Método e kit para a identificação de polimorfismos associados à morte súbita cardíaca (msc)

A presente invenção descreve um método e kit para a identificação de polimorfismos associados à morte súbita cardíaca (MSC) . A tecnologia desenvolvida promove a análise em conjunto de SNPs (polimorfismo de um único nucleotídeo) relacionados à MSC. Esta técnica poderá ser utilizada na genética forense e médica, para auxiliar no diagnóstico de causa de morte e doenças cardiovasculares, respectivamente, bem como na identificação da pré-disposição genética ao desenvolvimento destas doenças.

Método e kit para identificação genética humana por meio de polimorfismos do DNA mitocondrial para aplicação em populações miscigenadas

A presente invenção refere-se a um método e kit para identificação genética humana por meio da análise de polimorfismos específicos do DNA mitocondrial para aplicação em populações miscigenadas como a brasileira, por exemplo. A técnica desenvolvida, além de permitir a identificação do indivíduo, permite també classificá-lo em halogrupos do DNA mitocondrial possibilitando a identificação da origem ancestral materna do indivíduo testado. A referida invenção pode ser aplicada na área de genética forense, pela polícia científica ou por laboratórios particulares, tendo como principais beneficiados populações miscigenadas que não dispõem de técnicas específicas para sua identificação e classificação genética.

Media Education and Brazilian Educational Policies for the Enhancement of Learning

As media education concepts and practices have been disseminated and strengthened in European countries and Americas, the policies responsible for that expansion remain little known, particularly in countries where the achievements have been recently noted. That is the case for Brazil, where there have been new opportunities for media education, considered as a valuable resource to help accomplish goals of the educational system. This paper looks into the contribution of media education to the enhancement of teaching and learning in the context of innovations brought by recent policies of the Brazilian Ministry of Education. After educational reform programmes which brought the opportunity for emerging fields such as media education, we produced teaching material and conducted a series of workshops with students and teachers from state secondary schools. By reading and producing multimedia information about local public services available to young people, pupils learned about democracy, citizenship, civic engagement, media language, and identity. Lessons from our experiment are discussed against the backdrop of education policies being implemented to ameliorate harsh conditions resulting from the recent economic crisis. We suggest that media education can help by creating a learning environment in which the students become aware of the value of educational attainments.

Education for Energy Efficiency through an Educational Game

This paper presents an assessment of an educational game for teaching the efficient use of electricity. Developed with Adobe Flash (R), it is a virtual board game where participants choose a car that starts the path and reaches the same final goal, going through a number of track steps defined in terms of a dice that each player rolls in turn. The car moves if the participant is able to correctly answer a question that is randomly generated by the software. The objective of the game is to answer questions related to energy efficiency promoting a healthy and attractive learning process for participants on concepts related to energy efficiency such as: the rational use of energy, the basic concepts of forms of energy generation, among others. The main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the application of this virtual game in the teaching and learning process of high school students. Therefore, the game was applied in the discipline of physics in a class of junior high public school in the state of Sao Paulo. Initially, the class that had 43 students was divided into 10 groups of 4 students, and 1 group of 3 students. Each student group competed with one another. The idea was that each of them should indicate a student who was the representative of this group until only 4 group leaders were selected for the finals. At this stage, each student could interact with a group of up to ten students that acted as advisers. The adopted assessment process is based on the model proposed by Savi [7]. Then, at the end of the game, the students answered a prepared questionnaire based on the model proposed by Savi. According to Savi, although there are significant studies that show the importance of educational games for the process of cognitive development and learning concepts of students, there are few papers that present forms of assessing the potential of these resources. Thus, the assessment criteria proposed by Savi are based on the model of training evaluation by Kirkpatrick [3], taken as a reference to measure the efficiency of processes of continuing education courses for professionals. The authors assert that the metric of the evaluation proposed to assess the game is based on the first level of the model proposed by Kirkpatrick.

Egocentric speech in the works of Vygotsky and Piaget: educational implications and representations by teachers

This paper presents an applied qualitative and quantitative study and seeks to understand egocentric speech according to Vygotsky and Piaget and, through a literature review, the educational implications of Vygotsky and Piaget’s ideas. Additionally, the representations of these ideas by fifteen teachers of basic education are investigated. It is important to understand egocentric speech in Vygotsky and Piaget. Despite the differences in how they conceive its nature, functions and implications, for both, egocentric speech is intrinsically linked to and facilitates our understanding of child development. Regarding the representation of teachers who criticized children who used egocentric language, when teachers established any negative consequences of such language, they attributed it to the affective and moral aspects as well as to cognition. However, their approach was more practically oriented than those found in the psychological theories addressed. Therefore, this study aids in understanding the limits and scope of teacher-training courses.

Practising Arithmetic Using Educational Video Games with an Interpersonal Computer

Studies show the positive effects that video games can have on student performance and attitude towards learning. In the past few years, strategies have been generated to optimize the use of technological resources with the aim of facilitating widespread adoption of technology in the classroom. Given its low acquisition and maintenance costs, the interpersonal computer allows individual interaction and simultaneous learning with large groups of students. The purpose of this work was to compare arithmetical knowledge acquired by third-grade students through the use of game-based activities and non-game-based activities using an interpersonal computer, with knowledge acquired through the use of traditional paper-and-pencil activities, and to analyze their impact in various socio-cultural contexts. To do this, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with 271 students in three different countries (Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica), in both rural and urban schools. A set of educational games for practising arithmetic was developed and tested in six schools within these three countries. Results show that there were no significant differences (ANCOVA) in the learning acquired from game-based vs. non-game-based activities. However, both showed a significant difference when compared with the traditional method. Additionally, both groups using the interpersonal computer showed higher levels of student interest than the traditional method group, and these technological methods were seen to be especially effective in increasing learning among weaker students.

Desenvolvimento de kit para quantificação enzimática de etanol

A dosagem do etanol durante a produção de medicamentos, bebidas e combustíveis tem se mostrado bastante importante para o aumento de rendimento dos processos e qualidade dos produtos. Embora existam vários métodos para determinar a concentração do etanol, os enzimáticos são os mais interessantes por serem rápidos, precisos, de fácil manuseio e baixo custo. O objetivo geral desse trabalho foi a elaboração de um Kit de quantificação enzimática de etanol, utilizando a enzima álcool desidrogenase I recombinante de S. cerevisiae (Adh1). Para isso, o gene codificador da enzima álcool desidrogenase I (ADH1) de levedura foi clonado no vetor pET28a para expressão em E. coli (BL21). Em seguida, a produção e solubilidade da enzima álcool desidrogenase I foi determinada, sendo definida uma condição ideal de produção e purificação da proteína recombinante por cromatografia de afinidade. A atividade enzimática da álcool desidrogenase I purificada foi determinada através de ensaios já padronizados na literatura (UV), bem como sua estabilidade em diversas condições de tempo e temperatura. Os resultados obtidos aqui demonstraram que a enzima obtida apresentou boa atividade biológica in vitro, com sensibilidade na detecção de no mínimo 2,3 x 10–4 g/L de etanol em 2 minutos. Além disso, a proteína purificada teve sua atividade preservada quando estocada a - 20°C durante 120 dias, características que possibilitarão que a enzima álcool desidrogenase I recombinante, purificada pela metodologia apresentada nesse trabalho, seja utilizada em um kit de quantificação enzimática de etanol rápido, preciso e de baixo custo