Rescuing the Media in Emerging Democracies through ICT

Several studies have shown the efficiency and pitfalls of ICT for mediating collective communication during political upheavals. However, little literature exists on understanding how the diversity of content generated through ICT empowers a free press when traditional media channels fail to expose the truth and promote public debate. This research aims to broaden our understanding of how ICT facilitate the exposure and interpretation of conditions in government institutions that go against public moralities – interpretations with the potential to mobilise thousands of individuals to protest. We engaged in an in-depth qualitative research using data from the Twittersphere. We conducted our study in the context of a Guatemalan tragedy in which 41 girls living in a state care home lost their lives. Our contribution to the literature is the understanding of how ICT enables the collective construction of meaning powerful enough to mobilise thousands of individuals in protest

Lunar impact flashes from Geminids, analysis of luminous efficiencies and the flux of large meteoroids on Earth

We analyze lunar impact flashes recorded by our team during runs in December 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2014. In total, 12 impact flashes with magnitudes ranging between 7.1 and 9.3 in V band were identified. From these, 9 events could be linked to the Geminid stream. Using these observations the ratio of luminous energy emitted in the flashes with respect to the kinetic energy of the impactors for meteoroids of the Geminid stream is estimated. By making use of the known Geminids meteoroid flux on Earth we found this ratio to be 2.1x10$^{-3}$ on average. We compare this luminous efficiency with other estimations derived in the past for other meteoroid streams and also compare it with other estimations that we present here for the first time by making use of crater diameter measurements. We think that the luminous efficiency has to be revised downward, not upward, at least for sporadic impacts. This implies an increase in the influx of kilogram-sized and larger bodies on Earth that has been derived thus far through the lunar impact flash monitoring technique

Evaluación del efecto de la suplementación del antioxidante astaxantina y la administración de la vacuna tcvac1m en ratones balb/c infectados con trypanosoma cruzi

El conocimiento científico en torno al parásito Trypanosoma cruzi y la enfermedad de Chagas, en la actualidad permite diversificar estrategias que tienen la finalidad de solucionar o aminorar el problema. Entre estas medidas se encuentra el control del vector, desarrollo de agentes farmacológicos y vacunas de nueva generación, así como el uso de tratamientos alternativos que involucran extractos herbolarios con capacidad antiparasitaria. A pesar del poco éxito alcanzado, la OMS aun reporta 8 millones de personas infectadas en el mundo, 25 millones en riesgo de contraer la infección y un registro de 10,000 muertes al año. En este contexto, el problema se ha globalizado ya que recientemente se han registrado casos de Chagas en lugares no endémicos. Actualmente solo los fármacos Nifurtimox y Benznidazol han demostrado eficacia en el tratamiento, sin embargo, su empleo conlleva a efectos adversos cuya severidad es dosis dependiente y proporcional a la cronicidad de la enfermedad. El panorama epidemiológico de esta enfermedad podría ser un gran desafío, debido a la inexistencia de vacunas antiparasitarias efectivas, aunado a la resistencia farmacológica que últimamente se ha reportado en el parasito. Respecto a las estrategias vacunales, se han empleado antígenos de superficie del parásito como vacunas de ADN o proteínas recombinantes, las cuales han demostrado efectos inmunoestimulantes de las respuestas de tipo Th1 y Th2. En algunos casos, se ha controlado la carga parasitaria y el infiltrado inflamatorio, alcanzando mayor sobrevida en modelos de infección experimental. Sin embargo, estas medidas tienen limitantes terapéuticas, debido a que no se logra inmunidad estéril y/o las respuestas inmunitarias específicas son inadecuadas. Recientemente, llama la atención el uso de antioxidantes exógenos como medida terapéutica contra la enfermedad. En esta relación, las vitaminas E y C han demostrado efectos positivos en cuanto a la evolución de la cardiomiopatía chagasica crónica. Tales efectos cardioprotectores, se atribuyen a una disminución en los niveles de estrés y daño oxidativo, los cuales se asocian a la sobre-activación del sistema inmunitario contra la enfermedad de Chagas y/o a los efectos adversos propiciados por terapéutica farmacológica. En la presente investigación evaluamos el efecto de la ASTX in vitro, en parásitos cultivados axénicamente y en co-cultivo con células Vero, e in vivo, donde se evaluó la suplementación de la ASTX en ratones BALB/c infectados con T. cruzi previamente inmunizados con TcVac1M. Los resultados in vitro muestran que la astaxantina tiene efecto detrimental sobre los parásitos, pero no cuando se cultiva con monocapa de células Vero. In vivo, la ASTX no mostró valor terapéutico frente a la infección pues los ratones murieron antes del día 30 después de la infección y no contribuyo en el control de la parasitemia. Sin embargo, se mostró incremento en la infiltración linfo-plasmocítica de tipo focal en corazón, con reducción en el número de nidos de amastigotes, y en bazo los folículos linfoides fueron menos hiperplásicos en comparación con los grupos control. El uso de la vacuna TcVac1M y la suplementación con ASTX, no mostró control en la carga parasitaria y la vacuna por sí sola mostró 50 % de sobrevivencia comparado con el 25 % en los ratones suplementados con ASTX. También se observó una disminución en los niveles de estrés oxidativo y no hubo mejora en la producción de anticuerpos IgG. En tejido cardiaco la suplementación del antioxidante registró nidos de amastigotes con moderada infiltración linfo-plasmocítica, comparado con el grupo control vacunal el cual no registró nidos de amastigotes y el infiltrado fue ligero. De ahí que no se recomienda el uso de la ASTX durante la fase aguda de la infección por T. cruzi, ya sea solo o en combinación con fármacos terapéuticos. La vacuna TcVac1M por si sola induce una buena respuesta inmune contra la infección inducida por T. cruzi en ratones BALB/c. A pesar de lo reportado, son necesario nuevas estrategias vacunales y sería importante evaluar la ASTX en fase crónica de la enfermedad de Chagas y determinar si tiene potencial contra el desarrollo de la cardiomiopatía chagasica.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México Proy No. 3326/201

IPSC BASED GENE CORRECTION AND DISEASE MODEL OF A NEW CLASS OF LGMD DUE TO POGLUT1 MUTATION

Recently, a novel class of muscular dystrophy has been discovered in a family due to autosomal recessive missense mutation in POGLUT1. Mutation of this enzyme leads to decreased O-glucosyltransferase activity and impaired Notch signaling, the pathways important for skeletal muscle stem cell (satellite cells) quiescence and activation. We hypothesize that reduced POGLUT1 activity and impaired Notch signaling is causative of this limb girdle muscular dystrophy through dysfunction of muscle stem cells and myogenic progenitors. To test this, we have used iPSCs for disease modeling and rescue experiments. Using a CRISPR based gene targeting method, we aimed to correct the point mutation and restore POGLUT1 function, thus restoring Notch signaling activity. Following correction, iPSC-derived gene corrected myogenic cells were differentiated and compared to healthy control and patient cell line (isogenic control). Compared to patient cells, gene-corrected cells demonstrated superior ability to proliferate and improved myogenic potential as compared to patient uncorrected cells. In addition, Notch signaling pathway activity was improved in the corrected cells as a result of the POGULT1 gene correction. These results support our hypothesis that POGULT1 modulates Notch signaling in myogenic cells and its involvement may be responsible for the development of this type of LGMD

Assessment of coercive persuasion: the Scale of Detection of Coercive Persuasion in Group Contexts (EDPC)

Comunicación presentada en las Jornadas Internacionales ICSA 2017 sobre Dinámicas sectarias y radicalizaciónCoercive persuasion refers to the control and manipulation developed by abusive groups, through different aggressive strategies that influence changes in the environment of its members, distorting cognition, altering emotions and generating significant psychosocial damage. It is a subtle, gradual and powerful force that affects around 500,000 Spanish victims of cultic groups (Cuevas & Perlado, 2011; Cuevas, 2012). Attaining power is one of the main goals of these groups, being the control and exploitation of the individual a part of the process. This derives to individuals giving up their own goals, freedom, material possessions, family and social networks, health or even life itself (Rodríguez-Carballeira, Saldaña, Almendros, Martin-Peña, Escartín, & Porrúa-Garcia, 2015). Such strategies are often implemented in a planned, graduate way and using deceit, difficulting that people who targeted are able to detect their evident aggressiveness and the generated damage. If there is an obvious shortage of instruments measuring psychological abuse in different fields (partner violence, harassment, bullying, etc.), the development of tools to assess the presence of such strategies in group contexts is even more scarce (Almendros, Gámez-Guadix, Carrobles & Rodríguez Carballeira, 2011). One of those assessment tools, the Interview for Detection of Coercive Persuasion (Cuevas & Canto, 2006) contains a wide range of coercive and abusive practises taking place within manipulative group. It has been applied in Spain in the forensic field in prosecutions of abusive groups (Dharma Tradición, Casa Yoga, Miguelianos, Revelance, etc.). The main objective of this recently validated tool (Cuevas, 2016) was to identify and provide evidences of the systematic application of coercive persuasion techniques on victims of abusive groups (Cuevas, 2012, 2016). Deriving from this instrument, sharing objectives, a new scale of 40 items and validated in Spanish population: the Scale of Detection of Coercive Persuasion in Group Contexts, or EDPC (Cuevas, 2016 ). To validate the EDPC, a Spanish sample of 134 people who identified themselves as having been abused or having been overly controlled by a group was selected. To assess criterion validity of the instrument, other different instruments (BSI MOS-SSS, RSE, SLEQ, ICP and EDS) were used. The group psychological abuse scale GPA (Chambers, Langone, Dole, & Grice, 1994), Spanish modified version (Almendros et al.,2004; Almendros et al., 2009) was used to assess the convergent validity of the instrument. The EDPC showed appropriate psychometric properties. In respect to reliability, the standardized Cronbach alpha coefficient reached a value of 0.97. The exploratory factorial analysis indicated the presence of a factor (coercive persuasion), establishing the suitability of a one-dimensional model. This scale aims to be useful in clinical and forensic fields, in order to assess the control and manipulation exercised in group contexts. Using it could be relevant to provide evidences of coercive groups practises, helping at trying to determinate the relationship between damage on the victims and the specific actions taken by groups or individuals who perform the abusive behaviors.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

High Performance Computing Applied to Structural Analysis of Concrete Structures

Continuum mechanics models are the main tool in structural analysis. Due to their continuity assumption, some of them do not predict accurately the behavior of concrete structures. While these models are widely used by design engineers, many are flawed for fundamental reasons. The State-Based Peridynamic Lattice Model (SPLM) is presented in this thesis as a viable alternative to continuum models. The SPLM is shown to have a simple formulation that allows the engineer to fully understand the underlying theory. The elastic, plastic and damage SPLM models are presented. Moreover, SPLM is shown to be capable of modelling essential mechanisms in concrete structures. SPLM is run on massive parallel computers, since it requires large computational power. In this thesis, a new parallel implementation is presented, and a study of the performance of the original and the new system is presented

Course of infection with Lymphocystis disease virus in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

Lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) is the etiological agent of lymphocystis disease (LCD), a pathology that affects a wide variety of fish species. Data about LCDV pathogenesis are very short, and mainly limited to histopathological studies of skin lesions. Recent studies on viral genome detection (both by PCR or DNA-DNA in situ hybridization) suggest that LCDV establish a systemic and persistent infection in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), but further studies are necessary to prove if this infection is productive or not. In the present study viral quantification and viral mRNA detection (by qPCR and RT-qPCR) have been used to investigate LCDV multiplication in different organs of juvenile gilthead seabream. In addition, a histopathological study was carried out. Animals were collected from two commercial farms in Southwestern Spain. In one farm, where no LCD outbreaks have been recorded, apparently healthy fish were collected, whereas in the other farm, diseased and recovered (two months after LCD symptoms disappearance) fish were sampled. All the animals were LCDV-infected, and viral gene expression was detected in every organ analysed (caudal fin, intestine, liver, spleen, kidney and brain). In asymptomatic animals, both apparently healthy and recovered, a low-titre infection was observed, with the highest viral copy numbers detected in brain and kidney. In diseased fish, viral loads were significantly higher than in subclinical infected animals, being maximal in caudal fin, where lymphocysts were present in the dermis. Different histological alterations were observed in the internal organs from diseased fish analysed, although no hypertrophied cells were detected in any of them. In recovered fish, most of the organs examined presented similar histological features to those in healthy animals. Thus, pathological changes were only detected in the intestine and liver, although they were less severe than those observed in diseased fish. The results presented showed that LCDV establishes a systemic infection in juvenile gilthead seabream, which can be subclinical. In addition, although the disease is self-limiting, the virus is not removed after disease recovery, but produces a persistent infection.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec