Un estudio de caso de Futurvalía Multiservicios Empresariales

Las personas con discapacidad han sido históricamente un grupo de la sociedad con especiales dificultades de acceso al marco de Derechos Fundamentales. Su inclusión en el mercado laboral suele estar marcado por la estigmatización por parte de quienes les emplean lo que provoca que su tasa de empleo sea especialmente reducida en comparación con las personas sin discapacidad. El presente artículo propone una serie de indicadores de cuantificación y monetización del impacto social generado por la implantación de acciones de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial orientadas a la inclusión laboral de las personas con discapacidad, que complementan y están alineados con el estándar 401 y 413 del GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). Las conclusiones establecen que los niveles de absentismo son inferiores a la media nacional, contribuyendo así a la reducción de los estereotipos o estigmatización. Desde el punto de vista financiero, la inclusión laboral de este segmento de la población proporciona un fuerte impacto a la Administración Pública, tanto desde el ahorro como desde los ingresos directos. Y, finalmente, el acceso al mercado laboral supone un desarrollo personal y profesional para el empleado con discapacidad, que contribuye a la reducción de su nivel de apoyo y a la normalización en su puesto de trabajo

Velocidad media de infiltración en un vertisol bajo distintos sistemas de labranza

Soil compaction is regarded as the most serious environmental problem caused by conventional agriculture. Few studies are concerned with the assessment of soil compaction using infiltration speed, specifically in the Vertisol soil characteristic of the main maize producing area of the Toluca-Atlacomulco Valley in central Mexico. The aim of this research was to examine the effect on infiltration speed and penetration resistance of a Vertisol soil when compacted by wheeled agricultural traffic in three different types of tillage systems: zero, minimal and conventional. Penetration resistance was measured on the wheel track with a portable digital penetrometer, and the mean infiltration speed was determined according to the double cylinder infiltrometer method. The pressure exerted by the number of wheeled traffic passes increased Vertisol soil compaction at 30 cm depth. Even though the benefits of zero tillage were similar to those showed by mínimum tillage during the experimental period, minimum tillage reported the highest infiltration spee

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

MEAN INFILTRATION SPEED IN A VERTISOL UNDER DIFFERENT TILLAGE SYSTEMS

Soil compaction is regarded as the most serious environmental problem caused by conventional agriculture. Few studies are concerned with the assessment of soil compaction using infiltration speed, specifically in the Vertisol soil characteristic of the main maize producing area of the Toluca-Atlacomulco Valley in central Mexico. The aim of this research was to examine the effect on infiltration speed and penetration resistance of a Vertisol soil when compacted by wheeled agricultural traffic in three different types of tillage systems: zero, minimal and conventional. Penetration resistance was measured on the wheel track with a portable digital penetrometer, and the mean infiltration speed was determined according to the double cylinder infiltrometer method. The pressure exerted by the number of wheeled traffic passes increased Vertisol soil compaction at 30 cm depth. Even though the benefits of zero tillage were similar to those showed by minimum tillage during the experimental period, minimum tillage reported the highest infiltration speed

Clinical manifestations of intermediate allele carriers in Huntington disease

Objective: There is controversy about the clinical consequences of intermediate alleles (IAs) in Huntington disease (HD). The main objective of this study was to establish the clinical manifestations of IA carriers for a prospective, international, European HD registry. Methods: We assessed a cohort of participants at risk with <36 CAG repeats of the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Outcome measures were the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) motor, cognitive, and behavior domains, Total Functional Capacity (TFC), and quality of life (Short Form-36 [SF-36]). This cohort was subdivided into IA carriers (27-35 CAG) and controls (<27 CAG) and younger vs older participants. IA carriers and controls were compared for sociodemographic, environmental, and outcome measures. We used regression analysis to estimate the association of age and CAG repeats on the UHDRS scores. Results: Of 12,190 participants, 657 (5.38%) with <36 CAG repeats were identified: 76 IA carriers (11.56%) and 581 controls (88.44%). After correcting for multiple comparisons, at baseline, we found no significant differences between IA carriers and controls for total UHDRS motor, SF-36, behavioral, cognitive, or TFC scores. However, older participants with IAs had higher chorea scores compared to controls (p 0.001). Linear regression analysis showed that aging was the most contributing factor to increased UHDRS motor scores (p 0.002). On the other hand, 1-year follow-up data analysis showed IA carriers had greater cognitive decline compared to controls (p 0.002). Conclusions: Although aging worsened the UHDRS scores independently of the genetic status, IAs might confer a late-onset abnormal motor and cognitive phenotype. These results might have important implications for genetic counseling. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01590589

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (&gt;59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30–50 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of ≤35 or a UHDRS motor score of ≤5 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P &lt;.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P &lt;.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, −0.58; SE 0.16; P &lt;.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P &lt;.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P &lt;.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients