The Library Park Project: Proposal for Redesigning the Spaces in the Martí Provincial Library to Facilitate the Implementation of Services Impacting Community Development

Today the design and development of new services, products, and spaces at libraries must be supported by an architectural design that reinforces the role of the institution as a regular meeting place, a space to get together, fully integrated into its urban setting, with services and spaces that are articulated and go beyond the physical limits of the institution. The aim of this paper is to describe the proposed renovation of the central patio and the spaces that surround it at Martí Provincial Library in Cuba. This renovation will allow the library to offer new services under the concept of a Library Park, that is to say, an area for citizen empowerment and community development. This report also emphasizes the need to confront the changes that the library must do in those spaces to become an ideal location for the community to find recreation, training, and needed information

Proyecto BiblioParque: Propuesta de Rediseño de Espacios en el Edificio de la Biblioteca Provincial "Martí" para la Implementación de Servicios que Incidan en el Desarrollo de la Comunidad

Hoy en día, el diseño y desarrollo de nuevos servicios, productos y espacios en las bibliotecas debe estar respaldado por un diseño arquitectónico que refuerce el papel de la institución como un lugar de encuentro, un espacio para reunirse, totalmente integrado en su espacio urbano, con servicios y espacios articulados y que van más allá de los límites físicos de la institución. El objetivo de esta comunicación es describir la renovación propuesta del patio central y los espacios que lo rodean en la Biblioteca Provincial Martí en Cuba. Esta renovación permitirá ofrecer a los usuarios de la biblioteca nuevos servicios bajo el concepto de Biblioteca Parque, como un área para el empoderamiento ciudadano y el desarrollo de la comunidad. Este informe también enfatiza la necesidad de enfrentar los cambios que la biblioteca debe hacer en esos espacios para convertirse en el lugar ideal para que la comunidad encuentre recreación, capacitación y la información que necesita

Development of a solid-phase microextraction method for determination of hexanal in mayonnaise-type soy dressing

The aim of this study was to develop a headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) method combined with gas chromatography for the determination of hexanal as an indicator of the oxidative changes in mayonnaise-type soy dressing. The identification and quantification of hexanal was done by gas chromatography with a mass selective detector (GC-MS). The method was optimized in terms of the type of fiber, temperature and extraction time, using a response surface design, and the hexanal content as response variable. The method was established with the polydimethylsiloxane-divinylbenzene fiber (PDMS/DVB), 0.3 g of sample, 10 min of pre-extraction, 35 min of extraction at 40 oC and 2 min of desorption at 250 oC. The validation of the developed method was carried out considering linearity, detection and quantification limits, and precision. Validation for the hexanal content technique showed that the method has a linear response in the range of 1 to 3000 ng/g of hexanal, a limit of detection of 1.06 ng/g, a limit of quantification of 3.53 ng/g, 3.3% average repeatability and 97.7% recover

The psychological effects of terrorism are moderated by cultural worldviews

Terrorism cannot be easily studied experimentally for obvious reasons. We report the results of a laboratory study (N = 149) testing the effect of cultural worldviews on feelings of threat and hostility toward Muslims in France that include in the design the deadly terrorist attack of January 7th 2015 in Paris as a naturally occurring independent variable. The results replicate past research by showing that in a natural context, people felt more threatened and more hostile toward Muslims after the terrorist attack than before. However, the reverse occurred in an experimental condition that made the French cultural worldview of colorblind equality salient: People felt less threatened and less hostile after the terrorist attack than before. These results provide, for the first time in the context of a real terrorist attack, support for Terror Management Theory's proposal that cultural worldviews are an effective buffer against terror

Reversal of Cocaine-Conditioned Place Preference through Methyl Supplementation in Mice: Altering Global DNA Methylation in the Prefrontal Cortex

Analysis of global methylation in cells has revealed correlations between overall DNA methylation status and some biological states. Recent studies suggest that epigenetic regulation through DNA methylation could be responsible for neuroadaptations induced by addictive drugs. However, there is no investigation to determine global DNA methylation status following repeated exposure to addictive drugs. Using mice conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure, we measured global DNA methylation level in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) associated with drug rewarding effects. We found that cocaine-, but not morphine- or food-CPP training decreased global DNA methylation in the PFC. Chronic treatment with methionine, a methyl donor, for 25 consecutive days prior to and during CPP training inhibited the establishment of cocaine, but not morphine or food CPP. We also found that both mRNA and protein level of DNMT (DNA methytransferase) 3b in the PFC were downregulated following the establishment of cocaine CPP, and the downregulation could be reversed by repeated administration of methionine. Our study indicates a crucial role of global PFC DNA hypomethylation in the rewarding effects of cocaine. Reversal of global DNA hypomethylation could significantly attenuate the rewarding effects induced by cocaine. Our results suggest that methionine may have become a potential therapeutic target to treat cocaine addiction

Mechanisms of initiation and reversal of drug-seeking behavior induced by prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids

We would like to thank the members of the Neuroscience Research Domain at ICVS for all the helpful discussions and suggestions. We are especially thankful to the animal facility caretakers, and to Drs Sara Silva, António Melo and Ana Paula Silva and Dieter Fischer for their helpStress and exposure to glucocorticoids (GC) during early life render individuals vulnerable to brain disorders by inducing structural and chemical alterations in specific neural substrates. Here we show that adult rats that had been exposed to in utero GCs (iuGC) display increased preference for opiates and ethanol, and are more responsive to the psychostimulatory actions of morphine. These animals presented prominent changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), a key component of the mesolimbic reward circuitry; specifically, cell numbers and dopamine (DA) levels were significantly reduced, whereas DA receptor 2 (Drd2) mRNA expression levels were markedly upregulated in the NAcc. Interestingly, repeated morphine exposure significantly downregulated Drd2 expression in iuGC-exposed animals, in parallel with increased DNA methylation of the Drd2 gene. Administration of a therapeutic dose of L-dopa reverted the hypodopaminergic state in the NAcc of iuGC animals, normalized Drd2 expression and prevented morphine-induced hypermethylation of the Drd2 promoter. In addition, L-dopa treatment promoted dendritic and synaptic plasticity in the NAcc and, importantly, reversed drug-seeking behavior. These results reveal a new mechanism through which drug-seeking behaviors may emerge and suggest that a brief and simple pharmacological intervention can restrain these behaviors in vulnerable individuals.This work was supported by the Institute for the Study of Affective Neuroscience (ISAN). AJR, BC and MC were supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) fellowship

The Psychological Effects of Terrorism are Moderated by Cultural Worldviews [Les Effets Psychologiques du Terrorisme sont Modérés par les Normes Culturelles]

International audienc