Determinantes de los flujos de capital: un enfoque empírico desde la economía del Ecuador

The variability of capital flows is conditioned by external factors, linked to the performance of the economies, but also to internal factors linked to policies to attract foreign capital, so that, during the last decades, the behavior of capital flows capital have become an important element for forecasting the economic performance of countries, which has motivated greater and better efforts to understand its dynamics and identify its main determinants in order to take advantage of its benefits and control its risks in the most effective way possible. The paper aims to identify and analyze the main factors that explain the variations in capital flows in the context of the Ecuadorian economy during the period 1990 - 2020, such determinants, according to the literature, the empirical evidence and available data are gross domestic product, country risk, international reserves, foreign direct investment, exports, and external debt. By estimating a multivariate linear regression model for time series, using the ordinary least squares method, it is determined that gross domestic product, international reserves and foreign direct investment have a positive effect and country risk a negative effect. statistically significant, on capital flows. As is evident, capital flows in Ecuador are determined by endogenous and exogenous factors that promote the entry and, on the other hand, encourage the exit of capital from the economy.La variabilidad de los flujos de capital está condicionada por factores externos, ligados al desempeño de las economías, pero también a factores internos vinculados con las políticas de atracción de capitales externos, por lo que, durante las últimas décadas, los comportamientos de los flujos de capital se han convertido en un elemento importante para pronosticar el desempeño económico de los países, lo cual ha motivado realizar mayores y mejores esfuerzos para comprender su dinámica e identificar sus principales determinantes para aprovechar sus beneficios y controlar sus riesgos de manera más efectiva posible. El artículo tiene como objetivo identificar y analizar los principales factores que explican las variaciones de los flujos de capital en el contexto de la economía ecuatoriana durante el periodo 1990 - 2020, tales determinantes, acorde a la literatura, la evidencia empírica y los datos disponible son el producto interno bruto, el riesgo país, las reservas internacionales, la inversión extranjera directa, las exportaciones y la deuda externa. Mediante la estimación de un modelo de regresión lineal multivariante para series temporales, usando el método de mínimos cuadrados ordinarios, se determina que el producto interno bruto, las reservas internacionales y la inversión extranjera directa tienen un efecto positivo y el riesgo país un efecto negativo, estadísticamente significativos, sobre los flujos de capital. Como es evidente, los flujos de capital en el Ecuador están determinados por factores endógenos y exógenos que promueven la entrada y, por otro lado, fomentan la salida de los capitales de la economía

Economic Potential of Bio-Ethylene Production via Oxidative Coupling of Methane in Biogas from Anaerobic Digestion of Industrial Effluents

Brazil’s large biofuels industry generates significant amounts of effluents, e.g., vinasse from bioethanol, that can effectively be used as substrate for production of biogas via Anaerobic Digestion (AD). The Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) is the heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of methane into ethylene, which is a main building block for the chemical industry. This work investigates the potential and competitiveness of bio-ethylene production via OCM using biogas produced by biological anaerobiosis of vinasse as a feedstock. The proposed process can add incentive to treat of vinasse via AD and replace fossil ethylene, thus potentially reducing emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). A process model is developed in Aspen Plus v10 software and used to design an economic Biogas-based Oxidative Coupling of Methane (Bio-OCM) process that consumes biogas and oxygen as educts and produces ethylene, ethane, and light off-gases as products. Operating conditions in the reaction section are optimized and a reaction product yield of 16.12% is reached by applying two adiabatic Packed Bed Reactors (PBRs) in series. For the downstream CO2 removal section, a standalone amine-absorption process is simulated and compared to a hybrid membrane-absorption process on an economic basis. For the distillation section, two different configurations with and without Recycle Split Vapor (RSV) are simulated and compared. The bio-ethylene production cost for a Bio-OCM plant to be installed in Brazil is estimated considering a wide range of prices for educts, utility, side products, and equipment within a Monte Carlo simulation. The resulting average production cost of bio-ethylene is 0.53 ±0.73 USD kgC2H4-1. The production cost is highly sensitive to the sales price assigned to a light off-gas side-product stream containing mostly the un-reacted methane. A sales price close to that of Brazilian pipeline natural gas has been assumed based on the characteristics of this stream. The Monte Carlo simulation shows that a bio-ethylene production cost below or equal to 0.70 USD kgC2H4-1 is achieved with a 55.2% confidence, whereas market values for fossil ethylene typically lie between 0.70USD kgC2H4-1–1.50USD kgC2H4-1. Technical and economic challenges for the industrial implementation of the proposed Bio-OCM process are identified and relevant opportunities for further research and improvement are discussed.BMBF, 01DN17023, ERA-Net: Verbundprojekt: Design, Entwicklung und Bewertung eines Prozesses zur Herstellung von Ethylen aus Biogas basierend auf der Oxidativen Kopplung von Methan (OCM); Teilvorhaben: TU Berli

Polymorphisms in the LPL and CETP Genes and Haplotype in the ESR1 Gene Are Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in Women from Southwestern Mexico

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a combination of metabolic disorders associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Studies in women reported associations between polymorphisms in <i>ESR1</i>, <i>LPL</i> and <i>CETP</i> genes and MetS. Our aim was to evaluate the association between variants in <i>ESR1</i>,<i> LPL</i> and <i>CETP</i> genes with MetS and its components. Four hundred and eighty women were analyzed, anthropometric features and biochemical profiles were evaluated, and genotyping was performed by real-time PCR. We found an association with elevated glucose levels (odds ratio (OR) = 2.9; <i>p</i> = 0.013) in carrying the AA genotype of rs1884051 in the <i>ESR1</i> gene compared with the GG genotype, and the CC genotype of rs328 in the <i>LPL</i> gene was associated with MetS compared to the CG or GG genotype (OR = 2.8; <i>p</i> = 0.04). Moreover, the GA genotype of rs708272 in the <i>CETP</i> gene is associated with MetS compared to the GG or AA genotype (OR = 1.8; <i>p</i> = 0.006). In addition the ACTCCG haplotype in the <i>ESR1</i> gene is associated with a decrease in the risk of MetS (OR = 0.02; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). In conclusion, our results show the involvement of the variants of <i>ESR1</i>, <i>LPL</i> and <i>CETP</i> genes in metabolic events related to MetS or some of its features

Polymorphisms in the LPL and CETP Genes and Haplotype in the ESR1 Gene Are Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in Women from Southwestern Mexico

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a combination of metabolic disorders associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Studies in women reported associations between polymorphisms in ESR1, LPL and CETP genes and MetS. Our aim was to evaluate the association between variants in ESR1, LPL and CETP genes with MetS and its components. Four hundred and eighty women were analyzed, anthropometric features and biochemical profiles were evaluated, and genotyping was performed by real-time PCR. We found an association with elevated glucose levels (odds ratio (OR) = 2.9; p = 0.013) in carrying the AA genotype of rs1884051 in the ESR1 gene compared with the GG genotype, and the CC genotype of rs328 in the LPL gene was associated with MetS compared to the CG or GG genotype (OR = 2.8; p = 0.04). Moreover, the GA genotype of rs708272 in the CETP gene is associated with MetS compared to the GG or AA genotype (OR = 1.8; p = 0.006). In addition the ACTCCG haplotype in the ESR1 gene is associated with a decrease in the risk of MetS (OR = 0.02; p &lt; 0.001). In conclusion, our results show the involvement of the variants of ESR1, LPL and CETP genes in metabolic events related to MetS or some of its features

Kinetic and Molecular Docking Studies to Determine the Effect of Inhibitors on the Activity and Structure of Fused G6PD::6PGL Protein from Trichomonas vaginalis

Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted disease with a high incidence worldwide, affecting 270 million people. Despite the existence of a catalog of available drugs to combat this infection, their extensive use promotes the appearance of resistant Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis), and some side effects in treated people, which are reasons why it is necessary to find new alternatives to combat this infection. In this study, we investigated the impact of an in-house library comprising 55 compounds on the activity of the fused T. vaginalis G6PD::6PGL (TvG6PD::6PGL) protein, a protein mediating the first reaction step of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), a crucial pathway involved in the parasite&rsquo;s energy production. We found four compounds: JMM-3, CNZ-3, CNZ-17, and MCC-7, which inhibited the TvG6PD::6PGL protein by more than 50%. Furthermore, we determined the IC50, the inactivation constants, and the type of inhibition. Our results showed that these inhibitors induced catalytic function loss of the TvG6PD::6PGL enzyme by altering its secondary and tertiary structures. Finally, molecular docking was performed for the best inhibitors, JMM-3 and MCC-7. All our findings demonstrate the potential role of these selected hit compounds as TvG6PD::6PGL enzyme selective inhibitors

Infectología Clínica

Infections are one of the main reasons for consultation in daily practice, as well as being the cause of multiple hospital admissions. The world faces a serious crisis with antimicrobial resistance; During the last decade, the creation of new antibiotics has been elusive against multiresistant pathogens, so the mortality rate has increased due to this situation.Health not only faces this problem with antimicrobials, it also suffers from antivirals, especially with patients with HIV, the various mutations at the viral level condition the therapeutic response.The facts mentioned in therapeutics have suggested the creation of new approaches to solve them and these are phage therapy and nanotechnology, alternatives not only used for autoimmune or cancer diseases, their clinical use against persistent infections and against multi-resistant strains.The early recognition of sepsis becomes one of the main objectives when caring for a patient; the establishment of early treatment represents the opportunity to obtain a higher survival rate.Las infecciones constituyen uno de los principales motivos de consulta en la práctica diaria, además de ser la causa de múltiples ingresos a nivel hospitalario. El mundo enfrenta una grave crisis con la resistencia antimicrobiana; durante la última década la creación de nuevos antibióticos ha sido esquivo frente a patógenos multirresistentes, por lo que la tasa de mortalidad aumento por esta situación. La salud no solo enfrenta este problema con los antimicrobianos también lo sufre con los antivirales en especial con los pacientes con VIH, las diversas mutaciones a nivel viral condicionan la respuesta terapéutica. Los hechos mencionados en la terapéutica han sugerido la creación de nuevos abordajes para resolverlos y estos son la fagoterapía y la nanotecnología, alternativas no solo utilizadas para enfermedades autoinmunes o cancerígenas, su uso clínico frente a infecciones persistentes y contra cepas multirresistentes. El reconocimiento temprano de la sepsis se convierte en uno de los principales objetivos en el momento de la atención de un paciente, la instauración del tratamiento temprano representa la oportunidad para obtener una mayor tasa de supervivencia