Bologna process, higher education and a few considerations about the New University

O presente artigo analisa o que se convencionou chamar de Processo de Bolonha, isto é, a produção de uma “política pública de um meta-Estado para um meta-campo universitário”, constituindo-se em uma política educacional supranacional, comum aos estados-membros da União Européia, com vista à construção de um “espaço europeu de educação superior”. O processo político e de reformas institucionais, realizado por cada governo nacional, conduzirá ao estabelecimento efetivo do novo sistema europeu de educação superior até 2010, incluindo atualmente 45 países – todos os da UE e outros 18 países europeus não pertencentes a ela. Nesse sentido, por se tratar de um vastíssimo número de “subsistemas nacionais” e de instituições educativas, atribui-se um grande protagonismo às questões relativas à “garantia de qualidade”. Analisam-se, igualmente, as recentes transformações na educação superior no Brasil, em que o projeto da chamada “Universidade Nova” e o Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais (REUNI) constituem-se nas manifestações mais claras do reordenamento desse nível de ensino (seguindo os parâmetros de Bolonha), que já experimentara grandes transformações nos governos de Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002) e teve prosseguimento nos governos de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2006; 2007), embora com distintos matizes.This article analyzes what is conventionally known as the Bologna Process, or the making of a “public policy of a meta-State for a University meta-field” that corresponds to a supranational educational policy for all the European Union membership States, with the goal of building a “European higher education space.” The political process and the institutional reforms of each national government intends to establish the new European higher education system until 2010, with 45 countries – the number reflects current developments, including the EU membership States and 18 non-EU countries. Given the high quantity and the myriads of “national subsystems” and educational institutions involved, “quality assurance” becomes a major task in this process. We analyze, in the same way, the recent higher education changes in Brazil, where the so-called “New University” project and the Program of Support for the Restructuring and Expansion of Brazilian Federal Universities (REUNI, in Portuguese) are the clearest expressions of the reshaping of the higher education system (in accordance with the Bologna standards) after the dramatic changes made by Fernando Henrique Cardoso´s government (1995-2002) and continued by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva´s government (2003-2006; 2007), despite some differences between both administrations

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

L-Glutamine Supplementation Improves the Benefits of Combined-Exercise Training on Oral Redox Balance and Inflammatory Status in Elderly Individuals

Although regular combined aerobic-resistance exercises can ameliorate the inflammatory status and redox balance in elderly population, it is unclear whether protein or specific amino acid supplementation could improve such benefits. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the inflammatory status and redox indexes through of the saliva of 34 elderly subject nonpractitioners (NP group, 73.3±6.6 years) and 49 elderly subject practitioners of a combined-exercise training in moderate intensity (CET group, 71.9±5.8 years) before (pre) and after (post) 30 days of supplementation with L-glutamine (Gln) or placebo (PL). Our results showed that, both in pre- and postsupplementation, the salivary levels of nitric oxide (NO⋅) and TNF-α were lower, whereas the levels of uric acid and IL-10 (as well as IL-10/TNF-α ratio) were higher in the CET groups than in the NP groups. In postsupplementation, both groups supplemented with Gln (NP-Gln and CET-Gln) showed higher salivary uric acid levels compared to baseline. In addition, lower NO⋅ levels were found in the CET-Gln group postsupplementation than presupplementation values. Whereas the CET-Gln group showed lower GSH levels postsupplementation, NP-Gln subjects showed lower GSSG levels at the same time point, both compared to baseline. Interestingly, salivary peroxidase activity was lower only in NP groups (NP-PL and NP-Gln) postsupplementation than baseline values. A positive significant correlation between salivary peroxidase activity and GSH levels, and also between salivary peroxidase activity and uric acid levels were observed in the CET-Gln group both pre- and postsupplementation. No differences were found in albumin, total antioxidant activity (TEAC), and reducing power analysis between groups, pre- or postsupplementation. In conclusion, the elderly subjects from the CET group showed a better inflammatory response and redox balance and, for the first time, it was shown that daily supplementation with Gln for 30 days can improve these benefits with putative association with a healthy aging

Chemoselective Synthesis of Mannich Adducts from 1,4-Naphthoquinones and Profile as Autophagic Inducers in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a worldwide public health problem, accounting for approximately 90% of all oral cancers, and is the eighth most common cancer in men. Cisplatin and carboplatin are the main chemotherapy drugs used in the clinic. However, in addition to their serious side effects, such as damage to the nervous system and kidneys, there is also drug resistance. Thus, the development of new drugs becomes of great importance. Naphthoquinones have been described with antitumor activity. Some of them are found in nature, but semi synthesis has been used as strategy to find new chemical entities for the treatment of cancer. In the present study, we promote a multiple component reaction (MCR) among lawsone, arylaldehydes, and benzylamine to produce sixteen chemoselectively derivated Mannich adducts of 1,4-naphthoquinones in good yield (up to 97%). The antitumor activities and molecular mechanisms of action of these compounds were investigated in OSCC models and the compound 6a induced cytotoxicity in three different tumor cell lines (OSCC4, OSCC9, and OSCC25) and was more selective (IS > 2) for tumor cells than the chemotropic drug carboplatin and the controls lapachol and shikonin, which are chemically similar compounds with cytotoxic effects. The 6a selectively and significantly reduced the amount of cell colony growth, was not hemolytic, and tolerable in mice with no serious side effects at a concentration of 100 mg/kg with a LD50 of 150 mg/kg. The new compound is biologically stable with a profile similar to carboplatin. Morphologically, 6a does not induce cell retraction or membrane blebs, but it does induce intense vesicle formation and late emergence of membrane bubbles. Exploring the mechanism of cell death induction, compound 6a does not induce ROS formation, and cell viability was not affected by inhibitors of apoptosis (ZVAD) and necroptosis (necrostatin 1). Autophagy followed by a late apoptosis process appears to be the death-inducing pathway of 6a, as observed by increased viability by the autophagy inhibitor (3-MA) and by the appearance of autophagosomes, later triggering a process of late apoptosis with the presence of caspase 3/7 and DNA fragmentation. Molecular modeling suggests the ability of the compound to bind to topoisomerase I and II and with greater affinity to hPKM2 enzyme than controls, which could explain the mechanism of cell death by autophagy. Finally, the in-silico prediction of drug-relevant properties showed that compound 6a has a good pharmacokinetic profile when compared to carboplatin and doxorubicin. Among the sixteen naphthoquinones tested, compound 6a was the most effective and is highly selective and well tolerated in animals. The induction of cell death in OSCC through autophagy followed by late apoptosis possibly via inhibition of the PKM2 enzyme points to a promising potential of 6a as a new preclinical anticancer candidate

Elderly Subjects Supplemented with L-Glutamine Shows an Improvement of Mucosal Immunity in the Upper Airways in Response to Influenza Virus Vaccination

Background: Although glutamine is able to improve the immune response, its action in the upper airway immunity against the influenza virus vaccine remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the L-glutamine supplementation effect on the mucosal immune/inflammatory response of elderly subjects vaccinated against the influenza virus. Methods: Saliva sampling from 83 physically active elderly volunteers were collected pre- and 30 days after influenza virus vaccination and supplementation with L-glutamine (Gln, n = 42) or placebo (PL, n = 41). Results: Gln group showed higher salivary levels of interleukin (IL)-17, total secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), and specific-SIgA post-vaccination than values found pre-vaccination and in the PL group post-vaccination. Whereas higher salivary levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were observed post-vaccination in the Gln group, IL-37 levels were lower post-vaccination in both groups than the values pre-vaccination. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels were unchanged. Positive correlations between IL-6 and IL-10 were found in all volunteer groups pre- and post-vaccination and also between IL-17 and IL-6 or IL-10 in the Gln group post-vaccination. A negative correlation between IL-37 and IL-10 was found pre- and post-vaccination in the PL group. Conclusion: Gln supplementation was able to modulate salivary cytokine profile and increase SIgA levels, both total and specific to the influenza virus vaccine, in physically active elderly subjects

Elderly Subjects Supplemented with L-Glutamine Shows an Improvement of Mucosal Immunity in the Upper Airways in Response to Influenza Virus Vaccination

Background: Although glutamine is able to improve the immune response, its action in the upper airway immunity against the influenza virus vaccine remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the L-glutamine supplementation effect on the mucosal immune/inflammatory response of elderly subjects vaccinated against the influenza virus. Methods: Saliva sampling from 83 physically active elderly volunteers were collected pre- and 30 days after influenza virus vaccination and supplementation with L-glutamine (Gln, n = 42) or placebo (PL, n = 41). Results: Gln group showed higher salivary levels of interleukin (IL)-17, total secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), and specific-SIgA post-vaccination than values found pre-vaccination and in the PL group post-vaccination. Whereas higher salivary levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were observed post-vaccination in the Gln group, IL-37 levels were lower post-vaccination in both groups than the values pre-vaccination. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels were unchanged. Positive correlations between IL-6 and IL-10 were found in all volunteer groups pre- and post-vaccination and also between IL-17 and IL-6 or IL-10 in the Gln group post-vaccination. A negative correlation between IL-37 and IL-10 was found pre- and post-vaccination in the PL group. Conclusion: Gln supplementation was able to modulate salivary cytokine profile and increase SIgA levels, both total and specific to the influenza virus vaccine, in physically active elderly subjects