Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

This study focuses into the dynamics of discursive othering and populist mobilization in Brazilian politics, specifically focusing on the highly contentious 2022 presidential election between Jair Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva. Drawing from a dataset of tweets from Bolsonaro's and Lula's official accounts during the crucial second round of the campaign, we employ a comparative approach to elucidate how these candidates leveraged social media platforms to construct and legitimize discourses of “Otherness”. Through qualitative analysis, we explore (1) the nuanced strategies employed by each campaign to otherize opponents and their supporters; (2) the role of discursive othering in reinforcing polarization within Brazilian society; and (3) the nexus between discursive othering and populist rhetoric in the context of the 2022 election.

Idiomatic expressions are an integral part of human languages, often used to express complex ideas in compressed or conventional ways (e.g., eager beaver as a keen and enthusiastic person). However, their interpretations may not be straightforwardly linked to the meanings of their individual components in isolation and this may have an impact for compositional approaches. In this article, we investigate to what extent word representation models are able to go beyond compositional word combinations and capture multiword expression idiomaticity and some of the expected properties related to idiomatic meanings. We focus on noun compounds of varying levels of idiomaticity in two languages (English and Portuguese), presenting a dataset of minimal pairs containing human idiomaticity judgments for each noun compound at both type and token levels, their paraphrases and their occurrences in naturalistic and sense-neutral contexts, totalling 32,200 sentences. We propose this set of minimal pairs for evaluating how well a model captures idiomatic meanings, and define a set of fine-grained metrics of Affinity and Scaled Similarity, to determine how sensitive the models are to perturbations that may lead to changes in idiomaticity. Affinity is a comparative measure of the similarity between an experimental item, a target and a potential distractor, and Scaled Similarity incorporates a rescaling factor to magnify the meaningful similarities within the spaces defined by each specific model. The results obtained with a variety of representative and widely used models indicate that, despite superficial indications to the contrary in the form of high similarities, idiomaticity is not yet accurately represented in current models. Moreover, the performance of models with different levels of contextualization suggests that their ability to capture context is not yet able to go beyond more superficial lexical clues provided by the words and to actually incorporate the relevant semantic clues needed for idiomaticity. By proposing model-agnostic measures for assessing the ability of models to capture idiomaticity, this article contributes to determining limitations in the handling of non-compositional structures, which is one of the directions that needs to be considered for more natural, accurate, and robust language understanding. The source code and additional materials related to this paper are available at our GitHub repository.

O desenvolvimento de competências e habilidades visando ao desenvolvimento integral dos sujeitos é função da escola. Contudo, observa-se um mal-estar instaurado no ambiente escolar, percebido pela relativa apatia dos estudantes ao que entendemos por conhecimento. Essa postura sugere um vício epistêmico que recebe o nome de descaso epistêmico ou indiferença epistêmica. Este artigo reporta um relato de experiência a partir da prática de discussões e reflexões tensionadas em uma disciplina de pós-graduação em educação em ciências. Assim, através dos debates e leituras, constatou-se que, além dos problemas seculares que a escola segue enfrentando, faz-se necessário também ocupar-se do conhecimento sobre as formas de produção da ignorância e sobre as possibilidades de sua mitigação. [Abstract: The development of competencies and skills aiming at the integral development of subjects is one of the roles of school. However, there is an established uneasiness in the school environment, perceived by the relative apathy of students towards what we understand as knowledge. This stance suggests an epistemic vice that gets the name of epistemic neglect or epistemic indifference. This article details an experience report based on the practice of discussions and reflections in a postgraduate course in science education. Thus, through debates and readings, it was found that, in addition to the secular issues that the school continues to face, it is also necessary to focus on knowledge about the forms of production of ignorance and the possibilities of mitigating it].

Antigen recognition by CD8+ T-cell receptors (TCR) is crucial for immune responses to pathogens and tumors. TCRs are cross-reactive, a single TCR can recognize multiple peptide-Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) complexes. The study of cross-reactivity can support the development of therapies focusing on immune modulation, such as the expansion of pre-existing T-cell clones to fight pathogens and tumors. The peptide-HLA (pHLA) surface has previously been used to identify TCR cross-reactivities. In the present work, we sought to perform a comprehensive analysis of peptide-HLA by selecting thousands of human and viral epitopes. We profit from established docking models to identify features from different spatial perspectives of HLA-A*02:01, explore similarities between self and non-self epitopes, and list potential cross-reactive epitopes of therapeutic interest. A total of 2631 unique epitopes from representative viral proteins or human proteins were modeled. We were able to demonstrate that cross-reactive CDR3 sequences from public databases recognize epitopes with similar electrostatic potential, charge, and spatial location. Using data from published studies that measured T-cell reactivity to mutated epitopes, we observed a negative correlation between epitope dissimilarity and T-cell activation. Most analysed cancer epitopes were more similar to self epitopes, yet we identified features distinguishing those more similar to viral antigens. Finally, we enumerated potential cross-reactivities between tumoral and viral epitopes and highlighted some challenges in their identification for therapeutic use. Moreover, the thousands of peptide-HLA complexes generated in our work constitute a valuable resource to study T-cell cross-reactivity.

Objective To prospectively compare the shock index (SI) in a population of healthy cats with a population of cats presenting to the emergency room (ER) deemed to be in a state of shock. Design Prospective cohort study of cats. Setting University teaching hospital. Animals Twenty‐seven healthy control cats were enrolled to establish a reference interval, and 27 cats were enrolled that were presented to the ER with clinical signs of shock. Shock was defined as abnormalities in at least 2 of the following inclusion criteria: plasma lactate concentration > 2.5 mmol/L; peripheral vasoconstriction (at least 2 of the following parameters: capillary refill time >3 s, rectal‐interdigital temperature gradient [RITG] >8°C, femoral pulse not palpable, pale mucous membranes); or systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 100 mm Hg. Interventions Upon presentation, SI (SI = heart rate [HR]/SBP), HR, SBP, and RITG were recorded in both groups, along with peripheral venous blood sampling for lactate measurement. Measurements and Main Results The mean SI in the control group was 1.47 ± 0.2 and was 1.87 ± 0.47 in the shock group (P = 0.001). Using equality in sensitivity and specificity of 0.7, an SI cutoff point of 1.54 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49–0.86) was determined with an estimated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.65–0.90). HR, plasma lactate concentration, and RITG did not differ between the groups. Systolic arterial blood pressure (P = 0.01), rectal temperature (P = 0.02), and interdigital temperature (P = 0.04) differed significantly. Conclusions The SI is a noninvasive, easy, and reliable parameter for distinguishing cats in shock from normal cats.

A abordagem da educação ambiental e energética em todos os níveis de ensino é fundamental para a promoção da preservação do meio ambiente e para mudanças importantes no comportamento dos estudantes. Os jogos educativos podem ser utilizados como ferramenta para promover o desenvolvimento de habilidades cognitivas importantes no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Nesse contexto, duas atividades extensionistas para prova de conceito do jogo de tabuleiro sobre resíduos sólidos urbanos e geração de energia a partir do biogás foram realizadas visando à aplicação do jogo em escolas públicas. O objetivo das atividades é analisar a usabilidade do jogo e a percepção dos participantes quanto à importância desse tipo de estratégia para catalisar mudanças positivas e inovadoras na educação básica. De acordo com os resultados apresentados, os cinco parâmetros de usabilidade de Nielsen foram atendidos, e o jogo de tabuleiro desenvolvido pode ser utilizado como inspiração na apresentação de conteúdos de educação ambiental.

Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) are mysticete cetaceans commonly observed in the coastal waters of Brazil, particularly in Santa Catarina State. There is limited understanding of the causes of calf mortality in this species, particularly concerning infectious diseases. We report a case of omphalophlebitis caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) that led to septicemia in a Southern right whale calf. Gross examination revealed an incompletely healed umbilicus with fibrin deposition and amorphous yellow material present in the lumen of the umbilical vein on the cut surface. The main histopathological findings showed fibrinosuppurative omphalophlebitis with numerous coccoid basophilic bacterial aggregates. These aggregates were also observed in the lamina propria, submucosa, and muscular layers of the small intestine and uterus, as well as in the interstitium of the kidneys and within blood vessels of the skin, skeletal muscle, heart, and ovaries. Tissue samples taken from the umbilicus and uterus were inoculated on 5% sheep blood agar and MacConkey agar. Small, transparent colonies that exhibited complete hemolysis were identified on blood agar. Gram staining revealed the presence of Gram-positive cocci arranged in chains. The bacterial isolate was analyzed using the MALDI-TOF technique, which confirmed its identity as S. zooepidemicus. The presence of S. equi antigen in the extra-umbilical aggregates was confirmed through immunohistochemistry. These findings underscore the significance of streptococcal infections in cetaceans and contribute valuable data regarding calf mortality in baleen whales. Furthermore, we provide new insights into the understanding of marine ecosystem health markers.

With the global population on the rise, the frequency and severity of emergency events like fires and traffic accidents are becoming more frequent and severe. Attending to these emergencies demands valuable and limited resources, such as professionals and vehicles, so it is important to efficiently allocate them to regions that are more likely to require their services. However, the fact that emergencies can be related to spatial and temporal contexts makes resource allocation a highly complex task requiring specialized tools and techniques to exploit these relationships efficiently. This paper proposes an emergency event prediction solution using spatial segmentation and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks to model associations in space and time domains. We used data from real emergency occurrences in Florianópolis, Brazil, collected over five and a half years. Clustering algorithms combined with the silhouette metric were used to segment the time series in four different city regions. A comparison with traditional forecasting techniques and machine learning models showed that the LSTM network is consistent in its predictions and outperforms other approaches. Compared with a state-of-the-art reference employing LSTM, our solution leads to a 17.8% reduction in mean absolute error. Two methodologies for multi-step lookahead prediction are also presented and compared, showing that reusing the output of LSTM to predict future time steps is better than a full model retraining. To assess the generalizability of the model and proposed methodology, we applied the entire pipeline to new data from a different city. Our results demonstrate that models tailored to specific cities significantly outperform those trained on generalized datasets, highlighting the importance of localized training data.

To evaluate the accuracy of the lung ultrasound score (LUS) in predicting ventilatory weaning failure during neonatal hospitalization in the NICU and to identify factors associated with weaning failure, including corrected gestational age (CGA). This prospective, longitudinal, pragmatic and observational cohort study included neonates on mechanical ventilation for at least 48 h. The primary outcome was the accuracy of lung ultrasound in predicting 3-day weaning failure, with the ROC curve used to determine the best LUS cutoff (sensitivity and specificity). Among 55 neonates, the pre-extubation LUS did not show statistical significance in predicting weaning failure (AUC 0.61; 95% CI: 0.46–0.76, p = 0,169). In the subgroup analysis, a score ≥ 4 suggests the need for ventilatory support after extubation (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.80–1.0, p < 0.001) in neonates with GA ≥ 28 weeks. In extremely preterm infants, the pre-extubation LUS was not statistically significant in predicting weaning failure (AUC = 0.38, 95% CI: 0–0.77, p = 0.535). In contrast, CGA ≥ 28.7 weeks at extubation was predictor of successful weaning within 3 days (AUC = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.85–1.0, p < 0.001). Conclusion: LUS show promise in predicting weaning failure, though its accuracy may be limited in extremely preterm infants, highlighting the need for further well-powered studies. CGA at extubation also emerges as a key consideration in this population, warranting confirmation through robust future research. What is Known: • Identifying the optimal timing for extubation is crucial, as both prolonged mechanical ventilation and failed extubation are linked to increased morbidity. • Lung ultrasound plays a well-established role in diagnosing various neonatal lung pathologies, allowing clinicians to make rapid, bedside decisions for the treatment of newborns. What is New: • LUS appears to be accurate in predicting weaning failure, though its accuracy may be lower in extremely preterm infants. • In extremely preterm infants, CGA may play an important role in extubation decision-making. • These findings are hypothesis-generating and warrant further investigation in future studies.

The Northeast region of Brazil is characterized by long periods of drought. However, the region is also frequently affected by floods. The socioeconomic characteristics of the locality make the population more vulnerable to the impacts of these disasters. Therefore, the aim of this article is to investigate the short to long‐term impacts of hydrological disasters in northeastern Brazil on morbidity and mortality rates, by age groups. For this purpose, the difference‐in‐differences method proposed by Callaway and Sant'Anna was applied to a monthly panel data spanning the period from 2000 to 2012. The results indicate that in the short term there is an increase in the mortality rate associated with drowning. In the medium term, there are effects particularly on morbidity rates, with emphasis on leptospirosis and acute respiratory diseases. For the long‐term diseases analyzed, no effects of hydrological disasters were observed.

Dementia affects 55 million people globally, with the number projected to triple by 2050. Statins, widely prescribed for cardiovascular benefits, may also have neuroprotective effects, although studies on their impact on dementia risk have shown contradictory results. In this systematic review and meta‐analysis, we searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We assessed the risk of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD), with subgroup analyses by gender, statin type, and diabetes status. Fifty‐five observational studies including over 7 million patients were analyzed. Statin use significantly reduced the risk of dementia compared to nonusers (hazard ratio [HR] 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.82 to 0.91; p < 0.001). It was also associated with reduced risks of AD (HR 0.82; 95% CI: 0.74 to 0.90; p < 0.001) and VaD (HR 0.89; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.02; p = 0.093). Subgroup analyses revealed significant dementia risk reductions among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (HR 0.87; 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.89; p < 0.001), those with exposure to statins for more than 3 years (HR 0.37; 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.46; p < 0.001), and populations from Asia, where the greatest protective effect was observed (HR 0.84; 95% CI: 0.80 to 0.88). Additionally, rosuvastatin demonstrated the most pronounced protective effect for all‐cause dementia among specific statins (HR 0.72; 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.88). Our findings underscore the neuroprotective potential of statins in dementia prevention. Despite the inherent limitations of observational studies, the large dataset and detailed subgroup analyses enhance the reliability of our results. Future randomized clinical trials are necessary to confirm these findings and enlighten clinical guidelines. Highlights Largest meta‐analysis to date on statins and dementia risk, including 55 studies and more than 7 million patients. Statin use linked to lower risks of all‐dementia, AD, and VaD. Numerous significant subgroup results highlight statins' diverse neuroprotective effects. Findings support statins as a public health tool, especially in low‐income countries. Future research should explore the impact of statins across diverse patient populations.

Technological advances have led to a proportional increase in the deposition of contaminants across various environmental compartments, including water sources. Heavy metals, also known as potentially toxic metals, are of particular concern due to their significant harmful impacts on environmental and human health. Among the available methods for mitigating the threat of these metals in water, solar radiation–based technologies stand out for their cleanliness, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency in removing or reducing the toxicity of heavy metals. The performance and productivity of these methods in removing heavy metals such as arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), and uranium (U) from water still need to be comprehensively synthesized. Thus, this work aims to address that gap. The performance, potential, and challenges of real-world applications of conventional solar stills (CSS), membrane-based solar stills, and solar heterogeneous photocatalysis are concisely summarized and critically reviewed. CSS and membrane-based stills are highly effective (efficacy > 98%) in removing and capturing heavy metals from water. However, structural and functional improvements are needed to enhance productivity (especially for CSS) and usability in real-world environmental remediation and drinking water supply scenarios. Solar heterogeneous photocatalysis is highly effective in removing and/or converting As, Cr, Hg, and U into their non-toxic or less toxic forms, which subsequent processes can easily remove. Further research is necessary to evaluate the safety of photocatalytic materials, their integration into scalable solar reactors, and their usability in real-world environmental remediation applications. Graphical Abstract

The present review investigates the responses of heart rate variability indices following high-intensity interval aerobic exercise, comparing it with moderate-intensity continuous exercise in adults, with the aim of informing clinical practice. Searches were conducted in four databases until March 2023. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials that assessed heart rate variability indices such as the standard deviation of normal-to-normal heartbeat intervals (SDNN), the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), the proportion of the number of pairs of successive normal-to-normal (NN or R-R) intervals that differ by more than 50 ms (NN50) divided by the total number of NN intervals (pNN50), power in high frequency range (HF), power in low frequency range (LF), and LF/HF before and after high-intensity interval and moderate-intensity continuous aerobic exercise. The risk of bias in included studies was evaluated using the RoB 2 tool. A total of 16 studies were included in the systematic review, while 9 were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, the majority of included individuals were healthy and young. Our meta-analysis indicated that individuals who performed high-intensity interval exercise showed a slower recovery to baseline levels for HF (standardized mean difference, SMD −0.98 [95% CI −1.52 to −0.44], p < 0.001) and LF (SMD −0.42 [95% CI −0.81 to −0.02], p = 0.04) within the first 10 min of recovery, which did not occur after 1 h. Among the 16 included studies, 10 had some concerns related to bias risk, while 6 were classified as high risk. High-intensity interval aerobic exercise results in delayed recovery of HF and LF indices within the first 10 min after the session. However, our review indicates that healthy individuals restore modulation of the autonomic nervous system to baseline levels after this time interval, regardless of exercise intensity.

Purpose Abdominal wall endometriosis consists of endometrial tissue between the peritoneum and the abdominal wall. The established treatment involves amenorrheic drugs—not always successful and tolerated—or invasive surgery. In this scenario, minimally invasive techniques such as cryoablation are a potential option. In this study, we primarily aimed to evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous cryoablation in reducing pain scores of abdominal wall endometriosis patients and analyze their satisfaction with the procedure and its related adverse events. Materials and Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane's databases were systematically searched for studies that employed percutaneous cryoablation therapy for abdominal wall endometriosis and reported any of the outcomes of interest. The primary outcome was the reduction in the visual analog scale score after treatment. R Software was used for the statistical analysis. Heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics. The Risk Of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies—of Interventions framework assessed potential bias in each selected study. Results We included 4 studies, containing 126 patients. All articles were retrospective studies. The difference between the visual analog scale scores before and after treatment was on average 5.97 points (95% CI 5.42-6.52; p < 0.01; I2 = 0%). The pooled satisfaction rate among patients in the selected studies was 93.1% (95% CI 88.66-97.34; p = 0.51; I2=0%). The pooled prevalence of adverse events was only 5.48% (95% CI 1.71-11.20; p = 0.58; I2=0%). Bias analysis showed an overall moderate risk in all included articles. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that cryoablation could reduce pain complaints in patients, while presenting a low incidence rate of adverse effects. Randomized clinical trials with a larger number of patients are necessary for greater conclusions.

Brazil is one of the main countries in the adoption of no tillage (NT) in highlands, however, in lowlands, under irrigated rice cultivation, the adoption of this important soil management is incipient (<5%). Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the dynamics of soil chemical attributes under long‐term NT and rice cultivation. Throughout the field trial, irrigated rice monoculture prevailed continuously in succession with ryegrass prevailed for 23 years, under the adoption of different management systems, conventional tillage (CT), pre‐germinated (PG) and NT in an soil Albaqualf (soil under hydromorphic condition) under a randomized block design with three replications. Active acidity, potential acidity, soil organic matter, cation exchange capacity (CEC), phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium were evaluated in the stratified profile at depths: superficial (0–10 cm), intermediate (10–20 cm) and deep (20–40 cm). An increase in the potential acidity of the soil in the NT was observed in the surface layer, an increase in organic matter and in the exchangeable forms of calcium and magnesium. However, there was a reduction in the availability of phosphorus by 20% and potassium by 32% in the topsoil in the NT compared with PG and NT. NT is a soil conservation system that increases organic matter and CEC levels. However, strategies aimed at improving the availability of phosphorus and potassium under NT in paddy fields must be used not to reduce the productive potential of rice grains.