O tamanho e forma das sombras dos objetos acompanham as horas das rotinas das crianças no jardim de infância

A área de principal interesse desta investigação é a Área do Conhecimento do Mundo, existindo, também, uma articulação com a Área de Expressão e Comunicação. Este estudo foi realizado com um grupo de 24 crianças (15 do sexo masculino e 9 do sexo feminino), com idades compreendidas entre os 5 e 6 anos. O projeto foi elaborado para explorar o conceito de sombra, assente na metodologia IBSE (Inquiry-Based Science Education), tendo-se usado como estratégias pedagógicas de intervenção educativa a realização de atividades dirigidas. Para despertar o interesse do grupo de crianças para o tema, foi lida uma história em que o narrador era visível como uma sombra. Numa segunda atividade, ofereceu-se a possibilidade a cada uma das crianças de criarem uma maquete de um teatro de sombras, desafiando-as a selecionarem o material que consideravam necessário e mais eficaz para o efeito. Esta atividade teve como objetivo saber qual era a conceção de sombra das crianças e ajudá-las a manipular e organizar os objetos necessários para criar sombras. A terceira e última atividade realizou-se no exterior, onde as crianças observaram, em grupos, as sombras criadas pela incidência da luz solar em três sólidos geométricos diferentes, ao longo do dia, em momentos coincidentes com atividades de rotina das crianças. A conceção da maquete do teatro de sombras mostrou ser muito apelativa para as crianças e potenciadora do desenvolvimento de várias competências relacionadas com o conceito de sombra, mas, também, com o conceito de comunicação representada por imagens. O protagonismo das crianças como responsáveis pelo seu próprio teatro e pelo sucesso de criação das sombras também constituiu um fator positivo. As atividades desenvolvidas no jardim com registo dos contornos das sombras dos objetos, a diferentes horas do dia, foram essenciais para ajudar a compreender as modificações das sombras de um objeto, sofridas ao longo do dia. As previsões das sombras dos sólidos geométricos melhoraram com a observação do fenómeno real.The main interest area of this research is the World Knowledge Area, with a close connection and articulation with the Expression and Communication Area. This study was conducted with a 24 children group (15 male and 9 female), with an age range between 5 and 6 years old. The project was designed to explore the shadow concept, based on the Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) methodology, and being used as pedagogical strategies for educational intervention to conduct oriented activities. To light up the interest of this children group to the theme, a story was read in which the narrator was visible as a shadow. In a second activity, each child was offered the opportunity to create a model of a shadow theatre, challenging them to select the material they deemed necessary and most effective for that purpose. The purpose of this activity was to know what’s the children's concept of shadow and help them out in the object manipulation needed to create shadows. The third and last activity took place outside, where the children observed, in groups, the shadows created by the sunlight position incident on three different geometric solids throughout the day, at times when usually children's routine activities took place. The design of the shadow theatre model has been very appealing to children and enhances the development of various skills related to the concept of shadow, but also the concept of communication represented by images. The children’s main role as responsible for their own theatre and the success of shadow creation was also a positive factor. Garden activities that recorded the shadow objects contours at different times of the day were essential in helping to understand the changes in a object shadow throughout the day. The predictions of the shadows of the geometric solids improved with the observation of the real phenomenon

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

La voz de octubre

Decidimos detenernos en la pregunta que indaga por la emoción. ¿Cuál fue la emoción que experimentamos con el suceso y qué sentimiento la describe? La pregunta por la emoción y el sentimiento que la nombra es la pregunta que surge de lo vivido, que por su fuerza se trasforma en una vivencia, cuyo significado tejido con las posibles respuestas será duradero. Nos preguntamos, entonces, ¿qué fue lo que sentimos durante lo vivido? ¿Qué produjo en nuestro espíritu esos 12 días? Nos detuvimos en la pregunta, teníamos que hospedarnos en ella, hundirnos en su vacío y quebrar ahí cualquier certeza previa, cualquier respuesta mecánica que la aniquile. Detenerse en la cadencia de la pregunta nos devuelve a nuestra circunstancia de indigencia, de seres que aparecimos en el cosmos sin respuestas. Solo desde allí es posible el surgimiento de la voluntad que imagine las respuestas que tejan el sentido de nuestra vida, de los acontecimientos que la constituyen y nos proyecten un destino común

The management of acute venous thromboembolism in clinical practice - study rationale and protocol of the European PREFER in VTE Registry

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major health problem, with over one million events every year in Europe. However, there is a paucity of data on the current management in real life, including factors influencing treatment pathways, patient satisfaction, quality of life (QoL), and utilization of health care resources and the corresponding costs. The PREFER in VTE registry has been designed to address this and to understand medical care and needs as well as potential gaps for improvement. Methods/design: The PREFER in VTE registry was a prospective, observational, multicenter study conducted in seven European countries including Austria, France Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK to assess the characteristics and the management of patients with VTE, the use of health care resources, and to provide data to estimate the costs for 12 months treatment following a first-time and/or recurrent VTE diagnosed in hospitals or specialized or primary care centers. In addition, existing anticoagulant treatment patterns, patient pathways, clinical outcomes, treatment satisfaction, and health related QoL were documented. The centers were chosen to reflect the care environment in which patients with VTE are managed in each of the participating countries. Patients were eligible to be enrolled into the registry if they were at least 18 years old, had a symptomatic, objectively confirmed first time or recurrent acute VTE defined as either distal or proximal deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or both. After the baseline visit at the time of the acute VTE event, further follow-up documentations occurred at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Follow-up data was collected by either routinely scheduled visits or by telephone calls. Results: Overall, 381 centers participated, which enrolled 3,545 patients during an observational period of 1 year. Conclusion: The PREFER in VTE registry will provide valuable insights into the characteristics of patients with VTE and their acute and mid-term management, as well as into drug utilization and the use of health care resources in acute first-time and/or recurrent VTE across Europe in clinical practice. Trial registration: Registered in DRKS register, ID number: DRKS0000479

COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a major public health threat, especially in countries with low vaccination rates. To better understand the biological underpinnings of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity, we formed the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative1. Here we present a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of up to 125,584 cases and over 2.5 million control individuals across 60 studies from 25 countries, adding 11 genome-wide significant loci compared with those previously identified2. Genes at new loci, including SFTPD, MUC5B and ACE2, reveal compelling insights regarding disease susceptibility and severity.</p

Reconstruction of primary vertices at the ATLAS experiment in Run 1 proton-proton collisions at the LHC

This paper presents the method and performance of primary vertex reconstruction in proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Run 1 of the LHC. The studies presented focus on data taken during 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of [Formula: see text] TeV. The performance has been measured as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing over a wide range, from one to seventy. The measurement of the position and size of the luminous region and its use as a constraint to improve the primary vertex resolution are discussed. A longitudinal vertex position resolution of about [Formula: see text] is achieved for events with high multiplicity of reconstructed tracks. The transverse position resolution is better than [Formula: see text] and is dominated by the precision on the size of the luminous region. An analytical model is proposed to describe the primary vertex reconstruction efficiency as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing and of the longitudinal size of the luminous region. Agreement between the data and the predictions of this model is better than 3% up to seventy interactions per bunch crossing