Contestations Over Classifications: Latinos, the Census and Race in the United States

Contestations over classifications: Latinos, the census and race in the United States. The divergence between popular and state classifications of peoples has become increasingly important with the growing migration of peoples around the world. This paper examines this issue by focusing on one group (Latinos in the US) at one historical juncture (the late 20th-early 21st centuries). After examining the evolution of US census « race » categories in the context of shifting political, economic, and scientific trends, it reviews Hispanic/Latinos’ responses to questions of « race » on the US census and the theories that have surfaced to explain why so many Latinos choose the « Some Other Race » category on the census. It also chronicles the US government’s efforts to discourage such responses and force Latinos into more traditional US race categories. The global uniqueness of the US’s « race » concept is also underscored.Débats autour des classifications: les Latinos, le recensement et la question raciale aux États-Unis. Les divergences entre les classifications courantes des individus et celles des États ont gagné en importance avec l’augmentation du nombre de personnes immigrées à travers le monde. Cet article ne traite que d’un groupe, celui des Latinos aux États-Unis, à ce point de contact entre la fin du xxe siècle et le début du xxie siècle. Après avoir rappelé l’évolution des catégories de « races » dans le recensement nord-américain, ce dans le contexte politique, économique et scientifique changeant des dernières décennies, on s’intéressera à la réponse des Hispaniques/Latinos à la question de la « race » et aux explications qui ont été données au pourquoi du choix que tant d’entre eux ont fait de la catégorie « autre race ». On fera aussi l’historique des efforts du gouvernement des États-Unis pour décourager une telle réponse et forcer les Latinos à se positionner dans des catégories de races plus traditionnelles. Le place du concept de « race », unique aux États-Unis, sera également soulignée.Divergencias sobre las clasificaciones: los latinos, el censo y las razas en los Estados Unidos. Las divergencias entre las clasificaciones comunes de la gente y las de los estados ha crecido sustancialmente con el aumento de las migraciones a nivel mundial. En ese trabajo se tratará de un solo grupo, los latinos en los Estados Unidos, entre el final del siglo xx y el inicio del siglo xxi. Después de haber revisado la evolución de las categorías raciales utilizadas por los censos de los Estados Unidos en el marco de las transformaciones políticas, económicas y científicas recientes, se examinarán las respuestas de los latinos a la pregunta sobre la(s) raza(s) y las interpretaciones que se han venido dando al porqué de su elección – tan frecuente – de la categoría « Otra raza ». Se revisarán también los esfuerzos que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos ha realizado para controlar este tipo de respuesta y forzar a los latinos a elegir una categoría racial más tradicional. Se discute igualmente el concepto de raza tal como se aplica de forma sin equivalente en los Estados Unidos

Hydroxychloroquine efficacy and safety in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease severity during pregnancy (COVID-Preg) : A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomised placebo controlled trial

Objectives: The primary objectives of the study are: 1. To assess the effect of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in reducing SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding by PCR in infected pregnant women with mild symptoms. 2. To assess the efficacy of HCQ to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women in contact with an infected or suspected case. 3. To evaluate the effect of HCQ in preventing the development of the COVID-19 disease in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected pregnant women. The secondary objectives are: 1. To determine the effect of HCQ on the clinical course and duration of the COVID-19 disease in SARS-CoV-2-infected pregnant women. 2. To determine the impact of HCQ on the risk of hospitalization and mortality of SARS-CoV-2-infected pregnant women. 3. To assess the safety and tolerability of HCQ in pregnant women. 4. To describe the clinical presentation of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy. 5. To describe the effects of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection on pregnancy and perinatal outcomes by treatment group. 6. To determine the risk of vertical transmission (intra-utero and intra-partum) of SARS-CoV-2. Trial design: Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled two-arm multicentre clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of HCQ to prevent and/or minimize SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy. Participants will be randomized to receive a 14-day oral treatment course of HCQ or placebo, ratio 1:1. Participants: Study population: pregnant women undergoing routine prenatal follow up or attending emergency units at the participating hospitals who report either symptoms/signs suggestive of COVID-19 disease or close contact with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case. Inclusion criteria Women will be invited to participate in the trial and sign an informed consent if they meet the following inclusion criteria. •Presenting with fever (≥37.5°C) and/or one mild symptom suggestive of COVID-19 disease (cough, dyspnoea, chills, odynophagia, diarrhoea, muscle pain, anosmia, dysgeusia, headache) OR being contact*of a SARS-CoV-2 confirmed or suspected case in the past 14 days •More than 12 weeks of gestation (dated by ultrasonography) •Agreement to deliver in the study hospitals Exclusion criteria •Known hypersensitivity to HCQ or other 4-amonoquinoline compounds •History of retinopathy of any aetiology •Concomitant use of digoxin, cyclosporine, cimetidine •Known liver disease •Clinical history of cardiac pathology including known long QT syndrome •Unable to cooperate with the requirements of the study •Participating in other intervention studies •Delivery onset (characterized by painful uterine contractions and variable changes of the cervix, including some degree of effacement and slower progression of dilatation up to 5 cm for first and subsequent labours) The study participants will be stratified by clinical presentation and SARS-CoV-2 PCR results. Assignment of participants to study groups will be as follows: •SARS-CoV-2-PCR confirmed, infected pregnant women: a. symptomatic (n=100) b. asymptomatic (n=100) •SARS-CoV-2 PCR negative pregnant women in contact*with a SARS-CoV-2-infected confirmed or suspected case (n=514).*The ECDC definition of close contact will be followed. The trial will be conducted in five hospitals in Spain: Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, in Barcelona, and HM Puerta del Sur and Hospital Universitario de Torrejón, in Madrid. Intervention and comparator: Participants will be randomized to HCQ (400 mg/day for three days, followed by 200 mg/day for 11 days) or placebo (2 tablets for three days, followed by one tablet for 11 days). Main outcomes: The primary outcome is the number of PCR-confirmed infected pregnant women assessed from collected nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs at day 21 after treatment start (one week after treatment is completed). Randomisation: Allocation of participants to study arms will be done centrally by the trial's Sponsor (the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal) by block randomization. This method will ensure balanced allocation to both arms. The electronic CRF will automatically assign a study number to each participant, depending on her study group and recruitment site. Each number will be related to a treatment number, which assigns them to one of the study arms. Blinding (masking): Participants, caregivers, investigators and those assessing the outcomes will be blinded to group assignment. Study tablets (HCQ and placebo) will be identically packaged in small opaque bottles. Numbers to be randomised (sample size): This study requires 200 SARS-CoV-2 infected and 514 contact pregnant women, randomised 1:1 with 100 and 227 respectively in each study arm. Trial Status: Protocol version 1.0, from May 8th, 2020. Recruitment is ongoing (first patient recruited the 19th May 2020 and recruitment end anticipated by December 2020). Trial registration: EudraCT number: 2020-001587-29, registered 2 April 2020. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04410562, retrospectively registered 1 June 2020. Full protocol: The full protocol is attached as an additional file, accessible from the Trials website (Additional file 1). In the interest in expediting dissemination of this material, the familiar formatting has been eliminated; this Letter serves as a summary of the key elements of the full protocol

Regulation of Angiogenesis Discriminates Tissue Resident MSCs from Effective and Defective Osteogenic Environments

[Abstract] Background: The biological mechanisms that contribute to atrophic long bone non-union are poorly understood. Multipotential mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are key contributors to bone formation and are recognised as important mediators of blood vessel formation. This study examines the role of MSCs in tissue formation at the site of atrophic non-union. Materials and Methods: Tissue and MSCs from non-union sites (n = 20) and induced periosteal (IP) membrane formed following the Masquelet bone reconstruction technique (n = 15) or bone marrow (n = 8) were compared. MSC content, differentiation, and influence on angiogenesis were measured in vitro. Cell content and vasculature measurements were performed by flow cytometry and histology, and gene expression was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results: MSCs from non-union sites had comparable differentiation potential to bone marrow MSCs. Compared with induced periosteum, non-union tissue contained similar proportion of colony-forming cells, but a greater proportion of pericytes (p = 0.036), and endothelial cells (p = 0.016) and blood vessels were more numerous (p = 0.001) with smaller luminal diameter (p = 0.046). MSCs showed marked differences in angiogenic transcripts depending on the source, and those from induced periosteum, but not non-union tissue, inhibited early stages of in vitro angiogenesis. Conclusions: In vitro, non-union site derived MSCs have no impairment of differentiation capacity, but they differ from IP-derived MSCs in mediating angiogenesis. Local MSCs may thus be strongly implicated in the formation of the immature vascular network at the non-union site. Attention should be given to their angiogenic support profile when selecting MSCs for regenerative therapy

Multidimensional performance of periurban horticulture:Assessing agroecological transition and soil health

This study aims to produce evidence on the performance of horticultural systems in the peri-urban area of Buenos Aires (Argentina), based on the 10 Elements of Agroecology with an emphasis on soil health. To this end, we performed a survey with the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) Step 1, and we measured soil physical, chemical, and biological properties in family farms self-defined as agroecological or conventional. Results reflected overall low transition-to-agroecology indices and poor soil quality in the studied area. However, self-defined agroecological systems have made significant strides toward agroecological transition with higher scores mainly affecting elements describing management and innovation aspects of the agroecological transition but also those describing the social aspects and the enabling environment. Finally, self-defined agroecological farms exhibit better soil health scores for the indicators aggregates stability, soil organic carbon, and soil basal respiration, than conventional farms. Nevertheless, there is still potential to be exploited and constraints to be overcome to improve the transition to agroecology of horticultural systems in this area.</p

Multidimensional performance of periurban horticulture:Assessing agroecological transition and soil health

This study aims to produce evidence on the performance of horticultural systems in the peri-urban area of Buenos Aires (Argentina), based on the 10 Elements of Agroecology with an emphasis on soil health. To this end, we performed a survey with the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) Step 1, and we measured soil physical, chemical, and biological properties in family farms self-defined as agroecological or conventional. Results reflected overall low transition-to-agroecology indices and poor soil quality in the studied area. However, self-defined agroecological systems have made significant strides toward agroecological transition with higher scores mainly affecting elements describing management and innovation aspects of the agroecological transition but also those describing the social aspects and the enabling environment. Finally, self-defined agroecological farms exhibit better soil health scores for the indicators aggregates stability, soil organic carbon, and soil basal respiration, than conventional farms. Nevertheless, there is still potential to be exploited and constraints to be overcome to improve the transition to agroecology of horticultural systems in this area.</p

Humanized medium (h7H) allows long-term primary follicular thyroid cultures from human normal thyroid, benign neoplasm, and cancer

Mechanisms of thyroid physiology and cancer are principally studied in follicular cell lines. However, human thyroid cancer lines were found to be heavily contaminated by other sources, and only one supposedly normal-thyroid cell line, immortalized with SV40 antigen, is available. In primary culture, human follicular cultures lose their phenotype after passage. We hypothesized that the loss of the thyroid phenotype could be related to culture conditions in which human cells are grown in medium optimized for rodent culture, including hormones with marked differences in its affinity for the relevant rodent/human receptor.|The objective of the study was to define conditions that allow the proliferation of primary human follicular thyrocytes for many passages without losing phenotype.|Concentrations of hormones, transferrin, iodine, oligoelements, antioxidants, metabolites, and ethanol were adjusted within normal homeostatic human serum ranges. Single cultures were identified by short tandem repeats. Human-rodent interspecies contamination was assessed.|We defined an humanized 7 homeostatic additives medium enabling growth of human thyroid cultures for more than 20 passages maintaining thyrocyte phenotype. Thyrocytes proliferated and were grouped as follicle-like structures; expressed Na+/I- symporter, pendrin, cytokeratins, thyroglobulin, and thyroperoxidase showed iodine-uptake and secreted thyroglobulin and free T3. Using these conditions, we generated a bank of thyroid tumors in culture from normal thyroids, Grave's hyperplasias, benign neoplasms (goiter, adenomas), and carcinomas.|Using appropriate culture conditions is essential for phenotype maintenance in human thyrocytes. The bank of thyroid tumors in culture generated under humanized humanized 7 homeostatic additives culture conditions will provide a much-needed tool to compare similarly growing cells from normal vs pathological origins and thus to elucidate the molecular basis of thyroid disease.Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónInstituto de Salud Carlos IIIXunta de GaliciaFondo Social Europeo of the European Communit

Neurogenic inducers based on the chromone scaffold, a new family of multitarget directed ligands for Alzheimer's disease

Resumen del trabajo presentado a la XXXVIII Reunión Anual del Grupo Español de Neurotransmisión y Neuroprotección (GENN), celebrada en Almagro (Ciudad Real) del 13 al 15 de diciembre de 2017.The highly complex pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative illnesses have led to replace the traditional one-drug - one-target by the multi-target-directed ligands (MTDLs) paradigm, in which a single molecule is designed to be active against several pharmacological targets. Continuing with our interest in neuroprotective and neurogenic compounds, in this work we describe a new family of donepezil flavonoid hybrids exhibiting nanomolar affinities for the sigma-1 receptor and a combined inhibition of key enzymes in AD, such as 5-lipoxygenase, acetylcholinesterase, and monoaminoxidases. In general, they scavenge free radical species and are predicted to be brain-permeable. In phenotypic assays, new hybrids protect neuronal cells against mitochondrial oxidative stress and promote maturation of neural stem cells into a neuronal phenotype. Therefore, new donepezil - flavonoid hybrids could contribute to the protection and even, the reparation of neuronal tissues, of great therapeutic interest in AD and neurodegenerative diseases.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO (grant SAF2015-64948-C2-1-R) and Spanish National Research Council CSIC (grant PIE-201580E109).Peer Reviewe

Reappraisal of the outcome of healthcare-associated and community-acquired bacteramia: a prospective cohort study

Background: Healthcare-associated (HCA) bloodstream infections (BSI) have been associated with worse outcomes, in terms of higher frequencies of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and inappropriate therapy than strict community-acquired (CA) BSI. Recent changes in the epidemiology of community (CO)-BSI and treatment protocols may have modified this association. The objective of this study was to analyse the etiology, therapy and outcomes for CA and HCA BSI in our area. Methods: A prospective multicentre cohort including all CO-BSI episodes in adult patients was performed over a 3-month period in 2006–2007. Outcome variables were mortality and inappropriate empirical therapy. Adjusted analyses were performed by logistic regression. Results: 341 episodes of CO-BSI were included in the study. Acquisition was HCA in 56% (192 episodes) of them. Inappropriate empirical therapy was administered in 16.7% (57 episodes). All-cause mortality was 16.4% (56 patients) at day 14 and 20% (71 patients) at day 30. After controlling for age, Charlson index, source, etiology, presentation with severe sepsis or shock and inappropriate empirical treatment, acquisition type was not associated with an increase in 14-day or 30-day mortality. Only an stratified analysis of 14th-day mortality for Gram negatives BSI showed a statically significant difference (7% in CA vs 17% in HCA, p = 0,05). Factors independently related to inadequate empirical treatment in the community were: catheter source, cancer, and previous antimicrobial use; no association with HCA acquisition was found. Conclusion: HCA acquisition in our cohort was not a predictor for either inappropriate empirical treatment or increased mortality. These results might reflect recent changes in therapeutic protocols and epidemiological changes in community pathogens. Further studies should focus on recognising CA BSI due to resistant organisms facilitating an early and adequate treatment in patients with CA resistant BSI

Smart ICTs for the enhancement of traffic logistics in the Port of Seville

Las ponencias del congreso pueden descargarse desde: http://www.pianc.org.ar/_stage/papers_in.phpThis paper focuses in the optimization of intermodal transport by the development of a freight geolocation and telecontrol platform for intermodal transport. This system, Cooperative Unitized Tracking System (CUTS), is being developed under the project TECNOPORT2025, which is an initiative of the Port Authority of Seville (PAS), co-funded by the European Commission by means of the ERDF (European Region Development Funds), under the Pre-commercial Public Procurement model aiming the “Port of Future”