Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro

About: Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro is a education organization based out in Seropédica, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 6405 authors who have published 9852 publications receiving 105911 citations.

A preliminary index of biotic integrity for monitoring the condition of the Rio Paraiba do Sul, southeast Brazil.

Abstract: The biodiversity of many Brazilian rivers is seriously threatened by industrial and municipal pollution, and Rio Paraiba do Sul, located between two major industrial centers is one example of this situation. A survey of the fish assemblage was conducted from October 1998 to September 1999 and the data were used to develop an index of biotic integrity (IBI). We sampled three zones in bracketing a large urban-industrial complex to evaluate water quality changes and the usefulness of the IBI as a monitoring tool. Water quality was classified as poor upstream of the effluent discharges, very poor near the discharges, and poor-fair downstream of the discharges, with this latter situation revealing the current biological capacity of the river. Physical and chemical habitat characteristics were also measured at each site to construct an independent environmental index to validate the IBI. The habitat and IBI indices were highly correlated, suggesting this IBI would be applicable to other large rivers in southeast Brazil.

Spontaneous and Experimental Glycoprotein Storage Disease of Goats Induced by Ipomoea carnea subsp fistulosa (Convolvulaceae)

Abstract: Spontaneous and experimental poisoning with the swainsonine-containing and calystegine-containing plant Ipomoea carnea subsp fistulosa is described. Three of 8 goats presenting with emaciation, weakness, symmetrical ataxia, posterior paresis, proprioceptive deficits, abnormal posture, abnormal postural reaction, and muscle hypertonia were necropsied. I fistulosa was suspected to be the cause of the neurologic disease in all cases. An experiment was conducted to confirm the diagnosis using 12 goats and diets containing 3 different concentrations of the plant. All goats fed I fistulosa developed neurological signs that were similar to those observed in the spontaneous intoxication. Muscle atrophy and pallor were the only macroscopic changes observed in spontaneous and in experimental intoxication. Histological lesions of spontaneous and experimental animals were similar. The most prominent lesion was cytoplasmic vacuolation in neurons of the central and the autonomous nervous system, pancreatic acinar cells, hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, follicular epithelial cells of the thyroid gland, and macrophages of the lymphatic tissues. Neuronal necrosis, axonal spheroids formation, and astrogliosis were additionally observed in the brain. Ultrastructurally, the cytoplasmic vacuoles consisted of distended lysosomes surrounded by a single-layered membrane. Nonreduced end-rests or sequence of alpha-Man, alpha-Glc, beta(1-4)-GlcNAc, and NeuNAc on lysosomal membrane were revealed by lectin histochemistry. Samples of plants used in the experimental trial contained swainsonine and calystegine and their intermediary derivate. We conclude that I fistulosa induces a glycoprotein storage disease primarily based on the inhibition of the lysosomal alpha-mannosidase by the alkaloid swainsonine.