Gender Critical Feminism in Mexico: Origins, Particularities, Attributes

The rise of gender critical feminism in Mexico began in the year 2017 with the publication by Laura Lecuona of the now-infamous essay Cuando lo trans no es transgresor (“When Trans Is Not Transgressive”) (Guerrero Mc Manus, 2021a). In retrospect, trans-exclusionary feminism became prominent in a context in which two important developments were already occurring. On the one hand, in 2017, the Fourth Wave of Mexican feminism was already gaining influence on young women and LGBT+ populations. On the other hand, a year before, the Mexican anti-gender and anti-LGBT movement made a public demonstration of force with a national protest in which the Frente Nacional por la Familia (National Front for Family) expressed its opposition to what they described as “gender ideology” (Guerrero Mc Manus, 2016b). These two situations have since then become central in the particular rhetoric that we observe in this regional variety of gender critical feminism

Prejuicios que silencian: Injusticia Testimonial y Muerte Hermenéutica

En el presente texto se retoma la noción de injusticia epistémica desarrollada por Miranda Fricker, así como algunos avances posteriores que dicho concepto posibilitó, para mostrar las facetas epistémicas que acompañan a diversas formas de exclusión y marginación, en las cuales las desigualdades de género juegan un papel importante. Se sostiene que el feminismo contemporáneo puede caracterizarse, al menos en parte, por un afán de subsanar este tipo de injusticias. Empero, como también se evidencia en este texto, subsisten todavía en su interior contradicciones y prejuicios que conducen al mantenimiento de la condición de muerte hermenéutica en la que se encuentran las poblaciones trans y las personas dedicadas al trabajo sexual. De manera general, este trabajo busca revelar la existencia de un conjunto de puntos ciegos o prejuicios que aún perviven en el feminismo contemporáneo y que incluso han ido tomando fuerza; me refiero concretamente a las posiciones transexcluyentes y abolicionistas del trabajo sexual que en la actualidad promueven narrativas en torno a estos dos sectores y que potencian su marginalidad y exclusión

Incorporación de aspectos sociales en los Proyectos de Mejoras / Incorporação de aspectos sociais em Projetos de Melhoria

La creciente demanda de productos pesqueros sostenibles en el mercado ha provocado un considerable aumento en el número de proyectos de mejora de pesquerías (PROMEs). Los PROMEs son iniciativas de carácter multi-actor cuyo objetivo es mejorar una pesquería hasta alcanzar su sostenibilidad y, por consiguiente, poder obtener la certificación del programa de sostenibilidad marina del MSC [1]. Los PROMEs buscan una mejora en la gestión pesquera, la salud general de las pesquerías y la mitigación de impactos negativos en los ecosistemas, y cumplen una función en la promoción de productos pesqueros sostenibles. Sin embargo, en los últimos años, investigaciones de ONG especializadas y periodistas han resaltado la necesidad de garantizar la protección de los derechos humanos y laborales en la actividad pesquera, considerada inherentemente riesgosa. Estas solicitudes impulsan una serie de esfuerzos para que los PROMEs aborden estos temas transcendentales, y son cónsonas con las mejores prácticas internacionales descritas en el Principio 15 de los Principios Rectores de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos [2].Una aproximación práctica a este problema es la Política de Derechos Humanos y Responsabilidad Social de FisheryProgress [3], plataforma en la que muchos PROMEs reportan sus esfuerzos para lograr la sostenibilidad pesquera.  Esta política, adoptada en mayo de 2021, propone una hoja de ruta para el abordaje de aspectos sociales, e insta a todos los líderes de PROMEs a adoptar un marco común para informar sobre el desempeño social en la pesca. CeDePesca, consciente de que cada uno de los socios de sus PROMEs están sometidos a una presión cada vez mayor para aplicar la debida diligencia y evaluar los riesgos de faltas e infracciones contra los derechos humanos a lo largo de sus cadenas de suministro, ha empezado a acompañar a sus socios en el camino hacia el cumplimiento de esta política que entrará en vigencia en noviembre de 2021.Con este fin, CeDePesca ha integrado tres de sus PROMEs al Programa de Adopción Temprana de la política social.  Para cada uno, hemos desarrollado autoevaluaciones contra criterios de alto riesgo social, hemos iniciado la recopilación de listas de embarcaciones asociadas al proyecto y la búsqueda de antecedentes respecto a mecanismos de queja y remediación existentes en estas pesquerías, y nos preparamos para instar a nuestros socios a firmar el Código de Conducta para los Derechos Humanos y la Responsabilidad Social que acompaña la nueva política de FisheryProgress.  Estas actividades se enmarcan en el contexto del componente obligatorio de la política, y entendemos que si bien su ejecución no significa que se pueda afirmar que las pesquerías están libres de abusos a los derechos humanos y laborales, sí marcan el interés de los socios por cumplir con las buenas prácticas en materia de diligencia debida en derechos humanos y responsabilidad social

Estudio de prefactibilidad para la instalación de una planta de habilitación de viviendas prefabricadas

This project's main goal is to determine the technological, economic, financial, commercial and social feasibility of an assembly plant for prefabricated houses built with drywall and galvanized steel. These houses have shorter construction times, lower prices and have aseismic properties in contrast with traditional built houses; those characteristics are well received in our target market, which consists of low-income citizens. This statement can be reflected in the survey we conducted. We gathered data on the loans made through MiVivienda in the last years and we were able to determine a demand of 52 social houses for the first year, considering psychographic and demographic segmentation. The project’s location was chosen having in account factors such as the proximity to the target market, existing infrastructure, and workforce availability. Villa El Salvador was the best option among the analyzed districts. The size of the project was determined by the market size. To be able to reach the break-even point, we have to sell 40 houses. Moving on to the economic and financial evaluation, S/ 282 000 is the required investment, from which S/ 85 000 are financed through a financial institution over a 3-year period. The results were a three years investment recovery period, NPV of S/ 254 223 and a 57,91% IRR. Our sensitivity analysis determined that the price and the direct costs were the most sensible variables. The aggregate value on the final year of the project is S/ 9MM which reflects that materials gain a lot of value during the construction process. We also obtained that for every employee, an investment of S/ 13 429 is required.El objetivo de este proyecto es determinar la factibilidad tecnológica, económica, financiera, de mercado y social de una planta de habilitación de estructuras para la venta de viviendas construidas con el sistema constructivo en seco con drywall y acero galvanizado. Este sistema cuenta con ventajas en tiempos de entrega, precio y propiedades antisísmicas frente a su contraparte tradicional. La encuesta reflejó la alta aceptación de las viviendas. Con la información histórica de financiamientos por MiVivienda, se pudo proyectar una demanda para el proyecto de 52 viviendas para el primer año de operación, teniendo en cuenta segmentación psicográfica y demográfica. La localización del proyecto estuvo supeditada a factores tales como la cercanía al mercado, la infraestructura existente y la mano de obra disponible entre otros. Se optó por construir la planta en Villa el Salvador, Lima. El tamaño de proyecto estuvo determinado por el mercado. Se requiere vender 40 viviendas prefabricadas para superar el punto de equilibrio. En cuanto a la evaluación económica y financiera, se determinó que la inversión necesaria para llevar a cabo este proyecto es de S/ 282 000, de los cuales S/ 85 000 son financiados por una entidad financiera pagaderos en un plazo de 3 años. Se halló que el proyecto tiene un periodo de recupero de aproximadamente 3 años, VAN de S/ 254 223 y una TIR de 57,91%, y con un análisis de sensibilidad se determinó que el valor de venta y los costos directos son las variables más sensibles para los resultados obtenidos. El valor agregado al cabo de los 5 años de proyecto es de S/ 9 millones lo que refleja que las materias primas luego de pasar por el proceso de construcción generan un alto valor agregado. Además de obtuvo que, por cada colaborador, la inversión es de S/ 13 429

Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy following in utero HIV infection is associated with low viral reservoirs but other factors determine subsequent plasma viral rebound

BACKGROUND: Early HIV diagnosis allows combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation in the first days of life following in utero (IU) infection. The impact of early cART initiation on infant viral reservoir size in the setting of high-frequency cART non-adherence is unknown. METHODS: Peripheral blood total HIV DNA from 164 early treated (day 0-21 of life) IU HIV-infected South African infants was measured using droplet digital PCR at birth and following suppressive cART. We evaluated the impact of cART initiation timing on HIV reservoir size and decay, and on the risk of subsequent plasma viraemia in cART-suppressed infants. FINDINGS: Baseline HIV DNA (median 2.8 log10 copies/million PBMC, range 0.7 - 4.8) did not correlate with age at cART initiation (0-21 days) but instead with maternal antenatal cART use. In 98 infants with plasma viral suppression on cART, HIV DNA half-life was 28 days. However, the probability of maintenance of plasma aviraemia was low (0.46 at 12 months) and not influenced by HIV DNA load. Unexpectedly, longer time to viral suppression was associated with protection against subsequent viral rebound. CONCLUSIONS: With effective prophylaxis against mother-to-child transmission, cART initiation timing in the first 3 weeks of life is not critical to reservoir size

An HLA-I signature favouring KIR-educated Natural Killer cells mediates immune control of HIV in children and contrasts with the HLA-B-restricted CD8+T-cell-mediated immune control in adults

Natural Killer (NK) cells contribute to HIV control in adults, but HLA-B-mediated T-cell activity has a more substantial impact on disease outcome. However, the HLA-B molecules influencing immune control in adults have less impact on paediatric infection. To investigate the contribution NK cells make to immune control, we studied >300 children living with HIV followed over two decades in South Africa. In children, HLA-B alleles associated with adult protection or disease-susceptibility did not have significant effects, whereas Bw4 (p = 0.003) and low HLA-A expression (p = 0.002) alleles were strongly associated with immunological and viral control. In a comparator adult cohort, Bw4 and HLA-A expression contributions to HIV disease outcome were dwarfed by those of protective and disease-susceptible HLA-B molecules. We next investigated the immunophenotype and effector functions of NK cells in a subset of these children using flow cytometry. Slow progression and better plasma viraemic control were also associated with high frequencies of less terminally differentiated NKG2A+NKp46+CD56dim NK cells strongly responsive to cytokine stimulation and linked with the immunogenetic signature identified. Future studies are indicated to determine whether this signature associated with immune control in early life directly facilitates functional cure in children

Quantifying the reproducibility of lung ventilation images between 4-Dimensional Cone Beam CT and 4-Dimensional CT.

PURPOSE: Computed tomography ventilation imaging derived from four-dimensional cone beam CT (CTVI4DCBCT ) can complement existing 4DCT-based methods (CTVI4DCT ) to track lung function changes over a course of lung cancer radiation therapy. However, the accuracy of CTVI4DCBCT needs to be assessed since anatomic 4DCBCT has demonstrably poor image quality and small field of view (FOV) compared to treatment planning 4DCT. We perform a direct comparison between short interval CTVI4DCBCT and CTVI4DCT pairs to understand the patient specific image quality factors affecting the intermodality CTVI reproducibility in the clinic. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We analysed 51 pairs of 4DCBCT and 4DCT scans acquired within 1 day of each other for nine lung cancer patients. To assess the impact of image quality, CTVIs were derived from 4DCBCT scans reconstructed using both standard Feldkamp-Davis-Kress backprojection (CTVIFDK4DCBCT) and an iterative McKinnon-Bates Simultaneous Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (CTVIMKBSART4DCBCT). Also, the influence of FOV was assessed by deriving CTVIs from 4DCT scans that were cropped to a similar FOV as the 4DCBCT scans (CTVIcrop4DCT), or uncropped (CTVIuncrop4DCT). All CTVIs were derived by performing deformable image registration (DIR) between the exhale and inhale phases and evaluating the Jacobian determinant of deformation. Reproducibility between corresponding CTVI4DCBCT and CTVI4DCT pairs was quantified using the voxel-wise Spearman rank correlation and the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) for ventilation defect regions (identified as the lower quartile of ventilation values). Mann-Whitney U-tests were applied to determine statistical significance of each reconstruction and cropping condition. RESULTS: The (mean ± SD) Spearman correlation between CTVIFDK4DCBCT and CTVIuncrop4DCT was 0.60 ± 0.23 (range -0.03-0.88) and the DSC was 0.64 ± 0.12 (0.34-0.83). By comparison, correlations between CTVIMKBSART4DCBCT and CTVIuncrop4DCT showed a small but statistically significant improvement with = 0.64 ± 0.20 (range 0.06-0.90, P = 0.03) and DSC = 0.66 ± 0.13 (0.31-0.87, P = 0.02). Intermodal correlations were noted to decrease with an increasing fraction of lung truncation in 4DCBCT relative to 4DCT, albeit not significantly (Pearson correlation R = 0.58, P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that DIR based CTVIs derived from 4DCBCT can exhibit reasonable to good voxel-level agreement with CTVIs derived from 4DCT. These correlations outperform previous cross-modality comparisons between 4DCT-based ventilation and nuclear medicine. The use of 4DCBCT scans with iterative reconstruction and minimal lung truncation is recommended to ensure better reproducibility between 4DCBCT- and 4DCT-based CTVIs

Solar-type dynamo behaviour in fully convective stars without a tachocline

In solar-type stars (with radiative cores and convective envelopes), the magnetic field powers star spots, flares and other solar phenomena, as well as chromospheric and coronal emission at ultraviolet to X-ray wavelengths. The dynamo responsible for generating the field depends on the shearing of internal magnetic fields by differential rotation. The shearing has long been thought to take place in a boundary layer known as the tachocline between the radiative core and the convective envelope. Fully convective stars do not have a tachocline and their dynamo mechanism is expected to be very different, although its exact form and physical dependencies are not known. Here we report observations of four fully convective stars whose X-ray emission correlates with their rotation periods in the same way as in Sun-like stars. As the X-ray activity - rotation relationship is a well-established proxy for the behaviour of the magnetic dynamo, these results imply that fully convective stars also operate a solar-type dynamo. The lack of a tachocline in fully convective stars therefore suggests that this is not a critical ingredient in the solar dynamo and supports models in which the dynamo originates throughout the convection zone.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Nature (28 July 2016). Author's version, including Method

Negative parental responses to coming out and family functioning in a sample of lesbian and gay young adults

Parental responses to youths' coming out (CO) are crucial to the subsequent adjustment of children and family. The present study investigated the negative parental reaction to the disclosure of same-sex attraction and the differences between maternal and paternal responses, as reported by their homosexual daughters and sons. Participants' perceptions of their parents' reactions (evaluated through the Perceived Parental Reactions Scale, PPRS), age at coming out, gender, parental political orientation, and religiosity involvement, the family functioning (assessed through the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, FACES IV), were assessed in 164 Italian gay and lesbian young adults. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relation between family functioning and parental reaction to CO. The paired sample t-test was used to compare mothers and fathers' scores on the PPRS. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the relevance of each variable. No differences were found between mothers and fathers in their reaction to the disclosure. The analysis showed that a negative reaction to coming out was predicted by parents' right-wing political conservatism, strong religious beliefs, and higher scores in the scales Rigid and Enmeshed. Findings confirm that a negative parental reaction is the result of poor family resources to face a stressful situation and a strong belief in traditional values. These results have important implications in both clinical and social fields

Leishmania infantum leishmaniasis in corticosteroid – treated patients

BACKGROUND: The number of leishmaniasis cases associated with immunosuppression has increased regularly over the past 20 years. Immunosuppression related to HIV infection, immunosuppressive treatment, organ transplantation, and neoplastic diseases increases the risk for Leishmania-infected people to develop visceral illness. CASE PRESENTATION: Three cases of Leishmania infantum leishmaniasis in corticosteroid (CS)-treated patients are reported: an isolated lingual leishmaniasis in a farmer treated with CS for asthma, a severe visceral leishmaniasis associated with cutaneous lesions in a woman with myasthenia gravis, and a visceral involvement after cutaneous leishmaniasis in a man receiving CS. CONCLUSION: Physicians should recognise CS-treated patients as a population likely to be immunesuppressed. In immunodeficiency conditions, unusual forms of leishmaniasis can develop and foster the risk of a diagnostic delay and of poor response to therapy