Returns to education in Argentina: a regional analysis

The study of regional differences in Argentina in terms of returns to education is highly relevant, primarily due to the existence of deep inequalities in the configuration of regional structures in this country. The main differences are based on several economic and demographic characteristics across regions that have an impact on the social dynamics of such regions.This issue has been acknowledged in the literature, in order to get a full understanding of the dynamics that might explain those dissimilarities, especially in the educational and labour fields. However, empirical literature or the case of Argentina is still limited.The analysis of regional differences in human capital, as well as their impact on private returns to education - i.e. income levels of individuals - has been addressed in a number of studies, such as Winters (2012), Lopez-Bazo and Motellón (2012), and Ciccone et al. (2004), for the cases of the United States, Spain, and Italy, respectively. For the Argentinean case, no attention has been paid to differences in the returns to education by region. Only a few recent studies, such as Giovagnoli et al. (2005), have approached this issue by using Mincerian equations as the methodological strategy to estimate the returns to education, combined with a quantile regression analysis to detect differences in the returns across the distribution of wages. However, the regional perspective was not incorporated in this study, even when wage differences between regions are remarkable.On the other hand López Bóo (2010) quantify the returns to education in Argentina according different macroeconomic shocks from 1992 to 2003 but not including the regional perspective neither.Several literature across the Latin-American countries quantifies the rates of the returns to education using - most of them - quintile regression or time series, such as: Psacharopoulos & Velez (1992) who estimate the returns of education in Colombia for a ten years period; López-Acevedo (2004) that analyse the contribution of educational inequality as a key variable for understanding earnings inequality in Mexico and Patrinos & Sakellariou (2010) who study the relation between the returns to education and the effect of the swings in economic activity on the demand and supply of education and skills in Venezuela for the period 1992 to 2002. Nevertheless none of them use the regional perspective in their analysis, even when the different levels of returns to education can be explained through regional characteristics as a determinant of those differences.It is surprising that being this issue greatly relevant in order to understand the heterogeneity among geographic regions in Argentina, no previous studies have considered the role played by human capital in order to explain the substantive regional differences within the national labour market. This paper seeks to contribute to the study of regional labour markets in terms of their returns to education in Argentina. For that aim we firstly quantify the returns to education for every region using a typical Mincerian equation and then analyse the wage gap through the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition.The paper is organized in five sections, as follow: the next one describe the regional structure in Argentina, as well as the main characteristics of the labour market and the endowment of human capital. Then we explain the methodological strategy so as to estimate the empirical wage model in the second section. A description and summary of the data set is briefly presented in third section. Before that we present the results for different specifications of the model by region in section fourth. Finally, in the last section the conclusions and future extensions.https://rdu.unc.edu.ar/handle/11086/4528Fil: Quiroga Martínez, Facundo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Fernández-Vázquez, Esteban. Universidad de Oviedo. Department of Applied Economics; España.Fil: Alberto, Catalina Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Matemática Aplicad

Gender Matters: Identity, Risk Perception and Preventive Interventions for Alcohol Consumption among Adolescents Using a Qualitative Approach

The epidemiological information available in Spain and the Community of Madrid highlights two relevant facts regarding alcohol consumption: an increase in binge drinking in teenagers and a reduction/reversal of the gender gap, particularly at young ages. This article aims to describe some of the factors related to alcohol use in teenagers, especially those related to gender and risk perception. A qualitative study was designed with semi-structured interviews and a discussion group with students from the city of Madrid aged 14 to 18 years. A descriptive analysis of the content of the replies of 28 teenagers was conducted. The results show that alcohol consumption has an identity component, both in terms of transition to adulthood and gender role performance. Consumption is also associated with risks, especially those determined by gender inequality, which teenagers learn to manage as a means of survival in nightlife. Preventive campaigns typically lack a gender perspective and a focus on risk prevention. To reduce the prevalence of consumption and associated risks, these strategies need to be reformulated with a gender perspective

Biomarkers in ocular chronic graft versus host disease: tear cytokine- and chemokine-based predictive model.

Producción CientíficaPurpose: To develop a tear molecule level-based predictive model based on a panel of tear cytokines and their correlation with clinical features in ocular chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD). Methods: Twenty-two ocular cGVHD patients and 21 healthy subjects were evaluated in a controlled environmental research laboratory (CERLab). Clinical parameters were recorded, and tears were collected. Levels of 15 molecules (epidermal growth factor [EGF], IL receptor antagonist [IL-1Ra], IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8/CXCL8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-17A, interferon inducible protein [IP]-10/CXCL10, IFN-γ, VEGF, TNF-α, eotaxin 1, and regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted [RANTES]) were measured by multiplex-bead assay and correlated with clinical parameters. Logistic regression was used to develop a predictive model. Leave-one-out cross-validation was applied. Classification capacity was evaluated in a cohort of individuals with dry eye (DE) of other etiologies different from GVHD. Results: Epidermal growth factor and IP-10/CXCL10 levels were significantly decreased in ocular cGVHD, positively correlating with tear production and stability and negatively correlating with symptoms, hyperemia, and vital staining. Interleukin-1Ra, IL-8/CXCL8, and IL-10 were significantly increased in ocular cGVHD, and the first two correlated positively with symptoms, hyperemia, and ocular surface integrity while negatively correlating with tear production and stability. Predictive models were generated, and the best panel was based on IL-8/CXCL8 and IP-10/CXCL10 tear levels along with age and sex, with an area under the receiving operating curve of 0.9004, sensitivity of 86.36%, and specificity of 95.24%. Conclusions: A predictive model based on tear levels of IL-8/CXCL8 and IP-10/CXCL10 resulted in optimal sensitivity and specificity. These results add further knowledge to the search for potential biomarkers in this devastating ocular inflammatory disease.Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Madrid, Spain, SAF-2010 15631 (AES)

El cuento musical como recurso para trabajar la comprensión lectora en el aula

Reading comprehension is a complex process, whose teaching involves multiple factors, as highlighted by Psychology, Didactics of languages, and others disciplines. Nevertheless, theoretical frameworks need to be applied by means of innovative practices and resources. The aim of this work is to present an innovation implemented in 2016-2017 in the third year of primary school, in the frame of an action-research, with the objective of reinforcing the learning of reading. In order to cope whit the comprehension difficulties involved in attention and concentration abilities, a didactic intervention was designed with the musical tale as a resource. Different approaches to this sort of text, integrated in diverse activities, facilitated the learning of active listening of tales, expressing reading, and guided the attention of readers to metacognitive strategies. The experience allows better identify some difficulties in the reading process, and prove the usefulness of the musical tale, as a meaningful resource to support the teaching and learning of reading.La comprensión lectora es un proceso complejo cuya enseñanza implica atender múltiples factores, como es estudiado por la Psicología y la Didáctica de las lenguas, entre otras disciplinas. No obstante, es preciso aplicar las aportaciones teóricas al diseño de prácticas y de recursos innovadores. La finalidad de este trabajo es presentar los resultados de una innovación, desarrollada durante el curso 2016-2017, en un aula de tercero de Educación Primaria, en el marco de una investigación en acción cuyo objetivo era reforzar el aprendizaje de la lectura. Para dar respuesta a dificultades de comprensión relacionadas con la capacidad de atención y de concentración, se planificó una intervención didáctica con el cuento musical como recurso textual. Distintas aproximaciones a este recurso, integrado en actividades diversas, facilitaron el aprendizaje de escuchas activas, de lectura expresiva y guiaron la atención de los lectores hacia estrategias metacognitivas. La experiencia permite identificar de manera más precisa algunas dificultades del proceso de lectura, y mostrar la pertinencia del cuento musical, como un recurso significativo para acompañar la enseñanza y aprendizaje de la lectura

La automatización de los servicios bibliotecarios de la Biblioteca Nacional de España: antecedentes, situación actual y perspectivas de futuro

The aim of this article is to describe the activities undertaken by the Service of Bibliographic Data Bases and the Service of Bibliographic Projects, both in charge of the management, configuration and maintenance of the integrated library management system of the National Library of Spain. Enhancements to adapt a commercial software to library specifics needs are listed. Future prospects of the ILS and its capacity of adequacy to the profound changes in traditional systems of information requests and library services, due to technological revolution, are analyzed, as well as the difficulties of balancing local and remote users of the web services, the latter in constant growth.Partiendo de la historia de la automatización de los servicios bibliotecarios de la Biblioteca Nacional de España, se detallan las tareas desarrolladas por el Servicio de Bases de Datos Bibliográficas y el Servicio de Proyectos Bibliográficos, encargados de la administración, configuración y mantenimiento del actual sistema integrado de gestión bibliotecaria de esta institución. Se enumeran las mejoras introducidas para adaptar un software comercial a las necesidades específicas de la propia biblioteca. Se analizan las perspectivas de futuro de los SIGB y su capacidad de adecuación a los profundos cambios en los esquemas tradicionales de demandas de información y servicios bibliotecarios, como consecuencia de la revolución tecnológica, y las dificultades que conlleva compaginar la atención de los usuarios presenciales y los, en constante crecimiento, usuarios remotos de servicios web

Urban and social determinants of alcohol and tobacco consumption among adolescents in Madrid

Objective: This study aims to describe the accessibility to and promotion of alcohol and tobacco around secondary schools in Madrid and its distribution in relation with area-level socioeconomic deprivation; analyze the relationship between this exposure and individual consumption characteristics of students between 14 and 18 years old; and explore other facilitators of this consumption. Method: Mixed-methods study conducted in three phases: 1) we collected data on accessibility to and promotion of alcohol and tobacco in the environment using systematic social observation around 55 secondary schools; 2) we administered 2287 questionnaires among the students in these centers to gather information about characteristics and determinants of consumption; and 3) we conducted 20 semi-structured interviews and one discussion group to deepen in the results obtained in surveys and systematic social observation. We will use Geographic Information Systems to integrate and analyze the data from a spatial perspective. (c) 2023 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espan similar to a, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Population Disequilibrium as Promoter of Adaptive Explorations in Hepatitis C Virus

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Virus de l'hepatitis C; Vacunes universalsCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Virus de la hepatitis C; Vacunas universalesCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Hepatitis C virus; Universal vaccinesReplication of RNA viruses is characterized by exploration of sequence space which facilitates their adaptation to changing environments. It is generally accepted that such exploration takes place mainly in response to positive selection, and that further diversification is boosted by modifications of virus population size, particularly bottleneck events. Our recent results with hepatitis C virus (HCV) have shown that the expansion in sequence space of a viral clone continues despite prolonged replication in a stable cell culture environment. Diagnosis of the expansion was based on the quantification of diversity indices, the occurrence of intra-population mutational waves (variations in mutant frequencies), and greater individual residue variations in mutant spectra than those anticipated from sequence alignments in data banks. In the present report, we review our previous results, and show additionally that mutational waves in amplicons from the NS5A-NS5B-coding region are equally prominent during HCV passage in the absence or presence of the mutagenic nucleotide analogues favipiravir or ribavirin. In addition, by extending our previous analysis to amplicons of the NS3- and NS5A-coding region, we provide further evidence of the incongruence between amino acid conservation scores in mutant spectra from infected patients and in the Los Alamos National Laboratory HCV data banks. We hypothesize that these observations have as a common origin a permanent state of HCV population disequilibrium even upon extensive viral replication in the absence of external selective constraints or changes in population size. Such a persistent disequilibrium—revealed by the changing composition of the mutant spectrum—may facilitate finding alternative mutational pathways for HCV antiviral resistance. The possible significance of our model for other genetically variable viruses is discussed.The work at CBMSO was supported by grants SAF2014-52400-R from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), SAF2017-87846-R and BFU2017-91384-EXP from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU), PI18/00210 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, S2013/ABI-2906 (PLATESA from Comunidad de Madrid/FEDER), and S2018/BAA-4370 (PLATESA2 from Comunidad de Madrid/FEDER). C.P. is supported by the Miguel Servet program of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CPII19/00001), cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas) is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Institutional grants from the Fundación Ramón Areces and Banco Santander to the CBMSO are also acknowledged. The team at CBMSO belongs to the Global Virus Network (GVN). The work in Barcelona was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Grant No. PI19/00301 and by the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) from the MICIU, Grant No. IDI-20200297. Work at CAB was supported by MINECO grant BIO2016-79618R and PID2019-104903RB-I00 (funded by the EU under the FEDER program) and by the Spanish State research agency (AEI) through project number MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”-Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA). C.G.-C. is supported by predoctoral contract PRE2018-083422 from MCIU. B.M.-G. is supported by predoctoral contract PFIS FI19/00119 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo), cofinanced by Fondo Social Europeo (FSE)

Sexual and reproductive healthcare for migrant women: A mapping of civil society actors in Mexico

This study maps the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) provide to women on the move in seven states along the migrant route. We also document CSOs\u27 views on access barriers to SRH public services, and how COVID-19 affected CSOs and migrants during the first months of the pandemic in Mexico

The combination of sirolimus plus tacrolimus improves outcome after reduced-intensity conditioning, unrelated donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation compared with cyclosporine plus mycofenolate

Different types of graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis have been proposed in the setting of reduced intensity and non-myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation. An alternative combination with sirolimus and tacrolimus has recently been tested although comparative studies against the classical combination of a calcineurin inhibitor and mycophenolate mofetil or methotrexate are lacking. We describe the results of a prospective, multicenter trial using sirolimus + tacrolimus as immunoprophylaxis, and compare this approach with our previous experience using cyclosporine + mycophenolate in the setting of unrelated donor transplantation setting after reduced-intensity conditioning. Forty-five patients received cyclosporine + mycophenolate between 2002 and mid-2007, while the subsequent 50 patients, who were transplanted from late 2007, were given sirolimus + tacrolimus. No significant differences were observed in terms of hematopoietic recovery or acute graft-versus-host disease overall, although gastrointestinal acute graft-versus-host disease grade ≥2 was more common in the cyclosporine + mycophenolate group (55% versus 21%, respectively, P=0.003). The 1-year cumulative incidence of chronic graftversus-host disease was 50% versus 90% for the patients treated with the sirolimus- versus cyclosporine-based regimen, respectively (P<0.001), while the incidence of extensive chronic disease was 27% versus 49%, respectively (P=0.043). The 2-year non-relapse mortality rate was 18% versus 38% for patients receiving the sirolimus- versus the cyclosporine-based regimen, respectively (P=0.02). The event-free survival and overall survival at 2 years were 53% versus 29% (P=0.028) and 70% versus 45% (P=0.018) among patients receiving the sirolimus- versus the cyclosporine-based regimen, respectively. In conclusion, in the setting of reduced intensity transplantation from an unrelated donor, promising results can be achieved with the combination of sirolimus + tacrolimus, due to a lower risk of chronic graft-versus-host disease and non-relapse mortality, which translates into better event-free and over all survival rates, in comparison with those achieved with cyclosporine + mycophenolate