This research aimed at investigating gender stereotypes among adolescent students of two schools – one religious and the other non-religious – trying to identify possible differences that the school orientation could exert on its students in the formation, maintenance and change of stereotypes. This work proposal made it possible to trace a profile of the adolescents’ stereotyped perception on their male and female peers in three analysis levels, auto-stereotypes, hetero-stereotypes and meta- -perception. For this purpose, five-point Likert scales were utilized and the data obtained were analyzed statistically utilizing descriptive statistics and ANOVA. The analyses indicated that women are mainly characterized by collective traces. However, the number of individualistic attributes which are applied to them is quite significant, differently from the male characterization which is strongly marked by individualistic attributes and lacks of collective ones. The attributions are more intense among the students of religious school, what suggests that this group tends to utilize more often the stereotypes and that there is a marked tendency towards the ingroup in the attributions. The data indicate that women are more stereotyped than men in the number of attributes used in the characterization as well as in the intensity with which they are attributed. Keywords : adolescence; stereotypes; gender; school education.

This paper begins by pointing out that its objective is to show that the body and its gender features are represented in the children’s comic books, thus contributing to the establishment and/or the strengthening of power relations. The comics chosen for such analysis are Monica’s Gang and Xaxado’s Gang, both of them Brazilian. The first is widely broadcast by the different media. The paper analyses the chosen comics and then presents the author’s understanding of the visual culture and its relation with the educational process. It then points out the challenges for those educators who intend to use comic books in the perspective of visual culture. It concludes by defending that comic books are cultural artifacts that must be discussed, specially by teachers and educators, in order to unveil the ideological discourses that mark their narratives and understand them beyond hobby and entertainment, but as a powerful vehicle for the socialization of values, ideas, beliefs, and habits.

Falls occur frequently among older people and represent the most common cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality in later life. Preventing falls is an important way to reduce injuries, hospitalizations, and injury-related morbidity and mortality among older people. The research literature has identified hundreds of risk factors for falls among elderly people. Prioritizing risk factors for falls is useful for designing effective and efficacious prevention programs. The aim of this study was to use the Analytic Hierarchy Process to develop a hierarchy of risk factors for falls based on the knowledge and experience of experts working in this field.

Progress in understanding the genetic basis and pathophysiology of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), along with continuous efforts in finding a way to increase survival motor neuron (SMN) protein levels have resulted in several strategies that have been proposed as potential directions for efficient drug development. Here we provide an overview on the current status of the following approaches: 1) activation of SMN2 gene and increasing full length SMN2 transcript level, 2) modulating SMN2 splicing, 3) stabilizing SMN mRNA and SMN protein, 4) development of neurotrophic, neuroprotective and anabolic compounds and 5) stem cell and gene therapy. The new preclinical advances warrant a cautious optimism for emergence of an effective treatment in the very near future.