Credibilidad del testimonio de la víctima menor de 14 años en actos sexuales abusivos a la luz de la jurisprudencia de la sala penal de la corte suprema de justicia

Las decisiones judiciales se toman a partir de la interpretación y apreciación que le da el operador jurídico a las pruebas que obran en el proceso, actualmente enmarcadas en el marco procesal penal regido bajo la Ley 906 de 2004 que consagró la libertad probatoria, brindado el mismo valor a las pruebas y analizándolas en contexto con todo el cumulo probatorio obrante en el proceso, contrario al marco procesal de la Ley 600 del 2000. No obstante, la Sala de Casación Penal de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, en su función de órgano de cierre de la jurisdicción penal, ha tomado importantes decisiones frente a la apreciación de los testimonios de los menores, víctimas de delitos sexuales, en unos casos, brindándole un valor apreciativo importante por tratarse de sujetos de especial protección constitucional, y en otros casos, valorándose estos testimonios como un medio de prueba al que no siempre debe dársele credibilidad. Ubicados en ese contexto ideológico, esta investigación analizara cuáles han sido los parámetros que ha establecido la Sala de Casación Penal de la Corte Suprema de Justicia en la apreciación de los testimonios de los menores de 14 años víctimas de delitos sexuales. Para resolver el anterior problema, se analizará, mediante un método de investigación cualitativo de enfoque hermenéutico de línea jurisprudencial, lo concerniente a los testimonios de los menores y los criterios que ha tenido la Sala de Casación Penal en la apreciación de estas pruebas y su trascendencia a la decisión final, bien sea de absolver o condenar; de esta forma, se indica la manera en que la Sala interpreta la prevalencia de los derechos de los niños y niñas con respecto a la normatividad nacional e internacional. Del anterior desarrollo, se determinarán los estudios y estimaciones realizados por expertos (científicos, psicólogos, psiquiatras) respecto a determinar cómo se debe valorar el testimonio de la persona menor de 14 años en delitos de actos sexuales abusivos, la entrevista cognitiva, sus alcances y exploración psicológicaJudicial decisions are taken based on the interpretation and assessment given by the legal operator to the evidence in the process, currently framed in the criminal procedural framework governed by Law 906 of 2004, which established probation, provided the same value to the tests and analyzing them in context with all the evidence gathered in the process, contrary to the procedural framework of Law 600 of 2000. However, the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, in its function as an organ of closure of the criminal jurisdiction, has taken important decisions in the face of the assessment of the testimonies of minors, victims of sexual crimes, in some cases, providing an important appraising value because they are subjects of special constitutional protection, and in other cases, valuing themselves these testimonies as a means of proof that should not always be credited. Located in this ideological context, this investigation will analyze what parameters have been established by the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice in assessing the testimonies of children under 14 years of age who are victims of sexual crimes. To solve the previous problem, it will be analyzed, by means of a qualitative research method of hermeneutic approach of jurisprudential line, concerning the testimonies of the minors and the criteria that the Criminal Cassation Chamber has had in the appreciation of these tests and their transcendence. to the final decision, whether to acquit or condemn; In this way, the manner in which the Chamber interprets the prevalence of the rights of children with respect to national and international regulations is indicated. From the previous development, the studies and estimates made by experts (scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists) will be determined with respect to determining how the testimony of the person under 14 years of age should be evaluated in crimes of abusive sexual acts, the cognitive interview, its scopes and psychological exploratio

Serological reactivity against T. cruzi-derived antigens: Evaluation of their suitability for the assessment of response to treatment in chronic Chagas disease.

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, affects more than 6 million people worldwide. Following a mostly asymptomatic acute phase, the disease progresses to a long-lasting chronic phase throughout which life-threatening disorders to the heart and/or gastrointestinal tract will manifest in about 30% of those chronically infected. During the chronic phase, the parasitemia is low and intermittent, while a high level of anti-T. cruzi antibodies persist for years. These two features hamper post-chemotherapeutic follow-up of patients with the tools available. The lack of biomarkers for timely assessment of therapeutic response discourages a greater use of the two available anti-parasitic drugs, and complicates the evaluation of new drugs in clinical trials. Herein, we investigated in a blinded case-control study the serological reactivity over time of a group of parasite-derived antigens to potentially address follow up of T. cruzi chronically infected subjects after treatment. We tested PFR2, KMP11, HSP70, 3973, F29 and the InfYnity multiplexed antigenic array, by means of serological assays on a multi-national retrospective collection of samples. Some of the antigens exhibited promising results, underscoring the need for further studies to determine their potential role as treatment response biomarkers.We thank Dr. A. Egui, Dr A. Fernández-Villegas and A. López-Barajas from IPBLNsingle bondCSIC (Granada, Spain), Carme Subirá from ISGlobal (Barcelona, Spain), and Suelene B. N. Tavares from Hospital das Clínicas (Goiás, Brazil) for their technical assistance. We also want to thank Dr. B. Carrilero from Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca (Murcia, Spain), Dr. Dayse E.C. de Oliveira from Hospital das Clínicas (Goiás, Brazil), and Dr. Raúl Chadi from Hospital General de Agudos “Dr. I. Pirovano” for their clinical follow up of patients. ISGlobal authors thanks the support by the Departament d'Universitats i Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain (AGAUR; 2017SGR00924), funding by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III project PI18/01054 and RICET Network for Cooperative Research in Tropical Diseases (RD12/0018/0010) and FEDER, and the support to ISGlobal from the Spanish Ministry of Science Innovation and Universities through the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–2023″ Program (CEX2018–000806-S), and from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. IPBLN work was financially supported by grants SAF2016–81003-R and SAF2016–80998-R from the Programa Estatal I + D + i (MINECO) and ISCIII RICET (RD16/0027/0005) and FEDER. MJP research is supported by the Ministry of Health, Government of Catalunya (PERIS 2016–2010 SLT008/18/00132). TAJ thanks the support of Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Tecnologico (CNPq/ 313011/2018–4) and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz/MS (25380.001603/2017–89). Authors also thank Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and Fundacion Mundo Sano for financial support. For this project, DNDi received financial support from the following donors: UK Aid, UK; Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), The Netherlands; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Switzerland; Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), International. The donors had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Apparent selective advantage of leucism in a coastal population of Southern caracaras (Falconidae)

ABSTRACT Background: Southern caracaras are medium-sized raptors with a large range stretching to the southern tip of South America. An aberrant, leucistic plumage is found commonly along the coast of Chubut Province (Patagonia, Argentina). Leucistic birds do not produce dark melanin in their feathers. However, they are not albinos because their eyes are not red. No genetic studies of caracara plumages are known. Hypothesis: The high frequency of leucistic birds in Chubut Province arises because of natural selection. Methods: Map the distribution of leucistic individuals relative to normal individuals. Combine a variety of anecdotal natural history observations, collected over 20 years, into a logical inference. Observations: Leucistic caracaras were found only along a 250-km stretch of rocky oceanic islands and continental outcrops with large seabird colonies in Chubut Province. In the rest of their range, Southern caracaras have dark plumage. Where they do occur, leucistic birds are frequent and co-occur with dark-plumaged birds. Intermediate individuals, presumabl

GBA variants in REM sleep behavior disorder: a multicenter study

To study the role of GBA variants in the risk for isolated rapid-eye-movement (REM)-sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) and conversion to overt neurodegeneration

Genome-wide association study of REM sleep behavior disorder identifies polygenic risk and brain expression effects

Rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), enactment of dreams during REM sleep, is an early clinical symptom of alpha-synucleinopathies and defines a more severe subtype. The genetic background of RBD and its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we perform a genome-wide association study of RBD, identifying five RBD risk loci near SNCA, GBA, TMEM175, INPP5F, and SCARB2. Expression analyses highlight SNCA-AS1 and potentially SCARB2 differential expression in different brain regions in RBD, with SNCA-AS1 further supported by colocalization analyses. Polygenic risk score, pathway analysis, and genetic correlations provide further insights into RBD genetics, highlighting RBD as a unique alpha-synucleinopathy subpopulation that will allow future early intervention

Alignment of the CMS silicon tracker during commissioning with cosmic rays

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version of the Paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPThe CMS silicon tracker, consisting of 1440 silicon pixel and 15 148 silicon strip detector modules, has been aligned using more than three million cosmic ray charged particles, with additional information from optical surveys. The positions of the modules were determined with respect to cosmic ray trajectories to an average precision of 3–4 microns RMS in the barrel and 3–14 microns RMS in the endcap in the most sensitive coordinate. The results have been validated by several studies, including laser beam cross-checks, track fit self-consistency, track residuals in overlapping module regions, and track parameter resolution, and are compared with predictions obtained from simulation. Correlated systematic effects have been investigated. The track parameter resolutions obtained with this alignment are close to the design performance.This work is supported by FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTDS (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)

Commissioning and performance of the CMS pixel tracker with cosmic ray muons

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published verion of the Paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPThe pixel detector of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment consists of three barrel layers and two disks for each endcap. The detector was installed in summer 2008, commissioned with charge injections, and operated in the 3.8 T magnetic field during cosmic ray data taking. This paper reports on the first running experience and presents results on the pixel tracker performance, which are found to be in line with the design specifications of this detector. The transverse impact parameter resolution measured in a sample of high momentum muons is 18 microns.This work is supported by FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTDS (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)

Performance of the CMS drift-tube chamber local trigger with cosmic rays

The performance of the Local Trigger based on the drift-tube system of the CMS experiment has been studied using muons from cosmic ray events collected during the commissioning of the detector in 2008. The properties of the system are extensively tested and compared with the simulation. The effect of the random arrival time of the cosmic rays on the trigger performance is reported, and the results are compared with the design expectations for proton-proton collisions and with previous measurements obtained with muon beams

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI <18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For schoolaged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI <2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI >2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised