Matrix Assisted Formation of Ferrihydrite Nanoparticles in a Siloxane/Poly(Oxyethylene) Nanohybrid

Matrix-assisted formation of ferrihydrite, an iron oxide hydroxide analogue of the protein ferritin-core, in a sol-gel derived organic-inorganic hybrid is reported. The hybrid network (named di-ureasil) is composed of poly(oxyethylene) chains of different average polymer molecular weights grafted to siloxane domains by means of urea cross-linkages and accommodates ferrihydrite nanoparticles. Magnetic measurements, Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveal that the controlled modification of the polymer molecular weight allows the fine-tuning of the ability of the hybrid matrix to assist and promote iron coordination at the organic-inorganic interface and subsequent nucleation and growth of the ferrihydrite nanoparticles whose core size (2-4 nm) is tuned by the amount of iron incorporated. The polymer chain length, its arrangement and crystallinity, are key factors on the anchoring and formation of the ferrihydrite particles.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. To be published in J. Mater. Che

Avaliação das competências cognitivas com o Inventário Real-World Outcomes of Critical Thinking em Portugal e Espanha : implicações metodológicas e educativas

O pensamento crítico, forma superior de inteligência particularmente proeminente na faixa jovem-adulta, é apresentado como potenciando o sucesso académico no Ensino Superior e o sucesso na vida profissional. Daqui se depreende a pertinência de investigar as formas que o pensamento crítico assume no início da idade adulta. A presente comunicação apresenta o processo de tradução e adaptação do Real-World Outcomes (Butler & Halpern) para a população portuguesa e espanhola. Este inventário de autoavaliação engloba um conjunto de afirmações concernentes ao uso do pensamento crítico em situações do quotidiano, versando decisões referentes à vida pessoal, social, escolar ou profissional dos indivíduos; foram adicionadas quatro afirmações referentes ao sucesso percebido na relação com colegas e amigos, no debate de temas da actualidade, na gestão dos recursos financeiros e, por fim, nas aprendizagens escolares. Após a tradução e sequente retroversão do inventário para o inglês, procedeu-se à reflexão falada, com vista a assegurar a compreensão e relevância dos itens. As versões experimentais foram aplicadas a uma amostra de 475 alunos universitários da área de Ciências e Tecnologias e de Letras e Humanidades, tendo-se analisado a dificuldade e homogeneidade dos itens. Estudaram-se as correlações entre os resultados no inventário com os indicadores de sucesso referidos e com uma variável de rendimento académico, considerando-se ainda diferenças de acordo com a universidade/país, área de estudos e sexo dos sujeitos. Finalmente, tecem-se considerações sobre o funcionamento deste inventário e a pertinência do pensamento crítico na qualidade das aprendizagens escolares.Universidade de Lisboa. Faculdade de PsicologiaSociedade Portuguesa de PsicologiaCaixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD)CEGOCSHLProdutos e Serviços de Estatística, Lda. (PSE)ProfiForm

Distinctive Roles of Canonical and Noncanonical Wnt Signaling in Human Embryonic Cardiomyocyte Development

Open Access funded by British Heart Foundation Under a Creative Commons license Acknowledgments Our thanks go to Gioia Polidori Francisco for training and discussions, Kate Watt and Yvonne Turnbull for technical and laboratory managerial support, Kadri Oras and Laura Ferguson for experimental support, Po-Lin So and Bruce Conklin (Gladstone Institutes) for providing their unpublished protocols, and Yukio Nakamura for discussion. This research is supported by the British Heart Foundation (PG/12/75/29851) and the Institute of Medical Sciences. A.S.B. was supported by the British Heart Foundation (FS/12/37/29516).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Assessing higher education students' critical thinking with the PENCRISAL test - Portuguese short version: A psychometric study.

[EN]The development of critical thinking in higher education is fundamental, preparing students to think well, find explanations, make decisions and solve problems. Given the importance of its promotion, its assessment is crucial, since the two are inseparable. Moreover, the number of instruments that are validated to assess critical thinking in the Portuguese language and culture are scarce. We present the validation psychometric study of the PENCRISAL test (short version) to the Portuguese language, a critical thinking assessment test for higher education students, designed and validated in Spain (full and short version), which presents adequate reliability and validity psychometric characteristics to assess key-dimensions of critical thinking. A sample of 225 Portuguese higher education students from three universities (two public and one private) performed a reduced version of the PANCRISAL test. The results obtained allowed replicating the Spanish reduced version in Portugal (only changing one of the six items), and the confirmatory factorial analysis permits to identify two factors intercorrelated, legitimizing the combination of the six items in a global score. This short version can be used as a screening test, and its potential is pointed out to assess students critical thinking to support teaching and research in higher education

Choice of birth control methods among European women and the role of partners and providers

Background: The choice of a birth control method is influenced by socio-cultural and personal factors. We explored the perceived influences in women’s choice of a birth control method in five European countries (Germany, France, the U.K., Romania and Sweden), where contraception is widely used. Study design: Cross-sectional study of 1137 randomly selected women, aged 18-49 years. An anonymous, 31-item questionnaire related to birth control methods was used. Logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with partner participation in choice of a contraceptive. Results: Oral contraceptives were mainly used in Germany (54.3%), France (50.5%) and Sweden (34.6%) and condoms in the UK (29.6%) and Romania (22.9%). Sweden showed the highest use of intrauterine devices (19%). Romania had the lowest use of contraception. Oral contraceptives and intrauterine devices use were frequently suggested by providers instead of by women. Choosing the method with the partner was associated with age (OR=0.97, 95%CI 0.94-0.99), university graduate (OR=1.59, 95%CI 1.01-2.29), married (OR=1.52, 95%CI 1.01-2.29) and with using a method that requires partner’s cooperation (OR=8.18, 95%CI 5.46-12.27). Conclusions: Hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine devices are commonly recommended by providers rather than requested by women. Partner preferences are taken into account when his cooperation in the use of the method is needed. As fertility care is a male and female issue, there is still more room for actively involving both women and men in choice of a birth control method

Antiplasmodial and leishmanicidal activities of 2-cyano-3-(4-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamido) quinoxaline 1,4-dioxide derivatives.

Malaria and leishmaniasis are two of the World’s most important tropical parasitic diseases. Thirteen new 2-cyano-3-(4-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamido) quinoxaline 1,4-dioxide derivatives (CPCQs) were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antimalarial and antileishmanial activity against erythrocytic forms of Plasmodium falciparum and axenic forms of Leishmania infantum. Their toxicity against VERO cells (normal monkey kidney cells) was also assessed. None of the tested compounds was efficient against Plasmodium, but two of them showed good activity against Leishmania. Toxicity on VERO was correlated with leishmanicidal properties

Comparative study of planned and unplanned excisions for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities

OBJECTIVE: Unplanned excision of soft tissue sarcomas is common because benign soft tissue lesions are very frequent. This study evaluated the impact of unplanned resections on overall survival, local recurrence and distant metastasis in patients with soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities. METHODS: In total, 52 patients who were diagnosed with soft tissue sarcomas between May 2001 and March 2011 were analyzed in a retrospective study. Of these patients, 29 (55.8%) had not undergone previous treatment and the remaining 23 (44.2%) patients had undergone prior resection of the tumor without oncological planning. All subsequent surgical procedures were performed at the same cancer referral center. The follow-up ranged from 6 to 122 months, with a mean of 39.89 months. Age, lesion size and depth, histological grade, surgical margins, overall survival, local and distant recurrence and adjuvant therapies were compared. RESULTS: Residual disease was observed in 91.3% of the re-resected specimens in the unplanned excision group, which exhibited greater numbers of superficial lesions, low histological grades and contaminated surgical margins compared with the re-resected specimens in the planned excision group. No differences were observed in local recurrence and 5-year overall survival between the groups, but distant metastases were significantly associated with planned excision after adjustment for the variables. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference between patients undergoing unplanned excision and planned excision regarding local recurrence and overall survival. The planned excision group had a higher risk of distant metastasis, whereas there was a high rate of residual cancer in the unplanned excision group

PENSAMIENTO CRÍTICO Y EL RETO DE SU EVALUACIÓN

The social and technological changes that have occurred in the last decades have led us to give greater importance to the development of transversal competences in the educational system, particularly in higher education. In critical thinking (PC) the best intellectual competences that we possess are applied, but this construct still requires greater conceptual precision and much more empirical testing effort. The proposal we will present offers a solution to this confusion of ideas and a way to assess PC skills. This evaluation offers us a diagnosis of the level (sufficient or deficient) of the transversal competences based on the curricular structure and the teaching-learning processes in higher education, which will allow us to offer improvement proposals, if needed. One of the main difficulties of the PC consists of joining argumentation and explanation skills, with others such as decision making and problem solving. Aware of the importance of this issue, we will focus our analysis on a new integrated way of evaluating the PC. This proposal and the first studies of validation are presented, particularly, its relationship with academic performance. Finally, we will point out some suggestions to change higher education.Los cambios sociales y tecnológicos que han acontecido en las últimas décadas nos han llevado a darle una mayor importancia al desarrollo de las competencias transversales en el sistema educativo, en particular, en la enseñanza superior. En el pensamiento crítico (PC) se aplican las mejores competencias intelectuales que poseemos, pero este constructo aún requiere de mayor precisión conceptualmente y de mucho más esfuerzo de contrastación empírica. La propuesta que presentaremos ofrece una solución a esa confusión de ideas y un modo de evaluar las habilidades de PC. Esta doble proposición posee el interés de permitir cuantificar el desempeño académico mediante habilidades cognitivas medidas con precisión; esta evaluación nos ofrece un diagnóstico del nivel (suficiente o deficiente) de las competencias transversales en función de la estructura curricular y de los procesos de enseñanza aprendizaje en la educación superior, lo que nos permitirá ofrecer propuestas de mejora, en el caso de necesitarse. Pero este recorrido entraña muchos obstáculos. Una de las mayores dificultades del PC consiste en acoplar habilidades de argumentación y explicación, con otras como toma de decisiones y solución de problemas; esto se debe a que a las primeras no se les pide actuación y cambios, mientras que a las segundas sí. Por esto, decidir bien y resolver con eficacia no es posible sin una buena explicación. Siendo conscientes de la importancia de esta cuestión, centraremos nuestra propuesta en una nueva forma integrada de evaluación del PC. Se presenta esta propuesta y los primeros estudios de su validación, en particular, su relación con el desempeño académico. Finalmente, destacaremos algunas sugerencias de cambio necesarias en la enseñanza superior.As mudanças sociais e tecnológicas ocorridas nas últimas décadas levam-nos a dar maior importância ao desenvolvimento de competências transversais no sistema educativo, em particular no ensino superior. Ao pensamento crítico (PC) aplicam-se as melhores competências intelectuais que possuímos, mas esse constructo ainda requer maior precisão conceitual e muito mais esforço na sua verificação empírica. A proposta que apresentaremos oferece uma solução para essa confusão de ideias e uma forma de avaliar as habilidades do PC. Essa avaliação nos apresenta um diagnóstico do nível (suficiente ou insuficiente) das competências transversais, com base na estrutura curricular e nos processos de ensino-aprendizagem no ensino superior, o que nos permitirá oferecer propostas de melhoria, se necessário. Uma das principais dificuldades do PC consiste em unir habilidades de argumentação e explicação com outras como a tomada de decisão e a resolução de problemas. Conscientes da importância dessa questão, focaremos a nossa análise numa nova forma integrada de avaliar o PC. Essa proposta e os primeiros estudos de sua validação são apresentados, em particular a sua relação com o desempenho acadêmico. Por fim, apontaremos algumas sugestões de mudança no ensino superior

Comparative Genome Analysis of Bacillus sporothermodurans with Its Closest Phylogenetic Neighbor, Bacillus oleronius, and Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis Groups

Bacillus sporothermodurans currently possesses one of the most highly heat-resistant spores (HRS), which can withstand ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing. Determination of multiple whole genome sequences of B. sporothermodurans provided an opportunity to perform the first comparative genome analysis between strains and with B. oleronius, B. cereus, and B. subtilis groups. In this study, five whole genome sequences of B. sporothermodurans strains, including those belonging to the HRS clone (SAD and BR12) normally isolated from UHT milk, were compared with the aforementioned Bacillus species for gene clusters responsible for heat resistance. In the phylogenomic analysis, B. sporothermodurans, with its closest phylogenetic neighbor, B. oleronius, clustered with B. thermoamylovorans and B. thermotolerans. Heat shock proteins GrpE, GroES, GroEL, and DnaK presented identical sequences for all B. sporothermodurans strains, indicating that differences in functional efficiency are not involved in the thermal resistance variations. However, comparing all species evaluated, B. sporothermodurans exhibited a different gene configuration in the chromosomal region of the heat shock protein GrpE. Furthermore, only B. sporothermodurans strains presented the stage II sporulation protein P gene located in this region. Multisequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis of the ClpB protein showed differences for HRS and non-HRS strains. The study identified ClpC, ClpE, and ClpX as the three ATPases putatively involved in protein disaggregation in B. sporothermodurans. Bacillussporothermodurans exhibits high homology with other Bacillus species in the DnaK, DnaJ, GroEL, and GroES cluster of genes involved in heat resistance. The data presented here pave the way to select and evaluate the phenotypic effects of genes putatively involved in heat resistance