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Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the fastest-growing neurological disorder and only symptomatic treatment is available. Zebrafish are ideally suited for high-throughput screening of disease modifying drugs and mechanistic studies. Mutations in PARK7 are associated with early onset familial PD, however also idiopathic PD patients without known mutations in PARK7 show altered subcellular location and levels of its protein product DJ-1 in pathological tissues. Here, we show that PARK7 -/- zebrafish already at their larval stage show a correlation between reduced number of dopaminergic neurons and motor dysfunction. Additionally, PD associated prodromal symptoms as reduced sensory function, increased sleep latency and light phase sleepiness were also observed. The 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP + ) exposed PD model did not reproduce similar sleep disturbances. This is the first stable genetic larval zebrafish model of Parkinson’s disease which shows both motor and non-motor symptoms together with a reduction in dopaminergic neurons. The model should therefore be highly valuable as a tool for PD related drug screening and mechanistic studies.

First described over 120 years ago in Brazil, Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) are expanses of dark soil that are exceptionally fertile and contain large quantities of archaeological artefacts. The elevated fertility of the dark and often deep A horizon of ADEs is widely regarded as an outcome of pre-Columbian human influence 1 . Archaeological research provides clear evidence that their widespread formation in lowland South America was concentrated in the Late Holocene, an outcome of sharp human population growth that peaked towards 1000 BP 2-4 . In their recent paper Silva et al. 5 argue that the higher fertility of ADEs is principally a result of fluvial deposition and, as a corollary, that pre-Columbian peoples just made use of these locales, contributing little to their enhanced nutrient status.Soil formation is inherently complex and often difficult to interpret, requiring a combination of geochemical data, stratigraphy, and dating. Although Silva et al. use this combination of methods to make their case 5 , their hypothesis, based on the analysis of a single ADE site and its immediate surroundings

The growing demand for sustainable livestock systems requires efficient methods for monitoring forage biomass. This study evaluated spectral (RGB and multispectral), textural (GLCM), and area attributes derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery to predict buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) biomass, also testing the effect of soil pixel removal. A comprehensive machine learning pipeline (12 algorithms and 6 feature selection methods) was applied to 14 data combinations. Our results demonstrated that soil removal consistently improved the performance of the applied models. Multispectral (MSI) sensors were the most robust individually, whereas textural (GLCM) attributes did not contribute significantly. Although the MSI and RGB data combination proved complementary, the model with the highest accuracy was obtained with CatBoost using only RGB information after Boruta feature selection, achieving a CCC of 0.83, RMSE of 0.214 kg, and R2 of 0.81 in the test set. The most important variable was vegetation cover area (19.94%), surpassing spectral indices. We conclude that integrating RGB UAVs with robust processing can generate accessible and effective tools for forage monitoring. This approach can support pasture management by optimizing stocking rates, enhancing natural resource efficiency, and supporting data-driven decisions in precision silvopastoral systems.

Oaks taxonomy has been revised over the years, demanding expeditious and cost-effective tools for DNA fingerprinting and taxonomic discrimination. We focused on the characterization of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of 22 Quercus species, belonging to four infrageneric groups, using silver nitrate staining, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and IGS PCR-RFLP markers (produced by the digestion of the rDNA intergenic spacer, IGS). A chromosome complement of 2n = 2x = 24 was confirmed in 21 species, and ascribed to Quercus phellos. Silver nitrate staining detected one or two nucleoli per nucleus, and two nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) per prometaphase cells. FISH performed with rDNA probes revealed two 5S and four 35S rDNA loci in nine species and confirmed their location in the remaining. Since no cytogenetic polymorphisms were detected, the IGS was studied. A single amplicon with ca. 2 kb was amplified in all oaks, and digested with six restriction enzymes, that produced a total of 125 IGS PCR-RFLP fragments with 99.2 % of polymorphism. A monomorphic HaeIII fragment with 225 bp was found. Among the infrageneric groups, 11 monomorphic bands were observed and 6 were considered group-specific. Based on the pool of molecular data different genetic analyses were performed. The UPGMA dendrogram clustered most of the oaks per infrageneric group, and was corroborated by the principal coordinates analysis (PCoA). The genetic structure also matched the assumed taxonomy. Globally, IGS PCR-RFLP proved their usefulness for DNA fingerprinting, evaluation of phylogenies and genetic structure, proving to be an adequate complementary tool for rDNA based studies in genus Quercus.

•The DTPlow vaccine can be used as adjuvant to PspA.•PspA5–DTPlow protects against pneumococcal, B. pertussis and tetanus challenges in mice.•Sera from mice immunized with PspA5–DTPlow neutralize the diphtheria toxin in vitro. The Pneumococcal Surface Protein A (PspA) is a promising candidate for the composition of a protein vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae. We have previously shown that the whole cell Bordetella pertussis vaccine (wP) is a good adjuvant to PspA, inducing protective responses against pneumococcal infection in mice. In Brazil, wP is administered to children, formulated with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (DTPw) and aluminum hydroxide (alum) as adjuvant. A single subcutaneous dose of PspA5–DTPlow (a formulation containing PspA from clade 5 and a new generation DTPw, containing low levels of B. pertussis LPS and Alum) induced high levels of systemic anti-PspA5 antibodies in mice and conferred protection against respiratory lethal challenges with two different pneumococcal strains. Here we evaluate the mucosal immune responses against PspA5 as well as the immune responses against the DTP antigens in mice vaccinated with PspA5–DTPlow. Subcutaneous immunization of mice with PspA5–DTPlow induced high levels of anti-PspA5 IgG in the airways but no IgA. In addition, no differences in the influx of cells to the respiratory mucosa, after the challenge, were observed in vaccinated mice, when compared with control mice. The levels of circulating anti-pertussis, -tetanus and -diphtheria antibodies were equivalent in mice vaccinated with DTPlow or PspA5–DTPlow. Antibodies induced by DTPlow or PspA5–DTPlow showed similar ability to neutralize the cytotoxic effects of the diphtheria toxin on Vero cells. Furthermore, combination with PspA5 did not affect protection against B. pertussis and tetanus toxin challenges in mice. Our results support the proposal for a combined PspA-DTP vaccine.

Fil: Labiak, Paulo. Universidade Federal do Parana; Brasil

The goals of this study were to evaluate the microbial activity, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and inoculation of woody plants (Caesalpinia ferrea, Mimosa tenuiflora and Erythrina velutina) in lead contaminated soil from the semi-arid region of northeastern of Brazil (Belo Jardim, Pernambuco). Dilutions were prepared by adding lead contaminated soil (270 mg Kg(-1)) to uncontaminated soil (37 mg Pb Kg soil(-1)) in the proportions of 7.5%, 15%, and 30% (v:v). The increase of lead contamination in the soil negatively influenced the amount of carbon in the microbial biomass of the samples from both the dry and rainy seasons and the metabolic quotient only differed between the collection seasons in the 30% contaminated soil. The average value of the acid phosphatase activity in the dry season was 2.3 times higher than observed during the rainy season. There was no significant difference in the number of glomerospores observed between soils and periods studied. The most probable number of infective propagules was reduced for both seasons due to the excess lead in soil. The mycorrhizal colonization rate was reduced for the three plant species assayed. The inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi benefited the growth of Erythrina velutina in lead contaminated soil.