Dietary advice for reducing cardiovascular risk

Background Changes in population diet are likely to reduce cardiovascular disease and cancer, but the effect of dietary advice is uncertain. This review is an update of a previous review published in 2007. Objectives To assess the effects of providing dietary advice to achieve sustained dietary changes or improved cardiovascular risk profile among healthy adults. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and the HTA database on The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2010). We searched MEDLINE (Ovid) (1950 to week 2 October 2010) and EMBASE (Ovid) (1980 to Week 42 2010). Additional searches were done on CAB Health (1972 to December 1999), CVRCT registry (2000), CCT (2000) and SIGLE (1980 to 2000). Dissertation abstracts and reference lists of articles were checked and researchers were contacted. Selection criteria Randomised studies with no more than 20% loss to follow-up, lasting at least three months and involving healthy adults comparing dietary advice with no advice or minimal advice. Trials involving children, trials to reduce weight or those involving supplementation were excluded. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information. Main results Forty-four trials with 52 intervention arms (comparisons) comparing dietary advice with no advice were included in the review; 18,175 participants or clusters were randomised. Twenty-nine of the 44 included trials were conducted in the USA. Dietary advice reduced total serum cholesterol by 0.15 mmol/L (95% CI 0.06 to 0.23) and LDL cholesterol by 0.16 mmol/L (95% CI 0.08 to 0.24) after 3 to 24 months. Mean HDL cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels were unchanged. Dietary advice reduced blood pressure by 2.61 mm Hg systolic (95% CI 1.31 to 3.91) and 1.45 mm Hg diastolic (95% CI 0.68 to 2.22) and 24-hour urinary sodium excretion by 40.9 mmol (95% CI 25.3 to 56.5) after 3 to 36 months but there was heterogeneity between trials for the latter outcome. Three trials reported plasma antioxidants, where small increases were seen in lutein and β-cryptoxanthin, but there was heterogeneity in the trial effects. Self-reported dietary intake may be subject to reporting bias, and there was significant heterogeneity in all the following analyses. Compared to no advice, dietary advice increased fruit and vegetable intake by 1.18 servings/day (95% CI 0.65 to 1.71). Dietary fibre intake increased with advice by 6.5 g/day (95% CI 2.2 to 10.82), while total dietary fat as a percentage of total energy intake fell by 4.48% (95% CI 2.47 to 6.48) with dietary advice, and saturated fat intake fell by 2.39% (95% CI 1.4 to 3.37). Two trials analysed incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events (TOHP I/II). Follow-up was 77% complete at 10 to 15 years after the end of the intervention period and estimates of event rates lacked precision but suggested that sodium restriction advice probably led to a reduction in cardiovascular events (combined fatal plus non-fatal events) plus revascularisation (TOHP I hazards ratio (HR) 0.59, 95% CI 0.33 to 1.08; TOHP II HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.12). Authors' conclusions Dietary advice appears to be effective in bringing about modest beneficial changes in diet and cardiovascular risk factors over approximately 12 months, but longer-term effects are not known

Mimicry of an HIV broadly neutralizing antibody epitope with a synthetic glycopeptide.

CAPRISA, 2017.Abstract available in pdf

Mercury accumulation in the sediment of the Western Mediterranean abyssal plain: A reliable archive of the late Holocene

Temporal reconstruction of Hg deposition from sediment archives is relatively straightforward in organic-rich or high sedimentation rate environments, such as lakes and ocean margins. To retrieve long-term records at regional or global scales, deep-sea sediments are more appropriate, but such records are scarce and their reliability has been questioned because of possible post-depositional Hg diagenetic remobilization. Here, we investigated the accumulation of Hg in the Balearic Abyssal Plain (2850 m deep) of the Western Mediterranean through a comprehensive characterization of the chemical and isotopic composition (organic carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, major and redox-sensitive elements) of sediment trap material and sediment cores. The analysis of material collected in the sediment traps, deployed at 250, 1440, and 2820 m, indicates that Hg is (i) partially re-emitted to the atmosphere and mobilized in the twilight zone and that (ii) the Hg downward flux depends on the primary production in surface waters, suggesting that organic matter (OM) acts as the main Hg-carrier phase. As the Hg concentrations of material collected in the traps vary little with depth but the Hg:Corg ratio of the settling particulate matter decreases with depth, Hg must be re-adsorbed onto the more refractory fraction of the settling OM. Results of selective chemical extractions of the sediment indicate that Hg is very weakly coupled to the iron cycle but strongly associated with sulfur, supporting the assumption that its vertical distribution was only weakly altered by diagenetic remobilization. In addition, the distributions of S and δ34S in the sedimentary column exclude the possibility that local volcanism impacted on Hg enrichment of the sediments. Accordingly, a reconstruction of Hg accumulation rates (Hg-AR) during the Late Holocene is readily achieved. Biological mixing and smoothing of the sediment record, as revealed by the distribution of radionuclides in surface sediments, was considered in the interpretation of the Hg-AR record. The first anthropogenic Hg signal recorded in the studied cores corresponds to the Iron Age and the Roman Empire period, as Hg-ARs rose from the baseline (0.7 ± 0.2 µg m-2 yr-1) to an average value of 2.2 ± 0.5 µg m-2 yr-1. The Hg-ARs return to baseline values at the decline of the Roman Empire, display a small increase during the Medieval Period (1.5 ± 0.5 µg m-2 yr-1), increase abruptly at the onset of the Industrial Era, leading to a ∼10-fold increase in Hg deposition in the last 120 years (8.9 ± 1.4 µg m-2 yr-1), and retreat progressively over the past 50 years

Hurricane Forecasting with the High-resolution NASA Finite-volume General Circulation Model

A high-resolution finite-volume General Circulation Model (fvGCM), resulting from a development effort of more than ten years, is now being run operationally at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center. The model is based on a finite-volume dynamical core with terrain-following Lagrangian control-volume discretization and performs efficiently on massive parallel architectures. The computational efficiency allows simulations at a resolution of a quarter of a degree, which is double the resolution currently adopted by most global models in operational weather centers. Such fine global resolution brings us closer to overcoming a fundamental barrier in global atmospheric modeling for both weather and climate, because tropical cyclones and even tropical convective clusters can be more realistically represented. In this work, preliminary results of the fvGCM are shown. Fifteen simulations of four Atlantic tropical cyclones in 2002 and 2004 are chosen because of strong and varied difficulties presented to numerical weather forecasting. It is shown that the fvGCM, run at the resolution of a quarter of a degree, can produce very good forecasts of these tropical systems, adequately resolving problems like erratic track, abrupt recurvature, intense extratropical transition, multiple landfall and reintensification, and interaction among vortices

Pobreza y (des)igualdad en Uruguay: una relación en debate

Abordar la temática de la pobreza, la desigualdad y las políticas sociales en Uruguay supone un doble desafío. Por un lado, mostrar la trascendecia de estos temas para el desarrollo social del país, de un país atravesado entre una mirada nostálgica de un pasado virtuoso de "pequeño país modelo" en la primera mitad del siglo XX que logró combinar desarrollo económico, político y social y las crisis y recomposiciones posteriores de un país fragmentado -social y culturalmente- en busca de un rumbo. Por otro lado, contribuir con una mirada comparada, en términos de itinerarios históricos del país y la región de modo de situar la contemporaneidad de problemas sociales comunes como la pobreza y la desigualdad, con las especificidades y alternativas ensayadas en el país, desmistificando las visiones autocomplacientes y recuperando los legados propios. El libro busca ser un lugar de encuentro de miradas diversas e investigadores del país para identificar temáticas y contribuir a elaborar la agenda social para la investigación científica sobre el desarrollo social y las políticas sociales.Presentación........................................................................................................ 7 Carmen Midaglia, Silvia Rivero, Miguel Serna Red temática Desarrollo, desigualdad y protección social en Uruguay: estado de situación y demandas de investigación............................................... 17 Desarrollo y desigualdad social Rodrigo Arocena (Rector de la Universidad de la República) Distribución del poder social, conocimiento y desigualdad Una mirada desde la teoría de Michael Mann..................................................... 41 Luis Bértola, Jorge Álvarez (Unidad Multidisciplinaria, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Desarrollo y desigualdad: miradas desde la historia económica......................... 55 Andrea Vigorito, Rodrigo Arim, Gonzalo Salas, Verónica Amarante (Instituto de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, UdelaR) Desarrollo económico y desigualdad en Uruguay............................................... 77 Alvaro Forteza, Marisa Bucheli, Ianina Rossi y Máximo Rossi (Depto. de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Crecimiento, desigualdad e instituciones .......................................................... 95 Constanza Moreira (Instituto de Ciencia Política, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Desarrollo, política y desigualdad en Uruguay: una perspectiva de largo plazo. 119 Miguel Serna (Depto. de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, UdelaR) Pobreza y políticas de la pobreza: desafíos para la construcción de la ciudadanía social en el Uruguay contemporáneo .............................................. 135 Pobreza, desigualdad y nueva cuestión social Carmen Terra (Depto. de Trabajo Social, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) ¿Infantilización de la pobreza o pauperización de sectores populares?: claves para una problematización....................................................................... 155 Tabaré Fernandéz (Depto. de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Hacia un enfoque multidimensional de la pobreza: cuestiones teóricas ............ 171 Gustavo Pereira (Depto. de Filosofía, Facultad de Humanidades) Capacidades, intersubjetividad y hermenéutica. Una expansión de la comprensión del desarrollo................................................................................. 193 Susana Mallo Reynal (Depto. de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Semántica de la pobreza. Axel Honneth y las implicancias del reconocimiento................................................................................................... 213 Eloísa Bordoli, Pablo Martinis (Instituto de Educación de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, UdelaR) Relaciones entre educación y pobreza. Continuidades y rupturas del discurso moderno ............................................................................................................. 227 Soledad Morales Ramos (Instituto de Ciencia Política, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, INAU) E-xclusiones de las Sociedades de la Información y el Conocimiento: análisis helicoidal de la relación entre políticas TIC, pobreza y exclusión social................................................................................................................... 241 Luis Eduardo Morás (Instituto de Sociología Jurídica, Facultad de Derecho, UdelaR) Nacer siendo menor. Reflexiones sobre punitividad, crisis institucional y adolescentes en conflicto con la ley ................................................................... 267 Rosario Radakovich (Observatorio universitario de políticas culturales, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Licenciatura en Comunicación, UdelaR) Fronteras simbólicas de la desigualdad en Montevideo: consumo cultural en una ciudad fragmentada ..................................................................................... 285 Programas sociales contra la pobreza y políticas sociales Christian Mirza (Depto. de Trabajo Social, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR, Ex Director Políticas Sociales Ministerio de Desarrollo Social) Experiencias y desafíos de implementación de una nueva malla de protección social, el caso del Plan de Equidad ..................................................................... 303 José Busquets, Marcela Schenck (ICP, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Facultad de Derecho, UdelaR) Las percepciones de las elites: políticas y reformas en la arena social en el gobierno progresista (2005-2007)....................................................................... 323 Ester Mancebo (Instituto de Ciencia Política, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Las políticas de inclusión educativa: una nueva mirada sobre un viejo problema............................................................................................................. 341 Rosario Aguirre (Depto. de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) El cuidado social y familiar: retos para las políticas sociales.............................. 353 Silvia Rivero (Depto. de Trabajo Social, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) Caracterización de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil: primera aproximación ........................................................................................ 369 Carmen Midaglia, Marcelo Castillo, Felipe Monestier (Instituto de Ciencia Política, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UdelaR) El Estado visto desde la sociedad civil organizada. Notas para un debate sobre la regulación de servicios públicos prestados por organizaciones sociales................................................................................................................ 391 Verónica Amarante, Andrea Vigorito (Instituto de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, UdelaR) Pobreza, desigualdad y programas de transferencias condicionadas. La experiencia reciente de Uruguay.................................................................41

Revista de Ciencias Sociales (Vol. 26 no. 33 dic 2013)

Enfoques dominantes en las estrategias para la Sociedad de la Información y el Conocimiento El caso uruguayo 2000-2010/ Ana Rivoir Desafíos y límites del uso social de Internet. Una aproximación al caso uruguayo/ Rosario Radakovich y Santiago Escuder Internet y participación política ¿Nueva política?, ¿nuevos actores?/ Joan Subirats La presencia de las mujeres en el sector productivo de las TIC. Nuevas brechas y nuevos desafíos/ María Goñi Mazzitelli y Lucía Pittaluga Personas adultas mayores y comunicación móvil. La importancia de la voz y los SMS en Montevideo/ Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol Redes transnacionales: Red Uruguay Encuentro. Nuevo espacio tecnológico, geográfico y social/ Mauricio Nihil Olivera, Fernando Lema y Cristen Dávalos Uruguay: un país más diverso que su imaginación. Una interpretación a partir del censo de 2011/ Felipe Arocena Reseñas bibliográficas Educación y Derechos Humanos: modelos a construir/ Alejandra Capocasale y Yoselín Frugoni (coord.)Por Adriana Marrero Transformaciones recientes y desafíos para el desarrollo regional Jorge Leal (comp.)Por Paola Mascheroni Giro a la izquierda y nuevas elites en Uruguay: ¿Renovación o reconversión? Miguel Serna (coord.)Por Daniela Vair

Dietary advice for reducing cardiovascular risk

Background Changes in population diet are likely to reduce cardiovascular disease and cancer, but the effect of dietary advice is uncertain. This review is an update of a previous review published in 2007. Objectives To assess the effects of providing dietary advice to achieve sustained dietary changes or improved cardiovascular risk profile among healthy adults. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and the HTA database on The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2010). We searched MEDLINE (Ovid) (1950 to week 2 October 2010) and EMBASE (Ovid) (1980 to Week 42 2010). Additional searches were done on CAB Health (1972 to December 1999), CVRCT registry (2000), CCT (2000) and SIGLE (1980 to 2000). Dissertation abstracts and reference lists of articles were checked and researchers were contacted. Selection criteria Randomised studies with no more than 20% loss to follow-up, lasting at least three months and involving healthy adults comparing dietary advice with no advice or minimal advice. Trials involving children, trials to reduce weight or those involving supplementation were excluded. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information. Main results Forty-four trials with 52 intervention arms (comparisons) comparing dietary advice with no advice were included in the review; 18,175 participants or clusters were randomised. Twenty-nine of the 44 included trials were conducted in the USA. Dietary advice reduced total serum cholesterol by 0.15 mmol/L (95% CI 0.06 to 0.23) and LDL cholesterol by 0.16 mmol/L (95% CI 0.08 to 0.24) after 3 to 24 months. Mean HDL cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels were unchanged. Dietary advice reduced blood pressure by 2.61 mm Hg systolic (95% CI 1.31 to 3.91) and 1.45 mm Hg diastolic (95% CI 0.68 to 2.22) and 24-hour urinary sodium excretion by 40.9 mmol (95% CI 25.3 to 56.5) after 3 to 36 months but there was heterogeneity between trials for the latter outcome. Three trials reported plasma antioxidants, where small increases were seen in lutein and β-cryptoxanthin, but there was heterogeneity in the trial effects. Self-reported dietary intake may be subject to reporting bias, and there was significant heterogeneity in all the following analyses. Compared to no advice, dietary advice increased fruit and vegetable intake by 1.18 servings/day (95% CI 0.65 to 1.71). Dietary fibre intake increased with advice by 6.5 g/day (95% CI 2.2 to 10.82), while total dietary fat as a percentage of total energy intake fell by 4.48% (95% CI 2.47 to 6.48) with dietary advice, and saturated fat intake fell by 2.39% (95% CI 1.4 to 3.37). Two trials analysed incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events (TOHP I/II). Follow-up was 77% complete at 10 to 15 years after the end of the intervention period and estimates of event rates lacked precision but suggested that sodium restriction advice probably led to a reduction in cardiovascular events (combined fatal plus non-fatal events) plus revascularisation (TOHP I hazards ratio (HR) 0.59, 95% CI 0.33 to 1.08; TOHP II HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.12). Authors' conclusions Dietary advice appears to be effective in bringing about modest beneficial changes in diet and cardiovascular risk factors over approximately 12 months, but longer-term effects are not known

Mutaciones del consumo cultural en el siglo XXI : tecnologías, espacios y experiencias

Los trabajos que integran este libro analizan la internacionalización territorial y virtual de los consumos culturales propios de la era digital y su impacto en la reorientación de la producción y el aggiornamiento de la políticas culturales, estructurados en tres ejes que giran en torno al impacto de las tecnologías de información y comunicación, a las transformaciones de los circuitos, actores e instituciones culturales y a los desafíos de las políticas culturales