Sexualidad y relaciones contemporáneas

Se presentan los resultados de una investigación en la cual se sistematizaron los avances en la generación de nuevo conocimiento y producto del acompañamiento de proyectos de grado relacionados con la sexualidad y las relaciones contemporáneas, desarrollados por investigadores del grupo “Cultura, Educación y Sociedad” y sus redes de colaboración académica. Se implementó un proceso de sistematización, a partir del cual se identificaron las siguientes categorías: La primera, presenta la concepción actual sobre la sexualidad y la salud sexual, así como posturas relacionadas con la construcción psicosocial del género. La segunda, da cuenta de los estudios relacionados con la expresión de la sexualidad y el género en contextos de relación como la vida de pareja, el escenario organizacional y la vida comunitaria. En la tercera, se muestran las tendencias producto de los modelos de evaluación e intervención basados en evidencia para mitigar las problemáticas asociadas a las conductas sexuales de riesgo, la educación sexual en niños y adolescentes, el conflicto de pareja y la violencia de género. Se espera que el texto sirva para la fundamentación de los académicos interesados en esta área del conocimiento dada la relevancia que tienen las problemáticas asociadas a este tema en el territorio nacional

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Incorporating Public Values Through Multiple Accountability: A Case Study on Quality Regulation of Emergency Care in the Netherlands by an Independent Regulatory Agency

In this paper, we explore how multiple accountability (MA) can enable an independent regulatory agency to deal with multiple conflicting public values in a complex and politically salient decision-making process. We examined the decision-making process of the Dutch National Health Care Institute on quality regulation of emergency care in the Netherlands. Using insights derived from ethnography, document analysis, and interviews, we show that MA resulted from strategic interactions between the Institute’s vertical and horizontal accountability forums. We argue that MA impeded efficiency but also enabled the Institute to deal with multiple conflicting public values

Host-pathogen adhesion as the basis of innovative diagnostics for emerging pathogens

Funding Information: The authors gratefully thank J?rgen Berger and Katharina Hipp (both Max Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, T?bingen, Germany) for the electron microscopy dis-played in Figure 1.This research was funded by the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program in a project named Viral and Bacterial Adhesin Network Training (ViBrANT) under Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 765042. A.G. also acknowledges support from the BBSRC (grant number BB/M021610/1). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Infectious diseases are an existential health threat, potentiated by emerging and re-emerging viruses and increasing bacterial antibiotic resistance. Targeted treatment of infectious diseases requires precision diagnostics, especially in cases where broad-range therapeutics such as antibiotics fail. There is thus an increasing need for new approaches to develop sensitive and specific in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests. Basic science and translational research are needed to identify key microbial molecules as diagnostic targets, to identify relevant host counterparts, and to use this knowledge in developing or improving IVD. In this regard, an overlooked feature is the capacity of pathogens to adhere specifically to host cells and tissues. The molecular entities relevant for pathogen-surface interaction are the so-called adhesins. Adhesins vary from protein compounds to (poly-)saccharides or lipid structures that interact with eukaryotic host cell matrix molecules and receptors. Such interactions co-define the specificity and sensitivity of a diagnostic test. Currently, adhesin-receptor binding is typically used in the pre-analytical phase of IVD tests, focusing on pathogen enrichment. Further exploration of adhesin-ligand interaction, supported by present high-throughput "omics" technologies, might stimulate a new generation of broadly applicable pathogen detection and characterization tools. This review describes recent results of novel structure-defining technologies allowing for detailed molecular analysis of adhesins, their receptors and complexes. Since the host ligands evolve slowly, the corresponding adhesin interaction is under selective pressure to maintain a constant receptor binding domain. IVD should exploit such conserved binding sites and, in particular, use the human ligand to enrich the pathogen. We provide an inventory of methods based on adhesion factors and pathogen attachment mechanisms, which can also be of relevance to currently emerging pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19.Peer reviewe

Subjetividad y Cultura : ¿Reflexiones prontas o tardías sobre la investigación en psicoanálisis?

PublishedCon el nombre de I Congreso de Psicoanálisis Universidad Santiago de Cali, tuvo lugar este evento “intempestivo” en el mes de octubre de 2015. Jorge Baños Orellana, Mauro Vallejo y Mariano Ruperthuz Honorato dieron cuenta de parte de su investigación, indicándonos al mismo tiempo, cómo se debe investigar a un buen nivel. ¿Es demasiado temprano para nuestra cultura provinciana tocar, por parte de investigadores reconocidos en su medio –Argentina, Chile– estos temas de cuyo desarrollo nos percatamos con admiración? ¿O es demasiado tarde, puesto que las críticas al psicoanálisis abundan desde diferentes perspectivas y la descalificación de Freud por algún filósofo francés de impacto en los mass media, y antes por un libro que lleva el poco amable título de El libro negro del psicoanálisis? ¿Qué podemos aprender de estos documentados conferencistas y cómo estimularán las investigaciones sobre el psicoanálisis en nuestro medio? Ya se ha visto que la sola presencia de propulsores de una disciplina no basta para que sus semillas caigan en tierras feraces. Hay algo más que esas presencias esporádicas no pueden suplir. En el caso del psicoanálisis es patente y para decirlo con un lugar común, patético