80 research outputs found

    Ciência sobre rodas: busão da ciência no agreste e no sertão uma ação de educação não formal

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    O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar o projeto ciência sobre rodas: busão da ciência no agreste e no sertão da universidade federal de sergipe - campus professor alberto carvalho e duas atividades desenvolvidas pelos monitores

    Prevalence of asymptomatic Leishmania infection and knowledge, perceptions, and practices in blood donors in mainland Portugal

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    Funding Information: This paper has been sponsored by Elanco Animal Health in the framework of the CVBD®World Forum Symposium. The authors would like to acknowledge all the blood donors who agreed to participate in this study for contributing with their answers to the questionnaire and their blood samples. The authors would also like to acknowledge all the professionals of the following institutions that contributed to organization of physical equipment, presentation of the study to potential participants, obtaining of informed consent, separation and storage of samples and questionnaires: Instituto Português do Sangue e da Transplantação; Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve; Hospital do Espírito Santo de Évora; Unidade Local de Sáude do Norte Alentejano; Unidade Local de Saúde do Baixo Alentejo and Unidade Local de Saúde do Litoral Alentejano. Lastly, the authors would like to acknowledge the researcher Regina Loesch for her contribution to filling in the electronic database with answers to the paper questionnaires, and the researcher Ana Rita Goes for her contributions to designing the questionnaire for this study. Funding Information: RR was supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science (via Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.—FCT) through a PhD grant (UI/BD/151067/2021). The authors would also like to acknowledge FCT for funding through contracts with GHTM (UID/Multi/04413/2020, UIDB/00006/2020 and UIDP/00006/2020) and LA-REAL (LA/P/0117/2020). This project was also funded by the Tropical Clinic Unit (Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine [IHMT]). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.Background: Asymptomatic infection is the most common outcome of exposure to Leishmania parasites. In the Mediterranean region, where Leishmania infantum is endemic, studies on the prevalence of asymptomatic infection have often relied on serological testing in blood donors. In Spain, regional studies have shown seroprevalence in blood donors between 1 and 8%; in Portugal, values of 0 and 2% were suggested by two localized studies, in different populations. The purpose of this study was (i) to estimate the prevalence of asymptomatic Leishmania infection in blood donors in mainland Portugal, and (ii) to study the association between the detection of antibodies to Leishmania and sociodemographic factors, and also the knowledge, perceptions and practices (KPP) of the blood donors regarding leishmaniasis. Methods: A cross-sectional study targeted the population of people who donated blood in mainland Portugal. Participants, distributed proportionally by municipality and aged between 18 and 65 years, were selected randomly in 347 blood collection points between February and June 2022, and completed a sociodemographic and a KPP questionnaire. Detection of anti-Leishmania antibodies in serum was performed using an ELISA commercial kit. Individual KPP scores were calculated by adding grades defined for each question. Results: Globally, 201/3763 samples were positive. The estimated national true seroprevalence was 4.8% (95% CI 4.1–5.5%). The proportion of positive results was significantly different between NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) regions. Models suggested that seropositivity was significantly higher in male sex, people older than 25 years, or residing in the Centro NUTS2 region, but not in dog owners nor people with lower KPP scores. Overall, 72.3% of participants had previously heard of leishmaniasis and, in multivariate analysis, a higher Knowledge score was associated with age 25–40 years, female sex, ownership of dogs, and higher education. Conclusions: Global estimated true seroprevalence (4.8%) was similar to previous regional studies in blood donors in neighboring Spain. Higher seroprevalence values in the NUTS2 Centro region were consistent with incidence data from humans and seroprevalence studies in dogs. On the other hand, the low values in the Alentejo and the high values in the northern subregions may be the result of geographical shifts in parasite circulation due to climate change and should prompt localized and integrated, vector, canine, and human research, following a One Health approach. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].publishersversionpublishe

    Identidade Docente: Visão e (trans)formação em um Curso de Licenciatura em Química

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    Relata-se algumas atividades de investigação realizadas no âmbito do PIIC-UFS e subprojetos Química – Campus Itabaiana/UFS do PRODOCÊNCIA e do PIBID. Inicialmente foi realizada uma pesquisa acerca da visões dos acadêmicos do curso sobre o modelo de professor que pretendem seguir nadocência. Após, realizou-se Trabalhos de Conclusão de Curso (TCC) que trataram: da construção da identidade docente desses alunos, dos professores de memória e influências em seguir a carreira docente e das realidades e possibilidades no ensino de Química em uma escola pública. Estão sendodesenvolvidos outros TCC, que tratam: das opiniões dos acadêmicos sobre sua formação, das ideias do ser professor e da docência dos acadêmicos ingressos em 2012 e sobre o papel do plano de aula nas atividades de estágio. Além disso, são desenvolvidas duas pesquisas com foco no ensino das CiênciasNaturais no Ensino Fundamental, sendo uma nas series iniciais e outra no nono an

    Structure and Floristics of Home Gardens in an Altitudinal Marsh in Northeastern Brazil

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    Home gardens are a traditional land use practice, which is very common in the tropics. The main goal of the home garden is to produce food for subsistence purposes. Therefore, they have been considered very important from an economic, cultural and ecological point of view. Despite their importance, there has been a lack in research of these environments in Northeastern Brazil. This research was carried out in a rural community belonging to Areia City (Paraíba, Brazil), and aimed to study the floristic diversity of home gardens and their contribution in the conservation of the local diversity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, also using the technique of guided tours with the home garden maintainer. At the same time, the yards were measured, as well as all shrubby arboreal individuals present with DGL (diameter at ground level) ≥ 3 cm. A total of 19 yards were analyzed. 177 species were recorded, of which 155 were identified, representing 63 families and 131 genera. Fabaceae (16 spp.), Euphorbiaceae (10 spp.) and Myrtaceae (7 spp.) were the most represented plant families. 94 of the identified species are considered exotic and 83 are native, considering the origin at regional level. Structurally, the home gardens from Vaca Brava community have shown themselves as complex and rich in diversity, as a result of the association of crops and fruit, as well as the presence of native woody plants for which no uses were reported

    Altrenogest during early pregnancy modulates uterine glandular epithelium and endometrial growth factor expression at the time implantation in pigs

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    This study evaluated the effects of supplying altrenogest from day 6-12 of pregnancy on the endometrial glandular epithelium, corpora lutea (CL) morphology, and endometrial and CL gene expression. A total of 12 crossbred females (Landrace × Large White) were used. The females were assigned to 4 treatments according to a random design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with two categories (sow or gilt) and two treatments (non-treated and treated with altrenogest). On day 6 of pregnancy, animals were allocated to one of the following groups: non-treated (NT, n = 6; 3 sows and 3 gilts), and (T, n = 6; 3 sows and 3 gilts) treated daily with 20 mg of altrenogest, from day 6-12 of pregnancy. All animals were euthanized on day 13 of pregnancy. All CLs were individually weighed, and their volume were determined. The endometrial glandular density (GD), mean glandular area (MGA), and vascular density (VD) were determined by histomorphometric and immunohistochemical analyses. Endometrium samples were collected and analyzed by qRT-PCR to evaluate the abundance of transcripts for VEGF and IGF-I. Females in the T group had higher MGA (P < 0.05) compared to the NT group. There was no effect of treatment on GD or VD for both experimental groups. Sows in the T group had augmented expression of IGF-I (P < 0.05). Progestagen had no detrimental effect on CL morphology. In conclusion, altrenogest improves the uterine environment during the peri-implantation period in pigs without compromising corpora lutea development

    O processo neuroinflamatório e sintomatologia na doença de Alzheimer: Uma revisão bibliográfica: The neuroinflammatory process and symptomatology in Alzheimer's disease: a literature review

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    Este artigo buscou analisar a produção científica sobre o mecanismo da doença de Alzheimer abordando o processo neuroinflamatório e a sintomatologia gerada pelas alterações bioquímicas. A fisiopatologia da doença de Alzheimer é relacionada à síntese das placas de amiloides e à formação dos emaranhados neurofibrilares, que afetam as funções neuronais e podem culminar com a apoptose celular. Estes componentes atuam como fatores pró-inflamatórios, assim ocorrendo a ativação das células gliais e manutenção de um estado inflamatório neurodegenerativo crônico. Além disso, há outros participantes desse cenário, que produzem quimiocinas e citocinas, e atuam como fonte de proteínas do complemento e prostanóides derivados da COX-2. A progressão clínica tem relação direta com o avanço da neuroinflamação, que potencializa a degeneração e morte neuronal, a cada pico inflamatório ocorre a progressão sintomatológica, comprometendo a cognição e execução de atividades básicas de vida diária. O manejo ocorre nos fatores de risco cardiovascular, cuidados com a saúde cerebrovascular e na manutenção da qualidade de vida. A doença é multifatorial e complexa, é necessário o aprofundamento dos conhecimentos acerca do processo da doença e sua sintomatologia, e a investigação para a conjectura do declínio cognitivo e o estabelecimento de prognóstico

    Prognostic value of exercise echocardiography in diabetic patients

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    Background Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in diabetic patients. Although exercise echocardiography (EE) is established as a useful method for diagnosis and stratification of risk for CAD in the general population, there are few studies on its value as a prognostic tool in diabetic patients. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the value of EE in predicting cardiac events in diabetics. Methods 193 diabetic patients, 97 males, 59.8 ± 9.3 yrs (mean ± SD) were submitted to EE between 2001 and 2006 and followed from 7 to 65 months with median of 29 months by phone calls and personal interviews with patients and their primary physician, and reviewing medical records and death certificates. The end points were cardiac events, defined as non-fatal myocardial infarction, late myocardial revascularization and cardiac death. Sudden death without another explanation was considered cardiac death. Survival free of end points was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Twenty-six cardiac events were registered in 24 individuals during the follow-up. The rates of cardiac events were 20.6 and 7% in patients with positive and negative EE, respectively (p < 0.001). Predictors of cardiac events included sedentary lifestyle, with RR of 2.57 95%CI [1.09 to 6.02] (P = 0.03) and positive EE, with RR 3.63, 95%CI [1.44 to 9.16] (P = 0.01). Patients with positive EE presented higher rates of cardiac events at 12 months (6.8% vs. 2.2%), p = 0.004. Conclusion EE is a useful method to predict cardiac events in diabetic patients with suspected or known CAD

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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    Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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