Several geopolitical factors, aggravated by worries of global warming, have been fueling the search for and production of renewable energy worldwide for the past few years. Such demand for renewable ...energy is likely to benefit the sugarcane ethanol industry in Brazil, not only because sugarcane ethanol has a positive energetic balance and relatively low production costs, but also because Brazilian ethanol has been successfully produced and used as biofuel in the country since the 1970s. However, environmental and social impacts associated with ethanol production in Brazil can become important obstacles to sustainable biofuel production worldwide. Atmospheric pollution from burning of sugarcane for harvesting, degradation of soils and aquatic systems, and the exploitation of cane cutters are among the issues that deserve immediate attention from the Brazilian government and international societies. The expansion of sugarcane crops to the areas presently cultivated for soybeans also represent an environmental threat, because it may increase deforestation pressure from soybean crops in the Amazon region. In this paper, we discuss environmental and social issues linked to the expansion of sugarcane in Brazil for ethanol production, and we provide recommendations to help policy makers and the Brazilian government establish new initiatives to produce a code for ethanol production that is environmentally sustainable and economically fair. Recommendations include proper planning and environmental risk assessments for the expansion of sugarcane to new regions such as Central Brazil, improvement of land use practices to reduce soil erosion and nitrogen pollution, proper protection of streams and riparian ecosystems, banning of sugarcane burning practices, and fair working conditions for sugarcane cutters. We also support the creation of a more constructive approach for international stakeholders and trade organizations to promote sustainable development for biofuel production in developing countries such as Brazil. Finally, we support the inclusion of environmental values in the price of biofuels in order to discourage excessive replacement of natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and pasture by bioenergy crops.
Highlights • Carcinoma hepatocellular (HCC) is a malignant tumor of the liver. • The association between cytokine polymorphisms and risk of HCC was evaluated. • Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) ...were amplified by PCR. • IL-18 -607A and TNF-alpha -238A and -308A alleles may confer susceptibility to HCC. • IL-18 -607C and -137C alleles may play a role in more severe disease.
Sustainable intensification may depend on associating precision farming with the harnessing of ecological principles in crop fields, and integrating farms and non‐farmed land in productive ...landscapes. Small wetlands could play an important role in both pursuits for having high per‐unit‐area rates of element cycling and species richness while deeply penetrating crop fields. However, their potential for ecosystem service provisioning is unlikely to be met if land management intensification promotes ecosystem destabilization in biomass production.
We tested the consequences of land use intensification on various dimensions of freshwater ecosystem stability by means of a large‐scale field experiment converting extensive pastures to intensive pastures and sugarcane plantations in Southeastern Brazil. Nested within experimental plots were 4000 L mesocosms simulating ponds and puddles commonly found in productive landscapes. Mesocosms were monitored for basic physico‐chemical parameters, nutrients, pesticides, phytoplankton standing crop, and the spontaneously colonizing biodiversity.
Despite severe environmental change, the stability of sugarcane communities was no different from that of extensive and intensive pastures. This occurred because the local extinction of a sensitive top dragonfly predator following the application of vinasse and insecticide was compensated by colonization of a suite of more tolerant invertebrate mesopredators such as beetles and bugs. Community stability tended to increase with biomass asynchrony and species richness, evidencing a portfolio effect of biodiversity. Unfortunately, the species richness necessary to stabilize biomass production is unlikely to be available in many sugarcane fields and several other row crops.
Synthesis and applications. Ponds and puddles could be effective centers of irradiation of ecosystem service provisioning in agricultural fields in terms of pest control; nutrient accumulation, cycling and export back to fields; and habitat and stepping stones for freshwater biodiversity. However, the impoverished biodiversity that results from a combination of harsh local conditions and spatial isolation renders pond communities inherently unstable. Given the unlikely, immediate reduction in agrochemical use in much of the intensively managed crop area, a combination of large, protected source wetlands at the margin of fields and small constructed or naturally forming ponds and puddles in plantations could contribute to sustainable intensification.
Resumo
A intensificação sustentável da produção agrícola poderá ser atingida se associarmos agricultura de precisão e princípios ecológicos nos campos agrícolas, com a integração de terras cultivadas, não cultivadas e preservadas nas paisagens produtivas. Pequenos corpos d´água como poças, brejos e lagoas podem vir a exercer um papel importante nesta busca porque apresentam altas taxas de ciclagem de elementos e abrigam riqueza faunística considerável, ao mesmo tempo em que penetram campos agrícolas profundamente. No entanto, a provisão de tais serviços será ameaçada se práticas de manejo intensivo promoverem a desestabilização destes pequenos ecossistemas aquáticos.
Nós testamos as consequências da intensificação no uso e manejo da terra para a estabilidade de ecossistemas aquáticos por meio de um experimento de grande escala convertendo pastagens extensivas em pastagens intensivas e canaviais no sudeste do Brasil. Aninhados nos plots experimentais foram construídos mesocosmos de 4.000 litros simulando poças comumente encontradas em paisagens produtivas. Estes mesocosmos foram monitorados para parâmetros físico‐químicos básicos, nutrientes, pesticidas, biomassa de fitoplâncton, e para a biodiversidade colonizadora.
Apesar das mudanças ambientais severas, a estabilidade das comunidades do canavial foi indistinguível da estabilidade das comunidades das pastagens extensiva e intensiva. Isso ocorreu porque a extinção local de um predador de topo sensível (uma larva de libélula) foi compensada pela colonização dos mesocosmos por um conjunto de espécies de mesopredadores mais tolerantes (besouros e percevejos). A estabilidade de comunidades tendeu a aumentar com a assincronia na produção de biomassa e com a riqueza de espécies, evidenciando um efeito portfolio da biodiversidade. Infelizmente, é improvável que a riqueza de espécies necessária para estabilizar a produção de biomassa esteja disponível na maior parte dos canaviais e de outras lavouras intensivamente manejadas.
Síntese e aplicações. Por conta de seu tamanho diminuto, poças, brejos e lagoas poderiam ser centros de irradiação de serviços ecossistêmicos em campos agrícolas em termos de controle de pragas; acumulação, ciclagem e redistribuição de nutrientes; e na forma de habitats e trampolins para a biodiversidade aquática e semiaquática. No entanto, o empobrecimento na biodiversidade que resulta de uma combinação de condições locais hostis e isolamento espacial tornam comunidades de poças em ambientes agrícolas inerentemente instáveis. Dada a improvável redução imediata no consumo de agroquímicos na maior parte da área agrícola intensivamente manejada, uma combinação de alagados grandes protegidos à margem de campos agrícolas com pequenas poças naturais ou construídas dentro de plantações poderiam contribuir na busca da intensificação sustentável da agricultura.
Ponds and puddles could be effective centers of irradiation of ecosystem service provisioning in agricultural fields in terms of pest control; nutrient accumulation, cycling and export back to fields; and habitat and stepping stones for freshwater biodiversity. However, the impoverished biodiversity that results from a combination of harsh local conditions and spatial isolation renders pond communities inherently unstable. Given the unlikely, immediate reduction in agrochemical use in much of the intensively managed crop area, a combination of large, protected source wetlands at the margin of fields and small constructed or naturally forming ponds and puddles in plantations could contribute to sustainable intensification.
► We compared free-range and barn chickens according to their diets. ► Free-range chickens had more C4 carbon in their diets and higher δ15N values. ► The N-15 enrichment in free-range chickens is ...probably due to ingestion of animal protein.
We compared δ13C and δ15N ratios of barn-raised and free-range chickens to determine if differences in their diets were reflected in the stable isotope composition of their tissues. We conducted a 120-day feeding trial with Caipirinha birds fed a corn–soybean based diet, milled-corn diet and free-range diet. Additionally, we analysed the stable isotope composition of barn-raised chickens bought in grocery stores and free-range homegrown chickens. In the feeding trials, the δ13C and δ15N values of the barn-raised corn–soybean-fed Caipirinha chickens did not change with age, and their stable isotope composition reflected the composition of their diet. The δ13C and δ15N values of barn-raised corn-fed and free-range Caipirinha chickens changed with age toward a diet reflecting a predominance of C4 carbon. The main difference between the free-range and the barn-raised chickens was the significantly higher δ15N of the former in relation to the latter, probably due to ingestion of animal protein.
Subjects with chronic liver disease are susceptible to hypovitaminosis A due to several factors. Therefore, identifying patients with vitamin deficiency and a requirement for vitamin supplementation ...is important. Most studies assessing vitamin A in the context of hepatic disorders are conducted using cirrhotic patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 43 non-cirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis C to evaluate markers of vitamin A status represented by serum retinol, liver retinol, and serum retinol-binding protein levels. We also performed the relative dose-response test, which provides an indirect estimate of hepatic vitamin A reserves. These vitamin A indicators were assessed according to the stage of liver fibrosis using the METAVIR score and the body mass index. The sample study was predominantly composed of male subjects (63%) with mild liver fibrosis (F1). The relative dose-response test was <20% in all subjects, indicating vitamin A sufficiency. Overweight or obese patients had higher serum retinol levels than those with a normal body mass index (2.6 and 1.9 µmol/L, respectively; P<0.01). Subjects with moderate liver fibrosis (F2) showed lower levels of serum retinol (1.9 vs 2.5 µmol/L, P=0.01) and retinol-binding protein levels compared with those with mild fibrosis (F1) (46.3 vs 67.7 µg/mL, P<0.01). These results suggested an effect of being overweight on serum retinol levels. Furthermore, more advanced stages of liver fibrosis were related to a decrease in serum vitamin A levels.
Vertical profiles in leaf mass per unit leaf area (MA), foliar 13C composition (δ13C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), carbon (C) and major cation concentrations were estimated for 204 rain forest ...trees growing in 57 sites across the Amazon Basin. Data was analysed using a multilevel modelling approach, allowing a separation of gradients within individual tree canopies (within-tree gradients) as opposed to stand level gradients occurring because of systematic differences occurring between different trees of different heights (between-tree gradients). Significant positive within-tree gradients (i.e. increasing values with increasing sampling height) were observed for MA and CDW (the subscript denoting on a dry weight basis) with negative within-tree gradients observed for δ13C, MgDW and KDW. No significant within-tree gradients were observed for NDW, PDW or CaDW. The magnitudes of between-tree gradients were not significantly different to the within-tree gradients for MA, δ13C, CDW, KDW, NDW, PDW and CaDW. But for MgDW, although there was no systematic difference observed between trees of different heights, strongly negative within-tree gradients were found to occur. When expressed on a leaf area basis (denoted by the subscript "A"), significant positive gradients were observed for NA, PA and KA both within and between trees, these being attributable to the positive intra- and between-tree gradients in MA mentioned above. No systematic within-tree gradient was observed for either CaA or MgA, but with a significant positive gradient observed for MgA between trees (i.e. with taller trees tending to have a higher Mg per unit leaf area). Significant differences in within-tree gradients between individuals were observed only for MA, δ13C and P A. This was best associated with the overall average PA for each tree, this also being considered to be a surrogate for a tree's average leaf area based photosynthetic capacity, Amax. A new model is presented which is in agreement with the above observations. The model predicts that trees characterised by a low upper canopy Amax should have shallow, or even non-existent, within-canopy gradients in Amax, with optimal intra-canopy gradients becoming sharper as a tree's upper canopy Amax increases. Nevertheless, in all cases it is predicted that the optimal within-canopy gradient in Amax should be substantially less than for photon irradiance. Although this is also shown to be consistent with numerous observations as illustrated by a literature survey of gradients in photosynthetic capacity for broadleaf trees, it is also in contrast to previously held notions of optimality. A new equation relating gradients in photosynthetic capacity within broadleaf tree canopies to the photosynthetic capacity of their upper canopy leaves is presented.
Objective
Within the last decade, many changes have been made to the management of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of our study was to investigate the global impact of all these ...changes on the disease's course.
Materials and methods
This single‐centre study was carried out on patients with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) who started treatment with first‐line disease‐modifying therapies. We have compared three large cohorts of patients with MS diagnosis, for three consecutive periods within July 2001, August 2001‐December 2005, and January 2006‐September 2011.
Results
A total of 1068 relapsing‐remitting pwMS cases were included. Patients in the last cohort began treatment earlier (P < 0.0001), started more frequent treatment with high‐dose interferon beta or glatiramer acetate (P < 0.0001), and had experienced a more frequent treatment escalation strategy (P = 0.004) than patients in other cohorts. The multivariate analysis adjusted for baseline characteristics showed that pwMS of the last cohort had a high probability of showing no evidence of disease activity (NEDA3) at 4 years (OR 3.22, 95% CIs 1.89‐5.47; P < 0.0001). These results were confirmed in a propensity score analysis.
Conclusions
Our study showed an improvement over the last 15 years in the treatment response; this observation can be associated to a paradigm shift in MS treatment strategies.
Clinical history: An outbreak of intense pruritus and weight loss in a herd of 40 alpacas (Vicugna pacos) in the south-west of France was investigated after the death of 14 adults. One alpaca was ...referred to a veterinary teaching hospital for diagnosis and treatment but died soon after and one of the dead alpacas was submitted for necropsy.
Clinical findings: The remaining alpacas were intensely pruritic with variably severe and extensive alopecia, erythema, lichenification and crusting on the face, ventral abdomen and distal limbs. Superficial skin scrapes from five animals revealed large numbers of Sarcoptes scabiei mites, and less frequent and numerous Chorioptes bovis mites. Coproscopic examinations revealed a median of 1,350 (min 500, max 8800) strongyle epg. The alpaca admitted for treatment was anaemic and hypoalbuminaemic. Skin scrapes revealed copious S. scabiei and C. bovis mites. The two alpacas examined post-mortem had similar skin lesions to those examined on-farm and were cachexic. One had lung lesions attributed to protostrongylid infestation and its liver contained numerous Dicrocoelium spp. adults.
Diagnosis: Sarcoptic and chorioptic mange with secondary superficial bacterial skin infection, associated with severe internal parasitism and underfeeding.
Treatment and outcome: All 25 alpacas were treated topically with a 3% chlorhexidine shampoo followed by a 0.025% amitraz wash at the initial visit and then 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 weeks later. A systemic treatment with S/C 500 µg/kg ivermectin was administered at the initial visit and then 2, 7 and 9 weeks later. The alpacas were treated orally with 50 mg/kg praziquantel to control dicrocoeliosis. Nutritional measures, including increased pasture area and supplemental feeding were simultaneously implemented. Pruritus was reduced 1 week after the start of treatment and had resolved after 2 weeks. After 9 weeks, skin lesions were markedly improved. Six months after the initial visit, skin lesions entirely resolved and superficial skin scrapes, taken from half of the animals, were negative for mites.
Clinical relevance: This is the first report of the use of two acaricides combined with a chlorhexidine shampoo to successfully treat simultaneous sarcoptic and chorioptic mange in alpacas.
Soils of tropical forests are important to the global budgets of greenhouse gases. The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is the second largest tropical moist forest area of South America, after the vast ...Amazonian domain. This study aimed to investigate the emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes along an altitudinal transect and the relation between these fluxes and other climatic, edaphic and biological variables (temperature, fine roots, litterfall, and soil moisture). Annual means of N2O flux were 3.9 (± 0.4), 1.0 (± 0.1), and 0.9 (± 0.2) ng N cm−2 h−1 at altitudes 100, 400, and 1000 m, respectively. On an annual basis, soils consumed CH4 at all altitudes with annual means of −1.0 (± 0.2), −1.8 (± 0.3), and −1.6 (± 0.1) mg m−2 d−1 at 100 m, 400 m and 1000 m, respectively. Estimated mean annual fluxes of CO2 were 3.5, 3.6, and 3.4 μmol m−2 s−1 at altitudes 100, 400 and 1000 m, respectively. N2O fluxes were significantly influenced by soil moisture and temperature. Soil-atmosphere exchange of CH4 responded to changes in soil moisture. Carbon dioxide emissions were strongly influenced by soil temperature. While the temperature gradient observed at our sites is only an imperfect proxy for climatic warming, our results suggest that an increase in air and soil temperatures may result in increases in decomposition rates and gross inorganic nitrogen fluxes that could support consequent increases in soil N2O and CO2 emissions and soil CH4 consumption.
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