The Contribution of SENA to Colombian Science, Technology, and Innovation System

Existen diferentes enfoques que dan cuenta de la importancia de la relación entre el crecimiento económico y la implementación de programas de ciencia, tecnología e innovación (CTI) en el marco del diseño, la ejecución y la evaluación de políticas públicas. Por lo anterior, este trabajo aborda dicha relación desde el concepto, la metodología, la normativa y la implementación de la política de CTI de Colombia, resaltando el aporte del Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA) a la construcción de programas de CTI en el país. Aquí se muestran las contribuciones de la estrategia SENNOVA, creada por el SENA, como respuesta institucional a la normatividad de ciencia y tecnología nacional y la organización en la inversión de recursos. Finalmente, se concluye que SENNOVA es un agente multiplicador de la apropiación tecnológica, social y colectiva, al transferir el conocimiento generado en los proyectos de diferentes líneas programáticas de CTI a los procesos de formación profesional y al sector productivo, contribuyendo así con la disminución de las brechas tecnológicas existentes en el país.  Different approaches remark the importance of the relationship between economic growth and the implementation of science, technology, and innovation programs within the design and evaluation of public policies. Therefore, this paper addresses said relationship from the concept, methodology, regulations, and implementation process of Colombian policy regarding science, technology, and innovation, highlighting the contribution made by the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA) to the development of related programs. The contributions made by the SENNOVA strategy, created by SENA, as an institutional response to national regulations on science and technology and the allocation of resources are also reported in this work. We concluded that SENNOVA is a multiplying agent of technological, social, and collective appropriation given its role in transferring the knowledge generated in the projects from different programmatic lines of science, technology, and innovation to professional training and the productive sector, thus contributing to the reduction of technological gaps in the country

Qatar before the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Background: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD) is the first human rights treaty of the 21st century and the first binding instrument specifically focused on protecting persons with disabilities within the framework of the UN's universal system of human rights. The CRPD came into force on May 3, 2008, and as of December 3, 2016 it has been ratified by 168 states. The CRPD developed the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 34) to monitor compliance with the Convention by States Parties. The main role of the Committee is to review the reports (both the initial and the periodic reports) submitted by States Parties pursuant to Article 35 of the CRPD. In accordance with the CRPD Article 35, States Parties are required to submit to the Committee “a comprehensive report on measures taken to give effect to its obligations [under the CRPD] … and on the progress made in that regard” within two years after the entry into force of the present Convention for the State Party concerned, and subsequently they must submit periodic reports every four years “and further whenever the Committee so requests.” Qatar ratified the UNCRPD in May 2008 and is obliged as a signatory nation to implement a number of social and legal measures to become fully compliant. Aim: The aim of this paper is to identify Qatar»s degree of compliance with the CRPD as per the last available CRPD reports. Subsequently, we list recommended actions toward Qatar's compliance with the Convention. Findings and recommendations: On June 19, 2012 Qatar submitted its report to the Committee on its compliance with the Convention. Following review of the Qatar report, the committee made six concluding observations. The six observations made by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Qatar's compliance with the Convention: The legislation revolves around a medical (treatment) model of disability, in contrast to the convention's call for a social model and the human rights approach. It is necessary to safeguard non-discrimination, adopting the inclusive social model. Accommodation and accessibility are not in line with the Convention. There is an absence of specific legal and policy frameworks to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, and reasonable accommodation is not sufficiently guaranteed. Lack of consultation and participation of persons with disabilities in the drafting of regulatory policies that affect them. Lack of systematic information. There is no independent internal mechanism to coordinate policy on the rights of persons with disabilities and monitor the implementation of the Convention. The Committee's six concluding observations on the rights of persons with disabilities indicate that Qatar, similar to many other countries, has a long way to go before reaching compliance with the convention. As a first step towards compliance with the Convention, Qatar action regarding the six issues highlighted here is key, and can be as follows: Adopt a social model whereby the state moves beyond the assistance-based approach to the development of actual individual rights enforceable in a court of law, considers disability rights as validity standards, and regards the field of conflict of rights as other rights or fundamental legal interests. Prevent discrimination by adopting an inclusive social model, as well as via adapting both the situation strategy (equality focused on the situation) and the identity strategy (acknowledging the rights of specific persons or groups). Provide accessibility through universal design and reasonable accommodation. Consult and include persons with disabilities in the drafting of regulatory policies that affect them. Collect systematic (research and statistical) data on persons with disability for use in the development and implementation of policies. Put in place an independent internal mechanism to coordinate policy on the rights of persons with disabilities and monitor the implementation of the Convention. Acknowledgement: This presentation was made possible by the support of the NPRP grant 7 - 380 - 5 - 051 from the Qatar National Research Fund. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Qscienc

Transcription of toll-like receptors 2, 3, 4 and 9, FoxP3 and Th17 cytokines in a susceptible experimental model of canine Leishmania infantum infection

Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) due to Leishmania infantum is a chronic zoonotic systemic disease resulting from complex interactions between protozoa and the canine immune system. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are essential components of the innate immune system and facilitate the early detection of many infections. However, the role of TLRs in CanL remains unknown and information describing TLR transcription during infection is extremely scarce. The aim of this research project was to investigate the impact of L. infantum infection on canine TLR transcription using a susceptible model. The objectives of this study were to evaluate transcription of TLRs 2, 3, 4 and 9 by means of quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in skin, spleen, lymph node and liver in the presence or absence of experimental L. infantum infection in Beagle dogs. These findings were compared with clinical and serological data, parasite densities in infected tissues and transcription of IL-17, IL-22 and FoxP3 in different tissues in non-infected dogs (n = 10), and at six months (n = 24) and 15 months (n = 7) post infection. Results revealed significant down regulation of transcription with disease progression in lymph node samples for TLR3, TLR4, TLR9, IL-17, IL-22 and FoxP3. In spleen samples, significant down regulation of transcription was seen in TLR4 and IL-22 when both infected groups were compared with controls. In liver samples, down regulation of transcription was evident with disease progression for IL-22. In the skin, upregulation was seen only for TLR9 and FoxP3 in the early stages of infection. Subtle changes or down regulation in TLR transcription, Th17 cytokines and FoxP3 are indicative of the silent establishment of infection that Leishmania is renowned for. These observations provide new insights about TLR transcription, Th17 cytokines and Foxp3 in the liver, spleen, lymph node and skin in CanL and highlight possible markers of disease susceptibility in this model

Análisis de los mecanismos y técnicas utilizadas en el proceso de selección de personal en la empresa Tempolider para mejorar la eficiencia y eficacia en su objeto social

No aplicaEste estudio tiene por objeto revisar y adecuar todas las técnicas y mecanismos utilizados por la Empresa Tempolider, mediante el diagnóstico de las políticas que direccionan el proceso de selección de personal examinando las herramientas y estrategias utilizadas en la búsqueda y retención del talento humano requerido por las organizaciones que se benefician de estos servicios basados en las necesidades y objetivos de las mismas, para el mejoramiento del reclutamiento de personal idóneo solicitado, puesto que la razón de ser de este tipo de organizaciones se concentra en buscar a los mejores talentos para cumplir con la misión y la visión de la empresa y ante todo la satisfacción de los clientes. Dado el contexto la herramienta de recolección de datos utilizada fue la encuesta, para evaluar la eficiencia en las técnicas de selección de personal de esta empresa, de esta manera se observa, analiza y determinan las deficiencias existentes, así como las propuestas necesarias y adecuadas para contrarrestar las falencias encontradas. Evaluar estas técnicas contribuyó de manera significativa a la elaboración de informes de estudio y seguimiento a las actividades que desempeña el área de talento humano de Tempolider, lo que permitió consolidar los resultados de esta investigación logrando proponer acciones de mejora en cada uno de sus directrices y procedimientos que realizan.The purpose of this study is to review and adapt all the techniques and mechanisms used by the Tempolider Company, through the diagnosis of the policies that guide the personnel selection process, examining the tools and strategies used in the search and retention of the human talent required by organizations that benefit from these services based on their needs and objectives, to improve the recruitment of suitable personnel requested, since the raison d'être of this type of organization focuses on seeking the best talent to meet the mission and vision of the company and, above all, customer satisfaction. Given the context, the data collection tool used was the survey, to evaluate the efficiency in the personnel selection techniques of this company, in this way the existing deficiencies are observed, analyzed, and determined, as well as the necessary and adequate proposals for counteract the shortcomings found. Evaluating these techniques contributed significantly to the preparation of study reports and monitoring of the activities carried out by the human talent area of Tempolider, which allowed consolidating the results of this investigation, proposing improvement actions in each of its guidelines. and procedures they perform

Economic Cost of Dengue in Puerto Rico

Dengue, endemic in Puerto Rico, reached a record high in 2010. To inform policy makers, we derived annual economic cost. We assessed direct and indirect costs of hospitalized and ambulatory dengue illness in 2010 dollars through surveillance data and interviews with 100 laboratory-confirmed dengue patients treated in 2008–2010. We corrected for underreporting by using setting-specific expansion factors. Work absenteeism because of a dengue episode exceeded the absenteeism for an episode of influenza or acute otitis media. From 2002 to 2010, the aggregate annual cost of dengue illness averaged $38.7 million, of which 70$46.45 million ($12.47 per capita)

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Effect of Hydrocortisone on Mortality and Organ Support in Patients With Severe COVID-19: The REMAP-CAP COVID-19 Corticosteroid Domain Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Evidence regarding corticosteroid use for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is limited. Objective: To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19. Design, Setting, and Participants: An ongoing adaptive platform trial testing multiple interventions within multiple therapeutic domains, for example, antiviral agents, corticosteroids, or immunoglobulin. Between March 9 and June 17, 2020, 614 adult patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled and randomized within at least 1 domain following admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) for respiratory or cardiovascular organ support at 121 sites in 8 countries. Of these, 403 were randomized to open-label interventions within the corticosteroid domain. The domain was halted after results from another trial were released. Follow-up ended August 12, 2020. Interventions: The corticosteroid domain randomized participants to a fixed 7-day course of intravenous hydrocortisone (50 mg or 100 mg every 6 hours) (n = 143), a shock-dependent course (50 mg every 6 hours when shock was clinically evident) (n = 152), or no hydrocortisone (n = 108). Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was organ support-free days (days alive and free of ICU-based respiratory or cardiovascular support) within 21 days, where patients who died were assigned -1 day. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model that included all patients enrolled with severe COVID-19, adjusting for age, sex, site, region, time, assignment to interventions within other domains, and domain and intervention eligibility. Superiority was defined as the posterior probability of an odds ratio greater than 1 (threshold for trial conclusion of superiority >99%). Results: After excluding 19 participants who withdrew consent, there were 384 patients (mean age, 60 years; 29% female) randomized to the fixed-dose (n = 137), shock-dependent (n = 146), and no (n = 101) hydrocortisone groups; 379 (99%) completed the study and were included in the analysis. The mean age for the 3 groups ranged between 59.5 and 60.4 years; most patients were male (range, 70.6%-71.5%); mean body mass index ranged between 29.7 and 30.9; and patients receiving mechanical ventilation ranged between 50.0% and 63.5%. For the fixed-dose, shock-dependent, and no hydrocortisone groups, respectively, the median organ support-free days were 0 (IQR, -1 to 15), 0 (IQR, -1 to 13), and 0 (-1 to 11) days (composed of 30%, 26%, and 33% mortality rates and 11.5, 9.5, and 6 median organ support-free days among survivors). The median adjusted odds ratio and bayesian probability of superiority were 1.43 (95% credible interval, 0.91-2.27) and 93% for fixed-dose hydrocortisone, respectively, and were 1.22 (95% credible interval, 0.76-1.94) and 80% for shock-dependent hydrocortisone compared with no hydrocortisone. Serious adverse events were reported in 4 (3%), 5 (3%), and 1 (1%) patients in the fixed-dose, shock-dependent, and no hydrocortisone groups, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with severe COVID-19, treatment with a 7-day fixed-dose course of hydrocortisone or shock-dependent dosing of hydrocortisone, compared with no hydrocortisone, resulted in 93% and 80% probabilities of superiority with regard to the odds of improvement in organ support-free days within 21 days. However, the trial was stopped early and no treatment strategy met prespecified criteria for statistical superiority, precluding definitive conclusions. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02735707