Integrated optical bimodal waveguide biosensors : principles and applications

Altres ajuts: the ICN2 is funded by the CERCA program/Generalitat de Catalunya.Integrated optical biosensors have become one of the most compelling technologies for the achievement of highly sensitive, multianalyte, portable and easy to use point-of-care (POC) devices with tremendous impact in healthcare and environmental protection, among other application fields. In this context, bimodal waveguide (BiMW) interferometers have emerged over the last years as a powerful biosensor technology providing the benefits of extreme sensitivity under a label-free scheme, reliability and robustness within a highly compact footprint that can be integrated and multiplexed in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) platforms. In this review, we provide an overview of the state-of-the-art about integrated optical BiMW biosensors from the theoretical fundamentals to their practical implementation. Furthermore, we explore recent advances such as novel designs, integration in specific LOC systems and its application in real biosensing scenarios. Final remarks and perspectives on the potential impact of these biosensor interferometric structures are also provided, as well as some limitations that must be addressed in next steps

Democracy in the shadow of the United States Regime transitions and regional order in the Latin Caribbean

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DN052668 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

The Language Indicator System: Diagnosis and evaluation in language policy

El monitoratge és un procés clau en l’avaluació de les polítiques públiques, incloent-hi les polítiques lingüístiques, ja que permet fer diagnòstics sobre la situació de les llengües, establir plans d’acció i valorar-ne l’eficàcia. En aquest sentit, la Direcció General de Política Lingüística (DGPL) disposa, entre d’altres instruments, del Sistema d’Indicadors Lingüístics (SIL). Aquest sistema, creat el 2006 i actualitzat cada any, conté una selecció d’indicadors feta per la DGPL i forma part del marc del Pla Estadístic de Catalunya. Actualment, el SIL es concep com un inventari d’indicadors que es tradueixen en productes de difusió diferents. Amb vista a la transparència, cada any el web del SIL publica les dades principals, entre les quals hi ha, sobretot, les que descriuen la situació del català. Per a l’avaluació de les polítiques públiques, s’extreu la matriu de dades de l’Informe de política lingüística. Aquest informe es presenta cada any al Parlament de Catalunya i al Consell Social de la Llengua Catalana, que n’emet un dictamen, amb dades tant de la situació de la llengua com de l’acció política feta en relació amb el català. Des del punt de vista de la difusió, les dades també es publiquen en diversos formats a fi d’assegurar-ne una difusió més gran, sota el títol «El català en xifres». Aquesta visió més àmplia del Sistema d’Indicadors Lingüístics de la DGPL és l’objecte d’anàlisi d’aquest article.Monitoring is a key process in evaluating any public policy, including a language policy, as it allows the diagnosis of the situation of the respective languages, together with the establishment of action plans and the assessment of their effectiveness. The Government of Catalonia’s Directorate-General for Language Policy (DGPL, acronym in Catalan) possesses different tools for this purpose, including the Language Indicator System (SIL, acronym in Catalan). The Language Indicator System was created in 2006 and has been updated on a yearly basis. It contains a number of indicators developed by the DGPL and it is part of the Catalan Statistics Plan. SIL is currently conceived as a series of indicators which are translated into different products. To promote transparency, the main data are published yearly on the SIL website, especially the data describing the situation of the Catalan language. For the purpose of public policy evaluation, the data matrix is extracted from the Language Policy Report. This report is submitted yearly to the Parliament of Catalonia and to the Social Council for the Catalan Language, with the latter issuing an expert opinion on the situation of the language and on the political actions carried out in relation to it. The data are also published in various formats to ensure a wider dissemination under the title of “Facts and figures on the Catalan language”. This wider approach of the DGPL’s Language Indicator System is the subject of analysis of this paper

Efficacy of Bromhexine versus Standard of Care in Reducing Viral Load in Patients with Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 Disease Attended in Primary Care: A Randomized Open-Label Trial

A 28-day randomized open-label multicenter study was conducted to assess the efficacy of bromhexine plus standard of care (SOC) (n = 98) vs. SOC alone (n = 93) in 191 outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in the primary health care setting. Bromhexine three daily doses of 10 mL (48 mg/day) were administered for seven days. The primary efficacy endpoint was the reduction of viral load estimated as the cycle thresholds (Ct) to detect ORF1ab, N Protein, and S Protein genes by RT-qPCR in saliva samples on day 4 as compared with baseline. Ct values of the three genes increased from baseline throughout days 4 to 14 (p < 0.001) but significant differences between the study groups were not found. Differences in the percentages of patients with low, medium, and high viral loads at 4, 7, and 14 days were not found either. In summary, treatment with bromhexine plus SCO was associated with a viral load reduction of ORF1ab, N Protein, and S Protein genes at day 4, which was not significantly different than similar viral load reductions observed with SOC alone. The present findings do not seem to favor the use of bromhexine as an antiviral in patients with COVID-19

Antología del pensamiento crítico panameño contemporáneo

La antología Pensamiento social crítico panameño recoge una parte importante de los aportes realizados por destacados intelectuales en la batalla de las ideas contra el pensamiento conservador y (neo)liberal. El punto de partida e hilo conductor es la cuestión nacional —particularmente marcada por los acontecimientos del 9 de enero de 1964—, y los elementos involucrados en ella: la conquista del poder y la democracia; la cuestión social y las contradicciones generadas por el modelo de acumulación capitalista, dadas las características particulares que le asignaron al país la condición transitista; y las contradicciones generadas por la alianza de las clases sociales hegemónicas en sus dimensiones sociales, políticas y culturales durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y la primera mitad del siglo XX. De la Presentación de Marco A. Gandásegui, hijo, Dídimo Castillo Fernández y Azael Carrera Hernánde