Characterizing and modeling preferential flow using magnetic resonance imaging and multifractal theory.

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Adolescence and youth at risk situation : social network and personal protective factors

Este estudo visou investigar fatores sociais e pessoais que possam servir como proteção a adolescentes e jovens em situação de risco social e pessoal. Os participantes foram 852 adolescentes e jovens, cursando o ensino médio em escolas públicas do Distrito Federal, com idade entre 13 e 27 anos, que responderam a um questionário com 109 questões sobre risco e proteção em seu desenvolvimento. Os resultados enfocam as redes de proteção (família, escola, amigos) e os fatores pessoais (auto-estima, religiosidade-espiritualidade). Os adolescentes e jovens apresentam processos de resiliência global (social, emocional e acadêmica), evidenciando a confiança em si mesmos e na rede composta por escola, família e amigos. A análise dos dados enfatiza a compreensão contextual da adolescência e juventude no Brasil e a necessidade de implementação de políticas públicas para essas populações que permitam o exercício e a significação de suas experiências positivas e protetivas.This study aimed to investigate social and personal factors that can serve as protection to adolescents and youths in situation of social and personal risk. The participants were 852 adolescents and youths of public schools of the Federal District, aged 13 to 27 years, who answered a questionnaire with 109 items about risk and protection in their development. The results focused on the protection networks (family, school, friends) and the personal factors (self-esteem, religiosity-spirituality). The adolescents and youths presented processes of global resilience (social, emotional and academic), evidencing the trust in themselves and in the composed network by school, family and friends. The data analyses show the importance of understanding adolescence and youth as a contextual process in Brazil and the necessity of youth's public polices to exercise and to internalize positive and protective experiences

Consolidação do diálogo entre Arquivologia, Biblioteconomia, Museologia e Ciência da Informação: a contribuição brasileira.

Objective. To present the contributions of the research group based at the School of Information Science, Federal University of Minas Gerais, named “Approaches and possible dialogues between Information Science and the areas of Archival Science, Library Science and Museum Studies” to consolidate the problem. Design/Methodology/Approach. We present the discussions made from the productions of the members of this group, showing the elements capable of supporting an epistemological view and the processes of an interdisciplinary dialogue. Results/Discusion. There are several historical, institutional and theoretical elements that have the potential for dialogue, such as concepts, themes, professional and educational challenges in each of them. Conclusions. There is some immaturity in the conditions of dialogue between the three areas, and even more so with the information science. The idea that the foundation is in belonging to the field of social sciences seems to point the way to the realization of possibilities. Originality/Value. The text points to the construction of a reflective space beyond the specificity of each one of the areas, demonstrating the possible dialogues and convergences between them

Atorvastatin and sildenafil decrease vascular TGF-β levels and MMP-2 activity and ameliorate arterial remodeling in a model of renovascular hypertension

AbstractImbalanced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 activity and transforming growth factor expression (TGF-β) are involved in vascular remodeling of hypertension. Atorvastatin and sildenafil exert antioxidant and pleiotropic effects that may result in cardiovascular protection. We hypothesized that atorvastatin and sildenafil alone or in association exert antiproliferative effects by down-regulating MMP-2 and TGF-β, thus reducing the vascular hypertrophy induced by two kidney, one clip (2K1C) hypertension.Sham and 2K1C rats were treated with oral atorvastatin 50mg/kg, sildenafil 45mg/kg, or both, daily for 8 weeks. Blood pressure was monitored weekly. Morphologic changes in the aortas were studied. TGF-β levels were determined by immunofluorescence. MMP-2 activity and expression were determined by in situ zymography, gel zymography, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence. The effects of both drugs on proliferative responses of aortic smooth muscle cells to PDGF and on on MMP-2 activity in vitro were determined. Atorvastatin, sildenafil, or both drugs exerted antiproliferative effects in vitro. All treatments attenuated 2K1C-induced hypertension and prevented the increases in the aortic cross-sectional area and media/lumen ratio in 2K1C rats. Aortas from 2K1C rats showed higher collagen deposition, TGF-β levels and MMP-2 activity and expression when compared with Sham-operated animals. Treatment with atorvastatin and/or sildenafil was associated with attenuation of 2K1C hypertension-induced increases in these pro-fibrotic factors. However, these drugs had no in vitro effects on hr-MMP-2 activity.Atorvastatin and sildenafil was associated with decreased vascular TGF-β levels and MMP-2 activity in renovascular hypertensive rats, thus ameliorating the vascular remodeling. These novel pleiotropic effects of both drugs may translate into protective effects in patients

Oil Development in ANWR: The Precautionary Principle Is Compatible with the Fish and Wildlife Service\u27s Statutory Mandate

The potential for oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) coastal plain, otherwise known as the 1002 Area, is significant, with a current value of $770 billion. Yet, there are considerable knowledge gaps and disagreements over the environmental impacts of oil development in ANWR. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) manages ANWR and is tasked with advancing the refuge’s mission of ecological conservation. Before it can approve oil development in ANWR, the FWS is statutorily required to ensure that oil development is compatible with ANWR’s mission. This Comment argues that the precautionary principle is embedded within the laws governing FWS management of ANWR. Simply, the precautionary principle is “foresight planning,” in that it demands proactive prevention of potentially serious threats to human health and the environment. Therefore, until sufficient scientific information demonstrates oil development is compatible with ecological conservation, the FWS must proceed with caution and prohibit oil development in ANWR’s 1002 Area

Sodium nitrite downregulates vascular NADPH oxidase and exerts antihypertensive effects in hypertension

Dietary nitrite and nitrate are important sources of nitric oxide (NO). However, the use of nitrite as an antihypertensive drug may be limited by increased oxidative stress associated with hypertension. We evaluated the antihypertensive effects of sodium nitrite given in drinking water for 4 weeks in two-kidney one-clip (21(1 C) hypertensive rats and the effects induced by nitrite on NO bioavailability and oxidative stress. We found that, even under the increased oxidative stress conditions present in 2K1C hypertension, nitrite reduced systolic blood pressure in a dose-dependent manner. Whereas treatment with nitrite did not significantly change plasma nitrite concentrations in 2K1C rats, it increased plasma nitrate levels significantly. Surprisingly, nitrite treatment exerted antioxidant effects in both hypertensive and sham-normotensive control rats. A series of in vitro experiments was carried out to show that the antioxidant effects induced by nitrite do not involve direct antioxidant effects or xanthine oxidase activity inhibition. Conversely, nitrite decreased vascular NADPH oxidase activity. Taken together, our results show for the first time that nitrite has antihypertensive effects in 2K1C hypertensive rats, which may be due to its antioxidant properties resulting from vascular NADPH oxidase activity inhibition. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Programa Nacional de Cooperacao AcademicaUniv São Paulo, Fac Med Ribeirao Preto, Dept Pharmacol, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Campinas, Fac Med Sci, Dept Pharmacol, BR-13081970 Campinas, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, BR-04023040 São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Santa Maria, Dept Chem, BR-97105900 Santa Maria, RS, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, BR-04023040 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Onde estão os autores e autoras negras? A literatura afro-brasileira nos acervos das bibliotecas públicas brasileiras

Public libraries are social institutions whose mission is to serve everyone in the communities where they are inserted. Considering the Brazilian reality, composed mostly of black and brown people, the importance of literary reading for the reader’s formation and the representativeness of public library collections, this research penetrated such collections as to verify the presence of black men and women authors of Afro-Brazilian literature. It focused on the following variables: gender, date and place of birth, and the presence or absence of the authors and their works in the collections of fourteen libraries whose catalogues are available online. The descriptive research revealed that there is no proper incorporation of books of Afro-Brazilian literature in the collections of public libraries, compromising a democratization of the library that is not only longed for but indispensable. Thus, it is necessary to discuss a different formation and development of these collections,with a view to a ‘collection repair’that would decolonize the gaze, allowing access to the bibliographic legacy, mainly in literature, by black authors, so that public libraries can constitute democratic and representative spaces of Brazilian society

Public spending impact on short term growth : a machine learning approach

The public spending multiplier has long been a subject of analysis with central discussion on how its size varies under different economic contexts. The article that integrates this dissertation introduces a causal machine learning technique as a tool to estimate the public spending multiplier and make individual predictions based on each country’s economic context. We propose to model the multiplier with a causal random forest, developed by Wager e Athey (2018), uncovering possible heterogeneous treatment effects. We apply this methodology to a dataset provided by the International Monetary Fund, including data from 35 developed countries for the years from 2000 to 2020. The multiplier estimates obtained with this methodology are between 1.7 and 2.7. In addition, we use this methodology as a tool to uncover which features are important to the multiplier heterogeneity.O multiplicador do gasto público é objeto de análise há muito tempo, com a discussão centrada em como seu tamanho varia em diferentes contextos econômicos. No artigo que integra esta dissertação, apresentamos uma técnica de aprendizado de máquina causal como uma ferramenta para estimar o multiplicador do gasto público e fazer previsões individualizadas com base no contexto econômico de cada país. Propomos modelar o multiplicador com uma floresta aleatória causal, desenvolvida por Wager e Athey (2018), descobrindo possíveis efeitos de tratamento heterogêneos. Aplicamos essa metodologia em um conjunto de dados fornecido pelo Fundo Monetário Internacional, incluindo dados de 35 países desenvolvidos ao longo dos anos de 2000 a 2020. As estimativas dos multiplicadores obtidas com esta metodologia estão entre 1,7 e 2,7. Além disso, usamos essa metodologia como uma ferramenta para descobrir quais recursos são importantes para a heterogeneidade do multiplicador

Onde estão os autores e autoras negras? A literatura afro-brasileira nos acervos das bibliotecas públicas brasileiras

Public libraries are social institutions whose mission is to serve everyone in the communities where they are inserted. Considering the Brazilian reality, composed mostly of black and brown people, the importance of literary reading for the reader’s formation and the representativeness of public library collections, this research penetrated such collections as to verify the presence of black men and women authors of Afro-Brazilian literature. It focused on the following variables: gender, date and place of birth, and the presence or absence of the authors and their works in the collections of fourteen libraries whose catalogues are available online. The descriptive research revealed that there is no proper incorporation of books of Afro-Brazilian literature in the collections of public libraries, compromising a democratization of the library that is not only longed for but indispensable. Thus, it is necessary to discuss a different formation and development of these collections,with a view to a ‘collection repair’that would decolonize the gaze, allowing access to the bibliographic legacy, mainly in literature, by black authors, so that public libraries can constitute democratic and representative spaces of Brazilian society