Repetir ou progredir?uma análise da repetência nas escolas públicas de Minas Gerais

The objective of this work is to evaluate if retaining pupils of the third year of fundamental education in 2009 brought benefits to their learning in comparison to pupils that advanced to the fourth year. We seek thereby to contribute to the debate about the impact of school failure in pupils' learning. In Brazil, due to the absence of longitudinal data that would allow a more accurate comparison between those pupils who failed and those that advanced, considering their performance before and after the school failure, the majority of studies focus primarily on the impact of the policies of cycles on the performance of the pupil. Using data from the Literacy Assessment Program (and external assessment conducted every year in public schools of the State of Minas Gerais), it was possible to set up a longitudinal database to identify pupils that had repeated and those who had not. To try to explain the performance of students who had failed and those who had not, we tried to use as a guiding line the approach based on the Educational Production Function, having as a methodological basis the hierarchical models. The results indicate that both categories of students - those who had failed and those who had not - displayed very important growth in proficiency average rates. However, the hierarchical models constructed demonstrated that, between two pupils with the same proficiency in 2008, one of them having failed and the other not, the pupil that did not fail tended to present the better proficiency level in 2009. Another important finding refers to the fact that the result of the pupil is very much influenced by the general result of the school.O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar se a retenção dos alunos do 3º ano do ensino fundamental em 2009 trouxe maiores benefícios no aprendizado de tais alunos em relação àqueles que progrediram para o 4º ano. Procura-se, dessa forma, contribuir para o debate sobre o impacto da repetência no aprendizado do aluno. No Brasil, devido à carência de dados longitudinais que possibilitem uma comparação mais apurada entre os repetentes e os promovidos, considerando seus desempenhos antes e depois do evento da repetência, a maioria dos estudos enfoca principalmente o impacto das políticas de ciclos no desempenho do aluno. Por meio dos dados do Programa de Avaliação da Alfabetização (avaliação externa realizada anualmente nas escolas públicas de Minas Gerais), foi possível constituir uma base de dados longidudinal que identificasse os alunos repetentes e os não repetentes. Para tentar explicar o desempenho dos alunos repetentes e não repetentes, utilizou-se como marco norteador a abordagem da Função de Produção Educacional e como base metodológica, os modelos hierárquicos. Os resultados indicam que tanto os alunos que repetiram quanto os que não repetiram apresentaram crescimentos bastante importantes nas médias de proficiência. No entanto, os modelos hierárquicos construídos demonstram que, dentre dois alunos com mesma proficiência em 2008, tendo um deles repetido e o outro não, aquele que não repetiu tende a apresentar maior nível de proficiência em 2009. Outro achado importante refere-se ao fato de que o resultado do aluno é muito influenciado pelo resultado geral da escola

Repetir ou progredir? Uma análise da repetência nas escolas públicas de Minas Gerais

The objective of this work is to evaluate if retaining pupils of the third year of fundamental education in 2009 brought benefits to their learning in comparison to pupils that advanced to the fourth year. We seek thereby to contribute to the debate about the impact of school failure in pupils� learning. In Brazil, due to the absence of longitudinal data that would allow a more accurate comparison between those pupils who failed and those that advanced, considering their performance before and after the school failure, the majority of studies focus primarily on the impact of the policies of cycles on the performance of the pupil. Using data from the Literacy Assessment Program (and external assessment conducted every year in public schools of the State of Minas Gerais), it was possible to set up a longitudinal database to identify pupils that had repeated and those who had not. To try to explain the performance of students who had failed and those who had not, we tried to use as a guiding line the approach based on the Educational Production Function, having as a methodological basis the hierarchical models. The results indicate that both categories of students � those who had failed and those who had not � displayed very important growth in proficiency average rates. However, the hierarchical models constructed demonstrated that, between two pupils with the same proficiency in 2008, one of them having failed and the other not, the pupil that did not fail tended to present the better proficiency level in 2009. Another important finding refers to the fact that the result of the pupil is very much influenced by the general result of the school.O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar se a retenção dos alunos do 3º ano do ensino fundamental em 2009 trouxe maiores benefícios no aprendizado de tais alunos em relação àqueles que progrediram para o 4º ano. Procura-se, dessa forma, contribuir para o debate sobre o impacto da repetência no aprendizado do aluno. No Brasil, devido à carência de dados longitudinais que possibilitem uma comparação mais apurada entre os repetentes e os promovidos, considerando seus desempenhos antes e depois do evento da repetência, a maioria dos estudos enfoca principalmente o impacto das políticas de ciclos no desempenho do aluno. Por meio dos dados do Programa de Avaliação da Alfabetização (avaliação externa realizada anualmente nas escolas públicas de Minas Gerais), foi possível constituir uma base de dados longidudinal que identificasse os alunos repetentes e os não repetentes. ..........................Para tentar explicar o desempenho dos alunos repetentes e não repetentes, utilizou-se como marco norteador a abordagem da Função de Produção Educacional e como base metodológica, os modelos hierárquicos. Os resultados indicam que tanto os alunos que repetiram quanto os que não repetiram apresentaram crescimentos bastante importantes nas médias de proficiência. No entanto, os modelos hierárquicos construídos demonstram que, dentre dois alunos com mesma proficiência em 2008, tendo um deles repetido e o outro não, aquele que não repetiu tende a apresentar maior nível de proficiência em 2009. Outro achado importante refere-se ao fato de que o resultado do aluno é muito influenciado pelo resultado geral da escola

Composition of gastrointestinal content, protease and lipase activities in summer and winter of four freshwater siluriforms (Teleostei: Actinopterygii) with two different feeding habits

The aim of this study was to determine the composition of gastrointestinal content and protease and lipase activities in summer and winter as well as to evaluate the relationship between digestive enzyme activity and centesimal composition of gastrointestinal content and feeding habits of two omnivorous species, Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) and Pimelodus maculatus (LaCèpede, 1803), and of two detritivorous species, Loricariichthys anus (Valenciennes, 1835) and Hypostomus commersoni (Valenciennes, 1836). The activities of pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and lipase, and the levels of proteins and lipids in the gastrointestinal tract, were evaluated. The enzyme activities were not related to the centesimal composition of gastrointestinal content or feeding habits. This finding could be associated with the variations of nutrient availability over time in the environment, as was observed in the centesimal composition of food ingested by the fish in summer and winter. The analyzed enzymes exhibited a constitutive character in these species; that is, the digestive enzymes are always available in the gastrointestinal tract to digest any food that the fish may find as an adaptation to better utilize the nutrients available in the environment in winter and summer

Composition of gastrointestinal content, protease and lipase activities in summer and winter of four freshwater siluriforms (Teleostei: Actinopterygii) with two different feeding habits

The aim of this study was to determine the composition of gastrointestinal content and protease and lipase activities in summer and winter as well as to evaluate the relationship between digestive enzyme activity and centesimal composition of gastrointestinal content and feeding habits of two omnivorous species, Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) and Pimelodus maculatus (LaCèpede, 1803), and of two detritivorous species, Loricariichthys anus (Valenciennes, 1835) and Hypostomus commersoni (Valenciennes, 1836). The activities of pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and lipase, and the levels of proteins and lipids in the gastrointestinal tract, were evaluated. The enzyme activities were not related to the centesimal composition of gastrointestinal content or feeding habits. This finding could be associated with the variations of nutrient availability over time in the environment, as was observed in the centesimal composition of food ingested by the fish in summer and winter. The analyzed enzymes exhibited a constitutive character in these species; that is, the digestive enzymes are always available in the gastrointestinal tract to digest any food that the fish may find as an adaptation to better utilize the nutrients available in the environment in winter and summer

Sterol O-acyl transferase 1 as a prognostic marker of adrenocortical carcinoma

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare endocrine malignancy with an unfavorable prognosis. Despite the poor prognosis in the majority of patients, no improvements in treatment strategies have been achieved. Therefore, the discovery of new prognostic biomarkers is of enormous interest. Sterol-O-acyl transferase 1 (SOAT1) is involved in cholesterol esterification and lipid droplet formation. Recently, it was demonstrated that SOAT1 inhibition leads to impaired steroidogenesis and cell viability in ACC. To date, no studies have addressed the impact of SOAT1 expression on ACC prognosis and clinical outcomes. We evaluated SOAT1 expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry in a tissue microarray of 112 ACCs (Weiss score ≥ 3) from adults treated in a single tertiary center in Brazil. Two independent pathologists evaluated the immunohistochemistry results through a semiquantitative approach (0–4). We aimed to evaluate the correlation between SOAT1 expression and clinical, biochemical and anatomopathological parameters, recurrence-free survival (RFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). SOAT1 protein expression was heterogeneous in this cohort, 37.5% of the ACCs demonstrated a strong SOAT1 protein expression (score > 2), while 62.5% demonstrated a weak or absent protein expression (score ≤ 2). Strong SOAT1 protein expression correlated with features of high aggressiveness in ACC, such as excessive tumor cortisol secretion (p = 0.01), an advanced disease stage [European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors (ENSAT) staging system 3 and 4 (p = 0.011)] and a high Ki67 index (p = 0.002). In multivariate analysis, strong SOAT1 protein expression was an independent predictor of a reduced OS (hazard ratio (HR) 2.15, confidence interval (CI) 95% 1.26–3.66; p = 0.005) in all patients (n = 112), and a reduced RFS (HR 2.1, CI 95% 1.09–4.06; p = 0.027) in patients with localized disease at diagnosis (n = 83). Our findings demonstrated that SOAT1 protein expression has prognostic value in ACC and reinforced the importance of investigating SOAT1 as a possible therapeutic target for patients with ACC