Galileo Galilei: Science vs. faith

Galileo Galilei (1564\u20131642), professor of mathematics at the University of Padua from 1592 to 1610, was a pillar in the history of our University and a symbol of freedom for research and teaching, well stated in the university motto \u2018\u2018Universa Universis Patavina Libertas\u2019\u2019 (Total freedom in Padua, open to all the world).1 He invented the experimental method, based on evidence and calculation (\u2018\u2018science is measure\u2019\u2019) and was able, by using the telescope, to confirm the Copernican heliocentric theory, a challenge to the Bible. Bertrand Russell (1872\u20131970), in his book \u2018\u2018The Problems of Philosophy\u2019\u2019 stated: \u2018\u2018Almost everything that distinguishes modern world from earlier centuries is attributable to science, which achieved the most spectacular triumphs in the seventeenth century. Together with Harvey, Newton and Keplero, Galileo was a protagonist of this scientific revolution in the late Renaissance\u2019\u2019. His life was a continuous struggle to defend science from the influence of religious prejudices. He was catholic, forced by the Inquisition to deny his views, and was condemned to home arrest for the rest of his life. Here is the history of his life, a pendulum between science and religious beliefs

Is arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy a paediatric problem too?

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a heart muscle disease that is often familial, characterized by arrhythmias of right ventricular origin, due to transmural fatty or fibrofatty replacement of atrophic myocardium. ARVC is usually diagnosed in the clinical setting between 20 and 40 years of age. The disease is seldom recognised in infancy or under the age of 10, probably because the clinical expression of the disease is normally postponed to youth and adulthood. This review focuses its attention to the pediatric age, defined as the period of life raging from birth to 18 years. During this span of life, ARVC is not so rare as previously supposed and can be identified by applying the same diagnostic criteria proposed for the adult. Ventricular arrhythmias range from isolated ventricular arrhythmias to sustained ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. Children and adolescents with ARVC must be carefully evaluated and followed-up especially when a family positive history is present, taking into account the high probability during this life-period that asymptomatic affected patients become symptomatic or that arrhythmias worsen during follow-up. The recent identification of the first defective gene opens new avenues for the early identification of affected subjects even when asymptomatic.peer-reviewe

Bridging worlds : movement, relatedness and social change in two communities of Cartagena de Indias Bay

The island of Barú, located along the Atlantic coast of Colombia, has occupied, since the colonial era, a geographical and social interstitial position. The island was a strategic space in key processes and events of colonial and national modernity. Its inhabitants have combined movement and interaction across geographical spaces and social groups with retreat and relative closure. The historical experiences of dislocation and of marginality have shaped local modes of relatedness and particular ways of signifying and narrating “family”, masculinities and femininities, the divine and the wondrous. State and capital’s progressive encroachment over the Island trans-territory has recently undergone a conspicuous acceleration. Moreover, new religious organizations have influenced the ways in which people think and talk about identity, local forms of sociality and religiosity. “Development” and ethnicity-based identity politics have functioned as identity-, community- and memory (re-)making devices. Various political and economic actors currently envision and try to implement projects of “place” which commoditize the island and aim to reshape local subjectivities and relational modes according to market-oriented values

New Interpretation of Galileo\u2019s Arthritis and Blindness

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) complained of several disorders during his life, the most important of which were chronic arthritic pains and bilateral blindness. These symptoms might result from an immune rheumatic disease, namely reactive arthritis (urethritis, uveitis, arthritis), when Galileo started suffering with an episode of fever in June 1593. Padua University owns the fifth lumbar vertebra of the great scientist and we performed a series of anthropological and radiographic analyses on it. The anthropological measurements showed that the shape of the vertebra was normal as to exclude significant diseases. The study through radiography and Computed Tomography showed only a mild arthrosis documented by small osteophytosis. Eventually the disease evolved into blindness with a pannus restricting the pupils (uveitis). These findings support the occurrence of reactive arthritis. Alternatively to urethral infection, Galileo could have suffered from Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in 1593, which was complicated by reactive arthritis a couple of weeks later. Thereafter he complained several episodes of recurrent arthritis, which eventually culminated into uveitis and bilateral blindness

745-4 Sudden “Arrhythmic” Death in Young People with Apparently Normal Heart

The aim of the present study was to assess whether and how often the ultimate diagnosis of structural heart disease underlying sudden cardiac arrest depends on histologic examination of the myocardium and specialized conduction system. Among 186 cases of consecutive sudden cardiovascular death in young people (≤35 yrs) studied from 1979 to 1994, in 59 (32%) gross examination failed to show any cardiac cause of sudden death such as obstructive coronary atherosclerosis, congenital coronary anomaly, cardiomyopathy, valve disease and aortic dissection. The grossly normal heart group consisted of 40 males and 19 females, aged 4–35 yrs (mean 23.7); 27 patients experienced warning symptoms and signs consisting of syncope in 12, ECG abnormalities in 16, and arrhythmias in 11. None had been diagnosed while alive. Detailed histologic study, including examination of ordinary ventricular myocardium as well as serial sections of specialized conduction system, disclosed: 1)focal myocarditis in 17 patients; 2) conduction system abnormalities leading to heart block in 6 patients (sick sinus syndrome in 1, lipomatous discontinuity between the atrial myocardium and the atrioventricular node in 2, sclerotic interruption of His and bundle branches in 2, and longitudinal dissociation of the His bundle in 1). and to ventricular pre-excitation in 15 (atrioventricular by-pass fibers in 9, nodoventricular Mahaim fibers in 4, atriofascicular tract in 1, AV nodal hypoplasia in 1); 3) focal fibrousfatty replacement of the right anterior wall and infundibulum in 5 patients. Sudden death remained unexplained in 16 cases. In conclusion, gross heart features were normal in nearly one third of the young sudden cardiovascular death victims; in 73% of them, however, there was histopathologic evidence of concealed “arrhythmogenic” substrates mostly consisting of conduction system pathology and focal myocarditis

Avaliação da satisfação e lealdade dos clientes: estudo em uma população formada por consumidores de um serviço educacional de pós-graduação

Inúmeras pesquisas têm sido realizadas na área de administração e marketing abordando a satisfação e fidelidade do cliente. Vários modelos teóricos foram elaborados no intuito de definir e explicar a formação dessas duas variáveis tão importantes para a lucratividade e longevidade das empresas de serviços. Poucos estudos foram feitos sobre a satisfação e fidelidade de clientes de organizações educacionais de pós-graduação no Brasil. Também poucos instrumentos específicos para mensuração dessas variáveis na área educacional têm sido criados. Este trabalho compreende um estudo de caso em uma instituição de cursos de pós-graduação em fisioterapia e terapia ocupacional de Goiânia, capital do Estado de Goiás, Brasil, avaliando a satisfação e fidelidade dos clientes através de questionário elaborado a partir do modelo norueguês proposto por Johnson, Gustafsson, Andreassen, Lervik e Cha, em 2001. Encontrou-se um alto índice de satisfação e fidelidade dos clientes. Os resultados apontaram para uma relação positiva entre satisfação e fidelidade, conforme as evidências da literatura. O marketing pessoal dos clientes fiéis demonstrou ser muito importante para a atração de novos clientes para a empresa.Numerous researches have been conducted in the area of management and marketing addressing satisfaction and customer loyalty. Several theoretical models have been developed in order to define and explain the formation of these two variables as important to the longevity and profitability of service companies. In Brazil, few studies have been done on customer satisfaction and loyalty of organization of postgraduate education. Also few specific instruments to measure these variables in the educational field have been created. This work includes a case study in a institution of physical therapy and occupational therapy postgraduate courses from Goiania, capital of Goias State, Brazil, evaluating customer satisfaction and loyalty through a questionnaire compiled from the Norwegian model proposed by Johnson, Gustafsson, Andreassen, Lervik and Cha, 2001. There was a high level of satisfaction and loyalty. Results showed a positive relationship between satisfaction and loyalty, as the evidence from the literature. The personal marketing of loyal customers has proven to be very important for attracting new customers to the company

Prognostic Value of Plasma and Urine Glycosaminoglycan Scores in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

The prognosis of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) vastly improved since the introduction of antiangiogenic targeted therapy. However, it is still unclear which biological processes underlie ccRCC aggressiveness and affect prognosis. Here, we checked whether a recently discovered systems biomarker based on plasmatic or urinary measurements of glycosaminoglycans aggregated into diagnostic scores correlated with ccRCC prognosis.Thirty-one patients with a diagnosis of ccRCC (23 metastatic) were prospectively enrolled and their urine and plasma biomarker scores were correlated to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) as either a dichotomous (Low vs. High) or a continuous variable in a multivariate survival analysis.The survival difference between High vs. Low-scored patients was significant in the case of urine scores (2-year PFS rate = 53.3% vs. 100%, p = 310-4 and 2-year OS rate = 73.3% vs. 100%, p = 0.0078) and in the case of OS for plasma scores (2-year PFS rate = 60% vs. 84%, p = 0.0591 and 2-year OS rate = 66.7% vs. 90%, p = 0.0206). In multivariate analysis, the urine biomarker score was an independent predictor of PFS (HR: 4.62, 95% CI: 1.66 to 12.83, p = 0.003) and OS (HR: 10.13, 95% CI: 1.80 to 57.04, p = 0.009).This is the first report on an association between plasma or urine GAG scores and the prognosis of ccRCC patients. Prospective trials validating the prognostic and predictive role of this novel systems biomarker are warranted

New Evidence of Ancient Mitochondrial DNA of the Southern Andes (Calchaquí Valleys, Northwest Argentina, 3600–1900 Years BPA)

Genetic studies on pre-Hispanic populations of the Southern Andes have been increasing steadily in the last decade. Nevertheless, ancient DNA characterization of Formative Period archaeological human remains is particularly scant, especially for Northwest Argentina. In order to enlarge current information on genetic characterization of the first agricultural communities of the Southern Calchaquí Valleys, we present and discuss the first mitochondrial aDNA information obtained on samples dated to ca. 3600-1900 years BP from the Cajón Valley, Catamarca Province. Reproducible mtDNA HVR-1 sequences were obtained in 7 individuals. Mitochondrial HVR-1 haplotypes were assigned to three of the four founding haplogroups D1 (57.1%), C1 (28.5%) and B2 (14.2%), with absence of A2. Our results show that the Cajón Valley sample -with predominance of D1 and C1- differ from that commonly observed in ancient and modern Andean populations, which usually show a high prevalence of haplogroup B2. The fact that the Cajón Valley and Pampa Grande (Salta Province, Argentina) share a prevalence of haplogroup D1 could provide additional evidence to support possible genetic affinities between the Valleys and the eastern sub-Andean region during the Formative Period in Northwest Argentina, expanding the archaeological evidence of contact between both populations. Future complete mitogenomes analysis will provide substantial information to formulate new hypotheses about the origins and phylogenetic relationships between the individuals of the Cajón Valley and other groups from the Andes, Gran Chaco and the Amazon

Componentes de Rendimento do Milho Cultivado em Consorcio com Braquiarias em Diferentes Arranjos de Semeadura

TCC (graduação)- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Campus Curitibanos. Agronomia.O consórcio do milho com espécie forrageira vem sendo utilizado a vários anos por produtores , mas ultimamente esta técnica tem se tornando mais comum em todo o Brasil. Uma das vantagens da adoção desse sistema está associada ao aumento de produtividade e do lucro de uma dada área, que, além de produzir grãos servirá para melhorias do solo, além de cobertura do solo servirá para supressão de plantas invasoras, incidência de pragas e doenças e auxiliar no acúmulo de matéria orgânica no solo, o que pode resultar em estabilidade ao produtor em função da diversificação de uso da terra. Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar os componentes de rendimento e a produtividade da cultura do milho (Zea mays) cultivado em consórcio com três espécies forrageiras (Urochloa brizantha cv. Xaraés; U. brizantha cv. Marandu e U. ruziziensis cv. Ruziziensis) em três sistemas de semeadura (lanço, na linha e na entre linha). O experimento foi conduzido no Planalto Catarinense em um Cambissolo Háplico de textura argilosa. Adotou-se o delineamento de blocos casualizados (DBC) em esquema fatorial 3x3, com 3 repetições sendo avaliado comprimento da espiga, diâmetro da espiga, número de fileiras por espiga, número de grãos por fileiras, peso de mil grãos e produtividade do milho nas semeaduras na linha, na entrelinha e a lanço. O cultivo de milho em consórcio com as espécies forrageiras Urochloa ruziziensis cv. Ruziziensis, U. brizantha cv. Xaraés e U. brizantha cv. Marandu, não influenciou a produtividade e os componentes de rendimento da cultura, independente dos sistemas de semeadura adotados na implantação das forrageiras