Dois currículos de ciências naturais e as políticas curriculares para o século XXI

Este estudo pretende compreender a decisão curricular em Portugal e França através da análise dos documentos que protagonizam as mudanças curriculares recentes na disciplina de Ciências Naturais do ensino básico naqueles países. O objetivo do estudo foi verificar se existe a relação entre a política, a prática e a avaliação nas mudanças curriculares para o ensino em ciência no Terceiro Ciclo do Ensino Básico, usando uma metodologia interpretativa de análise de texto, com a intenção de evidenciar o currículo oficial (a perspetiva oficial, o que se pretende que os professores ensinem), o currículo interpretado (presente nos materiais didáticos como o manual escolar) e o currículo alcançado (o que se pretende que seja aprendido) em Portugal e em França. A análise de todos estes documentos orientada segundo aquelas três perspetivas de currículo contribuiu para uma reflexão crítica sobre a influência das orientações internacionais no currículo oficial e no alcançado. O relacionamento entre a política, a prática e a avaliação e as três perspetivas de análise de currículo permitiu constituí-las como categorias de análise e através delas realizar uma análise comparativa, sustentada pelo modelo de aprendizagem de Guo (2007). Os resultados da análise comparativa com base nas categorias de análise mostraram que as diferenças nos dois países residiam na forma como foi apresentado e associado o conhecimento disciplinar às áreas de competências e no modelo proposto para a avaliação daquelas áreas de competência onde se inclui a literacia científica. Estas diferenças foram visíveis no currículo interpretado e no alcançado e explicam as discrepâncias entre o currículo oficial e o alcançado ao mesmo tempo que expõem a importância da articulação entre a política, a prática e a avaliação numa mudança curricular. Deste modo, pensamos cumprir o propósito desta investigação, o de saber como respondeu o processo de ensino e aprendizagem nos dois países ao contexto internacional da avaliação para a literacia científica.This study focuses on the analysis of documents at the core of curricular reform of Natural Sciences in basic compulsory education (courses to 15-16 year olds) in two countries: France and Portugal. Through a qualitative and interpretative method, the goal was to select documents and then analyse them, with the intention of highlighting the official curriculum (the official perspective, what the teachers should teach), the interpreted curriculum (the interpretation of the official guidelines, in curriculum materials) and the achieved curriculum (what should have have been learnt) in Portugal and in France. The analysis of all these documents, led according to those three curriculum perspectives, contributed to critically evaluate the interference of international directives on the official and the achieved curricula. The relationship between policy, practice and assessment, and the three perspectives of curriculum analysis allowed to define them as analysis categories and, through them, to carry out a comparative analysis, supported by Guo’s learning model (2007). The results of the comparative analysis based on those categories showed two differences. The first one was the way the disciplinary knowledge was organized in the curricular documents. The second one was a new model of assessment based on a conceptual structure to assess the scientific literacy, shown in the interpreted and achieved curriculum, which can explain the discrepancy between the official and the achieved curricula. Using the variables of the categories of that model, it was possible to understand the notions that led the framing of the learning process in both countries and to subsequently verify if it is driven by the conceptual framework of assessment of scientific literacy of PISA 2015. In this way, the aim of this research was achieved: to know how the process of teaching and learning in both countries responded to the international context of assessment for scientific literacy

Prevalence of HIV-1 drug resistance in treated patients with viral load >50 copies/mL in 2009: a French nationwide study

Background Surveillance of HIV-1 drug resistance in treated patients with plasma viral load (VL) >50 copies/mL. Methods The protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) genes were systematically sequenced in samples from 756 patients with VL >50 copies/mL in 2009. The genotyping results were interpreted for each antiretroviral drug (ARV) by using the ANRS algorithm v21. Weighted analyses were used to derive representative estimates of percentages of patients. Prevalence rates were compared with those obtained in 2004 among patients with VL >1000 copies/mL. Results Sequences were obtained for 506 patients. Sequencing was successful in 45%, 80% and 96% of samples with VL of 51-500, 501-1000 and >1000 copies/mL, respectively. Resistance or possible resistance to at least one ARV was observed in 59% of samples. Overall, 0.9% of samples contained viruses resistant to all drugs belonging to at least three drug classes. All resistance prevalence rates were significantly lower in 2009 than in 2004. Conclusion In France, where 86% of patients were receiving combination antiretroviral therapy in 2009, only 15.0% of patients had a VL >50 copies/mL, suggesting that only 8.9% of treated patients could potentially transmit resistant viruses. Only 0.08% of patients harboured viruses fully resistant to at least three antiretroviral drug classes. Further studies are needed to determine whether resistance continues to decline over tim

Antiretroviral-naive and -treated HIV-1 patients can harbour more resistant viruses in CSF than in plasma

Objectives The neurological disorders in HIV-1-infected patients remain prevalent. The HIV-1 resistance in plasma and CSF was compared in patients with neurological disorders in a multicentre study. Methods Blood and CSF samples were collected at time of neurological disorders for 244 patients. The viral loads were >50 copies/mL in both compartments and bulk genotypic tests were realized. Results On 244 patients, 89 and 155 were antiretroviral (ARV) naive and ARV treated, respectively. In ARV-naive patients, detection of mutations in CSF and not in plasma were reported for the reverse transcriptase (RT) gene in 2/89 patients (2.2%) and for the protease gene in 1/89 patients (1.1%). In ARV-treated patients, 19/152 (12.5%) patients had HIV-1 mutations only in the CSF for the RT gene and 30/151 (19.8%) for the protease gene. Two mutations appeared statistically more prevalent in the CSF than in plasma: M41L (P = 0.0455) and T215Y (P = 0.0455). Conclusions In most cases, resistance mutations were present and similar in both studied compartments. However, in 3.4% of ARV-naive and 8.8% of ARV-treated patients, the virus was more resistant in CSF than in plasma. These results support the need for genotypic resistance testing when lumbar puncture is performe

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

As competências em literacia científica em manuais escolares

Tese de mestrado, Educação (Didática das Ciências), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2012Este estudo incide sobre a análise das atividades de aprendizagem e sobre a avaliação formativa da área curricular “Gestão Sustentável dos Recursos” pertencente ao Currículo Nacional do Ensino Básico-Competências Essenciais1 em manuais escolares. Trata-se de apurar recorrendo a uma metodologia de natureza qualitativa e interpretativa, a ênfase do desenvolvimento de competências veiculada pelos manuais escolares analisados, de modo a averiguar a sua sintonia com a estrutura conceptual do PISA 2006 cujo contexto da avaliação em Ciência inclui o tema da “Gestão Sustentável dos Recursos”. Pretendemos contribuir para a reflexão sobre as atividades de aprendizagem em manuais, uma vez que estes instrumentos didáticos são considerados poderosos por influenciarem estudantes e professores na compreensão e comunicação do conhecimento científico. Os resultados mostram sintonia, nos princípios, entre as estruturas conceptuais do Currículo e as do PISA 2006. Ao nível dos manuais estudados, esta sintonia não é perfeita dado que dão primazia à competência ”Explicação científica de fenómenos ” em detrimento da “Identificação de questões científicas” ligada à compreensão dos aspetos característicos da Ciência como forma de investigação. A análise dos dados evidencia com efeito, ênfase no conhecimento factual, ilustrado nas atividades de aprendizagem pela leitura e interpretação, seguidas da transcrição de informação adequada ao contexto, como forma de aquisição de conhecimento científico. Esta ênfase manifesta-se, ainda, na opção por questões do tipo resposta curta/fechada e no entendimento do conceito literacia científica que marcado pela aquisição de conhecimento factual de um determinado contexto, sem que este surja associado à compreensão dos conceitos.This study focuses on the analysis of learning activities and on the evaluation of the formative curricular area “Sustainable Management of Resources” of the National Curriculum in school textbooks. Through a qualitative and interpretative method, the goal is to evaluate the emphasis given by some selected textbooks to the development of competences as to verify if they are on line with the framework of the PISA 2006 whose assessment includes the subject “Sustainable Management of Resources”. Given that these didactic tools are considered powerful as they influence students and teachers in understanding and communicating scientific knowledge , we search through this study to contribute for a reflection on the learning contribution of school textbooks. The results demonstrate a relationship between the curriculum and the conceptual framework of PISA 2006, but this conclusion is valid only partially at the level of textbooks. In fact, we conclude that the manuals considered give priority to skills development and factual knowledge based on reading and interpretation of information as a means of acquiring scientific knowledge to the detriment of competences aimed to develop the understanding of fundamental features of science as an element of research. This emphasis shown by the results is associated to a particular attention on contents as demonstrated by the kind of issues addressed and on the formulation of the concept of scientific literacy defined as to acquire factual knowledge from certain context

Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Valuation Database (GecoServ): Gathering ecosystem services valuation studies to promote their inclusion in the decision-making process

The main goals of the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Valuation Database (GecoServ), an inventory of ecosystem services (ES) valuation studies applicable to the Gulf of Mexico, are to allow for the distribution and sharing of information about said studies and to identify current gaps in the ES valuation literature. The utility of GecoServ (http://www.gecoserv.org) lies in that it fills a void left by non-ES specific environmental databases, highlights the lack of studies for some ecosystems and associated services, and provides background information for future ES valuation studies. GecoServ functions as a uniquely centralized source of information for both researchers and natural resource managers. Researchers can find information for different study sites to be used in value transfer methods. For managers, instead, GecoServ is a tool that provides them with ES values to inform their decision-making process.Ecosystem services Valuation Ecosystem services database Gulf of Mexico Non-market value

Decreased T-Cell Repertoire Diversity in Sepsis: A Preliminary Study

International audienceObjective: Septic syndromes are the leading causes of mortality in intensive care units. In patients, the occurrence of sepsis-induced immune suppression is associated with delayed mortality, although the exact role of lymphocyte dysfunctions is not well established. The objective of this study was to investigate T-cell receptor diversity, an important feature of T-cell response, in patients with septic shock.Design: Preliminary prospective observational study.Setting: Adult intensive care units in a university hospital.Subjects: Patients with septic shock (n = 41) sampled twice after the onset of shock (early after inclusion [day 1] and at the end of the first week [day 7]).Measurements and Main Results: Using a novel molecular biology technique, the combinatorial diversity of human T-cell receptor β-chain (TRB locus) was measured in peripheral blood. Patients with septic shock presented with a marked decreased T-cell receptor diversity after the onset of shock in comparison with normal values. Importantly, in paired samples, a very steep recovery slope of T-cell receptor diversity, never described in other clinical situations, was observed between day 1 and day 7 (p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon’s paired test). Decreased T-cell receptor diversity was associated with mortality (log-rank test, p = 0.0058; hazard ratio = 4.48; 95% confidence interval 1.96–53.32), and the development of nosocomial infections (p < 0.05, Mann-Whitney U test).Conclusion: Our results show for the first time that septic patients present with a marked decreased T-cell receptor diversity that returned rapidly toward normal values over time. This opens novel cognitive research perspectives that deserve to be investigated in experimental models of sepsis. After confirmation in larger cohorts of these preliminary results, T-cell receptor diversity measurements may become a crucial tool to monitor immune functions in ICU patients

The training and praxis of the nurse in the light of nursing theories

ABSTRACT Objective: to report the experience of the development of nursing knowledge from nursing theories and points of contact with the nurse’s praxis. Method: case report on the reflections on contents addressed in the discipline offered in the Graduate Program in Nursing in a federal public university. The students presented seminars approaching the main nursing theories, generating extensive discussion and correlating them with the nurse’s practice. Review and reflection on the contents addressed. Result: two themes were defined: the training of nursing undergraduate students and the development of knowledge in relation to the concepts of nursing theories; and care models and nurses’ critical reasoning about the applicability of nursing theories. Final Consideration: the reflections produced permeated the development and acquisition of knowledge and of representative meanings of healthcare practice from the assumptions and constructs of the theories

Prevalence of HIV-1 drug resistance in treated patients with viral load >50 copies/mL in 2009: a French nationwide study.

International audienc