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Several studies report that 40% to 60% of older people have some difficulty chewing and/or swallowing, which can lead to malnutrition, dehydration, weight loss, a lack of eating desire, etc. Identify older adults with swallowing difficulties in the city of Santos, Brazil, among users of the public healthcare system. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 individuals aged 60 to 90 years with no neurological disorders. Patient histories were taken, and stomatognathic evaluations were performed. The Mini Mental Health Examination (MMHE) and swallowing-related quality-of-life questionnaire (SWAL-QOL) were administered. The clinical swallowing assessment was performed with liquid, pasty and solid foods using two assessment protocols (Dysphagia Risk Evaluation Protocol and the Protocol for the Introduction and Transition of Foods)'. We found complaints of poorly adapted dentures among 49.3% of denture wearers and a high prevalence of hypofunction of oro-facial muscles. Sixty-five per cent of the respondents had facial muscle hypofunction, 51% exhibited lip hypofunction, and 49% exhibited tongue hypofunction. Moreover, 54% reported difficulty swallowing. On the SWAL-QOL questionnaire, 37% reported choking when eating food, 44% reported choking when drinking liquids, 29% reported coughing during meals, and 77% reported difficulty chewing. The present study revealed an important prevalence of complaints related to swallowing difficulties among older people in the city of Santos with structural and physiological changes characteristic of presbyphagia. The most prevalent conditions were poorly adapted dentures and hypofunction of oro-facial muscles, underscoring the importance of stomatognathic interventions in primary care., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We used complementary stable isotope (SIA) and stomach content (SCA) analyses to investigate feeding relationships among species of the nektobenthic communities and the potential ecological effects of the bottom trawling of a coastal ecosystem in northeastern Brazil. Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) compositions were determined for five basal sources and 28 consumers, from zooplankton to shrimp and fish species. Fishes and basal sources showed a broad range of δ15N (fishes: 6.49-14.94‰; sources: 2.58-6.79‰) and δ13C values (fishes: -23.86 to -13.71‰; sources: -24.32 to -13.53‰), while shrimps and crabs exhibited similar nitrogen and carbon ratios. Six trophic consumer groups were determined among zooplankton, crustaceans and fishes by SIA, with trophic pathways associated mostly with benthic sources. SCA results indicated a preference for benthic invertebrates, mainly worms, crabs and shrimps, as prey for the fish fauna, highlighting their importance in the food web. In overall, differences between SCA and the SIA approaches were observed, except for groups composed mainly for shrimps and some species of high δ15N values, mostly piscivorous and zoobenthivores. Given the absence of regulation for bottom trawling activities in the area, the cumulative effects of trawling on population parameters, species composition, potentially decreasing the abundance of benthic preys (e.g., shrimps, worms and crabs) may lead to changes in the trophic structure potentially affect the food web and the sustainability of the fishery., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Rhamdia quelen, a species of Heptapteridae, is considered to be a complex because of taxonomic and phylogenetic inconsistencies. Determining the physical location of repetitive DNA sequences on the chromosomes and the DNA barcode might increase our understanding of these inconsistencies within different groups of fish. To this end, we analyzed R. quelen populations from two river basins in Brazil, Paraguay and Parana, using DNA barcoding and different chromosomal markers, including U2 snDNA, which has never been analyzed for any Rhamdia species. Cytochrome c oxidase I gene sequence analysis revealed a significant differentiation among populations from the Miranda and Quexada rivers, with genetic distances compatible to those found among different species in neotropical fishes. Our results, in general, revealed a conservative chromosomal evolution in R. quelen and a differential distribution of some markers, such as 5S rDNA and U2 snDNA, in different populations. We suggest that R. quelen must undergo a major revision in its morphological, genetic, and cytogenetic molecular and taxonomic structure to elucidate possible operational taxonomic units.