Viviendas paradigmáticas en Manta: comprendidas entre los años 1960 – 1980

The Reading of the architecture of a city permits to understand features about its history, evolution, and development. Especially, if that place contains architectural works of a paradigmatic nature that strengthen and contribute to the identity of its collective. This text aims to demonstrate the architectural value of the house "Cevallos" wich shows the important role they play as cultural artifacts, as well as the technical innovation they represent, so the memory of these works and their authors is not lost. To this end, the research was carried out at three levels: exploratory, descriptive, and deductive. The methodology applied includes descriptive, critical, and phenomenological analysis based on studies related to this topic so that they oriented to the optimal analysis of architectural projects that represent culture and qualify as paradigmatic. As a result of the study it was found that the canton of Manta has architectural works of a paradigmatic nature, the 56% of the respondents were unaware of their existence influencing them in a negative way, leaving them in oblivion and with them a sample of identity of the place, in response to the problem a matrix is proposed for the qualification of a paradigmatic architecture.La lectura de la arquitectura de una ciudad permite entender rasgos de su historia, evolución y desarrollo. Especialmente si el lugar cuenta con obras de carácter paradigmático que afianza y aportan a la identidad de su colectivo. Este texto es la sintesis de un estudio, donde se analizaron dos viviendas construidas en Manta-Ecuador entre los años 1960 – 1980, para efectos al presente articulo, se opto por citar solo una. Se pretende demostrar el valor arquitectónico de la vivienda “Cevallos”, que evidencia su función como artefacto cultural, así como la innovación técnica que representa, de manera que la memoria de esta obra y su autor no se pierda. Se llevó a cabo la investigación en tres niveles: exploratorio, descriptivo y deductivo. La metodología aplicada incluye análisis descriptivo, crítico y fenomenológico en base a estudios afines al tema. Como resultado, se comprobó que Manta cuenta con obras arquitectónicas de carácter paradigmática, el problema es la carencia de su conocimiento, el 56% de los encuestados desconocían de su existencia influyendo de manera negativa, dejándolas en el olvido y consigo una muestra de identidad del lugar, en respuesta a la problemática se plantea una matriz para la calificación de una arquitectura paradigmática

Cholinergic modulation of neuroinflammation: Focus on α7 nicotinic receptor

All nervous system pathologies (e.g., neurodegenerative/demyelinating diseases and brain tumours) develop neuroinflammation, a beneficial process during pathological events, aimed at removing damaged cells, toxic agents, and/or pathogens. Unfortunately, excessive inflammation frequently occurs during nervous system disorders, becoming a detrimental event capable of enhancing neurons and myelinating glial cell impairment, rather than improving their survival and activity. Consequently, targeting the neuroinflammation could be relevant for reducing brain injury and rescuing neuronal and glial cell functions. Several studies have highlighted the role of acetylcholine and its receptors in the regulation of central and peripheral inflammation. In particular, α7 nicotinic receptor has been described as one of the main regulators of the “brain cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway”. Its expression in astrocytes and microglial cells and the ability to modulate anti-inflammatory cytokines make this receptor a new interesting therapeutic target for neuroinflammation regulation. In this review, we summarize the distribution and physiological functions of the α7 nicotinic receptor in glial cells (astrocytes and microglia) and its role in the modulation of neuroinflammation. Moreover, we explore how its altered expression and function contribute to the development of different neurological pathologies and exacerbate neuroinflammatory processes

La ciencia de la administración de empresas

La administración de empresas es el proceso mediante el cual se diseña y mantiene un ambiente donde  un grupo de personas se encuentra trabajando eficientemente para el alcance de las metas predispuestas. A tales efectos ,  el presente trabajo  se desarrolla de acuerdo a la necesidad de realizar una consecución y un análisis del desarrollo histórico de la administración de empresas, su importancia,  las diferentes etapas del proceso administrativo, metodológicas, objetivos, metas y demás   características, que toda empresa debe tener en cuenta para ejecutar sus diversos planeamientos, ya que de acuerdo a la organización y procedimientos que utilicen se generaran los resultados que pretenden alcanzar

Expression of cholinergic markers and characterization of splice variants during ontogenesis of rat dorsal root ganglia neurons

Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons synthesize acetylcholine (ACh), in addition to their peptidergic nature. They also release ACh and are cholinoceptive, as they express cholinergic receptors. During gangliogenesis, ACh plays an important role in neuronal differentiation, modulating neuritic outgrowth and neurospecific gene expression. Starting from these data, we studied the expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and vesicular ACh transporter (VAChT) expression in rat DRG neurons. ChAT and VAChT genes are arranged in a “cholinergic locus”, and several splice variants have been described. Using selective primers, we characterized splice variants of these cholinergic markers, demonstrating that rat DRGs express R1, R2, M, and N variants for ChAT and V1, V2, R1, and R2 splice variants for VAChT. Moreover, by RT-PCR analysis, we observed a progressive decrease in ChAT and VAChT transcripts from the late embryonic developmental stage (E18) to postnatal P2 and P15 and in the adult DRG. Interestingly, Western blot analyses and activity assays demonstrated that ChAT levels significantly increased during DRG ontogenesis. The modulated expression of different ChAT and VAChT splice variants during development suggests a possible differential regulation of cholinergic marker expression in sensory neurons and confirms multiple roles for ACh in DRG neurons, both in the embryo stage and postnatally

The mechanisms mediated by α7 acetylcholine nicotinic receptors may contribute to peripheral nerve regeneration

Due to the microenvironment created by Schwann cell (SC) activity, peripheral nerve fibers are able to regenerate. Inflammation is the first response to nerve damage and the removal of cellular and myelin debris is essential in preventing the persistence of the local inflammation that may negatively affect nerve regeneration. Acetylcholine (ACh) is one of the neurotransmitters involved in the modulation of inflammation through the activity of its receptors, belonging to both the muscarinic and nicotinic classes. In this report, we evaluated the expression of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in rat sciatic nerve, particularly in SCs, after peripheral nerve injury. α7 nAChRs are absent in sciatic nerve immediately after dissection, but their expression is significantly enhanced in SCs after 24 h in cultured sciatic nerve segments or in the presence of the proinflammatory neuropeptide Bradykinin (BK). Moreover, we found that activation of α7 nAChRs with the selective partial agonist ICH3 causes a decreased expression of c-Jun and an upregulation of uPA, MMP2 and MMP9 activity. In addition, ICH3 treatment inhibits IL-6 transcript level expression as well as the cytokine release. These results suggest that ACh, probably released from regenerating axons or by SC themselves, may actively promote through α7 nAChRs activation an anti-inflammatory microenvironment that contributes to better improving the peripheral nerve regeneration

Comorbilidades en pacientes ecuatorianos con artritis reumatoide

Introducción: La Artritis Reumatoide (AR) es una enfermedad inflamatoria crónica caracterizada por producir compromiso poliarticular y gran discapacidad en el paciente. En promedio un paciente con AR presenta aproximadamente 1.6 comorbilidades, siendo mayor a medida que aumenta la edad. Materiales y métodos: Estudio transversal descriptivo de selección de pacientes con diagnóstico establecido de artritis reumatoide, que además acudían a consultorios públicos o privados de reumatología en la ciudad de Guayaquil, Ecuador. La selección se llevó a cabo mediante criterios de inclusión y exclusión. Resultados: Se analizaron 400 pacientes con diagnóstico establecido de AR, más del 50% de los participantes demostró tener alguna comorbilidad, las más frecuentes fueron: dislipidemias (55%), enfermedad gástrica (28%), hipertensión arterial (24%), obesidad y depresión (20%), seguidas de enfermedad tiroidea (15%), alergias (11%), hipertransaminasemia (10%), anemia (9%) y diabetes mellitus (7%). Conclusión: Los pacientes con AR tienen múltiples comorbilidades. Este es el primer estudio descriptivo de comorbilidades en sujetos con artritis reumatoide en Ecuador.