Suchergebnisse

El artículo se centra en interpretar una serie de conflictos limítrofes, eclesiásticos, municipales y distritales que se dieron en la Región de Occidente de Costa Rica entre los siglos XIX y XX. Además, expone los cambios agrícolas entre la subsistencia de los campesinos pobres y la comercialización posterior; no obstante, el enfoque principal se realiza en torno al cantón de Palmares. Al mismo tiempo, muestra los cambios económicos que se vivieron en el siglo XX.

En este artículo se analiza el desempeño histórico de las organizaciones comunales, en particular, de la Asociación de Desarrollo Integral en el distrito de Zaragoza en Palmares, de cara a los conflictos y a las necesidades internas desde la década de 1970. Para tales efectos, se hizo uso de una serie de fuentes primarias, documentos institucionales y estudios científicos, asimismo, se emplearon algunos datos para interpretar el fenómeno en mención. Además, se visibiliza el papel de las autoridades públicas, el control políticoinstitucionaly los arreglos que convinieron para atender asuntos relacionados con las vidascotidianas que también padecieron otras comunidades de la Región de Occidente de Costa Rica en la segunda mitad del siglo XX.

This article examines the historical performance of community organizations, specificallythe Integral Development Association in Zaragoza, Palmares, in terms of its conflicts andits internal necessities since the decade of 1970. For this analysis, primary sources suchas institutional records, scientific studies and data were used. In addition, the articlehighlights the role of public authorities, the political and institutional control, and theiragreements to deal with daily-life aspects in this community and others in the WesternRegion of Costa Rica during the second half of the 20th century. ; En este artículo se analiza el desempeño histórico de las organizaciones comunales, enparticular, de la Asociación de Desarrollo Integral en el distrito de Zaragoza en Palmares,de cara a los conflictos y a las necesidades internas desde la década de 1970. Para talesefectos, se hizo uso de una serie de fuentes primarias, documentos institucionales yestudios científicos, asimismo, se emplearon algunos datos para interpretar el fenómenoen mención. Además, se visibiliza el papel de las autoridades públicas, el control políticoinstitucionaly los arreglos que convinieron para atender asuntos relacionados con las vidascotidianas que también padecieron otras comunidades de la Región de Occidente de CostaRica en la segunda mitad del siglo XX.

La presente interpretación histórica identifica los cambios políticos que se operaron durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX en América Latina y el Caribe. Además, expone aspectos de las dictaduras en Argentina, Chile y Guatemala. Asimismo, intenta determinar las relaciones que se establecen entre cuatro conceptos polémicos, a saber, la historia, la memoria, la justicia y el olvido en los procesos democratizadores y en la reconciliación nacional con sus aciertos y límites.

Con base en los argumentos expuestos en este ensayo, pretendemos visualizar de forma panorámica, parte de la evolución social del Istmo centroamericano, en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, con énfasis en las últimas dos décadas. Para ello, haremos un recorrido histórico en el análisis de variables socio-económicas, políticas, culturales y ambientales, tanto locales como internacionales que, de una u otra forma, han beneficiado o perjudicado a la región. Los cambios sufridos en el funcionamiento del Estado en el decenio de los ochenta y el deterioro en las condiciones de vida de millones de centroamericanos fueron y son determinantes para reconocer la región con sus características particulares hasta el nuevo siglo ; Based on the arguments put forward in this essay, we intend to present an overview of the social trends occurring in Central America in the second half of the 20th century, with the emphasis on the last two decades. To this end, we have analysed both national and international socio-economic, political and cultural variables that in some way have had a positive or negative impact on the region. The changes that occurred in how the State worked in the eighties and the deterioration in the living conditions of millions of Central Americans were and are determining factors to recognise the region with its own particular characteristics in its advance into the new century.

Loneliness, social isolation and exclusion are worldwide social problems with negative effects which are exacerbated in deprived groups and communities. From a qualitative perspective, this paper examines the approach to loneliness in 62 community-based social inclusion centres and programmes for people experiencing exclusion in the Basque Country (Spain). The aim of the study was to identify good practice in dealing with loneliness in centres and programmes and to understand the main challenges in providing support from the perspective of practitioners. The results show that best practices focus on individualised or person-centred interventions, the generation of interaction spaces that promote social relations, accompaniment as an intervention tool, empowerment and community participation, and employment and socio-professional training. The main challenges and difficulties are grouped into four levels. These include the users' own individual difficulties (lack of motivation, progressive deterioration and poor social skills, etc.). To a lesser extent, insufficient professionalisation of inclusion services, insufficient resources (lack of human and material means) and society's own difficulties such as stigma and social rejection are mentioned. It discusses the community intervention implications that practitioners can take into account to mitigate the loneliness of people at risk and/or socially excluded.

El pdf del artículo es el manuscrito de autor. ; Mitochondria take up calcium during cell activation thus shaping Ca2+ signaling and exocytosis. In turn, Ca2+ uptake by mitochondria increases respiration and ATP synthesis. Targeted aequorins are excellent Ca2+ probes for subcellular analysis, but single-cell imaging has proven difficult. Here we combine virus-based expression of targeted aequorins with photon-counting imaging to resolve dynamics of the cytosolic, mitochondrial, and nuclear Ca2+ signals at the single-cell level in anterior pituitary cells. These cells exhibit spontaneous electric activity and cytosolic Ca2+oscillations that are responsible for basal secretion of pituitary hormones and are modulated by hypophysiotrophic factors. Aequorin reported spontaneous [Ca2+] oscillations in all the three compartments, bulk cytosol, nucleus, and mitochondria. Interestingly, a fraction of mitochondria underwent much larger [Ca2+] oscillations, which were driven by local high [Ca2+] domains generated by the spontaneous electric activity. These oscillations were large enough to stimulate respiration, providing the basis for local tune-up of mitochondrial function by the Ca2+ signal. ; This work was supported by the Spanish Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior (DGES; Grants PB97-0474, APC1999-011, and 1FD97-1725-C02-02). C. Villalobos and L. Núñez hold postdoctoral fellowships from the Spanish DGES, and P. Chamero holds a predoctoral fellowship from the Basque Government. ; Peer reviewed

This document is the second version of D6.3 Use Case Scenarios Definition & Design, submitted in September 2020. It provides an updated version of the use case scenarios description, and completes the information presented there. In addition, this deliverable collects the refined versions of the visualization requirements and KPIs per use case. KPIs are classified in three categories: political, technical and business. The modelled policies will be realized / implemented and monitored through the Policy Development Toolkit against these KPIs. The use cases have been defined taking into account the information collected from the different stakeholders participating in the pilots, as well as from the previous experience and know-how of the project partners. Several workshops have been organized by the project to gather feedback and requirements from relevant stakeholders. This document is the basis for the definition of the main features to be provided by Policy Cloud tools and models in the different pilots' implementation.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) strain TIGR4 is a virulent, encapsulated serotype that causes bacteremia, otitis media, meningitis and pneumonia. Increased bacterial resistance and limited efficacy of the available vaccine to some serotypes complicate the treatment of diseases associated to this microorganism. Flavodoxins are bacterial proteins involved in several important metabolic pathways. The Sp flavodoxin (Spfld) gene was recently reported to be essential for the establishment of meningitis in a rat model, which makes SpFld a potential drug target. To facilitate future pharmacological studies, we have cloned and expressed SpFld in E. coli and we have performed an extensive structural and biochemical characterization of both the apo form and its active complex with the FMN cofactor. SpFld is a short-chain flavodoxin containing 146 residues. Unlike the well-characterized long-chain apoflavodoxins, the Sp apoprotein displays a simple two-state thermal unfolding equilibrium and binds FMN with moderate affinity. The X-ray structures of the apo and holo forms of SpFld differ at the FMN binding site, where substantial rearrangement of residues at the 91-100 loop occurs to permit cofactor binding. This work will set up the basis for future studies aiming at discovering new potential drugs to treat S. pneumoniae diseases through the inhibition of SpFld. ; We acknowledge financial support from BFU2010-16297 and BFU2010-19504 [Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación Spain], BFU2013-47064-P, BIO2014-57314-REDT and CTQ2013-44367-C2-2-P [Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain], and DGA (Protein Targets B89). We also thank synchrotron radiation sources DLS (Oxford), and in particular beamline I04-1 (experiment number MX8035-3 and MX8035-11). The research leading to these results has also received funding from the FP7 (2007–2013) under BIOSTRUCTX-7687. A.R.C. was funded by a Banco Santander Central Hispano/Universidad de Zaragoza predoctoral fellowship. M. C-G was recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Government of Aragón. ; Peer Reviewed

Salvador Ventura and Javier Sancho are supported by SOE4/P1/E831 grant from SUDOE. INTERREG IV B. EUROPEAN UNION. ; An increasing number of neurodegenerative diseases are being found to be associated with the abnormal accumulation of aggregated proteins in the brain. In Parkinson's disease, this process involves the aggregation of alpha-synuclein (α-syn) into intraneuronal inclusions. Thus, compounds that inhibit α-syn aggregation represent a promising therapeutic strategy as disease-modifying agents for neurodegeneration. The formation of α-syn amyloid aggregates can be reproduced in vitro by incubation of the recombinant protein. However, the in vitro aggregation of α-syn is exceedingly slow and highly irreproducible, therefore precluding fast high throughput anti-aggregation drug screening. Here, we present a simple and easy-to-implement in-plate method for screening large chemical libraries in the search for α-syn aggregation modulators. It allows us to monitor aggregation kinetics with high reproducibility, while being faster and requiring lower protein amounts than conventional aggregation assays. We illustrate how the approach enables the identification of strong aggregation inhibitors in a library of more than 14,000 compounds.

A bioscrubbing process named SONOVA has been developed, tested and assessed herein to valorize flue gases containing SOx. The process consists in a first scrubbing stage, to absorb and oxidize SO2 to sulfate, followed by a two-step biological stage. It consists of (1) an up-flow anaerobic sludge (UASB) reactor to reduce sulfate to sulfide with crude glycerol and (2) a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) to partially oxidize sulfide to elemental sulfur (S0). SONOVA integrates the reutilization of resources, using the effluent of the biological stage as a sorbent agent and the residual heat of flue gases to dry the product. S0 is then obtained as a value-added product, which nowadays is produced from fossil fuels. In this research, SO2 concentrations up to 4000 ppmv were absorbed in 2 s of gas contact time in the spray-scrubber with removal efficiencies above 80 %. The UASB reduced up to 9.3 kg S-Sulfate m-3 d-1 with sulfide productivities of 6 kg S m-3 d-1 at an hydraulic retention time (HRT) as low as 2h. Finally, CSTR was fed with the UASB effluent and operated at HRT ranging from 12h to 4h without biomass wash-out. Sulfide was fully oxidized to S0 with a productivity of 2.3 kg S m-3 d-1 at the lowest HRT tested. Overall, this research has explored not only maximum capabilities of each SONOVA stage but has also assessed the interactions between the different units, which opens up the possibility of recovering S0 from harmful SOx emissions, optimizing resources utilization and costs. ; Authors are members of the GENOCOV research group from the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), a unit of Biochemical Engineering of Xarxa de Referència en Biotecnologia de Catalunya (XRB), Generalitat de Catalunya. Authors acknowledge Nubiola Spain (FERRO Corporation) and the Spanish Government, through the projects RTI2018-099362-B-C21 and RTI2018-099362-B-C22 MINECO/FEDER, EU, for the financial support provided to perform this research. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (author's final draft)

[Objective]: To evaluate outcomes of cultivated limbal epithelial transplantation (CLET) for management of ocular surface failure due to limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). [Design]: Prospective, noncomparative, interventional case series and extensive comparison with recent similar studies. [Participants]: Twenty eyes with LSCD underwent CLET (11 autologous; 9 allogeneic) and were followed up for 3 years. Etiologies were divided into 3 prognostic categories: Group 1, chemical injuries (7 eyes); Group 2, immune-based inflammation (4 eyes); and Group 3, noninflammatory diseases (9 eyes). [Intervention]: Autologous and allogeneic limbal epithelial cells were cultivated on amniotic membranes and transplanted. Evaluations were based on clinical parameters, survival analysis, and in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM). European Union Tissues/Cells Directive and good manufacturing procedures were followed. [Main Outcome Measures]: Improved clinical parameters, absence of epithelial defects, and improved central corneal epithelial phenotype. [Results]: Success rate was 80% at 1-2 years and 75% at 3 years. Autografts and allografts had similar survival. Success rate was significantly lower in prognostic Group 1 (42.9%) than in Groups 2-3 (100% each). All clinical parameters improved substantially. By IVCM, 80% of cases improved in epithelial status. [Conclusions]: CLET improved corneal epithelium quality, with subsequent improvement in symptoms, quality of life, and vision. These results confirm that CLET is a valid therapy for ocular surface failure. ; This study received a financial support from the Advanced Therapies Program (SAS/2481/2009), Ministry of Health, Spain; Regional Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy, SAN 1178/200, Castilla y León, Spain. Beatriz E. Ramírez held a predoctoral scholarship from The Carolina Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spain. ; Peer Reviewed

© The Author(s) 2021. ; Knee osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disease and a frequent cause of pain, functional loss and disability. Conventional treatments have demonstrated only modest clinical benefits whereas cell-based therapies have shown encouraging results, but important details, such as dose needed, long-term evolution or number of applications required are scarcely known. Here we have reanalyzed results from two recent pilot trials with autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells using the Huskisson plot to enhance quantification of efficacy and comparability. We find that cell doses of 10, 40 and 100 million autologous cells per knee provided quite similar healing results and that much of the effect attained 1 year after cell application remained after 2 and 4 years. These results are encouraging because they indicate that, apart from safety and simplicity: (i) the beneficial effect is both significant and sizeable, (ii) it can be achieved with a single injection of cells, and (iii) the effect is perdurable for years. ; This work was supported by Red de Terapia Celular of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RETIC TerCel, RD16/0011/0003, 0005, and 0015; PIC18/00001), Centro en Red de Medicina Regenerativa de Castilla y León, and Programa Estratégico Instituto de Biología y Genética Molecular (IBGM), Escalera de Excelencia, Junta de Castilla y León (Ref. CLU-2019-02). The European Union co-financed these grants through the European Regional Development Fund. M.G.V. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva Incorporation Fellowship.