Parental perceptions of neighborhood effects in Latino comunas: the script of "the delinquent" in understanding drug use, violence, and social disorganization

OBJECTIVES: To obtain rich information about how adult Latinos living in high-poverty/high-drug use neighborhoods perceive and negotiate their environment. METHODS: In 2008, thirteen adult caregivers in Santiago, Chile were interviewed with open-ended questions to ascertain beliefs about neighborhood effects and drug use. ANALYSIS: Inductive analysis was used to develop the codebook/identify trends. DISCUSSION: Residents externalized their understanding of drug use and misuse by invoking the concept of delinquent youth. A typology of their perceptions is offered. Learning more about residents’ circumstances may help focus on needs-based interventions. More research with Latino neighborhoods is needed for culturally-competent models of interventions.The present study received support from National Hispanic Science Network Fellows Summer grant awarded to the lead author. The study was also partially supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01:DA021181) and the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Research and Training Center, University of Michigan. (National Hispanic Science Network; R01:DA021181 - National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse; Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Research and Training Center, University of Michigan

Environmental impact assessment of solar and wind energy in abiotic of Colombia

En el siguiente artículo se realiza la evaluación del impacto ambiental del uso de energía eólica y solar de en los suelos, aire y agua de acuerdo al contexto social, económico y ecosistémico Colombiano. Lo anterior se realiza mediante una matriz de valoración de impactos ambientales donde en el eje horizontal se ubicaron las categorías ambientales afectas y en el eje vertical los impactos ambientales más relevantes según su grado de importancia en los proyectos ya ejecutado. Luego se realizó el análisis individual de los resultados obtenidos del uso de este tipo de energía renovable en sus fases de construcción y operación.In the following article describe the assessment of the environmental impact of the use of wind and solar energy in the soil, air, and water according to the context of the social, economic and Colombian ecosystem. This is done through a rubric of environmental impacts on the horizontal axis where the affected environmental categories were located on the vertical axis and the most relevant environmental impacts according to their degree of importance in the projects already implemented. After the individual analysis of the results obtained from the use of this type of renewable energy in its phases of construction and operation was performe

Mechanism of Gene Silencing Suppression by the Geminivirus Protein TrAP

The hosts-virus arms race reaches the epigenetic level, where silencing of viral chromatin can serve as an innate defense mechanism to restrict invading DNA viruses. However, viruses can code for suppressor proteins to counter epigenetic silencing and escape host surveillance. Thus, the virus-encoded suppressors offer an untapped source of tools for the understanding of pathogenesis and chromatin regulation. TrAP is a transcription factor encoded by model DNA plant viruses of the family Geminiviridae, which is required for the expression of the virus late genes and for suppression of gene silencing. TrAP is known to interfere with the transcriptional gene-silencing (TGS) pathway by obstructing the methyl cycle in the cytoplasm. Nonetheless, multiple metabolic pathways other than chromatin regulation utilize the methyl donor, and TrAP mainly localizes to the nucleus; furthermore, TrAP is predicted to interact with the transcriptional machinery. Thus, we asked whether TrAP directly suppressed TGS. We first generated TrAP-stable transgenic plants, and through transcriptome and biochemical assays, we demonstrated that TrAP hampered TGS. We then identified TrAP-interacting partners using a proteomics approach, confirmed by protein interaction experiments in vivo and in vitro. To determine whether these interactions were physiologically relevant, we performed virus infection assays in various host genetic backgrounds. We demonstrated that TrAP interacts with multiple SET-domain proteins in Arabidopsis. Particularly, the H3K9me2 histone methyltransferase, Su(var)3-9 homolog 4/Kryptonite (SUVH4/KYP) is a bona fide cellular target of TrAP. TrAP expression phenocopies several TGS mutants, reduces the repressive H3K9me2 mark and CHH DNA methylation, and reactivates many endogenous KYP-repressed loci in vivo. KYP binds to the viral chromatin and controls its methylation to combat virus infection. We conclude that TrAP attenuates TGS by inhibiting KYP activity. Furthermore, we show that TrAP interacts with other proteins, such as the methyl cycle enzymes SAMe-synthetase 2 (SAM2) and the S-adenosyl homocysteine hydrolase 1 (SAHH1), the RNA processing Enhanced silencing phenotype 3 (ESP3), and the chromatin remodeler Relative of early flowering 6 (REF6). Our findings provide new insight in the host antiviral defense and virus counter- defense at an epigenetic level and provide a model system to study chromatin regulation, and virus infection

Corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior in Santiago, Chile

OBJECTIVES: Corporal punishment is still widely practiced around the globe, despite the large body of child development research that substantiates its short- and long-term consequences. Within this context, this paper examined the relationship between parental use of corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior with a Chilean sample to add to the growing empirical evidence concerning the potential relationship between increased corporal punishment and undesirable youth outcomes across cultures. METHODS: Analysis was based on 919 adolescents in Santiago, Chile. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which parents' use of corporal punishment and positive family measures were associated with youth externalizing behavior. Furthermore, the associations between self-reported externalizing behavior and infrequent, as well as frequent, use of corporal punishment were investigated to understand how varying levels of parental use of corporal punishment were differently related to youth outcomes. RESULTS: Both mothers' and fathers' use of corporal punishment were associated with greater youth externalizing behavior. Additionally, increases in positive parenting practices, such as parental warmth and family involvement, were met with decreases in youth externalizing behavior when controlling for youth demographics, family socioeconomic status, and parents' use of corporal punishment. Finally, both infrequent and frequent use of corporal punishment were positively associated with higher youth problem behaviors, though frequent corporal punishment had a stronger relationship with externalizing behavior than did infrequent corporal punishment. CONCLUSIONS: Parental use of corporal punishment, even on an occasional basis, is associated with greater externalizing behavior for youth while a warm and involving family environment may protect youth from serious problem behaviors. Therefore, findings of this study add to the growing evidence concerning the negative consequences of corporal punishment for youth outcomes.R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HHS; R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HH

Mechanism of Gene Silencing Suppression by the Geminivirus Protein TrAP

The hosts-virus arms race reaches the epigenetic level, where silencing of viral chromatin can serve as an innate defense mechanism to restrict invading DNA viruses. However, viruses can code for suppressor proteins to counter epigenetic silencing and escape host surveillance. Thus, the virus-encoded suppressors offer an untapped source of tools for the understanding of pathogenesis and chromatin regulation. TrAP is a transcription factor encoded by model DNA plant viruses of the family Geminiviridae, which is required for the expression of the virus late genes and for suppression of gene silencing. TrAP is known to interfere with the transcriptional gene-silencing (TGS) pathway by obstructing the methyl cycle in the cytoplasm. Nonetheless, multiple metabolic pathways other than chromatin regulation utilize the methyl donor, and TrAP mainly localizes to the nucleus; furthermore, TrAP is predicted to interact with the transcriptional machinery. Thus, we asked whether TrAP directly suppressed TGS. We first generated TrAP-stable transgenic plants, and through transcriptome and biochemical assays, we demonstrated that TrAP hampered TGS. We then identified TrAP-interacting partners using a proteomics approach, confirmed by protein interaction experiments in vivo and in vitro. To determine whether these interactions were physiologically relevant, we performed virus infection assays in various host genetic backgrounds. We demonstrated that TrAP interacts with multiple SET-domain proteins in Arabidopsis. Particularly, the H3K9me2 histone methyltransferase, Su(var)3-9 homolog 4/Kryptonite (SUVH4/KYP) is a bona fide cellular target of TrAP. TrAP expression phenocopies several TGS mutants, reduces the repressive H3K9me2 mark and CHH DNA methylation, and reactivates many endogenous KYP-repressed loci in vivo. KYP binds to the viral chromatin and controls its methylation to combat virus infection. We conclude that TrAP attenuates TGS by inhibiting KYP activity. Furthermore, we show that TrAP interacts with other proteins, such as the methyl cycle enzymes SAMe-synthetase 2 (SAM2) and the S-adenosyl homocysteine hydrolase 1 (SAHH1), the RNA processing Enhanced silencing phenotype 3 (ESP3), and the chromatin remodeler Relative of early flowering 6 (REF6). Our findings provide new insight in the host antiviral defense and virus counter- defense at an epigenetic level and provide a model system to study chromatin regulation, and virus infection

Sexual intercourse among adolescents in Santiago, Chile: a study of individual and parenting factors

OBJECTIVE: To examine a range of individual, parenting, and family factors associated with sexual intercourse among a community sample of youth and their families in Santiago, Chile. METHODS: Data were taken from the first wave of the Santiago Longitudinal Study conducted in January 2008–November 2009. Participants were 766 youth (mean age = 14.03 years, 51% male) from municipalities of low-to mid-socioeconomic status. Variables included emotional and behavioral subscales from the Child Behavior Checklist’s Youth Self Report, parental monitoring, family involvement, parental control and autonomy, relationship with each parent, and sexual activity. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the odds of sexual intercourse initiation. RESULTS: Seventy (9.14%) youth reported having had sex in their lifetime; the average age of first sexual intercourse among this group was 13.5 years (Standard Deviation [SD] = 1.74) for males and 14.08 (SD = 1.40) for females. Having sex was inversely associated with withdrawn-depressed symptoms (Odds Ratio [OR] = 0.84, Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.72–0.97), but positively associated with somatic complaints (OR = 1.20, CI = 1.04–1.38) and rule breaking behavior (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.08–1.36), after adjusting for demographic and other individual and parenting variables. The majority (80%) of the youth who had had sex reported using protection at the time of last intercourse. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the role that mental health problems—some of them not commonly associated with onset of sexual activity—may play in a youth’s decision to have sex. The potential protective effects of several parenting and family characteristics disappeared with youth age and youth behavioral problems.R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HHS; R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HHS; DA021181 - NIDA NIH HH

Design of an Enhanced Cellular Model for the Assessment and Tracking of Nanomaterials

Due to their unique physicochemical properties nanomaterial (NM)-based technologies are growing exponentially in scope and economic importance. This surge is resulting in significant degrees of NM waste and increased rates of human exposure. This has created a vital need to fully understand the potential biological consequences of NM exposure, characterize resulting NM-biological interfaces, and determine subsequent toxicological effects. The long-term goal of this project is to design, optimize, and implement an enhanced microenvironment model (EMM) to bridge this in vitro – in vivo gap and evaluate NM characteristics, pharmacokinetic/deposition profiles, and induced biological responses under physiologically relevant conditions. To date efforts have focused on the generation of the EMM which uses a perfusion plate platform containing cellular compartments interconnected by dynamic fluid movement produced via a peristaltic pump. While the EMM system can be tailored to any target organ/tissue, this proposal is focused on the flow of NMs from lungs (A549; human alveolar epithelial) to liver (HepG2; human epithelial) to skin (HaCaT; human keratinocyte), as inhalation is a primary form of exposure and NMs have been shown to accumulate in the skin. Additionally, the human monocyte (U937) cell line will circulate through all compartments allowing for immune analysis. Once complete and optimized this EMM system will be one of the first non-microfluidic models to simultaneously incorporate physiological influences and multiple cellular compartments to improve relevance and promote in vivo-like behavior.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/2211/thumbnail.jp

Indirect fluorometric determination of diclofenac sodium

A simple and easy method of analysis for diclofenac sodium is reported. A spectrofluorometric method for the microdetermination of diclofenac sodium has been developed through its reaction with cerium(IV) in an acidic solution and measurement of the fluorescence of the Ce(III) ions produced. Under the optimum experimental conditions for the oxidation reaction, 1.0 M H 2 SO 4 with 90 min of heating time (100°C), the range of application is 124.3 - 600 ng mL -1 and the limit of detection is 72.7 ng mL -1 . The proposed method was applied to the determination of diclofenac sodium in pharmaceutical tablets. The results of the analysis show a good agreement with those obtained by the official USP 27 HPLC method.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta

Relationship between discordance in parental monitoring and behavioral problems among Chilean adolescents

This study investigated the role of discrepancies between parent and youth reports of perceived parental monitoring in adolescent problem behaviors with a Chilean sample (N= 850). Higher levels of discordance concerning parental monitoring predicted greater levels of maladaptive youth behaviors. A positive association between parent-youth discordance and externalizing problems indicated that large adult-youth disagreement in parental monitoring may impose a great risk, despite protective efforts of parental monitoring. Although the direct relationship between parental monitoring and youth internalizing behaviors was not significant, parent-youth incongruence in monitoring was associated with greater levels of internalizing behaviors. Therefore, differing assessments of parental behaviors, as an indicator of less optimal family functioning, may provide important information about youth maladjustment and may potentially provide a beginning point for family-focused intervention.R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 DA021181-05 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HH

La perspectiva del profesor para caracterizar la ruta de estudio

El presente artículo pretende hacer una breve descripción de la participación como co investigadores en la investigación “Rutas de Estudio y Aprendizaje en el aula” realizada por un grupo de profesores de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. En primer lugar se hace una contextualización sobre el objeto de estudio de la investigación para luego señalar las acciones llevadas a cabo en la co investigación, las cuales consistían en la recolección de información, empleando diferentes técnicas como la observación no participante, la videograbación y la entrevista. Ya por último, se hace una reflexión8 entorno a una de las técnicas, La entrevista como instrumento para indagar el aporte de los profesores en la caracterización de la Ruta de Estudio y Aprendizaje