Agricultural production amidst conflict : the effects of shocks, uncertainty and governance of non-state armed actors

This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small-farmers. We use a unique household survey applied to 4.800 households in four micro-regions of Colombia. The survey collects detailed information on households’ economic conditions, incidence of violent shocks, and presence of non-state armed actors. We separate the effects of conflict on direct impacts, measured through conflict-induced shocks, and indirect impacts, measured through years of presence of nonstate armed actors. The results show the association between lower agricultural production and conflict transmits through different channels. In regions with an intense conflict, yearly agricultural revenues per hectare and investments are lower, and households concentrate production on seasonal crops and pasture. Presence of non-state armed actors is associated with an immediate increase in production costs, lower access to formal financial institutions, and lower investments. The results suggest that households are affected by indirect and direct impacts that may induce sub-optimal agricultural decisions. Although traditional reconstruction efforts are crucial, post-conflict policies should also aim to reduce uncertainty and improve the rule of law to foster increases in production

Hydrography and dynamics of Port Foster, Deception Island, Antarctica

The circulation and water masses of Port Foster, Deception Island, were studied using conductivity-temperature-depth stations inside and outside the semi-enclosed bay and an array of bottom temperature sensors moored around the perimeter of the bay over two weeks in the summer of 2012. Inside Port Foster, the water column is divided into two layers separated by a temperature-forced, seasonal pycnocline at ~40–60 m. The circulation of the upper layer is in an anticlockwise direction, with mean geostrophic currents of ~0.04–0.10 ms^(-1). The lower layer, from ~60 m to the seabed, shows coastal-trapped waves travelling in a clockwise direction, possibly triggered by local wind gusts. Local sea ice melt in areas surrounding the underwater hot springs of Pendulum Cove appears as a fresh, warm anomaly down to 30 m

Plan de negocio para implementar un centro especializado de hemodi?lisis en la regi?n de Hu?nuco

La poblaci?n de regiones como Hu?nuco y Pasco son muy vulnerables a sufrir enfermedades renales cr?nicas; sin embargo, no cuentan con espacios adecuados para un debido tratamiento y el sector p?blico no logra cubrir toda la demanda, por lo cual los pacientes de la regi?n centro del pa?s deben de trasladarse constantemente hasta la ciudad de Lima, esto no s?lo los afecta econ?micamente, sino que incide de modo negativo en su calidad de vida. Ante esta problem?tica, la implementaci?n de un centro que brinde el servicio de hemodi?lisis, no s?lo es necesario, sino que, ante esta situaci?n, se hace urgente

El costo de producci?n en las empresas agropecuarias

Dirigido a los trabajadores de las cooperativas agrarias de producci?n (CAP) y otras empresas agropecuarias, su finalidad es proporcionar conocimientos b?sicos sobre la estimaci?n y el control de los costos de producci?n. Las CAP son uno de los modelos empresariales del sector asociativo en el agro reconocidas legalmente. La caracter?stica esencial de estas empresas es que todos los trabajadores socios son due?os de la tierra, maquinaria, herramientas, edificios, lo que les da derecho a participar en la gesti?n de la empresa. Esto significa que ser?n responsables de trazar los objetivos y planes de la CAP, elegir a sus ?rganos de gobierno, aprobar el ejercicio econ?mico, decidir qu? hacer con el remanente neto y c?mo distribuir el excedente, decisiones que se toman en asamblea general. El ejercicio de estos derechos hace necesario que los socios conozcan c?mo desarrolla la empresa sus actividades productivas, administrativas y de servicios, y c?mo estas se relacionan entre s?. Sin embargo, la experiencia de funcionamiento de las CAP demuestra que existen ciertas deficiencias en su gesti?n, una de las cuales es la relacionada con la estimaci?n y el control de los costos de producci?n. La finalidad de este libro es contribuir a mejorar la gesti?n de estas empresas capacitando a sus trabajadores en procedimientos t?cnicos para la estimaci?n, el registro y el control de los costos de producci?n

Markov Influence Diagrams.

Markov influence diagrams (MIDs) are a new type of probabilistic graphical model that extends influence diagrams in the same way that Markov decision trees extend decision trees. They have been designed to build state-transition models, mainly in medicine, and perform cost-effectiveness analyses. Using a causal graph that may contain several variables per cycle, MIDs can model various patient characteristics without multiplying the number of states; in particular, they can represent the history of the patient without using tunnel states. OpenMarkov, an open-source tool, allows the decision analyst to build and evaluate MIDs-including cost-effectiveness analysis and several types of deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis-with a graphical user interface, without writing any code. This way, MIDs can be used to easily build and evaluate complex models whose implementation as spreadsheets or decision trees would be cumbersome or unfeasible in practice. Furthermore, many problems that previously required discrete event simulation can be solved with MIDs; i.e., within the paradigm of state-transition models, in which many health economists feel more comfortable

All about (nk cell-mediated) death in two acts and an unexpected encore: initiation, execution and activation of adaptive immunity

NK cells are key mediators of immune cell-mediated cytotoxicity toward infected and transformed cells, being one of the main executors of cell death in the immune system. NK cells recognize target cells through an array of inhibitory and activating receptors for endogenous or exogenous pathogen-derived ligands, which together with adhesion molecules form a structure known as immunological synapse that regulates NK cell effector functions. The main and best characterized mechanisms involved in NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity are the granule exocytosis pathway (perforin/granzymes) and the expression of death ligands. These pathways are recognized as activators of different cell death programmes on the target cells leading to their destruction. However, most studies analyzing these pathways have used pure recombinant or native proteins instead of intact NK cells and, thus, extrapolation of the results to NK cell-mediated cell death might be difficult. Specially, since the activation of granule exocytosis and/or death ligands during NK cell-mediated elimination of target cells might be influenced by the stimulus received from target cells and other microenvironment components, which might affect the cell death pathways activated on target cells. Here we will review and discuss the available experimental evidence on how NK cells kill target cells, with a special focus on the different cell death modalities that have been found to be activated during NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity; including apoptosis and more inflammatory pathways like necroptosis and pyroptosis. In light of this new evidence, we will develop the new concept of cell death induced by NK cells as a new regulatory mechanism linking innate immune response with the activation of tumour adaptive T cell responses, which might be the initiating stimulus that trigger the cancer-immunity cycle. The use of the different cell death pathways and the modulation of the tumour cell molecular machinery regulating them might affect not only tumour cell elimination by NK cells but, in addition, the generation of T cell responses against the tumour that would contribute to efficient tumour elimination and generate cancer immune memory preventing potential recurrences

Plan de negocio de servicios de cuidados paliativos domiciliarios para pacientes oncol?gicos de Lima Este

El objetivo del estudio fue implementar un plan de negocio de cuidados paliativos domiciliario para pacientes oncol?gicos de Lima Este. En consecuencia, se valor? a los diferentes proveedores del servicio de cuidados paliativos domiciliario a trav?s de un an?lisis de los posibles competidores, se estableci? un an?lisis estrat?gico y una estrategia de posicionamiento de la marca y canales de venta de un servicio de cuidados paliativos domiciliario, se elabor? un plan de operaciones, se estableci? los recursos humanos, administrativos, log?sticos y financieros necesarios para el desarrollo eficiente del servicio de cuidados paliativos domiciliario y se evalu? la viabilidad del plan de negocios de servicios de cuidados paliativos domiciliario, mediante la elaboraci?n de un plan financiero

Expansion of different subpopulations of CD26 ?/low T cells in allergic and non-allergic asthmatics

CD26 displays variable levels between effector (TH17 >> TH1 > TH2 > Treg) and naive/memory (memory > naive) CD4(+) T lymphocytes. Besides, IL-6/IL(-)6R is associated with TH17-differentiation and asthma severity. Allergic/atopic asthma (AA) is dominated by TH2 responses, while TH17 immunity might either modulate the TH2-dependent inflammation in AA or be an important mechanism boosting non-allergic asthma (NAA). Therefore, in this work we have compared the expression of CD26 and CD126 (IL-6Ralpha) in lymphocytes from different groups of donors: allergic (AA) and non-allergic (NAA) asthma, rhinitis, and healthy subjects. For this purpose, flow cytometry, haematological/biochemical, and in vitro proliferation assays were performed. Our results show a strong CD26-CD126 correlation and an over-representation of CD26(-) subsets with a highly-differentiated effector phenotype in AA (CD4(+)CD26(-/low) T cells) and NAA (CD4(-)CD26(-) gammadelta-T cells). In addition, we found that circulating levels of CD26 (sCD26) were reduced in both AA and NAA, while loss of CD126 expression on different leukocytes correlated with higher disease severity. Finally, selective inhibition of CD26-mRNA translation led to enhanced T cell proliferation in vitro. These findings support that CD26 down-modulation could play a role in facilitating the expansion of highly-differentiated effector T cell subsets in asthma

Regulatory T cells participate in the recovery of ischemic stroke patients

BACKGROUND: Recent preclinical studies have shown that regulatory T cells (Treg) play a key role in the immune response after ischemic stroke (IS). However, the role of Treg in human acute IS has been poorly investigated. Our aim was to study the relationship between circulating Treg and outcome in human IS patients. METHODS: A total of 204 IS patients and 22 control subjects were recruited. The main study variable was good functional outcome at 3 months (modified Rankin scale </=2) considering infarct volume, Early Neurological Deterioration (END) and risk of infections as secondary variables. The percentage of circulating Treg was measured at admission, 48, 72 h and at day 7 after stroke onset. RESULTS: Circulating Treg levels were higher in IS patients compared to control subjects. Treg at 48 h were independently associated with good functional outcome (OR, 3.5; CI: 1.9-7.8) after adjusting by confounding factors. Patients with lower Treg at 48 h showed higher frequency of END and risk of infections. In addition, a negative correlation was found between circulating Treg at 48 h (r = - 0.414) and 72 h (r = - 0.418) and infarct volume. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that Treg may participate in the recovery of IS patients. Therefore, Treg may be considered a potential therapeutic target in acute ischemic stroke

Brown bear behaviour in human-modified landscapes: The case of the endangered Cantabrian population, NW Spain

Large carnivores are recolonizing parts of their historical range in Europe, a heavily modified human landscape. This calls for an improvement of our knowledge on how large carnivores manage to coexist with humans, and on the effects that human activity has on large carnivore behaviour, especially in areas where carnivore populations are still endangered. Brown bears Ursus arctos have been shown to be sensitive to the presence of people and their activities. Thus, bear conservation and management should take into account potential behavioural alterations related to living in human-modified landscapes. We studied the behaviour of brown bears in the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain, where an endangered population thrives in a human-modified landscape. We analysed bear observations video-recorded over a 10-year period to try to identify human and landscape elements that could influence bear behaviour. Neither the occurrence nor the duration of vigilance behaviour in Cantabrian bears seemed to be influenced by the proximity of human infrastructures and activity. Our findings suggest that the general pattern of human avoidance by bears is adapted to the human-modified landscape they inhabit. Bears generally avoid people, but close presence of human infrastructures or activity did not seem to trigger an increased bear behavioural response. Coexistence between large carnivores and humans in human-modified landscapes is possible, even when human encroachment is high, provided that carnivores are not heavily persecuted and direct interactions are avoided. Further research should also document the potential existence of other responses to human presence and activity, e.g., hunting, traffic noise, and measuring stress levels with physiological indicators.This research was financially supported by the IBA (International Association for Bear Research and Management) grant project IBA-RG_16_2016 ‘Brown bear behaviour in human-dominated landscapes: the effect of human density and ecotourism’. During this research, G.B. was financially supported by a collaboration contract with the MUSE – Museo delle Scienze of Trento (Italy), J.M-P. was supported by the ARAID foundation and V.P., A.O. and R.G.G. were also financially supported by the Excellence Project CGL2017-82782-P financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU)