Environmentally-acquired bacteria influence microbial diversity and natural innate immune responses at gut surfaces

Background: Early microbial colonization of the gut reduces the incidence of infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Recent population studies reveal that childhood hygiene is a significant risk factor for development of inflammatory bowel disease, thereby reinforcing the hygiene hypothesis and the potential importance of microbial colonization during early life. The extent to which early-life environment impacts on microbial diversity of the adult gut and subsequent immune processes has not been comprehensively investigated thus far. We addressed this important question using the pig as a model to evaluate the impact of early-life environment on microbe/host gut interactions during development. Results: Genetically-related piglets were housed in either indoor or outdoor environments or in experimental isolators. Analysis of over 3,000 16S rRNA sequences revealed major differences in mucosa-adherent microbial diversity in the ileum of adult pigs attributable to differences in earlylife environment. Pigs housed in a natural outdoor environment showed a dominance of Firmicutes, in particular Lactobacillus, whereas animals housed in a hygienic indoor environment had reduced Lactobacillus and higher numbers of potentially pathogenic phylotypes. Our analysis revealed a strong negative correlation between the abundance of Firmicutes and pathogenic bacterial populations in the gut. These differences were exaggerated in animals housed in experimental isolators. Affymetrix microarray technology and Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction revealed significant gut-specific gene responses also related to early-life environment. Significantly, indoorhoused pigs displayed increased expression of Type 1 interferon genes, Major Histocompatibility Complex class I and several chemokines. Gene Ontology and pathway analysis further confirmed these results.

Neonatal environment exerts a sustained influence on the development of the intestinal microbiota and metabolic phenotype

The postnatal environment, including factors such as weaning and acquisition of the gut microbiota, has been causally linked to the development of later immunological diseases such as allergy and autoimmunity, and has also been associated with a predisposition to metabolic disorders. We show that the very early-life environment influences the development of both the gut microbiota and host metabolic phenotype in a porcine model of human infants. Farmpiglets were nursed by their mothers for 1 day, before removal to highly controlled, individual isolators where they received formula milk until weaning at 21 days. The experiment was repeated, to create two batches, which differed only in minor environmental fluctuations during the first day. At day 1 after birth, metabolic profiling of serum by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated significant, systemic, inter-batch variation which persisted until weaning. However, the urinary metabolic profiles demonstrated that significant inter-batch effects on 3-hydroxyisovalerate, trimethylamine-N-oxide and mannitol persisted beyond weaning to at least 35 days. Batch effects were linked to significant differences in the composition of colonic microbiota at 35 days, determined by 16 S pyrosequencing. Different weaning diets modulated both the microbiota and metabolic phenotype independently of the persistent batch effects. We demonstrate that the environment during the first day of life influences development of the microbiota and metabolic phenotype and thus should be taken into account when interrogating experimental outcomes. In addition, we suggest that intervention at this early time could provide ‘metabolic rescue’ for at-risk infants who have undergone aberrant patterns of initial intestinal colonisation.

A critical evaluation of the ability of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) thermal infrared red-green-blue rendering to identify dust events: theoretical analysis

Using a combination of idealized radiative transfer simulations and a case study from the first field campaign of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) in southern Morocco, this paper provides a systematic assessment of the limitations of the widely used Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) red-green-blue (RGB) thermal infrared dust product. Both analyses indicate that the ability of the product to identify dust, via its characteristic pink coloring, is strongly dependent on the column water vapor, the lower tropospheric lapse rate, and dust altitude. In particular, when column water vapor exceeds ∼20–25 mm, dust presence, even for visible optical depths of the order 0.8, is effectively masked. Variability in dust optical properties also has a marked impact on the imagery, primarily as a result of variability in dust composition. There is a moderate sensitivity to the satellite viewing geometry, particularly in moist conditions. The underlying surface can act to confound the signal seen through variations in spectral emissivity, which are predominantly manifested in the 8.7μm SEVIRI channel. In addition, if a temperature inversion is present, typical of early morning conditions over the Sahara and Sahel, an increased dust loading can actually reduce the pink coloring of the RGB image compared to pristine conditions. Attempts to match specific SEVIRI observations to simulations using SAMUM measurements are challenging because of high uncertainties in surface skin temperature and emissivity. Recommendations concerning the use and interpretation of the SEVIRI RGB imagery are provided on the basis of these findings.

NEONATAL HANDLING AND THE MATERNAL ODOR PREFERENCE IN RAT PUPS: INVOLVEMENT OF MONOAMINES AND CYCLIC AMP RESPONSE ELEMENT-BINDING PROTEIN PATHWAY IN THE OLFACTORY BULB

Early-life environmental events, such as the handling procedure, can induce long-lasting alterations upon several behavioral and neuroendocrine systems. However, the changes within the pups that could be causally related to the effects in adulthood are still poorly understood. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of neonatal handling on behavioral (maternal odor preference) and biochemical (cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation, noradrenaline (NA), and serotonin (5-HT) levels in the olfactory bulb (OB)) parameters in 7-day-old male and female rat pups. Repeated handling (RH) abolished preference for the maternal odor in female pups compared with nonhandled (NH) and the single-handled (SH) ones, while in RH males the preference was not different than NH and SH groups. In both male and female pups, RH decreased NA activity in the OB, but 5-HT activity increased only in males. Since preference for the maternal odor involves the synergic action of NA and 5-HT in the OB, the maintenance of the behavior in RH males could be related to the increased 5-HT activity, in spite of reduction in the NA activity in the OB. RH did not alter CREB phosphorylation in the OB of both male and females compared with NH pups. The repeated handling procedure can affect the behavior of rat pups in response to the maternal odor and biochemical parameters related to the olfactory learning mechanism. Sex differences were already detected in 7-day-old pups. Although the responsiveness of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to stressors is reduced in the neonatal period, environmental interventions may impact behavioral and biochemical mechanisms relevant to the animal at that early age. (C) 2009 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Micronutrient prenatal supplementation prevents the development of hypertension and vascular endothelial damage induced by intrauterine malnutrition

Aims: The premise that intrauterine malnutrition plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular and renal diseases implies that these disorders can be programmed during fetal life. Here, we analyzed the hypothesis that supplementation with mixed antioxidant vitamins and essential mineral in early life could prevent later elevation of blood pressure and vascular and renal dysfunction associated with intrauterine malnutrition. Main methods: For this, female Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups on day 1 of pregnancy: control fed standard chow ad libitum; restricted group fed 50% of the ad libitum intake and a restricted plus micronutrient cocktail group treated daily with a combination of micronutrient (selenium, folate, vitamin C and vitamin E) by oral gavage. Key findings: In adult offspring, renal function and glomerular number were impaired by intrauterine malnutrition. and the prenatal micronutrient treatment did not prevent it. However, increased blood pressure and reduced endothelium-dependent vasodilation were prevented by the micronutrient prenatal treatment. Intrauterine malnutrition also led to reduced NO production associated with increased superoxide generation, and these parameters were fully normalized by this prenatal treatment. Significance: Our current findings indicate that programming alterations during fetal life can be prevented by interventions during the prenatal period, and that disturbance in availability of both antioxidant vitamins and mineral may play a crucial role in determining the occurrence of long-term cardiovascular injury. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Immigration and memory

The town of Nova Friburgo, in Brazil, was founded in 1820 by swiss immigrants who, as often happens in the majority of migratory flows, crossed the ocean in search of better life conditions. The scope of this paper is to trail the path of a swiss immigrant called Marianne Joset Salusse and then follow on to investigate the mechanisms involved in elaborating family memory and public memory around this woman who would become a symbol of immigration to this town. Thus a series of interviews were held with her descendants, which were fundamental for the understanding of current representations and the main elements which constitute the collective memory around Marianne. Besides oral sources, we had recourse to written documents which allowed a retrieval of relevant information about her life. More than simply adding information, written sources allowed for a more profound analysis of oral accounts, unravelling as well as unveiling selective procedures peculiar to memory construction (Pollak, 1989;1992).

O mobralense e o domínio do léxico

Na presente pesquisa de campo, abordou-se, primeir~ mente, o estudo da comunicação entre os homens por códigos verbais, as relações entre a linguagem e o pensamento e a visão do mundo percebida pelo individuo ou pela comunidade através do uso da lin guagem. A seguir examinou-se o sistema escola, comprometido com a transmissão de uma determinada cosmovisão, caracteristica de uma nacionalidade dada, e/ou com a manutenção de valores e modos de vi da que identificam uma certa comunidade. As considerações feitas justificam a importância dada à alfabetização e aos programas de alfabetização em massa nos paises em desenvolvimento, c omo o Brasil. Levando-se em conta estas colocações, planejou-se investigar o vocabulário corrente de trinta e sete alunos do MOBRAL, em Nova Friburgo, relacionando-o com os indices sociais dos informantes (procedência, anos de vida na área geográfica considerada, idade, sexo e profissão), com as variáres temáticas (alimentação, saúde/ doença, profissão/afazeres, expectativas de vida, lembranças de vi da, lazer/diversões), escolhidas após sondagem prévia das condições de vida e dos interesses dos informantes, e com as variáveis lingüisticas, ou seja, as classes de palavras. Neste estudo explQ ratório, propôs-se ainda verificar em que medida o material escri to dos livros de leitura continuada do MOBRAL e dos jornais clas se A (Jornal do Brasil) e C (O Dia e Oltima Hora) se relacionam com o vocabulário utilizado pelos alunos do MOBRAL, em Nova Fribur go. Visando ao levantamento do vocabulário dos entrevistados,foram gravadas cinqüenta falas de acordo com a metodologia utilizada em trabalhos de natureza sociolingüistica . Os dados obtidos neste "corpus" gravado foram anali sados quantitativamente, aplicando-se um programa computacional cQ nhecido como SPSS. O estudo das rel ações entre as variáveis(classi ficação morfológica, tema, idade, sexo, profissão) conduziu à for mação de tabelas de contingência multivariada . A análise dos resultados ofereceu algumas conclusões como o uso constante de substantivos e verbos nas elocuções . Embora se tenha introduzido a técnica de captar as palavras disponíveis durante as entrevistas, não foi alterado o número de substan I tivos nesta pesquisa, porque os informantes não indicaram o nome das coisas isoladamente, fizeram-no por enunciados completos. Ba seando-se neste resultado, propuseram-se algumas sugestões de in teresse pedagógico para utilização do MOBRAL: a primeira -- nao en fatizar os nomes (processo estático da língua) em detrimento dos verkos (processo dinâmico); a segunda -- o uso de frases nas estra tégias de alfabetização. No exame das relações entre as variáveis, a grande variação detectada deveu-se ao tema. Quando se investigou a variedade dos vocábulos usa dos pelos entrevistados em Nova Friburgo, observou-se que das 11.337 ocorrências de substantivos, encontraram-se 2.222 substanti vos diferentes e 1.590 vocábulos; das 17.604 ocorrências de verbos, encontraram-se 2.365 verbos diferentes e 588 vocábulos; das 1.980 ocorrências de adjetivo~, encontraram-se 660 adjetivos diferentes e 488 vocábulos. Concluiu-se que o vocabulário deste grupo pode ser diferente dos de outras áreas, dos de outras cfu~adas sociais inse ridas em outros contextos, mas não é limitado, nem re stri to.Expre~ sa a visão e a expectativa do mundo que os cerca. Outra recomendação ao MOBRAL: a escolha das palavras a ensinar seria colhida nas diversas comunidades, onde funcionam as classes de alfabetização e a motivação para sua seleção deveria estar ligada às necessidades cotidianas dos adultos com a palavra geradora integrada em frases.

As escolas comunitárias da Rocinha: 1968/1986: um fator de conservação ou de transformação social?

O presente trabalho apresenta a experiência das escolas comunitárias da favela da Rocinha, durante o período de 1968 a 1986, e a analisa a partir de duas vertentes: - a questão urbana - a escola comunitária enquanto uma forma de organização popular, que aliada aos outros grupos comunitários da Rocinha, questiona a alocação desigual de recursos públicos e luta pela melhoria das condições de vida na favela. A questão educacional - a prática pedagógica dessas escolas junto às crianças, jovens e adultos; a busca de uma metodologia e de conteúdos que partam da realidade dos alunos e dos objetivos do trabalho comunitário. O estudo de caso foi elaborado a partir de entrevistas (realizadas junto a lideranças, educadores, pais, alunos, agentes externos e técnicos), de fontes documentais e da participação da autora no trabalho comunitário da favela, iniciada em 1976. Procurou-se apreender a origem dessa experiência junto à precariedade/ineficácia do sistema oficial de ensino e ao processo de reorganização das classes populares, e perceber também a relação entre as diferentes conjunturas e a configuração que as escolas comunitárias foram assumindo ao longo dessa trajetória.

Associação entre as narrativas em saúde bucal e condições socioeconômico-culturais: a dentição como reflexo da desigualdade social

This anthropological study investigates the lived-experience of oral diseases in the context of poverty in Northeast Brazil. During six months in 2004???, ethnographic interviews, narratives and participant-observation with 31 residents of the low-income community, Dendê, located in Fortaleza, Ceará were conducted and analyzed utilizing a hermeneutic-dialetic method. It is revealed that precarious life conditions make prioritizing caretaking a difficult task. Despite suffering tooth pain, seeking a dentist's care is perceived as "a luxury" not a citzens' right. Difficulties in accessing services and poor quality restorations, favor tooth extractions as the most effective intervention. The deterioration of one's oral health is lamented by community members who seek help from popular clinics, politicians and traditional healers. The experience of dental disease differs according to social class, leaves oral scars of inequity, harms self-esteem and inhibits social inclusion. In this context, "treating" the Teeth of Inequity demands that we deepen our comprehension of the social determinants of health, reduce injustice in the access to quality care, remove demoralizing stigmas and empower the community to confront structural forces which affect its life

Compreendendo a educação para a inclusão digital: uma análise dos sentidos atribuidos pelos monitores das escolas de inclusão digital e cidadania da EMATER-RN

According to the methodological presuppositions of the understanding interview (KAUFMAAN, 1996), the present work aims to understand the Digital Inclusion starting from the oral speeches of eight monitors of Digital Inclusion and Citizenship Schools of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company EMATER, located in municipal districts that belong to six regions of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. It also had the intention to analyze it (the Digital Inclusion), while educational process and its relation with the citizenship. In its first part, an analysis of the discussions about digital inclusion was developed, and a reflection about the new technologies in current times, followed by a contextualization of the rural space and the methodological course of the study, when its guiding axis and the travelled roads were presented, where the object of study is built slowly and progressively through a theoretical elaboration that increases day by day, as of the technologies forged in the field of research and formation of the subject. The second part presents the study of the collected information, that is organized in three chapters denominated as follows: Conceptions of the local context; What does digital inclusion mean? and The monitor as an educator. The reports do evidence a peculiar dissatisfaction with the social reality where they are found, that contradicts the positive reflections and perspectives of the studied authors, once that, within the actual conjuncture, the rural space has acquired another meaning, no longer being seen as a far late place. By trying to define the digital inclusion, the monitors make an association with change, the access to knowledge, active participation in society and improvement of the life conditions. Here a mission sense stands out, related to the ideological precept, which has been managing its activities. Towards the monitor‟s relation within the classroom, the senses evidence how they are and how they have been developing their daily activities. Tensions, fears and insecurities are identified, but at the same time, a compromise. The final considerations implicate to the need of reorientations in the formative process of this professionals, detaching the importance of their activities while agents of inclusion and social transformation

Efeito da restrição alimentar qualitativa precoce sobre o desempenho, as características do trato gastrintestinal e a carcaça de frangos de corte

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos da restrição alimentar qualitativa precoce sobre o desempenho, as características do trato gastrintestinal e a carcaça de frangos de corte. Um total de 975 pintos de corte de um dia da linhagem Ross, 15 parcelas com 30 machos cada e 15 parcelas com 35 fêmeas, foi distribuído em delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 5 x 2 (forma de restrição x sexo), com três repetições por tratamento. As formas de restrição estudadas foram: 1 - testemunha, sem diluição; 2 -diluição com 15% de calcário; 3 - diluição com 30% de calcário; 4 - diluição com 15% de casca de arroz; e 5 - diluição com 30% de casca de arroz. Os frangos foram alimentados ad libitum com ração padrão, no período de 1 a 7 dias e de 15 a 45 dias de idade. A restrição alimentar por diluição das rações, conforme cada tratamento, foi aplicada do 8º ao 14º dia de idade. Para o período de restrição alimentar, foram formuladas rações com níveis normais de minerais e vitaminas, reduzindo-se os outros nutrientes, conforme a diluição. Os frangos submetidos à restrição alimentar qualitativa precoce, pela diluição com 15% de calcário e, 15 ou 30% de casca de arroz, apresentaram ganho compensatório, com bom desempenho final. Entretanto, a restrição com 30% de calcário foi muito severa, prejudicando o desempenho. Houve alteração nas características do trato gastrintestinal com a restrição alimentar, porém houve recuperação até o momento do abate. Os frangos submetidos à restrição alimentar qualitativa precoce apresentaram menor deposição de gordura e maior deposição de proteína na carcaça em comparação ao controle.

A tripla perspectiva: a vinda, a permanência e a volta de estudantes angolanos no Brasil

Este artigo é uma reflexão sobre o papel que as universidades paulistas e paranaenses desempenham no processo de formação acadêmica dos estudantes dos Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (Palop), em particular os angolanos. Essa formação na instituição de ensino superior propicia novos diálogos e novas sínteses identitárias possibilitadas por outras práticas culturais apreendidas no contato com alunos, docentes, funcionários, instituições acadêmicas e de pesquisa que ignoram a realidade vivenciada por eles em Angola. Constituiremos, assim, o cenário histórico-cultural; o percurso acadêmico e identitário do estudante angolano; o contexto estudantil angolano; a história recente desse país; o lugar do intelectual e do professor universitário; o papel e o uso da língua portuguesa no Brasil e em Angola no ambiente estudantil, familiar e na rua. Buscamos entender o imaginário do jovem estudante intercambista angolano que convive com os conflitos do estigma do migrante temporário e do estereótipo do refugiado de guerra.

Efeitos da previdência rural na agricultura familiar da microrregião Serra de São Miguel - RN

The objective of the present work is to verify the effects of Rural Social welfare in the family agriculture of the microrregião Serra de São Miguel-RN. The study based on available bibliography on the theme, in secondary data and in a rising amostral accomplished in three municipal districts (Encanto, São Miguel and Riacho de Santana) of the microrregião. The universe of the study was the establishments of the family agriculture appeared in the Agricultural Census of 2006, in those municipal districts. The unit of considered analysis was the rural family, with the interviews being applied close to the farmers' families with and without retired rural. The sample was of 94 present families in the family establishments. The results demonstrate that the Rural Precaution reaches a significant covering degree in the rural area of the researched municipal districts, with an average of 1,57 beneficiaries for home in the families with retired. The data of the research attest that the family agriculture in the microrregião Serra de São Miguel-RN it has few favorable conditions for his/her development, once, besides the shortage of lands and of the climatic factor of the area, the returned public politics the family farmers' totality - like PRONAF and PAA -, it has been unable to give effective answers for the improvement of the life conditions in the rural way, have seen the minimum amount of families reached by those politics, be in function of the drawing or of the atmosphere where they are done. In this context, he/she stands out the importance of the Rural Precaution that, in function of the application of the constitutional devices that you/they guaranteed his/her universalization, it has been the only relevant public politics that, in fact, it has been reaching her/it all their beneficiary potentials. Given the general situation of the family agriculture of the microrregião and of the specific characteristics of the researched family establishments, the hypothesis was corroborated that the rural retirement doesn't contribute directly to the increase / making possible of the family agriculture. In spite of 57,4% of the families with retired have declared to use resources of the retirement in the costing of the rural activity carried out by the family, the annual medium value of the expense just located around 7,02% of the annual value of the retirements gained by the families in the year of 2010. Data the low levels in that the social reproduction of the great majority of the family establishments of the microrregião, the maintenance of the families is operated represents the main destiny of the resources precautions. It was also confirmed the hypothesis that the Rural Precaution constitutes the main monetary contribution of the families with retired. For more than 93% of the families with retired, the retirements doing 50% or more of the total of the family monetary income, and in the composition of the rural income of the families with retired and pensioners, the originating from income the rural retirements are equal to 65,24% of the total of the annual income obtained by the families. It is ended, because, that the rural precaution, given to the adversities for the development of the family agriculture, of the operational inefficacy of the public politics and of the few opportunities of generation of existent income in the local savings, it is the main responsible for the reduction of the poverty and, consequently, for the improvements of the conditions of life of the families of and with seniors in the rural way of the microrregião Serra de São Miguel-RN

Maternal separation stress in male mice: long-term increases in alcohol intake

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Identidade, espaço e tempo: negociações de sentido sobre a "gente de rua"

This research examines the street children s identity construction processes. Recently, the research about this population has focused on the socialization processes that organize their everyday, their situations of interaction, the meanings of their social practices, their street experience. The concept of identitary forms gives coherence to the set of these phenomena, articulating them theoretically, in order to describe their life conditions and details of their trajectories. This research utilized an ethnographic approach with a group of 11 street people, 9 of them boys and girls 16-18 years old, during 3 months. It included participant observation, informal and formal interviews, that resulted in young s narratives of lifestory. These narratives were interpreted according to the principles of positioning analysis and the Labovian Analysis model of oral narratives of personal experience. The observation of interaction among the studied group and other groups has showed that their social practices, supported on many particular bodily technologies, recreate space and time of these interactions semantically, as mediation of meaning negotiations among groups. Such meanings transform again the environment of these interactions, disclosing interpretative systems by means of which the groups apprehend this interaction in a particular way. These street children s bodily technologies imply identitary forms based on scarcity and abandonment, paradoxicalally related to their self-concept. The analysis of narratives revealed diversity and complexity in the meanings assembly for their street experience; it showed that the semantic arrangements reconstruct the temporal experience, creating a moral climate for each lifestory, and determining more or less aperture of identitary forms to change. The study concludes that space and time, builders of interaction regimes, produce identitary forms; that the narratives and the social practices of the studied group are sustained upon a master discourse that opposes the meanings of the home and the life in the streets