Collective religiosity and the gender gap in attitudes towards economic redistribution in 86 countries, 1990-2008

What is the relationship between gender and the demand for redistribution? Because, on average, women face more economic deprivation than men, in many countries women favor redistribution more than men. However, this is not the case in a number of other countries, where women do not support redistribution more than men. To explain this cross-national paradox, we stress the role of collective religiosity. In many religions, theological principles both militate against public policies designed to redistribute income, and also promote traditionally gendered patterns of work and family involvement. Hence, we hypothesize that, in those countries where religion remains influential either through closer church-state ties or an intensely religious population, men and women should differ less in their attitudes towards redistribution. Drawing upon the World Values Survey, we estimate three-level regression models that test our religiosity-based approach and two alternative explanations in 86 countries and 175 country-years. The results are consistent with our hypothesis. Moreover, in further support of our theoretical approach, societal religiosity undermines pro-redistribution preferences more among women than men. Our findings suggest that collective religiosity matters more to the gender gap in redistributive attitudes than traditional political and labor force factors. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.This project was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CSO2011-29346)

A hypothesis of a redistribution of North Atlantic swordfish based on changing ocean conditions

Conflicting trends in indices of abundance for North Atlantic swordfish starting in the mid-to late 1990s, in the form of fleet specific catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE), suggest the possibility of a spatial shift in abundance to follow areas of preferred temperature. The observed changes in the direction of the CPUEs correspond with changes in trends in the summer Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), a long term mode of variability of North Atlantic sea surface temperature. To test the hypothesis of a relation between the CPUE and the AMO, the CPUEs were made spatially explicit by re-estimating using an “areas-as-fleets” approach. These new CPUEs were then used to create alternative stock histories. The residuals of the fit were then regressed against the summer AMO. Significant, and opposite, relations were found in the regressions between eastern and western Atlantic areas. When the AMO was in a warm phase, the CPUEs in the western (eastern) areas were higher (lower) than predicted by the assessment model fit. Given the observed temperature tolerance limits of swordfish, it is possible that either their preferred habitat, prey species, or both have shifted spatial distributions resulting in conflicting CPUE indices. Because the available CPUE time series only overlaps with one change in the sign of the AMO (~1995), it is not clear whether this is a directional or cyclical trend. Given the relatively localized nature of many of the fishing fleets, and the difficulty of separating fleet effects from changes in oceanography we feel that it is critical to create CPUE indices by combining data across similar fleets that fish in similar areas. This approach allowed us to evaluate area-specific catch rates which provided the power to detect basin-wide responses to changing oceanography, a critical step for providing robust management advice in a changing climate.Postprin

The Peru approach against the COVID-19 infodemic: Insights and strategies

The COVID-19 epidemic has spawned an "infodemic,"with excessive and unfounded information that hinders an appropriate public health response. This perspective describes a selection of COVID-19 fake news that originated in Peru and the government's response to this information. Unlike other countries, Peru was relatively successful in controlling the infodemic possibly because of the implementation of prison sentences for persons who created and shared fake news. We believe that similar actions by other countries in collaboration with social media companies may offer a solution to the infodemic problem.Revisión por pare

S100A4 mRNA-protein relationship uncovered by measurement noise reduction

Intrinsic biological fluctuation and/or measurement error can obscure the association of gene expression patterns between RNA and protein levels. Appropriate normalization of reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) data can reduce technical noise in transcript measurement, thus uncovering such relationships. The accuracy of gene expression measurement is often challenged in the context of cancer due to the genetic instability and “splicing weakness” involved. Here, we sequenced the poly(A) cancer transcriptome of canine osteosarcoma using mRNA-Seq. Expressed sequences were resolved at the level of two consecutive exons to enable the design of exon-border spanning RT-qPCR assays and ranked for stability based on the coefficient of variation (CV). Using the same template type for RT-qPCR validation, i.e. poly(A) RNA, avoided skewing of stability assessment by circular RNAs (circRNAs) and/or rRNA deregulation. The strength of the relationship between mRNA expression of the tumour marker S100A4 and its proportion score of quantitative immunohistochemistry (qIHC) was introduced as an experimental readout to fine-tune the normalization choice. Together with the essential logit transformation of qIHC scores, this approach reduced the noise of measurement as demonstrated by uncovering a highly significant, strong association between mRNA and protein expressions of S100A4 (Spearman’s coefficient ρ = 0.72 (p = 0.006)).publishedVersio

Rapid assessment of the performance of malaria control strategies implemented by countries in the Amazon subregion using adequacy criteria: case study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective of this study was to implement a rapid assessment of the performance of four malaria control strategies (indoor spraying, insecticide-treated bed nets, timely diagnosis, and artemisinin-based combination therapy) using adequacy criteria. The assessment was carried out in five countries of the Amazon subregion (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, and Peru).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A list of criteria in three areas was created for each of the four strategies: preliminary research that supports the design and adaptation of the control strategies, coverage of the control strategies and quality of the implementation of the strategies. The criteria were selected by the research team and based on the technical guidelines established by the World Health Organization. Each criterion included in the four lists was graded relative to whether evidence exists that the criterion is satisfied (value 1), not satisfied (value 0) or partially satisfied (value 0.5). The values obtained were added and reported according to a scale of three implementation categories: adequate, intermediate and deficient.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Implementation of residual indoor spraying and timely diagnosis was adequate in one country and intermediate or deficient in the rest. Insecticide-treated bed nets ranged between deficient and intermediate in all the countries, while implementation of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) was adequate in three countries and intermediate in the other two countries evaluated.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although ACT is the strategy with the better implementation in all countries, major gaps exist in implementation of the other three malaria control strategies in terms of technical criteria, coverage and quality desiredThe countries must implement action plans to close the gaps in the various criteria and thereby improve the performance of the interventions. The assessment tools developed, based on adequacy criteria, are considered useful for a rapid assessment by malaria control authorities in the different countries.</p

Adolescentes, sexismo y violencia basada en género en centros rurales de población del departamento Villaguay, Entre Ríos

Este estudio se plantea en un contexto en que un número mayor al 35% de las mujeres en el mundo han sufrido algún tipo de violencia, según informa la Organización de Naciones Unidas (ONU). En Entre Ríos, da a conocer que desde el año 2007 al 2016 se registraron un total de 72 casos en la provincia, de los cuales el 51% de las víctimas tenían entre 16 y 30 años. Según el Registro Judicial de Causas y Antecedentes de Violencia (REJUCAV) de Entre Ríos, en esta provincia se produjeron 25 femicidios entre los años 2018 y 2020. La mayor tasa de mortalidad se observa en el departamento Villaguay, donde se registraron seis casos. Tres sucesos con víctimas menores de 20 años, dos de los cuales ocurrieron en zona rural. Para esto se realizó un estudio con encuadre metodológico mixto, en base a escalas sumativas y entrevistas grupales en una población de adolescentes concurrentes a escuelas de enseñanza media de la zona rural del departamento Villaguay. Los resultados indican una prevalencia de los modelos tradicionalistas en la población rural concentrada, tanto en varones como en mujeres y en la población rural dispersa predomina en las respuestas una alta deseabilidad social. ARK/CAICYT: http://id.caicyt.gov.ar/ark:/s22504559/54o3qtkgq