Tongs4eating: ajuda da vida diária para comer para pessoas com hemiplegia

Existe um grande número de pessoas com deficiências e incapacidades, associado ao aumento da esperança média de vida. A necessidade de incluir estas pessoas na sociedade tem sido crescente. As pessoas com deficiências e incapacidades podem tornar-se independentes na realização das suas atividades da vida diária através do uso de produtos de apoio, podendo recuperar com isso a sua dignidade e autoestima. Uma pessoa com hemiplegia pode enfrentar desafios por ter que comer usando uma só mão, necessitando de uma ajuda que compense a ação que normalmente é realizada com as duas mãos. Na procura da resposta ao problema decidimo-nos pelo desenvolvimento de um produto que incluísse as quatro funções dos talheres (cortar espetar, recolher e transportar a comida) que denominámos como Tongs 4 Eating. Para esta investigação baseámo-nos na literatura existente sobre deficiências e incapacidades, a inclusão social, o design inclusivo, os produtos de apoio, as ajudas da vida diária para comer e a hemiplegia; procurámos também a colaboração de profissionais envolvidos na reabilitação de pessoas com deficiências e incapacidades

Genome size analyses of Pucciniales reveal the largest fungal genomes

Rust fungi (Basidiomycota, Pucciniales) are biotrophic plant pathogens which exhibit diverse complexities in their life cycles and host ranges. The completion of genome sequencing of a few rust fungi has revealed the occurrence of large genomes. Sequencing efforts for other rust fungi have been hampered by uncertainty concerning their genome sizes. Flow cytometry was recently applied to estimate the genome size of a few rust fungi, and confirmed the occurrence of large genomes in this order (averaging 151.5 Mbp, while the average for Basidiomycota was 49.9 Mbp and was 37.7 Mbp for all fungi). In this work, we have used an innovative and simple approach to simultaneously isolate nuclei from the rust and its host plant in order to estimate the genome size of 30 rust species by flow cytometry. Genome sizes varied over 10-fold, from 70 to 893 Mbp, with an average genome size value of 380.2 Mbp. Compared to the genome sizes of over 1,800 fungi, Gymnosporangium confusum possesses the largest fungal genome ever reported (893.2 Mbp). Moreover, even the smallest rust genome determined in this study is larger than the vast majority of fungal genomes (94 %). The average genome size of the Pucciniales is now of 305.5 Mbp, while the average Basidiomycota genome size has shifted to 70.4 Mbp and the average for all fungi reached 44.2 Mbp. Despite the fact that no correlation could be drawn between the genome sizes, the phylogenomics or the life cycle of rust fungi, it is interesting to note that rusts with Fabaceae hosts present genomes clearly larger than those with Poaceae hosts. Although this study comprises only a small fraction of the more than 7,000 rust species described, it seems already evident that the Pucciniales represent a group where genome size expansion could be a common characteristic. This is in sharp contrast to sister taxa, placing this order in a relevant position in fungal genomics research

Diploid Nuclei Occur throughout the Life Cycles of Pucciniales Fungi

ABSTRACT Within Eukaryotes, fungi are the typical representatives of haplontic life cycles. Basidiomycota fungi are dikaryotic in extensive parts of their life cycle, but diploid nuclei are known to form only in basidia. Among Basidiomycota, the Pucciniales are notorious for presenting the most complex life cycles, with high host specialization, and for their expanded genomes. Using cytogenomic (flow cytometry and cell sorting on propidium iodide-stained nuclei) and cytogenetic (FISH with rDNA probe) approaches, we report the widespread occurrence of replicating haploid and diploid nuclei (i.e., 1C, 2C and a small proportion of 4C nuclei) in diverse life cycle stages (pycnial, aecial, uredinial, and telial) of all 35 Pucciniales species analyzed, but not in sister taxa. These results suggest that the Pucciniales life cycle is distinct from any cycle known, i.e., neither haplontic, diplontic nor haplodiplontic, corroborating patchy and disregarded previous evidence. However, the biological basis and significance of this phenomenon remain undisclosed. IMPORTANCE Within Eukaryotes, fungi are the typical representatives of haplontic life cycles, contrasting with plants and animals. As such, fungi thus contain haploid nuclei throughout their life cycles, with sexual reproduction generating a single diploid cell upon karyogamy that immediately undergoes meiosis, thus resuming the haploid cycle. In this work, using cytogenetic and cytogenomic tools, we demonstrate that a vast group of fungi presents diploid nuclei throughout their life cycles, along with haploid nuclei, and that both types of nuclei replicate. Moreover, haploid nuclei are absent from urediniospores. The phenomenon appears to be transversal to the organisms in the order Pucciniales (rust fungi) and it does not occur in neighboring taxa, but a biological explanation or function for it remains elusive