Girls out of school. State, culture and education in poor rural Lao People's Democratic Republic

Tese de Doutoramento em Sociologia

Study of the muscular activation in obese and non-obese subjects during lifting loads

The obesity prevalence is increasing among the workforce of the developed countries. However, obesity seems to negatively affect the individuals’ work performance. In occupational contexts, manual lifting tasks are frequent and can produce significant muscle loading. With the aim of analysing the possible effect of obesity on workers’ muscular activation, surface electromyography data were collected from six muscles recruited during these tasks. In the current study, 6 different tasks of manual lifting (3 loads × 2 lifting styles) were performed by 14 participants with different obesity levels. Electromyography data normalization was based on the percentage of maximum contraction during each task. The muscles’ activation times before each task were also calculated. The current study suggests that obesity can increase the maximum contraction during each task and the delays on muscles’ activation time. This study suggests that obese individuals can present some changes on their muscle activation during lifting, when comparing with non-obese individuals, and reinforces the need to develop further studies focused on obesity as a risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders development.

The economic crisis in Portugal and children’s rights to non-discrimination

The consequences that arose from the ‘global economy’ have been significant in Portuguese children’s lives and we believe it is fundamental to reflect on the ongoing structuring of childhood through this global culture/ideology and the concrete implications that they have. It is also important to understand how childhood is constructed and experienced, as well as to consider the impacts of political economic conditions on children’s lives and in childhood in general, taking into account the effects brought on by public policies. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the ways through which the economic crisis affecting the general Portuguese population has impacted children in particular and promoted discrimination and a lack of opportunities in childhood. We will focus on two dimensions: first, on general data about the ongoing policies that have been reducing social rights, increasing poverty rates and threatening basic rights such as educational and health rights, to show their impact on children´s lives. Second, we will discuss some data collected with children throughout different research projects in order to characterize the meanings and impacts of the crisis in their lives from their points of view

Neuroendocrine factors regulate retinoic acid receptors in normal and hypoplastic lung development

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is characterised by a spectrum of lung hypoplasia and consequent pulmonary hypertension, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates. Moreover, CDH has been associated with an increase in the levels of pulmonary neuroendocrine factors, such as bombesin and ghrelin, and a decrease in the action of retinoic acid (RA). The present study aimed to elucidate the interaction between neuroendocrine factors and RA. In vitro analyses were performed on Sprague-Dawley rat embryos. Normal lung explants were treated with bombesin, ghrelin, a bombesin antagonist, a ghrelin antagonist, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), RA dissolved in DMSO, bombesin plus RA and ghrelin plus RA. Hypoplastic lung explants (nitrofen model) were cultured with bombesin, ghrelin, bombesin antagonist or ghrelin antagonist. The lung explants were analysed morphometrically, and retinoic acid receptor (RAR) α, β and γ expression levels were assessed via Western blotting. Immunohistochemistry analysis of RAR was performed in normal and hypoplastic lungs 17.5 days post-conception (dpc). Compared with the controls, hypoplastic lungs exhibited significantly higher RARα/γ expression levels. Furthermore considering hypoplastic lungs, bombesin and ghrelin antagonists decreased RARα/γ expression. Normal lung explants (13.5 dpc) treated with RA, bombesin plus RA, ghrelin plus RA, bombesin or ghrelin exhibited increased lung growth. Moreover, bombesin and ghrelin increased RARα/γ expression levels, whereas the bombesin and ghrelin antagonists decreased RARα/γ expression. This study demonstrates for the first time that neuroendocrine factors function as lung growth regulators, sensitising the lung to the action of RA through up-regulation of RARα and RARγ.

Media(ted) discourse and society: rethinking the framework of critical discourse analysis

The analysis of journalistic discourse and its social embeddedness has known significant advances in the last two decades, especially due to the emergence and development of Critical Discourse Analysis. However, three important aspects remain under-researched: the time plane in discourse analysis, the discursive strategies of social actors, and the extra- and supra-textual effects of mediated discourse. Firstly, understanding the biography of public matters requires a longitudinal examination of mediated texts and their social contexts but most forms of analysis of journalistic discourse do not account for the time sequence of texts and its implications. Secondly, as the media representation of social issues is, to a large extent, a function of the discursive construction of events, problems and positions by social actors, the discursive strategies that they employ in a variety of arenas and channels ‘‘before’’ and ‘‘after’’ journalistic texts need to be examined. Thirdly, the fact that many of the modes of operation of discourse are extra- or supra-textual calls for a consideration of various social processes ‘‘outside’’ the text. This paper aims to produce a theoretical and methodological contribution to the integration of these issues in discourse analysis by proposing a framework that combines a textual dimension with a contextual one