Sílvia Gomes

AFM Study of Morphology and Mechanical Properties of a Chimeric Spider Silk and Bone Sialoprotein Protein for Bone Regeneration

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to assess a new chimeric protein consisting of a fusion protein of the consensus repeat for Nephila clavipes spider dragline protein and bone sialoprotein (6mer+BSP). The elastic modulus of this protein in film form was assessed through force curves, and film surface roughness was also determined. The results showed a significant difference among the elastic modulus of the chimeric silk protein, 6mer+BSP, and control films consisting of only the silk component (6mer). The behavior of the 6mer+BSP and 6mer proteins in aqueous solution in the presence of calcium (Ca) ions was also assessed to determine interactions between the inorganic and organic components related to bone interactions, anchoring, and biomaterial network formation. The results demonstrated the formation of protein networks in the presence of Ca(2+) ions, characteristics that may be important in the context of controlling materials assembly and properties related to bone formation with this new chimeric silk-BSP protein.

Mineralization of Chitosan Membrane Using a Double Diffusion System for Bone Related Applications

Chitosan membranes were subjected to a pre-treatment in a double diffusion system, with a calcium solution in one chamber and a phosphate solution in the other chamber. Both chambers were separated by the chitosan membrane and subject to three mineralization periods (5, 10 and 15 minutes). After this pre-treatment the bioactivity of the different calcium phosphate coatings formed was tested for different periods of immersion time, 7, 14 and 21 days at room temperature and 37°C, in acellular simulated body fluid (1.0x). The results obtained demonstrated that the calcium phosphate coatings formed during the pre-treatment process are bioactive. It was found that the calcification is effective just in the side of the membrane exposed to the calcium solution chamber. This enabled to develop membranes with asymmetric osteoinductive properties that can be useful in different orthopedic applications.

A construção do pânico moral sobre os ciganos e os imigrantes na imprensa diária portuguesa

Neste artigo analisa-se os discursos e representacoes veiculados pela imprensa diaria portuguesa acerca da criminalidade associada a grupos imigrantes ou etnicos. A partir desta analise, pretende-se mostrar como as narrativas que circulam na imprensa transmitem visoes sobre a ordem social, que promovem o consenso e o controle social –atraves da enfase exagerada sobre o risco de vitimizacao– e contribuem para a construcao do designado “pânico moral”. A mediatizacao da criminalidade produz visoes amplamente partilhadas e consensuais, ao mesmo tempo que alimenta, junto do publico em geral, visoes estereotipadas sobre os “criminosos”, podendo associar determinado tipo de criminalidade aos grupos socialmente excluidos e grupos etnicos, tais como ciganos e imigrantes. Esses estereotipos podem converter estes grupos em ameacas potenciais para os interesses e valores vigentes na sociedade, atraves da producao de cruzadas morais que, pela reacao emocional desproporcionada e excessiva que desperta no publico, representam os porta-vozes da moralidade e os seus diagnosticos e solucoes. Este artigo discute a cobertura da imprensa portuguesa nos casos da criminalidade perpetrada por ciganos e imigrantes como um exemplo paradigmatico de um produto de uma industria cultural. Essas narrativas mediaticas sao incitadas por logicas globais de mercantilizacao da esfera publica, com base na criminalizacao da pobreza e no medo de populacoes urbanas consideradas “problematicas”, cujo objetivo e aumentar a ligacao emocional por parte do publico e, assim, levar as referidas cruzadas morais.

Access to Law and Justice Perceived by Foreign and Roma Prisoners

Several studies have promoted discussion on the conditions surrounding access to law and justice in contemporary societies. With the knowledge that different social groups have different perceptions of litigation and different levels of tolerance regarding “unjust” situations, this article gives voice to particular vulnerable social groups and focuses on some of the mechanisms reproducing social inequalities in the access to law and justice. Based on the qualitative thematic content analysis of 68 foreign and Roma prisoners’ interviews in Portuguese prisons, we present and discuss the main difficulties and obstacles these individuals experienced during their trajectories within the criminal justice system as well as the perceptions they have about justice. Through the discussion of foreign and Roma prisoners’ experiences and perceptions of the criminal justice system, it is considered that not only class but also nationality and ethnicity are important variables for the understanding and co-explanation of the law and justice system, which affects both the access to the various stages of the justice process and the general views on justice.

An Introduction to Female Crime and Delinquency: Portugal in the World

Multidisciplinary research in the area of female crime and delinquency has increasingly focused on transgressive girls and women. Despite this, discussions on the link between gender and crime or delinquency still have a long way to go. In order to explore critically and reflectively the interdisciplinary views on this link, favouring a gender-sensitive reading, we proposed this book. Through the exploration of girls’ and women’s relationships with delinquency and crime, as well as with the justice system, our goal is to highlight the heterogeneity of girls’ and women’s experiences, while debating convergences and divergences between them. While obviously not ignoring international studies on the phenomena, the discussion produced here is focused on the Portuguese context, giving visibility to other geographies in scientific investigation.

“To Kill or to Be Killed”: Narratives of Female Victims of Intimate Partner Violence, Condemned for the Murder of Their Partners

Marital homicide committed by women occurs mainly in contexts of intimate gender violence, when they kill in order to survive attacks by their aggressors. This article presents a qualitative study carried out through the thematic content analysis of semi-structured interviews and the documentary analysis of the individual prison sentences of six Portuguese female prisoners convicted for the murder of their partners or former partners. The study explores the possible relationship between the practice of the crime and the exposure to a prior history of intimate gender violence, as well as problematizing their defence before the criminal justice system. Data obtained allowed us to recognize that all the women under study were victims of gender violence by their partners who they ultimately killed; that the initial period of separation of a couple constitutes an identical risk factor both for the practice of femicide and for the murder of offenders at the hands of their victims; and that there are inequities in the Portuguese criminal justice system regarding the conviction of these female prisoners that doubly punishes them in a penal system adapted to males, for having failed not only as citizens but as women.

How Do Foreign Women End Up in Prison? An Intersectional Approach of Criminal Pathways

In the context of crime studies that articulate variables such as nationality and gender, issues of relative deprivation, social exclusion and social inequalities are transversal in the attempt to understand both the causes of crime and the performance of the criminal- and social-control institutions. Taking this into account and focusing on the Portuguese context, the main purpose of this article is to understand how foreign women from African Portuguese-Speaking countries (PALOP) and Eastern European countries end up in prison. Drawing on 12 qualitative interviews, we aim to verify to what extent certain crimes and imprisonment are a result of combined effects, melding processes of social inequality, exclusion, prejudice, daily and institutional racism; and, when comparing this finding with national and international studies, we aim to expose the idiosyncrasies in the links between crime and nationality (and class) when we introduce a gender perspective, namely, an intersectional approach. We conclude that the objective living conditions of these foreign women prisoners—and the intersections of gender, social class and nationality—co-structure criminal involvement, either by action or by the reaction from the criminal control agents.

What about ethics? Developing qualitative research in confinement settings

The main purpose of this article is to discuss some ethical-methodological issues associated with scientific research in confinement settings, particularly those that result from the relationship with the confined individual in the framework of qualitative research. Basing the reflection on empirical research developed by both authors in Portuguese confinement settings – prisons and youth educational centres – we examine the significant challenges and dilemmas this type of research entails, exploring the interface between procedural ethics and ethics in practice at three points in the analytical process: before, during and after data collection. This article illustrates the interplay between formal and informal procedures, and between the initial distancing and strangeness when making contact with confinement settings and their social actors and the institutional and relational dynamics that become ingrained in our everyday practice. Our goal is to give visibility to these institutional and relational dynamics and to reflect on the challenges experienced by those who enter confinement settings to do research, in an effort to make the research process more transparent and at the same time more reflexive. We end our reflection advocating more ethically committed and critical scientific research.

Introdução: Justiça, Direito(s), Interlocuções

O presente numero da revista Configuracoes corresponde a segunda parte de um volume dedicado ao tema Justica, direito(s) e instituicoes. Tal como o numero que o precedeu, esta publicacao resulta de encontro cientifico duplo: o Segundo Encontro da Seccao Tematica “Sociologia do Direito e da Justica” da Associacao Portuguesa de Sociologia (STSDJ) e as V Jornadas do Mestrado em Crime, Diferenca e Desigualdades da Universidade do Minho. No mesmo espirito de abrangencia que lhe presidiu, tratou-se...

7 – New biomineralization strategies for the use of natural-based polymeric materials in bone-tissue engineering

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the importance of using bone morphogenetic proteins in bone tissue engineering and the development of new Calcium Phosphate (Ca-P) coatings, used on substrates comprising polymers of natural origin, as a vehicle to deliver critical organic bone components that affect tissue response, such as growth factors to initiate osteo-induction. In designing new biomaterials for bone regeneration, surface properties must be modulated to mimic the tissue being replaced and then lead to the formation of new bone at the tissue/biomaterial interface. An ideal material for this type of application should possess mechanical properties matching those of the tissue being replaced, adequate degradation and biocompatible behavior. Biodegradable polymers are potential biomaterials for this purpose, since they can be mechanically and biologically compatible with bone. The use of naturally occurring polymers has been proposed for tissue engineering since they can be tailored to retain their tissue supporting properties for given lengths of time and are gradually biologically degraded into non-toxic components that are absorbed by living tissues.