This two phase study explored perspectives of play according to children and parents of Somali heritage and primary school practitioners, in a city in South West England. In an addition to the considerable research base concerning play, this study investigated the frequently overlooked cultural dimension of play and how this affects the education of Somali heritage children in England. The broader contentious concern of play’s role in Early Years and Primary education was also explored. A mixed methods pragmatic approach was employed in this study. In Phase One, a photograph sorting activity based on the Activity Apperception Story Procedure by Howard (2002), was used to enable the participation of young children and participants for whom English is not their first language. Established via this activity were definitions of play and work according to children and parents of Somali heritage and primary school practitioners. Exploratory Data Analysis was applied to examine this data. In Phase Two, a focus group design was used, with discussions drawing on cross-cultural conceptions of play (Gaskins, Haight & Lancy, 2007; Göncü, Tuermer, Jain & Johnson, 1999). This enabled the exploration of how parents of Somali heritage and primary school practitioners perceive play’s relationship to children’s development and learning, with consideration for their own experiences of childhood. Focus group data was analysed using thematic analysis, supported by the Cultural Historical Activity Theory framework. The findings of this study highlight shared and individual definitions of play, competing benefits of play and the cross-cultural importance of play being intrinsically motivated. Implications for practice centre on the need to recognise play as part of unique cultural milieus at a practitioner, school, educational psychology service and policy level.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:20:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4606.pdf: 10556895 bytes, checksum: debf5633a053f88ca7dd4618edef9175 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-06 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The plant biomass is a large-scale available resource and one of its more important applications is the second-generation ethanol production. However, the enzyme cost is one of the biggest barriers for economically viable ethanol from biomass. Therefore, it is important to identify fungal strains that can produce high concentrations of plant biomass-degrading enzymes. The aim of this work was to clone, study the gene expression and characterize the plant biomass-degrading transcript set of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844. A total of 1,543 highquality reads from the Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 cellulose induced cDNA library were organized into 1,002 transcripts representing 167 contigs and 835 singlets. Of these 1,002 transcripts 646 had unknown functions and 356 showed associated functions. Among the transcripts with associated functions, we found 20 transcripts related to plant biomass deconstruction. The real time PCR analysis of Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 mycelia grown for 36 and 60 hours in cellulose, revealed that the levels of the following mRNAs were induced by at least 2,000-fold when compared to uninduced mycelia: cbh1, cbh2, egl1, egl2, egl3, egl7 and swo1. In some cases, the values were higher than 100,000-fold. Among the transcripts analyzed by real time PCR, cbh1, cbh2 and egl7 exhibited the highest expression levels. The Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 exhibited a repertoire with high expression of plant biomassdegrading transcripts. The enzymes EGIII and Xyn2 were recombinantly expressed in Pichia pastoris, showing good quality purification and good enzymatic activity. The heterologous expression assays made possible future studies aiming at the industrial application of the enzymes. Therefore, this strain showed potencial to produce biomassdegrading enzymes for second-generation ethanol production and to be a source of enzymes for the paper industry / A biomassa vegetal é um recurso disponível em larga escala e uma das suas mais imporantes aplicações é a produção de etanol de segunda geração. No entanto, o custo das enzimas é um dos maiores entraves para a produção economicamente viável deste etanol. Neste contexto, é importante encontrar organismos produtores de grandes quantidades de enzimas que degradam a biomassa. Os objetivos deste estudo foram clonar, estudar a expressão gênica e caracterizar o conjunto de enzimas que degradam a biomassa vegetal, do fungo filamentoso Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844. Um total de 1.543 seqüências de boa qualidade, geradas a partir de uma biblioteca de cDNA do Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844, induzido por celulose, foi organizado em 1.002 transcritos, sendo 167 representados por mais de uma seqüência e 835 representados por apenas uma seqüência. Destes transcritos, 356 tiveram função associada e 646 não tiveram. Com isso, entre os transcritos com função associada, foram listados 20 transcritos envolvidos com degradação de biomassa vegetal. Análises de PCR em tempo real do micélio de Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844, crescido por 36 e 60 horas em celulose, mostraram níveis de mRNA mais de 2.000 vezes mais representados para os transcritos cbh1, cbh2, egl1, egl2, egl3, egl7 e swo1, quando comparados com o micélio não induzido. Em alguns casos as maiores representatividades alcançaram valores superiores a 100.000 vezes. Entre os transcritos analisados o cbh1, o cbh2 e o egl7, mostraram os mais altos níveis de expressão. O Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 exibiu um repertório com alta expressão de transcritos envolvidas na degradação de biomassa vegetal. As enzimas EGIII e Xyn2 foram expressas em sistema recombinante com uso da levedura Pichia pastoris, apresentando facilidade de purificação e boa atividade enzimática. Os ensaios de expressão heteróloga viabilizaram estudos posteriores que visam a aplicação industrial das enzimas. Assim, esta cepa mostrou potencial para produzir enzimas que degradam a biomassa para a produção de etanol de segunda geração, e para ser fonte de enzimas para a indústria de papel.

Background Polypharmacy is often prescribed for bipolar disorder, yet medication non-adherence remains a serious problem. This study investigated the regularity in the daily dosage taken of mood stabilizers and second generation antipsychotics. Methods Daily self-reported data on medications taken and mood were available from 241 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder who received treatment as usual. Patients who took the same mood stabilizer or second generation antipsychotic for ≥ 100 days were included. Approximate entropy was used to determine serial regularity in daily dosage taken. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate if demographic or clinical variables were associated with regularity. Results There were 422 analysis periods available from the 241 patients. Patients took drugs on 84.4% of days. Considerable irregularity was found, mostly due to single-day omissions and dosage changes. Drug holidays (missing 3 or more consecutive days) were found in 35.8% of the analysis periods. Irregularity was associated with an increasing total number of psychotropic drugs taken (p = 0.009), the pill burden (p = 0.026), and the percent of days depressed (p = 0.049). Conclusion Despite low missing percent of days, daily drug dosage may be irregular primarily due to single day omissions and dosage changes. Drug holidays are common. Physicians should expect to see partial adherence in clinical practice, especially with complex drug regimens. Daily dosage irregularity may impact the continuity of drug action, contribute to individual variation in treatment response, and needs further study.

Submitted by Vinicius de Godoi Contessoto null (vinicius@sjrp.unesp.br) on 2016-09-09T18:11:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese-Vinícius_Contessoto-Final.pdf: 17297320 bytes, checksum: f601c338b5bf6436dc595bad581418f5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-09-13T13:26:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 contessoto_vg_dr_sjrp.pdf: 17297320 bytes, checksum: f601c338b5bf6436dc595bad581418f5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-13T13:26:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 contessoto_vg_dr_sjrp.pdf: 17297320 bytes, checksum: f601c338b5bf6436dc595bad581418f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Entender a contribuição das interações eletrostáticas no processo de enovelamento e na estabilidade do estado nativo de proteínas é de grande relevância em biofísica molecular. Este trabalho possui duas frentes de estudos. Na primeira etapa é apresentado o estudo das interações eletrostáticas no processo de enovelamento utilizando modelos baseados em estruturas com cargas em dinâmica molecular com pH constante. O estudo foi realizado na parte N-terminal da proteína ribossomal L9 (NTL9), uma proteína com o mecanismo de enovelamento de 2 estados, reversível e realizado desde pH 1.0 até 12.0. Foi possível comparar os resultados das simulações com os resultados experimentais presentes na literatura e os dados obtidos indicam que o modelo proposto é capaz de capturar informações fundamentais sobre o processo de enovelamento referentes à estabilidade e dependência com pH. Na segunda etapa é apresentado o estudo sobre as interações eletrostáticas na estabilidade de enzimas com interesse na produção de bioetanol de segunda geração. O objetivo final deste trabalho é adequar as enzimas às condições do reator para a produção de bioetanol. Neste trabalho foi utilizada uma metodologia capaz de indicar possíveis mutações, pela otimização da interação carga–carga na superfície da proteína, que levam ao aumento de termostabilidade. Este trabalho conta com a colaboração do grupo experimental do Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE) que realizam os testes experimentais e as validações das mutações propostas. / The understanding of electrostatic interactions in protein folding process and in native state stability is important to molecular biophysics area. This work has two areas of interest. At first step it is presented the study about electrostatic interactions in the protein folding process using structure-based models in a constant pH molecular dynamics. It was used the N-terminal domain of ribosomal protein L9 (NTL9), which folding mechanism is a two-state pathway, fully reversible and foldable in a pH range from 1.0 to 12.0. The simulation results were compared with experimental results from literature and the obtained data indicates that the proposed model is capable of capturing essential features of folding mechanism about stability and pH dependence. At second step, it is presented the study about electrostatic interactions in stability of enzymes related with second generation bioethanol production. The final goal of this work is to adjust the enzymes to reactor conditions of bioethanol production. It was employed a method that can suggest rational mutation, based on optimization of charge-charge interactions, that leads to thermostability increase. This work can count on the collaboration of an experimental group of Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory (CTBE) that performs the wet lab tests and validates the suggested mutations.

Ce projet de recherche, réalisé sous la direction de la Dre Leila Ben Amor et la co-direction du Dr Emmanuel Stip, fut possible avec le soutient de la Bourse Daoussis du Département de psychiatrie, de la Faculté de médecine de l’Université de Montréal. / Les antipsychotiques de seconde génération (ASG) peuvent induire des changements métaboliques, tels la prise de poids, la perturbation du métabolisme des glucides et la dyslipidémie. Dans la population pédiatrique, les études analysant les effets métaboliques secondaires à une poly-thérapie par ASG (changement d’ASG et/ou combinaison de deux ASG) sont très rares et à notre connaissance, jusqu’à présent, aucune étude naturalistique n’a comparé directement ces effets selon l’utilisation des ASG en monothérapie (un seul ASG prescrit à la fois) ou en poly-thérapie. L’objectif de cette étude rétrospective est de comparer les changements métaboliques secondaires aux ASG en monothérapie avec ceux des ASG en poly-thérapie. À cet effet, de 147 enfants et adolescents naïfs d’antipsychotiques (âge moyen 12.8 ans ; IC 95% 9.8 à 15.9) sélectionnés entre novembre 2005 et juin 2013, 116 (78.9%) ont reçu des ASG en monothérapie et 31 (21.1%) en poly-thérapie. Nous avons analysé, à l’aide du modèle linéaire mixte, la variation du poids, de l’indice de masse corporelle ajusté pour l’âge et le sexe (IMC-z) et de la glycémie à jeun entre les deux groupes de traitement par ASG, avec le facteur répétitif le temps, relatif au niveau prétraitement et après 1, 3, 6, 12 et 24 mois de suivi. Nos résultats démontrent que le type de thérapie par ASG (monothérapie ou poly-thérapie) n’a pas eu d’impact significatif sur les changements métaboliques entre les deux groupes. Au total, après 24 mois de traitement par ASG, nos résultats montrent une augmentation significative de la moyenne du poids de 12.8 kg (IC 95% 10.4 à 15.0), de l’IMC-z de 0.44 (IC 95% 0.21 à 0.68) et de la glycémie à jeun de 0.29 mmol/L (IC 95% 0.11 à 0.47). L’incidence d’embonpoint/obésité fut de 22.6%, l’augmentation de plus que 0.5 de l’IMC-z de 9.4%, celle de l’intolérance au glucose de 9.6% et celle de diabète de type II de 3.1%. En conclusion, notre étude confirme le risque significatif de complications métaboliques durant le traitement sur 24 mois par ASG, sans différence significative entre leur utilisation en monothérapie ou en poly-thérapie. / Second generation antipsychotics (SGA) can induce metabolic changes such as weight gain, glucose abnormalities and dyslipidemia. In the pediatric population, studies analysing the SGA polytherapy (switch of SGA and/or combination of two SGA) induced metabolic effects are scarce and, to our knowledge, no naturalistic study, until now, directly compared metabolic changes between the SGA monotherapy (a single SGA prescribed during the follow-up) and SGA polytherapy use. The objective of this retrospective study is to compare SGA monotherapy induced metabolic changes to those secondary to SGA polytherapy. To this end, from 147 antipsychotic-naïve children and adolescents (mean age 12.8 years; 95% CI 9.8 to 15.9) selected between November 2005 and June 2013, 116 (78.9%) received a SGA monotherapy and 31 (21.1%) a SGA polytherapy. We used the linear mixed model to compare weight, body mass index adjusted for age and sex (BMI z score) and fasting glucose changes between the two SGA treatment groups with the repeated factor the time relative to baseline at 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months. Our results show that the type of therapy (monotherapy or polytherapy) did not have a significant impact on the metabolic changes between the two groups. Overall, after 24 months of SGA treatment, mean weight increased significantly by 12.8 kg (95% CI 10.4 to 15.0), BMI z score by 0.44 (95% CI 0.21 to 0.68), fasting glucose levels by 0.29 mmol/l (95% CI 0.11 to 0.47). Incidence of overweight/obese was 22.6%, BMI z score increase over 0.5 was 9.4%, glucose intolerance was 9.4% and type II diabetes was 3.1%. In conclusion, our study confirms the significant risk of metabolic complications during 24 months SGA treatment, without a significant difference between monotherapy and polytherapy use.

Notre objectif était de mieux comprendre la régulation de la biosynthèse des parois secondaires lors de la formation du bois chez l'Eucalyptus, le feuillu le plus planté au monde et le deuxième dont le génome est séquencé. Nous avons caractérisé trois facteurs de transcription de la famille MYB-R2R3 et montré que EgMYB137 était un nouveau régulateur de la biosynthèse des parois secondaires. Nous avons aussi démontré que l'activité transcriptionnelle de EgMYB1, un répresseur de la biosynthèse des lignines, était régulée par une interaction protéine-protéine impliquant une histone linker (EgH1.3). Enfin, nous avons mis au point une méthode de transformation homologue chez l'Eucalyptus via A. rhizogenes. Les " hairy roots " transgéniques sont adaptées à la caractérisation fonctionnelle de gènes reliés à la formation du xylème. Nos résultats ont permis de découvrir de nouveaux acteurs impliqués dans la régulation des parois secondaires, mettant en lumière la complexité de ce processus mais aussi offrant de nouvelles perspectives pour l'amélioration du bois pour des applications industrielles comme la production de bioéthanol de deuxième génération. / Our objective was to better understand the regulation of the biosynthesis of the lignified secondary cell walls during wood formation in Eucalyptus, the most planted hardwood tree, and the second whose genome has been sequenced. We functionally characterized three Eucalyptus transcription factors of the R2R3-MYB family and identified EgMYB137 as a new regulator of secondary cell wall deposition. We also showed that the transcriptional activity of EgMYB1, a repressor of lignin biosynthesis was modulated by protein-protein interactions involving a linker histone (EgH1.3). Finally, we set up a homologous transformation system for Eucalyptus using Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The transgenic hairy roots are suitable for high throughput functional characterization of cell wall-related genes. Our findings not only allowed getting new insights into the complexity of the network regulating secondary cell walls but also open new avenues to improve wood quality for industrial applications such as second-generation bioethanol.

La création de nouvelles enzymes pour l’hydrolyse de la biomasse est une stratégie clé pour ledéveloppement du bioraffinage. Dans ce contexte, les xylanases de la famille GH11 sont déjàdéployées dans de nombreux procédés industriels et donc bien positionnées pour jouer un rôleimportant dans ces procédés. La cible de cette étude, la xylanase GH11 (Tx-Xyl) de la bactérieThermobacillus xylanilyticus, est une enzyme thermostable et donc une bonne candidate pour destravaux d’ingénierie visant l’amélioration de son activité sur des substrats ligno-cellulosiques.Dans cette étude, deux stratégies d’ingénierie des enzymes ont été employées afin d’obtenir denouvelles informations portants sur les relations structure-fonction au sein de Tx-Xyl. La premièrestratégie a consisté en l’utilisation d’une approche de mutagenèse aléatoire, couplée à l’emploi deméthodes de recombinaison in vitro. Ces travaux avaient pour objectif d’améliorer la capacitéhydrolytique de Tx-Xyl sur la paille de blé. La deuxième stratégie mise en oeuvre s’est appuyée surune approche semi-rationnelle visant la création d’une enzyme chimérique, qui bénéficierait d’uneamélioration des interactions enzyme-substrat au niveau du sous-site -3.Le premier résultat majeur de cette thèse concerne le développement d’une méthode de criblagequi permet l’analyse à haut débit de banques de mutants pour la détection de variants quiprésentent une activité hydrolytique accrue directement sur paille de blé. A l’aide de ce crible, nousavons pu analyser plusieurs banques de mutants, représentant un total de six générations demutants, et identifier une série de combinaisons de mutations différentes. D’un côté, un variant,comportant deux mutations silencieuses, permet une meilleure expression de Tx-Xyl, alors qued’autres enzymes mutées présentent des modifications intrinsèques de leurs aptitudes catalytiques.Comparés à l’enzyme parentale Tx-Xyl, certains mutants solubilisent davantage les arabinoxylanes dela paille et, lorsqu’ils sont déployés avec un cocktail de cellulases, participent à une réactionsynergique qui permet un accroissement du rendement des pentoses et du glucose libérés.A l’aide d’une approche semi-rationnelle, une séquence de 17 acides aminés en provenance d’unexylanase GH11 fongique a été ajoutée à l’extrémité N-terminale de Tx-Xyl, afin de créer de nouveauxbrins β. L’enzyme chimérique a pu être exprimée avec succès et caractérisée. Néanmoins, l’analysede ses propriétés catalytiques a révélé que celle-ci ne présente pas davantage d’interactions avec sonsubstrat dans le sous-site -3, mais les résultats obtenus fournissent de nombreux renseignements surles relations structure-fonction au sein de l’enzyme. De plus, ces travaux nous permettent depostuler que Tx-Xyl posséderait un site de fixation secondaire pour les xylanes, un élement jusqu’iciinsoupçonné dans cette enzyme. Par ailleurs, l’analyse de nos résultats nous permet de proposer uneexplication rationnelle pour l’échec de notre stratégie initiale / Engineering new and powerful enzymes for biomass hydrolysis is one area that will facilitate thefuture development of biorefining. In this respect, xylanases from family GH11 are already importantindustrial biocatalysts that can contribute to 2nd generation biorefining. The target of this study, theGH11 xylanase (Tx-Xyl) from Thermobacillus xylanilyticus is thermostable, and is thus an interestingtarget for enzyme engineering, aiming at increasing its specific activity on lignocellulosic biomass,such as wheat straw. Nevertheless, the action of xylanases on complex biomass is not yet wellunderstood, and thus the use of a rational engineering approach is not really feasible.In this doctoral study, to gain new insight into structure-function relationships, two enzymeengineering strategies have been deployed. The first concerns the development of a randommutagenesis and in vitro DNA shuffling approach, which was used in order to improve the hydrolyticpotency of Tx-Xyl on wheat straw, while the second strategy consisted in the creation of a chimericenzyme, with the aim of probing and improving -3 subsite binding, and ultimately improvinghydrolytic activity.The first key results that has been obtained is the development of a novel high-throughputscreening method, which was devised in order to reliably pinpoint mutants that can better hydrolyzewheat straw. Using this screening method, several generations of mutant libraries have beenanalyzed and a series of improved enzyme variants have been identified. One mutant, bearing silentmutations, actually leads to higher gene expression, while others have intrinsically altered catalyticproperties. Testing of mutants has shown that some of the enzyme variants can improve thesolubilization of wheat straw arabinoxylans and can work in synergy with cellulose cocktails torelease both pentose sugars and glucose.Using a semi-rational approach, 17 amino acids have been added to the N-terminal of Tx-Xyl, withthe aim of adding two extra β-strands coming from a GH11 fungal xylanase. A chimeric enzyme hasbeen successfully expressed and purified and its catalytic properties have been investigated.Although this approach has failed to create increased -3 subsite binding, the data presented revealsimportant information on structure-function relationships and suggest that Tx-Xyl may possess ahitherto unknown secondary substrate binding site. Moreover, a rational explanation for the failureof the original strategy is proposed.

This study is a qualitative interview study that examines antagonism, identity and collective memory among second generation immigrants from Bosnia & Herzegovina. The study is based on an existential history use-perspective and social constructivist socialization theory. The study shows that the Bosniak identity is seldom defined by their history and the Yugoslavian wars but rather by language and traditions. In addition, the results indicate that the Bosniak identity has been assimilated to a large extent into the Swedish majority culture. The results also show that antagonism against other ethnic groups in the Balkans mainly occurs among first-generation immigrants while the descendants do not relate to a large extent to the war crimes and atrocities that occurred against Bosnian Muslims. Instead, they express empathy and sympathy for their parents’ experiences of these traumas. The respondents also experienced a nonchalance towards their background in Swedish history teaching where their history was neglected in favor of other wars and genocides. While the respondents suspected a fear of conflict among teachers to account for the area, they also told examples when teachers failed in the relational pedagogy and homogenized the individuals by letting them represent an entire conflict and ethnic group. Overall, the study shows that the use of history is not a recurring phenomenon among second-generation Bosniak immigrants, and their attitude focuses on individuals rather than groups. In the didactic part of the study, the results emphasize that history teachers might need to self-educate based on the students' background to create a meaningful education and create a history awareness among students.

Background Polypharmacy is often prescribed for bipolar disorder, yet medication non-adherence remains a serious problem. This study investigated the regularity in the daily dosage taken of mood stabilizers and second generation antipsychotics. Methods Daily self-reported data on medications taken and mood were available from 241 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder who received treatment as usual. Patients who took the same mood stabilizer or second generation antipsychotic for ≥ 100 days were included. Approximate entropy was used to determine serial regularity in daily dosage taken. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate if demographic or clinical variables were associated with regularity. Results There were 422 analysis periods available from the 241 patients. Patients took drugs on 84.4% of days. Considerable irregularity was found, mostly due to single-day omissions and dosage changes. Drug holidays (missing 3 or more consecutive days) were found in 35.8% of the analysis periods. Irregularity was associated with an increasing total number of psychotropic drugs taken (p = 0.009), the pill burden (p = 0.026), and the percent of days depressed (p = 0.049). Conclusion Despite low missing percent of days, daily drug dosage may be irregular primarily due to single day omissions and dosage changes. Drug holidays are common. Physicians should expect to see partial adherence in clinical practice, especially with complex drug regimens. Daily dosage irregularity may impact the continuity of drug action, contribute to individual variation in treatment response, and needs further study.

This study explores the engagement with music among second-generation migrants in Sweden in connection to their cultural identity and sense of belonging. First, a theoretical frame is developed that illustrates how music practices can contribute to the creation of ‘sense of place’ and ‘sense of belonging’ and how they are linked to ‘collective memory’ and ‘cultural identity’. Consequently, it is also explained how all this can be understood from a ‘generational perspective’. A qualitative approach has been chosen for this study and semi-structured interviews with 9 emerging adults living in Sweden, were conducted. The main results show that there is a high engagement with music among second-generation migrants in Sweden, many of them possessing a broad repertoire of favorite songs and genres. Mainly, it is through listening to the music coming from the home countries of their parents that they can express and navigate their cultural identities. Such kind of music carries meanings and mediates collective experiences and memories which can be passed on from one generation to the next one. These practices are important for second-generation migrants in terms of their sense of belonging to certain groups with which they can identify and feel connected to. In this sense, such kind of music helps them make sense of themselves in the world and in connection to others.