31 research outputs found
Innovative cotton fibers functionalized with antimicrobial peptides: synthetic strategies and antibacterial activity
No full textRelevance of amphiphilicity and helicity on the antibacterial action of a histatin 5‐derived peptide
No full textPeptide dhvar4, derived from the active domain of our salivary peptide histatin
5, bears a Phe residue in the middle of its hydrophilic face when folded into an
α-helix. We then synthesized an analog with this Phe replaced by Lys and two
analogs preserving Phe but bearing two and three α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib)
residues to stabilize the helical structure. The aim of this design was to verify which
of the two features is more favorable to the biological activity. We performed a
conformational study by means of circular dichroism and nuclear magnetic
resonance, made antibacterial tests, and assessed the stability of the peptides in
human serum. We observed that amphiphilicity is more important than helix stability,
provided a peptide can adopt a helical conformation in a membrane-mimetic
environment
Covalent Graft of Lipopeptides and Peptide Dendrimers to Cellulose Fibers
No full textIntroduction: Bacterial proliferation in health environments may lead to the development of specific pathologies, but can be highly dangerous under particular conditions, such as during chemotherapy. To limit the spread of infections, it is helpful to use gauzes and clothing containing antibacterial agents. As cotton tissues are widespread in health care environments, in this contribution we report the preparation of cellulose fibers characterized by the covalent attachment of lipopeptides as possible antimicrobial agents. Aim: To covalently link peptides to cotton samples and characterize them. Peptides are expected to preserve the features of the fabrics even after repeated washing and use. Peptides are well tolerated by the human body and do not induce resistance in bacteria. Materials and Methods: A commercially available cotton tissue (specific weight of 150 g/m2, 30 Tex yarn fineness, fabric density of 270/230 threads/10 cm in the warp and weft) was washed with alkali and bleached and died. A piece of this tissue was accurately weighed, washed with methanol (MeOH) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and air-dried. Upon incubation with epibromohydrin, followed by treatment with Fmoc-NH-CH2CH2-NH2 and Fmoc removal, the peptides were synthesized by incorporating one amino acid at a time, beginning with the formation of an amide bond with the free NH2 of 1,2–diaminoethane. We also linked to the fibers a few peptide dendrimers, because the mechanism of action of these peptides often requires the formation of clusters. We prepared and characterized seven peptide-cotton samples. Results: The new peptide-cotton conjugates were characterized by means of FT-IR spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). This latter technique allows for discriminating among different amino acids and thus different peptide-cotton samples. Some samples maintain a pretty good whiteness degree even after peptide functionalization. Interestingly, these samples also display encouraging activities against a Gram positive strain. Conclusions: Potentially antimicrobial lipopeptides can be covalently linked to cotton fabrics, step-by-step. It is also possible to build on the cotton Lys-based dendrimers. XPS is a useful technique to discriminate among different types of nitrogen. Two samples displaying some antibacterial potency did also preserve their whiteness index
Hilma af Klint and her position in abstract art in the half of 20th century
No full textThe aim of this bachelor's thesis was to explore and approach the work of the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint, who ranks among the pioneers of abstract art. Other representatives of abstract art include František Kupka, Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich. In the introduction to the work, for the last three mentioned, their life, work and the artistic direction in which they created are briefly described. However, the work primarily focuses on the creation of an artistic description of the life and work of Hilma af Klint, the group The Five, as well as on the description and analysis of significant collections and works of the author. In order to complete the complex context of Hilma af Klint's work, the work describes the period in which the author worked. The significance of this period is described here, and the work also presents several artistic styles that influenced the work of the observed author. These are primarily styles belonging to the abstract art of the first half of the 20th century
Hilma af Klint : ett hermeneutiskt försök
No full textUppsatsen tar upp tretton bilder som Hilma af Klint målade under tidsperioden 1906-1915. Bilderna ingår i en svit som kallas för Bilderna till Templet som omfattar nästan 190 målningar. Under hennes livstid var hennes livsverk okänt för hennes samtid. Hon målade abstrakta, geometriska former och använde klara färger flera år före sina samtida konstnärskollegor. Inom ett hermeneutiskt arbetssätt ingår det olika moment som tolkning, beskrivning och analys av bilder. Uppsatsen vill belysa och ta upp hennes formspråk ur symbolisk synvinkel med hjälp av den hermeneutiska arbetsmodellen. Dels genom att göra hennes bildspråk mer begripligt och dels för att hitta gemensamma nämnare som ökar förståelsen för hennes målningar. Enligt författarens mening hade hon svårt för att förstå innehållet i bilderna, men hade en klar tanke om att bilderna speglade evolutionstanken i Skapelsen.The essay includes thirteen pictures by Hilma af Klint, who painted these between 1906-1915. The pictures is a part ofa suite namned The Paintings to The Temple which extent almost 190 paintings. During her lifetime her life's work was unknown to her own period. She painted abstractical, geometrical forms and used bright colours many years before her contemporary artistcolleagues. Within a hermeneutical method includes different moments like, interpretation, description and analysis of pictures. The essay wants to illuminate and to lind her idiom out of a symbolic visual angle with help from the hermeneutical workrnodell. Partly making her pictorial language more clear and partly to find common factors which increase the understanding for her paintings. The author of this essay means that Hilma af Klint had some difficulties to understand the contents of her own paintings, but she had a clear thought that the pictures reflected the evolution thought in the Creation
Sexual orientation and gender diversity in middle schools' health education textbooks
No full textTiedekunta - Fakultet - Faculty
Kasvatustieteellinen tiedekunta, Kasvatustieteiden maisteriohjelma
Tekijä - Författare - Author
Hilma Ukkola
Työn nimi - Arbetets titel
Seksuaalisen suuntautumisen ja sukupuolen moninaisuus yläkoulun terveystiedon oppikirjoissa
Title
Sexual orientation and gender diversity in middle schools' health education textbooks
Oppiaine - Läroämne - Subject
Kasvatustiede
Työn laji/ Ohjaaja - Arbetets art/Handledare - Level/Instructor
Pro gradu -tutkielma / Liisa Tainio
Aika - Datum - Month and year
05/2024
Sivumäärä - Sidoantal - Number of pages
49 s
Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract
Tavoitteet. Aiemmat tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet, että seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöihin kuuluvat nuoret kokevat muita nuoria enemmän hyvinvointiin ja terveyteen liittyviä haasteita ja syrjintää. Vaikka yhdenvertaisuus ja esimerkiksi tiedon ja ymmärryksen lisääminen sukupuolen moninaisuudesta on tuotu esiin perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelmassa, edes kaikissa terveystiedon oppimateriaaleissa tämä tavoite ei toistaiseksi toteudu. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten seksuaalisen suuntautumisen ja sukupuolen moninaisuus esitetään yläkoulun terveystiedon oppikirjoissa. Tutkimuskysymyksiä on kaksi: miten seksuaalisen suuntautumisen moninaisuus esitetään yläkoulun terveystiedon oppikirjoissa ja miten sukupuolen moninaisuus esitetään yläkoulun terveystiedon oppikirjoissa.
Menetelmät. Tutkimuksen aineistona on kolme terveystiedon oppikirjasarjaa, Voimaa 7–9, Vire 7–9 ja Syke 7–9. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisin menetelmin. Analyysimenetelmänä tutkimuksessa käytettiin aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysiä. Aineistosta etsittiin seksuaaliseen suuntautumiseen ja sukupuoleen viittaavia ilmaisuja. Ilmaisut luokiteltiin erilaisiin ala- ja yläluokkiin ja lopuksi kahteen pääluokkaan. Tutkimuksessa analysoitiin sekä oppikirjojen tekstejä että kuvia ja kuvatekstejä.
Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että seksuaalisen suuntautumisen moninaisuuden esittäminen terveystiedon oppikirjoissa jäi vähäiseksi. Etenkin oppikirjojen kuvissa ja kuvatekstissä seksuaalinen suuntautuminen esitettiin hyvin heteronormatiivisesti. Myös seksuaalista suuntautumista kuvaavia käsitteitä oli niukasti ja ne kaipasivat monipuolisuutta. Myös sukupuolen moninaisuuden näkökulma jäi oppikirjoissa vähäiseksi niin teksteissä kuin kuvissa ja kuvateksteissä. Yhdessä oppikirjassa se jäi lähes kokonaan käsittelemättä. Analysoiduissa kuvissa sukupuolen moninaisuus ei näkynyt lähes ollenkaan koko aineistossa.
Säilytyspaikka - Förvaringsställe - Where deposited
Helsingin yliopiston kirjasto – Helda / E-thesis (opinnäytteet)Tiedekunta - Fakultet - Faculty
Educational Sciences
Tekijä - Författare - Author
Hilma Ukkola
Työn nimi - Arbetets titel
Seksuaalisen suuntautumisen ja sukupuolen moninaisuus yläkoulun terveystiedon oppikirjoissa
Title
Sexual orientation and gender diversity in middle schools' health education textbooks
Oppiaine - Läroämne - Subject
Educational science
Työn laji/ Ohjaaja - Arbetets art/Handledare - Level/Instructor
Master’s Thesis / Liisa Tainio
Aika - Datum - Month and year
05/2024
Sivumäärä - Sidoantal - Number of pages
49 pp.
Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract
Aim of the study. Previous studies have shown that young people who are part of sexual and gender minorities experience more challenges related to well-being and health, as well as discrimination, compared to other young people. Although equality and, for example increasing knowledge and understanding of gender diversity have been highlighted in the curriculum of primary school, this goal is not yet fully realized even in health education materials. This master’s thesis examines how sexual orientation and gender diversity are presented in middle school health education textbooks. There are two research questions: how the diversity of sexual orientation is presented in middle school health education textbooks, and how the diversity of gender is presented in middle school health education textbooks.
Methods. The study material consists of three health education textbooks series, Voimaa 7-9, Vire 7-9 and Syke 7-9. The study was conducted using qualitative methods. Data driven content analysis was used as the analytical method in the study. Expressions referring to sexual orientation and gender were sought from the material. The expressions were classified into different subcategories, categories, and finally into two main categories. Both texts and the images and their captions in the textbooks were analyzed in the study.
Results and conclusions. The study revealed that the presentation of sexual orientation diversity in health education textbooks was minimal. Particularly, in the images and their captions, sexual orientation was portrayed very heteronormatively. There was also a scarcity of terms describing sexual orientation, which lacked diversity. Furthermore, the perspective of gender diversity was minimal in both the texts and the images and their captions. In one textbook, it was almost entirely omitted. Gender diversity was hardly visible in the analyzed images throughout the entire dataset
Conformational properties, membrane interaction, and antibacterial activity of the peptaibiotic chalciporin A: Multitechnique spectroscopic and biophysical investigations on the natural compound and labeled analogs
No full textIn this work, an extensive set of spectroscopic and biophysical techniques (including FT-IR absorption, CD, 2D-NMR, fluorescence, and CW/PELDOR EPR) was used to study the conformational preferences, membrane interaction, and bioactivity properties of the naturally occurring synthetic 14-mer peptaibiotic chalciporin A, characterized by a relatively low (≈20%), uncommon proportion of the strongly helicogenic Aib residue. In addition to the unlabeled peptide, we gained in-depth information from the study of two labeled analogs, characterized by one or two residues of the helicogenic, nitroxyl radical-containing TOAC. All three compounds were prepared using the SPPS methodology, which was carefully modified in the course of the syntheses of TOAC-labeled analogs in view of the poorly reactive α-amino function of this very bulky residue and the specific requirements of its free-radical side chain. Despite its potentially high flexibility, our results point to a predominant, partly amphiphilic, α-helical conformation for this peptaibiotic. Therefore, not surprisingly, we found an effective membrane affinity and a remarkable penetration propensity. However, chalciporin A exhibits a selectivity in its antibacterial activity not in agreement with that typical of the other members of this peptide class
In(queer)ies: Pedagogical Praxis and Ceramics Handbuilding towards Fluidity
No full textFluidity is explored through the intersections of teaching pedagogy, handbuilding ceramics, and Buddhist spirituality. This paper supports the research and progression to the Immersion installation encompassing witnessing through film and clay. Studio explorations include nurturing queer curiosities in a middle school setting, dialogue with artist Hilma af Klint’s work , and development in an embodied practice with the Pacific Ocean from the Island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, the familial ʻāina and wai (land and water) of the Kānaka Maoli people.Teaching pedagogyOceanHawaiiQueerCeramicsHandbuildingFluidityEmbodied practiceWitnessingGende
