La construcción social del cuidado comunitario en La Muralleta, una cooperativa autogestionada para gente mayor

Desde una aproximación antropológica, este trabajo se adentra en la dimensión comunitaria del cuidado, a través de los discursos elaborados sobre este en La Muralleta, jubilar ubicado en la provincia de Tarragona. Para ello, se explora el valor de la autonomía personal, la organización del espacio físico y la autogestión colectiva. Elementos que posibilitan la configuración de un lugar que busca cuidar en el cotidiano, a partir de naturalizar relaciones de interdependencia y “apoyo mutuo”. El análisis de dicha estrategia, permite incorporar el ámbito comunitario como espacio que aporta nuevos agentes en la organización social del cuidado, en un contexto de “crisis de los cuidados” y de “envejecimiento del envejecimiento”. Y contribuye, de esta forma, a la escasa investigación social sobre cuidados desde la perspectiva comunitaria, poniendo el énfasis en la voz del sujeto que los recibe.Palabras clave: jubilar; autonomía personal; autogestión comunitaria; cuidado comunitario; envejecimientoAbstractFrom an anthropological perspective, we explore the community dimension of caregiving, analyzing discussions about community at La Muralleta, a senior cohousing project in Tarragona. To this end, we investigate 1) the value given to personal autonomy, 2) the organization of physical spaces and 3) community self-management—elements that enable the configuration of a place for everyday care. A starting point is the naturalization of relations of interdependence and the concept of “mutual aid.” Against the backdrop of the “crisis in care” and the progressive aging of society, we put forward the idea of community as a space that provides new elements for the social organization of caregiving. In this way, this research extends the limited social research and theoretical debates about community care, giving a voice to care receivers.Keywords: senior cohousing; personal autonomy; community self-management; community care; agin

Presentación :[del número extraordinario, año 1996, de la Revista española de paleontología]

Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Islet-on-a-chip for the study of pancreatic β-cell function

Diabetes mellitus is a significant public health problem worldwide. It encompasses a group of chronic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia, resulting from pancreatic islet dysfunction or as a consequence of insulin-producing β-cell death. Organ-on-a-chip platforms have emerged as technological systems combining cell biology, engineering, and biomaterial technological advances with microfluidics to recapitulate a specific organ’s physiological or pathophysiological environment. These devices offer a novel model for the screening of pharmaceutical agents and to study a particular disease. In the field of diabetes, a variety of microfluidic devices have been introduced to recreate native islet microenvironments and to understand pancreatic β-cell kinetics in vitro. This kind of platforms has been shown fundamental for the study of the islet function and to assess the quality of these islets for subsequent in vivo transplantation. However, islet physiological systems are still limited compared to other organs and tissues, evidencing the difficulty to study this “organ” and the need for further technological advances. In this review, we summarize the current state of islet-on-a-chip platforms that have been developed so far. We recapitulate the most relevant studies involving pancreatic islets and microfluidics, focusing on the molecular and cellular-scale activities that underlie pancreatic β-cell function.This review received financial support from the European Research Council program under grants ERC-StG-DAMOC (714317), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the “Severo Ochoa” Program for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2016-2019) and “Retos de investigación: Proyectos I+D+i” (TEC2017-83716-C2-2-R), the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-1079), and Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa”- Obra Social “la Caixa” (project IBEC-La Caixa Healthy Ageing)

Analysing similarity assessment in feature-vector case representations

Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is a good technique to solve new problems based in previous experience. Main assumption in CBR relies in the hypothesis that similar problems should have similar solutions. CBR systems retrieve the most similar cases or experiences among those stored in the Case Base. Then, previous solutions given to these most similar past-solved cases can be adapted to fit new solutions for new cases or problems in a particular domain, instead of derive them from scratch. Thus, similarity measures are key elements in obtaining reliable similar cases, which will be used to derive solutions for new cases. This paper describes a comparative analysis of several commonly used similarity measures, including a measure previously developed by the authors, and a study on its performance in the CBR retrieval step for feature-vector case representations. The testing has been done using six-teen data sets from the UCI Machine Learning Database Repository, plus two complex environmental databases.Postprint (published version

Cellulose-based scaffolds enhance pseudoislets formation and functionality

In vitro research for the study of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is frequently limited by the availability of a functional model for islets of Langerhans. To overcome the limitations of obtaining pancreatic islets from different sources, such as animal models or human donors, immortalized cell lines as the insulin-producing INS1E β-cells have appeared as a valid alternative to model insulin-related diseases. However, immortalized cell lines are mainly used in flat surfaces or monolayer distributions, not resembling the spheroid-like architecture of the pancreatic islets. To generate islet-like structures, the use of scaffolds appeared as a valid tool to promote cell aggregations. Traditionally-used hydrogel encapsulation methods do not accomplish all the requisites for pancreatic tissue engineering, as its poor nutrient and oxygen diffusion induces cell death. Here, we use cryogelation technology to develop a more resemblance scaffold with the mechanical and physical properties needed to engineer pancreatic tissue. This study shows that carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) cryogels prompted cells to generate β-cell clusters in comparison to gelatin-based scaffolds, that did not induce this cell organization. Moreover, the high porosity achieved with CMC cryogels allowed us to create specific range pseudoislets. Pseudoislets formed within CMC-scaffolds showed cell viability for up to 7 d and a better response to glucose over conventional monolayer cultures. Overall, our results demonstrate that CMC-scaffolds can be used to control the organization and function of insulin-producing β-cells, representing a suitable technique to generate β-cell clusters to study pancreatic islet function

Revisión bibliográfica: actuación enfermera ante el proceso de duelo en la familia

El duelo ante la pérdida de un ser querido es una experiencia de sufrimiento total, con manifestaciones a todos los niveles de respuesta. Se trata de un proceso normal y necesario para poder restaurar la salud mental, pero a pesar de ello puede originar importantes problemas de morbimortalidad.La atención enfermera juega un papel decisivo en la elaboración del duelo, especialmente en atención primaria, pues es la línea asistencial más adecuada para prevenir o cuidar las consecuencias de la pérdida de un ser querido. Enfermería deberá proporcionar información acerca del duelo, sus fases y las manifestaciones normales.<br /