Subnational sustainable development: The role of vertical intergovernmental transfers in reaching multidimensional goals

Achieving sustainable development hinges on two critical factors: the subnational implementation of public policies and the efficient allocation of resources across regions through vertical intergovernmental transfers. We introduce a framework that links these two mechanisms for analyzing the impact of reallocating federal transfers in the presence of regional heterogeneity from development indicators, budget sizes, expenditure returns, and long-term structural factors. Our study focuses on the case of Mexico and its 32 states. Using an agent-based computational model, we estimate the development gaps that will remain by the year 2030, and characterize their sensitivity to changes in the states’ budget sizes. Then, we estimate the optimal distribution of federal transfers to minimize these gaps. Crucially, these distributions depend on the specific development objectives set by the national government, and by various interdependencies between the heterogeneous qualities of the states. This work sheds new light on the complex problem of budgeting for the Sustainable Development Goals at the subnational level, and it is especially relevant for the study of fiscal decentralization from the expenditure point of view

Experimental realization of the classical Dicke model

We report the experimental implementation of the Dicke model in the semiclassical approximation, which describes a large number of two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode electromagnetic field in a perfectly reflecting cavity. This is managed by making use of two non-linearly coupled active, synthetic LC circuits, implemented by means of analog electrical components. The simplicity and versatility of our platform allows us not only to experimentally explore the coexistence of regular and chaotic trajectories in the Dicke model but also to directly observe the so-called ground-state and excited-state ``quantum'' phase transitions. In this analysis, the trajectories in phase space, Lyapunov exponents and the recently introduced Out-of-Time-Order-Correlator (OTOC) are used to identify the different operating regimes of our electronic device. Exhaustive numerical simulations are performed to show the quantitative and qualitative agreement between theory and experiment

Simplified Self-Consistent Theory of Colloid Dynamics

One of the main elements of the self-consistent generalized Langevin equation (SCGLE) theory of colloid dynamics [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 62}, 3382 (2000); ibid {\bf 72}, 031107 (2005)] is the introduction of exact short-time moment conditions in its formulation. The need to previously calculate these exact short-time properties constitutes a practical barrier for its application. In this note we report that a simplified version of this theory, in which this short-time information is eliminated, leads to the same results in the intermediate and long-time regimes. Deviations are only observed at short times, and are not qualitatively or quantitatively important. This is illustrated by comparing the two versions of the theory for representative model systems.Comment: 1 text archive, 3 figure

Development and sedative effect of a new formulation of midazolam in chocolate bars

The aim of this work was to assess the stability and sedative effect of midazolam in chocolate bars. The stability of 5 g chocolate bars containing 6 mg midazolam hydrochloride was evaluated at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C), at 4 and 40 °C, by HPLC. Drug plasma levels were measured and the sedative effect was confirmed in six healthy volunteers according to the Ramsay’s scale. Data regarding chocolate bar administration were compared to those from the apple juice solution. Pharmacokinetic data were processed using the WinNonLin 5.2 software. Midazolam in chocolate bars remained stable for 14 days at room temperature and exposed to light; for 90 days at 4 and 40 °C protected from light, and showed a longer shelf life, better flavour and appearance, inducing the same sedative effect as the apple juice preparation. Raspberry flavour masked midazolam unpleasing taste most favourably.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Development and sedative effect of a new formulation of midazolam in chocolate bars

The aim of this work was to assess the stability and sedative effect of midazolam in chocolate bars. The stability of 5 g chocolate bars containing 6 mg midazolam hydrochloride was evaluated at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C), at 4 and 40 °C, by HPLC. Drug plasma levels were measured and the sedative effect was confirmed in six healthy volunteers according to the Ramsay’s scale. Data regarding chocolate bar administration were compared to those from the apple juice solution. Pharmacokinetic data were processed using the WinNonLin 5.2 software. Midazolam in chocolate bars remained stable for 14 days at room temperature and exposed to light; for 90 days at 4 and 40 °C protected from light, and showed a longer shelf life, better flavour and appearance, inducing the same sedative effect as the apple juice preparation. Raspberry flavour masked midazolam unpleasing taste most favourably.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Índice epidemiológico de nutrición infantil basado en un modelo polinomial de los valores de puntuación Z del peso para la edad An epidemiological index to assess the nutritional status of children under five years of age in Mexico.

RESUMEN. Se propone un índice que modeliza la función matemática de los promedios de la puntuación Z del peso para la edad de 60,079 niños menores de 5 años de la República Mexicana obtenidos a partir de muestras probabilísticas. El modelo matemático de mayor precisión fue un polinomio de quinto grado. El coeficiente de correlación se ubicó en el intervalo .937SUMMARY. A nutritional status index was built by modeling the mathematical function of the mean Z scores of weight for age, from 60,079 children under five years of age, selected in a probabilistic fashion from the Mexican population. The most precise mathematical model was a fifth degree polynomial. The correlation coefficient was between .937<R<.999. The proposed index is the integral of the polynomial function, which represents the nutritional gap between the observed and the reference population. This model is used to analyze the characteristics of the different study populations. The index shows an improvement of -39.6 to -16.8 at the national level, between the years 1988 and 1999. This improvement is greater in urban (-36-4 to -8.4) than in rural areas (-48.8 in 1989, to -37.7 in 1999). The indigenous rural population of the country showed the highest levels of malnutrition (-54.4), as compared to the non-indigenous rural population (-37.1). In Mexico, City, the index was -5.9 in 1995, which represents an average of extreme nutritional values: -17.3 in the lower socioeconomic strata and 18.0 in the higher strata, the latter suggesting the presence of childhood obesity. This index is useful to estimate the epidemiological burden and the characteristics of malnutrition at early ages, as well as to assess the impact of interventions, without being altered by common biases related to the utilization of malnutrition prevalence values

Towards the De Novo Design of HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors Based on Natural Products

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be a public health problem. In 2020, 680,000 people died from HIV-related causes, and 1.5 million people were infected. Antiretrovirals are a way to control HIV infection but not to cure AIDS. As such, effective treatment must be developed to control AIDS. Developing a drug is not an easy task, and there is an enormous amount of work and economic resources invested. For this reason, it is highly convenient to employ computer-aided drug design methods, which can help generate and identify novel molecules. Using the de novo design, novel molecules can be developed using fragments as building blocks. In this work, we develop a virtual focused compound library of HIV-1 viral protease inhibitors from natural product fragments. Natural products are characterized by a large diversity of functional groups, many sp3 atoms, and chiral centers. Pseudo-natural products are a combination of natural products fragments that keep the desired structural characteristics from different natural products. An interactive version of chemical space visualization of virtual compounds focused on HIV-1 viral protease inhibitors from natural product fragments is freely available in the supplementary material

Farmacocinética comparada de metformina, en forma sólida y en formulación extemporánea líquida para pediatría, en voluntarios adultos sanos

ANTECEDENTES: fraccionar o pulverizar tabletas de metformina para ajustar dosis pediátricas dificulta su administración, genera inestabilidad del fármaco (oxidación/fotosensibilidad) y relativiza su biodisponibilidad. Se propone como alternativa de ajuste de dosis y de uniformidad de contenido una formulación extemporánea líquida a partir de tabletas de marca comercial. OBJETIVO: determinar la biodisponibilidad de metformina en formulación líquida, en voluntarios adultos sanos, para demostrar que su comportamiento farmacocinético permanece inalterado. MATERIALES Y MÉTODOS: estudio clínico, aleatorio, cruzado y longitudinal, en adultos sanos voluntarios (n=12), 7 varones y 5 mujeres, de 24.3 ± 1.8 años, con índice de masa corporal = 24.9 ± 2.5 kg/m2. Se obtuvieron muestras sanguíneas en gotas, colectadas en tarjetas Whatman 903®, a las 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 y 12 horas de ingerir 250 mg del fármaco. Se extrajo el fármaco a partir de 5 discos de papel filtro con sangre impregnada (16 μL), por precipitación directa, con acetonitrilo (ACN) y metanol.  La detección fue en una columna AcQuity UPLC BEH HILIC (2.1 × 100mm, 1.7 μm) por espectrometría de masas en tándem. Fase móvil: acetato de amonio 5 mM y ACN (80:20; v/v), a 0.25 mL/min isocráticamente. La farmacocinética se determinó mediante el programa Win Nonlin Pro 3.1 y las diferencias se evaluaron por ANOVA de una vía (p ≤ 0.05). RESULTADOS: el método fue exacto, preciso, selectivo y lineal entre 50 y 1000 ng/mL, coeficiente de determinación (r) de 0.9982. Las muestras extraídas y almacenadas a 4°C fueron estables por 17 horas y hasta 2 meses a -80°C. La metformina en tableta tuvo una Cmáx de 553.4 ng/mL y de 692.2 ng/mL con la formulación líquida. El Tmáx fue menor con la solución edulcorada (1.6 h) que con la tableta (1.8 h). La ke fue menor con la forma líquida (0.29 vs. 0.32 h-1), lo que sugiere que se eliminó más rápidamente. El AUC0-12 fue igual en ambas formas (F=0.002, Fcrit=6.3). CONCLUSIONES: la formulación líquida de metformina es igualmente biodisponible que la forma farmacéutica original, con la ventaja de permitir dosis menores que la tableta, ajuste preciso de dosis y uniformidad de contenido

Food Chemicals and Epigenetic Targets: Assembling an Epi Food Chemical Database

There is increasing awareness of epigenetics\u27s importance in understanding disease etiologies and developing novel therapeutics. An increasing number of publications in the past few years reflect the renewed interest in epigenetic processes and their relationship with food chemicals. However, there needs to be a recent study that accounts for the most recent advances in the area associating the chemical structures of the food and natural product components with their biological activity. Here, we analyze the status of food chemicals and their intersection with natural products in epigenetic research. Using chemoinformatics tools, we compared quantitatively chemical contents, structural diversity, and coverage in the chemical space of food chemicals with reported epigenetic activity. As part of this work, we built and curated a compound database of food and natural product chemicals annotated with structural information, epigenetic target activity profile, and main source of the food chemical or natural product, among other relevant features. The compounds are cross-linked with identifiers from other major public databases such as FooDB and the COlleCtion of Open Natural ProdUcTs, COCONUT. The compound database, the “Epi Food Chemical Database” is accessible at https://github.com/DIFACQUIM/Epi_food_Chemical_Databas