Post-automation

Tremendous research, policy, and investment is directed towards a new wave of automation in modern societies. Most notable within discourse for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but also in radical ideas for Fully Automated Luxury Communism, automation appears essential to the future. Advocates claim it will renew capital accumulation, boost labour productivity, and extend managerial control in sustainable systems of production and consumption. Noting criticism about future essentialism in this automation advocacy, this essay will turn to innovations in marginal industrious spaces within industrial societies. Here people are hacking, subverting and appropriating ostensibly automating technologies for purposes of creativity, collaboration, and care. Social capabilities in post-automation are being cultivated. Perhaps greater attention to the politics implied in post-automation can help open our futures to more democratic deliberation

Effect of cyproterone acetate on alpha1-adrenoceptor subtypes in rat vas deferens

Gonadal hormones regulate the expression of alpha1-adrenoceptor subtypes in several tissues. The present study was carried out to determine whether or not cyproterone acetate, an anti-androgenic agent, regulates the alpha1-adrenoceptor subtypes that mediate contractions of the rat vas deferens in response to noradrenaline. The actions of subtype selective alpha1-antagonists were investigated in vas deferens from control and cyproterone acetate-treated rats (10 mg/day, sc, for 7 days). Prazosin (pA2 ~9.5), phentolamine (pA2 ~8.3) and yohimbine (pA2 ~6.7) presented competitive antagonism consistent with activation of alpha1-adrenoceptors in vas deferens from both control and treated rats. The pA2 values estimated for WB 4101 (~9.5), benoxathian (~9.7), 5-methylurapidil (~8.5), indoramin (~8.7) and BMY 7378 (~6.8) indicate that alpha1A-adrenoceptors are involved in the contractions of the vas deferens from control and cyproterone acetate-treated rats. Treatment of the vas deferens from control rats with the alpha1B/alpha1D-adrenoceptor alkylating agent chloroethylclonidine had no effect on noradrenaline contractions, supporting the involvement of the alpha1A-subtype. However, this agent partially inhibited the contractions of vas deferens from cyproterone acetate-treated rats, suggesting involvement of multiple receptor subtypes. To further investigate this, the actions of WB 4101 and chloroethylclonidine were reevaluated in the vas deferens from rats treated with cyproterone acetate for 14 days. In these organs WB 4101 presented complex antagonism characterized by a Schild plot with a slope different from unity (0.65 ± 0.05). After treatment with chloroethylclonidine, the complex antagonism presented by WB 4101 was converted into classical competitive antagonism, consistent with participation of alpha1A-adrenoceptors as well as alpha1B-adrenoceptors. These results suggest that cyproterone acetate induces plasticity in the alpha1-adrenoceptor subtypes involved in the contractions of the vas deferens

Aleitamento materno como fator de proteção contra a instalação de hábitos bucais deletérios

Objetivo: avaliar a possível associação entre as variáveis sociodemográficas, desmame precoce e o desenvolvimento e manutenção dos hábitos bucais deletérios em crianças de três a cinco anos de idade das creches públicas de Vitória/ES.Método: trata-se de um estudo longitudinal, retrospectivo, com uma amostra final de 903 escolares, aleatorizada e representativa das 9.829 crianças matriculadas. Para a comparação entre as variáveis predictoras e hábitos foi utilizado o teste exato de Fisher e a força da associação medida pelo Odds Ratio.Resultados: 12,4% das crianças apresentaram hábito de sucção digital e 37,7%, o de chupeta. Não foi verificada associação estatisticamente significante do hábito de sucção digital com desmame precoce. As crianças do sexo feminino (p=0,045) demonstraram 20% mais chance de adquirir e permanecer com o hábito de chupeta, e as que tiveram o desmame precoce apresentaram aproximadamente quatro vezes mais a chance de desenvolver o hábito de chupetas (p= 0.000).Conclusão: associação entre hábito de chupeta e desmame precoce foi verificada. O desmame precoce pode ser considerado fator de risco para a permanência do hábito de chupeta