Effects of UV-B radiation on Gelidium floridanum (Rhodophyta, Gelidiales): germination of tetraspores and early sporeling development

The increased incidence of UV-B radiation, particularly in southern South America, has sparked more interest in its effects on marine organisms. Here we describe the effects of UV-B on the early life stages of Gelidium floridanum, an agar-producing species abundant on rocky coasts in southern Brazil. Treated samples were submitted to 0.12 W?m^?2 of artificial UV-B radiation for 2 h per day over a 15-day period. UV-B exposure induced impairment of tetraspore germination and germling development. We observed a delay in germination, a reduced growth rate of tetrasporelings, and morphological changes, such as a different length-to-width ratio, twisted thallus, loss of pigmentation, and differentiation of more than one apical cell, all leading to a different growth pattern in sporelings that survived treatment. Results indicated a great susceptibility of early-developing Gelidium to UV-B, even at low irradiance and short exposure time.     

Patentes fúngicas: de Pasteur a nuestros días

At the end of the 19^th century, the American Patent Office granted the patent known as “Pasteur's application”, claiming the protection of a yeast strain. Since that date, the debate around biotechnology patents, especially for those that affect living organisms or part of them, has grown exponentially.In the present article, the Patent Law is reviewed, pointing out the particular problems about fungi or parts of them. Also, some of the fungus patents are discussed from the perspective of the ethical, economical, social and environmental aspects of these kind of patents.     

Histological,histochemical, and ultrastructural investigation of the male copulatory apparatus of Haminoea navicula (Gastropoda,Cephalaspidea)

Due to its biological and systematic importance, the morphology and function of the male copulatory apparatus of Haminoea navicula, a Cephalaspidea gastropod mollusk, was investigated by light and electron microscopy. These systems are poorly understood in haminoids, but are often used in the taxonomy of the genus. In H. navicula, the male copulatory apparatus comprises the penis within a penial sheath, a seminal duct and the prostate with two lobes. The penis is a muscular structure with a tip covered by spikes formed by muscular cells. The penial sheath consists of muscular tissue folds lined by an epithelium. Below this epithelium, polysaccharide‐secreting cells and pigment cells were observed. A large number of vacuolar cells were found below the ciliated epithelium of the seminal duct. The proximal lobe of the prostate was formed by tubules that could be divided in basal, middle and apical zones, containing cells that secrete polysaccharides and proteins. The tubules of the prostate distal lobe contained a single type of secretory cells with vesicles that were stained by histochemical techniques for detection of polysaccharides and proteins. Ciliated cells were present along the tubules in both lobes of the prostate. This study revealed a complex prostate with five types of secretory cells, which secrete substances that should be involved in the maintenance and eventually also in the maturation of spermatozoa. A comparison with previous publications, shows that the male copulatory apparatus can differ substantially among cephalaspideans, even between H. navicula and non‐European species attributed to this genus.     

The influence of pauses on the fatigue of upper limb muscles during the task of ironing

The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of position and pauses on muscle activity and fatigue during the task of ironing. Ten female participants performed the task of ironing in two different positions (standing and sitting) for 10?min each with a 1-min pause at the end of each task. Muscle activity and fatigue from the upper trapezium, anterior deltoid, and pectoralis major were analyzed using surface electromyography. The results showed that the positions had no significant influence on muscle activity; nevertheless, they had significant influence on muscular fatigue. In addition, the pauses were possibly beneficial in decreasing the muscle fatigue, but the results were not conclusive.     

Evaluation of OIDx Histoplasma Urinary Antigen EIA

Mycopathologia - A sandwich enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of Histoplasma antigens (Ag) in urine, developed by Optimum Imaging Diagnostics (OIDx) was evaluated. A verification using a...     

Nonbiological factors affecting track censuses: implications for sampling design and reliability

Track census is a widely used method for rapid faunal assessments, which assumes that differences in track count numbers mainly reflect differences in species abundance due to some biological factors. However, some methodological and climatic variables might affect results of track censuses. Here, we tested the effect of climatic variables, such as maximum temperature, humidity, wind speed or days since last rain, and methodological factors such as censusing day period, distance from transect to vegetation edge, substrate condition or observer, on the number of tracks of mammal carnivores and some of their potential prey detected in sandy substrates. We sampled 2?×?2 km² located within the scrubland area of Doñana National Park (southwestern Spain) for carnivore and several potential prey tracks. Our results showed differences in the number of tracks detected between observers and a significant interaction between observers and the day period when censuses were carried out. Moreover, the variables increasing the quality of the substrate (higher environmental humidity, lower wind speed and days since last rain) not only led to a greater detection of carnivore tracks but, depending on the size of the species sampled other variables such as distance from transects to the vegetation border, also affected results. We recommend restricting sampling to certain fixed weather conditions when planning to monitor relative animal abundance from track censuses. When not possible, climatic or methodological variables should be included as covariates in analyses that try to test for the biological factors affecting wildlife abundance, taking into account that these variables, which affect the number of tracks detected could vary between years.     

Houseflies speaking for the conservation of natural areas: a broad sampling of Muscidae (Diptera) on coastal plains of the Pampa biome,Southern Brazil

The Brazilian Coastal Plain of the Pampa Biome (CPPB), has suffered fragmentation caused by resource extraction and cattle raising. In turn, conservation proposals are needed to prevent the anthropisation of Pampa natural areas. The first step towards conservation proposals by using insects is fauna inventories, providing data support for legislators. Thus, we undertook a regional and broad-scale sampling survey to investigate the diversity of Muscidae flies in protected and non-protected areas of CPPB. In addition, we carried out an ecological guild diversity analysis as a metric approach of bioindication. The Muscidae sampling resulted in 6314 specimens, 98 species taxa in 31 genera. Based on diversity estimators, our sampling represents 70–86% of all muscids of CPPB. The highest diversity occurs in Pelotas streams (non-protected) and Taim Ecological Station (a huge protected area). Despite the fact these areas are more diversified and present more predatory muscid species than others, invasive species associated with livestock were observed at a higher level, providing evidence of the impact of livestock proximity to protected areas. Based on biological characters of Muscidae species and ecological guild analysis, we were able to identify: (i) high diversity of carnivorous species associated with forested and more preserved areas and (ii) a high level of a few saprophagous species as indicator of anthropisation process. In general, our results represent a significant step towards understanding Muscidae in Southern Brazil, and we demonstrate how the population ecology of muscid flies supports data to conservation proposals.     

Evaluation of Extracts Produced by Some Tropical Fungi as Potential Cholinesterase Inhibitors

Summary Extracts of culture filtrates of fungal taxa belonging to Chaetomium sp., Guignardia mangiferae, Pestalotiopsis guepinii, Phomopsis sp., Physalospora sp., Xylaria sp., and sterile mycelium isolated as endophytes from leaves of members of the plant families Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Leguminosae and Palmae; and seven different species of Penicillium isolated from insects were tested for their in vitro acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibitory activity using Ellman’s colorimetric method adapted for thin layer chromatography. The results showed high rate of cholinesterase inhibitory activity, with the best result being obtained with Penicillium extracts, indicating that they might represent a valuable source for pharmaceutical applications and are worthy of further study.