Momentos uma etnografia fotográfica: as mulheres que trabalham no setor de limpeza e conservação na Universidade Federal de Uberlândia

This following work aims to present an ethnographic artistic study of selected women who work in the cleaning and conservation sector at one of the outsourced companies of the Federal University of Uberlândia. I use photography as a language to express my gaze and offer visibility to the position they find themselves at. I describe the characteristics of the sector, the operation and the impact of the ethnographic method. I expose the situations in which they find themselves in the context of the university, and how these circumstances bring about changes in their collective identities. As the study progressed, a photobook consisting of photographs of the profession's universe, a logbook and reports on the obstacles that the women's group faced in 2019 were produced.Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Graduação)O presente trabalho objetiva apresentar um estudo artístico de caráter etnográfico sobre algumas mulheres que trabalham no setor de limpeza e conservação por uma das empresas terceirizadas da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. Utilizo da fotografia como linguagem para expressar meu olhar, e oferecer uma visibilidade à posição em que se encontram. Descrevo as características do setor, o funcionamento e o impacto do método etnográfico. Exponho as situações em que elas se encontram perante a universidade, e como essas circunstâncias trazem alterações em suas identidades coletivas. Conforme o avanço do estudo, foi realizada a produção de um fotolivro composto pelas fotografias do universo da profissão, um diário de bordo e relatos sobre os obstáculos que o grupo de mulheres enfrentou no ano de 2019

Enhanced Antigen-Specific Antitumor Immunity with Altered Peptide Ligands that Stabilize the MHC-Peptide-TCR Complex

AbstractT cell responsiveness to an epitope is affected both by its affinity for the presenting MHC molecule and the affinity of the MHC-peptide complex for TCR. One limitation of cancer immunotherapy is that natural tumor antigens elicit relatively weak T cell responses, in part because high-affinity T cells are rendered tolerant to these antigens. We report here that amino acid substitutions in a natural MHC class I–restricted tumor antigen that increase the stability of the MHC-peptide-TCR complex are significantly more potent as tumor vaccines. The improved immunity results from enhanced in vivo expansion of T cells specific for the natural tumor epitope. These results indicate peptides that stabilize the MHC-peptide-TCR complex may provide superior antitumor immunity through enhanced stimulation of specific T cells

The ACE1 Electrical Impedance Tomography System for Thoracic Imaging

The design and performance of the active complex electrode (ACE1) electrical impedance tomography system for single-ended phasic voltage measurements are presented. The design of the hardware and calibration procedures allows for reconstruction of conductivity and permittivity images. Phase measurement is achieved with the ACE1 active electrode circuit which measures the amplitude and phase of the voltage and the applied current at the location at which current is injected into the body. An evaluation of the system performance under typical operating conditions includes details of demodulation and calibration and an in-depth look at insightful metrics, such as signal-to-noise ratio variations during a single current pattern. Static and dynamic images of conductivity and permittivity are presented from ACE1 data collected on tank phantoms and human subjects to illustrate the system\u27s utility

Despite the presence of UVB-induced DNA damage, HLA-DR+ cells from ex vivo UVB-exposed human skin are able to migrate and show no impaired allostimulatory capacity

In this study, we investigated the effect of ultraviolet B radiation on human Langerhans cell function. Normal human skin was irradiated ex vivo with single doses of ultraviolet B. For assessment of T-cell stimulatory function, cells that spontaneously migrated from epidermal sheets were used, whereas full-thickness skin biopsies were used to investigate alterations in migratory properties. The cells migrating from ultraviolet B-exposed epidermal sheets demonstrated a decrease in the percentage of HLA-DR positive Langerhans cells, as well as a reduced capacity to induce proliferation of allogeneic T cells, when compared with cells migrating from nonexposed sheets. When a correction was made for the decreased number of HLA-DR positive Langerhans cells migrating from ultraviolet B-exposed epidermis, however, it appeared that the capacity to induce T-cell proliferation was identical for Langerhans cells migrating from ultraviolet B-exposed and nonexposed epidermis. The presence of ultraviolet B-induced DNA damage could be demonstrated in the Langerhans cells from ultraviolet B-treated skin, indicating that the cells had received significant doses of ultraviolet B. As regards the effect of ultraviolet B on migratory properties of Langerhans cells, we found not only that reduced numbers of CD1a-positive Langerhans cells migrated from the ultraviolet B-exposed full-thickness skin, but also that there was a reduction in CD1a-positive Langerhans cells in the epidermis. This implies that ultraviolet B induces death of Langerhans cells as well as loss of cell surface molecules rather than altering Langerhans cells migration, whereas the Langerhans cells that were still able to migrate fully retained the capacity to activate allogeneic T cells

An Amazon Tipping Point: The Economic and Environmental Fallout

The Amazon biome, despite its resilience, is being pushed by unsustainable economic drivers towards an ecological tipping point where restoration to its previous state may no longer possible. This is the result of self-reinforcing interactions between deforestation, climate change and fire. In this paper, we develop scenarios that represent movement towards an Amazon tipping point and strategies to avert one. We assess the economic, natural capital and ecosystem services impacts of these scenarios using the Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform linked with high resolution spatial land use land cover change and ecosystem services modeling (IEEM+ESM). This paper’s main contributions are developing: (i) a framework for evaluating strategies to avert an Amazon tipping point based on their relative costs, benefits and trade-offs, and; (ii) a first approximation of the economic, natural capital and ecosystem services impacts of movement towards an Amazon tipping point, and evidence to build the economic case for strategies to avert it. We find that a conservative estimate of the cumulative regional cost through 2050 of an Amazon tipping point would be US$256.6 billion in Gross Domestic Product. Policies that would contribute to averting a tipping point, including strongly reducing deforestation, investing in climate-adapted agriculture, and improving fire management, would generate approximately US$339.3 billion in additional wealth. From a public investment perspective, the returns to implementing strategies for averting a tipping point would be US$29.5 billion. Quantifying the costs, benefits and trade-offs of policies to avert a tipping point in a transparent and replicable manner can pave the way for evidence-based approaches to support policy action focusing on the design of regional strategies for the Amazon biome and catalyze global cooperation and financing to enable their implementation.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociale

Wnt3a deficiency irreversibly impairs hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal and leads to defects in progenitor cell differentiation

Canonical Wnt signaling has been implicated in various aspects of hematopoiesis. Its role is controversial due to different outcomes between various inducible Wnt-signaling loss-of-function models and also compared with gain-of-function systems. We therefore studied a mouse deficient for a Wnt gene that seemed to play a nonredundant role in hematopoiesis. Mice lacking Wnt3a die prenatally around embryonic day (E) 12.5, allowing fetal hematopoiesis to be studied using in vitro assays and transplantation into irradiated recipient mice. Here we show that Wnt3a deficiency leads to a reduction in the numbers of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and progenitor cells in the fetal liver (FL) and to severely reduced reconstitution capacity as measured in secondary transplantation assays. This deficiency is irreversible and cannot be restored by transplantation into Wnt3a competent mice. The impaired long-term repopulation capacity of Wnt3a-/- HSCs could not be explained by altered cell cycle or survival of primitive progenitors. Moreover, Wnt3a deficiency affected myeloid but not B-lymphoid development at the progenitor level, and affected immature thymocyte differentiation. Our results show that Wnt3a signaling not only provides proliferative stimuli, such as for immature thymocytes, but also regulates cell fate decisions of HSC during hematopoiesis

Endothelial Cells Support Persistent Gammaherpesvirus 68 Infection

A variety of human diseases are associated with gammaherpesviruses, including neoplasms of lymphocytes (e.g. Burkitt's lymphoma) and endothelial cells (e.g. Kaposi's sarcoma). Gammaherpesvirus infections usually result in either a productive lytic infection, characterized by expression of all viral genes and rapid cell lysis, or latent infection, characterized by limited viral gene expression and no cell lysis. Here, we report characterization of endothelial cell infection with murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (γHV68), a virus phylogenetically related and biologically similar to the human gammaherpesviruses. Endothelial cells supported γHV68 replication in vitro, but were unique in that a significant proportion of the cells escaped lysis, proliferated, and remained viable in culture for an extended time. Upon infection, endothelial cells became non-adherent and altered in size, complexity, and cell-surface protein expression. These cells were uniformly infected and expressed the lytic transcription program based on detection of abundant viral gene transcripts, GFP fluorescence from the viral genome, and viral surface protein expression. Additionally, endothelial cells continued to produce new infectious virions as late as 30 days post-infection. The outcome of this long-term infection was promoted by the γHV68 v-cyclin, because in the absence of the v-cyclin, viability was significantly reduced following infection. Importantly, infected primary endothelial cells also demonstrated increased viability relative to infected primary fibroblasts, and this increased viability was dependent on the v-cyclin. Finally, we provide evidence for infection of endothelial cells in vivo in immune-deficient mice. The extended viability and virus production of infected endothelial cells indicated that endothelial cells provided a source of prolonged virus production and identify a cell-type specific adaptation of gammaherpesvirus replication. While infected endothelial cells would likely be cleared in a healthy individual, persistently infected endothelial cells could provide a source of continued virus replication in immune-compromised individuals, a context in which gammaherpesvirus-associated pathology frequently occurs

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

Sobre o hábitat e a paisagem : efeitos da escala e dos dados na resposta das espécies

Orientador: Rafael Dias LoyolaTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de BiologiaResumo: O hábitat das espécies está em constante mudança. Estudar as causas e consequências dessa mudança é uma das tarefas mais desafiadoras em Ecologia. Isto porque a definição de hábitat é espécie-específica, podendo ser diferente até mesmo para uma mesma espécie que ocorre em diferentes locais. Além disso, alguns fatores podem afetar os resultados e conclusões adquiridas por meio de estudos sobre a mudança de hábitat na escala da paisagem. O conceito de hábitat, a avaliação do seu efeito sobre a biodiversidade e a extensão espacial do estudo podem mudar segundo a disponibilidade de dados e os objetivos almejados. Nesta tese, testamos a predição de algumas hipóteses sobre o efeito da quantidade de hábitat, tamanho e isolamento das manchas na riqueza de espécies, sobre a extensão espacial e características das espécies que afetam a relação entre a estrutura da paisagem e a biodiversidade e dessa relação na escala da distribuição da espécie. Respondemos à duas perguntas e propomos um método que versam sobre as mudanças de hábitat e a resposta das espécies à essas mudanças, em diferentes escalas: (1) A quantidade de hábitat na paisagem local explica tanto da variação na riqueza de espécies, quanto o efeito combinado de área e isolamento das manchas de hábitat? (Cap. 1); (2) como a extensão espacial em que a paisagem afeta as espécies muda devido às características das espécies e a resposta biológica medida? (Cap. 2); também propusemos um método para avaliar a conectividade e capacidade de suporte das manchas na escala da área de distribuição das espécies (Cap. 3). No capítulo 1, os resultados corroboram a hipótese da quantidade de hábitat. Tamanho da mancha e isolamento não tiveram efeitos sobre a riqueza de espécies independentemente da quantidade de habitat; podendo ser substituídos com uma única variável, que é a própria quantidade habitat. No capítulo 2, descobrimos que a extensão espacial em que a estrutura da paisagem afeta as comunidades vegetais depende da capacidade de movimentação das espécies, suas taxas de reprodução e da resposta biológica utilizada no modelo. Espécies que dispersam e se reproduzem mais tendem a ser afetadas pela estrutura da paisagem em uma extensão espacial maior. Além disso, dados de abundância das espécies respondem à paisagem circundante em uma escala menor do que os dados de ocorrência. No Capítulo 3, mostramos que as medidas de quantidade de habitat e da capacidade de suporte são mais dependentes das características intrínsecas das espécies, enquanto que as análises de fragmentação e conectividade funcional são mais influenciadas pela escala, exceto quando a espécie tem alta capacidade de dispersão. A abordagem que propomos no capítulo 3 pode levar a menores riscos de incorrer em erros de comissão, que poderiam resultar de uma subestimativa da escala em que a paisagem afeta a potencial ocorrência das espécies. Além disso, propomos uma nova abordagem para avaliar a relação espécie-habitat. Destaca-se também a importância de se considerar toda a área de distribuição da espécie em análises de capacidade de suporte e conectividade funcional dos fragmentos, em uma estrutura simples e integrada para estudos de conservaçãoAbstract: The habitat of a given species is always changing and studying the causes and consequences of these changes is a challenging task in Ecology. This is because the very definition of habitat is species-specific and even local-specific. Besides that, some factors can affect the results and conclusions coming from the studies carried out in landscapes. The habitat concept, the measurement of its effect on biodiversity, and the spatial extent of the investigation could change according to data availability and the purpose of research. Here we tested some hypothesis about the effect of habitat amount, patch size and isolation on species richness; spatial extent and species traits affecting the relationship between landscape structure and biodiversity and proposed a method to evaluate carrying capacity and connectivity on species¿ range scale: (1) is habitat amount in the surrounding landscape as strong a predictor of species richness, as the combined predictive strength of patch isolation and patch size? (Chapter 1); (2) how does the scale of effect change with species traits and the measured population response? (Chapter 2); we also proposed a method to evaluate connectivity and carrying capacity at species range scale (Chapter 3). In chapter 1, our results supported the habitat amount hypothesis. Patch size and isolation did not have effects on species richness independent of habitat amount; they can be replaced by habitat amount alone. In chapter 2, we found that the spatial extent at which landscape structure mostly affect plant community depends on the movement range of the species, reproduction rate and the particular response analyzed. Species that disperse farther and produce more seeds showed a larger scale of effect, and species abundance responded to the surrounding landscape at a smaller scale than species occurrence. In Chapter 3, we highlighted that habitat amount and carrying capacity were more dependent on species¿ features, whereas fragmentation and functional connectivity were more scale dependent, except when the species has high dispersal ability. The proposed approach can lead to lower risks of incurring in commission errors arising from landscape-scale underestimation of species¿ occurrences and provide a new approach to assess species-habitat relationship. We also highlighted the importance of considering range-scaled landscape, landscape carrying capacity, and patch functional connectivity in a synthetic and integrated framework for conservation studiesDoutoradoEcologiaDoutora em Ecologia2012/02207-904100/2014-00FAPESPCAPE

Reciclagem do entulho da indústria da construção civil

A sociedade moderna possui como uma de suas características, alta geração de resíduos, grande parte, de Resíduos da Construção e Demolição (RCD). O acelerado crescimento e rápido adensamento das cidades resultaram em variados problemas na destinação do grande volume gerado pelas atividades cotidianas. Essa enorme geração de RCD em conjunto com as práticas do homem contemporâneo degrada a qualidade de vida dos centros urbanos. Para resolver esse problema causado pelo entulho é necessária a conscientização em relação a necessidades e demandas atuais do RCD. Esse projeto de pesquisa propõe um estudo sobre a origem do RCD, o seu destino e reciclagem ou redução de modo a interferir positivamente na sustentabilidade. O incentivo da utilização de materiais recicláveis e a organização do sistema de coletas, minimizando os problemas de depósitos clandestinos e incentivando a deposição regular estabelecida pela Prefeitura. O entulho deve ser visto como fonte de materiais de grande utilidade para a construção civilModern society has a main characteristic, the high generation of waste, much of it is of CDW (Construction and Demolition solid-waste). The accelerated growth and rapid consolidation of the cities resulted in various forms of allocating large waste volumes, generated by daily activities. This huge generation of CDW together with the practices of contemporary life, degrade the quality of the urban centers life. To solve this problem caused by the remains it is needed first the awareness of the issue, knowledge or the production of the current CDW. This Master research proposes the origin of the CDW s study, its destination and recycling or reduction in order to positively affect the environment sustainability: by encouraging the use of recyclable materials and organization of the collected materials; by minimizing the problems of illegal landfills and encouraging regular CDW s deposition as established by the city management. The debris should be seen as a source of great use for the civil constructio