Yeast Nanometric Scale Oscillations Highlights Fibronectin Induced Changes in C. albicans

Yeast resistance to antifungal drugs is a major public health issue. Fungal adhesion onto the host mucosal surface is still a partially unknown phenomenon that is modulated by several actors among which fibronectin plays an important role. Targeting the yeast adhesion onto the mucosal surface could lead to potentially highly efficient treatments. In this work, we explored the effect of fibronectin on the nanomotion pattern of different Candida albicans strains by atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanomotion detection and correlated the cellular oscillations to the yeast adhesion onto epithelial cells. Preliminary results demonstrate that strongly adhering strains reduce their nanomotion activity upon fibronectin exposure whereas low adhering Candida remain unaffected. These results open novel avenues to explore cellular reactions upon exposure to stimulating agents and possibly to monitor in a rapid and simple manner adhesive properties of C. albicans

Swim training restores glucagon-like peptide-1 insulinotropic action in pancreatic islets from monosodium glutamate-obese rats

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Aims: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an important modulator of insulin secretion by endocrine pancreas. In the present study, we investigated the effect of swim training on GLP-1 insulinotropic action in pancreatic islets from monosodium glutamate (MSG)-obese rats. Methods: Obesity was induced by neonatal MSG administration. MSG-obese and control (CON) exercised rats swam for 30 min (3 times week(-1)) for 10 weeks. Pancreatic islets were isolated by colagenase technique and incubated with low (5.6 mM) or high (16.7 mM) glucose concentrations in the presence or absence of GLP-1 (10 nM). In addition, GLP-1 gene expression in ileum was quantified in fasting and glucose conditions. Results: Exercise reduced obesity and hyperinsulinemia in MSG-obese rats. Swim training also inhibited glucose-induced insulin secretion in islets from both groups. Islets from MSG-obese rats maintained GLP-1 insulinotropic response in low glucose concentration. In contrast, in the presence of high glucose concentration, GLP-1 insulinotropic action was absent in islets from MSG-obese rats. Islets from MSG-exercised rats showed reduced GLP-1 insulinotropic action in the presence of low glucose. However, in high glucose concentration swim training restored GLP-1 insulinotropic response in islets from MSG-obese rats. In all groups, glucose intake increased GLP-1immunoreactivity and gene expression in ileum cells in relation to fasting conditions. Swim training reduced these parameters only in ileum cells from CON-exercised rats. Neither MSG treatment nor exercise affected GLP-1 expression in the ileum. Conclusions: Exercise avoids insulin hypersecretion restoring GLP-1's insulinotropic action in pancreatic islets from MSG-obese rats.20913444Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundacao Araucaria (Fundacao Araucaria de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico do Estado do Parana)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)SETI/UGF (Secretaria de Estado da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior/Unidade Gestora do Fundo do Parana)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Trabalhando com estratégias de ensino-aprendizado por descoberta na área da saúde: a problematização e a aprendizagem baseada em problemas Discovery-based teaching and learning strategies in health: problematization and problem-based learning

Considerando os processos de mudança no ensino em saúde e a demanda por novas formas de trabalhar com o conhecimento no ensino superior, discutem-se dois caminhos metodológicos inovadores no ensino na área da saúde: a aprendizagem baseada em problemas (ABP) e a problematização. Descrevendo suas raízes teóricas, procura-se identificar os seus princípios orientadores. Enquanto propostas distintas, ambas contribuem para rever o processo de ensino-aprendizagem: a problematização, voltando-se para a construção do conhecimento no contexto de uma formação crítica; a ABP, voltando-se para os aspectos cognitivos do processo de construção de conceitos e apropriação dos mecanismos básicos da ciência. Tanto a problematização como a ABP levam a rupturas com a forma tradicional de ensinar e aprender, estimulando gestão participativa dos protagonistas da experiência e reorganização da relação teoria/prática. A crítica às possibilidades e limites de cada proposta, valendo-se da análise de seus fundamentos teórico-metodológicos, leva-nos a concluir que experiências pedagógicas apoiadas na ABP e/ou na problematização, podem representar um movimento inovador no contexto da educação na área da saúde favorecendo rupturas e processos mais amplos de mudança.<br>Considering the changes in teaching in the health field and the demand for new ways of dealing with knowledge in higher learning, the article discusses two innovative methodological approaches: problem-based learning (PBL) and problematization. Describing the two methods' theoretical roots, the article attempts to identify their main foundations. As distinct proposals, both contribute to a review of the teaching and learning process: problematization, focused on knowledge construction in the context of the formation of a critical awareness; PBL, focused on cognitive aspects in the construction of concepts and appropriation of basic mechanisms in science. Both problematization and PBL lead to breaks with the traditional way of teaching and learning, stimulating participatory management by actors in the experience and reorganization of the relationship between theory and practice. The critique of each proposal's possibilities and limits using the analysis of their theoretical and methodological foundations leads us to conclude that pedagogical experiences based on PBL and/or problematization can represent an innovative trend in the context of health education, fostering breaks and more sweeping changes

Surface functionalization of bioactive glasses and hydroxyapatite with polyphenols from organic red grape pomace

An extract of polyphenols was obtained from organic red grape pomace, chemically analyzed, and used for functionalization of two bioactive glasses and porous hy- droxyapatite. Functionalization is effective on hydroxyapatite and the bioactive glass with higher surface reactivity with a different grafting mechanism. Grafting does not inhibit redox and radical scavenging activity of polyphenols. The grafted polyphenols make a continuous layer with an almost complete surface coverage. Polyphenols are released with different kinetics according to the mechanism of grafting and maintain their redox activity. A homogeneous thin layer of polyphenols is still firmly grafted on both substrates after 28 days of soaking and it still maintains radical scavenging activity. The functionalized samples can be sterilized by gamma irradiation