EDUCATIVE CARE PRACTICE WITH THE COMMUNITARIAN HEALTH AGENT IN A TRANSCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

The Program of Health Communitarian Agents (PACS) is an emerging subject for nursing. Its discussion is necessary once the Health Communitarian Agents (ACS) training was delegated to the nurse. This study accounts the activities developed during the practice of social work of the MA of nursing at the UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina). It was developed with a group of seven ACS at Lajeado, RS. The aimvas to know the beliefs and values of the ACS in regarding health, as well as the relation of these beliefs and values to the knowledge they obtained in their training. Thus we will know the difficulties faced by them to perform the directions received from the nurse by attending the activities carried out by them in home visits, group works, and training meetings. So this study has been grounded on Madeleine Leininger’s presuppositions of cultural universality and diversity in the care, and on Paulo Freire’s proposal of a transforming popular education. In this way the study has shown the necessity for the nurse to be conscious of the role s/he has in the PACS. The ACS, on their turn, perform the activities they have been meant to with some difficulties. However, they help the nurse and other members of the health team as they evince the health demand in the community.O Programa de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde é um tema emergente para a enfermagem. Faz-se necessária a sua discussão, uma vez que a capacitação dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (ACS) foi delegada ao enfermeiro. Este estudo relata as atividades desenvolvidas durante a disciplina da Prática Assistencial do mestrado em Assistência de Enfermagem da UFSC. Foi desenvolvido junto a um grupo de sete ACS do município de Lajeado, RS. Os objetivos visavam conhecer as crenças e valores praticados na comunidade pelos ACS em relação à saúde, bem como relacioná-las à aprendizagem obtida em sua capacitação, conhecendo, assim, as dificuldades encontradas pelos mesmos para implementar as orientações recebidas do enfermeiro, através do acompanhamento das atividades exercidas por eles em visitas domiciliares, mutirões e encontros para capacitação. Para tanto, este estudo apoiou-se na teoria de Madeleine Leininger, ao levar em conta a universalidade e diversidade cultural existente no cuidado e na proposta de educação popular transformadora de Paulo Freire. Desta forma o estudo demonstrou a necessidade do enfermeiro estar consciente do papel que desempenha frente ao PACS. Os ACS desempenham as atividades propostas, apresentando algumas dificuldades, mas abrem caminho para a atuação do enfermeiro e demais membros da equipe de saúde, por evidenciarem as necessidades de saúde existentes na comunidade

Vitamins D2 and D3 Have Overlapping But Different Effects on the Human Immune System Revealed Through Analysis of the Blood Transcriptome

Vitamin D is best known for its role in maintaining bone health and calcium homeostasis. However, it also exerts a broad range of extra-skeletal effects on cellular physiology and on the immune system. Vitamins D(2) and D(3) share a high degree of structural similarity. Functional equivalence in their vitamin D-dependent effects on human physiology is usually assumed but has in fact not been well defined experimentally. In this study we seek to redress the gap in knowledge by undertaking an in-depth examination of changes in the human blood transcriptome following supplementation with physiological doses of vitamin D(2) and D(3). Our work extends a previously published randomized placebo-controlled trial that recruited healthy white European and South Asian women who were given 15 µg of vitamin D(2) or D(3) daily over 12 weeks in wintertime in the UK (Nov-Mar) by additionally determining changes in the blood transcriptome over the intervention period using microarrays. An integrated comparison of the results defines both the effect of vitamin D(3) or D(2) on gene expression, and any influence of ethnic background. An important aspect of this analysis was the focus on the changes in expression from baseline to the 12-week endpoint of treatment within each individual, harnessing the longitudinal design of the study. Whilst overlap in the repertoire of differentially expressed genes was present in the D(2) or D(3)-dependent effects identified, most changes were specific to either one vitamin or the other. The data also pointed to the possibility of ethnic differences in the responses. Notably, following vitamin D(3) supplementation, the majority of changes in gene expression reflected a down-regulation in the activity of genes, many encoding pathways of the innate and adaptive immune systems, potentially shifting the immune system to a more tolerogenic status. Surprisingly, gene expression associated with type I and type II interferon activity, critical to the innate response to bacterial and viral infections, differed following supplementation with either vitamin D(2) or vitamin D(3), with only vitamin D(3) having a stimulatory effect. This study suggests that further investigation of the respective physiological roles of vitamin D(2) and vitamin D(3) is warranted

BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene.

MotivationThe BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Main types of variables includedThe database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record.Spatial location and grainBioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km2 (158 cm2) to 100 km2 (1,000,000,000,000 cm2).Time period and grainBioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year.Major taxa and level of measurementBioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates.Software format.csv and .SQL

Genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of the response to nitrogen limitation in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The present study represents a genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of the response of the model streptomycete <it>Streptomyces coelicolor </it>A3(2) M145 to fermentor culture in Modified Evans Media limited, respectively, for nitrogen, phosphate and carbon undertaken as part of the ActinoGEN consortium to provide a publicly available reference microarray dataset.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A microarray dataset using samples from two replicate cultures for each nutrient limitation was generated. In this report our analysis has focused on the genes which are significantly differentially expressed, as determined by Rank Products Analysis, between samples from matched time points correlated by growth phase for the three pairs of differently limited culture datasets. With a few exceptions, genes are only significantly differentially expressed between the N6/N7 time points and their corresponding time points in the C and P-limited cultures, with the vast majority of the differentially expressed genes being more highly expressed in the N-limited cultures. Our analysis of these genes indicated expression of several members of the GlnR regulon are induced upon nitrogen limitation, as assayed for by [NH₄⁺] measurements, and we are able to identify several additional genes not present in the GlnR regulon whose expression is induced in response to nitrogen limitation. We also note SCO3327 which encodes a small protein (32 amino acid residues) unusually rich in the basic amino acids lysine (31.25%) and arginine (25%) is significantly differentially expressed in the nitrogen limited cultures. Additionally, we investigate the expression of known members of the GlnR regulon and the relationship between gene organization and expression for the SCO2486-SCO2487 and SCO5583-SCO5585 operons.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We provide a list of genes whose expression is differentially expressed in low nitrogen culture conditions, including a putative nitrogen storage protein encoded by SCO3327. Our list includes several genes whose expression patterns are similar to up-regulated members of the GlnR regulon and are induced in response to nitrogen limitation. These genes represent likely targets for future studies into the nitrogen starvation response in <it>Streptomyces coelicolor</it>.</p

Biome awareness disparity is BAD for tropical ecosystem conservation and restoration

We introduce the concept of Biome Awareness Disparity (BAD)—defined as a failure to appreciate the significance of all biomes in conservation and restoration policy—and quantify disparities in (a) attention and interest, (b) action and (c) knowledge among biomes in tropical restoration science, practice and policy. By analysing 50,000 tweets from all Partner Institutions of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and 45,000 tweets from the main science and environmental news media world-wide, we found strong disparities in attention and interest relative to biome extent and diversity. Tweets largely focused on forests, whereas open biomes (such as grasslands, savannas and shrublands) received less attention in relation to their area. In contrast to these differences in attention, there were equivalent likes and retweets between forest versus open biomes, suggesting the disparities may not reflect the views of the general public. Through a literature review, we found that restoration experiments are disproportionately concentrated in rainforests, dry forests and mangroves. More than half of the studies conducted in open biomes reported tree planting as the main restoration action, suggesting inappropriate application of forest-oriented techniques. Policy implications. We urge scientists, policymakers and land managers to recognise the value of open biomes for protecting biodiversity, securing ecosystem services, mitigating climate change and enhancing human livelihoods. Fixing Biome Awareness Disparity will increase the likelihood of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration successfully delivering its promises.This article also appears in: Cross Society Special Feature on the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: Data available via the Dryad Digital Repository https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16778200.v1 (Silveira et al., 2021).Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais; CNPq; CAPES; NERC-FAPESP; USDA-NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems; USDA-NIFA McIntire-Stennis Project; National Science Foundation.http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jpe2022-10-15hj2022Zoology and Entomolog

Metabolic and evolutionary insights into the closely-related species Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces lividans deduced from high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization

Whilst being closely related to the model actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), S. lividans 66 differs from it in several significant and phenotypically observable ways, including antibiotic production. Previous comparative gene hybridization studies investigating such differences have used low-density (one probe per gene) PCR-based spotted arrays. Here we use new experimentally optimised 104,000 × 60-mer probe arrays to characterize in detail the genomic differences between wild-type S. lividans 66, a derivative industrial strain, TK24, and S. coelicolor M145

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e. at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000–25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500–6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa

SANI-Severe Asthma Network in Italy: a way forward to monitor severe asthma

Even if severe asthma (SA) accounts for 5-10% of all cases of the disease, it is currently a crucial unmet need, owing its difficult clinical management and its high social costs. For this reason several networks, focused on SA have been organized in some countries, in order to select these patients, to recognize their clinical features, to evaluate their adherence, to classify their biological/clinical phenotypes, to identify their eligibility to the new biologic therapies and to quantify the costs of the disease. Aim of the present paper is to describe the ongoing Italian Severe Asthma Network (SANI). Up today 49 centres have been selected, widespread on the national territory. Sharing the same diagnostic protocol, data regarding patients with SA will be collected and processed in a web platform. After their recruitment, SA patients will be followed in the long term in order to investigate the natural history of the disease. Besides clinical data, the cost/benefit evaluation of the new biologics will be verified as well as the search of peculiar biomarker(s) of the disease