Nicaragua: Without structural changes there´ll be no sustainable reduction of rural poverty

This is a contribution of the ENVIO-NITLAPAN. The author is member of the scientific council of the RCASAE, and he is a senior researcher of the CAU NITLAPAN.Poverty Reduction Strategies, Agriculture and Development, Food Security and Poverty, E24, E23, D43, D72,

Small Farmers and Big Retail: trade-offs of supplying supermarkets in Nicaragua

In Nicaragua and elsewhere in Central America, small-scale farmers are weighing the risks of entering into contracts with supermarket chains. We use unique data on negotiated prices from Nicaraguan farm cooperatives supplying supermarkets to study the impact of supply agreements on producers’ mean output prices and price stability. We find that prices paid by the domestic retail chain approximate the traditional market in mean and variance. In contrast, we find that mean prices paid by Wal-mart are significantly lower than the traditional market but that Wal-Mart systematically reduces price volatility compared with the traditional market. We find some evidence, however, that farmers may be paying too much for this contractual insurance against price variation.Nicaragua, Supermarkets, Wal-Mart, Modern Retail, Market Risk, Contracts, Supply Chains, Agribusiness, International Development,

Supermarkets, Farm Assets, and Technology Choices: a Duration Analysis of Horticultural Growers in Nicaragua

Supermarkets, Nicaragua, Horticulture, Small Farmers, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development,

Detecting hydroxyl radical with a new two-photon fluorescent probe in living cells

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to be involved in the onset and development of multiple diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes among others. Generation of ROS is a phenomenon that results from normal cell metabolism as well as from the response to certain pathologic stimuli like certain cytokines, xenobiotics and bacterial infection. These ROS are highly reactive, short-lived molecules that play critical roles in the living cell and it is well accepted that cellular oxidative stress results from the imbalance between generation and elimination of ROS in cells. In this work, we describe the design and synthesis of a two photon (TP) organelle-targeting activatable fluorescent probe. This probe is a naphthalene-indoline compound that targets specifically lysosomes, reaching these organelles in the fluorescence “off” state and minimizing background reactions. Upon arrival at the lysosomes, the probe is triggered and a fluorescence “on” signal is observed that can be combined with TP microscopy to image the lysosomal •OH in living cells.Real Sociedad Española de Química y Grupo Especializado de Química Orgánica de la RSEQ•Universidade de Santiago de Compostela • CIQUS • Lilly • Mestrelab Research •Thieme •Scharlab • Acros • ABCR • AMSLab • GalChimia • Elsevier • The Journal of the American Chemical Society • ACS Omega • Organic Letters • The Journal of Organic Chemistry • Accounts of Chemical Research. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Ocupación informal y formal en Colombia, equilibrios de largo plazo y principales causas históricas (2001-2019). Un análisis vectorial de corrección de errores

This work is a contribution to the study of the relationships of equilibrium between informal occupation, minimum wage, urban unemployment, employment in the manufacturing, trade and services sectors, and economic growth. In order to establish the impact of these variables on the changeability of informal occupation, the existence of long-term equilibrium relationships between them is verified through a vector error correction model. With the results for impulse-response and variance decomposition, it is identified that the variables above mentioned reciprocally respond to stochastic shocks they may experience. Econometric results are related to important historical and structural aspects of the development of the Colombian economy, showing basic implications for the formulation of policies intending to reduce informal economies and the employment generated by these.Este trabajo es una contribución al estudio de las relaciones de equilibrio entre la ocupación informal, el salario mínimo, el desempleo urbano, el empleo en los sectores de manufactura, comercio y servicios y el crecimiento económico. Con el objetivo de establecer la repercusión de estas variables en la variabilidad de la ocupación informal, a través de un modelo vectorial de corrección de errores se comprueba la existencia de relaciones de equilibrio de largo plazo entre las variables mencionadas. Con los resultados de impulso-respuesta y de descomposición de varianza, se muestra cómo estas responden, recíprocamente, ante choques estocásticos que puedan registrar. Los resultados econométricos se relacionan con importantes aspectos históricos estructurales del desarrollo de la economía colombiana, evidenciando implicaciones básicas para la formulación de políticas que buscan disminuir la economía informal y la ocupación generada en ella

Epothilone-d rescues cognition and attenuates alzheimer’s disease-like pathology in APP/PS1 mice

AIMS: Cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients has been linked to synaptic damage and neuronal loss. Hyperphosphorylation of tau protein destabilizes microtubules leading to the accumulation of autophagy/vesicular material and the generation of dystrophic neurites, thus contributing to axonal/synaptic dysfunction. In this study, we analyzed the effect of a microtubule-stabilizing compound in the progression of the disease in the hippocampus of APP751SL/PS1M146L transgenic model. METHODS: APP/PS1 mice (3 month-old) were treated with a weekly intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg/kg epothilone-D (Epo-D) for 3 months. Vehicle-injected animals were used as controls. Mice were tested on the Morris water maze, Y-maze and object-recognition tasks for memory performance. Abeta, AT8, ubiquitin and synaptic markers levels were analyzed by Western-blots. Hippocampal plaque, synaptic and dystrophic loadings were quantified by image analysis after immunohistochemical stainings. RESULTS: Epo-D treated mice exhibited a significant improvement in the memory tests compared to controls. The rescue of cognitive deficits was associated to a significant reduction in the AD-like hippocampal pathology. Levels of Abeta, APP and ubiquitin were significantly reduced in treated animals. This was paralleled by a decrease in the amyloid burden, and more importantly, in the plaque-associated axonal dystrophy pathology. Finally, synaptic levels were significantly restored in treated animals compared to controls. CONCLUSION: Epo-D treatment promotes synaptic and spatial memory recovery, reduces the accumulation of extracellular Abeta and the associated neuritic pathology in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 model. Therefore, microtubule stabilizing drugs could be considered therapeutical candidates to slow down AD progression. Supported by FIS-PI12/01431 and PI15/00796 (AG),FIS-PI12/01439 and PI15/00957(JV)Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Los fines del estado

Para gran número de autores contemporáneos dé Teoria del Estado, asi como para muchos, políticos práctimos, el fin del Estado, conocido generalmente como "bien común es solo un ideal, claro para las mentes ingenuas pero fuera de toda demostracion científica-filosofica; es para ellos además un concepto vago que no guarda armonía con la realidad historica del Estado, debiéndose más su persistencia y generalidad a, un pathos de justicia y redencion para la totalidad de los habitantes del Estado, y sobre todo de los economica y socialmente débiles