The gut microbiota is an important component of the human body and its immune‐modulating and metabolic activities are critical to maintain good health. Gut microbes, however, are sensitive to changes in diet, exposure to antibiotics, or infections, all of which cause transient disruptions in the microbial composition, a phenomenon known as dysbiosis. It is now recognized that microbial dysbiosis is at the root of many gastrointestinal disorders. However, the mechanisms through which bacterial dysbiosis initiates disease are not fully understood. Microbially‐derived (...) metabolites and their role in disease have also attracted significant attention. Identification of cancer‐associated bacteria and understanding the contributions of microbial metabolism in health and disease are exciting but challenging areas that will allow defining microbial biomarkers for predicting gastrointestinal disorders. Understanding the complex interactions between gut microbiota, diet, host immune system and host genetics will be critical to developing more personalized therapies and approaches to treat disease. (shrink)

Maintaining intestinal homeostasis is a key prerequisite for a healthy gut. Recent evidence points out that microRNAs (miRNAs) act at the epicenter of the signaling networks regulating this process. The fine balance in the interaction between gut microbiota, intestinal epithelial cells, and the host immune system is achieved by constant transmission of signals and their precise regulation. Gut microbes extensively communicate with the host immune system and modulate host gene expression. On the other hand, sensing of gut microbiota by the (...) immune cells provides appropriate tolerant responses that facilitate the symbiotic relationships. While the role of many regulatory proteins, receptors and their signaling pathways in the regulation of the intestinal homeostasis is well documented, the involvement of non‐coding RNA molecules in this process has just emerged. This review discusses the most recent knowledge about the contribution of miRNAs in the regulation of the intestinal homeostasis. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo tiene el propósito de examinar el significado de lo sagrado en una religión como el Budismo, donde no hay una idea de Dios como tal o ningún ser sobrenatural. En cambio, hay prácticas íntimas elaboradas para lograr la iluminación. El artículo tiene dos partes. La primera analíza los lugares sagrados en el Budismo, considerando así dos conceptos importantes el samsara y el nirvana. En la segunda parte se trata de los lugares sagrados en el Budismo comparando dos (...) estructuras espaciales: la estupa como representativa de una estructura vertical y el manadala como horizontal. Tomando como fundamento la yuxtaposición de estos, aparentemente, conceptos y estructuras opuestas, el artículo revela que en términos del Budismo lo verdaderamente sagrado es lo no-sagrado: este es un término que trasciende la oposición sagrado-profano y expresa la visión específica budista de la no-dualidad. Palabras claves: Budismo; sagrado-profano; no-dualidad. (shrink)

The paper aims to examine the meaning of sacredness in such a religion as Buddhism where there is no idea of God or any supernatural being. Instead, there are elaborated inner practices for achieving enlightenment. The paper consists of two parts. The first one analyses the place of the sacred in Buddhism considering the two important concepts of samsara and nirvana. The second part discusses sacred places in Buddhism comparing two different space structures: stupa as representative for a vertical structure (...) and mandala for a horizontal one. On the base of juxtaposing these seemingly opposite concepts and structures the paper reveals that in terms of Buddhism the real sacredness is non-sacredness: a term that transcends the opposition sacred-profane and expresses the specific Buddhist vision of non-duality.Key words: Buddhism; sacred-profane; non-duality. (shrink)

The article is based on the postmodern understanding about the collapse of grand narratives (Lyotard). One of the most significant grand narratives is the narrative about unidirectionality and irreversibility of development. Part of the roots of this narrative can be found in the ancient Greek idea of the inevitability of fate, Ananke, seen primarily as a necessity. In parallel to the ancient Greek thought, however, philosophical ideas in Ancient India and China were also developed. Therefore, the ideas of karma in (...) Ancient India and the related idea of svadharma, as well as the Chinese ideas of min, the will of Heaven, and of dao, the path as a reservoir of possibilities, are presented in comparative terms. The aim by highlighting these various options is to reveal the possibilities for different readings of the contemporary situation. (shrink)

Svrha ovog rada bila je utvrditi učestalost sudjelovanja učitelja Glazbene kulture u različitim aktivnostima informalnog cjeloživotnog učenja te saznati njihovo mišljenje o važnosti i doprinosu navedenog razvoju vlastitih kompetencija potrebnih za poučavanje Glazbene kulture. Utvrđeno je da učitelji najviše sudjeluju u informalnim aktivnostima učenja koje ne zahtijevaju dodatno izdvajanje vremena te shodno tome rjeđe sudjeluju u aktivnostima koje zahtijevaju veću njihovu pažnju. Osjećaju se kompetentnima u izvođenju svih glazbenih aktivnosti koje se provode u nastavi Glazbene kulture. Nadalje, vide doprinos i (...) važnost sudjelovanja u aktivnostima informalnog učenja, no podijeljeni su u razmišljaju trebaju li posvetiti više dodatnog vremena aktivnostima informalnog učenja te kada razmišljaju o tome bi li njihova nastava bila jednako kvalitetna da ne primjenjuju nova znanja stečena informalnim učenjem. (shrink)

The paper presents the research that analysed the use of the teaching strategies – methods and procedures, teaching methods, and evaluation of students’ achievements – at one public art university in Croatia. The results show that the higher education in arts is based on contemporary didactic principles with a dominant paradigm of student-centered learning. Accordingly, students are encouraged to take an active role in the learning process, procedures of teaching arts are individualized, and monitoring the work and evaluating student progress (...) is done systematically. However, there is a certain terminological inconsistency in the use of some didactic terms in teaching of art, since teaching art in higher education has appropriated the traditional didactic nomenclature, more suitable for teaching science. Through obtained results, the need for a conceptual redefinition was discovered, in which the specifics arising from the nature of artistic process, related to the specifics of individual artistic fields, would be emphasized and explained. The results show both positive and negative aspects of the current art teaching in higher education. The results of this research can contribute to better understanding of the art teaching as well as to the future systematization of teaching work at art faculties, especially in the part related to organization and evaluation of the teaching process. (shrink)