Educational Group Practices in Primary Care: Interaction Between Professionals, Users and Knowledge

OBJECTIVE To investigate the concept understood by Family Healthcare Strategy (ESF) professionals of knowledge, education and subjects participating in learning activities. METHOD Qualitative study carried out with the ESF professionals with university degree, members of the healthcare staff who undertook educational health group activities at Basic Healthcare Units (UBS) in Belo Horizonte. The following triangulation techniques were used: participant observation, photos and field notes; interviews with professionals; and document analysis. RESULTS We identified three interaction patterns that are different from each other. Firstly, the professional questions, listens and provides information to users, trusting in the transmission of knowledge; secondly, the professional questions and listens, trusting that users can learn from each other; thirdly, the professional questions, listens, discusses and produces knowledge with users, both teaching and learning from each other. CONCLUSION There are educational practices that include unique methods capable of creating a militant space for citizenship engagement.

IL-2/anti-IL-2 antibody complexes show strong biological activity by avoiding interaction with IL-2 receptor alpha subunit CD25.

IL-2 is crucial to T cell homeostasis, especially of CD4(+) T regulatory cells and memory CD8(+) cells, as evidenced by vigorous proliferation of these cells in vivo following injections of superagonist IL-2/anti-IL-2 antibody complexes. The mechanism of IL-2/anti-IL-2 antibody complexes is unknown owing to a lack of understanding of IL-2 homeostasis. We show that IL-2 receptor alpha (CD25) plays a crucial role in IL-2 homeostasis. Thus, prolongation of IL-2 half-life and blocking of CD25 using antibodies or CD25-deficient mice led in combination, but not alone, to vigorous IL-2-mediated T cell proliferation, similar to IL-2/anti-IL-2 antibody complexes. These data suggest an unpredicted role for CD25 in IL-2 homeostasis.

Neuronal Thy-1 induces astrocyte adhesion by engaging syndecan-4 in a cooperative interaction with alphavbeta3 integrin that activates PKCalpha and RhoA.

Clustering of alphavbeta3 integrin after interaction with the RGD-like integrin-binding sequence present in neuronal Thy-1 triggers formation of focal adhesions and stress fibers in astrocytes via RhoA activation. A putative heparin-binding domain is present in Thy-1, raising the possibility that this membrane protein stimulates astrocyte adhesion via engagement of an integrin and the proteoglycan syndecan-4. Indeed, heparin, heparitinase treatment and mutation of the Thy-1 heparin-binding site each inhibited Thy-1-induced RhoA activation, as well as formation of focal adhesions and stress fibers in DI TNC(1) astrocytes. These responses required both syndecan-4 binding and signaling, as evidenced by silencing syndecan-4 expression and by overexpressing a syndecan-4 mutant lacking the intracellular domain, respectively. Furthermore, lack of RhoA activation and astrocyte responses in the presence of a PKC inhibitor or a dominant-negative form of PKCalpha implicated PKCalpha and RhoA activation in these events. Therefore, combined interaction of the astrocyte alphavbeta3-integrin-syndecan-4 receptor pair with Thy-1, promotes adhesion to the underlying matrix via PKCalpha- and RhoA-dependent pathways. Importantly, signaling events triggered by such receptor cooperation are shown here to be the consequence of cell-cell rather than cell-matrix interactions. These observations are likely to be of widespread biological relevance because Thy-1-integrin binding is reportedly relevant to melanoma invasion, monocyte transmigration through endothelial cells and host defense mechanisms.

Asessing public policies. The case of education in Europe and the interaction between personal and institutional factors

The paper deals with the comparative study of European citizens satisfaction with thestate of education in their respective countries. Individual and contextual effects aretested applying multilevel analysis. The results show that educational public policies(level of decentralization, degree of comprehensiveness and public spending) as well asthe students social environment (socioeconomic and cultural status) have a soundimpact on the opinions about the state of education.

Interaction between Musca domestica L. and its predator Muscina stabulans (Fallén) (Diptera, Muscidae): effects of prey density and food source abundance

Interaction between Musca domestica L. and its predator Muscina stabulans (Fallén) (Diptera, Muscidae): Effects of prey density and food source abundance. The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of prey density and food source abundance on the predatory behavior of Muscina stabulans over M. domestica. Three predator/prey proportions were evaluated (1:1, 1:3 and 1:6), using 100 third instar predator larvae against second instar prey larvae. Each proportion was maintained using three different levels of food substrate (25, 50 and 100 g). The experiments were carried out in triplicate in BOD incubators (25ºC, UR 70% ± 10% and 12 h photoperiod). The mortality of the M. domestica larvae was 100% under all conditions, except in the 1:6 predator/prey proportion, at the 50g and 100g food substrate levels, where it was 99.99% and 99.22%, respectively. There was a significant increase in the development period of M. stabulans in relation to the increase in prey density and decrease in quantity of food substrate. An increase in the proportion of individuals and a reduction in the amount of resource slowed down larval development. Muscina stabulans pupal weight was proportional to the increase in prey density and the amount of food substrate. The proportion or the density influenced the survival of M. stabulans, with no difference in relation to the amount of food source and consequently in the interaction of the factors. There was no difference between the 1:1 and 1:3 predator-prey densities, with both differing from the 1:6 density.

Interaction between Tephritidae (Insecta, Diptera) and plants of the family Asteraceae: new host and distribution records for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Twenty species of Tephritidae (Diptera) are recorded in association with capitula of plants in the family Asteraceae. The Tephritidae genus Tetreuarestais registered for Rio Grande do Sul for the first time. Five species of Tephritidae are newly recorded for Rio Grande do Sul, and new hosts are recorded for the following fly species: Dioxyna chilensis (Macquart), Plaumannimyia dolores (Hering), Plaumannimyia imitatrix (Hering), Plaumannimyia miseta(Hering), Plaumannimyia pallensHering, Tomoplagia incompleta (Williston), Tomoplagia matzenbacheriPrado, Norrbom & Lewinsohn, Tomoplagia reimoseriHendel, Xanthaciura biocellata(Thomson) and Xanthaciura chrysura(Thomson).

Lung microbiota promotes tolerance to allergens in neonates via PD-L1.

Epidemiological data point toward a critical period in early life during which environmental cues can set an individual on a trajectory toward respiratory health or disease. The neonatal immune system matures during this period, although little is known about the signals that lead to its maturation. Here we report that the formation of the lung microbiota is a key parameter in this process. Immediately following birth, neonatal mice were prone to develop exaggerated airway eosinophilia, release type 2 helper T cell cytokines and exhibit airway hyper-responsiveness following exposure to house dust mite allergens, even though their lungs harbored high numbers of natural CD4(+)Foxp3(+)CD25(+)Helios(+) regulatory T (Treg) cells. During the first 2 weeks after birth, the bacterial load in the lungs increased, and representation of the bacterial phyla shifts from a predominance of Gammaproteobacteria and Firmicutes towards Bacteroidetes. The changes in the microbiota were associated with decreased aeroallergen responsiveness and the emergence of a Helios(-) Treg cell subset that required interaction with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) for development. Absence of microbial colonization(10) or blockade of PD-L1 during the first 2 weeks postpartum maintained exaggerated responsiveness to allergens through to adulthood. Adoptive transfer of Treg cells from adult mice to neonates before aeroallergen exposure ameliorated disease. Thus, formation of the airway microbiota induces regulatory cells early in life, which, when dysregulated, can lead to sustained susceptibility to allergic airway inflammation in adulthood.

Worldly Saints : Social Interaction of Dominican Penitent Women in Italy, 1200-1500

Doctoral dissertation, University of Turku

Exact representation of antenna system diversity performance from input parameter description

A simplc formulation Io compute thc envelope correlation of anantenna divemiry system is dcrired. 11 is shown how to compute theenvelope correlation hom the S-parameter descnplian of the antennasystem. This approach has the advantage that i t does not require thecomputation nor the measurement of the radiation panem of theantenna system. It also offers the advantage of providing a clcaunderstanding ofthe effects ofmutual coupling and input match on thediversity performance of the antcnnii system.

Interaction of alpha-melanotropin with central dopamine systems: role of hormonal state and molecular structure

The tubero-infundibular and nigrostriatal DA neurone systems of rats respond to systemic (i.p.) injection of alpha-MSH (2-100 microgram/kg). The response of the tubero-infundibular (arcuate) DA neurones, an increase in cellular fluorescence intensity which can be interpreted as a sign of increased neuronal activity, is essentially the same in males, estrogen-progesterone-pretreated ovariectomized females and hypophysectomized males, whereas the type of response elicited by alpha-MSH in the nigral DA neurones depends upon the hormonal state of the animal. Differences between the two DA neurone groups exist also with regard to the effects of peptide fragments containing the two active sites of the alpha-MSH molecule. Results of lesion experiments in the lower brainstem (area postrema) and of blockade of muscarinic mechanisms by atropine further point to differences in the mechanisms underlying the peptide effects on the two neurone systems. The reaction of the tubero-infundibular DA system (which controls the pars intermedia of the pituitary) can be considered to reflect the activation of a feedback mechanism on MSH secretion, while the functional counterpart of the changes observed in the nigral system remains unknown at the present time.