Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso

About: Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso is a education organization based out in Cuiabá, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 7748 authors who have published 10181 publications receiving 89994 citations.

Guidelines for Perioperative Care for Pancreaticoduodenectomy: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) Society Recommendations

Abstract: Protocols for enhanced recovery provide comprehensive and evidence-based guidelines for best perioperative care. Protocol implementation may reduce complication rates and enhance functional recovery and, as a result of this, also reduce length-of-stay in hospital. There is no comprehensive framework available for pancreaticoduodenectomy. An international working group constructed within the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) Society constructed a comprehensive and evidence-based framework for best perioperative care for pancreaticoduodenectomy patients. Data were retrieved from standard databases and personal archives. Evidence and recommendations were classified according to the GRADE system and reached through consensus in the group. The quality of evidence was rated “high”, “moderate”, “low” or “very low”. Recommendations were graded as “strong” or “weak”. Comprehensive guidelines are presented. Available evidence is summarised and recommendations given for 27 care items. The quality of evidence varies substantially and further research is needed for many issues to improve the strength of evidence and grade of recommendations. The present evidence-based guidelines provide the necessary platform upon which to base a unified protocol for perioperative care for pancreaticoduodenectomy. A unified protocol allows for comparison between centres and across national borders. It facilitates multi-institutional prospective cohort registries and adequately powered randomised trials.

Biodiversity and its conservation in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract: The Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil, is famous for its luxurious plant and animal life. We combine a literature review with recent work and show that species diversity is large but that most major plant and animal groups contain a large number of not wetland-specific species that depend on permanently terrestrial habitats within the Pantanal, or are restricted to dry areas during the low water period. These species occur also in the neighbouring biomes of Cerrado, Amazon Forest or Chaco. Until now, very few endemic species have been described, however, there are large populations of species in the Pantanal that are considered rare or endangered in South America. The number of trees adapted to long term flooding is low in comparison with the Amazon River floodplain. We hypothesize that the reason for the lack of local endemisms and the occurrence of a large number of species with a large ecological amplitude is the climatic instability of the region of the Pantanal, which suffered severe drought during glacial periods. The instability of the actual climate, which is characterized by multi-annual wet and dry periods, has a strong impact on distribution, community structure and population size of many plant and animal species and hinders spatial segregation of populations. The dependence of the system on the flood pulse makes the Pantanal very vulnerable to human induced changes in hydrology and the predicted changes in global climate.

Brazilian wetlands: their definition, delineation, and classification for research, sustainable management, and protection

Abstract: Although 20% of Brazilian territory is covered by wetlands, wetland inventories are still incomplete. In 1993, Brazil signed the Ramsar Convention but a coherent national policy for the sustainable management and protection of wetlands has yet to be established. Major gaps in the definition of a specific wetland policy are twofold: (1) the lack of standardized criteria by which wetlands are defined and delineated that reflects the specific ecological conditions of the country and (2) the lack of a national classification of wetlands that takes into account specific hydrological conditions and respective plant communities. In recent years, efforts have been made at a regional level to improve public awareness of the ecology of Brazilian wetlands, their benefits to society, and the major threats endangering them. Studies have shown that wetlands play a crucial role in the regional hydrological cycle and provide multiple benefits for local populations. Furthermore, Brazilian wetlands contribute significantly to South American biodiversity. Therefore, wetland conservation and sustainable management should be given high legislative priority. This article provides a synthesis of the current body of knowledge on the distribution, hydrology, and vegetation cover of Brazilian wetlands. Their definition, delineation, and classification at the national level are proposed in order to establish a scientific basis for discussions on a national wetland policy that mandates the sustainable management of Brazil's extremely diverse and complex wetlands. This goal is particularly urgent in the face of the continuing and dramatic deterioration of wetlands resulting from large-scale agro-industrial expansion, and hydroelectric projects as well as the projected impact of global climate change on hydrological cycles.

Mantel test in population genetics

Abstract: The comparison of genetic divergence or genetic distances, estimated by pairwise FST and related statistics, with geographical distances by Mantel test is one of the most popular approaches to evaluate spatial processes driving population structure There have been, however, recent criticisms and discussions on the statistical performance of the Mantel test Simultaneously, alternative frameworks for data analyses are being proposed Here, we review the Mantel test and its variations, including Mantel correlograms and partial correlations and regressions For illustrative purposes, we studied spatial genetic divergence among 25 populations of Dipteryx alata ("Baru"), a tree species endemic to the Cerrado, the Brazilian savannas, based on 8 microsatellite loci We also applied alternative methods to analyze spatial patterns in this dataset, especially a multivariate generalization of Spatial Eigenfunction Analysis based on redundancy analysis The different approaches resulted in similar estimates of the magnitude of spatial structure in the genetic data Furthermore, the results were expected based on previous knowledge of the ecological and evolutionary processes underlying genetic variation in this species Our review shows that a careful application and interpretation of Mantel tests, especially Mantel correlograms, can overcome some potential statistical problems and provide a simple and useful tool for multivariate analysis of spatial patterns of genetic divergence