Moral Ecology of a Forest

Forests are alive, filled with rich, biologically complex life forms and the interrelationships of multiple species and materials. Vulnerable to a host of changing conditions in this global era, forests are in peril as never before. New markets in carbon and environmental services attract speculators. In the name of conservation, such speculators attempt to undermine local land control in these desirable areas. Moral Ecology of a Forest provides an ethnographic account of conservation politics, particularly the conflict between Western conservation and Mayan ontological ecology. The difficult interactions of the Maya of central Quintana Roo, Mexico, for example, or the Mayan communities of the Sain Ka’an Biosphere, demonstrate the clashing interests with Western biodiversity conservation initiatives. The conflicts within the forest of Quintana Roo represent the outcome of nature in this global era, where the forces of land grabbing, conservation promotion and organizations, and capitalism vie for control of forests and land. Forests pose living questions. In addition to the ever-thrilling biology of interdependent species, forests raise questions in the sphere of political economy, and thus raise cultural and moral questions. The economic aspects focus on the power dynamics and ideological perspectives over who controls, uses, exploits, or preserves those life forms and landscapes. The cultural and moral issues focus on the symbolic meanings, forms of knowledge, and obligations that people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and classes have constructed in relation to their lands. The Maya Forest of Quintana Roo is a historically disputed place in which these three questions come together

Moral Ecology of a Forest

Forests are alive, filled with rich, biologically complex life forms and the interrelationships of multiple species and materials. Vulnerable to a host of changing conditions in this global era, forests are in peril as never before. New markets in carbon and environmental services attract speculators. In the name of conservation, such speculators attempt to undermine local land control in these desirable areas. Moral Ecology of a Forest provides an ethnographic account of conservation politics, particularly the conflict between Western conservation and Mayan ontological ecology. The difficult interactions of the Maya of central Quintana Roo, Mexico, for example, or the Mayan communities of the Sain Ka’an Biosphere, demonstrate the clashing interests with Western biodiversity conservation initiatives. The conflicts within the forest of Quintana Roo represent the outcome of nature in this global era, where the forces of land grabbing, conservation promotion and organizations, and capitalism vie for control of forests and land. Forests pose living questions. In addition to the ever-thrilling biology of interdependent species, forests raise questions in the sphere of political economy, and thus raise cultural and moral questions. The economic aspects focus on the power dynamics and ideological perspectives over who controls, uses, exploits, or preserves those life forms and landscapes. The cultural and moral issues focus on the symbolic meanings, forms of knowledge, and obligations that people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and classes have constructed in relation to their lands. The Maya Forest of Quintana Roo is a historically disputed place in which these three questions come together

Sobre condiciones de integrabilidad de una estructura j satisfaciendo (j2-p2) (j2 +q2 ) = 0

We consider the structures defined by a tensor field J of type (1,1) which satisfy the condition (J2-p2)(J2+q2)=0 characterizing its integrability in term of its Nijenhuis tenso

Efficient time series detection of the strong stochasticity threshold in Fermi-Pasta-Ulam oscillator lattices

In this work we study the possibility of detecting the so-called strong stochasticity threshold, i.e. the transition between weak and strong chaos as the energy density of the system is increased, in anharmonic oscillator chains by means of the 0-1 test for chaos. We compare the result of the aforementioned methodology with the scaling behavior of the largest Lyapunov exponent computed by means of tangent space dynamics, that has so far been the most reliable method available to detect the strong stochasticity threshold. We find that indeed the 0-1 test can perform the detection in the range of energy density values studied. Furthermore, we determined that conventional nonlinear time series analysis methods fail to properly compute the largest Lyapounov exponent even for very large data sets, whereas the computational effort of the 0-1 test remains the same in the whole range of values of the energy density considered with moderate size time series. Therefore, our results show that, for a qualitative probing of phase space, the 0-1 test can be an effective tool if its limitations are properly taken into account.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review

Comunidad, Estado y naturaleza: La ecología política del manejo colaborativo de bosques.

Collaborative management, or co-management, of forests has increasingly become an alternative to traditional state management. Utilizing a Political Ecology perspective, this article highlights the conflictive dynamic between the state and community grassroots organizations about their perceptions and understandings about the meanings, objectives, goals, and politics of co-management. It is argued that forest co-management is primarily a social relation mediated by power relations and social nature, in which priority is given to scientific knowledge and Western rationality over what it means local groups. The article also analyzes the discursive strategies used by local groups to defend their management views. Finally, using a Puerto Rican case study, the article discusses which strategies and discourses have been effective and ineffective in the implementation of co-management.El manejo colaborativo de bosques, mejor conocido como co-manejo, ha aumentado como alternativa al manejo estatal tradicional de los recursos naturales. Aplicando la perspectiva de la ecología política, en este trabajo se argumenta el carácter conflictivo entre el Estado y los grupos de base en términos de percepciones sobre los significados, objetivos, metas y políticas sobre el co-manejo de bosques. Se argumenta que el manejo de bosques es primordialmente una relación social mediada por relaciones de poder y la naturaleza social en donde se la da prioridad al conocimiento científico y a la racionalidad de manejo occidental a diferencia de lo que representa el bosque para grupos locales y comunitarios. Se analizan además, las estrategias discursivas en que los distintos actores se enfrentan para defender su visión de manejo. Finalmente, mediante los estudios de caso de Puerto Rico, se presentan las estrategias y discursos que han sido efectivos, y los que no, en la implementación del co-manejo

Aportaciones de la paleobotánica a la interpretación del área natural de 'Pinnus nigra' Arn. ssp. 'sazmanni' en las Sierras Béticas (Sureste de España)

En este trabajo se ha analizado la cartografía del área natural de Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii en las Sierras Béticas (sureste de España) a partir del Mapa Forestal de España en su versión digital y se han descrito las características geológicas y litológicas de las zonas que ocupa utilizando para ello la cartografía correspondiente. El área natural de la especie se ha comparado con los Mapas de Series de Vegetación más utilizados. Posteriormente se ha realizado una búsqueda bibliográfica seleccionando las citas significativas de yacimientos holocenos en el Sureste peninsular en los que se han encontrado evidencias paleoecológicas (pólenes, madera, carbón, etc.) de la presencia de Pinus nigra en estos enclaves. A partir de los datos obtenidos se ha discutido acerca de la presencia natural de Pinus nigra Arn. en las Sierras Béticas y su difícil encaje en los modelos fitosociológicos más utilizados, aportando datos ecológicos y paleoecológicos que inciden en la importancia de elaborar modelos más complejos que consideren factores más allá de la climatología y el suelo para explicar la dinámica vegetal. Se confirman o elaboran hipótesis acerca de la presencia de pino salgareño durante el Holoceno en dos zonas en las que actualmente se encuentra extinguido: la Sierra de Gádor (Almería) y las Sierras Subbéticas de Córdoba, y acerca de su mayor presencia en épocas pasadas. Como consecuencia de los resultados se incide en la importancia que tiene en la gestión forestal la consideración y conservación de las poblaciones de pino salgareño.This paper develops a map of the natural area of Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmanni in the Beticas Mountain Range based on the Digital version of the Forestry Vegetation Map of Spain. This map has been compared with the most commonly used Potential Vegetation, Geology and Lithology maps. A bibliographic research has been carried out with a selection of Holocene deposits where Pinus nigra pollen, wood or charcoal has been found. With this information collected, a discussion about the natural distribution of Pinus nigra at the Béticas Mountain Range and the difficulty of matching this distribution within the most common phytosociological models has been posed. Ecological and palaeoecological data have been given to stress the importance of developing more complex models, considering factors beyond climate and soil, to explain the forest dynamics. It has been confirmed the hypothesis about the existence of Pinus nigra in the Holocene in two Andalousian Mountain Range (Gádor in the province of Almeria and Sierras Sub-Béticas in the province of Córdoba), where this species are currently extinguished. Considering all these data it is emphasized the interest and importance of conservation of natural salzmann pine forests in this area

Opioid pain medication prescription for chronic pain in primary care centers: the roles of pain acceptance, pain intensity, depressive symptoms, pain catastrophizing, sex, and age

Background: Psychological factors of patients may influence physicians’ decisions on prescribing opioid analgesics. However, few studies have sought to identify these factors. The present study had a double objective: (1) To identify the individual factors that differentiate patients who had been prescribed opioids for the management of chronic back pain from those who had not been prescribed opioids and (2) to determine which factors make significant and independent contributions to the prediction of opioid prescribing. Methods: A total of 675 patients from four primary care centers were included in the sample. Variables included sex, age, pain intensity, depressive symptoms, pain catastrophizing, and pain acceptance. Results: Although no differences were found between men and women, participants with chronic noncancer pain who were prescribed opioids were older, reported higher levels of pain intensity and depressive symptoms, and reported lower levels of pain-acceptance. An independent association was found between pain intensity and depressive symptoms and opioid prescribing. Conclusions: The findings suggest that patient factors influence physicians’ decisions on prescribing opioids. It may be useful for primary care physicians to be aware of the potential of these factors to bias their treatment decisions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Descriptive analysis of histological types in women undergoing post mastectomy breast reconstruction

Background: Breast cancer is a pathological entity that widely compromises the life and quality of life of affected women; in addition to the great affectation to the current health services. Therefore, maintaining an accurate and complete cancer registry program is one of the most important factors in implementing national cancer control programs and evaluating the results of screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Among the current limitations in the studies, there is a gap in the study of the population undergoing breast reconstruction. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out at hospital general de México “Dr. Eduardo Licéaga” with the information from the clinical records of the period 2019-2020. Patients undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy with histological report were included. Through non-probabilistic sampling, a population of 138 women was formed. For data analysis, frequencies and percentages were calculated for the qualitative variables; while for the quantitative variables, mean and standard deviation were calculated. Results: 138 women who underwent breast reconstruction were included, the mean age was 49.9±10.85 years, the mean BMI was 26.80±4.62 kg/m2, the secondary educational level predominated (34.8%), radiotherapy was applied to 34.1%, reconstruction was late in 75.4%, the most frequent reconstruction technique was TRAM flap (44.2%), the histological type of invasive ductal carcinoma predominated (68.1%). Conclusions: In women undergoing post-mastectomy breast reconstruction, the histological type of invasive ductal carcinoma predominates.

Analysis of substrate specificity of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases involved in trichothecene toxin biosynthesis

[EN]Trichothecenes are a structurally diverse family of toxic secondary metabolites produced by certain species of multiple fungal genera. All trichothecene analogs share a core 12,13-epoxytrichothec-9-ene (EPT) structure but differ in presence, absence and types of substituents attached to various positions of EPT. Formation of some of the structural diversity begins early in the biosynthetic pathway such that some producing species have few trichothecene biosynthetic intermediates in common. Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) play critical roles in formation of trichothecene structural diversity. Within some species, relaxed substrate specificities of P450s allow individual orthologs of the enzymes to modify multiple trichothecene biosynthetic intermediates. It is not clear, however, whether the relaxed specificity extends to biosynthetic intermediates that are not produced by the species in which the orthologs originate. To address this knowledge gap, we used a mutant complementation-heterologous expression analysis to assess whether orthologs of three trichothecene biosynthetic P450s (TRI11, TRI13 and TRI22) from Fusarium sporotrichioides, Trichoderma arundinaceum, and Paramyrothecium roridum can modify trichothecene biosynthetic intermediates that they do not encounter in the organism in which they originated. The results indicate that TRI13 and TRI22 could not modify the intermediates that they do not normally encounter, whereas TRI11 could modify an intermediate that it does not normally encounter. These findings indicate that substrate promiscuity varies among trichothecene biosynthetic P450s. One structural feature that likely impacts the ability of the P450s to use biosynthetic intermediates as substrates is the presence and absence of an oxygen atom attached to carbon atom 3 of EPT.SIOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.Publicación en abierto financiada por el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Castilla y León (BUCLE), con cargo al Programa Operativo 2014ES16RFOP009 FEDER 2014-2020 DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN, Actuación:20007-CL - Apoyo Consorcio BUCL

Advanced hydrogels for treatment of diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood, which leads to metabolic disorders with severe consequences. Today, there is no cure for diabetes. The current management for diabetes and derived medical conditions, such as hyperglycemia, cardiovascular diseases or diabetic foot ulcer, includes life style changes and hypoglycemia based therapy, which do not fully restore euglycemia or the functionality of damaged tissues in patients. This encourages scientists to work outside their boundaries to develop routes that can potentially tackle such metabolic disorders. In this regard, acellular and cellular approaches have represented an alternative for diabetics, although such treatments still face shortcomings related to limited effectiveness and immunogenicity. The advent of biomaterials has brought significant improvements for such approaches, and three-dimensional extracellular matrix analogous, such as hydrogels, have played a key role in this regard. Advanced hydrogels are being developed to monitor high blood glucose levels and release insulin, as well as serve as a therapeutic technology. Herein, the state of the art in advanced hydrogels for improving treatment of diabetes, from laboratory technology to commercial products approved by drug safety regulatory authorities, will be concisely summarized and discussed. [Abstract copyright: This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.