(un)childhood: performing the voices and times of childhood through relational video-making

This practice-based PhD is comprised of two interrelated elements: (i) ‘(un)childhood’, a 53’ video-essay shown on two screens; and (ii) a 58286 word written thesis. The project, which is contextualised within the tradition of artists working with their own children on time-based art projects, explores a new approach to timebased artistic work about childhood. While Stan Brakhage (1933-2003), Ernie Gher (1943-), Erik Bullot (1963-) and Mary Kelly (1941-) all documented, photographed and filmed their children over a period of years to produce art projects (experimental films and a time-based installation), these projects were implicitly underpinned by a construction of childhood in which children, shown as they grow, represent the abstract primitive subject. The current project challenges the convention of representing children entirely from the adult’s point of view, as aesthetic objects without a voice, as well as through the artist’s chronological approach to time. Instead, this project focuses on the relational joining of the child’s and adult’s points of view. The artist worked on a video project with her own son over a four-and-a-half year period (between the ages of 5 and 10) through which she developed her ‘relational video-making’ methodology. The video-essay (un)childhood performs the relational voices of childhood as resulting from the verbal interactions of both children and adults. The non-chronological nature of(un)childhood offers an alternative to the linear-temporal approach to the representation of childhood. Through montage and a number of literal allusions to time in its dialogue, (un)childhood performs the relational times of childhood by combining children’s lives in the present with the temporal dimensions that have traditionally constructed childhood: past, future and timeless

Indolo[2,3-a]quinolizidines and derivatives: Bioactivity and asymmetric Synthesis

Corynantheine alkaloids with a tetracyclic indole[2,3-a]-quinolizidine motif are an important issue in academia and in the life science industries due to their broad bioactivity profile. In particular, the main biological effects described for indoloquinolizidines include analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, and antiarrhythmic activities, as well as inhibition of multiple ion channels, affinity for opioid receptors, and activity against Leishmania. For that reason, in the last decades, numerous efforts have been invested in the development of novel synthetic strategies to obtain the indole[2,3-a]-quinolizidine system. This review focuses on the synthetic methodologies developed to target the most important alkaloids of this family, and highlights the potential use of these alkaloids or analogs to treat several diseases, ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative disorders

Changes in postural sway behavior across the life span

The present study aimed to investigate human balance control by assessing postural sway on three groups representing three stages of life (6-12, 19-40 and 65-74 years old). There were 14 individuals in each group and they were tested during upright bipedal stance with either eyes open or closed. Focus was given to multiple sway indices representing multi-dimensional features of postural sway in quiet stance and included: the center of pressure area, amplitude, root mean square (RMS), velocity, jerkiness, and sample entropy. Results confirmed that children and seniors swayed more (p\u3c.004), faster (p\u3c.001) and their body sway was shakier (p\u3c.001) than young adults. Seniors also presented faster (p\u3c.006) and shakier (p\u3c.001) sway than children and a more unpredictable pattern of body sway in time (p\u3c.002) than children and young adults. In addition, children presented a more random anterior-posterior sway (p\u3c.034) and a more regular medio-lateral sway (p\u3c.043) than young adults, and a higher synchronization between anterior-posterior and medio-lateral body sway (p\u3c.012) than young adults and seniors. We also observed that postural control of children and young adults becomes relatively more challenged in experimental situations when eyes were closed for most postural indices. In conclusion, this study suggests that multi-dimension posturography is sensitive to detect subtle age-related changes in the postural behavior and each stage of life may have their own signature patterns of postural behavior. Therefore, we expect that quantifications of this nature may be used to assess not only postural instability and fall risk but also to aid the testing of the efficacy of balance interventional protocols

Influence of preparation procedures on the phenolic content, antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of green and black teas

The influence of common tea preparation procedures (temperature, infusion time, consumption time interval and tea bag/loose-leaf) and the type of water used, on the total phenolic content (TPC), the radical scavenging activity and the alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity were assessed. Higher TPC and antioxidant activity were obtained when using lower mineralized waters. Tea bags also evidenced higher antioxidant activity than loose-leaf samples. Under the same conditions (90 degrees C and five minutes of infusion time) green tea contains almost twice the quantity of polyphenols and the free radical scavenging ability of black tea. In the alpha-glucosidase assay all infusions were active (97-100 %). Furthermore, HPLC allowed to identify some of the polyphenols present in both teas and to monitor their composition change with time. After twenty-four hours, the antioxidant activity was maintained without significant changes, but a small decrease in enzyme inhibition was observed, although this activity was still very high.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prevención de caídas en los ancianos domiciliados: promoción del envejecimiento activo

Objective: To determine the frequency of falls and identify risk factors in the homes of the elderly under the Home Care Service of a village in Alentejo (Portugal). Method: Exploratory, descriptive study. The target group were elderly persons under the Home Care Service (23). The questionnaire consists of open and closed questions, and was based on the Jefferson Area Board for Aging Safety in the Home Assessment; Instrument to Assess the Risk of Falls and Adaptations to Prevent Falls at Home. Results: Of the 23 seniors, 13 were men; the mean age was 85; 10 widowers; 11 live alone; 12 cannot read or write; 17 have experienced falls, loss of balance being the main cause. They report changes in vision (21), hearing (14) and rheumatic diseases (14); hypertension (19); they use 4 or more drugs on a daily basis (16). Conclusion: The physiological changes associated with ageing may increase the risk of falls. Due to the consequences, it is a priority field in community intervention

Immunization and Aging: a Learning Process in the Immune Network

The immune system can be thought as a complex network of different interacting elements. A cellular automaton, defined in shape-space, was recently shown to exhibit self-regulation and complex behavior and is, therefore, a good candidate to model the immune system. Using this model to simulate a real immune system we find good agreement with recent experiments on mice. The model exhibits the experimentally observed refractory behavior of the immune system under multiple antigen presentations as well as loss of its plasticity caused by aging.Comment: 4 latex pages, 3 postscript figures attached. To be published in Physical Review Letters (Tentatively scheduled for 5th Oct. issue

A new species of Honduran \u3ci\u3eStrongylaspis\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae)

Strongylaspis antonkozlovi Galileo and Santos-Silva sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae) is described from Cusuco National Park in Honduras, becoming the second species of the genus known in that country. The new species is compared to S. bullata Bates, 1872, the most similar species