A formação de formadores em educação ambiental, nos cenários da "Região Metropolitana de Curitiba" : das resistências aos fatos

Orientadores: Prof.ª Dr.ª Maria do Rosário Knechtel, Prof. Dr. Ademar Heemann e Prof. Dr. Dimas FlorianiTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curso de Doutorado em Meio Ambiente e DesenvolvimentoInclui referências: p. 194-203Resumo: O presente estudo teve como centro de interesse, o processo de formação de formadores em Educação Ambiental, a partir de minha vivências, nos últimos quatro anos, principalmente na "Região Metropolitana de Curitiba/RMC". O estudo foi realizado em organizações públicas e privadas, algumas se caracterizando como instituições escolares típicas, outras como ligadas à formação tecnológica e ao sistema de produção, além de Organizações Não- Governamentais/ONGs. Em cada um desses contextos institucionais que tratam da formação de formadores, dei-me conta de que, ao mesmo tempo em que apresentam diferenças significativas em termos de escopo, estrutura e funcionamento, ambos compartilham de um denominador comum: seus códigos pedagógicos tendem a ser os mesmos. Ou seja: se em um deles, por exemplo, a Educação Ambiental é concebida como uma disciplina voltada para a defesa e a preservação do "meio ambiente", no outro ela é uma condição para a obtenção de certificações e cumprimento de regras que olham para o mercado, para o setor econômico. Ainda identifico um terceiro modelo em que a Educação Ambiental é ofertada por força de recomendações ministeriais, numa perspectiva legalista. Porém, seus códigos pedagógicos: a- cultuam conceitos e concepções científicos e pedagógicos, com base na conserva cultural, b- organizam suas ofertas de formação de formadores, invariavelmente com base na multidisciplinaridade; c- tendem a reproduzir aparelhos de dominação (intelectual, atitudinal, ...), seja de origem científico-acadêmica, seja tecnocientífica, ou político-partidária; d- comprometidos com a idéia de transmissão de uma cultura já existente, estas organizações tendem a não pressupor, em seus protocolos para a Educação Ambiental, uma postura pedagógica que atue com base no conflito (de informações, de idéias, de valores, ...); e- promovem então, uma constante, assim como os formadores nelas atuantes nem sempre favoreçam processos emancipatórios, também eles prescindem de autogestão, de autonomia, o que não é por eles ignorado e também oportuniza uma interferência. Metodologicamente, trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, na modalidade pesquisa-ação, que buscou em princípios da fenomenologia, um suporte epistemológico para pensar uma Pedagogia de Adultos, dentro de cujos parâmetros desenvolvi minha praxe. Frente aos resultados obtidos, constatei que, nos três contextos vivenciados, os representantes das instituições e uma parcela dos formadores que se encontravam em processo de formação em Educação Ambientai, responderam positivamente a dinâmicas que se embasam em postura pedagógicas que pressupõem o conflito enquanto componente de conteúdo e forma. O fato de a Pedagogia de Adultos ter por base a busca da necessidade de aprendizagem das pessoas e o favorecimento de processos emancipatórios pela perspectiva crítica, parece apontar para uma revisão na concepção das relações sociedade/natureza dos formadores, em detrimento da reprodução do status quo.Abstract: The present research work was centered on the formation process of Environmental Education educators, departing from the author's last four years of experiences, mainly in the "Curitiba Metropolitan Region/RMC". The study was conducted in public and private organizations, some typical educational institutions, others connected to the technological formation and to the production sector, and others Non-Governmental Organizations/NGOs. In each of these institutional contexts related with the formation of educators, the author realized that, while presenting significant differences considering scope, structure and function, they share a common denominator: their pedagogic codes have the tendency to be the same. If in one of them, the Environmental Education is conceived as a discipline directed to the protection and preservation of the "environment", in other it is conceived as a condition for certification processes and regulation attainment directed to the market and the economic sector. The author identifies also a third model that relates Environmental Education with ministerial recommendations, in a legalist perspective. However their pedagogical codes: a- cultivate concepts and pedagogical and scientific conceptions as a cultural presence, b- organize their courses for educators invariably in a multidisciplinary base; c- have a tendency to reproduce domination schemes (intellectual, attitudinal, etc.), from several origins, like scientific-academic, techno-scientific or political party; d- in their compromise with the idea of the transmission of a existent culture, those organizations have a tendency to exclude from their protocols for an Environmental Education a pedagogic position that works based on conflicts (of information, ideas, values, etc.); e- therefore they constantly promote a pattern: as the groups of educators acting in each of them do not always favor emancipatory processes, they also disregard self-management and autonomy, concepts however not ignored, allowing interference. Methodologically, this is a qualitative research, in the mode of research-action, drawing from the principles of phenomenology an epistemological framework to think about an Adult Pedagogy, within which parameters the author developed his praxis. Regarding the obtained results, the author observed that in the three contexts experienced\ the institutions representatives and part o f the educators in process o f formation in Environmental Education responded positively to dynamics based on pedagogic positions that presuppose the conflict as component o f content and shape. The fact that the Adult Pedagogy is based in the personal search for needed learning and the favoring of emancipatory processes by the critical perspective, seem to point to a revision in the educators' conception of the relationship society/nature, instead of the status quo reproduction.Résumé: Cette étude a pris comme centre d'intérêt le processus de formation de formateurs em " Education Ecologique" , à partir de ma trajectoire personnelle et profissionnelle, dans les quatre dernières années, en particulier dans la "Région Métropolitaine de Curitiba (Paranâ/Brésil). La recherche a été réalisée auprès des organisations publiques et privées, quelques unes s inscrivant dans le cadre des institutions scolaires typiques et d'autres étant liées a la formation technologique et au système de production, outre les "Organisations Non Gouvernementales (ONG)" Dans chacun de ces contextes institutionnels qui traitent sur la formation des formateurs, j'ai constaté que, si d'un côte ils présentent des différences significatives au niveau de structure et de fonctionnement, de l'autre ils partagent un même dénominateur: leurs "codes"pédagogiques oui la tendance d'être les mêmes. Cela veut dire que, si l'un parmi ces contextes conçoit 1 "Education Ecologique" comme une discipline dirigée à la défense et à la préservation de l'environnement, l'autre la considère comme une condition pour obtenir des certificats et pour l'accomplissement de règles du marché pour le secteur économique. J ai identifié encore un troisième modèle, selon lequel 1' "Education Ecologique" est em accord avec les sollicitations ministérielles, dans une perspective " légaliste". Néanmoins, ses "codes" pédagiques: a) adoptent des concepts et des conceptions scientifiques et pédagogiques basés sur la conservation culturelle ; b) organisent leurs offertes de formation de formateurs ancrées dans la "mutidisciplinarité" en dépit d'um discours qui prône 1 "interdisciplinarité" en tant que prémisse; c) ont la tendance à reproduire les appareils de domination (au niveau intellectuel, de comportemente, ...) soient-ils d'origine scientifico-académique, techno-scientifique ou politique militante; d) engagées dans l'idée de transmission d'une culture étalie, ces organisations ne présupposent pas forcément, dans ces études en "Education Ecologique", une orientation pédagogique basée dans le conflit (d'informations,d'idées, de valeurs, ...); e) entreprennent donc une "constante": étant donné que les formateurs ne favorisent pas forcément les processus d'émancipation, ils négligent l'autogestion, l'autonomie, ce qu'ils n'ignorent pas. En ce qui concerne la méthodologie, cette étude s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une recherche qualitative, selon la modalité recherche-action qui a cherché, dans les principes de la phénoménologie, um soutien épistémologique pour " penser" une Pédagogie d Adultes. Dans les paramètres de cette Pédagogie j 'ai développé ma "praxis". Devant les résultats obtenus, j ai constaté que, dans les trois contextes étudiés, les représentants des institutions ainsi qu Une partie des formateurs qui se trouvaient dans le de formations en "EducationEcologique " ont répondu positivement un engagement pédagogique qui présuppose te conflit comme le composant du forme. Etant donnée que la Pédagogie d'Adultes cherhe la définition des nécessités d'apprentissage des personnes et qu elle pretend favoriser le processus d'émancipation à travers la perspective critique, cela semble évoquer une des concepts, de la part des formateurs, des relations entre la société et la nature, em détriment de la reprodution du status quo

Modelo de currículo para ensino de conjunto de disciplinas ofertadas pelo Departamento de Botânica - UFPR

Reprodução eletrostáticaResumo em português e inglêsOrientadora: Consuelo de Menezes GarciaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná. Curso de Pós-Graduação em EducaçãoBibliografia: f. [300]-310Resumo: O problema gerador deste trabalho refere-se ao currículo de Botânica, ofertado pela Universidade Federal do Paraná, a diferentes Cursos de Graduação. Tratado, ate o momento, em termos de programação de conteúdos, não vem revelando alternativas que atendam as necessidades da clientela, nem as expectativas de desenvolvimento da própria Botânica, enquanto Ciência. Buscando no passado a compreensão do presente, através de sinopse histórica, foi possível identificar: a- tradicional tendência em desenvolver o estudo dos vegetais tendo em vista critérios econômicos, preponderantemente; b- a existência de uma Botânica feita no Brasil por pesquisadores estrangeiros e literatura importada, em lugar de uma Botânica do Brasil, capaz de corresponder âs peculiaridades da flora nacional, algo distinta da européia e da norte-americana; c- a ausência de autonomia universitária a nível departarmental, o que implica em tomadas de decisão independentemente da postura dos especialistas em relação aos problemas - pertinentes aquela Ciência. A partir dos valores botânicos relativos a conteúdo processos e princípios, acrescidos de inovações geradas pela Escola Botânica do Paraná, ê proposto um modelo de currículo flexível a adequações a diferentes concepções de currículo e voltado pará Ensino para Competência. Mediante a combinação destes aspectos, são estabelecidas três dimensões (cognitiva, metodológica e êtico-profissional) como sendo necessárias ao currículo da Botânica. Ao todo, foram validadas 1.303 (um mil, trezentas e três) competências junto aos especialistas da Universidade Federal doParaná, os quais consideraram 86,34% como sendo ESSENCIAIS, 5,83% como DE APRIMORAMENTO e 6,90% NÃO NECESSÁRIAS ao currículo.Abstract: The originating problem of this work relates to the curriculum in Botany offered at the Federal University of Parana to different Undergraduate Courses. Being treated as it has till the present, in terms of content programming, such a curriculum did not come to disclosing any alternatives either in accordance to the needs of its clientele or to the development expectancies of Botany itself, as a science. By searching in the past for an explanation to the present, it was possible to identify in a historical synopsis: a- a traditional tendency to develop studies of vegetation under predominantly economic criteria; b- the existence of a Botany worked out in Brazil by foreign researchers, based on imported literature, instead of a Brazilian Botany, able to respond to the peculiarities of our national flora, quite diverse from those of Europe' and North America; c- the absence of a universitary autonomy within Department level, thus leading to decision-making independently from the experts' advise in relation to problems in the science of Botany. From Botany's peculiar values relating to content, processes and principles, in extension with innovative changes advanced by the Parana School of Botany, it is proposed a cur riculum model toward Competency-Based Teaching. Through systemizing of the indicated aspects, there have been stated dimensions (cognitive, methodological and ethical-professional) as required for a curriculum in Botany. In the whole, there were validated 1,303 (one thousand and three hundred three) competencies by specialists of the Federal University of Parana, rendering 86,341 of them as ESSENTIAL, 5,831 as OF IMPROVEMENT and 6,91 as NOT NECESSARY to the curriculum

Peptides with dual antimicrobial and anticancer activities

Copyright © 2017 Felício, Silva, Gonçalves, Santos and Franco. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.In recent years, the number of people suffering from cancer and multi-resistant infections has increased, such that both diseases are already seen as current and future major causes of death. Moreover, chronic infections are one of the main causes of cancer, due to the instability in the immune system that allows cancer cells to proliferate. Likewise, the physical debility associated with cancer or with anticancer therapy itself often paves the way for opportunistic infections. It is urgent to develop new therapeutic methods, with higher efficiency and lower side effects. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are found in the innate immune system of a wide range of organisms. Identified as the most promising alternative to conventional molecules used nowadays against infections, some of them have been shown to have dual activity, both as antimicrobial and anticancer peptides (ACPs). Highly cationic and amphipathic, they have demonstrated efficacy against both conditions, with the number of nature-driven or synthetically designed peptides increasing year by year. With similar properties, AMPs that can also act as ACPs are viewed as future chemotherapeutic drugs, with the advantage of low propensity to resistance, which started this paradigm in the pharmaceutical market. These peptides have already been described as molecules presenting killing mechanisms at the membrane level, but also acting toward intracellular targets, which increases their success compartively to one-target specific drugs. This review will approach the desirable characteristics of small peptides that demonstrated dual activity against microbial infections and cancer, as well as the peptides engaged in clinical trials.This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal), by Brazilian funding agencies CNPq, CAPES, FADPDF, FINEP, and FUNDECT, and by Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Research, and Innovation Staff Exchange (MSCA-RISE, European Union) project INPACT (call H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, grant agreement 644167). MF acknowledges FCT-MCTES fellowship SPRH/BD/100517/2014. OS holds a postdoctoral scholarship from the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) and Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT; 300583/2016-8).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

EcDBS1R4, an antimicrobial peptide effective against Escherichia coli with in vitro fusogenic ability

©2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open accessarticle distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Discovering antibiotic molecules able to hold the growing spread of antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent endeavors that public health must tackle. The case of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens is of special concern, as they are intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics, due to an outer membrane that constitutes an effective permeability barrier. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been pointed out as potential alternatives to conventional antibiotics, as their main mechanism of action is membrane disruption, arguably less prone to elicit resistance in pathogens. Here, we investigate the in vitro activity and selectivity of EcDBS1R4, a bioinspired AMP. To this purpose, we have used bacterial cells and model membrane systems mimicking both the inner and the outer membranes of Escherichia coli, and a variety of optical spectroscopic methodologies. EcDBS1R4 is effective against the Gram-negative E. coli, ineffective against the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and noncytotoxic for human cells. EcDBS1R4 does not form stable pores in E. coli, as the peptide does not dissipate its membrane potential, suggesting an unusual mechanism of action. Interestingly, EcDBS1R4 promotes a hemi-fusion of vesicles mimicking the inner membrane of E. coli. This fusogenic ability of EcDBS1R4 requires the presence of phospholipids with a negative curvature and a negative charge. This finding suggests that EcDBS1R4 promotes a large lipid spatial reorganization able to reshape membrane curvature, with interesting biological implications herein discussed.This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia—Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (MSCA-RISE, European Union) project INPACT (call H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, grant agreement 644167), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Brazil), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil), Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAPDF, Brazil) and Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT, Brazil). M.M. and M.R.F. also acknowledge FCT-MCTES fellowships SPRH/BD/128290/2017 and SPRH/BD/100517/2014, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cutting-Edge Search for Safer Opioid Pain Relief: Retrospective Review of Salvinorin A and Its Analogs

Over the years, pain has contributed to low life quality, poor health, and economic loss. Opioids are very effective analgesic drugs for treating mild, moderate, or severe pain. Therapeutic application of opioids has been limited by short and long-term side effects. These side effects and opioid-overuse crisis has intensified interest in the search for new molecular targets and drugs. The present review focuses on salvinorin A and its analogs with the aim of exploring their structural and pharmacological profiles as clues for the development of safer analgesics. Ethnopharmacological reports and growing preclinical data have demonstrated the antinociceptive effect of salvinorin A and some of its analogs. The pharmacology of analogs modified at C-2 dominates the literature when compared to the ones from other positions. The distinctive binding affinity of these analogs seems to correlate with their chemical structure and in vivo antinociceptive effects. The high susceptibility of salvinorin A to chemical modification makes it an important pharmacological tool for cellular probing and developing analogs with promising analgesic effects. Additional research is still needed to draw reliable conclusions on the therapeutic potential of salvinorin A and its analogs

Antibacterial Peptides from Plants: What They Are and How They Probably Work

Plant antibacterial peptides have been isolated from a wide variety of species. They consist of several protein groups with different features, such as the overall charge of the molecule, the content of disulphide bonds, and structural stability under environmental stress. Although the three-dimensional structures of several classes of plant peptides are well determined, the mechanism of action of some of these molecules is still not well defined. However, further studies may provide new evidences for their function on bacterial cell wall. Therefore, this paper focuses on plant peptides that show activity against plant-pathogenic and human-pathogenic bacteria. Furthermore, we describe the folding of several peptides and similarities among their three-dimensional structures. Some hypotheses for their mechanisms of action and attack on the bacterial membrane surface are also proposed

Snake venom cathelicidins as natural antimicrobial peptides

Copyright © 2019 de Barros, Gonçalves, Cardoso, Santos, Franco and Cândido. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Bioactive small molecules isolated from animals, plants, fungi and bacteria, including natural antimicrobial peptides, have shown great therapeutic potential worldwide. Among these peptides, snake venom cathelicidins are being widely exploited, because the variation in the composition of the venom reflects a range of biological activities that may be of biotechnological interest. Cathelicidins are short, cationic, and amphipathic molecules. They play an important role in host defense against microbial infections. We are currently facing a strong limitation on pharmacological interventions for infection control, which has become increasingly complex due to the lack of effective therapeutic options. In this review, we will focus on natural snake venom cathelicidins as promising candidates for the development of new antibacterial agents to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We will highlight their antibacterial and antibiofilm activities, mechanism of action, and modulation of the innate immune response.This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq); Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES); Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAPDF) and Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT), Brazil.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Physiological and proteomic analyses of Saccharum spp. grown under salt stress

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is the world most productive sugar producing crop, making an understanding of its stress physiology key to increasing both sugar and ethanol production. To understand the behavior and salt tolerance mechanisms of sugarcane, two cultivars commonly used in Brazilian agriculture, RB867515 and RB855536, were submitted to salt stress for 48 days. Physiological parameters including net photosynthesis, water potential, dry root and shoot mass and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of leaves were determined. Control plants of the two cultivars showed similar values for most traits apart from higher root dry mass in RB867515. Both cultivars behaved similarly during salt stress, except for MDA levels for which there was a delay in the response for cultivar RB867515. Analysis of leaf macro- and micronutrients concentrations was performed and the concentration of Mn2+ increased on day 48 for both cultivars. In parallel, to observe the effects of salt stress on protein levels in leaves of the RB867515 cultivar, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by MS analysis was performed. Four proteins were differentially expressed between control and salt-treated plants. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase was down-regulated, a germin-like protein and glyceraldehyde 3 phosphate dehydrogenase showed increased expression levels under salt stress, and heat-shock protein 70 was expressed only in salt-treated plants. These proteins are involved in energy metabolism and defense-related responses and we suggest that they may be involved in protection mechanisms against salt stress in sugarcane