The Crisis of Existence and the Existential of the Crisis: Being-for-Others Outside the Framework of Essentialism

In the line of thought put forward by the existential attitude – philosophy of existence and existential analysis – the experience of being-with-others is thought outside the abstract and a priori systematizations of essentialism and deepened in its most original instances, among which, that of crisis. Starting from the assumption that the "crises" of the contemporary world are replicas of an original crisis not yet overcome, this text questions the availability of contemporary culture to open up and integrate transformations claimed by crises, and that inherent to the way in which we originally are with each other. The scope of this inquiry is developed on the horizon of Heidegger's conception of existence [Existenz] while also resorting to some of the theoretical conceptions of the neurologist Viktor von Weizsäcker and the philosopher Henri Maldiney. Na linha de pensamento aprofundada pela atitude existencial – filosofia da existência e análise existencial – a experiência de ser-com-outros é pensada fora das sistematizações abstractas e apriorísticas do essencialismo e aprofundada nas suas instâncias mais originais, entre outras, a de crise. Partindo do pressuposto de que as “crises” do mundo contemporâneo são réplicas de uma crise original ainda não superada, questiona-se, no presente texto, a disponibilidade da cultura contemporânea para se abrir e integrar transformações reivindicadas pelas crises, inerentes ao modo como originalmente nos encontramos com o outro. O âmbito deste questionamento desenvolve-se no horizonte da concepção heideggeriana de Existência [Existenz] mas recorrendo a algumas das concepções teóricas do neurologista Viktor von Weizsäcker e do filósofo Henri Maldiney

Folic acid-functionalized human serum albumin nanocapsules for targeted drug delivery to chronically activated macrophages

Activated synovial macrophages play a key role in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Recent studies have shown that folate receptor beta (FRβ) is specifically expressed by activated macrophages. Therefore a folate-based nanodevice would provide the possibility of delivering therapeutic agents to activated macrophages without affecting normal cells and tissues. This study shows for the first time the sonochemical preparation of HSA nanocapsules avoiding toxic cross linking chemicals and emulsifiers used in other methods. Production of HSA nanocapsules was optimized leading to a diameter of 443.5 ± 9.0 nm and a narrow size distribution indicated by a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.066 ± 0.080. Nanocapsules were surface modified with folic acid (FA) and the FA content was determined to be 0.38 and 6.42 molecules FA per molecule HSA, depending on the surplus of FA employed. Dynamic light scattering was used to determine size, PDI and zetapotential of the produced nanocapsules before and after surface modification. FA distribution on the surface of HSA nanocapsules was localized three-dimensionally after fluorescence labeling using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Furthermore, specific binding and internalization of HSA nanocapsules by FRβ-positive and FRβ-negative macrophages, obtained from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, was demonstrated by flow cytometry. FRβ-expressing macrophages showed an increased binding for FA-modified capsules compared with those without FA.This work has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement NMP4-LA-2009-228827 NANOFOL. We thank the Instituto Portugues do Sangue (IPS, Porto, Portugal) for providing buffy coats from informed healthy volunteers and Exbio from Czech Republic for providing antibodies

Low-cost/high-precision smart power supply for data loggers

This paper presents a low-cost/high-precision smart power supply for application on data loggers. The microprocessor unit is the brain of the system and manages the events and was optimized to provide electrical energy to the electronic devices under normal operation and under the presence of disruptive events. The measurements showed that when switching either from battery to AC or from AC to battery, neither caused the shutdown of the power supply nor affected the behavior of the power supply. The power supply was able to charge 80% of the battery on a fast recharge of 1 h and the remaining 20% on a slow recharge of 2 h. The current allocated to the battery did not affect the operation of the power supply. The tests also showed that the power supply was able to transmit relevant information about its operation to external computers through a serial connection. This information includes the voltages at the battery and at the output of the voltage regulators, the voltage level of the AC network, the level of the battery charge and if it was being recharged, the current being drained, the internal temperatures at two locations (one measured on the resistor that limits battery charge and another measured on the output diode of the regulators), and whether the cooling system is being used. The total cost of this smart power supply is less than $150, demonstrating good potential for its popularization.This work was partially supported by FCT national funds, under the national support to R&D units grant, through the reference project UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020. This research was also partially supported by the FAPESP agency (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) through the project with the reference 2019/05248-7. Professor João Paulo Carmo was support by a PQ scholarship with the reference CNPq 304312/2020-7

O diálogo necessário entre extensão rural e Agroecologia

The article assumes that rural holds specifics with which it can work other possibilities besides oversizing technology as the only basis for the environmental, social, political and economic development. There is not only one rural society, but rural societies, with their productive specificities linked to the forces of nature and socio-cultural. The approachis focused on the characterization of a new rural as it presupposes the emergence of specific and endogenous forces leading to a global insertion adapted to the local soil and climate needs and socio-economics. The rural extension needs to shape up and get flexibility in the construction process of sustainable development. However, the understanding of sustainability expressed possibilities of retaining aspects geared only to environmental preservation. When considering a new rural with endogenous forces that play key roles in technological advancement and extension intervention, agroecological approach is fundamental. In several plans interact and shape a framework in which it is bio and social diversity, including technological, cultural, political, economic and social aspects. Sustainability, then, implies a breaking of dependence on social actors towards a truly effective participation able to deepen the understanding of reality to a new articulation between research and extension. From this design agroecologicalextension takes on a character of social inclusion and adapted technologies, which affects decisions on public policies in agricultural sciences beyond the production and reproduction needs of the dominant sectors.O artigo parte do pressuposto que o rural detém especificidades com as quais se podem trabalhar outras possibilidades além do superdimensionamento da tecnologia enquanto único embasamento para o desenvolvimento ambiental, social, político e econômico. Não há uma sociedade rural, mas sim sociedades rurais, com suas especificidades produtivas, ligadas às forças da natureza e sócio-culturais. O enfoque está voltado para a caracterização de um novo rural em que se pressupõe a emergência de forças específicas e endógenas que conduza a uma inserção global adaptada às necessidades edafoclimáticas e sócioeconômicas locais. A extensão em ciências agrárias necessita moldar-se e adquirir flexibilidade no processo de construção de projetos de desenvolvimento sustentável. No entanto, o entendimento atual da sustentabilidade expressa possibilidades de reter aspectos voltados apenas à preservação ambiental. Ao se pensar um novo rural com forças endógenas que desempenham papéis fundamentais no avanço tecnológico e na intervenção extensionista, é fundamental uma abordagem agroecológica. Nesta, vários planos interagem e conformam um quadro em que cabe a bio e a sociodiversidade, entre eles aspectos tecnológicos, culturais, políticos, econômicos e sociais. A sustentabilidade, então, implica num rompimento da dependência dos atores sociais na direção de uma participação realmente eficaz, capaz de aprofundar o entendimento da realidade a uma nova articulação entre investigação e extensão. A partir desse delineamento, a extensão agroecológica adquire um caráter de inclusão social e de tecnologias adaptadas, repercutindo nas decisões relativas às políticas públicas em ciências agrárias que ultrapassem as necessidades de produção e reprodução dos setores dominantes

Primary adrenal insufficiency in adults: 150 years after Addison

Thomas Addison first described, 150 years ago, a clinical syndrome characterized by salt-wasting and skin hyperpigmentation, associated with a destruction of the adrenal gland. Even today, over a century after Addison's report, primary adrenal insufficiency can present as a life-threatening condition, since it frequently goes unrecognized in its early stages. In the 1850 s, tuberculous adrenalitis was present in the majority of patients, but nowadays, autoimmune Addison's disease is the most common cause of primary adrenal insufficiency. In the present report, we show the prevalence of different etiologies, clinical manifestations and laboratorial findings, including the adrenal cortex autoantibody, and 21-hydroxylase antibody in a Brazilian series of patients with primary adrenal insufficiency followed at Divisão de Endocrinologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) and at Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto - USP (FMRP-USP).Thomas Addison descreveu pela primeira vez, há 150 anos, uma síndrome clínica de perda de sal em indivíduos com hiperpigmentação cutânea, associada à destruição da glândula adrenal. Atualmente, a insuficiência adrenal ainda representa uma condição de risco, pois seu diagnóstico é freqüentemente não reconhecido nas fases iniciais da doença. A adrenalite tuberculosa era a causa mais freqüente na maioria dos casos descritos inicialmente, mas, na atualidade, a doença de Addison auto-imune está presente em uma grande porcentagem de pacientes com insuficiência adrenal primária. No presente trabalho, apresentamos a prevalência das diferentes causas, manifestações clínicas e achados laboratoriais, incluindo a determinação de anticorpos anticórtex adrenal e anti-21-hidroxilase em pacientes acompanhados com insuficiência adrenal primária seguidos nos Ambulatórios das Divisões de Endocrinologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) e da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto - USP (FMRP-USP).Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto Departamento de Clínica MédicaUniversidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto Departamento de FisiologiaUNIFESPSciEL

Risk stratification for small for gestational age for the Brazilian population: a secondary analysis of the Birth in Brazil study.

Risk-stratification screening for SGA has been proposed in high-income countries to prevent perinatal morbidity and mortality. There is paucity of data from middle-income settings. The aim of this study is to explore risk factors for SGA in Brazil and assess potential for risk stratification. This population-based study is a secondary analysis of Birth in Brazil study, conducted in 266 maternity units between 2011 and 2012. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed, and population attributable fraction estimated for early and all pregnancy factors. We calculated absolute risk, odds ratio, and population prevalence of single or combined factors stratified by parity. Factors associated with SGA were maternal lupus (ORadj 4.36, 95% CI [2.32-8.18]), hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (ORadj 2.72, 95% CI [2.28-3.24]), weight gain < 5 kg (ORadj 2.37, 95% CI [1.99-2.83]), smoking at late pregnancy (ORadj 2.04, 95% CI [1.60-2.59]), previous low birthweight (ORadj 2.22, 95% CI [1.79-2.75]), nulliparity (ORadj 1.81, 95% CI [1.60-2.05]), underweight (ORadj 1.61, 95% CI [1.36-1.92]) and socioeconomic status (SES) < 5th centile (ORadj 1.23, 95% CI [1.05-1.45]). Having two or more risk factors (prevalence of 4.4% and 8.0%) was associated with a 2 and fourfold increase in the risk for SGA in nulliparous and multiparous, respectively. Early and all pregnancy risk factors allow development of risk-stratification for SGA. Implementation of risk stratification coupled with specific strategies for reduction of risk and increased surveillance has the potential to contribute to the reduction of stillbirth in Brazil through increased detection of SGA, appropriate management and timely delivery

Wireless device with energy management for mlosed-loop deep brain stimulation (CLDBS)

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective and safe medical treatment that improves the lives of patients with a wide range of neurological and psychiatric diseases, and has been consolidated as a first-line tool in the last two decades. Closed-loop deep brain stimulation (CLDBS) pushes this tool further by automatically adjusting the stimulation parameters to the brain response in real time. The main contribution of this paper is a low-size/power-controlled, compact and complete CLDBS system with two simultaneous acquisition channels, two simultaneous neurostimulation channels and wireless communication. Each channel has a low-noise amplifier (LNA) buffer in differential configuration to eliminate the DC signal component of the input. Energy management is efficiently done by the control and communication unit. The battery supports almost 9 h with both the acquisition and stimulation circuits active. If only the stimulation circuit is used as an Open Loop DBS, the battery can hold sufficient voltage for 24 h of operation. The whole system is low-cost and portable and therefore it could be used as a wearable device.This work was partially supported by the FAPESP agency (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) through the project with the reference 2019/05248-7. Professor João Paulo Carmo was supported by a PQ scholarship with the reference CNPq 304312/2020-7

Wildfire selectivity for land cover type: does size matter ?

Previous research has shown that fires burn certain land cover types disproportionally to their abundance. We used quantile regression to study land cover proneness to fire as a function of fire size, under the hypothesis that they are inversely related, for all land cover types. Using five years of fire perimeters, we estimated conditional quantile functions for lower (avoidance) and upper (preference) quantiles of fire selectivity for five land cover types - annual crops, evergreen oak woodlands, eucalypt forests, pine forests and shrublands. The slope of significant regression quantiles describes the rate of change in fire selectivity (avoidance or preference) as a function of fire size. We used Monte-Carlo methods to randomly permutate fires in order to obtain a distribution of fire selectivity due to chance. This distribution was used to test the null hypotheses that 1) mean fire selectivity does not differ from that obtained by randomly relocating observed fire perimeters; 2) that land cover proneness to fire does not vary with fire size. Our results show that land cover proneness to fire is higher for shrublands and pine forests than for annual crops and evergreen oak woodlands. As fire size increases, selectivity decreases for all land cover types tested. Moreover, the rate of change in selectivity with fire size is higher for preference than for avoidance. Comparison between observed and randomized data led us to reject both null hypotheses tested (a = 0.05) and to conclude it is very unlikely the observed values of fire selectivity and change in selectivity with fire size are due to chance.Funding: This paper was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/40398/2007. JMCP participated in this research under the framework of research projects ‘‘Forest fire under climate, social and economic changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world (FUME)’’, EC FP7 Grant Agreement No. 243888. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscrip