Plastic fish in troubled waters:Behavioural, developmental and eco-evolutionary aspects of visual system diversity in East African cichlids

Understanding the mechanisms that generate the outstanding biological diversity on our planet has been extensively studied. However, to this date many questions remain unresolved. A fundamental process that produces biodiversity is divergent adaptation: here populations diversify by adapting to different environmental conditions. In this project, I investigated the role of the sensory system in this process, as sensory perception is critical for survival and reproduction: How do sensory systems adapt to local environments and (how) does individual flexibility contribute to this process? The fish visual system provides an excellent opportunity to study these questions as it shows extensive variation among species/populations. Fish inhabit different visual environments, as a result of wavelength-dependent light attenuation in water. There are strong indications that adaptation of the visual pigments in fish eyes plays a role in the origin and persistence of species. In this thesis I focused on cichlid fish, one of the most species-rich vertebrate families. At the level of visual pigment molecular composition, I showed that closely related species deal in different ways with variation in light conditions and differ in their plastic response to experimental light treatments. Despite these differences, fish did not go where they saw best in a behavioural choice experiment. Instead, they had a general preference for blue light. Finally, in a comparative analysis I found no evidence that diversification rates depend on the visual environment of a lineage. Together, my findings highlight that vision rapidly diverges between species/populations, impacts behaviour and is also influenced by individual flexibility

Upper Extremity Kinematics and Pain Outcomes During Activities of Daily Living in Pediatric Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a group of heritable connective tissue disorders, consisting of thirteen different subtypes. Among the thirteen, Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is the most common. Individuals with this condition present with frequent joint instability that results in ongoing subluxations and dislocations. Secondary diagnoses of this condition include chronic pain, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The diagnostic process of hEDS is convoluted by the lack of a genetic identifier (Malfait et al., 2017). Individuals with hEDS are often not diagnosed until later in adulthood, leaving their adolescent life full of confusion and difficulty in managing the symptoms. As a result, children with hEDS endure a childhood of difficulty in participating in school, activities, and engaging with peersThe primary aims of this study were to characterize upper extremity kinematics during activities of daily living, to characterize pain location and severity, to understand common treatments for pain management, and to understand how pain severity can impact the child’s self-perception of disability due to pain in children with hEDS. This study included 11 children with hEDS. Kinematic data collection consisted of using a retroreflective marker set and 3D motion capture system. To obtain data on pain, a non-standardized Pain Severity and Location Questionnaire and Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) (Breivik et al., 2008) were administered interview style. Obtaining data on treatments, a non-standardized Treatment History Questionnaire was administered to the child’s legal guardian. The Functional Disability Inventory (FDI) was administered to identify the child’s level of perceived disability due to his or her pain (Kashikar-Zuck et al., 2011) Obtaining kinematic data of a normative pediatric population was restricted due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Existing literature was utilized to identify clinical differences, however, due to the variability between research this study cannot conclude whether children with hEDS have a greater range of motion than a normal pediatric group. However, this study identified that the four ADL tasks can be completed with wrist flexion and extension within values of 12° and 56° respectively and wrist ulnar and redial deviation within values of 20° and 11° respectively. At the shoulder, the tasks can be completed within 55° of shoulder flexion and 46° of extension. Within the four tasks, internal rotation required maximal of 42° and external rotation required 94. At the thoracohumeral joint, maximal shoulder flexion was 142 and abduction was 57 during the combing task. Internal rotation was greatest during the reaching across task, reaching 81. Data on pain location and severity displayed results that all children in this study reported pain in more than one bodily location. Further, all of the children in this study reported pain in their back. When describing their worst location of pain, all of the children in this study reported pain levels greater than or equal to 4/10, designating moderate to severe pain throughout the entire group. The maximal amount of treatments trialed was 10 while the least amount was 0. Parents reported a mode answer of ‘satisfied’ when questioned their level of satisfaction with treatments trialed for pain on a Likert satisfaction scale. The scores from the Functional Disability Inventory ranged from minimal to severe perceived disability. However, higher FDI scores did not correlate with higher NRS scores. movement patterns has the potential to assist in identifying phenotypic characteristics of this group, which in turn could inform treatment practices and guide future research in identifying a genotype. Additionally, obtaining information regarding chronic pain, fatigue, and psychological experiences in pediatric hEDS can inform researchers on pediatric specific symptoms to more accurately diagnose this population

Interações: um estudo sobre o tema a partir de vozes de professoras de uma instituição de educação infantil da Grande Florianópolis.

Trabalho de Conclusão do Curso de Especialização em Educação Infantil - Segunda Edição – Polo Florianópolis, para a obtenção do Grau de Especialista em Educação Infantil.Esta pesquisa tem como impulso experiências observadas e/ou realizadas durante a trajetória profissional na Educação Infantil, com especial interesse em ampliar as concepções e compreensões a respeito das interações que acontecem nos espaços coletivos destinados ao atendimento educativo de crianças de zero a seis anos de idade – creches e pré-escolas. Tem, portanto, como objetivo realizar um estudo reflexivo sobre as interações que transcorrem no interior de creches e pré-escolas, buscando um diálogo entre a teoria e a prática pedagógica, no cruzamento de importantes documentações que regem o trabalho pedagógico na Educação Infantil com as declarações de professoras de educação infantil sobre suas práticas pedagógicas. Para sua realização optou-se pela análise documental e entrevistas com professoras de educação infantil da rede municipal de ensino da grande Florianópolis, no intento de pensar o objeto a partir de suas múltiplas determinações . A análise dos dados obtidos a partir das entrevistas realizadas com as professoras no que se refere ao diálogo entre teoria-prática pedagógica sobre as interações no cotidiano pedagógico, nos apontou que as profissionais anunciam que organizam e planejam seu trabalho orientando-se nas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Infantil e no Projeto Político Pedagógico, um indicativo que pode explicar o fato de que por vezes é possível perceber as interações intimamente ligadas aos movimentos e momentos de brincadeiras

O brincar em duas escolas públicas de Ensino Fundamental: o espaço da brinquedoteca

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências da Educação. Pedagogia.

As histórias que me levam ao projeto “Conhecer Pedalando” e os caminhos de uma aventura no Mestrado

This text is a synthesis of a descriptive memorial held for the Master of Professional and Technological Education (Blumenau).Este texto es una síntesis de un memorial descriptivo realizado para el Máster de Educación Profesional y Tecnológica (Blumenau).O presente texto é uma síntese de um memorial descritivo realiza do para o Mestrado de Educação Profissional e Tecnológica em Rede (Blumenau)

Visual system plasticity is differently mediated by cone opsin expression and chromophore composition in closely related cichlid species

Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to rapidly adjust to environmental changes. Cichlid fish inhabit a wide range of light environments and show a large diversity in visual system properties, which makes them a good model system to address the role of phenotypic plasticity in visual adaptation. Cichlid retinal cone pigments consist of opsin proteins bound to Vitamin A1 or A2-derived chromophores. Plasticity in expression has been shown for cichlid opsin genes, but less is known about the contribution of cyp27c1, the enzyme that converts Vitamin A1 into A2,. Here, we studied both opsin and cyp27c1 expression patterns for three closely related cichlid species from different visual habitats in Lake Victoria, across different light treatments. We found differences in cyp27c1 as well as in opsin expression patterns between the three species. Experimental light treatments affected the developmental trajectory of cyp27c1 expression in one species and opsin expression in all three species. Within each species, we found large individual variation in cyp27c1 expression levels and no consistent association with opsin expression levels. These results indicate that visual system plasticity of even closely related species can be differentially mediated by opsin and cyp27c1 expression, possibly associated with species differences in visual niche

Measurements of hybrid fertility and a test of mate preference for two house mouse races with massive chromosomal divergence

Abstract Background Western house mice Mus musculus domesticus are among the most important mammalian model species for chromosomal speciation. Hybrids between chromosomal races of M. m. domesticus suffer various degrees of fertility reduction between full fertility and complete sterility, depending on the complexity of the chromosomal differences between the races. This complexity presents itself in hybrids as meiotic configurations of chromosome chains and rings, with longer configurations having a stronger impact on fertility. While hybrids with short configurations have been intensively studied, less work has been done on hybrids with very long configurations. In this study, we investigated laboratory-reared wild mice from two chromosomally very different races in Switzerland found in close proximity. Hybrids between these races form a meiotic chain of fifteen chromosomes. We performed a detailed analysis of male and female hybrid fertility, including three generations of female backcrosses to one of the parental races. We also tested for possible divergence of mate preference in females. Results While all male F1 hybrids were sterile with sperm counts of zero, 48% of female F1 hybrids produced offspring. Their litter sizes ranged from one to three which is significantly lower than the litter size of parental race females. When hybrid females were backcrossed to a parental race, half of the offspring resembled the parental race in karyotype and fertility, while the other half resembled the F1 hybrids. In the preference test, females of both races indicated a lack of a preference for males of their own karyotype. Conclusions Although the fertility of the F1 hybrids was extremely low because of the complexity of the chromosomal differences between the races, reproductive isolation was not complete. As we did not find assortative female preferences, we expect that contact between these races would lead to the production of hybrids and that gene flow would occur eventually, as fertility can be restored fully after one backcross generation

Conhecer pedalando: uma proposta e práxis de educação ambiental crítica

O objetivo deste texto é apresentar a concepção teórico-epistemológica, proposta e ações de um projeto de Educação Ambiental, o Projeto Conhecer Pedalando. O projeto surgiu por meio de questões levantadas em relação ao modo de produção capitalista, dessa maneira, sua dinâmica é pautada por influências das perspectivas Materialista–Histórica–Dialética, Educação Ambiental Crítica, Ecossocialismo, Pedagogia Histórica-Crítica, e Pedagogia Freireana. O Projeto Conhecer Pedalando vem buscando conhecer, criar, divulgar e conectar meios que anseiam possibilidades de transformações nas estruturas e relações sociais vigentes em prol de relações mais fraternas, igualitárias, democráticas, sustentáveis e, principalmente, emancipadas. Para isso, almeja por meio de suas práticas, em diferentes espaços sociais, estimular uma maior compreensão, sensibilidade e ação dos envolvidos frente às problemáticas socioambientais e os impactos causados pela lógica da produção capitalista ao meio ambiente. Busca-se, ainda, abordar e problematizar: a relação bicicleta e Meio Ambiente; as Práticas Corporais de Aventura; a Epistemologia como reflexão crítica do conhecimento científico; e o Cicloturismo. O projeto realizou, desde 2016, diversas aventuras e ações, alcançando parte de seus objetivos mesmo diante das condições e dificuldades enfrentadas na sua busca de conhecimentos e possibilidades em relação à luta por uma possível libertação e emancipação humana. Palavras-chave: Educação Ambiental Crítica, Ecossocialismo, Capitalismo, Educação Emancipatória

Contribution of opsins and chromophores to cone pigment variation across populations of Lake Victoria cichlids

Adaptation to heterogeneous sensory environments has been implicated as a key parameter in speciation. Cichlid fish are a textbook example of divergent visual adaptation, mediated by variation in the sequences and expression levels of cone opsin genes (encoding the protein component of visual pigments). In some vertebrates including fish, visual sensitivity is also tuned by the ratio of Vitamin A1 /A2 -derived chromophores (i.e. the light-sensitive component of the visual pigment, bound to the opsin protein), where higher proportions of A2 cause a more red-shifted wavelength absorbance. Here, we explore variation in chromophore ratios across multiple cichlid populations in Lake Victoria, using as a proxy the expression of the gene Cyp27c1, which has been shown to regulate conversion of Vitamin A1 - into A2 in several vertebrates.We focus on sympatric Pundamilia cichlids, where species with blue or red male coloration co-occur at multiple islands, but occupy different depths and consequently different visual habitats. In the red species, we found higher cyp27c1 expression in populations from turbid waters than from clear waters, but there was no such pattern in the blue species. Across populations, differences between the sympatric species in cyp27c1 expression had a consistent relationship with species differences in opsin expression patterns, but the red/blue identity reversed between clear and turbid waters. To assess the contribution of heritable versus environmental causes of variation, we tested whether light manipulations induce a change in cyp27c1 expression in the laboratory. We found that cyp27c1 expression was not influenced by experimental light conditions, suggesting that the observed variation in the wild is due to genetic differences. However, compared to other cichlid species, cyp27c1 is expressed at very low levels in Pundamilia suggesting that it may not be relevant for visual adaptation in this species. Conclusively, establishing the biological importance of this variation requires testing of actual A1 /A2 ratios in the eye, as well as its consequences for visual performance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

O desenvolvimento histórico da educação ambiental brasileira: apontamentos e desafios para a educação ambiental historicamente necessária

O objetivo deste artigo consiste em expor uma revisão teórica da gênese e marcos históricos da formalização e desenvolvimento institucional da educação ambiental brasileira para, a partir de tal revisão, apontar e fomentar o debate a respeito de uma educação ambiental historicamente necessária perante as profundas contradições e desafios ambientais da realidade nacional brasileira. Este artigo, que é fração de um estudo efetuado no âmbito do projeto Conhecer Pedalando, utilizou-se de critérios do método e pensamento crítico-dialético para a melhor compreensão e, consequentemente, para o melhor enfrentamento às transformações e contradições da dinâmica real de tal campo educacional e ideológico que vem se desenvolvendo institucionalmente no país desde a década de 1970. A partir do estudo de alguns dos avanços e contradições do desenvolvimento da educação ambiental brasileira, encontram-se poucos motivos para a conivência com o nível e impacto da práxis real das propostas, políticas, e práticas de educação ambiental na sociedade brasileira. Diante do exposto, o texto propõe e estimula a pensar e concretizar uma educação ambiental nacional emancipatória como a educação ambiental historicamente necessária frente aos dilemas e desafios ambientais do povo e nação brasileira perante as contradições do subdesenvolvimento e do caráter dependente do capitalismo brasileiro