Automated glycan assembly of a S. pneumoniae serotype 3 CPS antigen

Vaccines against S. pneumoniae, one of the most prevalent bacterial infections causing severe disease, rely on isolated capsular polysaccharide (CPS) that are conjugated to proteins. Such isolates contain a heterogeneous oligosaccharide mixture of different chain lengths and frame shifts. Access to defined synthetic S. pneumoniae CPS structures is desirable. Known syntheses of S. pneumoniae serotype 3 CPS rely on a time-consuming and low-yielding late-stage oxidation step, or use disaccharide building blocks which limits variability. Herein, we report the first iterative automated glycan assembly (AGA) of a conjugation-ready S. pneumoniae serotype 3 CPS trisaccharide. This oligosaccharide was assembled using a novel glucuronic acid building block to circumvent the need for a late-stage oxidation. The introduction of a washing step with the activator prior to each glycosylation cycle greatly increased the yields by neutralizing any residual base from deprotection steps in the synthetic cycle. This process improvement is applicable to AGA of many other oligosaccharides

PRONATEC: an?lise de um programa de pol?ticas p?blicas no IFPB

A reflex?o sobre Pol?ticas P?blicas, em um contexto marcado por grandes mudan?as foi primordial para a constru??o inicial deste trabalho. E a concep??o de Pol?ticas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional, no contexto brasileiro torna-se necess?rio para que se possa compreender como se deu a Educa??o Profissional no Brasil. O objetivo deste trabalho ? verificar os conceitos de Politicas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional e suas tipologias, seu alcance no contexto brasileiro, e assim, averiguar aspectos da gest?o na Educa??o Profissional a partir da cria??o dos Institutos Federais. E dentro desta perspectiva, descrever como ocorreu a implanta??o do PRONATEC como programa de extens?o, o seu universo no Instituto Federal de Educa??o, Ci?ncia e Tecnologia da Para?ba durante a pactua??o 2012, com respaldo da an?lise bibliogr?fica e documental que abordam o tema. Concluiu-se que o universo do programa no IFPB obteve ?xito ao serem mostrados que o modelo de gest?o adotado na implanta??o e execu??o foi primordial para o alcance dos objetos no que tange as a??es alcan?adas pelo IFPB

PRONATEC : an?lise de um programa de pol?ticas p?blicas no IFPB

A reflex?o sobre Pol?ticas P?blicas, em um contexto marcado por grandes mudan?as foi primordial para a constru??o inicial deste trabalho. E a concep??o de Pol?ticas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional, no contexto brasileiro torna-se necess?rio para que se possa compreender como se deu a Educa??o Profissional no Brasil. O objetivo deste trabalho ? verificar os conceitos de Politicas P?blicas para Educa??o Profissional e suas tipologias, seu alcance no contexto brasileiro, e assim, averiguar aspectos da gest?o na Educa??o Profissional a partir da cria??o dos Institutos Federais. E dentro desta perspectiva, descrever como ocorreu a implanta??o do PRONATEC como programa de extens?o, o seu universo no Instituto Federal de Educa??o, Ci?ncia e Tecnologia da Para?ba durante a pactua??o 2012, com respaldo da an?lise bibliogr?fica e documental que abordam o tema. Concluiu-se que o universo do programa no IFPB obteve ?xito ao serem mostrados que o modelo de gest?o adotado na implanta??o e execu??o foi primordial para o alcance dos objetos no que tange as a??es alcan?adas pelo IFPB

Divergent trophic responses to biogeographic and environmental gradients

Following environmental changes, communities disassemble and reassemble in seemingly unpredictable ways. Whether species respond to such changes individualistically or collectively (e.g. as functional groups) is still unclear. To address this question, we used an extensive new dataset for the lake communities in the Azores' archipelago to test whether: 1) individual species respond concordantly within trophic groups; 2) trophic groups respond concordantly to biogeographic and environmental gradients. Spatial concordance in individual species distributions within trophic groups was always greater than expected by chance. In contrast, trophic groups varied non-concordantly along biogeographic and environmental gradients revealing idiosyncratic responses to them. Whether communities respond individualistically to environmental gradients thus depends on the functional resolution of the data. Our study challenges the view that modelling environmental change effects on biodiversity always requires an individualist approach. Instead, it finds support for the longstanding idea that communities might be modelled as a cohort if the functional resolution is appropriate

Therapeutic strategies for IVD regeneration through hyaluronan/SDF-1-based hydrogel and intravenous administration of MSCs

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration involves a complex cascade of events, including degradation of the native extracellular matrix, loss of water content, and decreased cell numbers. Cell recruitment strategies for the IVD have been increasingly explored, aiming to recruit either endogenous or transplanted cells. This study evaluates the IVD therapeutic potential of a chemoattractant delivery system (HAPSDF5) that combines a hyaluronan-based thermoreversible hydrogel (HAP) and the chemokine stromal cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1). HAPSDF5 was injected into the IVD and was combined with an intravenous injection of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) in a pre-clinical in vivo IVD lesion model. The local and systemic effects were evaluated two weeks after treatment. The hydrogel by itself (HAP) did not elicit any adverse effect, showing potential to be administrated by intradiscal injection. HAPSDF5 induced higher cell numbers, but no evidence of IVD regeneration was observed. MSCs systemic injection seemed to exert a role in IVD regeneration to some extent through a paracrine effect, but no synergies were observed when HAPSDF5 was combined with MSCs. Overall, this study shows that although the injection of chemoattractant hydrogels and MSC recruitment are feasible approaches for IVD, IVD regeneration using this strategy needs to be further explored before successful clinical translation.Funding: This research was funded by Portuguese funds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (IUD/BIM/04293/2019) and by EUROSPINE TRF (2017_05)

Curriculum, evaluation and the constitution of the teaching subject.

O presente artigo analisa de modo articulado: a. o dispositivo curricular do Estado de Minas Gerais ? Conte?dos B?sicos Comuns (CBC) ? e b. o dispositivo avaliativo a ele atrelado ? Sistema Mineiro de Avalia??o da Educa??o P?blica (SIMAVE) a partir da compreens?o de que as pr?ticas neoliberais presentes no Estado e na sociedade enquadram o curr?culo e a avalia??o sob a ?tica da economia. O vi?s de an?lise toma o neoliberalismo como uma forma de governo no sentido foucaultiano, ou seja, que produz processos de subjetiva??o sobre as popula??es docentes da rede p?blica estadual de Minas Gerais. Desse modo, o neoliberalismo usa a educa??o de forma interessada na produ??o do sujeito para o mercado, como um importante mecanismo do Capital Humano. Seguindo essa trilha te?ricometodol?gica, investigamos empiricamente as mudan?as em curso expressas em documentos oficiais da Secretaria de Estado de Educa??o de Minas Gerais (especialmente relacionados ao CBC e ao SIMAVE). Os resultados apontam o CBC como uma proposta sintonizada com o Choque de Gest?o do governo de estado de 2003 a 2014 que coloca a educa??o do estado de Minas Gerais sob mecanismos de regula??o gerencial e de resultados, ambos a favor da economia. Conclu?mos que a partir da articula??o entre o CBC e o SIMAVE atuam pr?ticas de mercado gerenciais e perform?ticas por meio de uma s?rie de poderes e saberes que a ela est?o associados, tornando as propostas curriculares supostamente indissoci?veis dessas pr?ticas e dos processos de subjetiva??o dos docentes.This paper analyzes in an articulated manner: a. the Minas Gerais State curriculum ? Common Basic Content (CBC, Brazilian Portuguese abbreviation) ? and b. the evaluation guidelines linked to it ? Public Education Evaluation System of Minas Gerais (SIMAVE, Brazilian Portuguese abbreviation) from the understanding that neoliberal practices frame the curriculum and the evaluation within the economy perspective. The analysis approach takes neoliberalism as a government system in the Foucauldian sense, that is, one which produces processes of subjectivation on the teaching population in the State education system in Minas Gerais. Therefore, neoliberalism uses education aiming at preparing the individuals to the market, as an important mechanism of the Human Capital. Following this theoretical-methodological route, we investigated empirically the ongoing changes expressed in the official documents issued by the Minas Gerais State Education Secretariat (mainly those related to the CBC and SIMAVE). The results show the CBC as a proposal which is in tune with the Management Chock of the State Government from 2003 to 2014 which places the education in the State of Minas Gerais under regulating mechanisms of management and results, both in favor of the economy. The conclusion points to the articulation between CBC and SIMAVE acting as managerial and performing market practices through a number of powers and knowledges associated to it, making the curriculum proposal supposedly inseparable from such practices

Curriculum, evaluation and the constitution of the teaching subject.

O presente artigo analisa de modo articulado: a. o dispositivo curricular do Estado de Minas Gerais ? Conte?dos B?sicos Comuns (CBC) ? e b. o dispositivo avaliativo a ele atrelado ? Sistema Mineiro de Avalia??o da Educa??o P?blica (SIMAVE) a partir da compreens?o de que as pr?ticas neoliberais presentes no Estado e na sociedade enquadram o curr?culo e a avalia??o sob a ?tica da economia. O vi?s de an?lise toma o neoliberalismo como uma forma de governo no sentido foucaultiano, ou seja, que produz processos de subjetiva??o sobre as popula??es docentes da rede p?blica estadual de Minas Gerais. Desse modo, o neoliberalismo usa a educa??o de forma interessada na produ??o do sujeito para o mercado, como um importante mecanismo do Capital Humano. Seguindo essa trilha te?ricometodol?gica, investigamos empiricamente as mudan?as em curso expressas em documentos oficiais da Secretaria de Estado de Educa??o de Minas Gerais (especialmente relacionados ao CBC e ao SIMAVE). Os resultados apontam o CBC como uma proposta sintonizada com o Choque de Gest?o do governo de estado de 2003 a 2014 que coloca a educa??o do estado de Minas Gerais sob mecanismos de regula??o gerencial e de resultados, ambos a favor da economia. Conclu?mos que a partir da articula??o entre o CBC e o SIMAVE atuam pr?ticas de mercado gerenciais e perform?ticas por meio de uma s?rie de poderes e saberes que a ela est?o associados, tornando as propostas curriculares supostamente indissoci?veis dessas pr?ticas e dos processos de subjetiva??o dos docentes.This paper analyzes in an articulated manner: a. the Minas Gerais State curriculum ? Common Basic Content (CBC, Brazilian Portuguese abbreviation) ? and b. the evaluation guidelines linked to it ? Public Education Evaluation System of Minas Gerais (SIMAVE, Brazilian Portuguese abbreviation) from the understanding that neoliberal practices frame the curriculum and the evaluation within the economy perspective. The analysis approach takes neoliberalism as a government system in the Foucauldian sense, that is, one which produces processes of subjectivation on the teaching population in the State education system in Minas Gerais. Therefore, neoliberalism uses education aiming at preparing the individuals to the market, as an important mechanism of the Human Capital. Following this theoretical-methodological route, we investigated empirically the ongoing changes expressed in the official documents issued by the Minas Gerais State Education Secretariat (mainly those related to the CBC and SIMAVE). The results show the CBC as a proposal which is in tune with the Management Chock of the State Government from 2003 to 2014 which places the education in the State of Minas Gerais under regulating mechanisms of management and results, both in favor of the economy. The conclusion points to the articulation between CBC and SIMAVE acting as managerial and performing market practices through a number of powers and knowledges associated to it, making the curriculum proposal supposedly inseparable from such practices

Strained graphene structures: from valleytronics to pressure sensing

Due to its strong bonds graphene can stretch up to 25% of its original size without breaking. Furthermore, mechanical deformations lead to the generation of pseudo-magnetic fields (PMF) that can exceed 300 T. The generated PMF has opposite direction for electrons originating from different valleys. We show that valley-polarized currents can be generated by local straining of multi-terminal graphene devices. The pseudo-magnetic field created by a Gaussian-like deformation allows electrons from only one valley to transmit and a current of electrons from a single valley is generated at the opposite side of the locally strained region. Furthermore, applying a pressure difference between the two sides of a graphene membrane causes it to bend/bulge resulting in a resistance change. We find that the resistance changes linearly with pressure for bubbles of small radius while the response becomes non-linear for bubbles that stretch almost to the edges of the sample. This is explained as due to the strong interference of propagating electronic modes inside the bubble. Our calculations show that high gauge factors can be obtained in this way which makes graphene a good candidate for pressure sensing.Comment: to appear in proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Worksho