Tasting to preserve: An educational activity to promote children's positive attitudes towards intraspecific diversity conservation.

On the edge of causing the sixth big mass extinction event, the development of positive attitudes towards the conservation of intraspecific diversity from early ages is essential to overcome the biodiversity crisis we currently face. However, there is no information available on elementary school students' attitudes toward intraspecific diversity conservation nor is there a framework available to perform such analysis. For this study we designed, implemented, and evaluated an educational activity planned for third graders (8 to 13 years old) to explore the intraspecific diversity of vegetables and promote healthy eating habits. Additionally, a framework was developed to evaluate students' attitudes towards intraspecific diversity conservation and applied to semi-structured interviews conducted with students before and after engaging in the educational activity. In this paper we present a reliable framework, developed aligned with the ABC model of attitudes, based on literature, and adapted to elementary school students' responses, to evaluate students' attitudes toward intraspecific diversity. Our results show that, before the educational activity, most students choose a non-biodiverse option, justifying this choice with the affective component of attitudes: mostly emotional factors but also aesthetic and social/cultural factors. After the educational activity, we observed a significant increase in the frequency of students that choose the biodiverse option and that justified it with the cognitive component of attitudes: mainly with biology and health knowledge factors, but also with economic and ethical knowledge factors. Our findings support the positive impact of educational activities that explore vegetable varieties on students' attitudes toward intraspecific diversity conservation. This activity may also be used to foster education for sustainability and address socioscientific issues aligned with diverse sustainable development goals.

Following Darwin's footsteps: Evaluating the impact of an activity designed for elementary school students to link historically important evolution key concepts on their understanding of natural selection.

While several researchers have suggested that evolution should be explored from the initial years of schooling, little information is available on effective resources to enhance elementary school students' level of understanding of evolution by natural selection (LUENS). For the present study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated an educational activity planned for fourth graders (9 to 10 years old) to explore concepts and conceptual fields that were historically important for the discovery of natural selection. Observation field notes and students' productions were used to analyze how the students explored the proposed activity. Additionally, an evaluation framework consisting of a test, the evaluation criteria, and the scoring process was applied in two fourth-grade classes (N = 44) to estimate elementary school students' LUENS before and after engaging in the activity. Our results show that our activity allowed students to link the key concepts, resulting in a significant increase of their understanding of natural selection. They also reveal that additional activities and minor fine-tuning of the present activity are required to further support students' learning about the concept of differential reproduction.

Development and validation of a framework for the assessment of school curricula on the presence of evolutionary concepts (FACE).

Evolution is a key concept of biology, fundamental to understand the world and address important societal problems, but research studies show that it is still not widely understood and accepted. Several factors are known to influence evolution acceptance and understanding, but little information is available regarding the impacts of the curriculum on these aspects. Very few curricula have been examined to assess the coverage of biological evolution. The available studies do not allow comparative analyses, due to the different methodologies employed by the authors. However, such an analysis would be useful for research purposes and for the development of appropriate educational policies to address the problem of a lack of evolution acceptance in some countries. In this paper we describe the steps through which we developed a valid and reliable instrument for curricula analysis known as FACE: "Framework to Assess the Coverage of biological Evolution by school curricula." This framework was developed based on the "Understanding Evolution Conceptual Framework" (UECF). After an initial pilot study, our framework was reformulated based on identified issues and experts' opinions. To generate validity and reliability evidence in support of the framework, it was applied to four European countries' curricula. For each country, a team of a minimum of two national and two foreign coders worked independently to assess the curriculum using this framework for content analysis. Reliability evidence was estimated using Krippendorf's alpha and resulted in appropriate values for coding the examined curricula. Some issues that coders faced during the analysis were discussed and, to ensure better reliability for future researchers, additional guidelines and one extra category were included in the framework. The final version of the framework includes six categories and 34 subcategories. FACE is a useful tool for the analysis and the comparison of curricula and school textbooks regarding the coverage of evolution, and such results can guide curricula development.

The taste of biodiversity: science and sensory education with different varieties of a vegetable to promote acceptance among primary school children.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of an educational programme for primary schools that explored the biodiversity of tomato, by promoting science and sensory education with three distinct varieties of it, in the acceptance of vegetables. DESIGN: A randomised controlled study in which children were exposed to the educational programme (intervention group) or remained in the class, as usual (control group). The educational programme consisted of three sessions where children explained the observed differences between the three varieties of tomato and individual perceptions of their flavours based on sensory-based food education and by planning and implementing experiments to explain those differences. We tested the effects on both children's willingness to try and their liking for tomato, and for lettuce and cabbage to study the carry-over effect, compared with the control group (Mann-Whitney U test; P < 0·05). SETTING: The study took place in public primary schools in Porto, Portugal. PARTICIPANTS: Children in the third grade (8-13-year-old children) (n 136) were randomly assigned to intervention or control group. RESULTS: Children in the intervention group reported significant increases in their willingness to try and liking for tomato compared to the control group (P < 0·05), but not for lettuce and cabbage (P > 0·05). CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the potential for fostering children's acceptance of a vegetable by exploring biodiversity through science education. Further work may clarify the effects of exploring biodiversity on the consumption of vegetables and establish whether the results are stable over time and replicable across contexts and populations.

High-Quality Draft Genome Sequence Resources of Eight Xylella fastidiosa Strains Isolated from Citrus, Coffee, Plum, and Hibiscus in South America.

Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca, once confined to South America and infecting mainly citrus and coffee plants, has been found to be associated with other hosts and in other geographic regions. We present high-quality draft genome sequences of X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca strains J1a12, B111, U24D, and XRB isolated from citrus plants in Brazil, strain Fb7 isolated from a citrus plant in Argentina and strains 3124, Pr8x, and Hib4 isolated, respectively, from coffee, plum, and hibiscus plants in Brazil. Sequencing was performed using Roche 454-GS FLX, MiSeq-Illumina or Pacific Biosciences platforms. These high-quality genome assemblies will be useful for further studies about the genomic diversity, evolution, and biology of X. fastidiosa.

High-quality draft genome sequence resources of eight Xylella fastidiosa strains isolated from citrus, coffee, plum and hibiscus in South America.

Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca , once confined to South America and infecting mainly citrus and coffee plants, has been found to be associated with other hosts and in other geographic regions. We present high-quality draft genome sequences of X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca strains J1a12, B111, U24D and XRB isolated from citrus plants in Brazil, strain Fb7 isolated from a citrus plant in Argentina and strains 3124, Pr8x and Hib4 isolated, respectively, from coffee, plum and hibiscus plants in Brazil. Sequencing was performed using Roche 454-GS FLX, MiSeq-Illumina or Pacific Biosciences platforms. These high-quality genome assemblies will be useful for further studies about the genomic diversity, evolution, and biology of X. fastidiosa.

High-quality draft genome sequence resources of eight Xylella fastidiosa strains isolated from citrus, coffee, plum and hibiscus in South America.

Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca , once confined to South America and infecting mainly citrus and coffee plants, has been found to be associated with other hosts and in other geographic regions. We present high-quality draft genome sequences of X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca strains J1a12, B111, U24D and XRB isolated from citrus plants in Brazil, strain Fb7 isolated from a citrus plant in Argentina and strains 3124, Pr8x and Hib4 isolated, respectively, from coffee, plum and hibiscus plants in Brazil. Sequencing was performed using Roche 454-GS FLX, MiSeq-Illumina or Pacific Biosciences platforms. These high-quality genome assemblies will be useful for further studies about the genomic diversity, evolution, and biology of X. fastidiosa.

PROGRAMA MAIS EDUCAÇÃO: REVISÃO DE LITERATURA / More Education Program: literature review / Programa Más Educación: revisión de la literatura

O objetivo do presente estudo foi realizar uma revisão de literatura sobre Educação Integral no Brasil no âmbito do Programa Mais Educação (PME). O PME surgiu como política pública implantada pelo Governo Federal para induzir a ampliação da jornada escolar e a organização curricular na perspectiva da Educação Integral. Foram localizados oito artigos sobre o PME, publicados entre 2007/2015. Realizou-se Análise de Conteúdo, focalizando-se: aspectos históricos, ideológicos e políticos da Educação Integral e principais benefícios e desafios do PME. Dentre os benefícios foram identificados a formação integral e a melhoria do processo ensino-aprendizagem. As dificuldades apontadas referem-se à estrutura física das escolas e à política assistencialista do PME. Conclui-se pela necessidade da ampliação da produção científica sobre o PME enquanto política indutora da Educação Integral.

The aim of this study was a literature review of Comprehensive Education in Brazil inserted into the More Education Program (PME). The PME emerged as a public policy implemented by the Federal Government to induce the extension of the school day and curriculum organization from the perspective of Comprehensive Education. The literature review included articles on CAPES Portal from 2007 to 2015. Content Analysis was also carried through with focus on the historical, ideological and political aspects of comprehensive education, and also on the main advantages and challenges of PME. Among the advantages, comprehensive training and improvement of learning process were identified. The difficulties pointed out concern the precariousness of the physical structure of schools and the program welfarist policy. We concluded that there is a need to expand the scientific production on the PME as policy that leads to Comprehensive Education.

El objetivo de este estudio es hacer una revisión de la literatura sobre la Educación Integral en Brasil en el marco del Programa Más Educación (PME). El PME ha surgido como una política pública implementada por el Gobierno Federal para inducir la expansión de la jornada escolar y la organización del currículo desde la perspectiva de la Educación Integral. Se encontrarón ocho artículos sobre el PME, publicados entre 2007/2015. Se ha realizado el análisis del contenido focalizando los aspectos históricos, ideológicos y políticos de la educación integral y principales beneficios y desafíos de la PME. Dentre los benefícios se identificaron: la formación integral y la mejoria de la enseñanza y aprendizaje. Las dificultades identificadas se relacionaron com la estructura física de las escuelas y la política asistencialista del PME. Se concluye por la necesidad de expansión de la literatura científica sobre PME como política de inducción de la Educación Integral.

A anuência prévia na concessão de patentes de medicamentos e a regulação econômica da indústria farmacêutica / The additional layer of drug patent review by anvisa and the economic regulation of pharmaceutical industry

A introdução do art. 229-C à Lei de Propriedade Intelectual (lei n. 9.279/96), pela Lei n. 10.196/01, condicionou a concessão de patentes farmacêuticas pelo Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Intelectual (INPI) à anuência prévia da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa). O trabalho analisa duas competências distintas da agência: (i) para atuar no sistema de proteção intelectual; e (ii) para regular economicamente o mercado farmacêutico. Ao apresentar os mecanismos à disposição do Estado para o exercício da regulação dos preços dos medicamentos, demonstra-se a inadequação da patente para exercer a regulação econômica desse mercado.

Valores de referência do ácido delta-aminolevulínico na urina de populaçäo da regiäo sul de Minas Gerais, näo ocupacionalmente exposta ao chumbo / Reference values for urinary delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in a lead nonoccupationally exposed population from South Minas Gerais, Brazil

Neste trabalho determinaram-se os valores de referência para o ácido delta-aminolevulínico urinário (`deltaï-ALA U), indicador biológico da exposição humana aos compostos inorgânicos do chumbo, na região Sul de Minas Gerais. O `deltaï-ALA U foi determinado segundo método espectrofotométrico de Tomokuni e Ogata. A população estudada foi constituída de 117 voluntários não-expostos ocupacionalmente ao chumbo, saudáveis, sendo 56 homens e 64 mulheres, de idades entre 18 e 60 anos, Os valores de referência do `deltaï-ALA U, expressos em mg/g de creatinina, foram: valor médio ñ desvio padrão de 1,51 ñ 0,53; mediana de 1,40; intervalo de confiança 95 por cento entre 1,41 e 1,61; valor de referência superior de 2,59; percentil 95 por cento de 2,45...

Cistodenoma mucinoso de ovário durante a gestação / Ovarian mucinous cystoadenoma during pregnancy

Os autores relatam um caso de cistoadenoma mucinoso de ovário durante a gestação, em primigesta de 19 anos, com 340 x 270 x 150mm em seus diâmetros longitudinal, ânteroi-posterior e transverso, respectivamente, pesando 5.850 gramas. A paciente evoluiu assintomaticamente até 39 4/7 semanas de gestação, quando apresentou quadro sugestivo de torção do tumor, sendo por este motivo submetida à cesariana segmentar transversa com incisão longitudinal mediana xifopúbica, com exérese do cisto. A literatura não menciona a presença de cistos ovarianos com tais dimensões durante a gestação. A paciente e o recém-nascido evoluíram de maneira satisfatória, obtendo alta hospitalar no terceiro dia pós-operatório