As redes sociais no “mundo dos jovens” de 2º e 3º ciclos do ensino básico

A escola debate-se hoje com um problema central: tem como objetivo formar cidadãos literatos, ativos e responsáveis mas enfrenta a concorrência dos meios de comunicação, que são uma escola paralela a que os alunos dedicam mais tempo do que à escola e à família. A concorrência é feita por todos os media, sem exceção, quer se trate dos tradicionais ou dos digitais. A questão já não está só no tempo que os alunos dedicam aos media, mas também nos efeitos que a utilização desses media, sobretudo dos novos, têm ao nível da aprendizagem. Com o desenvolvimento da Web 2.0, o paradigma comunicacional mediático alterou-se. Hoje, a comunicação é feita de muitos para muitos, pelo que já não importa apenas preparar os futuros cidadãos para serem consumidores críticos de mensagens media, mas também produtores reflexivos. O nosso trabalho, em curso, visa compreender de que forma os jovens de 2º e 3º Ciclos do ensino básico, utilizam as redes sociais, percecionam os seus desempenhos e se relacionam com os seus pares e com outros grupos.School is facing today a central problem: it aims to educate literary citizens, active and responsible but, it competes with media, a parallel school to which students devote more time than to the traditional one and to their family. The competition is held by all media with no exception (traditional and the so-called new or digital). The question is no longer on the time students devote to the media, but also in the effects that its use, specially the new ones, have at the learning level. With the development of the Web 2.0, the paradigm of media communication has changed. Today, the communication is made from many to many, so it is no longer important just to train the future citizens to be critical consumers of media messages, but also reflexive producers. Our work in progress aims to understand how the youngsters of 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education use the social networks, perceive their performance in the social networks and relate to their peers and other groups in the social networks

Developmental profile and diagnoses in children presenting with motor stereotypies

Introduction: Motor stereotypies represent a typical example of the difficulty in distinguishing non-clinical behaviors (physiological and transient) from symptoms or among different disorders (“primary stereotypies”, associated with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disabilities, genetic syndromes, sensory impairment). Aim of this study was to get an accurate analysis on the relationship between stereotypies and neurodevelopmental disorders. Methods: We studied 23 children (3 girls) aged 36 to 95 months, who requested a consultation due to the persistence or the increase severity of motor stereotypies. None of patients had a previous diagnosis of ASD. The assessment included the Motor Severity Stereotypy Scale (MSSS), the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R), the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM), the Child Behavior Checklist for ages 1 ½ -5 or 4-18 (CBCL), the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule- Second edition (ADOS 2). Results: All patients were showing motor stereotypies for periods of time varying from 6 to 77 months. The MSSS showed each child had a limited number of stereotypies; their frequency and intensity were mild; the interference of stereotypies was variable; the impairment in the daily life was mild. The RBS-R scores resulted positive for the subscale of “Stereotypic behaviors” in all children; moreover, several children presented other repetitive behaviors, mainly “Ritualistic behavior” and “Sameness behavior”. All patients showed a normal cognitive level. The CBCL evidenced behavioral problems in 22% of the children: Internalizing problems, Attention and Withdrawn were the main complaints. On the SRS, all but one of the tested patients obtained clinical scores in the clinical range at least in one area. On the ADOS 2, four patients obtained scores indicating a moderate level of ASD symptoms, four had a mild level and fifteen showed no or minimal signs of ASD. Discussion: Motor stereotypies in children with normal cognitive level represent a challenging diagnostic issue for which a finely tailored assessment is mandatory in order to define a precise developmental profile. Notably, a careful and cautious use of standardized tests is warranted to avoid misdiagnosis. Furthermore, it is hard to consider motor stereotypies, even the primary ones, exclusively as a movement disorder

Developmental motor profile in preschool children with primary stereotypic movement disorder

Aim. Different neuropsychological dysfunctions have been described in children with primary Stereotypic Movement Disorder (SMD), mainly attention or motor coordination problems. Up to now with no study has evaluated psychomotor functions in preschoolers primary SMD. The aim of this observational study was to gather information on the motor profiles of SMD patients in this age range in comparison with typically developing children. Patients and Methods. Twenty-six children (four girls) aged 36 to 76 months (mean= 53 ±10) with primary SMD were assessed by a structured evaluation including the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2), the Beery-Buktenica Developmental test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), the Repetitive Behaviour Scale-Revised (RBS-R), the Motor Severity Stereotypy Scale (MSSS), and the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). The diagnoses of Intellectual Disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder were exclusion criteria from the study. A comparison group of twenty-seven (four girls) typically developing children without stereotypies aged 36 to 59 months (mean= 48 ±7) was also examined. Results. The MABC-2 total score was lower than 15th percentile in fifteen children with SMD (58%); the worst performances were observed in Balance and Manual Dexterity subtests. The motor coordination score of VMI was lower than 15th percentile in ten children (38%). The majority of the children with low scores at MABC-2 also had low scores at the motor coordination subscale of VMI. MABC-2 standard scores of the clinical group were significantly lower than those of controls on MABC-2 Total, Balance, and Ball Skills subtests. Conclusion. The finding of widespread dysfunction of gross and fine motor abilities in preschoolers with primary SMD seems to delineate a peculiar phenotype and could provide new approaches to the management of this neurodevelopment disorder

A Psychometric Properties Evaluation of the Italian Version of the Geriatric Depression Scale

Objective. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is an evaluation tool to diagnose older adult's depression. This questionnaire was defined by Yesavage and Brink in 1982; it was designed expressly for the older person and defines his/her degree of satisfaction, quality of life, and feelings. The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-IT). Methods. The Italian version of the Geriatric Depression Scale was administered to 119 people (79 people with a depression diagnosis and 40 healthy ones). We examined the following psychometric characteristics: internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity (factor structure). Results. Cronbach's Alpha for the GDS-IT administered to the depressed sample was 0.84. Test-retest reliability was 0.91 and the concurrent validity was 0.83. The factorial analysis showed a structure of 5 factors, and the scale cut-off is between 10 and 11. Conclusion. The GDS-IT proved to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for the evaluation of depression in an Italian population. In the present study, the GDS-IT showed good psychometric properties. Health professionals now have an assessment tool for the evaluation of depression symptoms in the Italian population

Design and implementation of an online Delphi study to develop indicators for evidence‐informed policy making

This report describes a Delphi study conducted within the European FP7 project REsearch into POlicy to enhance Physical Activity (REPOPA), whose main objective is fostering evidence-informed policy making in the field of health and physical activity. The Delphi study was designed and implemented for improving and integrating a draft list of indicators for evidence-informed policy making developed by REPOPA researchers to assess the use of evidence in policy processes, organized in thematic sets. The Delphi study involved 76 policy makers and researchers from six European countries – Italy, Romania, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom and The Netherlands – and was conducted in two rounds consisting of online questionnaires. Preliminary results about the effect of the Delphi on the original indicators are reported

Static and thermal FE analysis of a Flexible Electronic BOard (FEBO) prototype and the characterization of its innovative materials

An FE model of an experimental flexible electronic board was built to determine its performance in terms of mechanical and thermal distortions, heat and transient thermal flow, thereby detecting critical issues and identifying opportunities for improvement. Commercial sensors were connected to the flexible board (100x40x2mm), which was based on a commercial thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), with a PEDOT-based conductive resin trapped in a PEGDA network, a biocompatible polymer. Three thermal loads (ΔT=175°C, ΔT=100°C, ΔT=50°C) were applied which revealed critical stresses for high ΔTs but at ΔT=50°C only the connectors had a critical σvm, while for ΔT=50°C + 1mm displacement a critical strain value occurred in one area of the substrate. Heat transient analysis and overheating simulations were performed to determine the heat flow behavior for the photodiode and accelerometer. FE analyses allow more studies to be undertaken to improve material properties and suggest redesign activities for similar concept demonstrators. The funds of the European Union and the Piedmont Region, and agreements with the most important players in SBE (Simulation Based Engineering) software sales and services, allowed the authors (ITACAe srl, Proplast, and Politecnico di Torino) to conduct industrial research and experimental development together with manufacturers and users of innovative technologies to identify, study and optimize the design parameters of the board while simultaneously contributing to its technological development

Malarial pigment enhances heat shock protein-27 in THP-1 cells: New perspectives for in vitro studies on monocyte apoptosis prevention

Abstract Objective To investigate the effect of malarial pigment (hemozoin, HZ) on expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and cell viability in human monocytes by using a stable cell line (THP-1 cells). Methods THP-1 cells were fed with native HZ or treated with pro-apoptotic molecule gliotoxin for 9 h. Thereafter, the protein expression of HSP-27 and HSP-70 was evaluated by western blotting. Alternatively, HZ-fed cells were cultured up to 72 h and cell viability parameters (survival, apoptosis and necrosis rates) were measured by flow cytometric analysis. Results HZ increased basal protein levels of HSP-27 without altering those of HSP-70 in THP-1 cells, and promoted long-term cell survival without inducing apoptosis. As expected, gliotoxin inhibited HSP-27 protein expression and promoted long-term cell apoptosis. Conclusions Present data show that HZ prevents cell apoptosis and enhances the expression of anti-apoptotic HSP-27 in THP-1 cells, confirming the previous evidences obtained from HZ-fed immunopurified monocytes. Since the use of a stable cell line is pivotal to perform HSP-27 silencing experiments, monocytic THP-1 cells could be a good candidate line for such an approach, which is heavily required to clarify the role of HSP-27 in survival of impaired HZ-fed monocytes during falciparum malaria

Stat3 Expression and Its Correlation with Proliferation and Apoptosis/Autophagy in Gliomas

Signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (Stat3) was studied along with several steps of the PI3/Akt pathway in a series of 64 gliomas that included both malignant and low-grade tumors, using quantitative immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and molecular biology techniques. The goal of the study was to investigate whether activated Stat3 (phospho-Stat3) levels correlated with cell proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. Stat3 and activated Akt (phospho-Akt) expression increased with malignancy grade, but did not correlate with proliferation and survival within the category of glioblastomas. A correlation of Stat3 with Akt was found, indicating a regulation of the former by the PI3/Akt pathway, which, in turn, was in relation with EGFR amplification. Stat3 and Akt did not show any correlation with apoptosis, whereas they showed an inverse correlation with Beclin 1, a stimulator of autophagy, which was rarely positive in glioblastomas. Autophagy seems then to be inactivated in malignant gliomas