Native breeds conservation, sustainable economies and usefulness

In the present essay it is sought to tackle, from the point of view of Economic Methodology, questions so like: Must native breeds be preserved?. As soon as this question is resolved, assigning and appraising its importance, is the question. What values are derived from the native breeds existence?: Value by the obtained profit of its current consumption; Option value; Cuasi-option value. What appraisal techniques must be utilized?: Native breeds are considered like a flow resource; its services will be released in the future if a determined stock level is maintained, through the autoreproduction. Irreversibility and option values. The traditional economic analysis use to assume that decisions about resources use are reversible. That is, depending on avaible information, an agent makes an utilization plan of a renovable resource like the native breed, for today and for the future. Now, it is assumed that a new information (scientific and technological advance) appears in the future, and as a result of that, the optimal program of a resource use must be changed. If the taken decisions in the T period were reversible, it is accepted the agent could change the way of using this resource if the optimization process requires it. Is there a real extinction danger of a private renovable resource? The extinction danger of a renovable resource (native breed), independently and although it is in private hands, public hands or it is free, is originated from a serie of economic and market factors.En el presente ensayo se pretende abordar, desde el punto de vista de la metodología económica, la cuestión de si se deben conservar las razas autóctonas. Una vez que se resuelve esta pregunta se deben establecer los valores derivados de la existencia de las razas autóctonas: Valor por la utilidad obtenida de su actual consumo; Valor de la opción; Valor cuasi-opción. ¿Qúe técnicas de valoración se han de utilizar?. Se consideran las razas autóctonas como un recurso flujo; es decir cuyos servicios se liberarán en el futuro si se mantiene un nivel de stock determinado, a través de la autorreproducción. Irreversibilidad y valores de opción. El análisis económico convencional asume normalmente que las decisiones sobre utilización de recursos son reversibles. Es decir, que según la información disponible un agente hace un plan de utilización de un recurso renovable como la raza autóctona, para hoy y para el futuro. Ahora asumimos que en el futuro aparece un nueva información (avance científico y tecnológico) y que como consecuencia el programa óptimo de utilización de un recurso debe cambiar. Si las decisiones tomadas en el periodo T fuesen reversibles estamos aceptando que el agente podría cambiar el modo de usar este recurso si lo exige el proceso de optimización. ¿Existe un peligro real de extinción de un recurso renovable privado?. El peligro de extinción de un recurso renovable (raza autóctona) independientemente y aunque esté en manos privadas, públicas o se tenga libre acceso al mismo, nace en base a una serie de factores económicos y de mercado

El sistema caprino extensivo en la sierra norte y este de Jaén, como base del desarrollo sostenible

En los quince municipios de menos de 5000 habitantes, localizados en el Parque Natural de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas se ha puesto de manifiesto un proceso de despoblación, envejecimiento y empobrecimiento. La desaparición del mundo rural es un indicador de la degradación medioambiental. El presente trabajo pretende valorar técnica y económicamente el sector caprino de este parque natural, así como su nivel de competencia con el bosque mediterráneo. El estudio se centra en una muestra representativa de las explotaciones de caprino autóctono extensivo del parque natural, constituida por 63 rebaños, que representan el 60 p.100 del total de explotaciones La dimensión media de las explotaciones es de 213 cabras, con una UTH dedicada al caprino y dos por granja. El sistema productivo es eminentemente pastoril, de carácter familiar, con razas autóctonas muy adaptadas, pastos comunales y un régimen característico de pacería, denominado costeo y con unos canales de comercialización ineficientes. El ganado caprino (sin contabilizar el ovino y el vacuno) permite facturar por término medio 1.800.000 pta y generar un flujo de caja en torno a las 300.000 pta al año. Los valores de carga (0,78 UO por ha) están en consonancia con la capacidad sustentadora del parque entre 0,31 y 0,92 UO por ha (Gallego et al., 1991) y son inferiores a lo manifestados por Fernández Rebollo (1995). Además de la importancia económica y social del sistema productivo de carácter sustentable, se ha de tener presente que los protagonistas del desarrollo sostenible son los habitantes del medio rural y estos han de participar la adopción de decisiones

Rights of pasture: A strategy to conservare the extensive capríne breeds

Se plantea la utilización de los derechos de pastoreo como una estrategia de conservación de parques naturales, de la biodiversidad, así como de las economías y poblaciones asociadas. La creación de un "mercado de derechos" y la posterior asignación en base a los "derechos históricos" transforma a los ganaderos en gestores del medio ambiente, a la vez que posibilita la conservación de las razas autóctonas caprinas en peligro de extinción.It is proposed the use of the Rights of pasture like a strategy to conservate natural parks, biodiversity, as soon as connected economies and populations. The creation of a “Rights market” and the subsequent allotment on a basis of the “historical rights” transformes the cattles in environmental managers, while makes posible to conservate native carprine breds in extiction danger

Property rights for grazing: study case from summer grazing in laguna del Maule (Chile)

Through contingent appraisal method, it is developed a simulation of prairies use rights in summer grazing in mountain. Three operating systems were analyzed: a) Current system, without contingency, with two winners short-ter, breeders and Administration, but changing long-term. b) Quotas system and contingency in livestock auction by batchs with what environmentaal soustenability is kept up and upheld, although paid cost is neither fairy distributed, nor is the most efficient, and c) Contingent system with rights market, the most efficient and with wich economic productivity, environmental soustenability and socila optimum are kept up.Se encuesta a ganaderos trashumantes que aprovechan pastos estivales de la Montaña del Maule, para intentar regular su uso ante el deterioro de los mismos por exceso de carga ganadera. Se aplica el método de valoración contingente para simular el establecimiento de derechos de uso de estos pastizales. El resultado de los tres sistemas de funcionamiento que se analizan es el siguiente: a) Sistema actual, sin contingentación, con dos ganadores a corto: ganaderos y administración, situación que se modifica a largo plazo. b) Sistema de cuotas y contingentación en subastas por lotes, con lo que se defiende y mantiene la sostenibilidad del ecosistema, aunque el coste pagado no es equidistribuitivo ni es el más eficiente. c) Sistema contingente con mercado de derechos, que es el más eficiente y en el que a la defensa de la productividad económica se une la sustentabilidad ambiental y el óptimo social

Análisis de gestión de las explotaciones caprinas extensivas de la sierra norte y este de Jaén

Se analizan 63 explotaciones caprinas extensivas de la Sierra Norte y Este de Jaén (Sierra Morena, Mágina, Segura, Cazorla y Las Villas). Se utilizan las razas: Blanca Andaluza, Blanca Celtibérica y Castiza, con una dimensión media por explotación de 1015 ha, 213 cabras, 169 derechos a prima y 204 chivos comerciales. El prinicipal problema de las explotaciones analizadas es la deficiente gestión, por ello se estructuran en función de su precio umbral. Los costes unitarios presentan una relación inversa a la dimensión y proporcional a la intensificación productiva y a las variables económicas: alimentación, mano de obra y amortizaciones. Se pueden diferenciar dos sistemas caprinos extensivos: El primero responde al modelo tradicional de producción de carne y presenta costes superiores a 7500 pta1/chivo, que sobrepasan el precio medio percibido de 7361 pta/chivo. Se caracteriza una superficie media pastoreada de 876 ha, 225 cabras, baja carga ganadera (0,06 UGM/ha), bajo índice de chivos comerciales por cabra (1,04). El segundo modelo presenta cierto grado de intensificación productiva, con costes (<5000 pta/ chivo) inferiores al precio medio percibido 7361 pta/chivo. Este sistema se caracteriza por una dimensión de 191 cabras y un área pastoreada de 940 ha con índices de carga de 0,33 UGM/ha y de 1,24 chivos comerciales por cabra

The fast-growing Brucella suis Biovar 5 depends on phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and pyruvate phosphate dikinase but not on Fbp and GlpX fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatases or isocitrate lyase for full virulence in laboratory models

Bacteria of the genus Brucella infect a range of vertebrates causing a worldwide extended zoonosis. The best-characterized brucellae infect domestic livestock, behaving as stealthy facultative intracellular parasites. This stealthiness depends on envelope molecules with reduced pathogen-associated molecular patterns, as revealed by the low lethality and ability to persist in mice of these bacteria. Infected cells are often engorged with brucellae without signs of distress, suggesting that stealthiness could also reflect an adaptation of the parasite metabolism to use local nutrients without harming the cell. To investigate this, we compared key metabolic abilities of Brucella abortus 2308 Wisconsin (2308W), a cattle biovar 1 virulent strain, and B. suis 513, the reference strain of the ancestral biovar 5 found in wild rodents. B. suis 513 used a larger number of C substrates and showed faster growth rates in vitro, two features similar to those of B. microti, a species phylogenomically close to B. suis biovar 5 that infects voles. However, whereas B. microti shows enhanced lethality and reduced persistence in mice, B. suis 513 was similar to B. abortus 2308W in this regard. Mutant analyses showed that B. suis 513 and B. abortus 2308W were similar in that both depend on phosphoenolpyruvate synthesis for virulence but not on the classical gluconeogenic fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatases Fbp-GlpX or on isocitrate lyase (AceA). However, B. suis 513 used pyruvate phosphate dikinase (PpdK) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PckA) for phosphoenolpyruvate synthesis in vitro while B. abortus 2308W used only PpdK. Moreover, whereas PpdK dysfunction causes attenuation of B. abortus 2308W in mice, in B. suis, 513 attenuation occurred only in the double PckA-PpdK mutant. Also contrary to what occurs in B. abortus 2308, a B. suis 513 malic enzyme (Mae) mutant was not attenuated, and this independence of Mae and the role of PpdK was confirmed by the lack of attenuation of a double Mae-PckA mutant. Altogether, these results decouple fast growth rates from enhanced mouse lethality in the brucellae and suggest that an Fbp-GlpX-independent gluconeogenic mechanism is ancestral in this group and show differences in central C metabolic steps that may reflect a progressive adaptation to intracellular growth

Early imaging and molecular changes with neoadjuvant bevacizumab in stage ii/iii breast cancer

This prospective, phase II study evaluated novel biomarkers as predictors of response to bevacizumab in patients with breast cancer (BC), using serial imaging methods and gene expression analysis. Patients with primary stage II/III BC received bevacizumab 15 mg/kg (cycle 1; C1), then four cycles of neoadjuvant docetaxel doxorubicin, and bevacizumab every 3 weeks (C2–C5). Tumour proliferation and hypoxic status were evaluated using18F-fluoro-3'-deoxy-3'-L-fluorothymidine (FLT)-and18F-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO)-positron emission tomography (PET) at baseline, and during C1 and C5. Pre-and post-bevacizumab vascular changes were evaluated using dynamic contrastenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). Molecular biomarkers were assessed using microarray analysis. A total of 70 patients were assessed for treatment efficacy. Significant decreases from baseline in tumour proliferation (FLT-PET), vascularity, and perfusion (DCE-MRI) were observed during C1 (p = 0.001), independent of tumour subtype. Bevacizumab treatment did not affect hypoxic tumour status (FMISO-PET). Significant changes in the expression of 28 genes were observed after C1. Changes in vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2p levels were observed in 65 patients, with a &gt; 20% decrease in VEGFR-2p observed in 13/65. Serial imaging techniques. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Transverse gravity versus observations

Theories of gravity invariant under those diffeomorphisms generated by transverse vectors, \pd_\m\xi^\m=0 are considered. Such theories are dubbed transverse, and differ from General Relativity in that the determinant of the metric, $g$, is a transverse scalar. We comment on diverse ways in which these models can be constrained using a variety of observations. Generically, an additional scalar degree of freedom mediates the interaction, so the usual constraints on scalar-tensor theories have to be imposed. If the purely gravitational part is Einstein--Hilbert but the matter action is transverse, the models predict that the three {\em a priori} different concepts of mass (gravitational active and gravitational passive as well as inertial) are not equivalent anymore. These transverse deviations from General Relativity are therefore tightly constrained, actually correlated with existing bounds on violations of the equivalence principle, local violations of Newton's third law and/or violation of Local Position Invariance.Comment: 21 pages. Title changed. New section on Newtonian limi

Estimation of Admission D-dimer Cut-off Value to Predict Venous Thrombotic Events in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Analysis of the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

Background: Venous thrombotic events (VTE) are frequent in COVID-19, and elevated plasma D-dimer (pDd) and dyspnea are common in both entities. Objective: To determine the admission pDd cut-off value associated with in-hospital VTE in patients with COVID-19. Methods: Multicenter, retrospective study analyzing the at-admission pDd cut-off value to predict VTE and anticoagulation intensity along hospitalization due to COVID-19. Results: Among 9386 patients, 2.2% had VTE: 1.6% pulmonary embolism (PE), 0.4% deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and 0.2% both. Those with VTE had a higher prevalence of tachypnea (42.9% vs. 31.1%; p = 0.0005), basal O2 saturation &lt;93% (45.4% vs. 33.1%; p = 0.0003), higher at admission pDd (median [IQR]: 1.4 [0.6–5.5] vs. 0.6 [0.4–1.2] µg/ml; p &lt; 0.0001) and platelet count (median [IQR]: 208 [158–289] vs. 189 [148–245] platelets × 109/L; p = 0.0013). A pDd cut-off of 1.1 µg/ml showed specificity 72%, sensitivity 49%, positive predictive value (PPV) 4%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 99% for in-hospital VTE. A cut-off value of 4.7 µg/ml showed specificity of 95%, sensitivity of 27%, PPV of 9%, and NPV of 98%. Overall mortality was proportional to pDd value, with the lowest incidence for each pDd category depending on anticoagulation intensity: 26.3% for those with pDd &gt;1.0 µg/ml treated with prophylactic dose (p &lt; 0.0001), 28.8% for pDd for patients with pDd &gt;2.0 µg/ml treated with intermediate dose (p = 0.0001), and 31.3% for those with pDd &gt;3.0 µg/ml and full anticoagulation (p = 0.0183). Conclusions: In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, a pDd value greater than 3.0 µg/ml can be considered to screen VTE and to consider full-dose anticoagulation. © 2021, Society of General Internal Medicine