bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Consequences of Internet Use
Authors: Katz James E. , Rice Ronald E.
Published: January 2019

A study of the impact of Internet use on American society, based on a series of nationally representative surveys conducted from 1995 to 2000.

Drawing on nationally representative telephone surveys conducted from 1995 to 2000, James Katz and Ronald Rice offer a rich and nuanced picture of Internet use in America. Using quantitative data, as well as case studies of Web sites, they explore the impact of the Internet on society from three perspectives: access to Internet technology (the digital divide), involvement with groups and communities through the Internet (social capital), and use of the Internet for social interaction and expression (identity). To provide a more comprehensive account of Internet use, the authors draw comparisons across media and include Internet nonusers and former users in their research.

The authors call their research the Syntopia Project to convey the Internet's role as one among a host of communication technologies as well as the synergy between people's online activities and their real-world lives. Their major finding is that Americans use the Internet as an extension and enhancement of their daily routines. Contrary to media sensationalism, the Internet is neither a utopia, liberating people to form a global egalitarian community, nor a dystopia-producing armies of disembodied, lonely individuals. Like any form of communication, it is as helpful or harmful as those who use it.
Web Campaigning
Authors: Foot Kirsten A. , Schneider Steven M.
Published: January 2019

The use of the Web in U.S. political campaigns has developed dramatically over the course of the last several election seasons. In Web Campaigning, Kirsten Foot and Steven Schneider examine the evolution of campaigns' Web practices, based on hundreds of campaign Web sites produced by a range of political actors during the U.S. elections of 2000, 2002, and 2004. Their developmental analyses of how and why campaign organizations create specific online structures illuminates the reciprocal relationship between these production practices and the structures of both the campaign organization and the electoral arena. This practice-based approach and the focus on campaigns as Web producers make the book a significant methodological and theoretical contribution to both science and technology studies and political communication scholarship.

Foot and Schneider explore the inherent tension between the desire of campaigns to maintain control over messages and resources and the generally decentralizing dynamic of Web-based communication. They analyze specific strategies by which campaigns mitigate this, examining the ways that the production techniques, coproducing Web content, online-offline convergence, and linking to other Web sites mediate the practices of informing, involving, connecting, and mobilizing supporters. Their conclusions about the past decade's trajectory of Web campaigning point the way to a political theory of technology and a technologically grounded theory of electoral politics.

A digital installation available on the web illustrates core concepts discussed in the text of the book with examples drawn from archived campaign Web sites. Users have the opportunity to search these concepts in the context of fully operational campaign sites, recreating the Web experience of users during the election periods covered in the book.
The Really Hard Problem
Authors: Flanagan Owen
Published: January 2019

A noted philosopher proposes a naturalistic (rather than supernaturalistic) way to solve the "really hard problem": how to live in a meaningful way—how to live a life that really matters—even as a finite material being living in a material world.

If consciousness is "the hard problem" in mind science—explaining how the amazing private world of consciousness emerges from neuronal activity—then "the really hard problem," writes Owen Flanagan in this provocative book, is explaining how meaning is possible in the material world. How can we make sense of the magic and mystery of life naturalistically, without an appeal to the supernatural? How do we say truthful and enchanting things about being human if we accept the fact that we are finite material beings living in a material world, or, in Flanagan's description, short-lived pieces of organized cells and tissue?

Flanagan's answer is both naturalistic and enchanting. We all wish to live in a meaningful way, to live a life that really matters, to flourish, to achieve eudaimonia—to be a "happy spirit." Flanagan calls his "empirical-normative" inquiry into the nature, causes, and conditions of human flourishing eudaimonics. Eudaimonics, systematic philosophical investigation that is continuous with science, is the naturalist's response to those who say that science has robbed the world of the meaning that fantastical, wishful stories once provided.

Flanagan draws on philosophy, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and psychology, as well as on transformative mindfulness and self-cultivation practices that come from such nontheistic spiritual traditions as Buddhism, Confucianism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism, in his quest. He gathers from these disciplines knowledge that will help us understand the nature, causes, and constituents of well-being and advance human flourishing. Eudaimonics can help us find out how to make a difference, how to contribute to the accumulation of good effects—how to live a meaningful life.

Bradford Books imprint
The Monumental Challenge of Preservation
Authors: Cloonan Michèle Valerie
Published: January 2019

The enormous task of preserving the world's heritage in the face of war, natural disaster, vandalism, neglect, and technical obsolescence.

The monuments—movable, immovable, tangible, and intangible—of the world's shared cultural heritage are at risk. War, terrorism, natural disaster, vandalism, and neglect make the work of preservation a greater challenge than it has been since World War II. In The Monumental Challenge of Preservation Michèle Cloonan makes the case that, at this critical juncture, we must consider preservation in the broadest possible contexts. Preservation requires the efforts of an increasing number of stakeholders.

In order to explore the cultural, political, technological, economic, and ethical dimensions of preservation, Cloonan examines particular monuments and their preservation dilemmas. The massive Bamiyan Buddhas, blown up by the Taliban in 2001, are still the subject of debates over how, or whether, to preserve what remains, and the U. S. National Park Service has undertaken the complex task of preserving the symbolic and often ephemeral objects that visitors leave at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—to take just two of the many examples described in the book. Cloonan also considers the ongoing genocide and cultural genocide in Syria; the challenges of preserving our digital heritage; the dynamic between original and copy; efforts to preserve the papers and architectural fragments of the architect Louis Sullivan; and the possibility of sustainable preservation. In the end, Cloonan suggests, we are what we preserve—and don't preserve. Every day we make preservation decisions, individually and collectively, that have longer-term ramifications than we might expect.
The Tone of Our Times
Authors: Dyson Frances
Published: January 2019

Sound, tone, music, voice, and noise as forms of sonority through which our current economic and ecological crises can be understood.

In this wide-ranging book, Frances Dyson examines the role of sound in the development of economic and ecological systems that are today in crisis. Connecting early theories of harmony, cosmology, and theological doctrine to contemporary media and governance, Dyson uses sound, tone, music, voice, and noise as forms of sonority through which the crises of “eco” can be read. The sonic environment, Dyson argues, is fundamental to both sense and sensibility, and its delimitation has contributed to the “senselessness” of a world now caught between spiraling debt and environmental degradation.

Dyson draws on scenes, historical moments, artworks, and artistic and theoretical practice to situate the reverberative atmosphere that surrounds and sustains us. From Pythagoras's hammer and the transmutation of music into mathematics, to John Cage's famous experience in the anechoic chamber, to the relocation of the stock market from the street to the computer screen, to Occupy Wall Street's “people's microphone”: Dyson finds policies and practices of exclusion. The sound of Pythagoras's forge and the rabble of the market have been muted, rearticulated, and transformed, Dyson argues, through the monotones of media, the racket of financialization, and the gibberish of political speech.

Informed by contemporary sound art, philosophy, media and sociopolitical theory, The Tone of Our Times offers insights into present crises that are relevant to a broader understanding of how space, the aural, and listening have shaped and continue to shape the world we live in.
The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age
Authors: Davidson Cathy N. , Goldberg David Theo , Jones Zoë Marie
Published: January 2019

In this report, Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg focus on the potential for shared and interactive learning made possible by the Internet. They argue that the single most important characteristic of the Internet is its capacity for world-wide community and the limitless exchange of ideas. The Internet brings about a way of learning that is not new or revolutionary but is now the norm for today's graduating high school and college classes. It is for this reason that Davidson and Goldberg call on us to examine potential new models of digital learning and rethink our virtually enabled and enhanced learning institutions. This report is available in a free digital edition on the MIT Press website at http://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262513593. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning
Evil Media
Authors: Fuller Matthew , Goffey Andrew
Published: January 2019

A philosophical manual of media power for the network age.

Evil Media develops a philosophy of media power that extends the concept of media beyond its tried and trusted use in the games of meaning, symbolism, and truth. It addresses the gray zones in which media exist as corporate work systems, algorithms and data structures, twenty-first century self-improvement manuals, and pharmaceutical techniques. Evil Media invites the reader to explore and understand the abstract infrastructure of the present day. From search engines to flirting strategies, from the value of institutional stupidity to the malicious minutiae of databases, this book shows how the devil is in the details.

The title takes the imperative “Don't be evil” and asks, what would be done any differently in contemporary computational and networked media were that maxim reversed.

Media here are about much more and much less than symbols, stories, information, or communication: media do things. They incite and provoke, twist and bend, leak and manage. In a series of provocative stratagems designed to be used, Evil Media sets its reader an ethical challenge: either remain a transparent intermediary in the networks and chains of communicative power or become oneself an active, transformative medium.
Digital Methods
Authors: Rogers Richard
Published: January 2019

A proposal to repurpose Web-native techniques for use in social and cultural scholarly research.

In Digital Methods, Richard Rogers proposes a methodological outlook for social and cultural scholarly research on the Web that seeks to move Internet research beyond the study of online culture. It is not a toolkit for Internet research, or operating instructions for a software package; it deals with broader questions. How can we study social media to learn something about society rather than about social media use? Rogers proposes repurposing Web-native techniques for research into cultural change and societal conditions. We can learn to reapply such “methods of the medium” as crawling and crowd sourcing, PageRank and similar algorithms, tag clouds and other visualizations; we can learn how they handle hits, likes, tags, date stamps, and other Web-native objects. By “thinking along” with devices and the objects they handle, digital research methods can follow the evolving methods of the medium.

Rogers uses this new methodological outlook to examine such topics as the findings of inquiries into 9/11 search results, the recognition of climate change skeptics by climate-change-related Web sites, and the censorship of the Iranian Web. With Digital Methods, Rogers introduces a new vision and method for Internet research and at the same time applies them to the Web's objects of study, from tiny particles (hyperlinks) to large masses (social media).
Hybrid Nature
Authors: Schneider Daniel
Published: January 2019

A history of of the industrial ecosystem that focuses on the biological sewage treatment plant as an early example.

Biological sewage treatment, like electricity, power generation, telephones, and mass transit, has been a key technology and a major part of the urban infrastructure since the late nineteenth century. But sewage treatment plants are not only a ubiquitous component of the modern city, they are also ecosystems—a hybrid variety that incorporates elements of both nature and industry and embodies multiple contradictions. In Hybrid Nature, Daniel Schneider offers an environmental history of the biological sewage treatment plant in the United States and England, viewing it as an early and influential example of an industrial ecosystem.

The sewage treatment plant relies on microorganisms and other plants and animals but differs from a natural ecosystem in the extent of human intervention in its creation and management. Schneider explores the relationship between society and nature in the industrial ecosystem and the contradictions that define it: the naturalization of industry versus the industrialization of nature; the public interest versus private (patented) technology; engineers versus bacterial and human labor; and purification versus profits in the marketing of sewage fertilizer. Schneider also describes biotechnology's direct connections to the history of sewage treatment, and how genetic engineering is extending the reaches of the industrial ecosystem to such “natural” ecosystems as oceans, rivers, and forests. In a conclusion that shows how industrial ecosystems continue to evolve, Schneider discusses John Todd's Living Machine, a natural purification method of sewage treatment, as the embodiment of the contradictions of the industrial ecosystem.
The Cognitive Science of Science
Authors: Thagard Paul
Published: January 2019

A cognitive science perspective on scientific development, drawing on philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and computational modeling.

Many disciplines, including philosophy, history, and sociology, have attempted to make sense of how science works. In this book, Paul Thagard examines scientific development from the interdisciplinary perspective of cognitive science. Cognitive science combines insights from researchers in many fields: philosophers analyze historical cases, psychologists carry out behavioral experiments, neuroscientists perform brain scans, and computer modelers write programs that simulate thought processes.

Thagard develops cognitive perspectives on the nature of explanation, mental models, theory choice, and resistance to scientific change, considering disbelief in climate change as a case study. He presents a series of studies that describe the psychological and neural processes that have led to breakthroughs in science, medicine, and technology. He shows how discoveries of new theories and explanations lead to conceptual change, with examples from biology, psychology, and medicine. Finally, he shows how the cognitive science of science can integrate descriptive and normative concerns; and he considers the neural underpinnings of certain scientific concepts.
How Things Shape the Mind
Authors: Malafouris Lambros
Published: January 2019

An account of the different ways in which things have become cognitive extensions of the human body, from prehistory to the present.

An increasingly influential school of thought in cognitive science views the mind as embodied, extended, and distributed rather than brain-bound or “all in the head.” This shift in perspective raises important questions about the relationship between cognition and material culture, posing major challenges for philosophy, cognitive science, archaeology, and anthropology. In How Things Shape the Mind, Lambros Malafouris proposes a cross-disciplinary analytical framework for investigating the ways in which things have become cognitive extensions of the human body. Using a variety of examples and case studies, he considers how those ways might have changed from earliest prehistory to the present. Malafouris's Material Engagement Theory definitively adds materiality—the world of things, artifacts, and material signs—into the cognitive equation. His account not only questions conventional intuitions about the boundaries and location of the human mind but also suggests that we rethink classical archaeological assumptions about human cognitive evolution.
Stealth Assessment
Authors: Shute Valerie , Ventura Matthew
Published: January 2019

An approach to performance-based assessments that embeds assessments in digital games in order to measure how students are progressing toward targeted goals.

To succeed in today's interconnected and complex world, workers need to be able to think systemically, creatively, and critically. Equipping K-16 students with these twenty-first-century competencies requires new thinking not only about what should be taught in school but also about how to develop valid assessments to measure and support these competencies. In Stealth Assessment, Valerie Shute and Matthew Ventura investigate an approach that embeds performance-based assessments in digital games. They argue that using well-designed games as vehicles to assess and support learning will help combat students' growing disengagement from school, provide dynamic and ongoing measures of learning processes and outcomes, and offer students opportunities to apply such complex competencies as creativity, problem solving, persistence, and collaboration. Embedding assessments within games provides a way to monitor players' progress toward targeted competencies and to use that information to support learning.

Shute and Ventura discuss problems with such traditional assessment methods as multiple-choice questions, review evidence relating to digital games and learning, and illustrate the stealth-assessment approach with a set of assessments they are developing and embedding in the digital game Newton's Playground. These stealth assessments are intended to measure levels of creativity, persistence, and conceptual understanding of Newtonian physics during game play. Finally, they consider future research directions related to stealth assessment in education.
The Atlas of Economic Complexity
Authors: Hausmann Ricardo , Hidalgo César A. , Bustos Sebastián , Coscia Michele , Simoes Alexander , Yildirim Muhammed A.
Published: January 2019

Maps capture data expressing the economic complexity of countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, offering current economic measures and as well as a guide to achieving prosperity

Why do some countries grow and others do not? The authors of The Atlas of Economic Complexity offer readers an explanation based on "Economic Complexity," a measure of a society's productive knowledge. Prosperous societies are those that have the knowledge to make a larger variety of more complex products. The Atlas of Economic Complexity attempts to measure the amount of productive knowledge countries hold and how they can move to accumulate more of it by making more complex products.

Through the graphical representation of the "Product Space," the authors are able to identify each country's "adjacent possible," or potential new products, making it easier to find paths to economic diversification and growth. In addition, they argue that a country's economic complexity and its position in the product space are better predictors of economic growth than many other well-known development indicators, including measures of competitiveness, governance, finance, and schooling.

Using innovative visualizations, the book locates each country in the product space, provides complexity and growth potential rankings for 128 countries, and offers individual country pages with detailed information about a country's current capabilities and its diversification options. The maps and visualizations included in the Atlas can be used to find more viable paths to greater productive knowledge and prosperity.
GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF KOSTOLAC POWER PLANT FLY ASH: WORKING AND LIVING ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE ASPECT
Authors: ĐORĐEVIĆ DRAGAN , STANKOVIĆ MAJA , KRSTIĆ NENAD , DIMITRIJEVIĆ VLADIMIR , ANASTASIJEVIĆ NEMANJA , ĐORĐEVI Ć MILOŠ , NIKOLIĆ MILICA
Published: January 2019

The aim of this study is geochemical analysis of flying ash generated by the combustion of lignite in the Kostolac A and B thermal power plants. The fractionation procedure of fly ash samples was done firstly, and then stereomicroscopy, FTIR, SEM / EDS and ICP-OES analyzes. The contents of heavy metals V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb were determined. The results showed that the concentrations of the tested heavy metals are within the limits that are not harmful to the human health. However, the mineralogical analysis of the mentioned ash indicates that the present glass and other high-temperature mineralogical components can cause respiratory problems and disfunction of other organs of the inhabitants of Kostolac and the immediate surrounding. The tested fly ash, also, can be used as a material in various fields of industry (e.g. construction). Key words: lignite, fly ash, Kostolac, heavy metals.
OVERALL EFFICIENCY IN ELECTRIC ROAD VEHICLES
Authors: ĆAVAR NIKŠA , VULJAJ DAMIR , VRAŽIĆ MARIO
Published: January 2019

This paper discusses the efficiency of an electric car and a
conventional car. At the time when many car manufacturers are
developing electric car prototypes , it is of great importance to investigate their efficiency. The paper presents an efficiency analysis of main components in an electric car. Energy consumption is obtained by performing drive cycle energy consumption simulation, which does not consider losses in the vehicle and by using declared consumption data where losses are considered. These two data sets have been used to calculate overall efficiency.

Key words: Battery, conventional car, efficiency, electric car
Intercultural Awareness of Iranian English Language Learners:
 An Exploration
Authors: Edalati Kian Zahra
Published: January 2019

The present paper reports on a qualitative study investigating how Iranian learners of English as a foreign language understand culture and the extent to which this understanding meets the needs of efficient intercultural communication. In order to gather data, in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with eight participants. The interviews were designed and thematically analyzed using Baker’s (2011) model of intercultural awareness. The model, which served as the analytical framework of the study, has been used to account for the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to communicate through English as a lingua franca. Based on the findings of the study, the main elements of the model are relevant in accounting for intercultural awareness—which varied among the participants—not only in English as a lingua franca setting but also in contexts where partners with different cultural backgrounds speak the same first language. Moreover, with the aim of developing learners’ intercultural awareness, the policies and practices of English as a foreign language teaching in Iran need to be revised.
Anuran diversity indicates that Caatinga relictual Neotropical forests are more related to the Atlantic Forest than to the Amazon
Authors: Castro Deborah P. , Rodrigues João Fabrício M. , Borges-Leite Maria Juliana , Lima Daniel Cassiano , Borges-Nojosa Diva Maria
Published: January 2019

The relationships among the morphoclimatic domains of South America have been a major biogeographical issue of recent years. Palynological, geological and phytogeographical data suggest that the Amazon Forest and the Atlantic Forest were connected during part of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. This study uses amphibians as model organisms to investigate whether relict northeastern forests are a transition between the Amazon Forest and the Atlantic Forest. We compiled matrices of species composition for four different phytogeographic formations and “Brejos de Altitude,” and analyzed them using clustering methods and Cladistic Analysis of Distributions and Endemism. Our results indicate that the anurofauna of these northeastern forest relicts is most similar in composition to the areas of the Atlantic Forest included in this study, and most dissimilar to the Amazon Forest, which leads us to affirm that events of biotic exchange were more frequent within the Atlantic Forest areas.
Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis reveals potential biomarkers for early healing in cutaneous leishmaniasis
Authors: Montoya Andrés , López Manuel Carlos , Vélez Ivan D. , Robledo Sara M.
Published: January 2019

Background

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by more than 20 species of the Leishmania genus. The disease is globally distributed and is endemic in 97 countries and three territories in the tropical and subtropical regions. The efficacy of the current treatments is becoming increasingly low either due to incomplete treatment or resistant parasites. Failure of treatment is frequent, and therefore, the search for early biomarkers of therapeutic response in cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is urgently needed.

Objective

The aim of this study was to compare the proteomic profiles in patients with CL before and after 7 days of treatment and identify early biomarkers of curative response.

Methods

Four patients with a parasitological diagnosis of leishmaniasis with confirmation of species by PCR-RFLP were recruited. All patients had a single lesion, and a protein from the middle of the ulcer was quantified by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Results

A total of 12 proteins showed differential expression in the comparative LC-electrospray ionization MS/MS (LC-ESI-MS/MS) triplicate analysis. Seven of them were up-regulated and five of them were down-regulated. Calcium binding proteins A2, A8, and A9 and hemoglobin subunits alpha-2 and delta showed high correlation with epidermis development and immune response.

Conclusion

We identified changes in the profiles of proteins that had a positive therapeutic response to the treatment. The proteins identified with differential expression are related to the reduction of inflammation and increased tissue repair. These proteins can be useful as biomarkers for early monitoring of therapeutic response in CL.
Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the MYB transcription factor in moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis)
Authors: Yang Kebin , Li Ying , Wang Sining , Xu Xiurong , Sun Huayu , Zhao Hansheng , Li Xueping , Gao Zhimin
Published: January 2019

The MYB family, one of the largest transcription factor (TF) families in the plant kingdom, plays vital roles in cell formation, morphogenesis and signal transduction, as well as responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the underlying function of bamboo MYB TFs remains unclear. To gain insight into the status of these proteins, a total of 85 PeMYBs, which were further divided into 11 subgroups, were identified in moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) by using a genome-wide search strategy. Gene structure analysis showed that PeMYBs were significantly different, with exon numbers varying from 4 to 13. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that PeMYBs clustered into 27 clades, of which the function of 18 clades has been predicted. In addition, almost all of the PeMYBs were differently expressed in leaves, panicles, rhizomes and shoots based on RNA-seq data. Furthermore, qRT-PCR analysis showed that 12 PeMYBs related to the biosynthesis and deposition of the secondary cell wall (SCW) were constitutively expressed, and their transcript abundance levels have changed significantly with increasing height of the bamboo shoots, for which the degree of lignification continuously increased. This result indicated that these PeMYBs might play fundamental roles in SCW thickening and bamboo shoot lignification. The present comprehensive and systematic study on the members of the MYB family provided a reference and solid foundation for further functional analysis of MYB TFs in moso bamboo.
Different revegetation types alter soil physical-chemical characteristics and fungal community in the Baishilazi Nature Reserve
Authors: Deng Jiaojiao , Yin You , Luo Jiyao , Zhu Wenxu , Zhou Yongbin
Published: January 2019

The effects of different revegetation types on soil physical–chemical characteristics and fungal community diversity and composition of soils sampled from five different revegetation types (JM, Juglans mandshurica; QM, Quercus mongolica; conifer-broadleaf forest (CB); LG, Larix gmelinii; PK, Pinus koraiensis) in the Baishilazi Nature Reserve were determined. Soil fungal communities were assessed employing ITS rRNA Illunima Miseq high-throughput sequencing. Responses of the soil fungi community to soil environmental factors were assessed through canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and Pearson correlation analysis. The coniferous forests (L. gmelinii, P. koraiensis) and CB had reduced soil total carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), and available nitrogen (AN) values compared with the broadleaf forest (J. mandshurica, Q. mongolica). The average fungus diversity according to the Shannon, ACE, Chao1, and Simpson index were increased in the J. mandshurica site. Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Zygomycota, and Rozellomycota were the dominant fungal taxa in this region. The phylum Basidiomycota was dominant in the Q. mongolica, CB, L. gmelinii, and P. koraiensis sites, while Ascomycota was the dominant phylum in the J. mandshurica site. The clear differentiation of fungal communities and the clustering in the heatmap and in non-metric multidimensional scaling plot showed that broadleaf forests, CB, and coniferous forests harbored different fungal communities. The results of the CCA showed that soil environmental factors, such as soil pH, total C, total N, AN, and available phosphorus (P) greatly influenced the fungal community structure. Based on our results, the different responses of the soil fungal communities to the different revegetation types largely dependent on different forest types and soil physicochemical characteristic in Baishilazi Nature Reserve.
Perfil do albinismo oculocutâneo no estado da Bahia.
Authors: Moreira Lília Maria de Azevedo , Moreira Shirlei Cristina , Cabanelas Iago Teles Dominguez , Rocha Luciane De Melo
Published: January 2019

O albinismo é um conjunto heterogêneo de distúrbios genéticos que afeta a produção de melanina, podendo levar à hipopigmentação da pele, dos pêlos, cabelos e olhos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar aspectos genéticos e agravos à saúde decorrentes do albinismo oculocutâneo. Foi feita uma amostragem de conveniência, utilizando-se como instrumento de coleta de dados questionários semi-estruturados aplicados a 40 probandos (23 mulheres e 17 homens) de famílias associadas a APALBA (Associação dos Portadores de Albinismo da Bahia). Os albinos eram filhos de pais normalmente pigmentados, portadores do alelo recessivo mutante. A maioria (65%) refere hereditariedade, com mais de um caso na família, e origem étnica predominantemente negra. A ocorrência do albinismo está associada a dificuldades e desvantagens, conseqüências do distúrbio genético e da segregação social. O diagnóstico usual do albinismo segue critérios clínicos, embora já existam métodos laboratoriais que identificam algumas mutações. A falta de assistência aos afetados contribui para a baixa da visão e a ocorrência de câncer de pele. O estudo indica a necessidade de um novo modelo de atendimento ao albino, com medidas de prevenção aos danos à saúde, que também incluam, nos casos indicados, testes laboratoriais com técnicas da biologia molecular que possam contribuir para  o aconselhamento genético da condição. 
Editorial
Authors: Masson Maria Lúcia Vaz
Published: January 2019

Editorial
Padrões de aleitamento até o sexto mês de vida em crianças de uma cidade ao sul do Brasil
Authors: Vargas Vagner De Souza , Soares Maria Cristina Flores
Published: January 2019

Amamentação é a forma mais natural e segura de alimentar um recém-nascido. O objetivo deste estudo foi caracterizar os padrões de aleitamento de crianças com menos de seis meses de vida, através da comparação dos dados de dois estudos transversais de base populacional realizados em 1995 e 2004 na cidade do Rio Grande/RS. A proporção de crianças que receberam amamentação exclusiva foi maior no segundo estudo (1995: 2.5%; 2004: 3.9%; p=0.65), assim como a proporção de crianças recebendo amamentação predominante (1995: 10.1%; 2004: 15.6%; p < 0.05). As proporções de aleitamento materno independentemente da ingestão de outros alimentos foram 36.5% (1995) e 38.4% (2004). Na segunda década, houve uma proporção menor de crianças recebendo aleitamento artificial exclusivo (1995: 9.4%; 2004: 2.6%; p < 0.01), o aleitamento misto exclusivo diminuiu ao longo desta década (1995: 29.6%; 2004: 5.5%; p < 0.01). As proporções de crianças que receberam aleitamento misto predominante foram 66.1% (1995) e 62.3% (2004). Não ocorreram mudanças nas prevalências de aleitamento artificial predominante (1995: 18.2%; 2004: 18.2%). Houve uma proporção menor de crianças recebendo aleitamento com leite de vaca predominante uma década depois (1995: 36.5%; 2004: 8.3%; p < 0.01). Houve um aumento na prevalência de crianças que recebiam amamentação parcial até o sexto mês (1995: 14.9%; 2004: 27.8%; p < 0.05). Portanto, concluiu-se que a amamentação exclusiva até o sexto mês têm apresentado baixas proporções nesta cidade, não seguindo as recomendações da OMS. Além disso, o hábito de introduzir outros leites, alimentos e líquidos precocemente à dieta destas crianças é muito comum nesta população.
Laser de baixa intensidade na cicatrização periodontal
Authors: Barros Fabiana Cervo de , Antunes Susyane Almeida , Figueredo Carlo Marcelo Da Silva , Fischer Ricardo G.
Published: January 2019

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os resultados e a metodologia de trabalhos sobre os potenciais efeitos da irradiação por lasers de baixa intensidade (LBI) na cicatrização dos tecidos periodontais, tendo como base o banco de dados MEDLINE, de 1992 a 2007. Basicamente, dois tipos de lasers de baixa potência são utilizados: hélio - neônio(HeNe), com comprimento de onda de 633nm e lasers diodo, como o Arseniato de gálio e alumínio (AsGaAl), Arseniato de gálio(AsGa) e o fosfato de arsênio índio gálio (InGaAlP), cujos comprimentos de onda variam entre 635-950 nm. Um total de 59 estudos foi observado e, desses, nove foram selecionados e mostram que os LBI são associados à cicatrização, pelo seu potencial em reduzir os níveis locais de prostaglandinas, aumentar os níveis de beta endorfinas, estimular a produção de ATP celular e a liberação de fatores de crescimento, bem como propiciar a proliferação celular e a síntese de colágeno, e a diminuição do sangramento à sondagem. Concluindo, o LBI parece apresentar benefícios para o processo de cicatrização tecidual. No entanto, a análise dos estudos e a sugestão de um protocolo para a utilização dos LBI são dificultadas pela diversidade da metodologia empregada, como, por exemplo, diferenças nos comprimentos de onda, dosimetrias, tipos de estudo e desenhos experimentais.
Índice elevado de CPOD em pacientes com doença inflamatória intestinal
Authors: Barro Fabiana Cervo de , Brito Fernanda , Menegat Juliana Santos , Pedreira Roberta Rocha , Carvalho Ana Teresa Pugas , Zaltman Cyrla , Fischer Ricardo G. , Figueredo Carlos Marcelo S.
Published: January 2019

O objetivo deste estudo foi o de avaliar a presença de lesões cariosas, restauradas, elementos perdidos por cárie (CPOD) e a condição da mucosa oral em pacientes com Doença Inflamatória Intestinal e compará-los com pacientes saudáveis sistemicamente. Foram examinados 99 pacientes com Doença de Crohn (DC), 80 com Colite Ulcerativa (UC) e 74 controles (C). No exame clínico, foram registrados o índice CPOD, o índice de placa e a presença de lesões no tecido mole oral. A idade média, em anos, foi de 38,99 (DP± 12,90); 43,33 (DP ± 13,21) e 40,28 (DP ± 12,87) para os grupos DC, UC e C, respectivamente. Houve aumento significante na prevalência do índice de CPOD no grupo DC (p = 0,016) e UC ( < 0,0001), quando comparado ao C. A porcentagem de placa foi menor no grupo DC 44,04 (DP± 30,49) que no C 54,10 (DP ±26,4), p= 0,017, mas não houve diferença entre UC e C. Com relação ao número total de lesões orais, foi observada diferença significante entre os grupos DC (p= 0.041) e UC (p= < 0.0001) e o grupo C, sendo a pioestomatite a lesão significantemente diferente entre esses grupos. Assim, conclui-se que, quando as doenças inflamatórias intestinais (DC e UC) são avaliadas separadamente, elevado índice de CPOD foi observado em relação ao grupo de controle; e pacientes com comprometimento intestinal apresentam mais lesões bucais que os pacientes do grupo de controle, sendo que, quando as lesões são observadas separadamente, a pioestomatite vegetante é a única que se mostra significantemente prevalente naqueles grupos.
Levantamento epidemiológico de malária na cidade de Manaus em 2005
Authors: Barbosa Wuerles Bessa
Published: January 2019

Durante os meses de outubro e novembro de 2006, foi realizado um levantamento epidemiológico da ocorrência de malária em três regiões de Manaus e com registro na Fundação de Medicina Tropical do Amazonas durante o ano de 2005. Nesse local, foram coletadas, entre outras, as seguintes informações: número de casos de malária por mês, registro de malária conforme a espécie de Plasmodium e a zona onde o paciente reside. Através de estatística descritiva, foi possível verificar que a malária apresenta flutuação sazonal em todas as zonas estudadas, bem como que as maiores taxas percentuais ocorrem nos seus setores rurais. Entretanto, com a realização do teste t, foi possível verificar que não há correlação estatística entre as zonas conforme a presença ou não das espécies de P. falciparum e P. vivax. Assim, sugere-se que estudos sobre a ocorrência de doenças tropicais, como a malária, devem merecer destaque nas decisões governamentais sobre saúde pública na Amazônia.
Avaliação dos micronúcleos de células inflamatórias em pacientes com esporotricose e cromomicose
Authors: Lima Neto Reginaldo Gonçalves de , Araújo-Filho Jorge Luiz Silva , Melo-Junior Mário Ribeiro de
Published: January 2019

Atualmente, micoses subcutâneas, como a esporotricose (ST) e cromomicose (CM), possuem grande incidência na América Latina. Seus sinais clínicos ocorrem inicialmente com a formação de nódulos gomosos na ST e lesões eritematosas e verrucosas na CM, ambas evoluindo para lesões granulomatosas, geralmente combinadas com pseudocarcinomas, formadas principalmente pelo sistema fagocítico-mononuclear, plasmócitos e células gigantes tipo Langerhans. Como conseqüência dessa resposta imune, as células inflamatórias intensificam seu metabolismo e aumenta a síntese protéica, o que conduz a formação de micronúcleos. Os micronúcleos são porções da cromatina oriundas de mitoses aberrantes. Este estudo tem como objetivo quantificar o número médio de micronúcleos por célula inflamatória nas lesões cutâneas de ST e CM. Foram selecionadas biópsias de tecido epidérmico de pacientes portadores de ST (n=10) ou CM (n=10). Realizou-se citoquímica pela coloração com a reação de Feulgen e a contracoloração com Fast Green. Os resultados obtidos indicam que a freqüência dos micronúcleos é significativamente mais alta nas lesões características de ST, quando comparada à dos casos de CM (p < 0,05). Os resultados preliminares sugerem diferentes mecanismos citogenéticos de resposta das células inflamatórias, embora os perfis histopatológicos das lesões sejam semelhantes.
Biocompatibilidade e uso da membrana fibrosa da casca de ovo na regeneração óssea guiada
Authors: Oliveira Marcondes Queiroz , Santana Edmar José Borges de , Sadigursky Moysés
Published: January 2019

A técnica da regeneração óssea guiada (ROG) fundamenta-se nos mesmos princípios da regeneração tecidual guiada (RTG) e funciona protegendo uma lesão óssea da invasão de células do tecido conjuntivo e (ou) do tecido epitelial, por meio de uma membrana ou barreira. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a biocompatibilidade da membrana fibrosa da casca de ovo in natura (MFCO) esterilizada em autoclave para uso como membrana permanente para a técnica da ROG. Na experimentação, foram usados aleatoriamente trinta Rattus norvegicus albinus para o grupo I, e quinze para o grupo II. O grupo I foi subdividido em 1, 2 e 3, e o grupo II em 4, 5, e 6, que foram avaliados respectivamente em uma, duas e três semanas. Os resultados permitiram concluir que a MFCO é biocompatível conforme a ausência de infiltrado linfoplasmocitário nos tecidos e que funciona como barreira, como mostra a produção de osso, apesar dos resultados não significantes estatisticamente entre o grupo de controle e o sham p=0,257, p=0,317 e p=0,317 para uma, duas e três semanas respectivamente, usando-se o teste de Wilcoxon.
Frog survival and population viability in an agricultural landscape with a drying climate
Authors: Davis Robert A. , Lohr Cheryl A. , Dale Roberts J.
Published: January 2019

Amphibians are the most threatened class of vertebrate in the world. Although a number of causes of the amphibian decline phenomenon are emerging, there is a need for robust demographic data to be able to monitor current and future threats such as climate change. Despite this, few studies on amphibians have the life‐history data available to undertake these analyses and fewer still have looked at the challenges to population viability posed by fragmentation—a feature inherent in agricultural landscapes where the matrix is highly modified. Our aim was to investigate the population viability of a large burrowing frog in an agricultural landscape. Specifically, we aimed to investigate the future persistence of populations under a range of scenarios including populations connected by various levels of dispersal and reduced rainfall. We used the life‐history parameters of Heleioporus albopunctatus, a frog species widely distributed in the extensively cleared agricultural regions of south‐western Australia. We investigated the viability of 24 partially connected populations under a range of scenarios using the program Vortex Version 10.1.6.0. Metapopulations were consistently more robust to extinction than isolated local populations. Both meta‐ and local populations were more susceptible to increases in age‐specific mortality rates than to variation in the estimated ability of H. albopunctatus to disperse between breeding ponds, the survival rate of dispersers, or the frequency of drought. Our results reinforce the importance of metapopulations for survival in fragmented landscapes and point to the need to manage amphibian breeding ponds across landscapes to ensure high survival rates, particularly for juveniles.
Sheltered from the storm? Population viability analysis of a rare endemic under periodic catastrophe regimes
Authors: Crain Benjamin J. , Tremblay Raymond L. , Ferguson Jake M.
Published: January 2019

Rare species are important targets for biodiversity conservation efforts because rarity often equates to small populations and increased endangerment. Rare species are prone to stochastic extinction events and may be particularly susceptible to catastrophes. Therefore, understanding how rare species respond to disturbances is critical for evaluating extinction risk and guiding conservation managers. Population viability analyses (PVAs) are essential for assessing rare species' status yet they seldom consider catastrophic events. Accordingly, we present a PVA of a rare tropical epiphyte,Lepanthes caritensis(Orchidaceae), under simulated disturbance regimes to evaluate its demographics and extinction risk. We aimed to test how demographic models incorporating catastrophes affect population viability estimates. Our goal was to better guide management of these orchids and other rare plants. Results revealedL. caritensisnumbers have declined recently, but projected growth rates indicated that most subpopulations should increase in size if undisturbed. Still, projection models show that moderate catastrophes reduce growth rates, increase stochasticity in subpopulation sizes, and elevate extinction risk. Severe catastrophes had a more pronounced effect in simulations; growth rates fell below replacement level, there was greater variation in projected population sizes, and extinction risk was significantly higher. PVAs incorporating periodic catastrophes indicate that rare species may have greater extinction probabilities than standard models suggest. Thus, precautionary conservation measures should be taken in disturbance prone settings and we encourage careful monitoring after environmental catastrophes. Future rare plant PVAs should incorporate catastrophes and aim to determine if rescue and reintroduction efforts are necessary after disturbances to insure long‐term population viability.
Surviving background extinction: Inferences from historic and current dynamics in the contrasting population structures of two endemic Mexican cycads
Authors: Cabrera‐Toledo Dánae , González‐Astorga Jorge , Vovides Andrew P. , Casas Alejandro , Vargas‐Ponce Ofelia , Carrillo‐Reyes Pablo , Nolasco‐Soto Janet , Vega Ernesto
Published: January 2019

Ecological and microevolutionary perspectives were used to investigate signs of background extinction in two endemic species. We studied relict populations of the cycad Dioon caputoi, contrasting its population structure and neighborhood size with those of Dioon planifolium as a demographically healthier reference population. Population dynamics analysis was performed on two populations of D. caputoi through Integral Projection Models and genetic neighborhoods compared between species through 172 Inter Simple Sequence Repeat loci performed in one population of each of the two study species. The D. caputoi populations mostly comprised adult plants, while D. planifolium presented mainly juvenile individuals. Dioon caputoi showed equilibrium in population growth (i.e., λ ≈ 1), with low recruitment, and its genetic neighborhood revealed highly related individuals in a unique distance class (rij = 0.407, 33 m). A contrasting pattern was found in D. planifolium, which showed higher relatedness in the first distance class (rij = 0.543, 5 m), gradually decreasing to 20 m. The discrepancies between the two species reflect different strategies of persistence. Dioon caputoi conserves a relict dynamics with signs of a multigenerational, attritional loss of reproductive fitness, while D. planifolium does not. This study furthers our understanding of the background extinction process and the information will thus contribute to the management and conservation of this endangered species.