La razón que nos asiste a los segundos: música, política y estética en los himnos nacionales de América Latina (Estudios)

Apparently, in several Latin American countries the myth exits of the artistic quality of national anthems of each country,even awarding them with a prime spot in an apocryphal ranking headed by the Marseillaise, the French national anthem. From an outline of the modern concept of art, as a unique and unrepeatable expression, confronted with the idea of tópoi, the reason for such a myth and how it works perfectly in the consolidation of our national states and their republican ideal, could be explained.Aparentemente, en varios países de América Latina existe el mito de la calidad artística de los himnos nacionales de cada país, incluso adjudicándoles un lugar privilegiado en un ranking apócrifo encabezado por La Marsellesa, el himno nacional francés. Desde un esbozo del concepto moderno de arte, como expresión única e irrepetible, confrontado con la idea de tópoi, se puede explicar el porqué de tal mito y cómo funciona a la perfección en la consolidación de nuestros Estados nacionales y su ideal republicano

Las políticas de educación superior en el país y el cambio de la matriz productiva: transformación de institutos técnicos y tecnológicos, y política de becas al exterior

Este trabajo está centrado en dos aspectos del nuevo Sistema de Educación Superior, iniciado con la Constitución de 2008 y a cargo de la Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior: la transformación de los Institutos Técnicos y Tecnológicos (ISTT), y la política de becas al exterior, en relación al cambio de matriz productiva como nuevo modelo de desarrollo presentado por el Gobierno Nacional. Se presentan brevemente los antecedentes en torno a la discusión de la inexistencia de un Sistema de Educación Superior en cuanto tal y las reformas introducidas para crear uno, en el cual, los dos puntos de análisis tienen un papel relevante. Con respecto a las políticas de becas, se presenta con brevedad los supuestos teóricos detrás de la misma y se analiza con datos su efectividad. Se concluye que la política de becas no tiene ningún criterio concreto de conexión con las pretensiones de fortalecimiento del cambio de matriz productiva, de democratización del acceso y de criterios de territorialización, produciéndose una suerte de Efecto Mateo1 Por otra parte, en el caso de los ISTT, se analiza la reforma a partir de la misma Constitución, centrándonos en el Proyecto de Reconversión de 40 ISTT, con oferta de formación dual y ligada a la territorialización y al cambio de matriz productiva. Se hace una evaluación de las dificultades de la propuesta y de ciertos problemas de aplicación

Ecología política del extractivismo: las perspectivas de la explotación de cobre en la provincia de Zamora Chinchipe

El presente trabajo se ubica en la discusión en torno al modelo de desarrollo extractivista en la medida en la que el Ecuador está a las puertas de la explotación minera a gran escala. Por un lado, el Estado ecuatoriano, a través de la Constitución y de las políticas públicas previstas para efectivizarla, ha concebido un Estado que supere el paradigma moderno de desarrollo, así como el modelo extractivista y la dependencia de materias primas, y por otro, ha creado un marco legal e institucional para permitir el desarrollo de esta industria y cubrir el pago de la deuda social. Este trabajo aborda varios aspectos teóricos sobre la pertinencia o no del extractivismo, así como los conflictos existentes y potenciales que se han desarrollado en la provincia de Zamora Chinchipe por el otorgamiento de concesiones mineras para la explotación de cobre, entre varios actores involucrados en la pugna por los recursos de ese sector del país

El derecho como ciencia: una aproximación desde la epistemología sobre el carácter de cientificidad del derecho y su praxis

Este trabajo se centra en el análisis del estatuto epistémico del derecho y en una crítica a su presunción de cientificidad. Desde la tradición greco-romana, se reconoce al derecho como un tipo de saber normativo de carácter contingente y prudencial, cuya función cognosctiva está íntimamente relacionada a la aplicación técnica, a convertirse en una praxis social de enorme sofisticación que, si bien guarda elementos similares a la episteme, su función prescriptiva práctica le otorga una racionalidad propia diferente a la racionalidad científica. De esta forma, se hace un recuento histórico del pensamiento jurídico en torno a la idea de la cientificidad del derecho, examinando los diferentes discursos y su justificación. Se comparan las características principales del derecho con aquellas de la ciencia, como la función explicativa, racionalidad, criterios de demarcación, entre otros; no solo para establecer las debidas distancias entre el derecho y la ciencia, sino para dilucidar su contenido epistémico

Doctores, incentivos de titulación e impacto en la investigación: un panorama general de los profesores con doctorado en el sistema ecuatoriano de educación superior (Investigaciones)

This paper makes a descriptive and explanatory overview of the growth of number of university professors with a doctoral degree in the Ecuadorian Higher Education System, since 2013. It analyzes the legal framework and institutional incentives for the growth in the number of professors with a doctoral degree and includes a general review of the literature that considers their positive impact on the higher education system. This paper makes a general description which includes variables such as tenure, nationality, the doctoral program’s country and university, and the degree obtained. It then puts forward statistical regression models to explain and evaluate the impact of professors with a doctoral degree on research. It concludes that public policy has created a favorable environment, including perverse incentives, to pursue and obtain a doctoral degree and for welcoming professors from several countries. Additionally, it finds a positive correlation between the number of professors with a doctoral degree and the amount of research measured by number of indexed publications.Este artículo presenta un panorama descriptivo y explicativo sobre el crecimiento del número de profesores con título de doctorado en el sistema ecuatoriano de educación superior, desde el año 2013, así como los incentivos para la titulación y su impacto en la investigación. Se hace una revisión general de la literatura que considera el impacto positivo de un mayor número de doctores en la educación superior y se evalúa la evolución de su número a partir de las obligaciones legales y los incentivos creados por el marco legal de la formación superior. Se presenta una descripción general, tomando en cuenta su procedencia, las universidades en las que trabajan y en las que estudiaron, y los títulos obtenidos. Se analiza además la oferta según campos de estudio y se propone un modelo de regresión para explicar y evaluar su impacto en la investigación. Finalmente, se concluye que las políticas públicas han creado un medio favorable (incluyendo incentivos perversos) para la titulación doctoral y la recepción de profesores de varios países, al tiempo que se evidencia una relación positiva entre el número de doctores y la investigación con impacto internacional

Healthcare workers hospitalized due to COVID-19 have no higher risk of death than general population. Data from the Spanish SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

Aim To determine whether healthcare workers (HCW) hospitalized in Spain due to COVID-19 have a worse prognosis than non-healthcare workers (NHCW). Methods Observational cohort study based on the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, a nationwide registry that collects sociodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data on patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Spain. Patients aged 20-65 years were selected. A multivariate logistic regression model was performed to identify factors associated with mortality. Results As of 22 May 2020, 4393 patients were included, of whom 419 (9.5%) were HCW. Median (interquartile range) age of HCW was 52 (15) years and 62.4% were women. Prevalence of comorbidities and severe radiological findings upon admission were less frequent in HCW. There were no difference in need of respiratory support and admission to intensive care unit, but occurrence of sepsis and in-hospital mortality was lower in HCW (1.7% vs. 3.9%; p = 0.024 and 0.7% vs. 4.8%; p<0.001 respectively). Age, male sex and comorbidity, were independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality and healthcare working with lower mortality (OR 0.211, 95%CI 0.067-0.667, p = 0.008). 30-days survival was higher in HCW (0.968 vs. 0.851 p<0.001). Conclusions Hospitalized COVID-19 HCW had fewer comorbidities and a better prognosis than NHCW. Our results suggest that professional exposure to COVID-19 in HCW does not carry more clinical severity nor mortality

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project : insights into H. pylori population structure from analysis of a worldwide collection of complete genomes

Helicobacter pylori, a dominant member of the gastric microbiota, shares co-evolutionary history with humans. This has led to the development of genetically distinct H. pylori subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host and with differential gastric disease risk. Here, we provide insights into H. pylori population structure as a part of the Helicobacter pylori Genome Project (HpGP), a multi-disciplinary initiative aimed at elucidating H. pylori pathogenesis and identifying new therapeutic targets. We collected 1011 well-characterized clinical strains from 50 countries and generated high-quality genome sequences. We analysed core genome diversity and population structure of the HpGP dataset and 255 worldwide reference genomes to outline the ancestral contribution to Eurasian, African, and American populations. We found evidence of substantial contribution of population hpNorthAsia and subpopulation hspUral in Northern European H. pylori. The genomes of H. pylori isolated from northern and southern Indigenous Americans differed in that bacteria isolated in northern Indigenous communities were more similar to North Asian H. pylori while the southern had higher relatedness to hpEastAsia. Notably, we also found a highly clonal yet geographically dispersed North American subpopulation, which is negative for the cag pathogenicity island, and present in 7% of sequenced US genomes. We expect the HpGP dataset and the corresponding strains to become a major asset for H. pylori genomics