Preserving a Legacy: Ensuring the Access and Conservation of the Harold (Harry) G. Fowler (19502018) Ant Collection and Data.

Biological collections are important repositories of biodiversity, as they include various types of data potentially useful to different areas of science and can contribute to the establishment of biodiversity conservation policies. For a long time, scientific collections were considered only as physical databases; in this context Harold G. Fowler (19502018) built an ant collection at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, campus Rio Claro (So Paulo state, Brazil), over the course of a 34-year career, comprising around 20,000 ant specimens. Most specimens came from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, but many others came from distinct locations in Brazil and abroad. After his death, the collection was left without the necessary curatorial care for a period of time, which required a project to be conceived for its recovery and conservation, with the goal of incorporating it to the Zoology Museum of the University of So Paulo (MZSP). In addition to applying modern technical curation protocols, other activities such as checking, material identification and digitization of the information contained on the sample labels were carried out, forming an accurate database. This process enabled the identification of new distribution records and the discovery of possible undescribed species and unpublished natural history data. After validating this information, we counted 524 valid species and 201 morphospecies belonging to 105 genera and 10 subfamilies. In addition, we integrated technical curation activities with scientific outreach to draw the general publics attention to the importance of biological collections, thus fostering interest in science, biodiversity and nature conservation. Our work highlights the importance of preserving the areas sampled by Fowlers research group. The preservation of vouchers using curatorial practices reinforces the role of scientific collections as important tools for the study, understanding and preservation of biodiversity.

Perinatal outcome of hypertensive pregnant women is related to the severity of preeclampsia

Introduction: Hypertension in pregnancy plays a key role in perinatal morbidity and mortality. This study aims to analyze maternal and perinatal outcomes associated with hypertension in pregnant women. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted at the University Hospital of Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, involving hypertensive pregnant women admitted for delivery. The results were analyzed using the chi-square test and the Mann-Whitney test. Results: Of the 162 hypertensive pregnant women studied, 61.1% were diagnosed with preeclampsia. Cesarean section was the most frequent mode of delivery (79.6%). Overall, 46.2% of newborns were premature; of these, 23.4% required intensive neonatal care. Preeclampsia and severe preeclampsia were associated with prematurity in 56.2% of cases (p = 0.011) and 75.7% of cases (p = 0.004), respectively. Severe preeclampsia was associated with neonatal complications (45.9%), and no neonatal complications were associated with mild preeclampsia in 78% (p = 0.014) and gestational hypertension in 96% (p = 0.001). Neonatal deaths occurred in 11.1% of cases admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, corresponding to a neonatal mortality rate of 24 per 1,000 live births. Conclusions: The association of severe preeclampsia with prematurity and adverse perinatal outcomes corroborates the need . (AU)