The Future of Education: Black Life and Our Classrooms A Moderated Panel Discussion

This piece is an abridged version of a panel discussion that was part of the symposium on Anti-Black State Violence Across the Americas: Power and Struggle in Brazil and the U.S., held at UC Berkeley on February 20–22, 2019, and organized by the LUTA Initiative, a coalition of scholars invested in facilitating international dialogue about racialized state violence across the Americas. The conversation featured Cherrish Cook and Muwazu Chisum-Misquitta (Berkeley High School Student Activists, United States) in conversation with Onirê Onã Walê Borges dos Santos and Andreia Beatriz Silva dos Santos (React or Die/Winnie Mandela Pan-Africanist School, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil). C. Darius Gordon moderated the panel (Editor, Berkeley Review of Education, Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley). Alejandro Reyes performed transcription and translation for this article. For more information on the LUTA Initiative, the symposium, and a full video of this panel discussion with English and Portuguese subtitles, visit https://lutainitiative.wordpress.com

Absence of light exposure increases pathogenicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia-associated clinical isolates

Pseudomonas aeruginosa can alter its lifestyle in response to changes in environmental conditions. The switch to a pathogenic host-associated lifestyle can be triggered by the luminosity settings, resorting to at least one photoreceptor which senses light and regulates cellular processes. This study aimed to address how light exposure affects the dynamic and adaptability of two P. aeruginosa pneumonia-associated isolates, HB13 and HB15. A phenotypic characterization of two opposing growth conditions, constant illumination and intensity of full-spectrum light and total absence of light, was performed. Given the nature of P. aeruginosa pathogenicity, distinct fractions were characterized, and its inherent pathogenic potential screened by comparing induced morphological alterations and cytotoxicity against human pulmonary epithelial cells (A549 cell line). Growth in the dark promoted some virulence-associated traits (e.g., pigment production, LasA proteolytic activity), which, together with higher cytotoxicity of secreted fractions, supported an increased pathogenic potential in conditions that better mimic the lung microenvironment of P. aeruginosa. These preliminary findings evidenced that light exposure settings may influence the P. aeruginosa pathogenic potential, likely owing to differential production of virulence factors. Thus, this study raised awareness towards the importance in controlling light conditions during bacterial pathogenicity evaluation approaches, to more accurately interpret bacterial responses.FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(SFRH/BD/98558/2013)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Localization effects in disordered quantum batteries

We investigate the effect of localization on the local charging of quantum batteries (QBs) modeled by disordered spin systems. Two distinct schemes based on the transverse-field random Ising model are considered, with Ising couplings defined on a Chimera graph and on a linear chain with up to next-to-nearest neighbor interactions. By adopting a low-energy demanding charging process driven by local fields only, we obtain that the maximum extractable energy by unitary processes (ergotropy) is highly enhanced in the ergodic phase in comparison with the many-body localization (MBL) scenario. As we turn off the next-to-nearest neighbor interactions in the Ising chain, we have the onset of the Anderson localization phase. We then show that the Anderson phase exhibits a hybrid behavior, interpolating between large and small ergotropy as the disorder strength is increased. We also consider the splitting of total ergotropy into its coherent and incoherent contributions. This incoherent part implies in a residual ergotropy that is fully robust against dephasing, which is a typical process leading to the self-discharging of the battery in a real setup. Our results are experimentally feasible in scalable systems, such as in superconducting integrated circuits.Comment: 8 pages and 7 figures. Comments are welcome

Análise da sequência do movimento de levantar/sentar, em indivíduos pós AVE: Estudo da relação da activação dos músculos vasto medial oblíquo e vasto lateral

O objectivo deste estudo foi comparar o rácio dos músculos Vasto Medial Oblíquo (VMO) e Vasto Lateral (VL), na sequência de movimento de levantar e sentar, em indivíduos sem patologia e em indivíduos com Acidente Vascular Encefálico (AVE). Pretendeu-se também verificar a sequência de activação de alguns músculos do membro inferior na sequência de movimento de levantar. Verificou-se existir diferenças significativas para afirmar que, no movimento de levantar, indivíduos com sequelas de AVE apresentam menor rácio VMO/VL no membro predominantemente atingido em relação aos indivíduos sem patologia. Diferentes sequências de activação muscular durante o movimento de levantar foram observadas.The purpose of this study was to compare the ratio of the Vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and vastus lateralis (VL), in sit-to-stand movement in subjects without pathology and in individuals with stroke. The article tries to verify the sequence of activation of some muscles of the lower limb during standing up. There are significant differences to argue that, in standing up movement, subjects with sequelae of stroke have a lower ratio VMO / VL in predominantly affected limb compared to subjects without pathology. Different sequences of muscle activation during standing up movement were observed

Anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory action of sesquiterpene lactones

Sesquiterpene lactones (SL), characterized by their high prevalence in the Asteraceae family, are one of the major groups of secondary metabolites found in plants. Researchers from distinct research fields, including pharmacology, medicine, and agriculture, are interested in their biological potential. With new SL discovered in the last years, new biological activities have been tested, different action mechanisms (synergistic and/or antagonistic effects), as well as molecular structure–activity relationships described. The review identifies the main sesquiterpene lactones with interconnections between immune responses and anti-inflammatory actions, within different cellular models as well in in vivo studies. Bioaccessibility and bioavailability, as well as molecular structure–activity relationships are addressed. Additionally, plant metabolic engineering, and the impact of sesquiterpene lactone extraction methodologies are presented, with the perspective of biological activity enhancement. Sesquiterpene lactones derivatives are also addressed. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the therapeutic potential of sesquiterpene lactones within immune and inflammatory activities, highlighting trends and opportunities for their pharmaceutical/clinical use.The authors thank the Regional Development European Foundation and the Alentejo Region Operational Program (ALENTEJO 2020) for their financial support to “MedCynaraBioTec— Selection of Cynara cardunculus genotypes for new Biotechnological applications: the value chain improvement of cardoon, a well-adapted Mediterranean crop” (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-039495); and “ValBioTecCynara—Economic Valorization of Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus): Study of natural variability and biotechnological applications” project (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-000038). This work was also funded through FCT under the project UIDB/05183/2020 to the Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment, and Development (MED)

An in‑planta comparative study of Plasmopara viticola proteome reveals diferent infection strategies towards susceptible and Rpv3‑mediated resistance hosts

Plasmopara viticola, an obligate biotrophic oomycete, is the causal agent of one of the most harmful grapevine diseases, downy mildew. Within this pathosystem, much information is gathered on the host, as characterization of pathogenicity and infection strategy of a biotrophic pathogen is quite challenging. Molecular insights into P. viticola development and pathogenicity are just beginning to be uncovered, mainly by transcriptomic studies. Plasmopara viticola proteome and secretome were only predicted based on transcriptome data. In this study, we have identified the in-planta proteome of P. viticola during infection of a susceptible ('Trincadeira') and a Rpv3-mediated resistance ('Regent') grapevine cultivar. Four hundred and twenty P. viticola proteins were identified on a label-free mass spectrometry-based approach of the apoplastic fluid of grapevine leaves. Overall, our study suggests that, in the compatible interaction, P. viticola manipulates salicylic-acid pathway and isoprenoid biosynthesis to enhance plant colonization. Furthermore, during the incompatible interaction, development-associated proteins increased while oxidoreductases protect P. viticola from ROS-associated plant defence mechanism. Up to our knowledge this is the first in-planta proteome characterization of this biotrophic pathogen, thus this study will open new insights into our understanding of this pathogen colonization strategy of both susceptible and Rpv3-mediated resistance grapevine genotypes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Arterial Stiffness vs Sarcopenia in Portuguese Elderly Population

Aging often results in the appearance of sarcopenia, which is characterized by loss of muscle mass and strength. The incidence of sarcopenia in the elderly is a quite common and leads to weakness and disability, as well as a lower quality of life, also assuming a high social and economic impact. One previous study has shown an independent negative association between arterial stiffness and skeletal muscle mass decline [1], which suggest its relationship with sarcopenia. This work aims to evaluate the relation between sarcopenia and the arterial stiffness, in Portuguese elderly population A cohort of 38 elderly volunteers between 67 and 95 years, with and without Sarcopenia, were selected from nursing homes and day centers of Portuguese charity institution - Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Almada. All volunteers have the same living condition, meals and lifestyle routine, excepting the medications. The diagnosis and degree (severe or moderate) of sarcopenia were performed according to the European consensus on definition and diagnosis of sarcopenia [2] at the same day with arterial stiffnesses measurements assessed by carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cfPWV). Our data show a positive correlation for cfPWV with the sarcopenia severity degree, which represents an increasing in arterial stiffness and might be explained by the fact that the loss of muscle mass is often associated with chronic inflammation [3]. Despite of the small cohort size, the male gender held a bigger mean value of cfPWV, with significant p-value (0.014), in comparison to the female gender, which estimates a higher CV risk for the male elders of the region of Almada and Greater Lisbon compared to the female gender. Further investigations would be desirable in order to obtain larger samples and ascertain the estimates for the respective groups.publishersversionpublishe