O pensamento social de universitários sobre beleza e cirurgia estética

O estudo objetivou identificar as representações sociais de homens e mulheres com diferentes formações acadêmicas, a respeito de beleza e da cirurgia estética. Pesquisa de natureza descritiva e comparativa, com delineamento transversal, com a participação de 120 universitários; plano de investigação multimétodo desenhado por A.S. de Rosa através de questionário semiestruturado, autoaplicável, dividido em cinco par- tes; envolvendo análise estatística descritiva, relacional e análise textual de redes associativas. Os resultados destacam diferenças significativas nas representações sociais dos grupos em relação aos objetos sociais, beleza e cirurgia estética, em termos de conteúdo, avaliações e dimensões sociopsicológicas. A proximidade dos indivíduos e grupos com o corpo confirma parcialmente as evidências das variáveis influentes em termos de gênero e formação acadêmica dos participantes nas repre- sentações dos objetos pesquisados. The study aimed to identify the social representations of men and women with different academic backgrounds, regarding beauty and aesthetic surgery. This study is a descriptive and comparative research, with cross-sectional design, based on the par- ticipation of 120 university students; Multi-method research plan designed by A.S. de Rosa through a semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire, divided into five parts; involv- ing descriptive and relational statistical analysis, and textual analysis of associative networks. The results highlight significant differences in the social representations of the groups in relation to social objects, beauty and aesthetic surgery, in terms of contents, assessments and socio-psychological dimensions. The proximity of individuals and groups to the body partially confirms the evidence of influential variables in terms of gender and academic training of the participants in the representations of the objects surveyed

Rizobactérias no controle da mancha angular do algodoeiro.

Título em inglês: Rhizobacteria to control cotton bacterial blight

Complete genome sequence of Bacillus thuringiensis BR145, a strain with insecticidal activity against Lepidoptera pests.

Bacillus thuringiensis BR145 isolated from a soybean field in Southern Brazil showed toxicity against two important insect pests from soybean crop, Helicoverpa armigera, and Chrysodeixis includens, with LC(50) 0.294 µg.cm(-2) and 0.277 µg.cm(-2), respectively. We analyzed the genome of this strain through sequences obtained by Next Generation DNA Sequencing and de novo assembly. The analysis of the genome revealed insecticidal genes cry1Aa, cry1Ab, cry1Ac, cry1Ia, cry2Ab, cyt1, and vip3Aa, suggesting the use of this strain in new strategies of biological control

Role of Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) 2 in Experimental Bacillus cereus Endophthalmitis

Bacillus cereus causes a uniquely rapid and blinding intraocular infection, endophthalmitis. B. cereus replicates in the eye, synthesizes numerous toxins, and incites explosive intraocular inflammation. The mechanisms involved in the rapid and explosive intraocular immune response have not been addressed. Because Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are integral to the initial recognition of organisms during infection, we hypothesized that the uniquely explosive immune response observed during B. cereus endophthalmitis is directly influenced by the presence of TLR2, a known Gram-positive pathogen recognition receptor. To address this hypothesis, we compared the courses of experimental B. cereus endophthalmitis in wild type C57BL/6J mice to that of age-matched homozygous TLR2-/- mice. Output parameters included analysis of bacterial growth, inflammatory cell (PMN) infiltration, cytokine/chemokine kinetics, retinal function testing, and histology, with N≥4 eyes/assay/time point/mouse strain. B. cereus grew at similar rates to108 CFU/eye by 12 h, regardless of the mouse strain. Retinal function was preserved to a greater degree in infected TLR2-/- eyes compared to that of infected wild type eyes, but infected eyes of both mouse strains lost significant function. Retinal architecture was preserved in infected TLR2-/- eyes, with limited retinal and vitreal cellular infiltration compared to that of infected wild type eyes. Ocular myeloperoxidase activities corroborated these results. In general, TNFα, IFNγ, IL6, and KC were detected in greater concentrations in infected wild type eyes than in infected TLR2-/- eyes. The absence of TLR2 resulted in decreased intraocular proinflammatory cytokine/chemokine levels and altered recruitment of inflammatory cells into the eye, resulting in less intraocular inflammation and preservation of retinal architecture, and a slightly greater degree of retinal function. These results demonstrate TLR2 is an important component of the initial ocular response to B. cereus endophthalmitis