The local public media as thermometers of the quality of democracy in Andalusia

En el actual contexto de crisis y de recortes en políticas públicas que se vive en España, los medios públicos locales pueden ser considerados como termómetros de la calidad democrática de las localidades en las que se ubica cada uno de ellos. Los medios públicos locales, también denominados medios del Tercer Sector, se sitúan en un juego de fuerzas que amplia o limita las posibilidades de participación y de deliberación de la ciudadanía. Los resultados preliminares de la investigación recogida en este artículo apuntan a un predominio de las fuerzas del mercado a la hora de orientar las prácticas comunicativas de los medios públicos locales de Andalucía y a una escasa apropiación de ellos por parte de la ciudadaníaIn the current context of crisis and cutbacks in public policy experienced in Spain, the local public media can be considered as a thermometer of the democratic quality of the localities in which each of these media are located. Local public media, also known as the Third Sector Media, are placed in a kind of interplay of forces that broaden or limit the possibilities of participation and deliberation of the citizenry. The preliminary results of the research in this article point to a predominance of the forces of the market when it comes to guiding policies and communicative practices of the local public media of Andalusia and to a limited communication appropriation of the citizenship

Intratumoral immunosuppression profiles in 11q-deleted neuroblastomas provide new potential therapeutic targets

High‐risk neuroblastoma (NB) patients with 11q deletion frequently undergo late but consecutive relapse cycles with fatal outcome. To date, no actionable targets to improve current multi‐modal treatment have been identified. We analyzed immune microenvironment and genetic profiles of high‐risk NB correlating with 11q immune status. We show in two independent cohorts that 11q‐deleted NB exhibit various immune‐inhibitory mechanisms, including increased CD4+ resting T cells and M2 macrophages, higher expression of programmed death‐ligand 1, interleukin‐10, transforming growth factor‐beta‐1 and indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase 1 (P<0.05), and also higher chromosomal breakages (P≤0.02) and hemizygosity of immunosuppressive miRNAs than MYCN‐amplified and other 11q‐non‐deleted high‐risk NB. We also analyzed benefits of maintenance treatment in 83 high‐risk stage M NB patients focusing on 11q status, either with standard anti‐GD2 immunotherapy (n=50) or previous retinoic acid‐based therapy alone (n=33). Immunotherapy associated with higher EFS (50 vs. 30, P=0.028) and OS (72 vs. 52, P=0.047) at 3 years in the overall population. Despite benefits from standard anti‐GD2 immunotherapy in high‐risk NB patients, those with 11q deletion still face poor outcome. This NB subgroup displays intratumoral immune suppression profiles, revealing a potential therapeutic strategy with combination immunotherapy to circumvent this immune checkpoint blockade