Todo es cuestión de medida.

Leopold Kohr (1909-1994) was a professor at the Department of Economics –Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico´s Rio Piedras campus–, from 1955 to 1973. His intellectual contributions were always focused on a philosophy regarding size in which, together with a severe criticism toward gigantism, the emphasis was placed on the possibilities of political units of moderate scale. In this article, Professor Kohr´s hardly conventional ideas are linked with recent contributions made in the field of the economy of small countries. Emphasis is placed on the fact that institutional and technological changes force the reconceptualization of economic size. This provides the framework to look at the Puerto Rican experience from an institutional perspective, an experience which is characterized in this article as one in which economic growth has resulted in hypertrophy.El profesor Leopold Kohr (1909-1994) dictó cátedra en el Departamento de Economía de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales del Recinto de Río Piedras (UPR) del año 1955 al 1973. Sus aportes intelectuales siempre estuvieron centrados en una filosofía sobre el tamaño en la que, junto a una crítica severa al gigantismo, se destacaban las posibilidades de las unidades políticas de escala modesta. En este artículo se enlazan las ideas poco convencionales del profesor Kohr con recientes contribuciones en el campo de la economía de países pequeños. Se subraya el hecho de que los cambios institucionales y tecnológicos obligan a la reconceptualización del tamaño económico. Esto provee el marco para, desde una perspectiva institucionalista, darle una mirada a la experiencia de Puerto Rico, la que aquí se caracteriza como una en la que se ha conjugado el crecimiento económico con la hipertrofia

Retos de la administración pública

Ponencia presentada en el foro “Retos y oportunidades de la Administración Pública en el Puerto Rico del siglo XXI”, auspiciado por la Asociación de Estudiantes de la Escuela Graduada de Administración Pública, celebrada el 30 de noviembre de 2005

Cryoprotectant role of exopolysaccharide ID1 in the vitrification/in-straw warming of in vitro-produced bovine embryos

Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICThe cold-adapted bacterium Pseudomonas sp. ID1 produces the extracellular exopolysaccharide ID1 (EPS ID1) with cryoprotective activity. This study was designed to optimize the vitrification/in-straw warming protocol of in vitro-produced (IVP) blastocysts by adding EPS ID1 to the vitrification media. Day 7-expanded blastocysts were vitrified/warmed using the VitTrans device after the addition of 0 or 100 μg/mL EPS ID1 to the vitrification media. Blastocysts vitrified by the Cryotop method and fresh non-vitrified blastocysts served as controls. Outcomes were assessed in the warmed embryos in terms of survival rates and mRNA relative abundances of BAX, BCL2, GPX1, and CDX2 genes. No differences in survival rates were observed at 3 h post-warming between vitrification treatments. At 24 h post-warming, the addition of EPS prior to vitrification with the VitTrans device produced similar survival rates to Cryotop-vitrified embryos and similar hatching rates to fresh non-vitrified or Cryotop-vitrified embryos. No differences emerged in BCL2 gene expression. Lower BAX (p <.05) and higher GPX1 (p <.05) and CDX2 (p <.1) gene expression were observed in expanded and/or hatched blastocysts derived from VitTrans-EPS-vitrified embryos when compared to those from the non-supplemented group. In conclusion, addition of EPS not only promoted blastocyst survival and hatching after VitTrans vitrification/warming but also modified the expression of genes associated with better embryo quality

The effects of cohousing model on people's health and wellbeing : A scoping review

Housing is a social determinant of health. Extensive research has highlighted its adverse effects on health. However, less is known about the effects of cohousing typology on health, which has the potential to create lively social networks and healthy communities and environments. We report the findings of a scoping study designed to gather and synthesise all known evidence on the relationship between cohousing and wellbeing and health. Using the scoping review method, we conducted a literature review in PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct and JSTOR in May 2019 and selected articles published from 1960 onwards, with no geographical limit and no design restrictions. Retrieved articles underwent three sequential screening phases. The results were described through a narrative synthesis of the evidence. Of the 2560 articles identified, we selected 25 full-Text articles analysing 77 experiences. All of them were conducted in high-income countries. Ten studies analysed the impact of cohousing on physical and mental health or quality of life and wellbeing. Eight of the 10 studies found a positive association. In addition, 22 studies analysed one or more psychosocial determinants of health (such as social support, sense of community and physical, emotional and economic security) and most found a positive association. Through these determinants, quality of life, wellbeing and health could be improved. However, the quality of the evidence was low. The cohousing model could enhance health and wellbeing mediated by psychosocial determinants of health. However, extreme caution should be exercised in drawing any conclusions due to the dearth of data identified and the designs used in the included studies, with most being cross-sectional or qualitative studies, which precluded causal-based interpretations. Because housing is a major social determinant of health, more evidence is needed on the impact of this model on health through both psychosocial and material pathways

Prepulse inhibition predicts spatial working memory performance in the inbred Roman high- and low-avoidance rats and in genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rats: relevance for studying pre-attentive and cognitive anomalies in schizophrenia

Animal models of schizophrenia-relevant symptoms are increasingly important for progress in our understanding of the neurobiological basis of the disorder and for discovering novel and more specific treatments. Prepulse inhibition (PPI) and working memory, which are impaired in schizophrenic patients, are among the symptoms/processes modeled in those animal analogues. We have evaluated whether a genetically-selected rat model, the Roman high-avoidance inbred strain (RHA-I), displays PPI deficits as compared with its Roman low-avoidance (RLA-I) counterpart and the genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rat stock. We have investigated whether PPI deficits predict spatial working memory impairments (in the Morris water maze; MWM) in these three rat types (Experiment 1), as well as in a separate sample of NIH-HS rats stratified according to their extreme (High, Medium, Low) PPI scores (Experiment 2). The results from Exp. 1 show that RHA-I rats display PPI and spatial working memory deficits compared to both RLA-I and NIH-HS rats. Likewise, in Exp. 2, “Low-PPI” NIH-HS rats present significantly impaired working memory with respect to “Medium-PPI” and “High-PPI” NIH-HS subgroups. Further support to these results comes from correlational, factorial and multiple regression analyses, which reveal that PPI is positively associated with spatial working memory performance. Conversely, cued learning in the MWM was not associated with PPI.Thus, using genetically-selected and genetically heterogeneous rats, the present study shows, for the first time, that PPI is a positive predictor of performance in a spatial working memory task. These results may have translational value for schizophrenia symptom research in humans, as they suggest that either by psychogenetic selection or by focusing on extreme PPI scores from a genetically heterogeneous rat stock, it is possible to detect a useful (perhaps “at risk”) phenotype to study cognitive anomalies linked to schizophrenia

New insight into the SSC8 genetic determination of fatty acid composition in pigs

[EN] Background:Fat content and fatty acid composition in swine are becoming increasingly studied because of their effect on sensory and nutritional quality of meat. A QTL (quantitative trait locus) for fatty acid composition in backfat was previously detected on porcine chromosome 8 (SSC8) in an Iberian x Landrace F-2 intercross. More recently, a genome-wide association study detected the same genomic region for muscle fatty acid composition in an Iberian x Landrace backcross population. ELOVL6, a strong positional candidate gene for this QTL, contains a polymorphism in its promoter region (ELOVL6:c.-533C < T), which is associated with percentage of palmitic and palmitoleic acids in muscle and adipose tissues. Here, a combination of single-marker association and the haplotype-based approach was used to analyze backfat fatty acid composition in 470 animals of an Iberian x Landrace F2 intercross genotyped with 144 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) distributed along SSC8. Results:Two trait-associated SNP regions were identified at 93 Mb and 119 Mb on SSC8. The strongest statistical signals of both regions were observed for palmitoleic acid (C16:1(n-7)) content and C18:0/C16:0 and C18:1(n-7)/C16:1 (n-7) elongation ratios. MAML3 and SETD7 are positional candidate genes in the 93 Mb region and two novel microsatellites in MAML3 and nine SNPs in SETD7 were identified. No significant association for the MAML3 microsatellite genotypes was detected. The SETD7:c. 700G > T SNP, although statistically significant, was not the strongest signal in this region. In addition, the expression of MAML3 and SETD7 in liver and adipose tissue varied among animals, but no association was detected with the polymorphisms in these genes. In the 119 Mb region, the ELOVL6:c.-533C > T polymorphism showed a strong association with percentage of palmitic and palmitoleic fatty acids and elongation ratios in backfat. Conclusions:Our results suggest that the polymorphisms studied in MAML3 and SETD7 are not the causal mutations for the QTL in the 93 Mb region. However, the results for ELOVL6 support the hypothesis that the ELOVL6:c.-533C > T polymorphism has a pleiotropic effect on backfat and intramuscular fatty acid composition and that it has a role in the determination of the QTL in the 119 Mb region.This work was funded by MICINN AGL2008-04818-C03/GAN and MINECO AGL2011-29821-C02 and the Innovation Programme Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CSD2007-00036). M. Revilla is a Master's student of Animal Breeding and Biotechnology of Reproduction (Polytechnical University of Valencia and Autonomous University of Barcelona). Y. Ramayo-Caldas was funded by a FPU grant (AP2008-01450), J. Corominas by a FPI scholarship from the Ministry of Education (BES-2009-018223) and A. Puig-Oliveras by a PIF scholarship (458-01-1/2011). This manuscript has been proofread by Chuck Simons, a native English speaking university instructor in English.Revilla, M.; Ramayo-Caldas, Y.; Castelló, A.; Corominas, J.; Puig-Oliveras, A.; Ibañez Escriche, N.; Muñoz, M.... (2014). New insight into the SSC8 genetic determination of fatty acid composition in pigs. Genetics Selection Evolution. 46. https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-46-28S46Clarke, R., Frost, C., Collins, R., Appleby, P., & Peto, R. (1997). Dietary lipids and blood cholesterol: quantitative meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies. BMJ, 314(7074), 112-112. doi:10.1136/bmj.314.7074.112Mensink, R. P., & Katan, M. B. (1992). Effect of dietary fatty acids on serum lipids and lipoproteins. A meta-analysis of 27 trials. Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis: A Journal of Vascular Biology, 12(8), 911-919. doi:10.1161/01.atv.12.8.911Hunter, J. E., Zhang, J., & Kris-Etherton, P. M. (2009). 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Uptake and metabolism of olive oil polyphenols in human breast cancer cells using nano-liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization–time of flight-mass spectrometry

Polyphenols from extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), a main component of the Mediterranean diet, have demonstrated repeatedly anti-tumor activity in several in vitro and in vivo studies. However, little is known about the efficiency of the absorption process and metabolic conversion of these compounds at cellular level. In this study, a nano liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (nanoLC–ESI–TOF MS) method was developed to study the cellular uptake and metabolism of olive oil phenols in JIMT-1 human breast cancer cells. After incubation for different time periods with EVOO-derived phenolic extracts, culture media, cytosolic fraction and solid particles fraction were separated and analyzed. Most of the free phenols, mainly hydroxytyrosol, its secoiridoid derivatives, and the flavonoid luteolin, disappeared in the culture media in different ways and at different times. Besides, several metabolites were detected in the culture media, fact that may indicate absorption and intracellular metabolism followed by rapid cellular export. Low intracellular accumulation was observed with only traces of some compounds detected in the cytosolic and solid particles fractions. Methylated conjugates were the major metabolites detected, suggesting a catalytic action of catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) in cancer cells.The authors are very grateful to Ministry of Education and Science (FPU, AP2005-4356) and Junta de Andalucia (project P09-FQM-5469, project P07-AGR-02619 and AGL 2008-05108- CO3-03/ALI). Besides, this work was supported in part by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria – FIS, Spain, Grants CP05-00090, PI06-0778 and RD06-0020-0028)

Scattering and absorption properties of biomaterials for dental restorative applications

The physical understanding of the optical properties of dental biomaterials is mandatory for their final success in restorative applications.Light propagation in biological media is characterized by the absorption coefficient, the scattering coefficient, the scattering phase function,the refractive index, and the surface conditions (roughness). We have employed the inverse adding-doubling (IAD) method to combine transmittanceand reflectance measurements performed using an integrating-sphere setup with the results of the previous scattering-anisotropygoniometric measurements. This has led to the determination of the absorption and the scattering coefficients. The aim was to opticallycharacterize two different dental-resin composites (nanocomposite and hybrid) and one type of zirconia ceramic, and comparatively studythem. The experimental procedure was conducted under repeatability conditions of measurement in order to determine the uncertaintyassociated to the optical properties of the biomaterials. Spectral variations of the refraction index and the scattering anisotropy factor werealso considered. The whole experimental procedure fulfilled all the necessary requirements to provide optical-property values with lowerassociated uncertainties. The effective transport coefficient presented a similar spectral behavior for the two composites but completelydifferent for the zirconia ceramic. The results demonstrated that the scattering anisotropy exerted a clearly distinct impact on the opticalproperties of the zirconia ceramic compared with those of the dental-resin composites