Veritats i varietés

Des de la seva experiència, Carles Murillo parla del rol del dissenyador més enllà de la definició estàndard o més immediata de disseny gràfic, com pot ser el del dissenyador-editor, el dissenyador-dinamitzador, el dissenyador-il·lustrador, etc., alhora que repassa alguns dels seus projectes

Surveys assessing sports services and municipal governance

This study aims to investigate the social importance of sport in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. As an instrument for social cohesion and integration, sport has become a very important part of municipal activity. We use two surveys: the Baròmetre, which gathers opinion about municipal services; and satisfaction surveys completed by the users of sports facilities. The sports offer (6.5) receives a better rating than overall municipal management (5.9), and counts for 20.4% of the global assessment of the municipal management. Satisfaction with facilities is 7.3 out of 10, while price receives the lowest mark. Detailed analysis of satisfaction surveys conducted among the population can help the municipal management of sports facilities. Policies that focus only on prices are unlikely to be as effective at improving members’ perception of sports facilities as those that also take other aspects into account

Análisis competitivo mediante grupos estratégicos: aplicación al sector asegurador español, 2000-2005

The main goal of this paper is to increase the knowledge of the behavior of strategic groups through time. Given that, the dynamic evolution of a sample of Spanish insurance institutions during the 2000-2005 period has been analyzed. This paper concretely studies: the methodology of identification of generic strategies within the sector, the application of a two-step process for identifying strategic groups and the temporal evolution of strategies and groups. The results of this research indicate that the temporal analysis of both strategies and groups increases the knowledge of the strategic behavior of a sector.El objetivo principal de este trabajo es profundizar en el conocimiento del comportamiento de los grupos estratégicos a lo largo del tiempo. Así, se ha analizado la evolución dinámica de una muestra de entidades aseguradoras españolas durante el quinquenio comprendido entre 2000 y 2005. En concreto se estudia: la metodología de identificación de las estrategias genéricas, la aplicación de un proceso bietápico para la formación de los grupos estratégicos y la evolución temporal tanto de las estrategias como de los grupos. Los resultados del mismo indican que el análisis de la evolución temporal de ambas entidades mejora el conocimiento del comportamiento estratégico de un sector

Sistema d'indicadors de l'esport a la ciutat de Barcelona

Sol·licitant de l'informe: Institut Barcelona Esport

Campeonato Mundial de Patinaje Artístico Reus 2014: opinión de los participantes y legado económico

The last days of September and beginning of October 2014 was held in the city of Reus Artistic Skating World Championships. This event welcomes the different types of skating and brought together about 1,200 athletes and 20 thousand spectators. The degree of satisfaction among athletes reached the score of 8.5 out of 10, while among the audience was 8.1 note. The loyalty expressed favorably since 95% of respondents would recommend attending a show of similar characteristics, while 90% of athletes are also evident in this sense. The estimated direct spending that has reversed in the territory is estimated at 2.1 million euros. The investment multiplier was 3.22, while the multiplier on the consumption reached the figure of 2.29 for the expenditure of the organization and spending 2.71 assistants. In overall, it is estimated for the whole economy of Catalonia a positive effect by 5.5 million euros. The most benefited sectors from these effects are tourism (22.8%), trade (14.8%), business services (14.2%) and transport and communications (10%).En 2014 se ha celebrado en Reus el Campeonato Mundial de Patinaje Artístico. Este evento acoge las distintas modalidades de patinaje. Participaron 1.200 deportistas y cerca de 20 mil espectadores. La satisfacción entre el público alcanzó la puntuación de 8,5, sobre 10, y 8,1 entre los deportistas. La fidelización se expresó favorablemente puesto que el 95% del público asistente y el 90% de los deportistas encuestados recomendarían a sus amigos y familiares la asistencia a un espectáculo parecido. El gasto directo estimado que ha revertido en el territorio es de 2,1 millones (euros). El multiplicador de la inversión es 3,22, mientras que el multiplicador relativo al consumo alcanza la cifra de 2,29 para el gasto de la organización y 2,71 para el gasto de asistentes. El efecto total se estima, para el conjunto de la economía de Cataluña, en 5,5 millones de euros. Los sectores más beneficiados son el turismo (22,8%), comercio (14,8%), servicios a empresas (14,2%) y transporte y comunicaciones (10%)

Reciclem els arbres! : Fem Nadal

Els nadals ens deixen una empremta en els records de la infantesa. Dotze mesos que culminen en una gran festa per dir adeu al que ja ha passat i somiar impossibles que es fan realitat amb l’arribada dels Reis Mags d’Orient

Differential association between S100A4 levels and insulin resistance in prepubertal children and adult subjects with clinically severe obesity

Objectives: S100A4 has been recently identified as an adipokine associated with insulin resistance (IR) in adult subjects with obesity. However, no data about its levels in children with obesity and only a few approaches regarding its potential mechanism of action have been reported. To obtain a deeper understanding of the role of S100A4 in obesity, (a) S100A4 levels were measured in prepubertal children and adult subjects with and without obesity and studied the relationship with IR and (b) the effects of S100A4 in cultured human adipocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were determined. Methods: Sixty-five children (50 with obesity, age 9.0 ±1.1 years and 15 normal weight, age 8.4 ±0.8 years) and fifty-nine adults (43 with severe obesity, age 46 ±11 years and 16 normal weight, age 45 ±9 years) were included. Blood from children and adults and adipose tissue samples from adults were obtained and analysed. Human adipocytes and VSMC were incubated with S100A4 to evaluate their response to this adipokine. Results: Circulating S100A4 levels were increased in both children (P = .002) and adults (P < .001) with obesity compared with their normal-weight controls. In subjects with obesity, S100A4 levels were associated with homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in adults (βstd = .42, P = .008) but not in children (βstd = .12, P = .356). Human adipocytes were not sensitive to S100A4, while incubation with this adipokine significantly reduced inflammatory markers in VSMC. Conclusions: Our human data demonstrate that higher S100A4 levels are a marker of IR in adults with obesity but not in prepubertal children. Furthermore, the in vitro results suggest that S100A4 might exert an anti-inflammatory effect. Further studies will be necessary to determine whether S100A4 can be a therapeutic target for obesity

How did COVID-19 measures impact sexual behaviour and access to HIV/STI services in Panama? Results from a national cross-sectional online survey.

OBJECTIVE: To describe reported changes in sexual behaviours, including virtual sex (sexting and cybersex), and access to HIV/STI testing and care during COVID-19 measures in Panama. METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey from 8 August to 12 September 2020 among adults (≥18 years) residing in Panama. Participants were recruited through social media. Questions included demographics, access to HIV/STI testing and HIV care, and sexual behaviours 3 months before COVID-19 social distancing measures and during social distancing measures (COVID-19 measures). Logistic regression was used to identify associations between variables and behavioural changes. RESULTS: We recruited 960 participants; 526 (54.8%) identified as cis-women, 366 (38.1%) cis-men and 68 (7.1%) non-binary or another gender. The median age was 28 years (IQR: 23-37 years), and 531 of 957 (55.5%) were of mixed ethnicity (mixed Indigenous/European/Afro-descendant ancestry). Before COVID-19 measures, virtual sex was reported by 38.5% (181 of 470) of cis-women, 58.4% (184 of 315) cis-men and 45.0% (27 of 60) non-binary participants. During COVID-19 measures, virtual sex increased among 17.2% of cis-women, 24.7% cis-men and 8.9% non-binary participants. During COVID-19 measures, 230 of 800 (28.8%) participants reported decreased casual sex compared with pre-COVID-19 measures. Compared with pre-COVID-19 measures, decreased casual sex was reported more frequently during COVID-19 measures by cis-men compared with cis-women (39.2% vs 22.9%, urban/rural adjusted OR (AOR)=2.17, 95% CI 1.57 to 3.01), and by Afro-descendant compared with participants of mixed ethnicity (40.0% vs 29.8%, AOR=1.78, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.94). Compared with no change in virtual sex (16.8%), increased virtual sex (38.5%, AOR=1.78, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.88) and decreased virtual sex (86.7%, AOR=16.53, 95% CI 7.74 to 35.27) were associated with decreased casual sex encounters. During COVID-19 measures, HIV/STI testing could not be obtained by 58.0% (58 of 100) of the participants who needed a test, and interrupted HIV care was reported by 53.3% (8 of 15) of participants living with HIV. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 measures in Panama were associated with a decrease in casual sex among cis-men and Afro-descendant people, while access to HIV/STI testing and care was seriously disrupted

International Coercion, Emulation and Policy Diffusion: Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reforms, 1977-1999

Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that the domestic adoption of market-oriented reforms is strongly influenced by international pressures of coercion and emulation. We find robust support for these arguments with an event-history analysis of the determinants of reform in the telecommunications and electricity sectors of as many as 205 countries and territories between 1977 and 1999. Our results also suggest that the coercive effect of multilateral lending from the IMF, the World Bank or Regional Development Banks is increasing over time, a finding that is consistent with anecdotal evidence that multilateral organizations have broadened the scope of the “conditionality” terms specifying market-oriented reforms imposed on borrowing countries. We discuss the possibility that, by pressuring countries into policy reform, cross-national coercion and emulation may not produce ideal outcomes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40099/3/wp713.pd

Chromosomal instability in aneuploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia associates with disease progression

Chromosomal instability (CIN) lies at the core of cancer development leading to aneuploidy, chromosomal copy-number heterogeneity (chr-CNH) and ultimately, unfavorable clinical outcomes. Despite its ubiquity in cancer, the presence of CIN in childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cB-ALL), the most frequent pediatric cancer showing high frequencies of aneuploidy, remains unknown. Here, we elucidate the presence of CIN in aneuploid cB-ALL subtypes using single-cell whole-genome sequencing of primary cB-ALL samples and by generating and functionally characterizing patient-derived xenograft models (cB-ALL-PDX). We report higher rates of CIN across aneuploid than in euploid cB-ALL that strongly correlate with intraclonal chr-CNH and overall survival in mice. This association was further supported by in silico mathematical modeling. Moreover, mass-spectrometry analyses of cB-ALL-PDX revealed a "CIN signature" enriched in mitotic-spindle regulatory pathways, which was confirmed by RNA-sequencing of a large cohort of cB-ALL samples. The link between the presence of CIN in aneuploid cB-ALL and disease progression opens new possibilities for patient stratification and offers a promising new avenue as a therapeutic target in cB-ALL treatment.</p