RESUMO
This article examines student engagement in an inquiry-based learning activity, planned to provide students with elements in the social, epistemic, and conceptual dimensions related to the scientific practice in immunology. The activity was applied to 39 groups of students enrolled in immunology or biochemistry courses in a public university in Brazil. Students performed data-collection through the execution of an in vitro assay. We analyzed how students represent data and use them to support their claims in their written constructs. To clarify which are the productive epistemologies in students' reports, we developed a framework for epistemic practice analysis. Our findings point to a pattern of several epistemic practice categories in their written text, mostly related to the particular contingences of data analysis, rather than to theoretical concepts. In addition, we observed that students performed literary inscriptions to represent their data; however, they tended not to cite all data obtained in their written texts. These results suggest that immunology education strategies should provide students with approaches that explore the role of data representation in the scientific text rhetoric. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(6):672-680, 2019.
Assuntos
Alergia e Imunologia/educação , Aprendizagem , Brasil , Currículo , Avaliação Educacional , Humanos , Conformação Proteica , Estudantes , UniversidadesRESUMO
Neutrophils are involved in the early stages of immune responses to pathogens. Here, we investigated the role of neutrophils during the establishment of Leishmania amazonensis infection in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. First, we showed an accumulation of neutrophils between 6 and 24 h post-infection, followed by a reduction in neutrophil numbers after 72 h. Next, we depleted neutrophils prior to infection using RB6-8C5 or 1A8 mAb. Neutrophil depletion led to faster lesion development, increased parasite numbers and higher arginase activity during the first week of infection in BALB/c mice, but not in C57BL/6 mice. Increased susceptibility was accompanied by augmented levels of anti-L. amazonensis IgG and increased production of IL-10 and IL-17. Because IL-10 is a mediator of susceptibility to Leishmania infection, we blocked IL-10 signalling in neutrophil-depleted mice using anti-IL-10R. Interestingly, inhibition of IL-10 signalling abrogated the increase in parasite loads observed in neutrophil-depleted mice, suggesting that parasite proliferation is at least partially mediated by IL-10. Additionally, we tested the effect of IL-17 in inflammatory macrophages and observed that IL-17 increased arginase activity and favoured parasite growth. Taken together, our data indicate that neutrophils control parasite numbers and limit lesion development during the first week of infection in BALB/c mice.
Assuntos
Leishmania mexicana/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Leishmania mexicana/imunologia , Leishmaniose Cutânea/imunologia , Leishmaniose Cutânea/parasitologia , Neutrófilos/imunologia , Animais , Anticorpos Antiprotozoários/sangue , Arginase/metabolismo , Feminino , Imunoglobulina G/sangue , Interleucina-10/metabolismo , Interleucina-17/metabolismo , Cinética , Ativação de Macrófagos , Macrófagos/imunologia , Macrófagos/metabolismo , Macrófagos/parasitologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Infiltração de Neutrófilos , Carga Parasitária , Linfócitos T Reguladores/imunologiaRESUMO
This paper presents a computerised information system for the characterisation and analysis of the hospital admission flow of patients. Based on administrative data made available by the Ministry of Health of Brazil (DATASUS-MS), the system allows the representation of patients' flow from residence to hospital, as well as information on performed medical procedures, diagnoses and other patient and hospital characteristics. Residences are represented in terms of their postal codes and admission diagnosis according to the ICD-10 classification. The system has a flexible and simple geographic coordinates input module, and can be used even when no standard coordinates system (e.g., Mercator) are available. It provides two types of graphical representation: 'static' (concerning characteristics of a hospital or geographical area) and 'dynamic' (residence to hospital flow). Its use is exemplified with a geographical representation of access to ultra-sound exams in selected hospitals in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 1998. In conclusion, the system seems a powerful instrument for health needs identification and planning, as well as for quality assessment and for the generation of information useful for epidemiological research.