A Proposal for a Machine Learning Classifier for Viral Infection in Living Cells Based on Mitochondrial Distribution

The study of viral infections using live cell imaging (LCI) is an important area with multiple opportunities for new developments in computational cell biology. Here, this point is illustrated by the analysis of the sub-cellular distribution of mitochondrium in cell cultures infected by Dengue virus (DENV) and in uninfected cell cultures (Mock-infections). Several videos were recorded from the overnight experiments performed in a confocal microscopy of spinning disk. The density distribution of mitochondrium around the nuclei as a function of time and space ρ(r, θ, t) was numerically modeled as a smooth interpolation function from the image data and used in further analysis. A graphical study shows that the behavior of the mitochondrial density is substantially different when the infection is present. The DENV-infected cells show a more diffuse distribution and a stronger angular variation on it. This behavior can be quantified by using some usual image processing descriptors called entropy and uniformity. Interestingly, the marked difference found in the mitochondria density distribution for mock and for infected cell is present in every frame and not an evidence of time dependence was found, which indicate that from the start of the infections the cells are showing an altered subcellular pattern in mitochondrium distribution. Ulteriorly, it would be important to study by analysis of time series for clearing if there is some tendency or approximate cycles. Those findings are suggesting that using the image descriptors entropy and uniformity it is possible to create a machine learning classifier that could recognize if a single selected cell in a culture has been infected or not

Ce sang qui n’est pas le mien : sens, liens et paradoxes de la transfusion sanguine : une étude anthropologique des familles en contexte clinique pédiatrique

Cette thèse propose un regard anthropologique sur la transfusion de sang, selon lequel cette intervention est considérée comme une pratique sociale traversée par un ensemble de sens et de valeurs qui s’inscrivent dans un environnement culturel et clinique concret. L’objet principal de cette recherche est le vécu de la transfusion sanguine du point de vue des receveurs, et les représentations qui y sont associées. Le fil directeur de cette thèse est le caractère multidimensionnel et pluri-sémiotique du sang et de la transfusion, et porte aussi sur les liens sociaux qui se tissent ou s’entravent autour de cette procédure en contexte de diversité socio-culturelle. Cette investigation porte un éclairage nouveau sur la portée de la transfusion sanguine, élément essentiel des soins; elle contribue avec des données et des résultats innovants. Cette recherche suit une démarche ethnographique, inspirée par l’anthropologie médicale, la sociologie de la santé et l’anthropologie de la parenté. La comparaison des univers sociaux distincts s’inscrit aussi dans la démarche anthropologique de cette recherche; elle consiste en l’analyse de chacun des contextes choisis (l’unité de soins intensifs, la clinique d’hématologie, le centre d’oncologie du CHU Sainte-Justine) et à les comparer entre eux, afin d’en dégager leurs similitudes et leurs particularités. Cette recherche est de type qualitatif et inclut trois volets de collecte de données: 64 entretiens semi-dirigés réalisés auprès de patients et de leurs proches; 16 entretiens semi-dirigés auprès de soignants; et des observations ethnographiques de transfusions sanguines et des interactions entre le patient, sa famille et les soignants. Le matériel recueilli a été soumis à une analyse descriptive et de contenu. Nous rendons compte des connotations religieuses, culturelles, scientifiques, morales et autres, du sang et du fait d’en recevoir. Nous examinons différents éléments chez les familles, comme le contexte hospitalier, les particularités de chaque cas clinique, le niveau socio-économique, l’appartenance religieuse et ethnique, le niveau de scolarité et la relation entre la famille et le soignant, et identifions les éléments qui influencent le plus la façon de vivre une transfusion de sang. Nous nous questionnons sur la façon selon laquelle cette pratique intervient sur la construction des bio-identités, des bio-socialités et des idées que les acteurs concernés se font du corps. Nous examinons cette procédure en discutant ses implications sur le plan de l’identité humaine. Également, nous analysons comment les conditions sociales et économiques teintent la façon de signifier cette intervention et de la mettre en perspective. Nous montrons comment et pourquoi toutes les transfusions sanguines ne sont pas vécues de la même façon. Bien que différents éléments entrent en jeu à ce niveau-là, le contexte hospitalier dans lequel cette procédure a lieu et la qualité de la relation soignant-famille semblent exercer le plus d’influence. Les connaissances qu’ont les familles par rapport à la transfusion et les enjeux liés au consentement libre et éclairé sont aussi discutées dans la cadre des divergences et des convergences entre savoirs experts et profanes. Enfin, nous explorons les opinions à l’égard du don anonyme, du don provenant d’un donneur connu et du système de collecte et de traitement de sang. Les réponses données par les personnes sont discutées en ayant comme toile de fond la perspective de l’anthropologie médicale critique à propos de l’industrie pharmaceutique et de la bio-industrie des tissus organiques. Aussi, on y présente un questionnement de la portée sociale de ces systèmes et de leur caractère déshumanisant.This thesis provides an anthropological approach to blood transfusion, given that this treatment is considered a social practice that is infused with meanings and values that are inscribed within a cultural environment and the clinic itself. The principle objective of this research is to examine the lived experience of blood transfusions from the point of view of the receivers and the varied meanings they attach to this procedure. The guiding thread of the thesis is the multidimensional and polysemic signification of blood and blood transfusions. We also examine the social connections that are woven or constrained around the procedure in a context of sociocultural diversity. This project sheds a new light on blood transfusion, an essential element of care, and provides new data and innovative insights. This research follows an ethnographic process inspired by medical anthropology, the sociology of health and the anthropology of kinship. The comparison of distinct social worlds is implicitly inscribed in the anthropological approach and consists of an analysis of each particular context chosen (the intensive care unit, the haematology clinic and the oncology centre at Sainte Justine mother and child university hospital center). These contexts are compared with each other in order to deconstruct their similarities and differences. Our research is qualitative and includes three pathways of data collection: 63 semi-structured interviews with patient and family members, 16 interviews with health professionals and ethnographic observations of blood transfusions and interactions between patients, their families and health care professionals. The research data was subjected to a descriptive content analysis. We present the religious, cultural, scientific, moralistic and other connotations of blood and the act of receiving blood. We have examined different elements of families involved and have identified which ones most influence their manner of living with a blood transfusion; for example, the hospital setting, the particularities of the clinical case, socioeconomic status, religious or ethnic identity, the level of education and the relationship between the family and health care professional. We question the manner in how the practice impacts the construction of bioidentity, biosociality, and notions of how the body is constituted by the various actors. We discuss this procedure and its implications on the formation of human identity. At the same time, we analyse how economic and social conditions colour the meanings attached to this treatment and how it is perceived. We show that not all of blood transfusions are experienced in the same way. Although, different elements come into play at this level, the hospital context where these practices take place and the quality of the family-health care professional relationships seem to exert the greatest influence. The families’ knowledge of the blood transfusion and the issues linked to informed consent are also discussed in the framework of divergences and convergences between expert knowledge and layperson knowledge. Finally, we explore attitudes toward anonymous donation, donation from a known donor and the system of collection and treatment of blood. The perspectives of participants are discussed in the framework of critical medical anthropology in relation to the pharmaceutical industry and the bioindustry of organic matter. We also discuss the social significance of these systems and their dehumanizing character

Les maux de ventre des enfants haïtiens de Montréal : entre la recomposition culturelle et la souffrance familiale

Le mal de ventre chez les enfants est un lieu de métissage et de créolisation traversé par des dimensions sociales et culturelles. Il est construit collectivement au sein des familles nucléaires avec leurs parcours migratoires et leurs souffrances. Par le biais d’entretiens menés auprès de familles haïtiennes vivant à Montréal, nous documentons les trajectoires de ces douleurs, dans lesquelles les perceptions, les explications et les moyens mis en œuvre pour les soulager interagissent d’une manière dynamique. En général, les enfants perçoivent leurs maux de ventre comme une expérience insaisissable, diffuse et ayant un impact sur leur vie sociale, tout en étant tolérés par les enfants et par les mères. Ces familles n’ont pas reçu de diagnostic médical et elles attribuent à ces maux des explications provisoires en constante recomposition. En général, elles ont recours à différentes méthodes de prise en charge des maux de ventre. L’espace familial, les activités réalisées au sein des églises et la médecine officielle sont des espaces thérapeutiques privilégiés.Belly-stomachaches in children are a space of hybridity and creolization, affected by social and cultural dimensions. These aches are collectively constructed within nuclear families, with their migratory histories and their sufferings. Having interviewed Haitian families living in Montreal, we documented the illness trajectories, the perceptions, explanations and means of relieving the aches, which all interact in a dynamic mode. Generally speaking, the children perceive their belly-stomachaches as an irregular experience that has an impact on their social life, although tolerated by the children and theirs mothers. Families have not received a medical diagnosis and give temporary, changing explanations to the aches, in a constant reformulation. In general, families will use different methods to deal with belly and stomach aches. The family space, church activities, and official medicine are privileged therapeutic spaces

A Dialogue Between Multicultural Political Theory and Mexican Political Thought on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples

This thesis focuses on the rights of indigenous peoples in settler colonial societies. It does so by creating a dialogue between multicultural political theory and Mexican political thought on three important topics: (i) indigenous self-determination; (ii) the rights of vulnerable members of indigenous communities; and (iii) land. By endorsing a dialogical approach to comparative political theory, I will show sometimes these two different traditions of political thought reach similar conclusions, whereas at other times the stances developed are profoundly different. In general, my argument is that an engagement with Mexican political thought offers invaluable insights into the condition of indigenous peoples, which enable us to move closer to a deeper understanding of what is at stake in their struggles. In particular, I will show that Mexican political thought highlights three crucial aspects of such struggles. First, in a context like Latin American settler colonialism, indigenous identities cannot be regarded simply as cultural products; they are inherently political. This means that such identities both constrain and enable the mobilisation and demands for justice of those who are framed by (and reclaim) them in deep and important ways. Second, and relatedly, Mexican political thought shows that the demands for justice pressed by indigenous peoples cannot be merely taken as calls for cultural equality in pluralistic states or for control over cultural goods. They are always about holding the settler colonial state to account and making it responsive towards the enduring historical injustices that indigenous peoples suffer from. Third, Mexican political thought brings into stark relief the pivotal role that settler colonialism plays in shaping the identities and struggles of indigenous peoples

Representación social de conflicto que tienen un grupo de jóvenes del barrio Gaitán del municipio de Carepa

¿Determinar cuál es la representación social de conflicto que tienen un grupo de jóvenes del barrio Gaitán del municipio de Carepa? ESTO NO SE FORMULA EN PREGUNTALa situación de conflicto que tiene el municipio de Carepa en estos momentos ha permeado los hogares y la dinámica de vida de los adolescentes, convirtiéndose en un problema social que va en aumento y que se está volviendo complejo, y que involucra diferentes participantes y escenarios. La presente investigación se realizó desde un corte cualitativo, retomando lo subjetivo y lo particular como prioridades de análisis de la comprensión de la realidad aquí estudiada. Este trabajo incluyo la aplicación de una encuesta y una entrevista. Los resultados obtenidos se discutieron en función de tres dimensiones de las representaciones sociales: información, actitud y campos de representación. Además, tiene como propósito brindar una mirada desde la psicología A toda la situación vivencial que tienen los jóvenes del barrio Gaitán del municipio de Carepa, sobre la dinámica de conflicto que se teje tanto en sus hogares como su proyecto de vida

Representación social de conflicto que tienen un grupo de jóvenes del barrio Gaitán del municipio de Carepa

¿Determinar cuál es la representación social de conflicto que tienen un grupo de jóvenes del barrio Gaitán del municipio de Carepa? ESTO NO SE FORMULA EN PREGUNTALa situación de conflicto que tiene el municipio de Carepa en estos momentos ha permeado los hogares y la dinámica de vida de los adolescentes, convirtiéndose en un problema social que va en aumento y que se está volviendo complejo, y que involucra diferentes participantes y escenarios. La presente investigación se realizó desde un corte cualitativo, retomando lo subjetivo y lo particular como prioridades de análisis de la comprensión de la realidad aquí estudiada. Este trabajo incluyo la aplicación de una encuesta y una entrevista. Los resultados obtenidos se discutieron en función de tres dimensiones de las representaciones sociales: información, actitud y campos de representación. Además, tiene como propósito brindar una mirada desde la psicología A toda la situación vivencial que tienen los jóvenes del barrio Gaitán del municipio de Carepa, sobre la dinámica de conflicto que se teje tanto en sus hogares como su proyecto de vida

On the Provisioning of Mobile Digital Terrestrial TV Services to Vehicles with DVB-T

(c) 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works[EN] Most of the DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting -Terrestrial) networks deployments worldwide have been designed for fixed rooftop antennas and high transmission capacity, not providing good coverage level for vehicular mobile reception. This letter analyzes how to combine different technical solutions, so far studied individually, in order to increase the robustness of the transmission for vehicular reception to provide in-band mobile services. In particular, we consider: receive antenna diversity, hierarchical modulation, and Application Layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC). Performance evaluation results have been obtained by means of simulations, laboratory tests, and field measurements in the commercial DVB-T network of the city of Valencia (Spain). The paper shows that the combined usage of these solutions can compensate the impairments caused by the mobility of the receivers, such as signal fast fading, Doppler shift, the poor coverage at ground level and the utilization of lower gain antennas; being possible to provide mobile DVB-T services to vehicles in networks dimensioned for fixed rooftop reception.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce under the project AV-MOV (TSI-020301-2009-11).López Sánchez, J.; Gomez-Barquero, D.; Gozálvez Serrano, D.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2012). On the Provisioning of Mobile Digital Terrestrial TV Services to Vehicles with DVB-T. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 58(4):642-647. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBC.2012.2202034S64264758

Manual de Procedimientos administrativos e Indicadores de Gestión

Manual of administrative procedures of the Center of Libraries of the University of Caldas (Manizales, Colombia). Includes several indicators of management as guide for the managers of the dependence

Latin American anaphylaxis registry

Anaphylaxis; Food hypersensitivity; Latin AmericaAnafilaxi; Hipersensibilitat alimentària; Amèrica LlatinaAnafilaxia; Hipersensibilidad alimentaria; América LatinaBackground Recent data about clinical features, triggers and management of anaphylaxis in Latin America is lacking. Objective To provide updated and extended data on anaphylaxis in this region. Method An online questionnaire was used, with 67 allergy units involved from 12 Latin-American countries and Spain. Among data recorded, demographic information, clinical features, severity, triggering agents, and treatment were received. Results Eight hundred and seventeen anaphylactic reactions were recorded. No difference in severity, regardless of pre-existing allergy or asthma history was found. Drug induced anaphylaxis (DIA) was most frequent (40.6%), followed by food induced anaphylaxis (FIA) (32.9%) and venom induced anaphylaxis (VIA) (12%). FIA and VIA were more common in children-adolescents. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and beta-lactam antibiotics (BLA) were the most frequent drugs involved. Milk (61.1% of FIA) and egg (15.4% of FIA) in children, and shellfish (25.5% of FIA), fresh fruits (14.2% of FIA), and fish (11.3% of FIA) in adults were the most common FIA triggers. Fire ants were the most frequent insect triggers, and they induced more severe reactions than triggers of FIA and DIA (p < 0.0001). Epinephrine was used in 43.8% of anaphylaxis episodes. After Emergency Department treatment, epinephrine was prescribed to 13% of patients. Conclusions Drugs (NSAIDs and BLA), foods (milk and egg in children and shellfish, fruits and fish in adults) and fire ants were the most common inducers of anaphylaxis. Epinephrine was used in less than half of the episodes emphasizing the urgent need to improve dissemination and implementation of anaphylaxis guidelines