Bases biológicas del comportamiento humano. Una perspectiva evolutiva.

La obra de Darwin provocó un enorme cambio sobre la forma en la que concebíamos al ser humano. Sin embargo, y aunque este autor, en The Descent of man, consideró que el hombre en su conjunto era fruto del proceso de selección natural, las corrientes posteriores, afines a él, siguieron operando con la habitual separación entre mente y cuerpo, entendiendo que solo este último era susceptible de una explicación evolutiva. Esta creencia errónea tuvo como consecuencia que se rechazara cualquier explicación del comportamiento humano desde una perspectiva naturalista, en tanto que este se consideraba como una manifestación de la libertad y de las especiales características de la mente humana. Una de ellas, de hecho, considerada como una de las más definitorias del ser humano, es precisamente la capacidad para elegir cómo comportarnos, por lo que cualquier intento por encontrar tendencias conductuales que sugiriesen que la libertad d e acción no era tan plena como tradicionalmente se había pensado, solía ser rápidamente rechaza. Además, el que sociobiólogos y psicólogos evolucionistas se precipitaran en sus conclusiones y se dejaran llevar por prejuicios culturales ayudó aún más a que esta vía de investigación fuera poco transitada. No obstante, a día de hoy, los avances en filosofía, biología, psicología, antropología y etología han tenido como resultado el que una explicación evolutiva del comportamiento humano sea algo más que factible, concretamente respecto a comportamientos rituales, morales y comunicativos. Fácilmente encontramos indicios de la realización de estas conductas en yacimientos cuyos fósiles, pese a pertenecer a nuestro linaje, no son de nuestra especie; por lo que entendemos que las capacidades cognitivas que los posibilitan tuvieron que ser seleccionadas en algún periodo anterior al cumplir algún tipo de función adaptativa. De hecho, la causa de que hayamos elegido este tipo de comportamientos como tema de análisis es que la capacidad de los individuos para realizarlos favorece la supervivencia del grupo y, al mismo tiempo, la supervivencia de él y de su progenie dentro del grupo, pues permiten un mayor éxito en la cooperación y la cohesión de la comunidad, haciendo qu e esta sea más próspera y segura. De este modo, si estas capacidades no se encuentran exclusivamente en el Homo Sapiens y si estamos en lo cierto al considerarlas como estrategias evolutivas exitosas, no es de extrañar que encontráramos este tipo de comportamientos en especies cuyas condiciones sociales impliquen una fuerza de presión en el proceso evolutivo. Las especies en las que este tipo de comportamientos son observables son aquellas en las que la supervivencia del grupo es indispensable para el bienestar del individuo. Observaciones en animales no humanos, que contrastan nuestra hipótesis acerca del origen evolutivo de estos comportamientos, las encontramos, sobre todo, en otros grandes simios, elefantes, macacos y ratas. De esta manera, a través de un análisis de aspectos concretos de nuestros comportamientos, los de nuestro linaje evolutivo y los de algunos animales no humanos, intentaremos establecer la plausibilidad de su origen, en parte, como resultado de nuestro legado evolutivo. Eso sí, sin ánimo de excluir factores fundamentales como los culturales y otros aspectos específicos del ser humano.Darwin’s work provoked a big change in the form in which we conceived human being. Nevertheless, although in The Descent of man this author considered that human beings as a whole were the product of Natural Selection; the subsequent movements continued working with the usual separation between mind and body, understanding just the body as being susceptible to be explicated by the theory of evolution. This mistaken belief had, as a result, the rejection of any explanation about human behavior from a naturalistic perspective; since this one was considered as a manifestation of freedom and of the special characteristics of the human mind. One of the most important and most typical features of the human being is the ability to choose how to behave. As a result, any attempt to find evolutionary behavioral tre nds suggesting that freedom of action was not so complete as we had thought, used to be rejected. In addition, that sociobiologist and evolutionary psychologist jumped into their conclusions very quickly and had culture prejudices gave firmer support to th e rejection of this line of enquiry. However, to this day, the progresses in philosophy, biology, psychology and ethology have had as result that an evolutionary understanding of human behavior is something feasible, specifically about ritual, moral and communicative behaviors. It is easy to find signs of the accomplishment of these behaviors in deposits, whose fossils belong to our lineage, but they are not of our species; therefore, this implies that cognitive abilities that make possible these behaviors had to be selected in a previous period in order to accomplish some kind of adaptative function. In fact, the reason why we chose these behaviors as a subject of scrutiny is that the ability to carry them out favors the survival of the group and, at the sa me time, their survival inside the group and the survival of its offspring. They allow a big success in cooperation and cohesion in the community; causing the community to be more prosperous and secure. Thus, if these abilities are not unique to the Homo S apiens and if we are right in our belief about they are evolutionary successful strategies, this kind of behaviors will be observed in other social species whose social conditions act as pressuring forces in the evolutionary process. The species which can experience this kind of behaviors are those in which the well being of the individual depends o n the survival of the group. We can find proofs in non human animals confirming, thus, our hypothesis about the evolutive origin of human behavior, in apes, elephants, macaques and rats. So, through an analysis of specific aspects of these behaviors, accomplished by members of our lineage and by non human animals, we will try to stablish the plausibility of their origin as a result of our evolutive legacy. However , we do not intend to exclude fundamental aspects as culture factors or other specific features of human beings.Universidad de Sevilla. Doble Máster Universitario en Filosofía y Cultura Moderna y Profesorado de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas

Lonza: Biotechnology – A Key Ingredient for Success in the Future

Lonza began as a small Swiss electricity company and it has successfully adapted to change throughout its history to become a global custom manufacturing company serving the needs of the life-science industry. One of the crucial decisions and changes in its development was the implementation of biotechnology. This article outlines briefly the history of change during Lonza's development, some of the problems that confronted the chemical industry approximately a decade ago and how they affected the area of biotransformation. There are still many chemical reactions that are difficult, inefficient and environmentally unfriendly. Lonza believes that some of these problems can be solved by biotechnology if the biocatalytic platform can be widened and improved so that the biocatalysts can be easily integrated into a chemical process

Simulation Intelligence: Towards a New Generation of Scientific Methods

The original "Seven Motifs" set forth a roadmap of essential methods for the field of scientific computing, where a motif is an algorithmic method that captures a pattern of computation and data movement. We present the "Nine Motifs of Simulation Intelligence", a roadmap for the development and integration of the essential algorithms necessary for a merger of scientific computing, scientific simulation, and artificial intelligence. We call this merger simulation intelligence (SI), for short. We argue the motifs of simulation intelligence are interconnected and interdependent, much like the components within the layers of an operating system. Using this metaphor, we explore the nature of each layer of the simulation intelligence operating system stack (SI-stack) and the motifs therein: (1) Multi-physics and multi-scale modeling; (2) Surrogate modeling and emulation; (3) Simulation-based inference; (4) Causal modeling and inference; (5) Agent-based modeling; (6) Probabilistic programming; (7) Differentiable programming; (8) Open-ended optimization; (9) Machine programming. We believe coordinated efforts between motifs offers immense opportunity to accelerate scientific discovery, from solving inverse problems in synthetic biology and climate science, to directing nuclear energy experiments and predicting emergent behavior in socioeconomic settings. We elaborate on each layer of the SI-stack, detailing the state-of-art methods, presenting examples to highlight challenges and opportunities, and advocating for specific ways to advance the motifs and the synergies from their combinations. Advancing and integrating these technologies can enable a robust and efficient hypothesis-simulation-analysis type of scientific method, which we introduce with several use-cases for human-machine teaming and automated science

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard to child protection and child custody decision-making. The article is divided into two parts. In the first, we address problems related to the use of attachment theory and research in family courts, and discuss reasons for these problems. To this end, we examine family court applications of attachment theory in the current context of the best-interest-of-the-child standard, discuss misunderstandings regarding attachment theory, and identify factors that have hindered accurate implementation. In the second part, we provide recommendations for the application of attachment theory and research. To this end, we set out three attachment principles: the child’s need for familiar, non-abusive caregivers; the value of continuity of good-enough care; and the benefits of networks of attachment relationships. We also discuss the suitability of assessments of attachment quality and caregiving behaviour to inform family court decision-making. We conclude that assessments of caregiver behaviour should take center stage. Although there is dissensus among us regarding the use of assessments of attachment quality to inform child custody and child-protection decisions, such assessments are currently most suitable for targeting and directing supportive interventions. Finally, we provide directions to guide future interdisciplinary research collaboration