrops and contains species of semi-arid regions such as the Caatinga, animal-plant relationships are almost unknown. In this context, this study aimed to know the herpetological fauna inhabitant of macambiras bromeliads, Encholirium spectabile, analyzing occupation and use of these bromeliads by different taxa, and the behavioral ecology of the lizard Psychosaura agmosticha, seeking to identify factors associated with this strict relationship in Caatinga. An extensive review of the world literature on the subject “lizards in bromeliads” subsidized this study from the ecological perspective of this association. The field work was carried out at Fazenda Tanques, municipality of Santa Maria / RN, mesoregion of Agreste Potiguar. The observations and/or data collection in daytime and in the evening was conducted monthly during three consecutive days, from January 2011 to August 2012, totaling 450 hour.man of sampling effort. Sixteen species were registered: six lizards (Mabuyidae, Tropiduridae, Gekkonidae and Phyllodactylidae Families), six snakes (Boidae and Dipsadidae Families) and four of amphibians of Hylidae Family. The effect of the forest edge on the distribution of species along the outcrop was significant, with most species found in outcrop edges. Significant difference was found between some pairs of species concerning use of bromeliads, and almost total niche overlap in the use of microhabitat. 62.5% of the species are nocturnal and use these plants for sheltering, breeding and feeding. Regarding the relations between 4 the lizard Psychosaura agmosticha and macambiras bromeliads, behaviors of thermoregulation and foraging in the dry and wet seasons were recorded. Activity periods were concentrated between 7 and 10 am and between 3 and 5 pm in both seasons, showing a clear bimodal pattern. The species basically used the green leaves and there were no significant differences between males and females in the use of bromeliads. Positive associations were found between body temperature and temperatures of bromeliads and air. This species spent 1.95% ± 3.8 of the time moving (PTM) and moved on average 0:36 ± 2.1 seconds per minute (MPM), with significant differences between the wet and dry to PTM, and between the average time of stop and average duration of movements, being considered a sedentary forager. Psychosaura agmosticha, in the study area, is bromelicolous and uses macambiras primarily for thermoregulation and foraging. The results of this study elevate the rupicolous bromeliads Encholirium spectabile as key elements for the maintenance of amphibians and reptiles associated with it, and a clear advantageous association for the conservation of the groups involved.

Pressão de sono e perfil acadêmico de estudante de medicina do 1º período da UFRN

Academic demands, new social context, new routines and decrease of the parental control, are factors that may influence the sleep pattern of freshman students at the University. Medical students from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) have a full-time course, subjects with high-level content, and, at the first semester, classes begin at 7 a.m. This group composed by young adults who still suffering with delayed sleep phase, common in adolescence, indicating that this class schedule can be inappropriate at this age. The reduction of nocturnal sleep during school days, and the attempt to recover sleep on free days – social jet lag (JLS), suggests that in the first semester, students suffer from high sleep pressure. High sleep pressure may reflect on cognitive tasks and performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep pressure and the academic profile of medical students from the first semester of UFRN, characterizing this population socio-demographically and investigating possible impacts on therestactivity rhytm and academic performance. A sample of 88 students, healthy men and women awswered the following questionnaires: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Horne & Ostberg Chronotype (HO), Munich Chronotype (MCTQ) and “Health and Sleep” adapted. Actigraphy was used during 14 days to make actogramas and obtain non-parametric variables of the rest-activity rhythm and the grades of the morning schedule were used as academic performance. The JLS was used as a measure of sleep pressure. Statistics significance level was 95%. The population was sociodemographic homogeneous. Most students have healthy lifestyle, practice physical activity, use car to go to the university and take between 15 and 30 minutes for this route. Regarding CSV, most were classify as intermediate (38.6%) and evening (32%) chronotypes, needs to nap during the week, suffer daytime sleepiness and have poor sleep quality. 83% of the sample has at least 1h JLS, which led us to divide into two groups: Group <2h JLS (N = 44) and Group ≥ 2h JLS (N = 44). The groups have differences only in chronotype, showing that most evening individuals have more JLS, however, no differences were found in relation to sociodemographic aspect, rest-activity rhythm or academic performance. The homogeneity of the sample was limited to compare the groups, however, is alarming that students already present in the first half: JLG, poor sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness, which can be accentuated through the university years, with the emergence of night shifts and increased academic demand. Interventionsaddressingthe importance of good sleep habits and the change of the class start time are strategies aimed to improve student’s health.

Capparaceae: flora do Rio Grande do Norte e biogeografia no semiárido brasileiro

Capparaceae comprises 25 genera and 480 species, of which 110 are included in 18 genera in Neotropics. Its distribution is pantropical with high frequency in seasonally dry environments. Its representatives are woody, shrubs and rarely wines, with simple leave or compound 3-foliolate, shorts and deciduous floral bracts, tetramerous and nocturnal flowers with exserts and numerous stamens, ovary supero on a gynophore and fleshy fruits, dehiscents or indehiscentes. For Brazil, 12 genera and 28 species are recorded and 12 of that are endemic to the country, occurring preferentially in vegetation of savanna estépica s.str., seasonal semideciduos forest and restinga. This work shows two chapters. In the first chapter, the distributions patterns of the species occurring in the brazilian semi-arid region and their distribution intra Caatinga are discussed. The distribution patterns were determined from a review of the distribution of species in herbaria collections and supplemented with data obtained from specific bibliography about the family. A map containing 1 × 1 grid cells was used to evaluate the richness, collection efforts and floristic similarity of the species intra Caatinga. Six genera and eight species were registered in Caatinga. Four species are endemic to Brazil, with only one endemic to Caatinga, and the other four are widespread in Neotropics. Four distribution patterns were observed: restricted to the NE, broad and continuous in Brazil, disjunct and neotropical. All the species were recorded in Bahia, state with the highest species richness per grid cell and also remarkable sampling efforts species of the family. The state of Piauí presents priority areas for further collection of Capparaceae, due to low family representation in the state. The floristic similarity analysis intra Caatinga was low, 22 %, probably due to a few species of the family in the region and the wide distribution of the same. The second chapter presents the Capparaceae of flora to Rio Grande do Norte (RN), since the state has a little-known flora, with specific studies. Through collections in the state and herbaria review, five genera and six species of Capparaceae were recorded in RN: Capparidastrum (1 spp.); Crateva (1 spp.); Cynophalla (2 spp.); Mesocapparis (1 spp.) and Neocalyptrocalyx (1 spp.). Capparidastrum frondosum and Mesocapparis lineata are new records for the state. An identification key, descriptions and images, comments on the biology of the species and protected areas where they occur are showed.

When wolves cry: long distance calling by wild maned wolves

The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus Illiger 1815) is the biggest canid in South America and it is considered a “near threatened” species by IUCN. Because of its nocturnal, territorial and solitary habits, there are still many understudied aspects of their behavior in natural environments, including acoustic communication. In its vocal repertoire, the wolf presents a longdistance call named “roar-bark” which, according to literature, functions for spacing maintenance between individuals and/or communication between members of the reproductive pair inside the territory. In this context, this study aimed: 1) to compare four methods for detecting maned wolf’s roar-barks in recordings made in a natural environment, in order to elect the most efficient one for our project; 2) to understand the night emission pattern of these vocalizations, verifying possible weather and moon phases influences in roarbark’s emission rates; and 3) to test Passive Acoustic Monitoring as a tool to identify the presence of maned wolves in a natural environment. The study area was the Serra da Canastra National Park (Minas Gerais, Brazil), where autonomous recorders were used for sound acquisition, recording all night (from 06pm to 06am) during five days in December/2013 and every day from April to July/2014. Roar-barks’ detection methods were tested and compared regarding time needed to analyze files, number of false positives and number of correctly identified calls. The mixed method (XBAT + manual) was the most efficient one, finding 100% of vocalizations in almost half of the time the manual method did, being chosen for our data analysis. By studying roarbarks’ temporal variation we verified that the wolves vocalize more in the early hours of the evening, suggesting an important social function for those calls at the beginning of its period of most intense activity. Average wind speed negatively influenced vocalization rate, which may indicate lower sound reception of recorders or a change in behavioral patterns of wolves in high speed wind conditions. A better understanding of seasonal variation of maned wolves’ vocal activity is required, but our study already shows that it is possible to detect behavioral patterns of wild animals only by sound, validating PAM as a tool in this species’ conservation.

Gato-do-mato-pequeno (Leopardus tigrinus) na Caatinga: ocupação e padrão de atividade de um felídeo ameaçado e pouco conhecido na floresta tropical seca do nordeste do Brasil

While the carnivores are considered regulators and structuring of natural communities are also extremely threatened by human activities. Endangered little-spotted-cat (Leopardus tigrinus) is one of the lesser known species from the Neotropical cats. In this work we investigate the occupancy and the activity pattern of L. tigrinus in Caatinga of Rio Grande do Norte testing: 1) how environmental and anthropogenic factors influence their occupation and 2) how biotic and abiotic factors influence their activity pattern. For this we raised occurrence data of species in 10 priority areas for conservation. We built hierarchical models of occupancy based on maximum likelihood to represent biological hypotheses which were ranked using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). According to the results the feline occupancy is more likely away from rural settlements and in areas with a higher proportion of woody vegetation. The opportunistic killing of L. tigrinus and in retaliation for poultry predation close to residential areas can explain this result; as well as more complex vegetation structure can better serve as refuge and ensure more food. Analyzing the records of the species through circular statistics we conclude that the activity pattern is mostly nocturnal, although considerable crepuscular and a small diurnal activity. L. tigrinus activity was directly affected by the availability of small terrestrial mammals, which are essentially nocturnal. In addition, the temperatures recorded in the environment directly and indirectly affect the activity of the little-spotted-cat, as also influence the activity of their potential prey. Generally, the cats were more active when possible prey were active, and this happened at night when lower temperatures are recorded. Moreover, the different lunar phases did not affect the activity pattern. The results improve the understanding of an endangered feline inhabiting the Caatinga biome, and thus can help develop conservation and management strategies, as well as in planning future research in this semi-arid ecosystem.

Fuzzy angel: uma arquitetura distribuída de telemedicina para monitoramento de pacientes com esclerose lateral amiotrófica

The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness that leads the patient to death, usually due to respiratory complications. Thus, as the disease progresses the patient will require noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and constant monitoring. This paper presents a distributed architecture for homecare monitoring of nocturnal NIV in patients with ALS. The implementation of this architecture used single board computers and mobile devices placed in patient’s homes, to display alert messages for caregivers and a web server for remote monitoring by the healthcare staff. The architecture used a software based on fuzzy logic and computer vision to capture data from a mechanical ventilator screen and generate alert messages with instructions for caregivers. The monitoring was performed on 29 patients for 7 con-tinuous hours daily during 5 days generating a total of 126000 samples for each variable monitored at a sampling rate of one sample per second. The system was evaluated regarding the rate of hits for character recognition and its correction through an algorithm for the detection and correction of errors. Furthermore, a healthcare team evaluated regarding the time intervals at which the alert messages were generated and the correctness of such messages. Thus, the system showed an average hit rate of 98.72%, and in the worst case 98.39%. As for the message to be generated, the system also agreed 100% to the overall assessment, and there was disagreement in only 2 cases with one of the physician evaluators.