The Samarco mud and corporate crime : a necessary reflection.

O presente estudo objetiva-se a lan?ar luzes sobre o tema de crime corporativo tal como defendido por Medeiros e Alcadipani (2013a). Os estudos organizacionais tendem a se debru?arem sobre o aspecto positivo das organiza??es, tratando o seu lado sombrio como algo excepcional. Diante disso, Medeiros e Alcadipani (2013a) buscaram explorar esse lado sombrio, especificamente os crimes corporativos. Destarte, busca-se lan?ar reflex?es acerca do evento da ?Lama da Samarco? que ocasionou na morte de dezenove pessoas, em fam?lias desabrigadas, preju?zos econ?micos, consequ?ncias ambientais e c?lculo de atingidos inestim?veis. As conclus?es no que se referem ? classifica??o do evento da ?Lama? como crime corporativo ainda ? prematura, por?m, defende-se a necessidade de tais reflex?es como forma de desvelar pr?ticas sombrias das organiza??es e, diante da atualidade desse acontecimento evidenciar como ado??o de tais pr?ticas ? presente na sociedade ao passo que pesquisas que abordem os aspectos negativos do management recebem pouco espa?o.This article refers to a theoretical essay that aims to contribute to critical organizational studies by shedding light on the subject of corporate crime. Organizations are often exploited in their positive aspects, treating their dark side as exceptional, and this ultimately favors the occurrence of corporate crimes. With this in mind, we seek to reflect on the event that occurred on November 5, 2015, in the municipality of Mariana (MG), known as the "Lama da Samarco", and the theory of corporate crimes, since this event caused death of nineteen people, in homeless families, economic losses, environmental consequences, and calculation of inestimable victims. The conclusions point to approximations and similarities between the "Samarco's Lama" event and the theory of corporate crimes, but the need for such reflections is defended as a way to observe shady practices of organizations, trigger critical thinking and promote transformative practices. Given the current relevance of this event, we seek to highlight the adoption of such practices present in society, reviewing the bias that research that addresses the negative aspects of management receive little academic space

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) discriminate between negative and positive human nonverbal vocalisations

The ability to discriminate between emotion in vocal signals is highly adaptive in social species. It may also be adaptive for domestic species to distinguish such signals in humans. Here we present a playback study investigating whether horses spontaneously respond in a functionally relevant way towards positive and negative emotion in human nonverbal vocalisations. We presented horses with positively- and negatively-valenced human vocalisations (laughter and growling, respectively) in the absence of all other emotional cues. Horses were found to adopt a freeze posture for significantly longer immediately after hearing negative versus positive human vocalisations, suggesting that negative voices promote vigilance behaviours and may therefore be perceived as more threatening. In support of this interpretation, horses held their ears forwards for longer and performed fewer ear movements in response to negative voices, which further suggest increased vigilance. In addition, horses showed a right-ear/left-hemisphere bias when attending to positive compared with negative voices, suggesting that horses perceive laughter as more positive than growling. These findings raise interesting questions about the potential for universal discrimination of vocal affect and the role of lifetime learning versus other factors in interspecific communication

The influence of seasonality on the content of goyazensolide and on anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperuricemic effects of the ethanolic extract of Lychnophora passerina (Brazilian arnica).

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Lychnophora passerina (Mart ex DC) Gardn (Asteraceae), popularly known as Brazilian arnica, is used in Brazilian folk medicine to treat pain, rheumatism, bruises, inflammatory diseases and insect bites. Aim of the study: Investigate the influence of the seasons on the anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperuricemic activities of ethanolic extract of L. passerina and the ratio of the goyazensolide content, main chemical constituent of the ethanolic extract, with these activities. Materials and methods: Ethanolic extracts of aerial parts of L. passerina were obtained from seasons: summer (ES), autumn (EA), winter (EW) and spring (EP). The sesquiterpene lactone goyazensolide, major metabolite, was quantified in ES, EA, EW and EP by a developed and validated HPLC-DAD method. The in vivo antihyperuricemic and anti-inflammatory effects of the ethanolic extracts from L. passerina and goyazensolide were assayed on experimental model of oxonate-induced hyperuricemia in mice, liver xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibition and on carrageenan-induced paw edema in mice. Results: HPLC method using aqueous solution of acetic acid 0.01% (v/v) and acetonitrile with acetic acid 0.01% (v/v) as a mobile phase in a gradient system, with coumarin as an internal standard and DAD detection at 270 nm was developed. The validation parameters showed linearity in a range within 10.0?150.0 ?g/ml, with intraday and interday precisions a range of 0.61?3.82. The accuracy values of intraday and interday analysis within 87.58? 100.95%. EA showed the highest goyazensolide content. From the third to the sixth hour after injection of carrageenan, treatments with all extracts at the dose of 125 mg/kg were able to reduce edema. Goyazensolide (10 mg/kg) showed significant reduction of paw swelling from the second hour assay. This sesquiterpene lactone was more active than extracts and presented similar effect to indomethacin. Treatments with ES, EA and EP (125 mg/kg) and goyazensolide (10 mg/kg) reduced serum urate levels compared to hyperuricemic control group and were able to inhibit liver XOD activity. One of the mechanisms by which ES, EA, EP and goyazensolide exercise their anti-hyperuricemic effect is by the inhibition of liver XOD activity. Goyazensolide was identified as the main compound present in ES, EA, EW and EP and it is shown to be one of the chemical constituents responsible for the anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperuricemic effects of the ethanolic extracts. Conclusion: The anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperuricemic activities of the ethanolic extracts from L. passerina were not proportionally influenced by the variation of goyazensolide content throughout the seasons. The involvement of goyazensolide on in vivo anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperuricemic activities of L. passerina extracts was confirmed, as well as the possibility of participation of other constituents on these effects. This study demonstrated that the aerial parts of L. passerina may be collected in any season for use as anti-inflammatory agent. For use in hyperuricemia, the best seasons for the collection are summer, autumn and spring. The ethanolic extract of L. passerina and goyazensolide can be considered promising agents in the therapeutic of inflammation, hyperuricemia and gout

Traditional knowledge and cultural importance of Borassus aethiopum Mart. in Benin: interacting effects of socio-demographic attributes and multi-scale abundance

ResearchBackground: Eliciting factors affecting distribution of traditional knowledge (TK) and cultural importance of plant resources is central in ethnobiology. Socio-demographic attributes and ecological apparency hypothesis (EAH) have been widely documented as drivers of TK distribution, but their synergistic effect is poorly documented. Here, we focused on Borassus aethiopum, a socio-economic important agroforestry palm in Africa, analyzing relationships between the number of use-reports and cultural importance on one hand, and informant socio-demographic attributes (age category and gender) on the other hand, considering the EAH at multi-scale contexts. Our hypothesis is that effects of socio-demographic attributes on use-reports and cultural importance are shaped by both local (village level) and regional (chorological region level) apparency of study species. We expected so because distribution of knowledge on a resource in a community correlates to the versatility in the resource utilization but also connections among communities within a region. Methods: Nine hundred ninety-two face-to-face individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in six villages of low versus high local abundance of B. aethiopum spanning three chorological regions (humid, sub-humid and semiarid) also underlying a gradient of increasing distribution and abundance of B. aethiopum. Number of use-reports and score of importance of uses of B. aethiopum were recorded in six use-categories including medicine, food, handcraft, construction, firewood, and ceremonies and rituals. Data were analyzed using Poisson and ordered logistic modelsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Presynaptic Nicotinic α7 and Non-α7 Receptors Stimulate Endogenous GABA Release from Rat Hippocampal Synaptosomes through Two Mechanisms of Action

BACKGROUND: Although converging evidence has suggested that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) play a role in the modulation of GABA release in rat hippocampus, the specific involvement of different nAChR subtypes at presynaptic level is still a matter of debate. In the present work we investigated, using selective α7 and α4β2 nAChR agonists, the presence of different nAChR subtypes on hippocampal GABA nerve endings to assess to what extent and through which mechanisms they stimulate endogenous GABA release. METHODOLOGY/FINDINGS: All agonists elicited GABA overflow. Choline (Ch)-evoked GABA overflow was dependent to external Ca(2+), but unaltered in the presence of Cd(2+), tetrodotoxin (TTX), dihydro-β-erythroidine (DHβE) and 1-(4,4-Diphenyl-3-butenyl)-3-piperidinecarboxylic acid hydrochloride SKF 89976A. The effect of Ch was blocked by methyllycaconitine (MLA), α-bungarotoxin (α-BTX), dantrolene, thapsigargin and xestospongin C, suggesting that GABA release might be triggered by Ca(2+) entry into synaptosomes through the α7 nAChR channel with the involvement of calcium from intracellular stores. Additionally, 5-Iodo-A-85380 dihydrochloride (5IA85380) elicited GABA overflow, which was Ca(2+) dependent, blocked by Cd(2+), and significantly inhibited by TTX and DHβE, but unaffected by MLA, SKF 89976A, thapsigargin and xestospongin C and dantrolene. These findings confirm the involvement of α4β2 nAChR in 5IA85380-induced GABA release that seems to occur following membrane depolarization and opening calcium channels. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Rat hippocampal synaptosomes possess both α7 and α4β2 nAChR subtypes, which can modulate GABA release via two distinct mechanisms of action. The finding that GABA release evoked by the mixture of sub-maximal concentration of 5IA85380 plus sub-threshold concentrations of Ch was significantly larger than that elicited by the sum of the effects of the two agonists is compatible with the possibility that they coexist on the same nerve terminals. These findings would provide the basis for possible selective pharmacological strategies to treat neuronal disorders that involve the dysfunction of hippocampal cholinergic system