Arthrogenic Alphaviruses and Inflammatory Myopathies

There is increasing evidence to suggest that viruses have aetiological roles in the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Arthrogenic alphaviruses (such as chikungunya virus, Ross River virus and sindbis virus) are known to cause outbreaks of polyarthritis worldwide. The clinical presentation of alphavirus infection includes fever, rash, arthralgia, and arthritis, however, one of the most predominant features of alphaviral disease are symptoms of myalgia with corresponding myositis. The recent outbreaks of chikungunya virus in several countries surrounding the Indian Ocean has seen millions of people affected, with case reports indicating a high incidence of myalgia and skeletal muscle involvement in the aetiology of this disease. The mechanisms of how alphaviruses cause musculoskeletal disease are slowly being unraveled with evidence to suggest that the viral induced inflammation can result in damage to the skeletal muscle tissues, possibly explaining the symptoms of myalgia. In recent years, the use of small animal models for alphavirus-induced myositis has furthered our understanding of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies caused by these viruses. This chapter will discuss the role of alphaviruses as an often-overlooked cause of myositis, including how small animal models are being used to dissect the pathobiology of disease and identify potential drug candidates to ameliorate disease.Office of the Snr Dep Vice Chancellor, Institute for GlycomicsFull Tex

Viruses: Friends and Foes

In this chapter, we will review how viruses can be used to positively affect joints and cartilage of their hosts. Many viruses are arthrogenic, and cause persistent and debilitating arthritis. Even those viruses that are not typically arthrogenic can also cause bone lesions as secondary pathogenesis. Some of these foes include members of the alphaviruses, like chikungunya and Ross River viruses, the rubiviruses, such as rubella, and erythoparvoviruses, like parvovirus B19. Some more uncommon viruses, which can occasionally have detrimental effects on their hosts’ joints, include herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster, mumps, human cytomegalovirus, avian orthoreovirus, and caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus. Despite some viruses having negative impacts on cartilage and joints, others have been used as an effective means of gene therapy for bone and cartilage repair. We will take an in-depth look at the current therapeutic strategies for treating arthritis using various viral vectors

IDENTIFICACIÓN, EN LAS COMPETENCIAS DE LA TEORÍA DE LA MENTE, DE LA INFLUENCIA DEL COCIENTE INTELECTUAL EN UN GRUPO DE ESQUIZOFRÉNICOS

Schizophrenia sufferers may have Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits. These deficits are not as severe as those shown by people with other disorders such as autism, because schizophrenic patients can solve simple ToM tests using their Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and general problemsolving skills. Our aim was to study ToM by asking a group of schizophrenics to perform a mental verbs task. We then identified the categories into which the mental verbs were grouped and their use profile, and assessed the influence of intelligence quotient. We observed that those with a higher IQ had lower ToM deficits. Subjects with average IQs grouped the mental activities quite well and those with low IQ performed the task poorly as a result of the combined effects of schizophrenia processes and low IQ.En la esquizofrenia pueden aparecer dificultades en Teoría de la Mente (TM). Tales déficits son menores que los que se manifiestan en otros trastornos puesto que estos pacientes resuelven pruebas sencillas de TM utilizando su Cociente Intelectual (CI) y habilidades generales de solución de problemas.Nuestro objetivo sería estudiar la TM, utilizando una tarea de verbos mentales en un grupo de esquizofrénicos. Así, se identificarán las categorías en las que se agrupan los verbos mentales, su perfil de uso y, se examinará la influencia del cociente intelectual. En esta investigación se observa una compensación de los déficits en TM en función del CI. Los sujetos con CI medio organizan mejor las actividades mentales y los de CI inferior presentan un efecto acumulativo de los procesos de la esquizofrenia y del CI que se refleja en una peor realización de la tarea de verbos mentales

Indicadores de actividad cultural y potencial creativo en Portugal: estudio regional para NUT 3

The creative economy has been the subject of increasing interest in recent years, both in the area of cultural economics as well as in economic development studies and the analysis of spatial disparities. The underlying notion is to consider creative capital as a production factor linked to talent, technological innovation and initiative, which may shape part of an area or region’s economic flows, replacing merely physical production factors. Clearly, many of the activities to emerge from creative capital are based mainly on culture and cultural activities. Yet, their ultimate goal is not to produce purely artistic artefacts aside from the market but to create marketable prototypes which are differentiated due to their design and innovative nature. This is why, today, creative activities might have a greater impact on economic development than talent, perceived in the conventional sense. Based on these considerations, the current work seeks to explore the territorial distribution of cultural activities and creativity in Portugal and to ascertain the relationship with the level of economic development. This involves defining the cultural and creative sector and its main components, for which purpose we follow the definition of cultural sector from Maheus (2010) and we draw on R. Florida’s (2002) widely embraced factors; talent, technology, and tolerance. The level of territorial disaggregation is NUTS 3. The technique applied is based on multivariate statistical analysis, essentially, factorial analysis to construct synthetic indicators for creativity and development; and cluster analysis to determine homogeneous areas in the resulting distribution. We build partial indicators from the main conceptual branches of the cultural sector and creativity and we also estimate a new global synthetic indicator based on the main components obtained before by factorial analysis. As expected, the most salient preliminary findings to emerge from the study point to a concentration of creative activities mainly in the areas around Lisbon and Oporto, there also being agglomeration factors around university cities and other places whichinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integración social para la no discriminación afectivo-sexual. Plan de trabajo con adolescentes en el ámbito educativo formal

En el Trabajo Fin de Grado presentado se proponen unas pautas de colaboración de los profesionales del trabajo social que desempeñan su labor n en los institutos de enseñanza secundaria con el profesorado y familias para evitar el acoso que se produce hacia adolescentes pertenecientes al colectivo de Lesbianas, Gais, Transexuales, Bisexuales e Intersexuales. En la actualidad no existen experiencias asentadas en centros educativos españoles. Estas pautas se elaboran tras haber realizado un estudio teórico alrededor a la historia de la discriminación, el marco legal vigente a nivel nacional e internacional, los problemas que el colectivo sufre aún en la actualidad y especialmente en la etapa estudiada, los conceptos en torno a la diversidad afectivo-sexual y las acciones de prevención que existen en torno a dicha discriminación en los centros educativos españoles. Se elige un centro de Castilla y León en el que ya se habían iniciado acciones en esta línea y se llevan a cabo, desde una perspectiva cualitativa, un análisis de los documentos del centro y entrevistas a profesionales implicados. Los resultados indican que tanto los servicios sociales como el sistema educativo deben implementar medidas y adaptarse a las demandas sociales de igualdad, eliminando prejuicios de otras épocas.Grado en Trabajo Socia

Análisis de los estados contables de Campofrío Food Group

Campofrío es una empresa española perteneciente al sector de elaborados cárnicos fundada en 1952 por José Luis Ballvé en la provincia de Burgos. Su sede se encuentra en Madrid, compite tanto en el ámbito nacional como internacional y se trata de la empresa líder en Europa en elaborados cárnicos. Tiene una gran importancia ya que se encuentra entre las cinco mayores empresas del mundo en dicho sector. Cuenta con unos 11.800 empleados. Con el análisis que se ha realizado a continuación se pretende conocer la situación económico-financiera de la empresa con el fin de observar su evolución económica, el aprovechamiento de los recursos, su capacidad a la hora de generar beneficios, etc. Todos estos datos los obtenemos a través del análisis de los estados contables, entre los años 2016 y 2020Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresa

Women mayors in spain : an analysis of gender differences in the management and quality of information on municipal websites

This article analyses the differences in the level of transparency and quality of information on the institutional websites of Spanish councils depending on whether the mayor's office is held by a woman or a man. We focus on 605 Spanish municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants in which women mayors represent 26.3% (n = 159) of the total. The method is based on 52 quantitative indicators divided into two thematic blocks related to municipal transparency and to information for participation. The principal results reveal that municipalities led by women yield better results in terms of compliance with the indicators evaluated, with 50.68%, compared to the municipalities in which the mayor is a man, with 38.13%. In addition, a more detailed analysis reveals how women mayors obtain better results in all groups of indicators: transparency, quality of the information published on municipal websites and tools provided for citizen participation. The study reveals how the increase in elected women has a positive influence on the implementation of policies that allow for more transparent information and communication and that promote greater inclusion of citizens in the public debate

Disparidades económicas sobre unidades territoriales menores: análisis de convergencia

El objetivo fundamental de este trabajo es analizar la aplicabilidad de los modelos de convergencia económica en unidades territoriales menores y sobre la base de la estimación de indicadores sintéticos de desarrollo. Para tal efecto, se postula la aplicación de modelos de regresión espacial a partir de un índice compuesto de desarrollo con desagregación municipal y construido mediante técnicas de análisis multivariante. La aplicación de esta metodología se realiza sobre una región prototipo, el sistema municipal de la Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León durante el periodo 1981-2001, con el fin de mostrar también la evolución de las disparidades territoriales en este ámbito

Terres de l'Ebre: una identitat i un projecte de futur. La posició geogràfica, el riu, el paisatge i el capital social, motius d'un nou model de desenvolupament social i ambiental

Les Terres de l'Ebre duen a terme importants esdeveniments que afectaran de manera decisiva el futur del seu territori. La presa de consciència de la importància d'aquests esdeveniments per part de la seva població ha conduït a un procés de debat i reflexió sobre el present i el futur del propi territori que, més enllà de les reivindicacions específiques sobre alguns aspectes concrets, ha permès elaborar una proposta de desenvolupament i ordenació del territori basada en els seus propis recursos, les activitats lligades al lloc, la qualitat de vida de les persones i el respecte als recursos naturals i el paisatge.Las Terres de l'Ebre llevan a cabo en la actualidad importantes cambios que afectarán de manera decisiva al futuro de su territorio. La toma de conciencia de la importancia de estos cambios por parte de su población ha conducido a un proceso de debate y reflexión sobre el presente y el futuro del propio territorio que, más allá de las reivindicaciones específicas sobre algunos aspectos concretos, ha permitido elaborar una propuesta de desarrollo y ordenación de territorio basada en sus recursos propios, las actividades ligadas al lugar, la calidad de vida de las personas y el respeto a los recursos naturales y el paisaje.The Terres de l'Ebre are currently living important events that will affect in a decisive way the future of its territory. The awareness of the population of the importance of these events have led to a process of debate and reflection on the future of the territory itself that, beyond the specific claims about some concrete aspects, has allowed the elaboration of a development proposal and land planning based on its own resources, the activities linked to the place, the quality of life of people and the respect to the natural resources and landscape.Les Terres de l'Ebre connaissent actuellement d'importants changements qui affecteront de façon décisive le futur de son territoire. La prise de conscience de l'importance de ces changements, compte tenu de sa population, a conduit à un procés de débat et de réflexion sur le présent et le futur du territoire qui, au delà des revendications spécifiques sur certains aspects concrets, a permis d'établir une proposition de développement et d'aménagement du territoire basée sur ses propres ressources, les activités du lieu, la qualité de vie des habitants et le respect des ressources naturelles et du paysage

Mannose binding lectin is required for alphavirus-induced arthritis/myositis

Mosquito-borne alphaviruses such as chikungunya virus and Ross River virus (RRV) are emerging pathogens capable of causing large-scale epidemics of virus-induced arthritis and myositis. The pathology of RRV-induced disease in both humans and mice is associated with induction of the host inflammatory response within the muscle and joints, and prior studies have demonstrated that the host complement system contributes to development of disease. In this study, we have used a mouse model of RRV-induced disease to identify and characterize which complement activation pathways mediate disease progression after infection, and we have identified the mannose binding lectin (MBL) pathway, but not the classical or alternative complement activation pathways, as essential for development of RRV-induced disease. MBL deposition was enhanced in RRV infected muscle tissue from wild type mice and RRV infected MBL deficient mice exhibited reduced disease, tissue damage, and complement deposition compared to wild-type mice. In contrast, mice deficient for key components of the classical or alternative complement activation pathways still developed severe RRV-induced disease. Further characterization of MBL deficient mice demonstrated that similar to C3(-/-) mice, viral replication and inflammatory cell recruitment were equivalent to wild type animals, suggesting that RRV-mediated induction of complement dependent immune pathology is largely MBL dependent. Consistent with these findings, human patients diagnosed with RRV disease had elevated serum MBL levels compared to healthy controls, and MBL levels in the serum and synovial fluid correlated with severity of disease. These findings demonstrate a role for MBL in promoting RRV-induced disease in both mice and humans and suggest that the MBL pathway of complement activation may be an effective target for therapeutic intervention for humans suffering from RRV-induced arthritis and myositis.This work was supported by NIH/NIAMS R01 AR 047190 awarded to MTH