Children in psychosocial risk associated with domestic violence: school achievement and self-concept as protection conditions

Objetivou-se avaliar crianças com história de risco psicossocial, associado à violência doméstica, que implicou em notificação ao Conselho Tutelar, e compará-las com um grupo de crianças sem história de risco psicossocial, quanto ao autoconceito e ao desempenho escolar. Foram avaliadas 40 crianças, de ambos os sexos, de oito a doze anos, que residiam com pelo menos um dos pais biológicos, distribuídas em dois grupos, um com histórico de violência doméstica; e outro, sem história de risco psicossocial relatada. Procedeu-se à aplicação da Escala Piers-Harris de Autoconceito e do Teste de Desempenho Escolar. As crianças com história de violência doméstica apresentaram um autoconceito mais negativo na área comportamento e mais dificuldade no desempenho escolar na área de escrita. Tais dificuldades sugerem prejuízos em áreas que deveriam funcionar como proteção, ou seja, que essas crianças não contam com alguns recursos essenciais para enfrentarem as tarefas desenvolvimentais da idade escolar.The goal was to assess children with psychosocial risk history, associated with domestic violence, which implied in notifying the Child Protection Agency, and to compare it to a group of children without a history of psychosocial risk, as for the self-concept and school achievement. Forty children were assessed, both girls and boys, from eight to twelve years of age, who lived with at least one biological parent, distributed in two groups: one with a history of domestic violence and the other one without a reported psychosocial risk. Two tests were performed: The Piers-Harris Children's Self-concept Scale and the School Performance Test. The children with a history of domestic violence presented a more negative self-concept in behavior and more difficulty in school achievement in writing. Such difficulties suggest impairments in areas which should work as protection, i.e., these children do not count with some of the essential resources to face developmental tasks at school age

A escolha de mercados nacionais para o lançamento de produtos certificados de comércio justo por multinacionais: Nestlé e Starbucks

Dissertação de Mestrado em Comunicação Socia

A consciência morfológica e a formação do plural e do feminino: um estudo com crianças do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Mestrado em Ciências da Fala e da AudiçãoA consciência fonológica, a consciência sintática e a consciência morfológica destacam-se por contribuírem de forma significativa para a alfabetização, sendo a última habilidade metalinguística a menos estudada. Na sequência dos poucos estudos que existem, no português, sobre a consciência morfológica, a presente investigação pretende comparar e identificar a forma como as crianças do primeiro ciclo do ensino básico aplicam as regras de formação do plural e do feminino e verificar a existência de diferenças significativas entre o desempenho de crianças no início e no final do primeiro ciclo do ensino básico. De maneira a cumprir estes objetivos, aplicou-se uma bateria de testes, criada especificamente para a presente investigação, a dois grupos de crianças: Grupo 1 (13 crianças do primeiro ano de escolaridade) vs Grupo 2 (13 crianças do quarto ano de escolaridade). Para análise estatística usou-se o Teste U de Mann-Whitney, com nível de significância p<0,05, do IBM SPSS Statistics 23,0, com o qual se pretendia perceber se existiam diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre o desempenho dos dois grupos de crianças, no que concerne aos resultados dos subtestes que testam a influência da familiaridade lexical (substantivos vs pseudopalavras) e dos subtestes que testam a influência das pistas visuais (sem apoio de imagens vs com apoio de imagens). Os resultados são apresentados como médias e desvios-padrão e também sob a forma de percentagem de acertos. Na análise descritiva, procedeu-se à comparação e identificação da forma como as crianças do Grupo 1 e do Grupo 2 aplicaram as regras de formação do plural e do feminino nos substantivos. Os resultados são apresentados sob a forma de número de respostas erradas/corretas e respetiva percentagem. As crianças de ambos os grupos encontravam-se a frequentar pela primeira vez o primeiro/quarto ano de escolaridade, tinham como língua materna o Português Europeu e não apresentavam dificuldades de aprendizagem, atraso do desenvolvimento da linguagem ou qualquer outra perturbação cognitiva ou de linguagem diagnosticada. Após a recolha de dados e respetiva análise, verificou-se que, de modo geral, existem diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre os dois grupos, sendo o desempenho das crianças do Grupo 2 superior ao desempenho das crianças do Grupo 1. Deste modo, conclui-se que o desenvolvimento da consciência morfológica constitui um processo evolutivo, iniciando-se desde cedo e continuando a desenvolver-se nos anos mais avançados de escolaridade, sendo de fulcral importância a estimulação desta área nas crianças.The phonological awareness, syntactic awareness and morphological awareness stand out for contributing significantly to literacy, the last metalinguistic skill being the least studied. Following the few existing studies in Portuguese about morphological awareness, this research aims to compare and identify how primary school children apply the rules for plural and feminine formation and also to verify the significant differences between the performances of the children at the beginning and end of the primary education. In order to meet these goals, a number of tests created specifically for the present investigation, have been applied to two groups of children: Group 1 (13 children in the first year of schooling) vs. Group 2 (13 children in the fourth year of schooling). For statistical analysis we used the Mann-Whitney U test, with a p<0,05 significance level, from the IBM SPSS Statistics 23,0, with which it was intended to see whether there were statistically significant differences between the two groups of children, with respect to the results of the subtests which test the influence of lexical familiarity (nouns vs. pseudowords) and subtests that test the influence of visual cues (without supporting images vs. with images). The results are presented as means and standard deviations and also in the form of percentage of adjustments. In the descriptive analysis, a comparison and identification of how children in Group 1 and Group 2 applied the rules of the plural and feminine formation in nouns was made. The results are presented in the form of number of incorrect/correct answers and respective percentage. Children of both groups were attending, for the first time, the first/fourth year of schooling, had European Portuguese as their mother tongue and did not present learning difficulties, delayed language development or any other diagnosed cognitive or language impairment. After data collection and its analysis, it was found that, in general, there are statistically significant differences between the two groups, in which the performance of the children from Group 2 is superior to the performance of the children in Group 1. On this basis, it is concluded that the development of morphological awareness is an evolutionary process, starting from an early stage and continuing to develop in the later years of schooling and that the stimulation in this area, in children, is of central importance

Association between serum levels of C-reactive protein and lipid profile

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

RVG29-Functionalized Lipid Nanoparticles for Quercetin Brain Delivery and Alzheimers Disease

Purpose: Lipid nanoparticles (SLN and NLC) were functionalized with the RVG29 peptide in order to target the brain and increase the neuronal uptake through the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. These nanosystems were loaded with quercetin to take advantage of its neuroprotective properties mainly for Alzheimer's disease. Methods: The functionalization of nanoparticles with RVG29 peptide was confirmed by NMR and FTIR. Their morphology was assessed by transmission electron microscopy and nanoparticles size, polydispersity and zeta potential were determined by dynamic light scattering. The in vitro validation tests were conducted in hCMEC/D3 cells, a human blood-brain barrier model and thioflavin T binding assay was conducted to assess the process of amyloid-beta peptide fibrillation typical of Alzheimer's disease. Results: RVG29-nanoparticles displayed spherical morphology and size below 250 nm, which is compatible with brain applications. Zeta potential values were between −20 and −25 mV. Quercetin entrapment efficiency was generally higher than 80% and NLC nanoparticles were able to encapsulate up to 90%. The LDH assay showed that there is no cytotoxicity in hCMEC/D3 cell line and RVG29-nanoparticles clearly increased in 1.5-fold the permeability across the in vitro model of blood-brain barrier after 4 h of incubation compared with non-functionalized nanoparticles. Finally, this nanosystem was capable of inhibiting amyloid-beta aggregation in thioflavin T binding assay, suggesting its great potential for neuroprotection. Conclusions: RVG29-nanoparticles that simultaneously target the blood-brain barrier and induce neurons protection against amyloid-beta fibrillation proved to be an efficient way of quercetin delivery and a promising strategy for future approaches in Alzheimer's disease. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. (c) 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE DE QUEIJO MINAS FRESCAL QUANTO AOS ENSAIOS DE UMIDADE, GORDURA E PRESENÇA DE MATÉRIAS ESTRANHAS

Tendo em vista que o queijo Minas frescal é de grande aceitação para os consumidores brasileiros, julgou-se necessário monitorar a qualidade deste alimento, quanto aos aspectos físico-químicos de umidade e gordura e em relação à presença de matérias estranhas. Foram analisadas 30 amostras, de 5 marcas diferentes e 6 lotes de cada marca, adquiridas no comércio da região do Grande ABC (SP) no período de abril a setembro de 2015. Os ensaios de umidade e gordura foram realizados segundo as metodologias descritas no livro Métodos físico-químicos para análise de alimentos: normas analíticas do Instituto Adolfo Lutz e a pesquisa de matérias estranhas de acordo com os métodos oficiais da AOAC. Os resultados das análises de umidade revelaram que 17% estavam em desacordo com a legislação por apresentarem valores abaixo do estabelecido. Quanto ao parâmetro gordura no extrato seco, 6% das amostras analisadas estavam em desacordo com a legislação vigente por apresentarem valores acima do preconizado. Sobre a presença de matérias estranhas, ao menos 50% das amostras de cada marca apresentou sujidades e todas as marcas apresentaram fragmentos de pelo de roedor. Os resultados demonstram a falta de atendimento aos parâmetros de identidade e qualidade do produto, indicando a necessidade de manutenção das boas práticas e constante vigilância deste alimento

Patient-physician discordance in assessment of adherence to inhaled controller medication: a cross-sectional analysis of two cohorts

We aimed to compare patient's and physician's ratings of inhaled medication adherence and to identify predictors of patient-physician discordance.(SFRH/BPD/115169/2016) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT); ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029130 ('mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases—generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies') cofunded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Morphological and Postural changes in the foot during pregnancy and puerperium : a longitudinal study

The aim of this study is to observe the morphological and postural changes to the foot that take place during pregnancy and the puerperium. Method: In this descriptive, observational, longitudinal study, we analysed 23 pregnant women, with particular attention to morphological and postural aspects of the foot, at three time points during and after pregnancy: in weeks 9-13 of gestation, weeks 32-35 of gestation and weeks 4-6 after delivery. The parameters considered were changes in foot length, the Foot Posture Index (FPI) and the Hernández Corvo Index, which were analysed using a pedigraph and taking into account the Body Mass Index (BMI). The same procedure was conducted in each review. Results: The statistical analyses obtained for each foot did not differ significantly between the three measurement times. A pronator-type footprint was most frequently observed during the third trimester of pregnancy; it was predominantly neutral during the postpartum period. Statistically significant differences between the measurement times were obtained in the right foot for cavus vs. neutral foot type (between the first and third trimesters and also between the first trimester and the puerperium) (in both cases, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Foot length increases in the third trimester and returns to normal in the puerperium. According to FPI findings, the third trimester of pregnancy is characterised by pronation, while the posture returns to neutrality during the postpartum period. During pregnancy, the plantar arch flattens, and this persists during the puerperium. The incidence of cavus foot increases significantly in the third trimester and in the puerperium

A MAFG-lncRNA axis links systemic nutrient abundance to hepatic glucose metabolism

Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus are global emergencies and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regulatory transcripts with elusive functions in metabolism. Here we show that a high fraction of lncRNAs, but not protein-coding mRNAs, are repressed during diet-induced obesity (DIO) and refeeding, whilst nutrient deprivation induced lncRNAs in mouse liver. Similarly, lncRNAs are lost in diabetic humans. LncRNA promoter analyses, global cistrome and gain-of-function analyses confirm that increased MAFG signaling during DIO curbs lncRNA expression. Silencing Mafg in mouse hepatocytes and obese mice elicits a fasting-like gene expression profile, improves glucose metabolism, de-represses lncRNAs and impairs mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation. We find that obesity-repressed LincIRS2 is controlled by MAFG and observe that genetic and RNAi-mediated LincIRS2 loss causes elevated blood glucose, insulin resistance and aberrant glucose output in lean mice. Taken together, we identify a MAFG-lncRNA axis controlling hepatic glucose metabolism in health and metabolic disease

A MAFG-lncRNA axis links systemic nutrient abundance to hepatic glucose metabolism

Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus are global emergencies and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regulatory transcripts with elusive functions in metabolism. Here we show that a high fraction of lncRNAs, but not protein-coding mRNAs, are repressed during diet-induced obesity (DIO) and refeeding, whilst nutrient deprivation induced lncRNAs in mouse liver. Similarly, lncRNAs are lost in diabetic humans. LncRNA promoter analyses, global cistrome and gain-of-function analyses confirm that increased MAFG signaling during DIO curbs lncRNA expression. Silencing Mafg in mouse hepatocytes and obese mice elicits a fasting-like gene expression profile, improves glucose metabolism, de-represses lncRNAs and impairs mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation. We find that obesity-repressed LincIRS2 is controlled by MAFG and observe that genetic and RNAi-mediated LincIRS2 loss causes elevated blood glucose, insulin resistance and aberrant glucose output in lean mice. Taken together, we identify a MAFG-lncRNA axis controlling hepatic glucose metabolism in health and metabolic disease