PURPOSE: To assess the histological response of damaged osteochondral tissue in the femoral condyles of rabbits after repairing the wounds with sugar cane biopolymer gel - compared to the control group. METHODS: The study investigated 16 New Zealand rabbits, at 90, 120 and 180 days after surgery. In all the animals, a lesion of 3.2 mm in diameter and 4 mm deep was induced in each right and left femoral condyle. Each animal has provided both knees, divided into medial and lateral condyle, resulting in 64 samples. 32 knees were divided into two groups: Right knee, medial and lateral condyles, filled with biopolymer; Left knee, medial and lateral condyles, unfilled. The anatomical specimens were removed, and subjected to histological techniques and morphometric and statistical analysis. RESULTS: In all the periods of the group under study an inflammatory reaction mediated by giant cells and mononuclear cells was found, while in the control group there was early healing produced by fibroblasts and few mononuclear cells with statistical significance between groups. CONCLUSION: The biopolymer gel caused an inflammatory reaction mediated by giant cells and mononuclear cells while the control group there was cicatrization mediated by fibroblasts.

Busca-se definir um tipo de competência específica denominada competência informacional. Esse tipo de competência não está ligado exclusivamente aos profissionais de informação, ele é necessário a qualquer atividade profissional, especialmente, em atividades baseadas intensivamente em informação. Um dos objetivos da identificação dessa competência seria avaliar a efetividade de atividades informacionais efetuadas por profissionais não previamente preparados para o trabalho com a informação, permitindo propor melhorias de desempenho para esses profissionais com base nas competências próprias aos profissionais de informação. Conclui-se que o desenvolvimento de competências informacionais pode tornar mais efetivo o trabalho de qualquer profissional no tocante às tarefas ligadas à informação, principalmente em atividades intensivas em informação.

The purpose of this paper is to reach a concept of a specific kind of competency known as informational competency. This competency does not have to be exclusively linked to those professionals that are traditionally called information workers. It might be necessary in any professional activity and it is specially needed in those activities that are intensively based on information work. One of the purposes is to identify this kind of competency in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the informational activity of the workers that are not professionally prepared to deal with information tasks, allowing improvements on the performance of these workers based on the competencies of the informational workers. The conclusion is that the development of the informational competencies can make any kind of professional more effective with reference to informational tasks, mainly when these tasks are intensively based on information.