Vermiculites have the potential to serve as effective catalysts if pillared with Al, but their high charge presents an obstacle to the pillaring process. The purpose of this study was to submit natural vermiculite to thermal treatments in the presence of water vapor in order to effect a reduction in the global negative charge and thereby to enhance its susceptibility to pillaring. The process of charge reduction in vermiculite under the conditions selected involved the extraction of 25% of IVAl accompanied by the extraction of structural Mg and charge-compensating cations (Ca2+, Na+, and K+). The results indicate a reduction of 35% in the global negative charge in vermiculite by the end of the treatment. Some of the VIAl content was not removed during acid washing, and probably remained in the solid in structural positions in the octahedral sheet.

El Seminario de Historia Urbana del Departamento de Investigaciones Históricas del INAH reune a un número variable de investigadores, de especialidades diversas, y a un grupo de estudiantes que reciben formación de investigación en historia urbana. La dirección del Seminario está a cargo de Alejandra Moreno Toscano, investigadora de El Colegio de México. El Seminario sobre Problemas Metodológicos en Historia Urbana de Agosto de 1974 tuvo como propósito principal, confrontar diversas investigaciones en curso, subrayando sus dificultades metodológicas.

O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar a reação da organização indígena na região do norte do Cauca, na Côlombia, em face do confronto armado em seu território no período 2000–2005, tentando explicar como esta organização consegue realizar um tipo de resistência ativa ao conflito. O estudo é essencialmente do tipo etnográfico e trabalha com uma perspectiva que privilegia o estudo dos elementos culturais e identitários para a compreensão das ações coletivas, aos moldes de Sonia Alvarez, Evelina Dagnino e Arturo Escobar (2001) em seu livro “Política Cultural e Cultura Política nos Movimentos Sociais Latino-Americanos”.

O artigo apresenta as interpretações e definições de conflito armado e paz encontradas nos discursos dos membros do movimento indígena nortecaucano. Argumenta-se que, no caso indígena, a cultura e seu processo identitário no âmbito da organização são fontes importantes de elementos simbólicos que sustentam os processos de resistência e ao mesmo tempo criam um espaço alternativo importante sobre o tema do conflito armado e da paz no país a partir da sociedade civil, em contraponto às visões tanto do Estado quanto dos atores armados e suas propostas sobre este tema.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is one of the most common disorders following childbirth. This systematic review and meta-analysis (SR/MA) aimed to assess the effectiveness of psychological interventions in preventing PPD in non-depressed women. PRISMA guidelines were followed. MEDLINE (Ovid and PubMed), PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, CENTRAL, OpenGrey, Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry and clinicaltrial.gov were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted with pregnant or postpartum (up to 12 months) women who were non-depressed at baseline were selected. The outcomes were the incidence of PPD and/or the reduction of postpartum depressive symptoms. The standardized mean difference (SMD) using random-effect models was calculated. Sensitivity, sub-group and meta-regression analyses were performed. 17 RCTs were included in the SR and 15 in the MA, representing 4958 participants from four continents. The pooled SMD was −0.175 [95% confidence interval (CI) −0.266 to −0.083; p < 0.001] and sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of this result. Heterogeneity was low (I2 = 21.20%) and was fully explained by a meta-regression model including one variable (previous deliveries). The meta-regression model and MA stratified by previous deliveries indicated that interventions focused on primiparous women are more effective. There was no evidence of publication bias. Few RCTs had an overall low risk of bias. According to GRADE, the quality of evidence was moderate. Psychological interventions have very little effectiveness in preventing PPD in non-depressed women, although this effectiveness is greater in interventions focused on primiparous women. Further RCTs with a low risk of bias and more effective interventions are needed.

Acanthamoeba spp. are widely distributed in the environment and cause serious infections in humans. Treatment of Acanthamoeba infections is very challenging and not always effective which requires the development of more efficient drugs against Acanthamoeba spp. The purpose of the present study was to test medicinal plants that may be useful in the treatment of Acanthamoeba spp. Here we evaluated the trophozoital and cysticidal activity of 13 flavonoid glycosides isolated from Delphinium gracile, D. staphisagria, Consolida oliveriana and from Aconitum napellus subsp. Lusitanicum against the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii. AlamarBlue Assay Reagent® was used to determine the activity against trophozoites of A. castellanii, and cytotoxic using Vero cells. Cysticidal activity was assessed on treated cysts by light microscopy using a Neubauer chamber to quantify cysts and trophozoites. Flavonoids 1, 2, 3 and 4 showed higher trophozoital activity and selectivity indexes than the reference drug chlorhexidine digluconate. In addition, flavonoid 2 showed 100% cysticidal activity at a concentration of 50 μm, lower than those of the reference drug and flavonoid 3 (100 μm). These results suggest that flavonoids 2 and 3 might be used for the development of novel therapeutic approaches against Acanthamoeba infections after satisfactory in vivo evaluations.

Genetic characterization of individuals at risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), i.e. people having amyloid deposits in the brain without symptoms, people suffering from subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), has spurred the interests of researchers. However, their pre-dementia genetic profile remains mostly unexplored. In this study, we reviewed the loci related to phenotypes of AD, MCI and SCD from literature and performed the first meta-analyses evaluating the role of apolipoprotein E (APOE) in the risk of conversion from a healthy status to MCI and SCD. For AD dementia risk, an increased number of loci have been identified; to date, 28 genes have been associated with Late Onset AD. In MCI syndrome, APOE is confirmed as a pheno-conversion factor leading from MCI to AD, and clusterin is a promising candidate. Additionally, our meta-analyses revealed APOE as genetic risk factor to convert from a healthy status to MCI [OR = 1.849 (1.587–2.153); P = 2.80  × 10−15] and to a lesser extent from healthy status to SCD [OR = 1.151 (1.015–1.304); P = 0.028]. Thus, we believe that genetic studies in longitudinal SCD and MCI series may provide new therapeutic targets and improve the existing knowledge of AD. This type of studies must be completed on healthy subjects to better understand the natural disease resistance to brain insults and neurodegeneration.

This study explores the hypothesis that the existence of a short sensitive period for lower-level speech perception/articulation skills, and a long one for higher-level language skills, may partly explain the language outcomes of children with cochlear implants (CIs). The participants were fourteen children fitted with a CI before their second birthday. Data about their language skills and the environmental conditions (e.g. Family Involvement in rehabilitation) were obtained over a period of three years. Age at implantation correlated exclusively with the ratio of errors of place of articulation, a phonological feature for which CIs provide insufficient information. The degree of Family Involvement was significantly correlated with the remaining language measures. We conclude that small plasticity reductions affecting lower-level skills may partly explain the difficulties of some CI users in developing language.

The present study aimed to investigate the relationships between macronutrient intake and serum lipid profile in adolescents from eight European cities participating in the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) cross-sectional study (2006–7), and to assess the role of body fat-related variables in these associations. Weight, height, waist circumference, skinfold thicknesses, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol, TAG, apoB and apoA1 were measured in 454 adolescents (44 % boys) aged 12·5–17·5 years. Macronutrient intake (g/4180 kJ per d (1000 kcal per d)) was assessed using two non-consecutive 24 h dietary recalls. Associations were evaluated by multi-level analysis and adjusted for sex, age, maternal education, centre, sum of four skinfolds, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, sedentary behaviours and diet quality index for adolescents. Carbohydrate intake was inversely associated with HDL-C (β = − 0·189, P< 0·001). An inverse association was found between fat intake and TAG (β = − 0·319, P< 0·001). Associations between macronutrient intake and serum lipids varied according to adiposity levels, i.e. an inverse association between carbohydrate intake and HDL-C was only observed in those adolescents with a higher waist:height ratio. As serum lipids and excess body fat are the major markers of CVD, these findings should be considered when developing strategies to prevent the risk of CVD among adolescents.

Previous dual task studies have demonstrated that patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) are impaired in their ability to perform two tasks simultaneously compared with healthy controls, despite being able to successfully perform the tasks alone relatively well. Yet, it remains unclear what the earliest clinical manifestation of this dual task coordination deficit is. This study examined dual task abilities in individuals who are at risk of early-onset familial AD due to an E280A presenilin-1 mutation. Thirty-nine carriers of the gene mutation who did not meet the criteria for AD and 29 non-carrier healthy controls were asked to perform digit recall accompanied by a secondary tracking task. Individuals who were carriers of the genetic mutation demonstrated significantly higher dual task costs than healthy non-carriers. Dual task performance was found to be more sensitive to this very early stage of FAD than episodic memory measures. The findings support the notion that a deficit in the coordination mechanism of the central executive may be a pre-clinical marker for the early detection of AD due to the E280A presenilin-1 gene mutation. (JINS, 2012, 18, 234–241)

The present study was intended to examine whether ponderal index (PI) at birth modifies the effect of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) rs9939609 polymorphism on adiposity in European adolescents. A total of 628 adolescents aged 14·4 (se 1·3) years (56·8 % female) were recruited. PI was calculated from parental reports of birth weight and length (kg/m3), and the BMI (kg/m2), body fat percentage and fat mass index (FMI, kg/m2) were calculated. The rs9939609 polymorphism was genotyped and physical activity assessed by accelerometry. Sex, duration of pregnancy, pubertal status, centre and physical activity were used as confounders in all the analyses. The minor A allele of the FTO rs9939609 was significantly associated with higher BMI, body fat percentage and FMI (all P < 0·05) but not with PI. Significant interactions between PI and the rs9939609 polymorphism in terms of body fat percentage (P = 0·002) and FMI (P = 0·017) were detected. However, this polymorphism was only significantly associated with higher BMI, body fat percentage and FMI (all P < 0·05) in adolescents in the lower PI tertile. Indeed, both body fat percentage and FMI were higher in those adolescents in the lower PI tertile carrying the A allele of the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism than in those with the TT genotype (25·0 (se 0·8) v. 22·1 (se 1·0) %, adjusted P = 0·030 and 5·6 (se 0·3) v. 4·6 (se 0·4) kg/m2, P = 0·031, respectively). Our findings suggest that those adolescents born with lower PI could be more vulnerable to the influence of the A risk allele of the FTO polymorphism on total adiposity content.

Background: Dementia screening in elderly people with low education can be difficult to implement. For these subjects, informant reports using the long (L) (26 items) and short (C) (16 items) versions of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) can be useful. The objective of the present study was to investigate the performance of Brazilian versions of the IQCODE L, S and a new short version (SBr) (15 items) in comparison with the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) for dementia screening in elderly people with low education.

Methods: Thirty-four patients with mild to moderate dementia, diagnosed according to ICD-10 criteria, and 57 controls were evaluated and divided into three groups based on their socioeconomic status and level of education. Patients were evaluated using the MMSE and the informants were interviewed using the IQCODE by interviewers blind to the clinical diagnosis.

Results: Education was correlated with MMSE results (r = 0.280, p = 0.031), but not with the versions of the IQCODE. The performance of the instruments, evaluated by the ROC curves, was very similar, with good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.97). MMSE correctly classified 85.7% of the subjects while the three IQCODE versions (L, S and SBr) correctly classified 91.2% of the subjects.

Conclusions: The long, short and the new short Brazilian IQCODE versions can be useful as a screening tool for mild and moderate patients with dementia in Brazil. The IQCODE is not biased by schooling, and it seems to be an adequate instrument for samples with low levels of education.

A sample of 20 right-handed Aruaco Indians (12 male, 8 female; age 8–30 years) from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia) participated in this study. A brief neuropsychological test battery (visuoconstructive and visuoperceptual abilities, memory, ideomotor praxis, verbal fluency, spatial abilities, concept formation) was individually administered. In addition, a handedness questionnaire was included. In some neuropsychological tests performance was virtually perfect (Recognition of Overlapped Figures and Ideomotor Praxis Ability test), whereas performance in other tests was impossible (e.g., Block Design using a time limit). It was proposed that two types of variables were significantly affecting performance: (1) educational level; and (2) cultural relevance. Some tests appeared significant and meaningful whereas others were meaningless and even impossible to understand. The appropriateness of current neuropsychological instruments for cross-cultural assessment is discussed. (JINS, 2001, 7, 510–515.)