Vulnerability of Mesostriatal Dopaminergic Neurons in Parkinson's Disease

The term vulnerability was first associated with the midbrain dopaminergic neurons 85 years ago, before they were identified as monoaminergic neurons, when Foix and Nicolesco (1925) reported the loss of neuromelanin containing neurons in the midbrain of patients with post-encephalitic Parkinson's disease (PD). A few years later, Hassler (1938) showed that degeneration is more intense in the ventral tier of the substantia nigra compacta than in its dorsal tier and the ventral tegmental area (VTA), outlining the concept of differential vulnerability of midbrain dopaminergic (DA-) neurons. Nowadays, we know that other neuronal groups degenerate in PD, but the massive loss of nigral DA-cells is its pathological hallmark, having a pivotal position in the pathophysiology of the disease as it is responsible for the motor symptoms. Data from humans as well as cellular and animal models indicate that DA-cell degeneration is a complex process, probably precipitated by the convergence of different risk factors, mediated by oxidative stress, and involving pathogenic factors arising within the DA-neuron (intrinsic factors), and from its environment and distant interconnected brain regions (extrinsic factors). In light of current data, intrinsic factors seem to be preferentially involved in the first steps of the degenerative process, and extrinsic factors in its progression. A controversial issue is the relative weight of the impairment of common cell functions, such as energy metabolism and proteostasis, and specific dopaminergic functions, such as pacemaking activity and DA handling, in the pathogenesis of DA-cell degeneration. Here we will review the current knowledge about the relevance of these factors at the beginning and during the progression of PD, and in the differential vulnerability of midbrain DA-cells

Towards a Popular Theory of Algorithms

This paper establishes dialogues between theories on the popular and critical studies on algorithms and datafication. In doing so, it contributes to reversing the analytical tendency to assume that algorithms have universal effects and that conclusions about “algorithmic power” in the Global North apply unproblematically everywhere else. We begin by clarifying how Latin American scholars and other research traditions have theorized the popular (“lo popular”). We then develop four dimensions of lo popular to implement these ideas in the case of algorithms: playful cultural practices, imagination, resistance, and “in-betweenness.” We argue that this dialogue can generate different ways of thinking about the problems inherent to algorithmic mediation by drawing attention to the remixes of cultural practices, imaginative solutions to everyday problems, “cyborg” forms of resistance, and ambiguous forms of agency that are central to the operations of algorithmic assemblages nowadays.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Centro de Investigación en Comunicación (CICOM

Silver and copper mining in South District of Baja California: the urbanization process at El Triunfo and Santa Rosalia during the Porfirian era

En este estudio se aborda el proceso de urbanización en El Triunfo y Santa Rosalía durante el periodo porfiriano. Dos poblaciones pertenecientes a lo que hoy es el estado de Baja California Sur y cuyo nacimiento se debió al desarrollo de la actividad minera, la cual se vio favorecida durante el gobierno de Porfirio Díaz. Sobre esa actividad productiva, El Triunfo mudó su rostro demográfico y estructural y Santa Rosalía vio la luz como un centro minero con una fisonomía urbana. Partimos de la idea de que urbanización es un proceso multidimensional, es decir, que toca aspectos que tienen que ver con la evolución demográfica, económica, política, social, cultural y estructural, del que en las páginas que siguen nos limitaremos solamente a los ámbitos demográfico y estructural.This study is about the urbanization process at El Triunfo and Santa Rosalía during the Porfinian era; both towns belonged to what nowadays is Baja California South and they were born due to the development of silver and copper mining respectively. Although El Triunfo began during the colonial period and Santa RosalТa by late 19th century both of them changed their demographic and structural appearance during the government of Porfirio Diaz, as a result of the mining modernization process brought by foreign capital -even when certain peculiarities responded to their own growth

Margins and Centers on the Road of Displacement

Reseña de LISELOTTE GLAGE, ed. Being/s in Transit: Travelling, Migration, Dislocation. Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 2000. 218 pp

New Perspectives on Cultural Memories and Postcolonial Theory

Reseña de: D’HAEN, THEO and PATRICIA KRÜS, eds. Colonizer and Colonized. Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 2000. 643 pp

Behavioural patterns in aggregated demand response developments for communities targeting renewables

Encouraging consumers to embrace renewable energies and energy-efficient technologies is at stake, and so the energy players such as utilities and policy-makers are opening up a range of new value propositions towards more sustainable communities. For instance, developments of turn-key demand response aggregation and optimisation of distributed loads are rapidly emerging across the globe in a variety of business models focused on maximising the inherent flexibility and diversity of the behind-the-meter assets. However, even though these developments" added value is understood and of wide interest, measurement of the desired levels of consumer engagement is still on demonstration stages and assessment of technology readiness. In this paper, we analyse the characteristics of the loads, the behaviour of parameters, and in a final extent, the behaviour of each kind of consumer participating in aggregated demand scheduling. We apply both non-automatic and machine learning methods to extract the relevant factors and to recognise the potential consumer behaviour on a series of scenarios that are drawn using both synthetic data and living labs datasets. Our experimentation showcases a number of three patterns in which factors like the community"s demand volume and the consumer"s flexibility dominate and impact the performance of the tested development. The experimentation also makes current limitations arise within the existing electricity consumption datasets and their potential for inference and forecasting demand flexibility analytics.Comunidad de Madri

Canada, Identity and Ethnicity at a Crossroads

Reseña de: DAVIS, ROCÍO G., and ROSALÍA BAENA, eds. Tricks with a Glass Writing Ethnicity in Canada. Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA: Rodopi 2000. 301 pp