The Cross-Cultural Invariance of the Servant Leadership Survey: A Comparative Study across Eight Countries

This paper tests and confirms the cross-cultural equivalence of the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) in eight countries and languages: The Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Finland. A composite sample consisting of 5201 respondents from eight countries that all filled out the SLS was used. A three-step approach was adopted to test configural invariance, measurement equivalence, and structural equivalence. For the full 30-item version of the SLS, configural invariance and partial measurement equivalence were confirmed. Implications of these results for the use of the SLS within cross-cultural studies are discussed

Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are differentially recognized by TLRs with an impact on the immune response

Tuberculosis associates with a wide spectrum of disease outcomes. The Beijing (Bj) lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is suggested to be more virulent than other Mtb lineages and prone to elicit non-protective immune responses. However, highly heterogeneous immune responses were reported upon infection of innate immune cells with Bj strains or stimulation with their glycolipids. Using both in vitro and in vivo mouse models of infection, we here report that the molecular mechanism for this heterogeneity may be related to distinct TLR activations. Among this Mtb lineage, we found strains that preferentially activate TLR2, and others that also activate TLR4. Recognition of Mtb strains by TLR4 resulted in a distinct cytokine profile in vitro and in vivo, with specific production of type I IFN. We also uncover a novel protective role for TLR4 activation in vivo. Thus, our findings contribute to the knowledge of the molecular basis underlying how host innate immune cells handle different Mtb strains, in particular the intricate host-pathogen interaction with strains of the Mtb Bj lineage.This work has been funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal. Project grants: PTDC/SAU-MII/101977/2008 and PTDC/BIA-BCM/102776/2008. Personal grants: SFRH/BD/35981/2007 to JC; SFRH/BPD/3306/2007 to AC; SFRH/BPD/77399/2011 to LMT; SFRH/BI/33456/2008 to CS; and SFRH/BPD/33959/2009 to NSO. MS is a Ciencia 2007 fellow. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Diagnóstico socioeconômico dos agricultores do Agreste Paraibano para implantação da Produção Agroecológica Integrada e Sustentável - PAIS

A Produção Agroecológica Integrada e Sustentável (PAIS) é um projeto desenvolvido pelo SEBRAE com a Fundação Banco do Brasil (FBB) que tem como objetivo desenvolver a produção da agricultura familiar em todo o país através da produção de hortaliças agroecológicas e a criação de galinhas. O presente artigo tem como objetivo diagnosticar as condições socioeconômica e ambiental das famílias integrantes da agricultura familiar do Agreste Paraibano para implantação da Produção Agroecológica Integrada e Sustentável – PAIS. Observou-se que 72,32% dos entrevistados são do sexo masculino, a maioria possui idade entre 31-40 anos, possui apenas o ensino fundamental e recebem rendas complementares do governo, a exemplo do Bolsa Família. Conclui-se que nas comunidades pesquisadas há um desenvolvimento tanto na qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores como no meio ambiente e que a agricultura familiar proporciona para os moradores uma sustentabilidade e rentabilidade econômica, no entanto faltam investimentos e projetos que viabilizem um maior desenvolvimento.The Integrated and Sustainable Agroecological Production (PAIS) is a project developed by Sebrae with the Bank of Brazil Foundation (FBB) which aims to develop the production of family farms across the country through the production of agroecological vegetables and raising chickens. This article aims to diagnose the socio-economic and environmental conditions of the members of family farming families of Paraiba Agreste to implement the Integrated and Sustainable Agroecological Production - PAIS. It was observed that 72.32% of respondents are male, most have age between 31-40 years, only has elementary school and receive government supplementary incomes, such as the Bolsa Familia. We conclude that in the communities surveyed there is a development in both quality of life of workers and the environment and that family farming provides to the residents a sustainability and economic profitability, however lacking investments and projects that enable further development.Eje A6: Desarrollo Rural, Movimientos Sociales, Estado y AgroecologíaFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Review of low-cost sensors for indoor air quality: Features and applications

Humans spend the majority of their time indoors, where they are potentially exposed to hazardous pollutants. Within this context, over the past few years, there has been an upsurge of low-cost sensors (LCS) for the measurement of indoor air pollutants, motivated both by recent technological advances and by increased awareness of indoor air quality (IAQ) and its potential negative health impacts. Although not meeting the performance requirements for reference regulatory-equivalent monitoring indoors, LCS can provide informative measurements, offering an opportunity for high-resolution monitoring, emission source identification, exposure mitigation and managing IAQ and energy efficiency, among others. This article discusses the strengths and limitations that LCS offer for applications in the field of IAQ monitoring; it provides an overview of existing sensor technologies and gives recommendations for different indoor applications, considering their performance in the complex indoor environment and discussing future trends

TESS asteroseismology of the known red-giant host stars HD 212771 and HD 203949

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Cytogenotoxicity biomarkers in fat snook Centropomus parallelus from Cananéia and São Vicente estuaries, SP, Brazil

The aquatic environment receives many contaminants that can induce damages at the molecular, biochemical, cellular and physiological levels. Centropomus parallelus, an important food resource for local populations, is a predator fish that feeds on small fishes and benthic invertebrates, thus being vulnerable to the bioconcentration and biomagnification processes. This study aimed to evaluate cytogenotoxic responses in erythrocytes from C. parallelus juveniles collected in the Cananéia and São Vicente estuaries, both in winter and in summer. After anesthesia, blood samples were collected by caudal puncture. Blood smears were prepared on glass slides and stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa dye. Two thousand cells were analyzed per slide (1000x), and nuclear abnormalities (NA) and micronuclei (MN) were scored. The São Vicente sample showed MN and NA frequencies (%/1000 cells) of 0.325 and 3.575, in winter, and of 0.125 and 2.935 in summer respectively; the Cananéia sample showed frequencies of 0.0325 and 0.03, in winter, and of 0.065 and 0.355 in summer, respectively. The rates found in São Vicente were significantly higher than those found in Cananéia, evidencing that the levels of pollution in that estuary were high enough to induce genetic damages

Genetic PTX3 deficiency and aspergillosis in stem-cell transplantation

BACKGROUND: The soluble pattern-recognition receptor known as long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) has a nonredundant role in antifungal immunity. The contribution of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PTX3 to the development of invasive aspergillosis is unknown. METHODS: We screened an initial cohort of 268 patients undergoing hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) and their donors for PTX3 SNPs modifying the risk of invasive aspergillosis. The analysis was also performed in a multicenter study involving 107 patients with invasive aspergillosis and 223 matched controls. The functional consequences of PTX3 SNPs were investigated in vitro and in lung specimens from transplant recipients. RESULTS: Receipt of a transplant from a donor with a homozygous haplotype (h2/h2) in PTX3 was associated with an increased risk of infection, in both the discovery study (cumulative incidence, 37% vs. 15%; adjusted hazard ratio, 3.08; P=0.003) and the confirmation study (adjusted odds ratio, 2.78; P=0.03), as well as with defective expression of PTX3. Functionally, PTX3 deficiency in h2/h2 neutrophils, presumably due to messenger RNA instability, led to impaired phagocytosis and clearance of the fungus. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic deficiency of PTX3 affects the antifungal capacity of neutrophils and may contribute to the risk of invasive aspergillosis in patients treated (Funded by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and others) .with HSCT.Supported by grants from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) (to Dr. Carvalho); the German Ministry for Education and Science (03Z2JN21, to Dr. Kurzai); the European Commission (FP7-HEALTH-2009-260338, to Dr. Romani; FP7-HEALTH-2011-280873, to Dr. Mantovani), the European Research Council (ERC-2008-AdG-233417, to Dr. Mantovani; ERC-2011-AdG-293714, to Dr. Romani), Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (99629, to Dr. Mantovani); and Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal (SFRH/BPD/46292/2008, to Dr. Carvalho; SFRH/BD/65962/2009, to Dr. Cunha; and SFRH/BPD/70783/2010, to Dr. Almeida)