Citizen Security And Democratization In Latin America: Implications Of Law Enforcement Reforms And Demilitarization

Latin American region has transitioned to democracy in the last forty-thirty years and along with many policy reforms, citizen security has not been left behind. As these changes evolve, the relationship between internal security and the development of a stable democracy has acquired a great importance in terms of the factors that contribute to a free world. The purpose of this research is to look at how security policy and policing in Argentina, Chile, el Salvador, and Mexico have contributed to the democratization process in regards to how the recent reforms in law enforcement in the region have created favorable conditions towards democracy. First, this paper focuses on establishing the relationship between internal security and democratization, moving forward to the role of law enforcement in the demilitarization trend in the region and the world on the transition to democracy. After briefly covering some socio economic indicators of Latin America, this inquiry applies an original demilitarization scale of law enforcement to the citizen security institutions in the countries mentioned above. This is the first empirical measurement of law enforcement demilitarization for countries in Latin America. The empirical design tests whether demilitarization of internal security affects individuals\u27 diffusive democracy support and police institutions\u27 specific democratization or, on the contrary, there is no effect what so ever. The findings show support for the main hypothesis that individuals from countries with more demilitarized police support in greater scale democratic regimes; individuals from countries perceived as less corrupted were shown to trust police institutions greater than those from countries more corrupted; finally, individuals that have had any crime interaction, whether themselves or through a relative, sholess trust rates in police institutions

Análisis de la estructura espacial de las masas de Pinus pinaster Aiton de la Comunidad de Madrid mediante imágenes de alta resolución espacial

En este trabajo se aborda el análisis de la estructura espacial de las masas de Pinus pinaster Aiton de la Comunidad de Madrid mediante imágenes de alta resolución espacial, así como la asociación existente entre algunos índices de textura derivados del variograma, y ciertas características dasométricas obtenidas a partir de parcelas de campo. Para ello se utilizaron, ortofotografías y una imagen de satélite IKONOS, correspondientes a puntos en los que se localizan parcelas de muestreo del Inventario Forestal Nacional (IFN). El análisis de las imágenes se fundamenta en la geoestadística y más concretamente en el uso del variograma. Se calculan variogramas experimentales a partir de las distintas imágenes, para a continuación, calcular el correspondiente variograma ideal y realizar la extracción de los parámetros del variograma, con los que se trata de caracterizar la estructura de las masas estudiadas para diferentes resoluciones espaciales. Como resultado del estudio se han encontrado algunas asociaciones significativas entre parámetros de los variogramas y variables dasométricas, pero de escaso poder predictivo, lo que indica la elevada dificultad en la aplicación de este tipo de técnicas en topografías complejas y masas espacialmente heterogéneas, como las propias de los bosques mediterráneos. Palabras clave: fotografía aérea, IKONOS, geoestadística, variograma, inventario forestal

High affinity binding of amyloid β-peptide to calmodulin: Structural and functional implications.

Amyloid β-peptides (Aβ) are a major hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their neurotoxicity develop with cytosolic calcium dysregulation. On the other hand, calmodulin (CaM), a protein which plays a major multifunctional role in neuronal calcium signaling, has been shown to be involved in the regulation of non-amyloidogenic processing of amyloid β precursor protein (APP). Using fluorescent 6-bromoacetyl-2-dimethylaminonaphthalene derivatives of CaM, Badan-CaM, and human amyloid β(1-42) HiLyte™-Fluor555, we show in this work that Aβ binds with high affinity to CaM through the neurotoxic Aβ25-35 domain. In addition, the affinity of Aβ for calcium-saturated CaM conformation is approximately 20-fold higher than for CaM conformation in the absence of calcium (apo-CaM). Moreover, the value of Kd of 0.98 ± 0.11 nM obtained for Aβ1-42 dissociation from CaM saturated by calcium point out that CaM is one of the cellular targets with highest affinity for neurotoxic Aβ peptides. A major functional consequence of Aβ-CaM interaction is that it slowdowns Aβ fibrillation. The novel and high affinity interaction between calmodulin and Aβ shown in this work opens a yet-unexplored gateway to further understand the neurotoxic effect of Aβ in different neural cells and also to address the potential of calmodulin and calmodulin-derived peptides as therapeutic agents in AD

Actin cytoskeleton disruption is an early event upon exposure of cerebellar granule neurons to SIN-1-induced oxidative stress

In this work we have studied the alterations of the actin cytoskeleton in cultured cerebellar granule neurons during exposure to the peroxynitritereleasing agent SIN-1 for less than 2 hours. Actin polymerization state was assessed by fluorescence microscopy ratio images using double labelling for actin filaments (phallacidin) and monomers (DNase-I). In addition, agonists and antagonists of L-type Ca2+ channels and NMDA receptors were used in order to find out whether these compounds were able to attenuate or potentiate the effects of oxidative stress on the perturbation of the actin cytoskeleton. The results reveal that a flux of peroxynitrite as low as 0.5 ;M/min during 1h is sufficient to promote alterations of actin dynamics leading to partial actin cytoskeleton disruption and suggest that this is an early event linked to cytosolic calcium concentration changes

Complex I and cytochrome c are molecular targets of flavonoids that inhibit hydrogen peroxide production by mitochondria

AbstractFlavonoids can protect cells from different insults that lead to mitochondria-mediated cell death, and epidemiological data show that some of these compounds attenuate the progression of diseases associated with oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. In this work, a screening of 5 flavonoids representing major subclasses showed that they display different effects on H2O2 production by mitochondria isolated from rat brain and heart. Quercetin, kaempferol and epicatechin are potent inhibitors of H2O2 production by mitochondria from both tissues (IC50≈1–2μM), even when H2O2 production rate was stimulated by the mitochondrial inhibitors rotenone and antimycin A. Although the rate of oxygen consumption was unaffected by concentrations up to 10μM of these flavonoids, quercetin, kaempferol and apigenin inhibited complex I activity, while up to 100μM epicatechin produced less than 20% inhibition. The extent of this inhibition was found to be dependent on the concentration of coenzyme Q in the medium, suggesting competition between the flavonoids and ubiquinone for close binding sites in the complex. In contrast, these flavonoids did not significantly inhibit the activity of complexes II and III, and did not affect the redox state of complex IV. However, we have found that epicatechin, quercetin and kaempferol are able to stoichiometrically reduce purified cytochrome c. Our results reveal that mitochondria are a plausible main target of flavonoids mediating, at least in part, their reported preventive actions against oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction-associated pathologies

The decrease of NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 activity and increase of ROS production by NADPH oxidases are early biomarkers in doxorubicin cardiotoxicity

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Implementación de la gestión de almacenes para mejorar la productividad del área de almacén en la empresa JR Acosta S.A.C., Comas, 2020

El objetivo principal del desarrollo del proyecto fue determinar como la implementación de la gestión de almacenes mejora la productividad del área de almacén en la empresa Jr. Acosta SAC; con los siguientes alcances; tipo: aplicada, nivel explicativo y de diseño experimental (cuasi-experimental). Determinamos como muestra y población el número de órdenes de requerimientos despachadas diario a lo largo de un mes (30 días) de trabajo, cuales estuvieron siendo evaluados en el antes y después de la aplicación de la metodología. La técnica empleada para la recolección de datos fue la observación indirecta y los instrumentos que se utilizó fue el cronómetro y las fichas de observación. La implementación de la gestión de almacenes mejoró la productividad en el área de almacén de la empresa JR. Acosta SAC., al iniciar con la investigación se observó y calculó la situación de la empresa, teniendo una productividad de 52%. Mediante la ejecución de la herramienta y correcta gestión se pudo lograr una productividad de 62%, aplicando la ecuación de incremento de productividad arrojo el resultado de un aumento de 19%, cumpliendo de esta manera el objetivo general de la investigación

A systematic quantitative determination of the antimicrobial efficacy of grape seed extract against foodborne bacterial pathogens

Concerns regarding the role of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in disease outbreaks are growing due to the excessive use of antibiotics. Moreover, consumers are demanding food products that are minimally processed and produced in a sustainable way, without the use of chemical preservatives or antibiotics. Grape seed extract (GSE) is isolated from wine industry waste and is an interesting source of natural antimicrobials, especially when aiming to increase sustainable processing. The aim of this study was to obtain a systematic understanding of the microbial inactivation efficacy/potential of GSE against Listeria monocytogenes (Gram-positive), Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium (Gram-negative) in an in vitro model system. More specifically, for L. monocytogenes, the effects of the initial inoculum concentration, bacterial growth phase and absence of the environmental stress response regulon (SigB) on the GSE microbial inactivation potential were investigated. In general, GSE was found to be highly effective at inactivating L. monocytogenes, with higher inactivation achieved for higher GSE concentrations and lower initial inoculum levels. Generally, stationary phase cells were more resistant/tolerant to GSE as compared to exponential phase cells (for the same inoculum level). Additionally, SigB appears to play an important role in the resistance of L. monocytogenes to GSE. The Gram-negative bacteria under study (E. coli and S. Typhimurium) were less susceptible to GSE as compared to L. monocytogenes. Our findings provide a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the impact of GSE on the microbial dynamics of foodborne pathogens, assisting in the more systematic design of natural antimicrobial-based strategies for sustainable food safety

Connection of converters to a low and medium power DC network using an inductor circuit

This letter describes an alternative for the connection of power converters to a direct current network without the installation of a capacitor in the DC-Link. The circuit allows the connection of converters through a coil and avoids short-circuit currents with different instantaneous values of voltage output. A description of the calculation and the choice of components together with a real implemented example in a DC network within Smart City project (Endes Utility) is presented