The good the bad and the ugly: The socio-economic impact of drug cartels and their violence in Mexico

Crime and violence are commonplace across many developing regions, particularly in Latin America currently holding the highest crime rate worldwide. In some instances, such as Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, drug cartels have contributed to both the high crime and violence rates. Cartels, apart from using gross violence to intimidate and punish rivals, are known to also corrupt state institutions and directly commit crimes against civilians such as extortions and kidnappings among others. Nowadays, Mexico is among the worst affected by drug violence. Until mid-2000, cartels had operated fairly peacefully in the country. But since then, when the government started prosecuting cartels with military force, cartels have been fighting fiercely for territory resulting in over 63,000 drug-related homicides just between 2006 and 2012. Several Mexican cities have become prey to this wave of violence, and in some the overall death toll has been as high as in countries experiencing civil war (Molzahn et al., 2013). Despite the scale of the ongoing conflict, little is known about how families and businesses living in the crossfire have been affected

Radionuclide Determination In Surface Water Samples By Inductively Coupled Plasma With Sector Field Mass Spectrometry (ICP-SFMS)

The determination of naturally occurring radionuclides in the environment by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry of high resolution (ICP-SFMS) has gained recognition over the last fifteen years, relative to the radiometric techniques, as the result of improvement in instrumental performance, sample introduction equipment and sample preparation. With the increase in instrumental sensitivity, it is now possible to measure ultratrace levels of many radioisotopes.The aim of this work was to determined the natural radionuclides (232Th, 234U, 235U and 238U) in surface water using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Sector Field Mass Spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). The samples were sampling from Lerma river, State of Mexico at february to april 2015. The process of treatment of sample consisted in perform an acid digestion according to the 3015A USEPA method followed of the direct measurement in ICP-SFMS. Results obtained were: a) identify the presence of 232Th, 234U, 235U and 238U isotopes in water, b) isotopic ratios were for 234U/238U=1.133 ± 0.016. ICP-SFMS has gained popularity in the field of radiochemistry, particularly as a method of detection for long lived-actinides

Standardised description of health and social care: A systematic review of use of the ESMS/DESDE (European Service Mapping Schedule/Description and Evaluation of Services and DirectoriEs)

Background: Evidence-informed planning and interpretation of research results both require standardised description of local care delivery context. Such context analysis descriptions should be comparable across regions and countries to allow benchmarking and organizational learning, and for research findings to be interpreted in context. The European Service Mapping Schedule (ESMS) is a classification of adult mental health services that was later adapted for the assessment of health and social systems research (Description and Evaluation of Services and DirectoriEs - DESDE). The aim of the study was to review the diffusion and use of the ESMS/DESDE system in health and social care and its impact in health policy and decision-making. Method: We conducted a systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (1997–2018). Results: Out of 155 papers mentioning ESMS/DESDE, 71 have used it for service research and planning. The classification has been translated into eight languages and has been used by seven international research networks. Since 2000, it has originated 11 instruments for health system research with extensive analysis of their metric properties. The ESMS/DESDE coding system has been used in 585 catchment areas in 34 countries for description of services delivery at local, regional and national levels. Conclusions: The ESMS/DESDE system provides a common terminology, a classification of care services, and a set of tools allowing a variety of aims to be addressed in healthcare and health systems research. It facilitates comparisons across and within countries for evidence-informed planning

Study of Friction and Wear Effects in Aluminum Parts Manufactured via Single Point Incremental Forming Process Using Petroleum and Vegetable Oil-Based Lubricants

This paper focuses on studying how mineral oil, sunflower, soybean, and corn lubricants influence friction and wear effects during the manufacturing of aluminum parts via the single point incremental forming (SPIF) process. To identify how friction, surface roughness, and wear change during the SPIF of aluminum parts, Stribeck curves were plotted as a function of the SPIF process parameters such as vertical step size, wall angle, and tool tip semi-spherical diameter. Furthermore, lubricant effects on the surface of the formed parts are examined by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, the Alicona optical 3D measurement system, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results show that during the SPIF process of the metallic specimens, soybean and corn oils attained the highest friction, along forces, roughness, and wear values. Based on the surface roughness measurements, it can be observed that soybean oil produces the worst surface roughness finish in the direction perpendicular to the tool passes (Ra =1.45 μm) considering a vertical step size of 0.25 mm with a 5 mm tool tip diameter. These findings are confirmed through plotting SPIFed Stribeck curves for the soybean and corn oils that show small hydrodynamic span regime changes for an increasing sample step-size forming process. This article elucidates the effects caused by mineral and vegetable oils on the surface of aluminum parts produced as a function of Single Point Incremental Sheet Forming process parameters

Overexpression of Cannabinoid CB2 Receptor in the Brain Induces Hyperglycaemia and a Lean Phenotype in Adult Mice

t is well known that the endocannabinoid system, through cannabinoid CB1 receptor activation,has an important role in the main aspects of energy balance (i.e. food intake, energy expenditureand glucose and fat metabolism), orchestrating all the machinery involved in body weight con-trol and energy homeostasis. A number of studies have revealed a crucial role of brain CB1receptors in these processes. However, functional cannabinoid CB2 receptors have also beendescribed in the brain, with no studies addressing their putative role in body weight control andglucose homeostasis. We have tested this hypothesis by analysing fasting-induced feeding, bodyweight, some hypothalamic neuropeptides, glucose tolerance and plasma hormones in an animalmodel specifically overexpressing CB2 receptors in the central nervous system. We found thatspecific overexpression of CB2 receptors in the brain promoted higher basal glucose levels,decreased fasting-induced feeding and, eventually, led to a lean phenotype and glucose intoler-ance. These findings could not be attributed to decreased locomotor activity, increased anxietyor depressive-like behaviours. The expression of relevant neuropeptides such as pro-opiomelano-cortin and galanin in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus was altered but not those of theCB1 receptor. Indeed, no changes in CB1 expression were found in the liver, skeletal muscle andadipose tissue. However, cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptor expression in the endocrine pan-creas and glucagon plasma levels were decreased. No changes in plasma adiponectin, leptin,insulin and somatostatin were found. Taken together, these results suggest a role for centralcannabinoid CB2 receptors in body weight control and glucose homeostasis

Enhancing a de novo enzyme activity by computationally-focused ultra-low-throughput screening

Directed evolution has revolutionized protein engineering. Still, enzyme optimization by random library screening remains sluggish, in large part due to futile probing of mutations that are catalytically neutral and/or impair stability and folding. FuncLib is a novel approach which uses phylogenetic analysis and Rosetta design to rank enzyme variants with multiple mutations, on the basis of predicted stability. Here, we use it to target the active site region of a minimalist-designed, de novo Kemp eliminase. The similarity between the Michaelis complex and transition state for the enzymatic reaction makes this system particularly challenging to optimize. Yet, experimental screening of a small number of active-site variants at the top of the predicted stability ranking leads to catalytic efficiencies and turnover numbers ( 2 104 M 1 s 1 and 102 s 1) for this anthropogenic reaction that compare favorably to those of modern natural enzymes. This result illustrates the promise of FuncLib as a powerful tool with which to speed up directed evolution, even on scaffolds that were not originally evolved for those functions, by guiding screening to regions of the sequence space that encode stable and catalytically diverse enzymes. Empirical valence bond calculations reproduce the experimental activation energies for the optimized eliminases to within 2 kcal mol 1 and indicate that the enhanced activity is linked to better geometric preorganization of the active site. This raises the possibility of further enhancing the stabilityguidance of FuncLib by computational predictions of catalytic activity, as a generalized approach for computational enzyme designKnut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Academy Fellowship) 2018.0140Human Frontier Science Program RGP0041/2017FEDER Funds/Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities BIO2015-66426-R RTI2018-097142-B-100FEDER/Junta de Andalucia - Consejeria de Economia y Conocimiento E.FQM.113.UGR18Swedish National Infrastructure for computing (SNAC) 2018/2-3 2019/2-

Diferentes maneras de uso de un clarificante natural en procesos de potabilización de aguas turbias

Durante el proceso de potabilización, para clarificar el agua se utilizan coagulantes que son generalmente sales inorgánicas, como el sulfato de aluminio. Sin embargo, estas presentan desventajas como por ejemplo el riguroso control de pH que requiere su uso, baja eficiencia cuando las aguas son muy turbias y alto contenido de aluminio residual, convirtiéndose en un riesgo para la salud humana. Por este motivo se comenzó a incursionar el uso de clarificantes naturales ya que son más económicos, accesibles e inocuos. Entre estos se encuentra el mucílago de penca de tuna o nopal. Esta planta es autóctona de la región del noroeste de Argentina ya que las condiciones ambientales son favorables para su crecimiento. Aunque la penca se utiliza de manera casera, la eficiencia con respecto a la manera de uso no está del todo estudiada. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el poder clarificante del mucílago de penca de tuna agregándolo a matrices acuosas turbias de diversas formas: mucílago licuado, mucílago en polvo y polvo de extracto de mucílago. Las matrices fueron preparadas con agua destilada y una concentración de 5 g/l de sólidos (tamaño < 45 µm). Para los ensayos se utilizó el test de jarra y se determinó para cada caso la dosis óptima. Se encontró en todos los casos que la remoción de turbidez fue mayor a 96%, siendo el más eficiente el mucílago de penca de tuna licuado y que el desempeño de los clarificantes naturales fue mejor que el del sulfato de alumini

Correlates of ideal cardiovascular health in European adolescents: The HELENA study

Background and aims: The ideal cardiovascular health (iCVH) construct consists of 4 health behaviors (smoking status, body mass index, physical activity and diet) and 3 health factors (total cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose). A greater number of iCVH components in adolescence are related to better cardiovascular health, but little is known about the correlates of iCVH in adolescents. Thus, the aim of the study was to examine correlates of iCVH in European adolescents. Methods and results: The study comprised 637 European adolescents with complete iCVH data. Participants were part of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) study, a cross-sectional, multicenter study conducted in 9 different European countries. Correlates investigated were sex and age, family affluence scale, maternal education, geographic location, sleep time, television viewing, duration of pregnancy, birth weight and breastfeeding. Younger adolescents, those whose mothers had medium/high education or those whowatched television less than 2 h per day had a greater number of iCVH components compared to those who were older, had a mother with low education or watched television 2 h or more daily (P <= 0.01). Conclusion: Since in our study older adolescents had worse iCVH than younger adolescents, early promotion of cardiovascular health may be important. Future studies mayalso investigate the usefulness of limiting television viewing to promote iCVH. Finally, since adolescents of mothers with low education had poorer iCVH, it may be of special interest to tailor public health promotion to adolescents from families with low socioeconomic status

On the Unification of Process Semantics: Logical Semantics

We continue with the task of obtaining a unifying view of process semantics by considering in this case the logical characterization of the semantics. We start by considering the classic linear time-branching time spectrum developed by R.J. van Glabbeek. He provided a logical characterization of most of the semantics in his spectrum but, without following a unique pattern. In this paper, we present a uniform logical characterization of all the semantics in the enlarged spectrum. The common structure of the formulas that constitute all the corresponding logics gives us a much clearer picture of the spectrum, clarifying the relations between the different semantics, and allows us to develop generic proofs of some general properties of the semantics.Comment: In Proceedings SOS 2011, arXiv:1108.279