Motivation to learn and distance learning programs : what Brazilian workers think about?

Distance education encompasses all forms of learning and teaching in which those who learn and who teach are in different locations. It involves the separation of teachers and learners which distinguishes it from face-to-face education. Online education is characterized by the influence of an educational organization which distinguishes it from self-study and private tutoring. Organizations are both consumers and suppliers of distance education because of its benefits such as productivity improvements and cost savings in training. This paper aims to identify the motivational profile to learning by distance education students who work in a national Brazilian Organization. We consider that the participation in distance learning programs is motivator of stay work. We applied a Brazilian questionnaire (17 item) to 127 employees (majority were male 97.60%, in the range 26 - 33 years and 6 to 10 years of time of service in the Organization) who were enrolled or who had taken any course in distance modality in the last 2 years. The results indicate that there is a relatively negative participants’ perception about how distance-learning programs can add to their performance in terms of skills and competences acquisition. The support of colleagues is very important for learning and its impact at work organizational routine

Artificial intelligence systems for the design of magic shotgun drugs

Designing magic shotgun compounds, i.e., compounds hitting multiple targets using artificial intelligence (AI) systems based on machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) approaches, has a huge potential to revolutionize drug discovery. Such intelligent systems enable computers to create new chemical structures and predict their multi-target properties at a low cost and in a time-efficient manner. Most examples of AI applied to drug discovery are single-target oriented and there is still a lack of concise information regarding the application of this technology for the discovery of multi-target drugs or drugs with broad-spectrum action. In this review, we focus on current developments in AI systems for the next generation of automated design of multi-target drugs. We discuss how classical ML methods, cutting-edge generative models, and multi-task deep neural networks can help de novo design and hit-to-lead optimization of multi-target drugs. Moreover, we present state-of-the-art workflows and highlight some studies demonstrating encouraging experimental results, which pave the way for de novo drug design and multi-target drug discovery

Synthesis and molecular modelling studies of pyrimidinones and pyrrolo[3,4-d]-pyrimidinodiones as new antiplasmodial compounds

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2018-07-10T15:24:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 leonardo_carvalho_etal_IOC_2018.pdf: 1246557 bytes, checksum: 48ba2ef748ce43846be623e25cbb48b4 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2018-07-10T15:37:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 leonardo_carvalho_etal_IOC_2018.pdf: 1246557 bytes, checksum: 48ba2ef748ce43846be623e25cbb48b4 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-10T15:37:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 leonardo_carvalho_etal_IOC_2018.pdf: 1246557 bytes, checksum: 48ba2ef748ce43846be623e25cbb48b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Departamento de Química. Laboratório de Diversidade Molecular e Química Medicinal. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.Laboratório de Pesquisas em Malária. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Departamento de Química. Laboratório de Diversidade Molecular e Química Medicinal. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Goiás. Faculdade de Farmácia. Laboratório de Planejamento de Fármacos e Modelagem Molecular. Goiânia, GO, Brasil / Centro Universitário de Anápolis, UniEvangélica. Laboratório de Quimioinformática. Anápolis, GO, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Goiás. Faculdade de Farmácia. Laboratório de Planejamento de Fármacos e Modelagem Molecular. Goiânia, GO, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Ciências Exatas. Departamento de Química. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.Laboratório de Pesquisas em Malária. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.Laboratório de Pesquisas em Malária. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Goiás. Faculdade de Farmácia. Laboratório de Planejamento de Fármacos e Modelagem Molecular. Goiânia, GO, Brasil / Universidade de Campinas. Instituto de Biologia. Departamento de Genética, Evolução e Bioagentes. Laboratório de Doenças Tropicais Prof. Dr. Luiz Jacintho da Silva. Campinas, SP, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Departamento de Química. Laboratório de Diversidade Molecular e Química Medicinal. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.BACKGROUND Malaria is responsible for 429,000 deaths per year worldwide, and more than 200 million cases were reported in 2015. Increasing parasite resistance has imposed restrictions to the currently available antimalarial drugs. Thus, the search for new, effective and safe antimalarial drugs is crucial. Heterocyclic compounds, such as dihydropyrimidinones (DHPM), synthesised via the Biginelli multicomponent reaction, as well as bicyclic compounds synthesised from DHPMs, have emerged as potential antimalarial candidates in the last few years. METHODS Thirty compounds were synthesised employing the Biginelli multicomponent reaction and subsequent one-pot substitution/cyclisation protocol; the compounds were then evaluated in vitro against chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum parasites (W2 strain). Drug cytotoxicity in baseline kidney African Green Monkey cells (BGM) was also evaluated. The most active in vitro compounds were evaluated against P. berghei parasites in mice. Additionally, we performed an in silico target fishing approach with the most active compounds, aiming to shed some light into the mechanism at a molecular level. RESULTS The synthetic route chosen was effective, leading to products with high purity and yields ranging from 10-84%. Three out of the 30 compounds tested were identified as active against the parasite and presented low toxicity. The in silico study suggested that among all the molecular targets identified by our target fishing approach, Protein Kinase 3 (PK5) and Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β (GSK-3β) are the most likely molecular targets for the synthesised compounds. CONCLUSIONS We were able to easily obtain a collection of heterocyclic compounds with in vitro anti-P. falciparum activity that can be used as scaffolds for the design and development of new antiplasmodial drugs

Expression of S-100, EMA, CD34 and presence of mast cells in eight oral neurofibromas, and a review of 127 cases of the literature

INTRODUCTION: The rarity of oral neurofibromas (ONs) generates problems regarding their epidemiological and immunohistochemical characterization. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of different markers in ONs and review epidemiologic data reported in the literature. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical (markers S-100, epithelial membrane antigen [EMA], CD34) and histochemical (modified-Ziehl-Neelsen-method) studies were performed in eight cases of ON diagnosed in the Department of Pathology and Legal Medicine (DPML), Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Ceará, Brazil, between 1994 and 2010. RESULTS: Oral neurofibromas represented 0.2% of the oral lesions diagnosed by our service in 16 years, and the buccal mucosa was the most frequent oral site (71.4%). Seven (87.5%) and 8 (100.0%) cases were positive for S-100 and CD34, respectively, and none for EMA. Mast cells were identified in seven cases (87.5%). The literature search indicated that solitary ONs are more common and occur preferentially in females, affecting patients between 30 and 40 years old. The alveolar ridge is the most commonly involved site. CONCLUSION: S-100- and CD34 markers proved to be of great value as a diagnostic tool, unlike EMA staining. Identification of mast cells in most cases suggests their involvement in this tumor pathogenesis. The clinicopathologic data retrieved from the literature enabled the establishment of a more consistent epidemiological profile