Determinants of cognitive function in childhood: A cohort study in a middle income context

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that poverty, health and nutrition affect children's cognitive development. This study aimed to examine the relative contributions of both proximal and distal risk factors on child cognitive development, by breaking down the possible causal pathways through which poverty affects cognition. METHODS: This cohort study collected data on family socioeconomic status, household and neighbourhood environmental conditions, child health and nutritional status, psychosocial stimulation and nursery school attendance. The effect of these on Wechsler Pre-School and Primary Scale of Intelligence scores at five years of age was investigated using a multivariable hierarchical analysis, guided by the proposed conceptual framework. RESULTS: Unfavourable socioeconomic conditions, poorly educated mother, absent father, poor sanitary conditions at home and in the neighbourhood and low birth weight were negatively associated with cognitive performance at five years of age, while strong positive associations were found with high levels of domestic stimulation and nursery school attendance. CONCLUSION: Children's cognitive development in urban contexts in developing countries could be substantially increased by interventions promoting early psychosocial stimulation and preschool experience, together with efforts to prevent low birth weight and promote adequate nutritional status

Affirmative actions in terms of special rights:Confronting structural violence in Brazilian higher education

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-04T12:14:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-07-01Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)In this article, the authors interpret affirmative actions with reference to structural violence, which is accompanied by legitimizing discourses that tend to make discrimination appear natural and unquestionable. They illustrate the extension of structural violence in Brazilian society with particular reference to access to higher education. It has been common to talk about some groups of students as having special needs. However, the authors see groups of students suffering structural violence as being groups with special rights, and explore affirmative actions through the notion of special rights. The authors find that special-rights terminology establishes the discussion of affirmative actions in higher education in a broader and, at the same time, more profound conceptual framework related to interpretations of social justice. Simultaneously, special-rights terminology brings an educational specificity to the discussion of affirmative actions. Thus, the authors see affirmative actions as being both a general sociopolitical and specific educational challenge.Univ Fed Alfenas, Dept Math, 700th Gabriel Monteiro da Silva St, BR-37130001 Alfenas, MG, BrazilAalborg Univ, Dept Learning & Philosophy, Aalborg, DenmarkState Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Math Educ, Sao Paulo, BrazilState Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Math Educ, Sao Paulo, BrazilCAPES: 2014/05584-

Cultivation-Independent Methods Reveal Differences among Bacterial Gut Microbiota in Triatomine Vectors of Chagas Disease

Chagas disease is one of the most important endemic diseases of South and Central America. Its causative agent is the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to humans by blood-feeding insects known as triatomine bugs. These vectors mainly belong to Rhodnius, Triatoma and Panstrongylus genera of Reduviidae. The bacterial communities in the guts of these vectors may have important effects on the biology of T. cruzi. For this reason, we analyzed the bacterial diversity hosted in the gut of different species of triatomines using cultivation-independent methods. Among Rhodnius sp., we observed similar bacterial communities from specimens obtained from insectaries or sylvatic conditions. Endosymbionts of the Arsenophonus genus were preferentially associated with insects of the Panstrongylus and Triatoma genera, whereas the bacterial genus Serratia and Candidatus Rohrkolberia were typical of Rhodnius and Dipetalogaster, respectively. The diversity of the microbiota tended to be the largest in the Triatoma genus, with species of both Arsenophonus and Serratia being detected in T. infestans