El crecimiento económico como modelo de desarrollo social y su relación con el cambio climático

El presente artículo analiza cómo desde el pensamiento crítico se abordan las complejas relaciones entre crecimiento económico, como modelo de desarrollo social imperante, y el cambio climático. En este sentido, el cambio climático se presenta como el fenómeno global más gravitante al cual se enfrenta la humanidad, y donde a pesar de las medidas adoptadas, aun la posibilidad de desastre es real. Tomando como referencia a los estudios clásicos, realiza un breve análisis de la relación capital-trabajo. Brinda una mirada en un horizonte de proyección, donde junto a las imprescindibles medidas de mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático, se asumen otras asociadas a la emancipación humana. Igualmente, desde el análisis de algunos de los documentos normativos de los últimos años, se hace un acercamiento a la importancia de la educación como factor esencial para lograr detener este proceso. Se realiza una mirada crítica y cuestiona las distintas soluciones o propuestas relacionadas con el cambio climático. Al concluir se aprecia la necesidad de un cambio en este modelo de relaciones, fundamentalmente entre el ser humano y la naturaleza, para lograr la total emancipación. Además, se propone la educación como una de las herramientas más importantes como factor de cambio y donde el ser humano debe ser parte activa de este proceso de cambio.//The present article analyses how critical thinking addresses the complex relationships between economic growth, as a model of prevailing social development and climate change. In this sense, climate change is presented as the most important global change facing humanity, and where despite the measures adopted, even the possibility of disaster is real. Taking as reference the classics, he makes a brief analysis of the Capital-work relationship. It provides a look at a projection horizon, where, together with the essential mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change, others associated with human emancipation are assumed. Likewise, from the analysis of some of the normative documents of recent years, an approach is made to the importance of education as an essential factor in stopping this process. It takes a critical look and questions the different solutions or proposals related to climate change. At the end, the need for a change in this model of relationships, fundamentally between the human being and nature, to achieve total emancipation is appreciated. In addition, education is proposed as one of the most important tools as a factor of change and where the human being must be an active part of this process of change

Arbovirus risk perception as a predictor of mosquito-bite preventive behaviors in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Mosquito-borne arboviruses are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the Caribbean. In Puerto Rico, chikungunya, dengue, and Zika viruses have each caused large outbreaks during 2010–2022. To date, the majority of control measures to prevent these diseases focus on mosquito control and many require community participation. In 2018, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the COPA project, a community-based cohort study in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to measure the impact of novel vector control interventions in reducing arboviral infections. Randomly selected households from 38 designated cluster areas were offered participation, and baseline data were collected from 2,353 households between May 2018 and May 2019. Household-level responses were provided by one representative per home. Cross-sectional analyses of baseline data were conducted to estimate 1) the association between arboviral risk perception and annual household expenditure on mosquito control, and 2) the association between arboviral risk perception and engagement in ≥3 household-level risk reduction behaviors. In this study, 27% of household representatives believed their household was at high risk of arboviruses and 36% of households engaged in at least three of the six household-level preventive behaviors. Households where the representative perceived their household at high risk spent an average of $35.9 (95$23.7, $48.1) more annually on mosquito bite prevention compared to households where the representative perceived no risk. The probability of engaging in ≥3 household-level mosquito-preventive behaviors was 10.2 percentage points greater (7.2, 13.0) in households where the representatives perceived high risk compared to those in which the representatives perceived no risk. Paired with other research, these results support investment in community-based participatory approaches to mosquito control and providing accessible information for communities to accurately interpret their risk

Línea de investigación en Helicobacter pylori para la formación de recurso humano en ciencia, tecnología e innovación en el programa de microbiología

Este libro nace de la unión de un maestro altamente calificado y alumnos dedicados con unas creatividades activas y dispuestas a trabajar por resolver los problemas que trae una bacteria a la humanidad. Las investigaciones aquí consignadas son producto de los trabajos de grado de los estudiantes del programa de Microbiología, quienes además fueron miembros del semillero de investigación, MICROORGANISMOS DE IMPORTANCIA EN SALUD HUMANA Y ANIMAL “OBVIO-MICROBIO”. Apoyados y dirigidos por la doctora Adalucy Alvarez-Aldana, quien gracias a su amplio conocimiento en el microorganismo supo sembrar curiosidad sobre el mismo durante las sesiones del semillero, incentivando a muchos de sus alumnos a dedicar su trabajo de grado a resolver alguna pregunta que les surgiera en torno a este microorganismo. Aunque diferentes son las investigaciones, todas fueron trazadas con un fin común, entregarle a la humanidad un poco más de conocimiento sobre Helicobacter pylori, por esto la unión de estas investigaciones en una sola consigna, son importantes para entender más sobre todo lo que rodea esta bacteria y pretenden resolver muchos misterios que aún aquejan la epidemiología detrás de la misma. Estos trabajos son fruto de muchos esfuerzos, materiales y académicos, de personas grandiosas, de la unión de universidades, doctores y docentes de diferentes disciplinas, razón que demuestra una vez más que la unión hace la fuerza, porque solo llegarás más rápido, pero en compañía llegarás más lejos. Además, contamos con la fortuna de tener un capitulo invitado, cuyo tema no es sobre Helicobacter pylori, pero si un sobre un tópico de gran interes en la actualidad como es la resistencia bacteriana. Capitulo titulado: “Caracterización epidemiológica y microbiológica de las bacteriemias y su perfil de resistencia durante el periodo junio 2011 a junio 2015”

Assessing the environmental effectiveness of the Spanish Marine Reserve Network using remote sensing

Healthy marine ecosystems provide a variety of ecosystem services crucial for human wellbeing. Effectively managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly recognized to be an effective measure to protect endangered species and ensuring healthier ecosystems. This study assesses the environmental effectiveness of the Spanish Marine Reserve Network (MRN) with regard to: 1) water quality: chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl-a), sea surface temperature (SST), and Salinity; and 2) protected species conservation: coverage and density of Posidonia oceanica (P. oceanica), using a Multiple-Paired-Before-After-Control-Impact (MPBACI) research design. Water quality and protected species indicators were compared before and after Marine Reserve (MR) designation, inside MRs and in different outer control areas of 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and equal-area buffers, for the whole MRN (Marine Reserve Network), by marine ecoregions and for some specific MRs. We used Copernicus Marine Monitoring Remote Sensing data to ascertain water quality values and validated their accuracy compared to in-situ data as well as the reliability of Chl-a concentration derived from Sentinel 2 (S2) images. Water quality results reveal significant differences in mean Chl-a and Chl-a range, mean Salinity and SST range between cases (inside MRs) and 5 km-buffer control areas for the entire MRN. Analyses by ecoregion showed no significant differences in water quality between cases and controls in the Western Mediterranean ecoregion or in the Azores, Canaries and Madeira ecoregion, whereas the Alboran Sea ecoregion MRs had higher mean Chl-a concentration and lower mean Salinity, mean SST and SST range than all controls. Results on P. oceanica beds showed a significant increase in P. oceanica density (almost twice) inside Tabarca MR (TBA) compared to outer control cases, but no significant changes in P. oceanica coverage. Validation of Remote Sensing (RS) data using in-situ measurements demonstrated significant differences for Chl-a concentration and no significant differences for SST and Salinity between both techniques. Chl-a concentration by S2 reveals statistically significant differences with in-situ data. Our findings suggest environmental effectiveness of the Spanish MRs and still limited sensitivity of open source medium resolution RS tools to assess MPA effectiveness

Oportunidades de negocio en la apertura de emprendimientos en la zona sierra de la Provincia de Bolívar

El emprendimiento se ha convertido en un elemento de la cotidianeidad posibilitando la mejora de la calidad de vida de las personas, realizándose en el Ecuador estudios al respecto. Sin embargo, en la Zona Sierra de la provincia de Bolívar no se reportan análisis sobre el tema. El objetivo de la investigación es la determinación de la incidencia de las oportunidades de negocio (los factores externos), o necesidades sociales (motivaciones personales) en la apertura de emprendimientos en la Zona Sierra de la provincia Bolívar. El estudio desarrollado ha sido de tipo descriptivo, con un diseño no experimental. Se consideró una muestra estratificada de 747 personas, utilizando como instrumento el cuestionario, con una escala ordinal del tipo multivariado y de opciones múltiples. Los resultados permiten concluir que en los tres cantones de la Zona Sierra de la provincia Bolívar predominan las necesidades sociales por encima de las oportunidades de negocios para iniciar un emprendimiento, lo que constituye una regularidad de aquellas regiones donde imperan carencias de tipo económica social.

HTrack: A new tool to facilitate public health field visits and electronic data capture.

Many applications have been developed for electronic data collection. However, offline field navigation tools incorporating secure electronic data capture and field visit tracking are currently scarce. We created an R-Shiny application, HTrack (Household Tracking), for use on encrypted Android devices in the field. The application was implemented in the Communities Organized to Prevent Arboviruses (COPA) project, a study beginning in 2018 to better understand arboviral disease incidence in 38 communities in Puerto Rico. The application was used to navigate to randomly selected structures and capture visit outcomes after conducting multiple visits for participant recruitment. It also served as a bridge to an alternate software, Epi Info, to collect participant-level questionnaire data. This application successfully captured each visit outcome and improved the logistics of field level activities for the COPA project, eliminating the use of paper maps for navigation. We show the development of HTrack and comment on the limitations and strengths of this application and further improvements

Posterolateral fusion in spondylolisthesis of the lumbosacral segment.

Background: Since centuries ago it has been written about lumbar pain, still its treatment remains enigmatic. At present, all developed spinal surgery institutions use the transpedicular fixation methods, but we lack the right technology for what we use the posterolateral fusion. Objetive: to evaluate the results in the aplicate of the posterolateral fusion in spondylolisthesis of the lumbosacral segment. Methods: A Retrospective-descriptive, correlational, and of a series of cases study, carried out in traumatology and orthopaedics service of the Universitarian Provincial Hospital ¨Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima¨ of Cienfuegos, in which were included the 33 patients with spondylisthesis of the lumbosacral segment, who received inter-transversal posterolateral fusion. All the patients got plain anteroposterior and lateral radiography, including right and left slanting sights, to the doubtful cases dynamic sights with flexion and extension of the trunk were applied. To the patients with signs of radicular irritation, a digitalized axial tomography was applied. Results: The main etiological causes in these patients were the isthmic one, followed by degenerative and dysplastic ones. The posterolateral function was carried out alone or combined with other surgical techniques; to the patients with lumbar pain that also had associated signs of radicular irritation were applied exeresis of posterior arch with release of the endangered roots. The more frequent complication was the recurrent pain, present in 6 patients, followed by granuloma of the surgical wound. Conclusions: In spite of lacking a modern instrumentation system, the problem of spondylolisthesis can be solved with only dominating this traditional technique consistent in posterolateral fixation.</strong

Arbovirus risk perception as a predictor of mosquito-bite preventive behaviors in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Mosquito-borne arboviruses are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the Caribbean. In Puerto Rico, chikungunya, dengue, and Zika viruses have each caused large outbreaks during 2010-2022. To date, the majority of control measures to prevent these diseases focus on mosquito control and many require community participation. In 2018, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the COPA project, a community-based cohort study in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to measure the impact of novel vector control interventions in reducing arboviral infections. Randomly selected households from 38 designated cluster areas were offered participation, and baseline data were collected from 2,353 households between May 2018 and May 2019. Household-level responses were provided by one representative per home. Cross-sectional analyses of baseline data were conducted to estimate 1) the association between arboviral risk perception and annual household expenditure on mosquito control, and 2) the association between arboviral risk perception and engagement in ≥3 household-level risk reduction behaviors. In this study, 27% of household representatives believed their household was at high risk of arboviruses and 36% of households engaged in at least three of the six household-level preventive behaviors. Households where the representative perceived their household at high risk spent an average of $35.9 (95$23.7, $48.1) more annually on mosquito bite prevention compared to households where the representative perceived no risk. The probability of engaging in ≥3 household-level mosquito-preventive behaviors was 10.2 percentage points greater (7.2, 13.0) in households where the representatives perceived high risk compared to those in which the representatives perceived no risk. Paired with other research, these results support investment in community-based participatory approaches to mosquito control and providing accessible information for communities to accurately interpret their risk