Basic Income with Digital Community Currency: Digital Platforms for Public Policies Implementation During Pandemic Crisis

This short paper presents a research-in-progress that discusses how basic income policies can be implemented using digital currency platforms and the implications of this approach in the context of the pandemic. We analyze the case of Banco Mumbuca, a non-profit organization that uses a community currency on a digital payment platform, E-Dinheiro, to deliver the basic income program of the Brazilian town of Maricá. This city program became one of the largest in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, considering both the amount of money transferred to municipal beneficiaries and the adoption rate of a community currency by citizens and the local commerce. We adopt the Design Science Research (DSR) approach to analyze the case, considering this implementation as two entangled sub-artifacts: the public policy and the digital community currency. These sub-artifacts will be analyzed from the perspective of the problems they intend to solve, the particular aspects of the designed solution, the evaluation of the solution by actors involved, and the discussion of the achieved outcomes. This study intends to contribute to the basic income discussion that emerged as a solution for economic recovery from the COVID-19, the strategies for scaling up community currencies, and the DSR as a strategy for producing impactful research in the ICT4D field

Antibody reactivity against potato apyrase, a protein that shares epitopes with Schistosoma mansoni ATP diphosphohydrolase isoforms, in acute and chronically infected mice, after chemotherapy and reinfection

Schistosoma mansoni ATP diphosphohydrolase isoforms and potato apyrase share conserved epitopes. By enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, elevated levels of IgM, IgG2a and IgG1 antibody reactivity against potato apyrase were observed in S. mansoni-infected BALB/c mice during the acute phase of infection, while only IgM and IgG1 antibody reactivity levels maintained elevated during the chronic phase of infection. Antibody reactivity against potato apyrase was monitored over an 11-month period in chronically-infected mice treated with oxamniquine. Eleven months later, the level of seropositive IgM decreased significantly (~30%) compared to the level found in untreated, infected mice. The level of seropositive IgG1 decreased significantly four months after treatment (MAT) (61%) and remained at this level even after 11 months. The IgG2a reactivity against potato apyrase, although unchanged during chronic phase to 11 MAT, appeared elevated again in re-infected mice suggesting a response similar to that found during the acute phase. BALB/c mouse polyclonal anti-potato apyrase IgG reacted with soluble egg antigens probably due to the recognition of parasite ATP diphosphohydrolase. This study, for the first time, showed that the IgG2a antibody from S. mansoni-infected BALB mice cross-reacts with potato apyrase and the level of IgG2a in infected mice differentiates disease phases. The results also suggest that different conserved-epitopes contribute to the immune response in schistosomiasis

Antibody reactivity against potato apyrase, a protein that shares epitopes with Schistosoma mansoni ATP diphosphohydrolase isoforms, in acute and chronically infected mice, after chemotherapy and reinfection

Submitted by Nuzia Santos ([email protected]) on 2012-11-12T13:56:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 91.2010.pdf: 765042 bytes, checksum: 027edf486cee8c0006983c9089fee420 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2012-11-12T13:56:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 91.2010.pdf: 765042 bytes, checksum: 027edf486cee8c0006983c9089fee420 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010Fapeapeapemigig, CNPq, CPqRR (to PFP and AAJ), PIBIC, PROBIC/UFJF (to RSS and FHSBUniversidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas . Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil / Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas . Departamento de Bioquímica. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil / Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Schistosoma mansoni ATP diphosphohydrolase isoforms and potato apyrase share conserved epitopes. By en¬zyme-linked immunosorbent assays, elevated levels of IgM, IgG2a and IgG1 antibody reactivity against potato apy¬rase were observed in S. mansoni-infected BALB/c mice during the acute phase of infection, while only IgM and IgG1 antibody reactivity levels maintained elevated during the chronic phase of infection. Antibody reactivity against po¬tato apyrase was monitored over an 11-month period in chronically-infected mice treated with oxamniquine. Eleven months later, the level of seropositive IgM decreased significantly (~30%) compared to the level found in untreated, infected mice. The level of seropositive IgG1 decreased significantly four months after treatment (MAT) (61%) and remained at this level even after 11 months. The IgG2a reactivity against potato apyrase, although unchanged during chronic phase to 11 MAT, appeared elevated again in re-infected mice suggesting a response similar to that found during the acute phase. BALB/c mouse polyclonal anti-potato apyrase IgG reacted with soluble egg antigens prob¬ably due to the recognition of parasite ATP diphosphohydrolase. This study, for the first time, showed that the IgG2a antibody from S. mansoni-infected BALB mice cross-reacts with potato apyrase and the level of IgG2a in infected mice differentiates disease phases. The results also suggest that different conserved-epitopes contribute to the im¬mune response in schistosomiasis

A Transcript Finishing Initiative for Closing Gaps in the Human Transcriptome

We report the results of a transcript finishing initiative, undertaken for the purpose of identifying and characterizing novel human transcripts, in which RT-PCR was used to bridge gaps between paired EST clusters, mapped against the genomic sequence. Each pair of EST clusters selected for experimental validation was designated a transcript finishing unit (TFU). A total of 489 TFUs were selected for validation, and an overall efficiency of 43.1% was achieved. We generated a total of 59,975 bp of transcribed sequences organized into 432 exons, contributing to the definition of the structure of 211 human transcripts. The structure of several transcripts reported here was confirmed during the course of this project, through the generation of their corresponding full-length cDNA sequences. Nevertheless, for 21% of the validated TFUs, a full-length cDNA sequence is not yet available in public databases, and the structure of 69.2% of these TFUs was not correctly predicted by computer programs. The TF strategy provides a significant contribution to the definition of the complete catalog of human genes and transcripts, because it appears to be particularly useful for identification of low abundance transcripts expressed in a restricted set of tissues as well as for the delineation of gene boundaries and alternatively spliced isoforms

Orientações TCC e Iniciação Científica

Trabalhos dos orientandos da Profa. Denny Thame e materiais para pesquisa de Direito da Informática, da Comunicação, Internacional e Ambiental

Neotropical xenarthrans: a dataset of occurrence of xenarthran species in the Neotropics.

International audienceXenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions forecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosys-tem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts withdomestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their fulldistribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, 10 anteaters, and 6 sloths.Our data set includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae(3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data onDasypus pilo-sus(Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized,but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In thisdata paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence andquantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is fromthe southern United States, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of theNeotropics, to the austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regardinganteaters,Myrmecophaga tridactylahas the most records (n=5,941), andCyclopessp. havethe fewest (n=240). The armadillo species with the most data isDasypus novemcinctus(n=11,588), and the fewest data are recorded forCalyptophractus retusus(n=33). Withregard to sloth species,Bradypus variegatushas the most records (n=962), andBradypus pyg-maeushas the fewest (n=12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to makeoccurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly ifwe integrate the xenarthran data with other data sets of Neotropical Series that will become available very soon (i.e., Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, andNeotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure,habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possiblewith the Neotropical Xenarthrans data set. Please cite this data paper when using its data inpublications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are usingthese data