Epidemiological studies on dengue virus type 3 in Playa municipality, Havana, Cuba, 2001–2002

SummaryObjectivesRecognizing the uniqueness of secondary dengue virus (DENV)-1/3 dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) cases at an interval of 24 years, we sought to estimate DENV infections as well as the ratios between mild disease and DHF/DSS by DENV infection sequence in Playa District (Havana, Cuba) during the 2001–2002 outbreak of dengue virus type 3 (DENV-3).MethodsA retrospective seroepidemiological study was conducted in 2003 in Playa District. Blood samples were collected from a 1% random sample of residents and were studied for the prevalence of dengue neutralizing antibodies.ResultsDENV-3 was found to have infected 7.2% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 6.0–8.4%) of susceptible individuals (the entire cohort), the majority of whom experienced silent infections. Virtually every individual who had a secondary infection in the sequence DENV-1 then DENV-3 became ill, with a ratio of severe to mild cases of 1:35 (95% CI 1:67–1:23). Secondary infections in the sequence DENV-2/3 were less pathogenic than DENV-1/3. Mild disease accompanying secondary DENV2/3 occurred at a ratio of 1:4.49 infections (95% CI 1:5.77–1:3.42) secondary infections.ConclusionsThe results obtained highlight the role of the infecting serotype and also the sequence of the viral infection in the clinical outcome of a dengue infection

Linking plant phenology to conservation biology

Phenology has achieved a prominent position in current scenarios of global change research given its role inmonitoring and predicting the timing of recurrent life cycle events. However, the implications of phenology to environmental conservation and management remain poorly explored. Here,we present the first explicit appraisal of howphenology-amultidisciplinary science encompassing biometeorology, ecology, and evolutionary biology- can make a key contribution to contemporary conservation biology. We focus on shifts in plant phenology induced by global change, their impacts on species diversity and plant-animal interactions in the tropics, and how conservation efforts could be enhanced in relation to plant resource organization. We identify the effects of phenological changes and mismatches in the maintenance and conservation of mutualistic interactions, and examine how phenological research can contribute to evaluate, manage and mitigate the consequences of land-use change and other natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as fire, exotic and invasive species. Wealso identify cutting-edge tools that can improve the spatial and temporal coverage of phenological monitoring, from satellites to drones and digital cameras. We highlight the role of historical information in recovering long-term phenological time series, and track climate-related shifts in tropical systems. Finally, we propose a set of measures to boost the contribution of phenology to conservation science.Weadvocate the inclusion of phenology into predictive models integrating evolutionary history to identify species groups that are either resilient or sensitive to future climate-change scenarios, and understand how phenological m ismatches can affect community dynamics, ecosystem services, and conservation over time

Systematic Search for Chemical Reactions in Gas Phase Contributing to Methanol Formation in Interstellar Space

A massive search for chemical routes leading to methanol formation in gas phase has been conducted using computational chemistry, at the CBS-QB3 level of theory. The calculations were performed at five different temperatures (100, 80, 50, 20, and 10 K) and at three pressures (0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 atm) for each temperature. The search was focused on identifying reactions with the necessary features to be viable in the interstellar medium (ISM). A searching strategy was applied to that purpose, which allowed to reduce an initial set of 678 possible reactions to a subset of 11 chemical routes that are recommended, for the first time, as potential candidates for contributing to methanol formation in the gas phase of the ISM. They are all barrier-less, and thus they are expected to take place at collision rates. Hopefully, including these reactions in the currently available models, for the gas-phase methanol formation in the ISM, would help improving the predicted fractional abundance of this molecule in dark clouds. Further investigations, especially those dealing with grain chemistry and electronic excited states, would be crucial to get a complete picture of the methanol formation in the ISM

Caries and oral lesions prevalence in institutionalized elderly in Mérida - Venezuela

El envejecimiento es un proceso de cambios morfológicos y funcionales generales del organismo, que tienen lugar y se reflejan en la cavidad bucal. No existe datos suficientes en el estado Mérida, Venezuela sobre esta situación poblacional, por lo que se realizó un estudio transversal con el fin de obtener prevalencia sobre caries dental, lesiones en labios, encías y mucosa palatina en adultos mayores institucionalizados de esta región. El examen bucal fue realizado por un odontólogo en espacios abiertos e iluminados; quien mediante la observación, palpación, utilizando un espejo bucal plano, recogió y anoto los hallazgos de presencia o no de enfermedad en una ficha clínica diseñada para tal fin. Previo al examen clínico bucal, una carta de consentimiento fue firmada por la persona a examinar o por su acompañante. Los resultados obtenidos señalan alta prevalencia de caries dental, lesiones en labios y encías en la población institucionalizada estudiada.19-24semestralAging is a process of morphological and functional changes of the body, which take place and are reflected in the oral cavity. There is insufficient data in the State of Mérida, Venezuela on this population situation, so a cross-sectional study was conducted in order to obtain prevalence of dental caries, lesions in lips, gums and mucous palatine in institutionalized older adults in this region. The oral test was performed by a dentist in open and illuminated spaces; through observation, palpation, using a plane mouth mirror, picked up and I score the findings of presence or not of disease in a clinical form designed for this purpose. Prior to the oral clinical examination, a letter of consent was signed by the person being examined or his companion. The results indicate high prevalence of dental caries, lesions on the lips and gums in the institutionalized population studied

NeuroPharm study: EEG wakefulness regulation as a biomarker in MDD

While several electroencephalogram (EEG)-based biomarkers have been proposed as diagnostic or predictive tools in major depressive disorder (MDD), there is a clear lack of replication studies in this field. Markers that link clinical features such as disturbed wakefulness regulation in MDD with neurophysiological patterns are particularly promising candidates for e.g., EEG-informed choices of antidepressive treatment. We investigate if we in an independent MDD sample can replicate abnormal findings of EEG-vigilance regulation during rest and as a predictor for antidepressive treatment response. EEG-resting state was recorded in 91 patients and 35 healthy controls from the NeuroPharm trial. EEG-vigilance was assessed using the Vigilance Algorithm Leipzig (VIGALL). We compared the vigilance regulation during rest between patients and healthy controls and between remitters/responders and non-remitters/non-responders after eight weeks of SSRI/SNRI treatment using two different sets of response criteria (NeuroPharm and iSPOT-D). We replicated previous findings showing hyperstable EEG-wakefulness regulation in patients in comparison to healthy subjects. Responders defined by the iSPOT-D criteria showed a higher propensity toward low vigilance stages in comparison to patients with no response at pretreatment, however, this did not apply when using the NeuroPharm criteria. EEG-wakefulness regulation patterns normalized toward patterns of healthy controls after 8 weeks of treatment. This replication study supports the diagnostic value of EEG-vigilance regulation and its usefulness as a biomarker for the choice of treatment in MDD

ETHICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN UNIVERSITY ORGANIZATIONS: A STUDY FROM PRAXIS AS CONTINUOUS TRAINING

This article is a study about the experiences of one of the perspectives reached as part of a previous and extensive research work carried out at the Rafael Belloso Chacin University (URBE), Maracaibo, Venezuela. Its purpose is to analyze the ethical conscience that in an organizational sense is presented in said University as a continuous construction process. The result of the work is that the university generates self-knowledge based on praxis as it is lived by the subjects per se from a determined, existent and dynamic educational organizational reality. Through the application of instruments and techniques of phenomenological qualitative research, a dialogical design around the experiences reached with the participants of the study, together with the application interpretation strategies of the Heidegger. s phenomenological hermeneutics, it is concluded that the formation of the ethical conscience is a constant construction. In the phenomenological scope of the analyzed organizational experience, it is observed that this consciousness as such manifests as a reality proper to the subject that from his dialogical experience shows his worldview of being in the world conceiving himself as another. This finally leads to the realization of a community of concrete dialogue. In phenomenological terms, each subject projects their own being as another, in the horizon of an educational praxis as a conscientizing praxis

NR2 and P3+: Accurate, Efficient Electron-Propagator Methods for Calculating Valence, Vertical Ionization Energies of Closed-Shell Molecules

Two accurate and computationally efficient electron-propagator (EP) methods for calculating the valence, vertical ionization energies (VIEs) of closed–shell molecules have been identified through comparisons with related approximations. VIEs of a representative set of closed-shell molecules were calculated with EP methods using 10 basis sets. The most easily executed method, the diagonal, second-order (D2) EP approximation, produces results that steadily rise as basis sets are improved toward values based on extrapolated coupled-cluster singles and doubles plus perturbative triples calculations, but its mean errors remain unacceptably large. The outer valence Green function, partial third-order and renormalized partial third-order methods (P3+), which employ the diagonal self-energy approximation, produce markedly better results but have a greater tendency to overestimate VIEs with larger basis sets. The best combination of accuracy and efficiency with a diagonal self-energy matrix is the P3+ approximation, which exhibits the best trends with respect to basis-set saturation. Several renormalized methods with more flexible nondiagonal self-energies also have been examined: the two-particle, one-hole Tamm–Dancoff approximation (2ph-TDA), the third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction or ADC(3), the renormalized third-order (3+) method, and the nondiagonal second-order renormalized (NR2) approximation. Like D2, 2ph-TDA produces steady improvements with basis set augmentation, but its average errors are too large. Errors obtained with 3+ and ADC(3) are smaller on average than those of 2ph-TDA. These methods also have a greater tendency to overestimate VIEs with larger basis sets. The smallest average errors occur for the NR2 approximation; these errors decrease steadily with basis augmentations. As basis sets approach saturation, NR2 becomes the most accurate and efficient method with a nondiagonal self-energy

Hydrogen Abstraction Reactions from Phenolic Compounds by Peroxyl Radicals: Multireference Character and Density Functional Theory Rate Constants

An assessment of multireference character in transition states is considered to be an important component in establishing the expected reliability of various electronic structure methods. In the present work, the multireference characters of the transition states and the forming and breaking of bonds for a large set of hydrogen abstraction reactions from phenolic compounds by peroxyl radicals have been analyzed using the <i>T</i>₁, <i>M</i>, <i>B</i>₁, and GB₁ diagnostics. The extent of multireference character depends on the system and on the conditions under which the reaction takes place, and some systematic trends are observed. In particular, the multireference character is found to be reduced by solvation, the size of the phenolic compound, and deprotonation in aqueous solution. However, the deviations of calculated rate constants from experimental ones are not correlated with the extent of multireference character. The performance of single-determinant density functional theory was investigated for the kinetics of these reactions by comparing calculated rate constants to experimental data; the results from these analyses showed that the M05 functional performs well for the task at hand

Resistencias y emociones en contextos represivos

Desde los años noventa del siglo pasado el campo de estudio de los movimientos sociales se ha enriquecido gracias a la incorporación de la dimensión emocional como factor explicativo de las luchas y las protestas sociales. Las emociones han sido incorporadas al estudio de la protesta para analizar distintas etapas y procesos que caracterizan los movimientos sociales. Como sugiere la mayoría de los trabajos que incorporan las emociones al estudio de la protesta se han centrado en los procesos de carácter micro-político, especialmente en el rol de las emociones en la movilización (mobilizing emotions) y en cómo los movimientos sociales transforman y gestionan los sentimientos de sus miembros