Maria Helena Weber

Study of developmental changes on hexoses metabolism in rat cerebral cortex

We have studied the developmental changes of glucose, mannose, fructose and galactose metabolism in rat cerebral cortex. As the animals aged, glucose, mannose and fructose oxidation to CO2 increased, whereas galactose oxidation decreased. Lipid synthesis from glucose and fructose also increased with age, that from mannose decreased and galactose did not change. Cytochalasin B, a potent non-competitive inhibitor of sodium-independent glucose transport, significantly impaired glucose, mannose and galactose metabolism, but had no effect on fructose metabolism. Both galactose or fructose did not change, whereas mannose declined the glucose metabolism. Glucose decreased fructose, galactose and mannose metabolism. Our results show that besides glucose, the metabolism of mannose, galactose and fructose present developmental changes from fetal to adult age, and reinforce the literature data indicating that mannose and galactose are transported by glucose carriers, while fructose is not.

The effects of vitamin A supplementation to rats during gestation and lactation upon redox parameters: Increased oxidative stress and redox modulation in mothers and their offspring

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient required in adequate amounts for reproduction and development. Subtle variations in the status of maternal nutrition may affect physiological and metabolic parameters in the fetus. Evidence suggests a key role for oxidative stress in these events. Literature is controversial about the effects of vitamin A supplementation. Here, we studied the effects of vitamin A supplementation on female Wistar rats during gestation and lactation on oxidative stress parameters of maternal and offspring tissues. Rats received daily doses of vitamin A at 2500, 12,500 and 25,000IU/kg. We observed an increase of oxidative damage markers in the reproductive tissues and plasma of dams. The activity of glutathione-S-transferase was modulated by vitamin A supplementation. It was found to be increased in the liver of dams and decreased in the kidneys of mothers and offspring. In pups, supplementation decreased the total antioxidant potential of the liver along with decreased superoxide dismutase/catalase activity ratio in the kidney. The levels of lipoperoxidation were increased in male offspring, but decreased in female pups. Collectively, the results suggest that excessive vitamin A intake during gestation and lactation might be toxic for mothers with adverse effects for the developing offspring.

Changes in lymphocyte HSP70 levels in women handball players throughout 1 year of training: the role of estrogen levels

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is a chaperone that maintains protein conformation during heat stress. It has recently been observed that HSP70 may be released from cells in response to increased energy demand (e.g., exercise) and/or oxidative stress. Since HSP70 levels should change in response to athletic training, we have investigated whether blood HSP70 levels in young women handball players change over a complete training season. Thirty women handball players (12–24 years old) were divided into low (≥30 pg mL−1) (LE) and normal (30–330 pg mL−1) (NE) estradiol groups. HSP70 levels in lymphocytes and plasma and blood redox parameters were evaluated over 1 year (2009), with sampling at the beginning, middle, and end of the season. We observed no changes in superoxide dismutase activity or protein carbonyl or extracellular HSP70 levels, while catalase activity increased at the middle of the season in the NE group, and the thiobarbituric acid species levels in both groups were higher at the beginning of the season than at the middle or end. The lymphocyte HSP70 content was higher at the middle and end than at the beginning of the season in the NE group and also higher in the LE group than in the NE group at the beginning of the season. These results suggest that plasma estradiol levels may play an important role in exercise training and that the intracellular HSP70 content, a biomarker for inflammation, is affected by both estradiol levels and exercise-induced oxidative stress.

Hibridação de verdades políticas e midiáticas

O artigo aborda questoes vinculadas ao exercicio de relacoes e poderes, entre midias e politica, quando em disputa pela posse da verdade, autoridade, credibilidade e opinioes. Para tanto analisa um texto-espetaculo (campanha publicitaria) denominado A vida por todos os lados, do jornal Zero Hora, atraves da aplicacao da Estrutura de Hibridacao Mediatica, cujas estrategias sustentam as midias. Essa campanha e exemplar no cenario das relacoes e discursos especificos que demarcaram as acoes do ano de 1999 entre dois sujeitos poderosos, o Governo do Estado do RGS, administrado pelo PT e a Rede Brasil Sul de Comunicacoes, tendo mobilizado disputas em espacos politicos, academicos e institucionais.

Por uma cidade que se move e se comunica: corpo, rua e improviso

This article is about the relationship between place and people. The argument develops from a case study: the Camelodromo da Praca XV market place. The Camelodromo is a huge, spontaneous fair that occupied an important space in the centre of Porto Alegre/Brasil for 40 years. Self-organized and lived mainly by the lower classes, the phenomenon came to be a melting pot, where jamming and aesthetics made the way of being and acting in the street. Camelodromo developed into a complex social system; a web of conversations, gestures, routines, technologies and history, a culture. Ironically, in the beginning of 2009, the camelos were swept from the street, and transferred to a building. Here, we look into articulating studies of the Systems Theory, with ideas from urbanism, arts and communication. The argumentation looks into recognizing the positive human complexity of these spontaneous manifestations, so characteristic of the contemporary urban scene.This article presents the results of a research made to map studies on information users published in seven Brazilian journals from 1998 to 2007. The journals analyzed are: Ciencia da Informacao, Perspectivas em Ciencia da Informacao, Datagramazero, Informacao & sociedade: estudos, Transinformacao, Encontros Bibli e Em Questao. We identified 190 articles related to information users, of which 114 represent empirical researches done with information users. This 114 articles were analyzed in terms of: kind of user studied; kind of information resource, system or service studied; instrument of research used; institucional origin of the authors; authors cited.Este texto discorre sobre a necessidade de um olhar interpretativo sobre a imagem tecnica, objeto que, contemporaneamente, tem despertado interesse dos estudos de midia e comunicacao. Postula-se aqui a precariedade das analises que inferem juizos de valor das imagens (se elas sao boas ou mas). Em contrapartida, aponta-se para a importância das experiencias humanas no universo das imagens tecnicas. Nesse sentido, propomos pensar: a) quais as condicoes (externas as imagens) legitimam a sua teorizacao; b) como as imagens podem engendrar formas de producao de realidade; e c) quais alteracoes vem ocorrendo na sociedade em virtude da reproducao crescente das imagens-tecnicas.O presente artigo apresenta uma revisao de literatura na busca de uma definicao apropriada para o conceito de informacao ao ser considerada objeto de estudo da Ciencia da Informacao. Correlaciona autores da ciencia da informacao, da comunicacao, da linguistica e da semiotica, tracando um percurso historico, ilustrado atraves de diagramas, a partir da Teoria Matematica da Comunicacao ate as definicoes contemporâneas. Se, a principio, a informacao e apresentada como constituinte do processo de comunicacao, com o desenrolar das teorias apresentadas, conclui-se que a informacao, entendida como processo de atribuicao de significado da realidade apreendida pelo ser humano, pode existir mesmo sem a intencionalidade do processo de comunicacao. Nesse sentido, a informacao e apresentada como integrante do processo que relaciona cultura global (objetiva) e cultura individual (subjetiva). Por fim, entende-se que o ciclo esta completo quando a informacao e convertida em conhecimento, capaz de promover desenvolvimento e de ser comunicada, gerando assim novos estoques de informacao e retro-alimentando o ciclo.Resultado de pesquisa monografica, este artigo analisa uma amostra da coluna Musica, de Celso Loureiro Chaves, publicada quinzenalmente no caderno Cultura do jornal Zero Hora. O objetivo e refletir sobre o conceito de musica implicito sob aquela cartola generica, a funcao que os textos cumprem dentro daquele suplemento, as estrategias narrativas do cronista para aproximar os conteudos do leitor e sua relacao com a critica. O estudo envolveu pesquisa bibliografica, entrevistas em profundidade e aplicou o metodo de analise de conteudo em um corpus de 12 colunas publicadas no semestre de janeiro a junho de 2007. Conclui-se que, ao privilegiar a tradicao musical erudita europeia, o autor faz uso das taticas da tradicao cronistica brasileira e da critica para aproximar o conteudo especializado do leitor comum. A coluna assume um carater formativo e de registro do pensamento musical de uma epoca.This study attempts to make some updates, and consequent reflection, on mobile communication. The work is a review of concepts worked previously by the author and updated with latest examples. The goal is to contrast the progress of the area and detect evidences of evolution. The text begins with a review of the concepts and then demonstrates the application with the citation of cases. One of the points analyzed is the use of geographical location in applications of mobile Internet.The aim of this paper is to investigate how some television programs are important in the exercise of “cultural-communicative citizenship” because they make possible that social actors of minorities present themselves as citizen as they demand it, through their performance and the use they make of their culture. We start from the notions of citizenship, culture and communication according to two senses: “communicative citizenship” (MATA, 2006) and “the expediency of culture” (YUDICE, 2004). We analyze one episode of Minha Periferia, broadcast in the TV program Fantastico, in which the presenter approaches the popular communities cultural production and residents. Our methodological proposal matches gender television with modes of addressing to understand how this program presents this kind of citizenship and to conclude the role of television while an appropriate setting of its exercise.Estudo de Analise de Citacao da revista eletronica Arquivistica. Net. O corpus da pesquisa compreendeu os artigos publicados no periodo 2005/1 a 2007/1. Os resultados do estudo apontam a predominância de autoria individual, e que os livros sao as fontes de informacao mais utilizadas, que a lingua portuguesa se destaca como o idioma preferido bem como a citacao para autores nacionais. O periodo de tempo medio de cobertura da literatura citada e recente, situando-se entre 4 e 5 anos. Luis Carlos Lopes e Jose Maria Jardim despontam como autores nacionais mais referenciados e, entre os autores estrangeiros, Armando B. Malheiros da Silva e Jean-Yve Rousseau e Carol Couture. Tais resultados retratam a timidez das pesquisas em Arquivologia no Brasil, o que requer reflexao e, consequentemente, um maior envolvimento das estruturas de legitimacao da producao de saber na area, tais como: universidades, institutos de pesquisa, instâncias de avaliacao, sociedades cientificas.

O desmanche do público e do privado na midiatização da crise aérea brasileira (2006/2007)

Este trabalho intitulado tem por objetivo analisar o processo de midiatizacao imposto a crise aerea brasileira, denominacao do periodo em que confluiram dois graves acidentes aereos das companhias GOL e TAM; desordens tecnicas e burocraticas nos aeroportos; eleicoes presidenciais e acontecimentos paralelos, que colocaram o Poder Executivo no centro da crise. De carater ensaistico, esse texto pretende identificar niveis de fortalecimento e diluicao das fronteiras entre o publico e o privado a partir de estrategias de informacoes e acoes relacionadas a ordem politica, a mobilizacao social e a logica do mercado, em meio a questoes de vida e morte.