Seasonal patterns of viral and bacterial infections among children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia in a tropical region

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common cause of morbidity among children. Evidence on seasonality, especially on the frequency of viral and bacterial causative agents is scarce; such information may be useful in an era of changing climate conditions worldwide. To analyze the frequency of distinct infections, meteorological indicators and seasons in children hospitalized for CAP in Salvador, Brazil, nasopharyngeal aspirate and blood were collected from 184 patients aged < 5 y over a 21-month period. Fourteen microbes were investigated and 144 (78%) cases had the aetiology established. Significant differences were found in air temperature between spring and summer (p = 0.02) or winter (p < 0.001), summer and fall (p = 0.007) or winter (p < 0.001), fall and winter (p = 0.002), and on precipitation between spring and fall (p = 0.01). Correlations were found between: overall viral infections and relative humidity (p = 0.006; r = 0.6) or precipitation (p = 0.03; r = 0.5), parainfluenza and precipitation (p = 0.02; r = -0.5), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and air temperature (p = 0.048; r = -0.4) or precipitation (p = 0.045; r = 0.4), adenovirus and precipitation (p = 0.02; r = 0.5), pneumococcus and air temperature (p = 0.04; r = -0.4), and Chlamydia trachomatis and relative humidity (p = 0.02; r = -0.5). The frequency of parainfluenza infection was highest during spring (32.1%; p = 0.005) and that of RSV infection was highest in the fall (36.4%; p < 0.001). Correlations at regular strength were found between several microbes and meteorological indicators. Parainfluenza and RSV presented marked seasonal patterns.

Patterns of food acquisition in Brazilian households and associated factors: a population-based survey

Objective: To identify food acquisition patterns in Brazil and relate them to the sociodemographic characteristics of the household. Design: A cross-sectional national Household Budget Survey (HBS). Principal component factor analysis was used to derive food patterns (factors) on the basis of the acquisition of food classified into thirty-two food groups. Setting: The source of data originates from the 2002-2003 HBS carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics between June 2002 and July 2003 using a representative sample of all Brazilian households. Subject: A total of 48 470 households allocated into 443 strata of households that were geographically and socio-economically homogeneous as a study unit. Results: We identified two patterns of food acquisition. The first, named `dual`, was characterized by dairy, fruit, fruit juice, vegetables, processed meat, soft drinks, sweets, bread and margarine, and by inverse correlations with Brazilian staple foods. In contrast, the second pattern, named `traditional`, was characterized by rice, beans, manioc, flour, milk and sugar. The `dual` pattern was associated with higher household educational level, income and the average age of adults on the strata, whereas the `traditional` presented higher loadings in less-educated households and in the rural setting. Conclusions: Dietary patterns described here suggest that policies and programmes to promote healthy eating need to consider that healthy and non-healthy foods may be integral in the same pattern.

Ethylene and polyamine production patterns during in vitro shoot organogenesis of two passion fruit species as affected by polyamines and their inhibitor

Levels of ethylene and polyamines (PAs) were measured during organogenesis of hypocotyl explants of two species of passion fruit (Passiflora cincinnata Masters and Passiflora edulis Sims f. flavicarpa Degener `FB-100`) to better understand the relationships of these regulators and their influence on cell differentiation and morphogenesis. Moreover, histological investigation of shoot ontogenesis was conducted to characterize the different events involved in cell redifferentiation and regulation of PA and ethylene levels. A delay was observed in morphogenic responses of P. edulis f. flavicarpa as compared to P. cincinnata, and these changes coincided with production of elevated levels of polyamine and ethylene levels. During differentiation, cells showed high rates of expansion and elongation, and high ethylene levels were associated with high PA levels, suggesting that the two biosynthesis pathways were highly regulated. Moreover, their interaction might be an important factor for determining cell differentiation. The addition of PAs to the culture medium did not promote organogenesis; however, the incorporation of the PA inhibitor methylglyoxal bisguanylhydrazone in the culture medium reduced shoot bud differentiation, suggesting the need to maintaining a minimum level of PAs for morphogenic events to take place.

Temporal Diversity Patterns and Phenology in Fruit-feeding Butterflies in the Atlantic Forest

The Atlantic Forest deserves special attention due to its high level of species endemism and degree of threat. As in other tropical biomes, there is little information about the ecology of the organisms that occur there. The objectives of this study were to verify how fruit-feeding butterflies are distributed through time, and the relation with meteorological conditions. Species richness and Shannon index were partitioned additively at the monthly level, and beta diversity, used as a hierarchical measure of temporal species turnover, was calculated among months, trimesters, and semesters. Circular analysis was used to verify how butterflies are distributed along seasons and its relation with meteorological conditions. We sampled 6488 individuals of 73 species. Temporal diversity of butterflies was more grouped than expected by chance among the months of each trimester. Circular analyses revealed that diversity is concentrated in hot months (September-March), with the subfamily Brassolinae strongly concentrated in February-March. Average temperature was correlated with total abundance of butterflies, abundance of Biblidinae, Brassolinae and Morphinae, and richness of Satyrinae. The present results show that 3mo of sampling between September and March is enough to produce a nonbiased sample of the local assemblage of butterflies, containing at least 70 percent of the richness and 25 percent of abundance. The influence of temperature on sampling is probably related to butterfly physiology. Moreover, temperature affects resource availability for larvae and adults, which is higher in hot months. The difference in seasonality patterns among subfamilies is probably a consequence of different evolutionary pressures through time.

Rural property size drives patterns of upland and riparian forest retention in a tropical deforestation frontier

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia accounts for a disproportionate global scale fraction of both carbon emissions from biomass burning and biodiversity erosion through habitat loss. Here we use field- and remote-sensing data to examine the effects of private landholding size on the amount and type of forest cover retained within economically active rural properties in an aging southern Amazonian deforestation frontier. Data on both upland and riparian forest cover from a survey of 300 rural properties indicated that 49.4% (SD = 29.0%) of the total forest cover was maintained as of 2007. and that property size is a key regional-scale determinant of patterns of deforestation and land-use change. Small properties (<= 150 ha) retained a lower proportion of forest (20.7%, SD = 17.6) than did large properties (>150 ha; 55.6%, SD = 27.2). Generalized linear models showed that property size had a positive effect on remaining areas of both upland and total forest cover. Using a Landsat time-series, the age of first clear-cutting that could be mapped within the boundaries of each property had a negative effect on the proportion of upland, riparian, and total forest cover retained. Based on these data, we show contrasts in land-use strategies between smallholders and largeholders, as well as differences in compliance with legal requirements in relation to minimum forest cover set-asides within private landholdings. This suggests that property size structure must be explicitly considered in landscape-scale conservation planning initiatives guiding agro-pastoral frontier expansion into remaining areas of tropical forest. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is bird incidence in Atlantic forest fragments influenced by landscape patterns at multiple scales?

The degree to which habitat fragmentation affects bird incidence is species specific and may depend on varying spatial scales. Selecting the correct scale of measurement is essential to appropriately assess the effects of habitat fragmentation on bird occurrence. Our objective was to determine which spatial scale of landscape measurement best describes the incidence of three bird species (Pyriglena leucoptera, Xiphorhynchus fuscus and Chiroxiphia caudata) in the fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest and test if multi-scalar models perform better than single-scalar ones. Bird incidence was assessed in 80 forest fragments. The surrounding landscape structure was described with four indices measured at four spatial scales (400-, 600-, 800- and 1,000-m buffers around the sample points). The explanatory power of each scale in predicting bird incidence was assessed using logistic regression, bootstrapped with 1,000 repetitions. The best results varied between species (1,000-m radius for P. leucoptera; 800-m for X. fuscus and 600-m for C. caudata), probably due to their distinct feeding habits and foraging strategies. Multi-scale models always resulted in better predictions than single-scale models, suggesting that different aspects of the landscape structure are related to different ecological processes influencing bird incidence. In particular, our results suggest that local extinction and (re)colonisation processes might simultaneously act at different scales. Thus, single-scale models may not be good enough to properly describe complex pattern-process relationships. Selecting variables at multiple ecologically relevant scales is a reasonable procedure to optimise the accuracy of species incidence models.

Nutrition in Transition: Dietary Patterns of Rural Amazonian Women During a Period of Economic Change

Objectives: The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between economic change (wage labor, retirement, and the Bolsa Familia program) and dietary patterns in the rural Amazon and to determine the extent to which these changes followed the pattern of the nutrition transition. Methods: The study was longitudinal. The weighed-inventory method and economic interviews were used to collect data on dietary intake and household economics in a sample of 30 and 52 women in 2002 and 2009, respectively. Twenty of the women participated in both years and make-up the longitudinal sub-sample. Comparative statistics were used to identify changes in dietary patterns over time and multiple linear regressions were used to explore the relationship between economics, subsistence strategies, and diet. Results: There was a significant decline in kcal (P < 0.01) and carbohydrate (P < 0.01) but no change in protein intake over time in both the larger and smaller, longitudinal subsample. The percent of energy, carbohydrate, protein, and fat purchased increased in the larger and longitudinal samples (P <= 0.02) and there was an increase in refined carbohydrate and processed, fatty-meat consumption over time. The abandonment of manioc gardens was associated with increased dependence on purchased food (P = 0.03) while receipt of the Bolsa Familia was associated with increased protein intake and adequacy (P = 0.02). Conclusions: The dietary changes observed are only in partial agreement with predictions of the nutrition transition literature. The relationship between the economic and diet changes was shaped by the local context which should be considered when implementing CCT programs, like the Bolsa Familia. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 23:458-469, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The Evolution of Modularity in the Mammalian Skull I: Morphological Integration Patterns and Magnitudes

Morphological integration refers to the modular structuring of inter-trait relationships in an organism, which could bias the direction and rate of morphological change, either constraining or facilitating evolution along certain dimensions of the morphospace. Therefore, the description of patterns and magnitudes of morphological integration and the analysis of their evolutionary consequences are central to understand the evolution of complex traits. Here we analyze morphological integration in the skull of several mammalian orders, addressing the following questions: are there common patterns of inter-trait relationships? Are these patterns compatible with hypotheses based on shared development and function? Do morphological integration patterns and magnitudes vary in the same way across groups? We digitized more than 3,500 specimens spanning 15 mammalian orders, estimated the correspondent pooled within-group correlation and variance/covariance matrices for 35 skull traits and compared those matrices among the orders. We also compared observed patterns of integration to theoretical expectations based on common development and function. Our results point to a largely shared pattern of inter-trait correlations, implying that mammalian skull diversity has been produced upon a common covariance structure that remained similar for at least 65 million years. Comparisons with a rodent genetic variance/covariance matrix suggest that this broad similarity extends also to the genetic factors underlying phenotypic variation. In contrast to the relative constancy of inter-trait correlation/covariance patterns, magnitudes varied markedly across groups. Several morphological modules hypothesized from shared development and function were detected in the mammalian taxa studied. Our data provide evidence that mammalian skull evolution can be viewed as a history of inter-module parcellation, with the modules themselves being more clearly marked in those lineages with lower overall magnitude of integration. The implication of these findings is that the main evolutionary trend in the mammalian skull was one of decreasing the constraints to evolution by promoting a more modular architecture.