Indicadores De Desenvolvimento Em Crianças E Adolescentes Com Qi Igual Ou Inferior A 70

This study aimed to identify development indicators in children and adolescents with learning difficulties, with IQ equal to or below 70 in the WISC-IV test (compatible to the delimited value for diagnosis of intellectual disability). It was based on the historical-cultural perspective of human development proposed by Vygostsky, especially in relation to the distinction between real and potential development. This research reports two case studies with a child and a teenager. Data was collected from audio recordings of semi-structured interviews with parents/responsible person and the professionals of the schools they were enrolled, as well as video recordings of the service sessions in an informal educational project the child and teenager regularly attended. Data analysis involved transcriptions of the interview and construction of tables with the child/teenager’s social participation modes and superior mental processes, analysis of the service sessions recordings with transcriptions and micro genetic analysis of significant episodes. Data suggest that, when emphasizing the search for development indicators, it is possible to have a wide view of each case in a way to contemplate, beyond limitations, children and teenagers’ potentialities. © 2016, Associacao Brasileira de Pesquisadores em Educacao Especial. All rights reserved.22449351

Leishmania infection in bats from a non-endemic region of Leishmaniasis in Brazil

Leishmaniasis is a complex of zoonotic diseases caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania, which can develop in domestic as well as wild animals and humans throughout the world. Currently, this disease is spreading in rural and urban areas of non-endemic regions in Brazil. Recently, bats have gained epidemiological significance in leishmaniasis due to its close relationship with human settlements. In this study, we investigated the presence of Leishmania spp. DNA in blood samples from 448 bats belonging to four families representing 20 species that were captured in the Triangulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaiba areas of Minas Gerais State (non-endemic areas for leishmaniasis), Brazil. Leishmania spp. DNA was detected in 8.0% of the blood samples, 41.6% of which were Leishmania infantum, 38.9% Leishmania amazonensis and 19.4% Leishmania braziliensis. No positive correlation was found between Leishmania spp. and bat food source. The species with more infection rates were the insectivorous bats Eumops perotis; 22.2% (4/18) of which tested positive for Leishmania DNA. The presence of Leishmania in the bat blood samples, as observed in this study, represents epidemiological importance due to the absence of Leishmaniasis cases in the region. © Cambridge University Press 2017

How likely are adaptive responses to mitigate the threats of climate change for amphibians globally?

Whether species are capable of adapting to rapid shifts in climate raises considerable interest. Analyses based on niche models often assume niche conservatism and equilibrium with climate, implying that species will persist only in regions where future climatic conditions match their current conditions and that they will colonize these regions promptly. However, species may adapt to changing climate and persist where future climates differ from their current optimum. Here, we provide a first macroecological generalization to the approach of evolutionary rescue, by comparing the expected shift in mean temperature within the geographic range of 7193 species of amphibians worldwide, under alternative warming scenarios. Expected evolutionary change is expressed in units of standard deviations of mean temperature, per generation (Haldanes) and compared with theoretical models defining the maximum sustainable evolutionary rates (MSER) for each species. For the pessimistic emission scenario RCP8.5, shifts in mean temperature vary between near-zero and 6°C within the geographic ranges for most species, with a median equal to 3.75°C. The probability of evolutionary rescue in temperature peaks is higher than 0.05 for about 55% of the species and higher than 0.95 for only 12% of the species. Therefore, the predicted shift in mean temperature would be too extreme to deal with for almost half of the species. When evolutionary plasticity is incorporated, this scenario becomes more optimistic, with about 44% of the species being likely to shift their thermal peaks tracking future warming. These figures are not random in geographical space: evolutionary rescue would be unlikely in the tropics, especially in South America (Amazonia), parts of Africa, Indonesia, and in the Mediterranean region. Given the uncertainty in demographic and genetic parameters for species’ responses to climate change, we caution that it remains difficult to assess the realism of the macroecological generalization. In any case, it may be precautionary to assume that our results are not liberal, showing low probability of adaptation for most of the species and thus that the persistence of populations by evolutionary rescue may, in general, be unlikely in the long term

Material-Specific Investigations of Correlated Electron Systems

We present the results of numerical studies for selected materials with strongly correlated electrons using a combination of the local-density approximation and dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). For the solution of the DMFT equations a continuous-time quantum Monte-Carlo algorithm was employed. All simulations were performed on the supercomputer HLRB II at the Leibniz Rechenzentrum in Munich. Specifically we have analyzed the pressure induced metal-insulator transitions in Fe2O3 and NiS2, the charge susceptibility of the fluctuating-valence elemental metal Yb, and the spectral properties of a covalent band-insulator model which includes local electronic correlations.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, to appear in "High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering, Garching 2009" (Springer

Non-Invasive Monitoring of Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients during Prolonged Exercise via Exhaled Breath Volatile Organic Compounds

The aim of this study was to investigate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath as possible non-invasive markers to monitor the inflammatory response in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients as a result of repeated and prolonged moderate-intensity exercise. We included 18 IBD patients and 19 non-IBD individuals who each completed a 30, 40, or 50 km walking exercise over three consecutive days. Breath and blood samples were taken before the start of the exercise event and every day post-exercise to assess changes in the VOC profiles and cytokine concentrations. Proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) was used to measure exhaled breath VOCs. Multivariate analysis, particularly ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA), was employed to extract relevant ions related to exercise and IBD. Prolonged exercise induces a similar response in breath butanoic acid and plasma cytokines for participants with or without IBD. Butanoic acid showed a significant correlation with the cytokine IL-6, indicating that butanoic acid could be a potential non-invasive marker for exercise-induced inflammation. The findings are relevant in monitoring personalized IBD management

Exhaled breath reflects prolonged exercise and statin use during a field campaign

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath provide insights into various metabolic processes and can be used to monitor physiological response to exercise and medication. We integrated and validated in situ a sampling and analysis protocol using proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) for exhaled breath research. The approach was demonstrated on a participant cohort comprising users of the cholesterol-lowering drug statins and non-statin users during a field campaign of three days of prolonged and repeated exercise, with no restrictions on food or drink consumption. The effect of prolonged exercise was reflected in the exhaled breath of participants, and relevant VOCs were identified. Most of the VOCs, such as acetone, showed an increase in concentration after the first day of walking and subsequent decrease towards baseline levels prior to walking on the second day. A cluster of short-chain fatty acids including acetic acid, butanoic acid, and propionic acid were identified in exhaled breath as potential indicators of gut microbiota activity relating to exercise and drug use. We have provided novel information regarding the use of breathomics for non-invasive monitoring of changes in human metabolism and especially for the gut microbiome activity in relation to exercise and the use of medication, such as statin

Spike timing-dependent plasticity induces non-trivial topology in the brain.

We study the capacity of Hodgkin-Huxley neuron in a network to change temporarily or permanently their connections and behavior, the so called spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), as a function of their synchronous behavior. We consider STDP of excitatory and inhibitory synapses driven by Hebbian rules. We show that the final state of networks evolved by a STDP depend on the initial network configuration. Specifically, an initial all-to-all topology evolves to a complex topology. Moreover, external perturbations can induce co-existence of clusters, those whose neurons are synchronous and those whose neurons are desynchronous. This work reveals that STDP based on Hebbian rules leads to a change in the direction of the synapses between high and low frequency neurons, and therefore, Hebbian learning can be explained in terms of preferential attachment between these two diverse communities of neurons, those with low-frequency spiking neurons, and those with higher-frequency spiking neurons

Defect-mediated ferromagnetism in ZnO:Mn nanorods

In this work, the structural, chemical and magnetic properties of ZnO:Mn nanorods were investigated. Firstly, well-aligned ZnO nanorods with their long axis parallel to the crystalline c-axis were successfully grown by the vapor phase transport technique on Si substrates coated with a ZnO buffer layer. Mn metal was then diffused into these nanorods at different temperatures in vacuum. From SEM results, ZnO:Mn nanorods were observed to have diameters of ~100 nm and lengths of 4 µm. XPS analysis showed that the Mn dopant substituted into the ZnO matrix with a valence state of +2. Magnetic measurements performed at room temperature revealed that undoped ZnO nanorods exhibit ferromagnetic behavior which may be related to oxygen vacancy defect-mediated d0 ferromagnetism. ZnO:Mn samples were seen to show an excess room temperature ferromagnetism that is attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancy defects forming bound magnetic polarons involving Mn

Magnetization and dimerization profiles of the cut two-leg spin ladder and spin-1 chain

The physical properties of the edge states of the cut two-leg spin ladder are investigated by means of the bosonization approach. By carefully treating boundary conditions, we derive the existence of spin-1/2 edge states in the spin ladder with a ferromagnetic rung exchange and for the open spin-1 Heisenberg chain. In contrast, such states are absent in the antiferromagnetic rung coupling case. The approach, based on a mapping onto decoupled semi-infinite off-critical Ising models, allows us to compute several physical quantities of interest. In particular, we determine the magnetization and dimerization profiles of the cut two-leg spin ladder and of the open biquadratic spin-1 chain in the vicinity of the SU(2)$_2$ WZNW critical point.Comment: RevTeX 4, no figure, 26 page