A liga acadêmica no contexto da extensão universitária: Um relato de experiência

A criação das ligas acadêmicas estreitou a relação entre a ciência e a sociedade, possibilitando a disseminação de conhecimento. A Liga Acadêmica de Endocrinologia e Metabologia (LAEM) é um exemplo disso. O objetivo deste relato foi demonstrar o funcionamento e a estrutura da LAEM da UFPR – Campus Toledo, bem como sua atuação no meio acadêmico e sociedade. Trata-se de um relato de experiência com descrição das atividades elaboradas desde a criação da liga até março de 2022, baseada em registros em atas, reuniões e demais atividades, além de uma busca na literatura a respeito da extensão universitária. A LAEM foi consolidada em novembro 2020, de maneira remota, no qual foram distribuídas as funções de diretoria entre os membros fundadores. Até março de 2022, foram realizados dois processos seletivos para o ingresso de novos ligantes, totalizando 16 alunos. As aulas desenvolvidas foram ministradas por professores convidados e pelos ligantes, por meio de plataformas digitais, quinzenalmente. Foram elaboradas aulas abertas à comunidade em parceria com outras ligas, bem como o II Simpósio de Endocrinologia, no qual a LAEM foi co-organizadora. A LAEM possui rede social para divulgação de material didático e explicativo a respeito da Endocrinologia e Metabologia, contabilizando atualmente um total de 71 publicações e 1.093 seguidores. Está em desenvolvimento um projeto de pesquisa sobre obesidade infantil, bem como o planejamento para intervenções para 2022. Mesmo diante de todas as dificuldades perante a pandemia, a LAEM conseguiu disseminar informações aos ligantes, aos acadêmicos e à população

Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci in the Independent-founding Wasp Polists versicolor (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Microsatellite primers developed for a given species are sometimes useful for another in the same genus, making possible to search for pre-existing suitable primers in the data banks such as GenBank. We examined whether existing primers developed for Polistes wasps could be used for the independent-founding wasp Polistes versicolor. We tested 50 microsatellite primers from three Polistes species and found that five microsatellite loci show polymorphism in size in P. versicolor. These five loci were highly polymorphic, having four to 10 alleles in P. versicolor with an expected heterozygosity of 0.530–0.836. These loci can be used to study parameters concerning genetic relatedness such as social interactions in colonies and genetic conflicts of interest among nestmate individuals

Production of viral vectors using recombinase-mediated cassette exchange

DNA viruses are often used as vectors for foreign gene expression, but large DNA region from cloned or authentic viral genomes must usually be handled to generate viral vectors. Here, we present a unique system for generating adenoviral vectors by directly substituting a gene of interest in a small transfected plasmid with a replaced gene in a replicating viral genome in Cre-expressing 293 cells using the recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) reaction. In combination with a positive selection of the viral cis-acting packaging signal connected with the gene of interest, the purpose vector was enriched to 97.5 and 99.8% after three and four cycles of infection, respectively. Our results also showed that the mutant loxP V (previously called loxP 2272), a variant target of Cre used in the RMCE reaction, was useful as a non-compatible mutant to wild-type loxP. This method could be useful for generating not only a large number of adenovirus vectors simultaneously, but also other DNA virus vectors including helper-dependent adenovirus vector

POR UMA JUSTIÇA COM AMOR: RICOEUR E OS MEIOS CONSENSUAIS ENTRE A EQUIVALÊNCIA E A SUPERABUNDÂNCIA

O artigo defende que a tensão dialética entre justiça e amor proposta por Paul Ricoeur contribui para a análise das lógicas subjacentes à justiça tradicional, de um lado, e à justiça conciliativa, de outro. Argumenta-se que a primeira, caracterizada pela decisão imposta por um terceiro (árbitro ou juiz), aproxima-se da lógica da equivalência (“dar a cada um o que é seu” ou a Regra de Ouro). Já a justiça conciliativa, na qual a decisão é consensualmente tomada pelas próprias partes em conflito (como na negociação, mediação ou conciliação), valoriza-se a lógica da superabundância (“amar os inimigos”). Dessa forma, alega-se que o reconhecimento da tensão dialética entre amor e justiça que perpassa os mecanismos de tratamento de conflitos permite identificar suas peculiaridades e, assim, proporcionar uma solução mais adequada dos casos.&nbsp

Banisteriopsis Species: A Source of Bioactive of Potential Medical Application

In recent years, interest in further development of herbal or botanical drug products derived from traditional preparations has been increasing steadily. Plants have been used for thousands of years to treat health disorders and to prevent diseases including epidemics. Several research works have been developed to search for new natural products to be used in pharmaceutical products. Active compounds produced during secondary metabolism are responsible for the biological properties of the plant species and may be used to most diverse purposes, including treatment of several diseases. Banisteriopsis species has been described showing interesting activities by its use in popular medicine. The mainly use was described to production of the Ayahuasca, an Amazonian psychotropic plant tea obtained from Banisteriopsis caapi, which contains  betacarboline alkaloids, mainly harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. Other species of Banisteriopsis genus have been described with biological metabolites as antimicrobial, anticholinesterase, antianxiety and others. These biological activities were described chiefly by the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins. Thus, to stimulate the study into the Banisteriopsis genus, the purpose of the present review is to gather information on the use of the extracts and metabolites of Banisteriopsis species (Malpighiaceae) as a resource to diseases treatment or to pharmaceutical purposes

Reproducibility of CBF using pCASL

Purpose : To determine the reproducibility of corrected quantitative cerebral blood flow (qCBF) through measurement of transit flow time using multi-delay three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) in healthy men and women and to evaluate the differences in qCBF between not only men and women, but also the follicular and luteal phases of the women’s menstrual cycle. Methods : The participants were 16 healthy volunteers (8 men and 8 women ; mean age, 25.3 years). Two MRI were conducted for all participants ; female participants were conducted in the follicular and luteal phases. The reproducibility of qCBF values was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and differences between the two groups were estimated by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. Results : The qCBF values were lower in men than in women, and those in females were significantly different between the follicular and luteal phases (P < 0.05). In VBM analysis, the qCBF values of the lower frontal lobes were significantly higher in women than in men (P < 0.05). The qCBF values of the frontal pole were significantly higher in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase (P < 0.01). Conclusion : Multi-delay pCASL can reveal physiological and sex differences in cerebral perfusion