RUM na Web : potencialidades educativas

O advento das redes corporativas e da internet conferiu um novo status à educação com a inclusão das novas tecnologias dentro e fora das salas de aula. São os tempos da convergência dos media, concentrando as mais diversas formas de contacto, seja em texto, sonoro ou audiovisual no Ciberespaço. O rádio foi criado há mais de 100 anos, no âmbito dos mass media, resistiu ao tempo e consolidou-se na web como um eficiente veículo de comunicação, tornando-se num importante aliado para a educação. Em Portugal, os projectos de rádio web com fins educativos são quase inexistentes, destacando-se neste panorama a Rádio Universitária do Minho (RUM), como um meio de promoção e divulgação das actividades culturais, científicas e educacionais, nomeadamente de apoio às actividades pedagógicas (aulas) de diversos cursos da Universidade do Minho. Este texto faz parte de um projecto de investigação sobre Rádio Educativa na Web, e propomo-nos apresentar neste Congresso os muitos contributos da RUM enquanto interface dinamizadora da prática educativaUnião Europeia (UE) - Programa ALBANUniversidade do Minho. Centro de Investigação em Educação (CIEd

O uso das TICS no suporte à formação universitária online

Na era online, as instituições de ensino partilham de um cenário de desafios por causa de uma crescente competitividade no âmbito educativo, cada vez mais acirrada, baseada em conhecimento científico e tecnológico. Tendo em vista a existência de um público estudantil mais exigente e consciente das mudanças tecnológicas, a competitividade força educadores e instituições de ensino à procura de maior diferenciação, quanto a formas inovadoras de utilização de novas tecnologias aplicadas ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Nota-se que a formatação dos cursos à luz de Bolonha não se confinou ao Espaço Europeu, tendo sido adaptado por outros espaços, nomeadamente os latino-americanos. É neste contexto que se justifica a pesquisa que se apresenta nesta comunicação. O objectivo da pesquisa, realizada no ano de 2006, foi traçar o perfil académico dos alunos da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco em relação à utilização da internet como ferramenta no ensino a distância, bem como seus conhecimentos sobre as tecnologias educativas, de modo a identificar a necessidade de formular-se novas alternativas pedagógicas de utilização das TIC no processo educativo.União Europeia (UE) - Programa Alban, bolsa n.º E07M400899B

Sex differences and correlates of poor glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study in Brazil and Venezuela.

OBJECTIVE: Examine whether glycaemic control varies according to sex and whether the latter plays a role in modifying factors associated with inadequate glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Brazil and Venezuela. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a cross-sectional, nationwide survey conducted in Brazil and Venezuela from February 2006 to June 2007 to obtain information about glycaemic control and its determinants in patients with diabetes mellitus attending outpatient clinics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level was measured by liquid chromatography, and patients with HbA1c ≥7.0% (53 mmol/mol) were considered to have inadequate glycaemic control. The association of selected variables with glycaemic control was analysed by multivariate linear regression, using HbA1c as the dependent variable. RESULTS: A total of 9418 patients with T2D were enrolled in Brazil (n=5692) and in Venezuela (n=3726). They included 6214 (66%) women and 3204 (34%) men. On average, HbA1c levels in women were 0.13 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.24; p=0.015) higher than in men, after adjusting for age, marital status, education, race, country, body mass index, duration of disease, complications, type of healthcare, adherence to diet, adherence to treatment and previous measurement of HbA1c. Sex modified the effect of some factors associated with glycaemic control in patients with T2D in our study, but had no noteworthy effect in others. CONCLUSIONS: Women with T2D had worse glycaemic control than men. Possible causes for poorer glycaemic control in women compared with men include differences in glucose homeostasis, treatment response and psychological factors. In addition, sex modified factors associated with glycaemic control, suggesting the need to develop specific treatment guidelines for men and women

Investigation of the Anticancer and Drug Combination Potential of Brominated Coelenteramines toward Breast and Prostate Cancer

Cancer is a very challenging disease to treat, both in terms of therapeutic efficiency and harmful side effects, which continues to motivate the pursuit for novel molecules with potential anticancer activity. Herein, we have designed, synthesized, and evaluated the cytotoxicity of different brominated coelenteramines, which are metabolic products and synthesis precursors of the chemi-/bioluminescent system of marine coelenterazine. The evaluation of the anticancer potential of these molecules was carried out for both prostate and breast cancer, while also exploring their potential for use in combination therapy. Our results provided further insight into the structure-activity relationship of this type of molecule, such as their high structural specificity, as well highlighting the 4-bromophenyl moiety as essential for the anticancer activity. The obtained data also indicated that, despite their similarity, the anticancer activity displayed by both brominated coelenteramines and coelenterazines should arise from independent mechanisms of action. Finally, one of the studied coelenteramines was able to improve the profile of a known chemotherapeutic agent, even at concentrations in which its anticancer activity was not relevant. Thus, our work showed the potential of different components of marine chemi-/bioluminescent systems as novel anticancer molecules, while providing useful information for future optimizations

Study of SEY degradation of amorphous carbon coatings

Deposition of low secondary electron yield (SEY) carbon coatings by magnetron sputtering onto the inner walls of the accelerator seems to be the most promising solution for suppressing the electron cloud problem. However, these coatings change their electron emission properties during long term exposure to air. The ageing process of carbon coated samples with initial SEY of about 0.9 received from CERN is studied as a function of exposure to different environments. It is shown that samples having the same initial SEY may age with different rates. The SEY increase can be correlated with the surface concentration of oxygen. Annealing of samples in air at 100-200 {\deg}C reduces the ageing rate and even recovers previously degraded samples. The result of annealing is reduction of the hydrogen content in the coatings by triggering its surface segregation followed by desorption.Comment: 4 pages, contribution to the Joint INFN-CERN-EuCARD-AccNet Workshop on Electron-Cloud Effects: ECLOUD'12; 5-9 Jun 2012, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Italy; CERN Yellow Report CERN-2013-002, pp.149-15

Target-Oriented Synthesis of Marine Coelenterazine Derivatives with Anticancer Activity by Applying the Heavy-Atom Effect

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an anticancer therapeutic modality with remarkable advantages over more conventional approaches. However, PDT is greatly limited by its dependence on external light sources. Given this, PDT would benefit from new systems capable of a light-free and intracellular photodynamic effect. Herein, we evaluated the heavy-atom effect as a strategy to provide anticancer activity to derivatives of coelenterazine, a chemiluminescent single-molecule widespread in marine organisms. Our results indicate that the use of the heavy-atom effect allows these molecules to generate readily available triplet states in a chemiluminescent reaction triggered by a cancer marker. Cytotoxicity assays in different cancer cell lines showed a heavy-atom-dependent anticancer activity, which increased in the substituent order of hydroxyl < chlorine < bromine. Furthermore, it was found that the magnitude of this anticancer activity is also dependent on the tumor type, being more relevant toward breast and prostate cancer. The compounds also showed moderate activity toward neuroblastoma, while showing limited activity toward colon cancer. In conclusion, the present results indicate that the application of the heavy-atom effect to marine coelenterazine could be a promising approach for the future development of new and optimized self-activating and tumor-selective sensitizers for light-free PDT

Long-term tobacco exposure and immunosenescence: paradoxical effects on T-cells telomere length and telomerase activity

Immunosenescence are alterations on immune system that occurs throughout an individual life. The main characteristic of this process is replicative senescence, evaluated by telomere shortening. Several factors implicate on telomere shortening, such as smoking. In this study, we evaluated the influence of smoking and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) on cytokines, telomere length and telomerase activity. Blood samples were collected from subjects aged over 60 years old: Healthy (never smokers), Smokers (smoking for over 30 years) and COPDs (ex-smokers for ≥15 years). A young group was included as control. PBMCs were cultured for assessment of telomerase activity using RT-PCR, and cytokines secretion flow cytometry. CD4+ and CD8+ purified lymphocytes were used to assess telomere length using FlowFISH. We observed that COPD patients have accelerated telomere shortening. Paradoxically, smokers without lung damage showed preserved telomere length, suggesting that tobacco smoking may affect regulatory mechanisms, such as telomerase. Telomerase activity showed diminished activity in COPDs, while Smokers showed increased activity compared to COPDs and Healthy groups. Extracellular environment reflected this unbalance, indicated by an anti-inflammatory profile in Smokers, while COPDs showed an inflammatory prone profile. Further studies focusing on telomeric maintenance may unveil mechanisms that are associated with cancer under long-term smoking