FEMININOS, IDENTIDADES E TRÂNSITOS EM NARRATIVAS DE CLARICE LISPECTOR

Clarice Lispector possibilita a realização de inúmeras investigações acerca dos temas que perpassam por sua vida e obra literária. Esta pesquisa elege a questão das relações de gênero e da construção dos sujeitos femininos a fim de entrecruzar narrativa e personagens clariceanos como mote crítico ao discurso moderno que impôs identidades essencialistas e acabadas. Tem como objetivos: entender o lugar do gênero na produção clariceana, percebendo os processos de desconstrução das subjetividades femininas elaborados pela autora; identificar, à luz dos estudos pós-coloniais, os trânsitos, a hibridez e a indecidibilidade das identidades contemporâneas e femininas, no recurso aos instrumentais analíticos de Gayatri Spivak (2012), Stuart Hall (2014), Homi Bhabha (2013), Judith Butler (1998), Toril Moi (2006), Karina Bidaseca (2003), María Lugones (2010), Aníbal Quijano (2013), dentre outros. Para tanto, foram eleitas obras que narram real ou metaforicamente a experiência das fronteiras, margens e deslocamentos, a saber: os contos A Fuga, Viagem a Petrópolis, A partida do trem, A Língua do P e Ele me bebeu. Propomos a potencialidade analítica dos textos de Clarice para os debates mais recentes nas teorias feministas, a despeito da impossibilidade de classificar a autora em quaisquer rótulos. Também, concluímos pela pertinência de inquietações acerca das persistentes colonialidades do poder, do saber e do ser, sobretudo, na ênfase à subalternidade e ao silenciamento de gênero, não poucas vezes, na intersecção com a classe, a região de origem e a geração

Preparing multicomponent snack bars based on tapioca flour, Brazil nut, and regional fruits.

This study aimed to develop and assess the physicoche-mical, sensory parameters, and shelf life estimation of multicomponent snack bars based on tapioca flour, Brazil nut, and açaí or cupuassu pulp. The physicochemical composition of açaí- and cupuassu-flavored snack bars had, respectively, 0.92 and 0.99% ash, 19.22 and 17.02% lipids, 3.02 and 3.03% protein, 1.06 and 1.69% fiber, and 448 and 436 kcal/100 g energy value. The shear stress test showed the consumer needs to bite more strongly to break the açaí-flavored bar. The opposite was observed in the hardness test, in which the bite compression force during mastication was greater for the cupuassu-flavored bar. The bars had water activity below 0.6, which deno-tes microbiological stability. The sensory analysis ranked the bars between ?liked slightly? and ?liked very much,? which was confirmed by the acceptability index above 75% for all attributes assessed. According to the results a significant increase in water activity over storage was observed suggest the packaging used in the tests did not present a satisfactory barrier to water vapor permeability. Only water activity was used to estimate shelf life, which was determined as 58 days and 49 days for the açaí- and cupuassu-flavored bars, respectively. Thus, the snack bars represent an alternative for athletes as well as individuals with celiac disease since they are gluten fre

Intima-Media Thickness and Pulsatility Index of Common Carotid Arteries in Acute Ischaemic Stroke Patients with Diabetes Mellitus.

Ultrasonographic parameters such as the common carotid artery (CCA) pulsatility index (PI) and CCA intima-media thickness (IMT) have been associated with an increased mortality and risk of recurrent stroke, respectively. We hypothesized that these ultrasonographic parameters may be useful for monitoring diabetic patients after an acute stroke. We analysed retrospective data of consecutive acute ischaemic stroke patients from the ASTRAL registry who underwent pre-cerebral ultrasonographic evaluation within 7 days of symptom onset. We compared clinical, demographic, radiological and ultrasonographic parameters in diabetic versus non-diabetic patients (univariable and multivariable analyses) and the association of these parameters with CCA PI and CCA IMT. We analysed 1507 carotid duplex ultrasound examinations from patients with a median age of 74 years. Cardiovascular co-morbidities, including hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, higher body-mass index (BMI) and peripheral artery disease, were associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetics were more often under antiplatelet therapy and had atrial fibrillation at admission. Diabetic patients showed an increased CCA PI and IMT in line with more atherosclerotic changes on acute CTA compared to non-diabetic patients. Taking IMT as the dependent variable in a second analysis, DM, higher age, hypertension, smoking and CCA PI were associated with higher IMT. Taking CCA PI as the dependent variable in a third analysis, DM, higher age and higher NIHSS at admission were associated with higher CCA PI values. Increased IMT was also associated with higher PI. We show that CCA PI and IMT are higher in diabetic patients in the first week after an initial stroke

Improvement of DNA minicircle production by optimization of the secondary structure of the 5′-UTR of ParA resolvase

The use of minicircles in gene therapy applications is dependent on the availability of high-producer cell systems. In order to improve the performance of minicircle production in Escherichia coli by ParA resolvase-mediated in vivo recombination, we focus on the 5′ untranslated region (5′-UTR) of parA messenger RNA (mRNA). The arabinose-inducible P[subscript BAD]/araC promoter controls ParA expression and strains with improved arabinose uptake are used. The 27-nucleotide-long 5′-UTR of parA mRNA was optimized using a predictive thermodynamic model. An analysis of original and optimized mRNA subsequences predicted a decrease of 8.6–14.9 kcal/mol in the change in Gibbs free energy upon assembly of the 30S ribosome complex with the mRNA subsequences, indicating a more stable mRNA-rRNA complex and enabling a higher (48–817-fold) translation initiation rate. No effect of the 5′-UTR was detected when ParA was expressed from a low-copy number plasmid (∼14 copies/cell), with full recombination obtained within 2 h. However, when the parA gene was inserted in the bacterial chromosome, a faster and more effective recombination was obtained with the optimized 5′-UTR. Interestingly, the amount of this transcript was 2.6–3-fold higher when compared with the transcript generated from the original sequence, highlighting that 5′-UTR affects the level of the transcript. A Western blot analysis confirmed that E. coli synthesized higher amounts of ParA with the new 5′-UTR (∼1.8 ± 0.7-fold). Overall, these results show that the improvements made in the 5′-UTR can lead to a more efficient translation and hence to faster and more efficient minicircle generation.MIT-Portugal ProgramFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PhD grant SFRH/BD/33786/2009

Estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and bcl-2 are markers with prognostic significance in CIN III

There are no known biological markers or technologies to predict the natural history of an individual CIN III. The probability of progression is considered greater with the persistence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and age. p53 polymorphism has been associated with cervical carcinogenesis. Hormone-induced cervical cancer is mediated by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR). In cervical cancer, increased bcl-2 and Bax immunoreactivity is generally associated with a better prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of HPV 16 and HPV 18 typing and p53 codon polymorphism genotyping by polymerase chain reaction and ER, PR, bcl-2, and Bax expression by immunohistochemistry in predicting the CIN III clinical behavior of CIN III lesions. We studied the expression of these prognostic factors in the CIN III adjacent to squamous cell microinvasive carcinomas of the cervix (MIC) from 29 patients with FIGO stage IA1 cervical cancer and in 25 patients with CIN III and no documented focus of invasion. In the MIC group, only the CIN III was considered at least 2 mm away from the microinvasive complex. The ER, PR, bcl-2, and Bax immunoreactivity was scored as positive (>10% staining cells) and negative (<10% staining cells). No significant difference was observed between MIC and CIN III group concerning HPV infection and p53 polymorphism. The ER, PR, bcl-2, and Bax immunohistochemical expression was stronger and more frequent in the CIN III group. After multivariable analysis, coexpression of ER, PR, and bcl-2 was the only independent factor in defining low risk of progression for CIN III. Our study suggests that coexpression of ER, PR, and bcl-2 may be a useful tool in identifying the CIN III lesions with low risk of progression to cervical cance

Unpacking distinction within mobility : social prestige and international students

Author thanks the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for their funding on this projecThis paper investigates the complex ways in which young people engage in social distinction within international mobility. The study offers novel conceptual and empirical insights by examining how distinction and social advantage is reproduced through short‐term student mobility from the Global North to the Global South. In doing so, it elucidates the iterative process of distinction‐making within mobility and argues that young mobile people negotiate a tension between different forms of distinction. Specifically, it unpacks and conceptualises distinction into dual categories—collective and individual—and suggests that students alternate and waver between these categories in order to both validate and elevate their position within a mobility hierarchy. The paper also considers how particular places are viewed as more distinctive and affording greater gains in cultural and symbolic capital. It concludes with future interrogations and ways forward for research on international mobility and distinction.PostprintPeer reviewe

Evidence that the insertion events of IS2 transposition are biased towards abrupt compositional shifts in target DNA and modulated by a diverse set of culture parameters

Insertion specificity of mobile genetic elements is a rather complex aspect of DNA transposition, which, despite much progress towards its elucidation, still remains incompletely understood. We report here the results of a meta-analysis of IS2 target sites from genomic, phage, and plasmid DNA and find that newly acquired IS2 elements are consistently inserted around abrupt DNA compositional shifts, particularly in the form of switch sites of GC skew. The results presented in this study not only corroborate our previous observations that both the insertion sequence (IS) minicircle junction and target region adopt intrinsically bent conformations in IS2, but most interestingly, extend this requirement to other families of IS elements. Using this information, we were able to pinpoint regions with high propensity for transposition and to predict and detect, de novo, a novel IS2 insertion event in the 3′ region of the gfp gene of a reporter plasmid. We also found that during amplification of this plasmid, process parameters such as scale, culture growth phase, and medium composition exacerbate IS2 transposition, leading to contamination levels with potentially detrimental clinical effects. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the role of target DNA structure in the mechanism of transposition of IS elements and extend our understanding of how culture conditions are a relevant factor in the induction of genetic instability.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/EBB-EBI/113650/2009)MIT-Portugal Progra