Through the fingers: Use of plastinated anatomical specimens for visually impaired students.

The plastination technique produces non-toxic human tissues, ensuring their safe handling in educational settings. This investigation aimed to understand if visually impaired students profit from the use of plastinated anatomical specimens in learning the anatomy of the nervous system. For this purpose, their learning performance was compared to sighted and blindfolded students recruited from three primary schools in Fortaleza city, in the state of Ceará. Initially, a questionnaire was applied before carrying out the pedagogical practice, followed by an anatomy lecture with practical components with the use of plastinated anatomical specimens and synthetic anatomical models of the nervous system. After these steps, the students answered the questionnaire previously applied. Our results showed that the tactile perception of the visually impaired participants was significantly more developed compared to sighted (p < 0.001) and the blindfolded (p < 0.0001) students. The average of correct answers in the reapplied questionnaire was higher in the groups that used plastinated specimens (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the use of plastinated specimens has proven to be an effective tool in promoting a better understanding of anatomical structures, mainly for students with or without visual impairments, making it a valuable asset in anatomy teaching.

Stalling the Course of Neurodegenerative Diseases: Could Cyanobacteria Constitute a New Approach toward Therapy?

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are characterized by progressive and irreversible neuronal loss, accompanied by a range of pathological pathways, including aberrant protein aggregation, altered energy metabolism, excitotoxicity, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Some of the most common NDs include Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington's Disease (HD). There are currently no available cures; there are only therapeutic approaches that ameliorate the progression of symptoms, which makes the search for new drugs and therapeutic targets a constant battle. Cyanobacteria are ancient prokaryotic oxygenic phototrophs whose long evolutionary history has resulted in the production of a plethora of biomedically relevant compounds with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective properties, that can be valuable in this field. This review summarizes the major NDs and their pathophysiology, with a focus on the anti-neurodegenerative properties of cyanobacterial compounds and their main effects.

A captura ideológica dos mecanismos de participação social da OMS na negociação do acordo internacional sobre pandemias / The ideological capture of WHO's social participation mechanisms in the negotiation of the international pandemic agreement

Resumo Este artigo aborda a participação social nas negociações do acordo internacional sobre pandemias, conduzidas no âmbito da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) por um Órgão Intergovernamental de Negociação (OIN). Apresenta resultados de pesquisa realizada por meio de revisão de literatura, pesquisa documental que abarcou mais de cem documentos do OIN, e pesquisa empírica que realizou a análise qualitativa dos conteúdos de 383 vídeos enviados pelo público durante a segunda fase de audiências públicas do OIN. A pesquisa confirma a hipótese de que houve captura ideológica das audiências públicas, entendida como a atuação concertada de indivíduos e organizações que, aproveitando-se de modalidades de participação abertas ao público, por meio de uma atuação massiva em prol de argumentos sem base científica ou inverificáveis, busca distorcer a finalidade das audiências públicas, transformando a consulta sobre o que deveria estar contido no acordo sobre pandemias em um espaço de difusão de sua agenda política. Apresenta, ainda, indícios de atuação concertada da extrema-direita contra o acordo. As conclusões defendem a necessidade de mudanças nesse mecanismo de participação, em prol de uma regulação da saúde global que leve em conta a opinião e os interesses dos seus principais destinatários.

Abstract This article addresses social participation in the negotiations of the international agreement on pandemics, conducted within the World Health Organization (WHO) by an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB). It presents the results of research conducted with a literature review, document research that covered over 100 documents of the INB, and empirical research that carried out a qualitative analysis of the contents of 383 videos sent by the general public during the second phase of public hearings of the INB. The research confirms the hypothesis that there has been an ideological capture of the public hearings, understood as the concerted action of individuals and organizations that, by taking advantage of participation modalities open to the general public, with a massive action in favor of unscientific or unverifiable arguments, have sought to distort the purpose of social participation, turning the public consultation on what should be included in the agreement on pandemics into a space for the dissemination of their political agenda. It also presents evidence of concerted action by far-right groups against the agreement. The conclusions point to the need for changes in this participation mechanism, in favor of a regulation of global health that considers the opinion and interests of its main recipients.