Does Tumor Extent on Needle Prostatic Biopsies Influence the Value of Perineural Invasion to Predict Pathologic Stage > T2 in Radical Prostatectomies?

Purpose: Perineural invasion (PNI) on needle prostatic biopsies (NPB) has been controversial as a marker of extraprostatic extension and consequently for planning of nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy (RP). The aim of this study was to find whether tumor extent on NPB influences the value of PNI to predict stage > pT2 on RP. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was based on 264 consecutive patients submitted to radical retropubic prostatectomy. Their NPB were matched with whole-mount processed and totally embedded surgical specimens. Tumor extent on NPB was evaluated as the percentage of linear tissue in mm containing carcinoma in all cores. Considering the median value, patients were stratified into 2 groups: harboring less or more extensive tumors on NPB. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to relate stage > pT2 to PNI and other clinical and pathological variables. Results: In patients with more extensive tumors, PNI was predictive of stage > pT2 in univariate analysis but not in multivariate analysis. In less extensive tumors, PNI showed no association between any clinical or pathological variables studied; no difference in the time to biochemical progression-free status compared to patients without PNI; and, no predictive value for pathological stage > pT2 on both univariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion: Tumor extent on NPB influences the predictive value of PNI for pathologic stage > pT2 on RP. With a higher number of small tumors currently detected, there is no evidence that perineural invasion should influence the decision on preservation of the nerve during radical prostatectomy.36443944

Agricultura familiar, agroecologia e desenvolvimento sustentável: questões para debate

Quatro aspectos relacionados á temátaica sao especialmente focalizados no livro: as dimensoes, características e oportunidades de desenvolvimento da agricultura familiar no Brasil; os vários significados da agroecología e os condiconantes para seu sucesso; a contribuicao da agricultura alternativa para o desenvolvimento territorial sustentável; e, finalmente , os desafios o serem enfrentados pelas politicas públicas para promover o fortalecimento da agricultura familiar, tendo em consideracao o contexto macro-económico e institucional

Science and art as a pedagogical competence for teacher training

Uma escola comprometida com o conhecimento e a cultura deve adotar uma abordagem na formação de professores que ofereça alternativas à visão segmentada do conhecimento que tradicionalmente constitui os currículos de ensino e de formação de professores. O objetivo deste estudo é desenhar, desenvolver e avaliar uma estratégia interdisciplinar de formação de professores tendo em vista uma melhor compreensão das relações dialógicas entre ciência e arte no ensino das ciências. A experiência exitosa de um encontro programado com professores da área de ciências asseverou o alcance desse debate por meio da observação de um espaço de escuta coletiva intitulado “Prosa com Educadores”. Os resultados apontam para as potencialidades não só da utilização de procedimentos metodológicos similares como para a integração de saberes de modo a enriquecer o ensino e a aprendizagem de ciências. Os professores participantes da pesquisa foram propositivos, co-pesquisadores, dispostos a investir na autoformação. Essa constatação fornece um perfil alternativo àqueles que usualmente circulam no senso comum de que os professores de nossos dias precisam atualizar-se urgentemente, como se os mesmos já não estivessem inseridos nesse movimento.A school committed to the acquisition of knowledge and culture should adopt an approach towards teacher training that could offer alternatives to the segmented view of knowledge that traditionally constitutes the curricula of schools and of teacher training courses. The aim of this paper is to design, develop and evaluate an interdisciplinary strategy for teacher training, bearing in mind a better understanding of the dialogic relationships between science and art in the teaching of sciences. The successful experience of a meeting set up with science teaching professionals guaranteed the range of a debate carried out in a collective listening space called “Talk with Educators”. The results point not only to the potential of similar methodological procedures but also to the integration of knowledge and to how it may enrich the process of science teaching and learning. The teachers who took part in the research acted in a propositional way, as co-researchers, and ready to invest in their self-training. This observation displays a profile not only different from but also opposite to the one that permeates common sense in general according to which present day teachers need to update themselves urgently, as if they hadn’t already been inserted in this movement.publishe

Metodologia para estudo das relaçȏes de mercado em sistemas agroindustriais

Contenido: 1. Consideraciones preliminares; 2. Principios metodológicos de los procesos de evaluación; 3. El desafío de evaluar los proyectos de cooperación técnica; 4. Conceptos utilizados en la metodología; 5. Indicadores de resultados y de impacto; 6. Adaptación de la metodología a los PCT y a las ACT del IICA-Brasil; 7. Procedimientos metodológicos para una evaluación de los impactos y de los resultados.Conteúdo: 1. Considerações preliminares; 2. Princípios metodológicos dos processos de avaliação; 3. O desafio de avaliar projetos de cooperação técnica; 4. Conceitos utilizados na metodologia; 5. Resultados e indicadores de impacto; 6. Adaptação da metodologia aos PCTs e ACTs do IICA-Brasil; 7. Procedimentos metodológicos para avaliação de impactos e resultados

Lumbar spine and total-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in children with severe neurological impairment and intellectual disability: a pilot study of artefacts and disrupting factors

Background Children with severe neurological impairment and intellectual disability (ID) are susceptible for developing low bone mineral density (BMD) and fractures. BMD is generally measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Objective To describe the occurrence of factors that may influence the feasibility of DXA and the accuracy of DXA outcome in children with severe neurological impairment and ID. Materials and methods Based on literature and expert opinion, a list of disrupting factors was developed. Occurrence of these factors was assessed in 27 children who underwent DXA measurement. Results Disrupting factors that occurred most frequently were movement during measurement (82%), aberrant body composition (67%), small length for age (56%) and scoliosis (37%). The number of disrupting factors per child was mean 5.3 (range 1-8). No correlation was found between DXA outcomes and the number of disrupting factors. Conclusion Factors that may negatively influence the accuracy of DXA outcome are frequently present in children with severe neurological impairment and ID. No systematic deviation of DXA outcome in coherence with the amount of disrupting factors was found, but physicians should be aware of the possible influence of disrupting factors on the accuracy of DXA

Alternativas de financiamento agropecuário. Experiências no Brasil e na América Latina

Este documento está dividido em duas partes. Na primeira parte, o estudo apresenta uma reflexão sobre a importância do crédito rural e a lógica que rege o financiamento do setor agropecuário. Discute as principais dificuldades para operacionalizar o financiamento no meio rural: a decisão de qual segmento da população será atendido (determinando o público-alvo) e como selecionar os clientes diante das assimetrias de informação características do meio rural (a seleção do problema ou triagem) ; viés de seleção inerente a exigência de garantias por parte das famílias pobres e a efetividade dessas garantias em um contexto caracterizado por problemas de execução judicial; mecanismos de incentivo e execução de contratos (execução). A segunda parte do documento apresenta uma série de estudos de caso e outros exemplos, destinados a ilustrar como os programas de crédito e várias instituições financeiras utilizam diferentes tecnologias de crédito para responder a problemas de seleção, garantias, cumprimento de contratos, escopo e sustentabilidade

Detection of epithelial apoptosis in pelvic ileal pouches for ulcerative colitis and familial adenomatous polyposis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) is the surgical procedure of choice for patients with refractory ulcerative colitis (UC) and for familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) with many rectal polyps. Pouchitis is one of the more frequent complications after IPAA in UC patients; however, it is rare in FAP.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>Evaluate pro-apoptotic activity in endoscopically and histological normal mucosa of the ileal pouch in patients with UC and FAP.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighteen patients (nine with UC and nine with FAP) with J pouch after total rectocolectomy were studied. Biopsies were obtained from the mucosa of the pouch and from normal ileum. The specimens were snap-frozen and the expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 were determined by immunoblot of protein extracts and by immunohistochemistry analysis. FADD, Caspase-8, APAF-1 and Caspase-9 were evaluated by immunoprecipitation and immunoblot.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients with UC had significantly higher protein levels of Bax and APAF-1, Caspase-9 than patients with FAP, but were similar to controls. The expressions of Bcl-2 and FADD, Caspase-8 were similar in the groups. Immunohistochemistry for Bax showed less intensity of immunoreactions in FAP than in UC and Controls. Bcl-2 immunostaining was similar among the groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Patients with FAP present lower levels of pro-apoptotic proteins in all methods applied, even in the absence of clinical and endoscopic pouchitis and dysplasia in the histological analysis. These findings may explain a tendency of up-regulation of apoptosis in UC patients, resulting in higher rates of progression to pouchitis in these patients, which could correlate with mucosal atrophy that occurs in inflamed tissue. However, FAP patients had low pro-apoptotic activity in the mucosa, and it could explain the tendency to low cell turn over and presence of adenomas in this syndrome.</p

Chemical warfare between leafcutter ant symbionts and a co-evolved pathogen

Acromyrmex leafcutter ants form a mutually beneficial symbiosis with the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus and with Pseudonocardia bacteria. Both are vertically transmitted and actively maintained by the ants. The fungus garden is manured with freshly cut leaves and provides the sole food for the ant larvae, while Pseudonocardia cultures are reared on the ant-cuticle and make antifungal metabolites to help protect the cultivar against disease. If left unchecked, specialized parasitic Escovopsis fungi can overrun the fungus-garden and lead to colony collapse. We report that Escovopsis upregulates the production of two specialized metabolites when it infects the cultivar. These compounds inhibit Pseudonocardia and one, shearinine D, also reduces worker behavioral defences and is ultimately lethal when it accumulates in ant tissues. Our results are consistent with an active evolutionary arms race between Pseudonocardia and Escovopsis, which modifies both bacterial and behavioral defences such that colony collapse is unavoidable once Escovopsis infections escalate