Selective and sensitive poly-<i>ortho</i>-phenylenediamine-shielded microsensore and biosensors for in vivo neurochemical monitoring

Different methodologies are being developed, such as imaging, spectroscopy and electrochemistry, to study neurochemical dynamics in cell cultures or in intact brain [1-2]. One of these techniques involves the in-situ detection of biologically active molecules, including nitric oxide (NO) [3], glucose [4], glutamate (GLUT) [5-6] and lactate [1,7], in brain extracellular fluid (ECF), using implanted microsensors and biosensors. NO is a water-soluble free radical that readily diffuses through membranes and its actions in the CNS are largely studied

A QUESTÃO DA REPROVAÇÃO E SUAS IMPLICAÇÕES NA PRÁTICA PEDAGÓGICA

This work deals with partial results of an integrated research undergone by a group of researchers joined to the Master Education Program&nbsp; / UCDB, focusing on the problem of the reprobation by the teacher conception and its implications at the pedagogical practice. The group has carried a work out since 2000 joined to the fundamental teaching at the public schools (State and Municipal)in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, with partnership among UCDB and the State and Municipal Educational Offices. The objectives of the research are: to investigate the reading which the teachers of the Municipal Fundamental Schools in Campo Grande / MS&nbsp; have about the reprobation and to analyse the implications of the conception of the teacher role about the question of reprobation at the pedagogical practice. It is evidenced that the reading of the teachers from the Municipal Fundamental Schools in Campo Grande / MS about the reprobation hypothesis of 50% of the students in a determined group can be categorized in the following way: 25% of the total respondents agree with this rate of reprobation; 65% of the total respondents disagree with this rate of reprobation; 10% of the total respondents do not know, did not answer or let the question without answer. Although it is not a concluded research, the data show that there is an improvement at the understanding of the teacher about the influence of the different contexts at the development of the student.Este trabalho trata de resultados parciais de uma pesquisa integrada realizada por um grupo de pesquisadores vinculados ao Programa de Mestrado em Educa&ccedil;&atilde;o/UCDB, enfocando o problema da reprova&ccedil;&atilde;o na concep&ccedil;&atilde;o do professor e suas implica&ccedil;&otilde;es na pr&aacute;tica pedag&oacute;gica. O grupo realiza, desde 2000, um trabalho junto &agrave;s escolas de ensino fundamental das redes p&uacute;blicas estadual e municipal, em Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, por meio de parceria entre a UCDB e as Secretarias Estadual e Municipal de Educa&ccedil;&atilde;o. Os objetivos da pesquisa s&atilde;o: investigar a leitura que professores do ensino fundamental da rede p&uacute;blica municipal de Campo Grande/MS fazem sobre a reprova&ccedil;&atilde;o e analisar as implica&ccedil;&otilde;es da concep&ccedil;&atilde;o do papel do professor sobre a quest&atilde;o da reprova&ccedil;&atilde;o na pr&aacute;tica pedag&oacute;gica. Constata-se que a leitura que professores do ensino fundamental da rede p&uacute;blica municipal de Campo Grande/MS fazem sobre a hip&oacute;tese da reprova&ccedil;&atilde;o de 50% de alunos de uma determinada turma pode ser categorizada da seguinte maneira: 25% do total dos respondentes concordam com este &iacute;ndice de reprova&ccedil;&atilde;o; 65% do total dos respondentes discordam com este &iacute;ndice de reprova&ccedil;&atilde;o; 10% do total dos respondentes n&atilde;o sabem, n&atilde;o responderam ou deixaram em branco a quest&atilde;o. Embora n&atilde;o seja uma pesquisa conclu&iacute;da, os dados mostram que h&aacute; uma melhora no entendimento do professor sobre a influ&ecirc;ncia dos diferentes contextos no desenvolvimento do aluno.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp

O histórico de criação da Agência Nacional de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (ANATER) e os desafios impostos a sua consolidação na conjuntura política de 2017.

O objetivo deste trabalho é, primeiramente, compreender os arranjos institucionais e o comportamento dos diferentes agentes nos espaços de debate e gestão do estado brasileiro no cenário em que se deu a criação da Agência Nacional de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (ANATER) em 2013. Em segundo lugar, buscamos analisar em que medida o fim da gestão do Partido dos Trabalhadores no executivo federal em 2016 passou a afetar sua implementação. A metodologia baseou-se em revisão bibliográfica, entrevistas semiestruturadas e resultados preliminares da pesquisa “Evaluation of Extensin Reforms in Brazil”. Concluímos que, de 2003 a 2016, as políticas de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (ATER) para a agricultura familiar foram marcadas por inovações e avanços no campo político institucional, especialmente em relação à participação social na gestão e controle das mesmas. A criação da ANATER marcou uma importante conquista para a consolidação das políticas de ATER no Brasil, apesar das críticas ao processo de sua concepção. No entanto, no cenário político e institucional de 2016 e início de 2017, a ANATER e seus gestores se distanciaram dos objetivos iniciais e dos atores políticos vinculados a este processo, o que traz à tona a permanente fragilidade de políticas de ATER para a agricultura familiar, apesar dos avanços identificados

Effect of acute administration of Pistacia lentiscus L. essential oil on rat cerebral cortex following transient bilateral common carotid artery occlusion

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ischemia/reperfusion leads to inflammation and oxidative stress which damages membrane highly polyunsaturated fatty acids (HPUFAs) and eventually induces neuronal death. This study evaluates the effect of the administration of <it>Pistacia lentiscus </it>L. essential oil (E.O.), a mixture of terpenes and sesquiterpenes, on modifications of fatty acid profile and endocannabinoid (eCB) congener concentrations induced by transient bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) in the rat frontal cortex and plasma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Adult Wistar rats underwent BCCAO for 20 min followed by 30 min reperfusion (BCCAO/R). 6 hours before surgery, rats, randomly assigned to four groups, were gavaged either with E.O. (200 mg/0.45 ml of sunflower oil as vehicle) or with the vehicle alone.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>BCCAO/R triggered in frontal cortex a decrease of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the membrane highly polyunsaturated fatty acid most susceptible to oxidation. Pre-treatment with E.O. prevented this change and led further to decreased levels of the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), as assessed by Western Blot. In plasma, only after BCCAO/R, E.O. administration increased both the ratio of DHA-to-its precursor, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and levels of palmytoylethanolamide (PEA) and oleoylethanolamide (OEA).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Acute treatment with E.O. before BCCAO/R elicits changes both in the frontal cortex, where the BCCAO/R-induced decrease of DHA is apparently prevented and COX-2 expression decreases, and in plasma, where PEA and OEA levels and DHA biosynthesis increase. It is suggested that the increase of PEA and OEA plasma levels may induce DHA biosynthesis via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) alpha activation, protecting brain tissue from ischemia/reperfusion injury.</p

Real-Time Monitoring of Brain Tissue Oxygen Using a Miniaturized Biotelemetric Device Implanted in Freely Moving Rats

A miniaturized biotelemetric device for the amperometric detection of brain tissue oxygen is presented. The new system, derived from a previous design, has been coupled with a carbon microsensor for the real-time detection of dissolved O(2) in the striatum of freely moving rats. The implantable device consists of a single-supply sensor driver, a current-to-voltage converter, a microcontroller, and a miniaturized data transmitter. The oxygen current is converted to a digital value by means of an analog-to-digital converter integrated in a peripheral interface controller (PIC). The digital data is sent to a personal computer using a six-byte packet protocol by means of a miniaturized 434 MHz amplitude modulation (AM) transmitter. The receiver unit is connected to a personal computer (PC) via a universal serial bus. Custom developed software allows the PC to store and plot received data. The electronics were calibrated and tested in vitro under different experimental conditions and exhibited high stability, low power consumption, and good linear response in the nanoampere current range. The in vivo results confirmed previously published observations on oxygen dynamics in the striatum of freely moving rats. The system serves as a rapid and reliable model for studying the effects of different drugs on brain oxygen and brain blood flow and it is suited to work with direct-reduction sensors or O(2)-consuming biosensors

Correction to: ABCA6 affects the malignancy of Ewing sarcoma cells via cholesterol-guided inhibition of the IGF1R/AKT/MDM2 axis

In this article an incorrect affiliation had inadvertently been added. The original article has been updated

iFloW: an integrated logistics software system for inbound supply chain traceability

Visibility plays an important role in supply chain management. Such visibility is not only important for better planning, but especially for real-time execution related with the traceability of goods. In inbound supply chain management, logistics planners need to trace raw materials from their requests in order to properly plan a plant’s production. The iFloW (Inbound Logistics Tracking System) integrates logistics providers IT applications and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track and trace incoming freights. The Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) is updated in real-time allowing an improved materials planning process. This paper presents the iFloW project and describes how these issues are addressed and validated in a real pilot project.This research is sponsored by the Portugal Incentive System for Research and technological Development PEst-UID/CEC/00319/2013 and by project in co-promotion no 36265/2013 (Project HMIExcel—2013–2015)

Sugar-based bactericides targeting phosphatidylethanolamine-enriched membranes

Free PMC Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6242839/Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a bioterrorism agent that develops resistance to clinically used antibiotics. Therefore, alternative mechanisms of action remain a challenge. Herein, we disclose deoxy glycosides responsible for specific carbohydrate-phospholipid interactions, causing phosphatidylethanolamine lamellar-to-inverted hexagonal phase transition and acting over B. anthracis and Bacillus cereus as potent and selective bactericides. Biological studies of the synthesized compound series differing in the anomeric atom, glycone configuration and deoxygenation pattern show that the latter is indeed a key modulator of efficacy and selectivity. Biomolecular simulations show no tendency to pore formation, whereas differential metabolomics and genomics rule out proteins as targets. Complete bacteria cell death in 10 min and cellular envelope disruption corroborate an effect over lipid polymorphism. Biophysical approaches show monolayer and bilayer reorganization with fast and high permeabilizing activity toward phosphatidylethanolamine membranes. Absence of bacterial resistance further supports this mechanism, triggering innovation on membrane-targeting antimicrobials.The European Union is gratefully acknowledged for the support of the project “Diagnostic and Drug Discovery Initiative for Alzheimer’s Disease” (D3i4AD), FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IAPP, GA 612347. We thank the Management Authorities of the European Regional Development Fund and the National Strategic Reference Framework for the support of the Incentive System - Research and Technological Development Co-Promotion FACIB Project number 21457. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia is also acknowledged for the support of projects UID/Multi/00612/2013, FCT/UID/ Multi/04046/2013, IF/00808/2013/CP1159/CT0003, PTDC/BBBBQB/6071/2014, as well as for the post-doc grant SFRH/BPD/42567/2007 (A.M.), the Ph.D. grants SFRH/BDE/51998/2012 (C.D.), and SFRH/BDE/51957/2012 (J.P.P.), both co-sponsored by CIPAN, and also for the Ph.D. grant SFRH/BD/116614/2016 (R.N.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microsatellites and SNPs linkage analysis in a Sardinian genetic isolate confirms several essential hypertension loci previously identified in different populations

Background. A multiplicity of study designs such as gene candidate analysis, genome wide search (GWS) and, recently, whole genome association studies have been employed for the identification of the genetic components of essential hypertension (EH). Several genome-wide linkage studies of EH and blood pressure-related phenotypes demonstrate that there is no single locus with a major effect while several genomic regions likely to contain EH-susceptibility loci were validated by multiple studies. Methods. We carried out the clinical assessment of the entire adult population in a Sardinian village (Talana) and we analyzed 16 selected families with 62 hypertensive subjects out of 267 individuals. We carried out a double GWS using a set of 902 uniformly spaced microsatellites and a high-density SNPs map on the same group of families. Results. Three loci were identified by both microsatellites and SNP scans and the obtained linkage results showed a remarkable degree of similarity. These loci were identified on chromosome 2q24, 11q23.1–25 and 13q14.11–21.33. Further support to these findings is their broad description present in literature associated to EH or related phenotypes. Bioinformatic investigation of these loci shows several potential EH candidate genes, several of whom already associated to blood pressure regulation pathways. Conclusion. Our search for major susceptibility EH genetic factors evidences that EH in the genetic isolate of Talana is due to the contribution of several genes contained in loci identified and replicated by earlier findings in different human populations