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The discussions on human rights, gender and race are global and urgent. Using elements of participatory research, this study aimed to analyze, understand and characterize the formative process of postgraduate student’s knowledge and reflections mobilized on the gender and sexuality in the teaching of Science/Chemistry. The results show that the students started from a counter-hegemonic intentionality regarding the way in which the issue of hormones is traditionally treated in Science/Chemistry teaching. Furthermore, they recognized scientific knowledge as active in the production and reproduction of systems of oppression teacher on diversity education transgressive way of teaching the subject, beyond the binary conception of gender. The results revealed the possibility of rationalizing sexual and gender dissidences as a form of innovation, as well as the importance of formative processes to rethink dominant epistemologies for the advancement of educational and practices in and for education, to break with the cisheteromonormative perspective that erases the production and existence of people who flee from this logic in Science/Chemistry.

Neste trabalho, discutimos as relações entre a ciência/ química, o trabalho, o surgimento e a manutenção das sociedades e como estas afetam a química que ensinamos na escola: ahistórica e descontextualizada. Admitimos a negação e a invisibilidade de um passado em ciência e tecnologia dos povos africanos e da diáspora e apresentamos uma proposta de ensino de química descolonizada a partir do reconhecimento do hibridismo da sociedade brasileira multirracial. Nossos resultados denunciam a rigidez do currículo, o empobrecimento de seu caráter conteudista e a necessidade de dialogar com a cultura e a história africana e afro-brasileira como instrumento de articulação deste currículo. Utilizamos o contexto da transformação da matéria – o ferro, pela causa motriz – os ferreiros, por meio do trabalho – a forja, para romper com a epistemologia curricular e apresentar a ciência/química de matriz africana.

This teaching activity builds students' interpersonal competencies in identifying Mark Knapp's Stages of Relationships (Adler, Rosenfeld, Towne, & Scott, 2012, Interplay: The process of interpersonal communication, p. 504, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston). The activity establishes a theoretical understanding of each stage and asks students to use their knowledge to identify and pair the stages with popular song lyrics. The benefits of using music in the classroom are described and then the Staircase Model is introduced, followed by an outline of the activity and a debrief. Lastly, variations are described. Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Introduction to Communication, Intercultural Communication. Objectives: This activity engages students in discussion about Knapp's Relational Staircase Model. By the end of this activity, students will be able to connect songs and lyrics to identify and interpret specific relational stages. Students will also be able to articulate their perceptions for where lines between cultural or personal expectations may blur. This activity also challenges students to identify their own expectations of relationship progression and dissolution while unpacking interpretations.

Abstract Background Divergently selected Lean and Fat mouse lines represent unique models for a polygenic form of resistance and susceptibility to obesity development. Previous research on these lines focused mainly on obesity-susceptible factors in the Fat line. This study aimed to examine the molecular basis of obesity-resistant mechanisms in the Lean line by analyzing various fat depots and organs, the liver transcriptome of selected metabolic pathways, plasma and lipid homeostasis and expression of selected skeletal muscle genes. Results Expression profiling using our custom Steroltalk v2 microarray demonstrated that Lean mice exhibit a higher hepatic expression of cholesterol biosynthesis genes compared to the Fat line, although this was not reflected in elevation of total plasma or liver cholesterol. However, FPLC analysis showed that protective HDL cholesterol was elevated in Lean mice. A significant difference between the strains was also found in bile acid metabolism. Lean mice had a higher expression of Cyp8b1, a regulatory enzyme of bile acid synthesis, and the Abcb11 bile acid transporter gene responsible for export of acids to the bile. Additionally, a higher content of blood circulating bile acids was observed in Lean mice. Elevated HDL and upregulation of some bile acids synthesis and transport genes suggests enhanced reverse cholesterol transport in the Lean line - the flux of cholesterol out of the body is higher which is compensated by upregulation of endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis. Increased skeletal muscle Il6 and Dio2 mRNA levels as well as increased activity of muscle succinic acid dehydrogenase (SDH) in the Lean mice demonstrates for the first time that changes in muscle energy metabolism play important role in the Lean line phenotype determination and corroborate our previous findings of increased physical activity and thermogenesis in this line. Finally, differential expression of Abcb11 and Dio2 identifies novel strong positional candidate genes as they map within the quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions detected previously in crosses between the Lean and Fat mice. Conclusion We identified novel candidate molecular targets and metabolic changes which can at least in part explain resistance to obesity development in the Lean line. The major difference between the Lean and Fat mice was in increased liver cholesterol biosynthesis gene mRNA expression, bile acid metabolism and changes in selected muscle genes' expression in the Lean line. The liver Abcb11 and muscle Dio2 were identified as novel positional candidate genes to explain part of the phenotypic difference between the Lean and Fat lines.

Abstract Background Cholesterol homeostasis and xenobiotic metabolism are complex biological processes, which are difficult to study with traditional methods. Deciphering complex regulation and response of these two processes to different factors is crucial also for understanding of disease development. Systems biology tools as are microarrays can importantly contribute to this knowledge and can also discover novel interactions between the two processes. Results We have developed a low density Sterolgene v0 cDNA microarray dedicated to studies of cholesterol homeostasis and drug metabolism in the mouse. To illustrate its performance, we have analyzed mouse liver samples from studies focused on regulation of cholesterol homeostasis and drug metabolism by diet, drugs and inflammation. We observed down-regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis during fasting and high-cholesterol diet and subsequent up-regulation by inflammation. Drug metabolism was down-regulated by fasting and inflammation, but up-regulated by phenobarbital treatment and high-cholesterol diet. Additionally, the performance of the Sterolgene v0 was compared to the two commercial high density microarray platforms: the Agilent cDNA (G4104A) and the Affymetrix MOE430A GeneChip. We hybridized identical RNA samples to the commercial microarrays and showed that the performance of Sterolgene is comparable to commercial arrays in terms of detection of changes in cholesterol homeostasis and drug metabolism. Conclusion Using the Sterolgene v0 microarray we were able to detect important changes in cholesterol homeostasis and drug metabolism caused by diet, drugs and inflammation. Together with its next generations the Sterolgene microarrays represent original and dedicated tools enabling focused and cost effective studies of cholesterol homeostasis and drug metabolism. These microarrays have the potential of being further developed into screening or diagnostic tools.

This paper presents the results of a participant research. We represent the science class-room as conditioned by the heterogeneity of the identities constituting it from positions that are defined and legitimized by our social structure. We present a pedagogical intervention (PI) entitled “Traditional knowledge of African-matrix peoples and communities”. The PI was audio and video recorded and analyzed using Discourse Analysis. Our results show that the religiosity of Brazilian African-matrix is nowadays a resignification of the cults of various ethnic groups in the African continent, in this sense, the plants and leaves were incorporated to people’s everyday life. Plants perform a sacral role of symbolic value and a functional role through its chemical components. We understand scientific knowledge is not traditional knowledge, but it relates to it. Our results show how it is possible to bring these topics to the Chemistry class-room. To establish a dialogue among these various forms of interacting with the world is necessary to break up with the epistemicide reaching our classrooms.

In response to recent pluralization of modernism, the author adopts Jameson’s singular modernity to argue that, in the capitalist world-system divided between hegemonic and dependent literary fields, modernism exists only through its particular manifestations. During the 1968 student revolt, Slovenian late modernism – in-between peripheral phenomenon caught in the Cold War antagonism – displays a universal feature of the period: its transformative impulse resulting from “the imaginative proximity of social revolution” (Anderson). Embedded in the global insurgency, Slovenian innovative trends of the 1960s synchronized with western centers of modernity. It brought together critical theory and experimental artistic practice to reshape writing, literary institution, the subject, and society at large.

The essential role of the Crem gene in normal sperm development is widely accepted and is confirmed by azoospermia in male mice lacking the Crem gene. The exact number of genes affected by Crem absence is not known, however a large difference has been observed recently between the estimated number of differentially expressed genes found in Crem knock-out (KO) mice compared to the number of gene loci bound by CREM. We therefore re-examined global gene expression in male mice lacking the Crem gene using whole genome transcriptome analysis with Affymetrix microarrays and compared the lists of differentially expressed genes from Crem−/− mice to a dataset of genes where binding of CREM was determined by Chip-seq. We determined the global effect of CREM on spermatogenesis as well as distinguished between primary and secondary effects of the CREM absence. We demonstrated that the absence of Crem deregulates over 4700 genes in KO testis. Among them are 101 genes associated with spermatogenesis 41 of which are bound by CREM and are deregulated in Crem KO testis. Absence of several of these genes in mouse models has proven their importance for normal spermatogenesis and male fertility. Our study showed that the absence of Crem plays a more important role on different aspects of spermatogenesis as estimated previously, with its impact ranging from apoptosis induction to deregulation of major circadian clock genes, steroidogenesis and the cell-cell junction dynamics. Several new genes important for normal spermatogenesis and fertility are down-regulated in KO testis and are therefore possible novel targets of CREM.

The ERASMUS exchange program is considered an important contributor to the tourism industry and higher education within and beyond the European Union (EU). However, the questions arise: (1) Why do participants elect to go on a study exchange? (2) Why do participants opt to study in a particular location? Identified international mobility motives reflect students' needs for professional and personal growth, but evidence also suggests some leisure travel motives. In line with such conceptualization, the present paper identifies the mobility and destination choice motives of 360 ERASMUS students from 26 European countries. One mobility motive (professional and personal growth) and two destination choice motives (infrastructure and image, and lifestyle and commercialization) emerged and are discussed in light of students' personal and situational characteristics. Conclusions are that international study mobility is driven by students' desire to grow personally and professionally while studying abroad, but students' choice of a destination depends on the destinations' general as well as touristic factors. Both mobility and destination choice motivations depend on students' personal and situational characteristics. As the student and educational tourism market is growing steadily, the EU is recommended to build on this market via ERASMUS and international student mobility to boost its weakening economy.

Two methods are currently available for left atrial (LA) strain measurement by speckle tracking echocardiography, with two different reference timings for starting the analysis: QRS (QRS-LASr) and P wave (P-LASr). The aim of MASCOT HIT study was to define which of the two was more reproducible, more feasible, and less time consuming. In 26 expert centers, LA strain was analyzed by two different echocardiographers (young vs senior) in a blinded fashion. The study population included: healthy subjects, patients with arterial hypertension or aortic stenosis (LA pressure overload, group 2) and patients with mitral regurgitation or heart failure (LA volume–pressure overload, group 3). Difference between the inter-correlation coefficient (ICC) by the two echocardiographers using the two techniques, feasibility and analysis time of both methods were analyzed. A total of 938 subjects were included: 309 controls, 333 patients in group 2, and 296 patients in group 3. The ICC was comparable between QRS-LASr (0.93) and P-LASr (0.90). The young echocardiographers calculated QRS-LASr in 90% of cases, the expert ones in 95%. The feasibility of P-LASr was 85% by young echocardiographers and 88% by senior ones. QRS-LASr young median time was 110 s (interquartile range, IR, 78-149) vs senior 110 s (IR 78-155); for P-LASr, 120 s (IR 80-165) and 120 s (IR 90-161), respectively. LA strain was feasible in the majority of patients with similar reproducibility for both methods. QRS complex guaranteed a slightly higher feasibility and a lower time wasting compared to the use of P wave as the reference.

Pripovedništvo Brede Smolnikar izhaja iz življenjskih pripovedi, ustne zgodovine ter kolektivnega in osebnega spomina, vezanih na primestno družbeno-gospodarsko strukturo Kamniško-Domžalskega polja, a to gradivo presega, tako da ga transformira v singularno poetsko fikcijo in z njim nagovarja širše, družbeno-prostorsko nedoločeno občinstvo. Emancipatorične poteze ženskega pisanja v strukturi in tematiki pripovedništva Brede Smolnikar se na ravni literarnega posredništva ujemajo z avtoričinim vztrajanjem pri neodvisnosti samozaložništva.

We examined the genotype-phenotype interactions of Cyp51+/- mice carrying one functional allele of lanosterol 14α-demethylase from cholesterol biosynthesis. No distinct developmental or morphological abnormalities were observed by routine visual inspection of Cyp51+/- and Cyp51+/+ mice and fertility was similar. We further collected a large data-set from female and male Cyp51+/- mice and controls fed for 16 weeks with three diets and applied linear regression modeling. We used 3 predictor variables (genotype, sex, diet), and 39 response variables corresponding to the organ characteristics (7), plasma parameters (7), and hepatic gene expression (25). We observed significant differences between Cyp51+/- and wild-type mice in organ characteristics and blood lipid profile. Hepatomegaly was observed in Cyp51+/- males, together with elevated total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Cyp51+/- females fed high-fat, high-cholesterol diet were leaner and had elevated plasma corticosterone compared to controls. We observed elevated hepatocyte apoptosis, mitosis and lipid infiltration in heterozygous knockouts of both sexes. The Cyp51+/- females had a modified lipid storage homeostasis protecting them from weight-gain when fed high-fat high-cholesterol diet. Malfunction of one Cyp51 allele therefore initiates disease pathways towards cholesterol-linked liver pathologies and sex-dependent response to dietary challenge.

Literarna dela kot diskurzivna artikulacija bivanjskega izkustva življenjskega prostora postajajo legitimen predmet geografskega preučevanja. Postmoderna geografija si je za svoje potrebe prilagodila tudi nekatere koncepcije literarne vede, kot so intertekstualnost, pokrajina kot besedilo ali geografsko zamišljanje. Kvalitativna analiza izbranih primerov literarnih besedil, ki tematizirajo prostor slovenske Istre, pokaže, kako se v njih oblikujejo topofilija, identitetna razlika jaz/drugi ter občutja kraja in brez krajevnosti. Gre za sodobne pojme humanistične geografije, ki pretežno objektivistično, naravoslovno-družboslovno tradicijo stroke nadgrajujejo z upoštevanjem posameznikovega in skupnostnega dojemanja, zamišljanja in oblikovanja prostora. Literarna dela geografiji omogočajo preučevanje našega odnosa do življenjskega okolja in pomenov, ki jih prostoru pripisujemo ali pa se z njimi identificiramo. Naša razmerja do prostora so tudi temeljni pogoj za oblikovanje identitet in družbene odgovornosti.

In in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is established by gonadotropins in combination with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or antagonists, to prevent premature luteinizing hormone (LH) surge. The aim of our study was to improve the understanding of gene expression profile of cumulus cells (CC) in terms of ovarian stimulation protocol and oocyte maturity. We applied Affymetrix gene expression profiling in CC of oocytes at different maturation stages using either GnRH agonists or GnRH antagonists. Two analyses were performed: the first involved CC of immature metaphase I (MI) and mature metaphase II (MII) oocytes where 359 genes were differentially expressed, and the second involved the two GnRH analogues where no differentially expressed genes were observed at the entire transcriptome level. A further analysis of 359 differentially genes was performed, focusing on anti-Müllerian hormone receptor 2 (AMHR2), follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC) and serine protease inhibitor E2 (SERPINE2). Among other differentially expressed genes we observed a marked number of new genes connected to cell adhesion and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, glycine and γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA). No differential expression in CC between the two GnRH analogues supports the findings of clinical studies where no significant difference in live birth rates between both GnRH analogues has been proven.

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is being increasingly used as part of cardiovascular preparticipation screening of young competitive athletes (under 35 years of age) since it significantly increases the sensitivity of such screening compared to history and clinical examination alone. It has become part of a common European protocol for cardiovascular preparticipation screening of young competitive athletes. For a proper interpretation of ECG changes, it is crucial to be familiar with ECG abnormalities in cardiovascular diseases causing sudden cardiac death, and with normal variants of athlete’s ECG, originating from their adaptations to intense athletic training. Structural adaptations (increased heart chamber size and mass) often result in isolated voltage criterion for left ventricular hypertrophy and incomplete right bundle branch block, while functional adaptations (mainly heightened parasympathetic tone) result in rhythm disorders (sinus bradycardia, pauses and arrhythmia, wandering atrial pacemaker), conduction abnormalities (atrioventricular block grade I and grade II Mobitz 1) and repolarization abnormalities (early repolarization, T wave changes). The article gives a detailed description of ECG changes in the athlete’s heart and in cardiovascular diseases responsible for most sudden cardiac deaths in young athletes.

Ruplova teorija o "slovenskem kulturnem sindromu" (SKS), podobno kot Pirjevčeva "prešernovska struktura" (PS), razlaga estetsko zavrtost slovenske književnosti kot posledico njene nacionalne funkcije - nadomeščanja politike in ideološke "nadstavbe" nedržavnega naroda. Obe teoriji sta vprašljivi, ker sta izpeljani predvsem iz samopercepcij slovenskih literatov in zanemarjata širši primerjalni kontekst: SKS ni nobena slovenska posebnost, ampak ena izmed variantnih uresničitev evropskega kulturnega nacionalizma. Iz iste ideološke matrice izhajata tudi slovenska nacionalna in primerjalna literarna zgodovina.

Background: DNA microarray technology opened a completely new venue in the biomedical research. By allowing to follow the expression of thousands of genes in a single experiment (ideally we can follow the expression of the entire genome), the microarray technology brings new perspectives for improvement of prognostics and diagnostics of complex human diseases. By SNP arrays that allow identification of individual patient’s genotype for frequent genetic diseases, this technology contributes to the efforts towards personalized medicine.Methods: Different approaches to microarray technology are presented with some examples of its application in medicine and pharmacogenomics. Practical considerations for using microarrays are described, including selecting an appropriate platform, designing and performing an experiment, and managing data. Statistical issues in microarray data analysis are raised and the most common analysis techniques are listed. In conclusion the current state of microarray technology in Slovenia is addressed.

Background: Labour with epidural analgesia (EDA) is related to prolongation of the second stage of labour and increase in the instrumental vaginal delivery rate. It’s not related to higher caesarean section rate. With this review we wanted to compare our results with the literature.Methods: Retrospective analysis of labour in EDA in years 2004 and 2005 in Slovenj Gradec General Hospital was done. A comparison with a control group without EDA in the same time period was made. Three different EDA protocols were used during that period. They were compared to control group and between each other. Parturient women data, length of labour, instrumental vaginal delivery rate, caesarean section rate and newborn data were obtained and compared. Analgesic effect, complication rate and influence on labour and delivery were assessed according to EDA protocol used.Results: We found statistically significant prolongation of the second stage of labour and increase in the instrumental vaginal delivery rate when EDA was used. Emergency caesarean section rate was not increased. There were no adverse effects on the fetus. All EDA protocols provided clinically efficient analgesia. 0.2 % levobupivacaine with 1 µg of fentanyl/ml of local anaesthetic provided statistically significant most effective analgesia.Conclusions: EDA means improved quality of labour for a parturient woman. Risk for labour complication with optimal treatment in second stage of labour, which is most affected with EDA, is low.