The Federal University of Southern Bahia (Portuguese: Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia, UFSB) is a public institution of higher education in Brazil.UFSB was created by law 12.818/2013, signed by the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff. It started academic activities in September 2014. UFSB has 1610 students enrroled.
The Fundão tailings dam marks its 10th year of disaster in 2025, underscoring the need for a critical assessment of the studies related to the impacts on aquatic ecosystems caused by the largest disaster in mining history. In this context, the present study aimed to review articles that, throughout the years, have investigated changes in the Doce River basin, as well as in coastal and marine areas affected by this collapse. We applied a systematic analysis of the published literature, identifying the main results in relation to the methodologies applied. Therefore, the studies were characterized according to their methodological approaches, spatiotemporal efforts, environmental compartments, and topics of study evaluated. In total, 182 articles published between 2016 and July 2025 were considered. Considerable heterogeneity was observed regarding spatial and temporal coverage, ranging from point‐in‐time assessments to large-scale analyses. Most of the reviewed studies revealed both acute and chronic effects on water and sediment quality across all monitored environments, which in turn resulted in significant impacts on biodiversity. Some studies investigated all environments in an integrated manner, which made possible a deeper understanding of the connections between these systems, showing the importance of this type of approach. Together, the studies revealed the challenge of learning from disasters, especially regarding environmental issues. Furthermore, they encouraged a critical perspective for long-term monitoring planning and the next steps needed to address aquatic biota recovery. This synthesis underscores the critical need for long-term, integrated monitoring to effectively guide the recovery of these interconnected ecosystems.
Fiber cement is widely used in the construction industry due to its satisfactory physical and mechanical properties. However, the need to enhance these characteristics has driven research focused on the development of new additives and the optimization of manufacturing processes. In this context, the present study aimed to develop and evaluate extruded fiber cement composites reinforced with Erythrina poeppigiana particles. The particles were mineralized with 9
Stingless bees serve as crucial pollinators and are increasingly recognized as models for investigating behavioral and genomic evolution in insects. In the genus Melipona, a major difference in heterochromatin organization defines two groups: Group I species (e.g., M. quadrifasciata) with < 50% of pericentromeric heterochromatin and Group II species (e.g., M. scutellaris) containing > 50% heterochromatin across their chromosomes. These differences are believed to correlate with genome size and transposable element (TE) content, offering a unique opportunity to explore how heterochromatin variation, TE dynamics, and chromosomal evolution interact in a phylogenetic context. We present pseudo-chromosome-level genome assemblies for M. quadrifasciata and M. scutellaris obtained through long-read sequencing and 3D chromosome conformation scaffolding. Comparative analyses reveal conserved synteny but marked divergence in structural variants and TE types. M. scutellaris exhibits an expansion of retrotransposons, particularly Gypsy/DIRS1 elements, concentrated in TE hotspots linked to chromosomal rearrangements and structural variants. This coincides with distinct methylation entropy patterns across the genome and an expansion of histone deacetylase orthologs. The increased proportion of retrotransposons in M. scutellaris is counterbalanced by more DNA transposons in M. quadrifasciata, resulting in genomes of similar overall sizes but with distinct heterochromatin distributions. Advancing our understanding of genome evolution in eusocial insects, we provide high-resolution genomic resources for two Melipona species that differ in heterochromatin content. Our results highlight the complex role of TEs in shaping genomes and underscore their influence on chromosomal and epigenetic innovation, providing compelling evidence that TE dynamics underlie the pronounced heterochromatic differences observed in Melipona.
Air pollution, especially in urban areas, is the result of a complex mixture of natural and anthropogenic emissions and their atmospheric processing. It causes millions of premature deaths worldwide and affects plant metabolism, which in turn alters the emissions of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound (BVOCs) by plants. By taking the subtropical Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) as a natural laboratory, the BIOMASP+ project (BIOsphere-atmosphere interactions in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo - plus ) aims to evaluate the interplay between the biosphere and secondary pollution (ozone and SOA formation and aging). The Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) is the target ecosystem as the fifth biodiversity hotspot in the world. Here we present the scientific motivations of the project, its methodology and the preliminary observations from the Special Observation Periods of year 2023 (SOP1, 2, 3 and 4). BIOMASP+ is (i) integrative, by combining in-situ/remote/laboratory observations and modeling, (ii) multidisciplinary, addressing micrometeorology, urban climate, atmospheric chemistry and biology. The project involves multiple nested scales: from leaf to above-canopy levels, from very short time (microseconds) to multi-year scale, from few millimeters (turbulence scale) to synoptic scale. In particular, the experimental effort relies on the implementation of two contrasting supersites (primary forest and urban forest) with a 30-m and 20-m flux towers, respectively, and a variety of state-of-the-art instruments. Ambient observations and the quantification of BVOC emissions have highlighted the complex interactions between meteorology, atmospheric composition of pollution, biogenic emissions of representative remnants of the Atlantic Forest and anthropogenic emissions.
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) benefits pregnant women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, but its role in gestational diabetes (GDM) remains uncertain. We aimed to compare the effects of CGM with self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) on glycemic, maternal, and neonatal outcomes in women with GDM. We compared CGM with SMBG in women with GDM through a systematic search across randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Scopus. We evaluated glycemic, maternal and neonatal outcomes using a random-effects model. Eleven RCTs (n = 1225) met inclusion criteria. The use of CGM increased the likelihood of achieving appropriate maternal weight gain (RR 1.37, 95
