Systematic review: hereditary thrombophilia associated to pediatric strokes and cerebral palsy

AbstractObjectivesThis review aimed to organize and consolidate the latest knowledge about mutations and genetic polymorphisms related to hereditary thrombophilia and their potential association with pediatric stroke and cerebral palsy (CP).SourcesScientific articles published from 1993 to 2013, written in Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish, were selected and reviewed. The publications were searched in electronic databases, and also in the collections of local libraries. The terms “hereditary thrombophilia”, “polymorphisms”, “mutation”, “pediatric strokes”, and “cerebral palsy” were used for the research.Summary of the findingsThe search in databases and in the bibliographic references retrieved 75 articles for inclusion in this review. Studies that investigated hereditary thrombophilias and their associations to CP and arterial and venous pediatric stroke presented contradictory results. The meta‐analysis and case‐control studies that showed positive results for this association described only slightly increased relative risks and sometimes had questionable conclusions. The association of two or more hereditary thrombophilias, or the association between thrombophilia and other specific clinical risk factors, suggest a higher risk of CP and pediatric stroke than isolated hereditary thrombophilia.ConclusionsLarger, multicenter studies should be developed in order to elucidate the role of mutations leading to hereditary thrombophilia and the development of CP and pediatric stroke. The complex and multifactorial etiology of CP and stroke makes this an arduous and difficult task; however, the benefits generated by these studies are immeasurable.ResumoObjetivoSistematizar e integrar os últimos conhecimentos sobre mutações e polimorfismos genéticos relacionados às trombofilias hereditárias e suas potenciais associações com acidentes vasculares cerebrais pediátricos (AVC) e paralisia cerebral (PC).MaterialArtigos científicos publicados de 1993 a 2013, escritos em português, inglês, francês e espanhol foram selecionados e revisados. As publicações foram pesquisadas nas bases de dados eletrônicas, como também nos acervos das bibliotecas locais. Os termos mutação, polimorfismos, trombofilias hereditárias, acidentes vasculares cerebrais pediátricos e paralisia cerebral foram usados para a pesquisa.ResultadosA pesquisa nas bases de dados e nas referências bibliográficas identificou 75 artigos para inclusão nesta revisão. Os estudos que investigaram as trombofilias hereditárias e suas associações à PC e aos AVC pediátricos arteriais e venosos apresentaram resultados contraditórios. As metanálises e os estudos caso‐controle que demonstraram resultados positivos para essa associação descreveram riscos relativos discretamente aumentados e, algumas vezes, questionáveis. A associação de duas ou mais trombofilias hereditárias, ou a junção de trombofilias específicas com demais fatores de riscos clínicos, sugerem maior risco no aparecimento da PC e do AVC pediátrico do que as trombofilias hereditárias isoladas.ConclusãoEstudos multicêntricos de grande porte devem ser conduzidos para elucidar o papel real das mutações que levam às trombofilias hereditárias e ao aparecimento da PC e AVC pediátricos. A etiologia multifatorial e complexa da PC e dos AVC torna essa tarefa árdua e difícil, porém, os benefícios gerados por esses estudos são incalculáveis

E por falar em mestre-sala e porta-bandeira: reflexoes sobre o bailado e a preparação do casal nobre para o desfile de carnaval

TCC (Graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina - Centro de Desportos - Educação Física - Licenciatura.Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo perceber os vínculos históricos da dança do mestre-sala e da porta-bandeira de forma a entender seu papel dentro de uma escola de samba para, posteriormente, discutir e analisar o preparo físico e emocional realizado pelo casal para o desfile de Carnaval. Para dar conta da questão lançada foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com quatro casais de mestre-sala e porta-bandeira: dois casais das escolas de samba do Rio de Janeiro (RJ) e dois casais das escolas de samba de Florianópolis (SC). Esta pesquisa é descritiva do tipo exploratória e os sujeitos participantes foram escolhidos intencionalmente a partir de uma amostra do tipo proposital. As informações coletadas por meio das entrevistas foram organizadas em quatro blocos de questionamentos, cada um com seu enfoque específico. A partir do estudo histórico da dança do mestre-sala e da porta-bandeira, bem como da análise das entrevistas, foi possível compreender a importância desse casal e, consequentemente, do seu bailado, nos desfiles de carnaval. Os dados encontrados ainda sugerem duas tendências que inspiram a elaboração do bailado: a tradição do carnaval e o contexto contemporâneo. Este estudo ressalta que metade dos entrevistados tem apoio de um profissional de educação física, nenhum relatou ter apoio psicológico com profissional e todos possuem apoio de coreógrafos. Todos os casais acordam que o critério excludente adotado no desfile de Florianópolis está fora do contexto e não apresenta uma ofensa ao pavilhão

Ostracode-based aminostratigraphy and aminochronology of a tufa system in central Spain

In the Priego area, central Spain, extensive tufa deposits are located in three small tributaries located at the head of the 1000 kmlong Tagus River. The deposits are originated after karst-origin running waters emerged from the confines of the canyons and expanded outward. Old tufa deposits of Priego are mainly present as terraced alluvial plain deposits where different autochthonous and allochthonous facies appear. Extraclastic deposits of quartzite and limestone clasts derived from Mesozoic rocks are interbedded with the tufa marking pulsatory high-flow periods. Using the geomorphologic analysis six terraced levels were differentiated and sampled for ostracode amino acid racemization analysis. D/L ratios of aspartic acid and glutamic acid were used for dating purposes. Cluster analysis defined six aminozones (AMI-AM7) which were dated as follows: AMI: 407 ± 12 ka oxygen isotope stages (OIS 11); AM2: 263 ± 14 ka (OIS 7e); AM3: 181 ± 17 ka (OIS 7a); AM4: 136± 13 ka (OIS 5-6); AM5: 108 ± 14 ka (OIS 5); AM7: 11 ± 4 ka (OIS 1), indicating that tufa deposition took place during warm periods. Models of riverine and riverinebarrage tufa accumulation indicate that their maximum build-up took place between the canyon mouth and the point of depletion of dissolved CO2, and this affected the elevation of the top of the deposits and their relative chronology

Successful organizational learning in the management of agricultural research and innovation: The Mexican produce foundations

"Since the 1980s, developing countries' agriculture has become more complex and diversified. In general, the public research and extension institutions in these countries were criticized for not participating in the emergence of the most dynamic agricultural markets. In recent years, many of these institutions have struggled to adapt to the new environment but they could not overcome the hurdles posed by organizational rigidities, strict public regulations, deteriorating human capital, shrinking budgets and a model of science that hampered their integration into dynamic innovation processes. In general, developing countries applied similar agricultural research policies: separation of financing and implementation of research, reductions in direct budgetary allocations to research and extension institutions, elimination or major reduction of public extension, and introduction of competitive grants programs to induce a transformation of research organizations. Strong anecdotal information suggests that these policies had limited impact on the quality and pertinence of research, and on the performance of the public research institutions. Using a different set of instruments, the Mexican Produce Foundations (PF) had major and diverse impacts on the agricultural innovation and research systems. These impacts resulted mostly from activities the PF introduced as they learned to manage funds for research and extension, and to a lesser extent from the activities they were created for, i.e., manage a competitive fund for agricultural research and extension. The PF were able to introduce these activities because they developed strong abilities to learn, including identifying knowledge gaps and defining strategies to fill them. The questions this report seeks to answer are how an organization that manages public funds for research and extension could sustain organizational innovations over extended periods, and how it could learn and adapt to maximize its impact on the agricultural innovation system. Previous studies found that human resources, organizational cultures and governance structures are three of the most important factors influencing institutional change and innovative capabilities. Despite their importance, these factors have been largely neglected in the literature on agricultural research and extension policies. This document analyzes what role these factors played in the Mexican experience." from textAgricultural research, Agricultural innovation, Developing countries,

EFL Early oral practices in rural primary students : technological tools guiding their Intercultural learning

1 recurso en línea (125 páginas) : ilustraciones color, tablas.Early instructions of English as a foreign language are a current tendency in Colombia, although it is noticeable that pupils from rural contexts encounter difficulties to communicate orally in English altering their social interaction skills. This study intended to propitiate spaces to early development of speaking skills of rural primary students from Boyacá, by using technology combined with intercultural contents such as English speaking countries‟ traditions, following a qualitative approach alongside action research. Workshops were applied in three momentums: pre-workshop, workshop and post workshop; the instruments for supporting data collection were focus groups interviews, video recording teacher‟s journals. This study aimed to inquire about; first, what dimensions in rural primary students‟ early oral practices are apparent when they use technological tools to guide their intercultural learning? Followed by how do rural students perceive technological tools employed to guide their intercultural learning when they are developing early oral practices? Along with what intercultural attitudes do rural students manifest when they use technological tools in their early oral practices about English speaking countries traditions? Within the findings of this research, students expressed their acceptance towards technological tools. They prepared oral communication by welcoming other cultures when they imagined themselves being immersed in foreign backgrounds. In order to structure communicative situations, learners reviewed previous linguistic and cultural contents. Regarding technological outcomes, it was encountered that technological tools were a source of empowerment in relation to culture. Technology represented a positive impact in regards to students‟ appropriation and exploration of foreign traditions. Also, it served as a source of motivation that entrusted learners towards actively participate in the EFL classroom. Similarly, technology was seen as a source of linguistic and cultural input. When students had their first encounters with contents belonging to the foreign culture, they expressed willingness; they started a process where they compared, inquired, and embraced foreign culture features. Then, it caused students conceive imaginary scenarios where they were immersed in the foreign culture, thus, they experienced contrasting emotions which ranged from excitement and enjoyment to insecurity and fear to be misunderstood when they made use of the foreign language.Bibliografía y webgrafía: páginas 103-109PregradoLicenciado en Idiomas Modernos Español - Inglé

Usefulness of cutting planes in the hierarchical segmentation of cardiac anatomical structures

A spatial geometric plane is defined by the three-dimensional coordinates of a pair of spatial points and the direction that the normal vector establishes, which is formed by joining those points by means of an oriented line segment. This type of planes, in three-dimensional images, is extremely useful as an alternative solution to the problem of low contrast that exhibit the anatomical structures present in cardiac computed tomography images. To do this, after using a predetermined filter bank and in order to define a region of interest, a smart operator based on least squares support vector machines is trained and validated in order to detect the aforementioned coordinates which enables the location of the plane, in the three-dimensional space that contains the considered images. Once the structure that is required to segment is identified, a discriminant function is used that cancels all information not linked to this structure. In this work, the segmentation of the left ventricle, based on region growing technique, is firstly considered and then the left atrium is segmented considering region growing technique and an inverse discriminant function. The results show an excellent correspondence relationship when the spatial union of both structures is made

Use of computational realistic models for the cardiac ejection fraction calculation

Ejection fraction is one of the most useful clinical descriptors to determine the cardiac function of a subject. For this reason, obtaining the value of this descriptor is of vital importance and requires high precision. However, in the clinical routine, to generate the mentioned descriptor value, a geometric hypothesis is assumed, obtaining an approximate value for this fraction, usually by excess, and which is a dependent-operator. The aim of the present work is to propose the accurate calculation of the ejection fraction from realistic models, obtained computationally, of the cardiac chamber called right ventricle. Normally, the geometric hypothesis that makes this ventricle coincide with a pyramidal type geometric shape, is not usually, fulfilled in subjects affected by several cardiac pathologies, so as an alternative to this problem, the computational segmentation process is used to generate the morphology of the right ventricle and from it proceeds to obtain, accurately, the ejection fraction value. In this sense, an automatic strategy based on no-lineal filters, smart operator and region growing technique is propose in order to generate the right ventricle ejection fraction. The results are promising due we obtained an excellent correspondence between the manual segmentation and the automatic one generated by the realistic models

Mycosinthetized Ag, CuO and ZnO nanoparticles from a promising Trichoderma harzianum strain and their antifungal potential against important phytopathogens

Fungal green biosynthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) is a promising eco-friendly method for mass-scale production. In the present study Ag, CuO and ZnO nanoparticles were biogenically synthetized using a cell filtrate of a strain of Trichoderma harzianum as a reducer and stabilizer agent. The structure, morphology and physicochemical properties of the NPs were characterized through transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, wide angle X-ray scattering and thermogravimetric analysis. Since nanotechnology could offer promising applications in agricultural area, we evaluated the ability of the NPs to reduce the growth of important fungal phytopathogens as Alternaria alternata, Pyricularia oryzae and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Silver and CuO NPs reduced significantly the mycelial growth of A. alternata and P. oryzae in a dose dependent manner. This is the first report of a multiple extracellular biosynthesis of NPs from T. harzianum and the first time that CuO and ZnO NPs were obtained from this fungus. In addition, we highlighted the rapid production of NPs, as well as, the potential of Ag and CuO for the control of phytopathogens. On the other hand, the three types of NPs could be easily and sustainably produced on a large scale with the chance of having multiple applications in biotechnological processes.Fil: Consolo, Verónica Fabiana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Biotecnología; Argentina. Fundación para Investigaciones Biológicas Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Torres Nicolini, Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Vera Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; Argentin