«СССР на стройке» la vetrina europea di Stalin

The magazine “SSSR na stroike” (“USSR in Construction”) published in Russia, Germany, France, England was born in the early 1930s from an idea of Maksim Gorky. It was conceived as the successor of another well-known issue, “Nashi dostizhenia” to let the whole Europe know about the progress and successes of the First Five-Year Plan and of the related Soviet system. Beyond the propaganda, “SSSR na stroike” had another main task: opposing the negative image the Russians émigrés gave of their native country abroad. Official portraitists by the Soviet élite, photographers, intellectuals and artists with whose works USSR celebrated and created their own myths were chosen to realize this project. That way, new Soviet idols became the peasants from the series “24 hours at the Filippov’s” and the workers of “The Giant and the Builder”. The circulation of the magazine abroad could count on the help of foreign estimators of the Soviet model, who personally acted to spread these images, while in Russia the editor Pjatakov and valuable artists, such as A. Rodchenko, assured success and the quality of the content. So far research has focused on the graphic and artistic aspects of the magazine, mainly thanks to the studies of Erika Wolf, Professor of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Otago, while the historical, cultural and political importance of the magazine was marginally analyzed. It will be interesting to highlight language choices and editorial strategies used for such an issue, which should offer the internal élite a window on a changing country, while it should be a real shop window for estimators, foreign investors, simple spectators and also those who oppose the realization of the Soviet utopia in USSR

Revisión sistemática y meta-análisis

2013/201

Neuromodulation Induced by Sitagliptin: A New Strategy for Treating Diabetic Retinopathy

Presynaptic proteins; Retinal neurodegeneration; SitagliptinProteínas presinápticas; Neurodegeneración retiniana; SitagliptinaProteïnes presinàptiques; Neurodegeneració retiniana; SitagliptinaDiabetic retinopathy (DR) involves progressive neurovascular degeneration of the retina. Reduction in synaptic protein expression has been observed in retinas from several diabetic animal models and human retinas. We previously reported that the topical administration (eye drops) of sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, prevented retinal neurodegeneration induced by diabetes in db/db mice. The aim of the present study is to examine whether the modulation of presynaptic proteins is a mechanism involved in the neuroprotective effect of sitagliptin. For this purpose, 12 db/db mice, aged 12 weeks, received a topical administration of sitagliptin (5 μL; concentration: 10 mg/mL) twice per day for 2 weeks, while other 12 db/db mice were treated with vehicle (5 μL). Twelve non-diabetic mice (db/+) were used as a control group. Protein levels were assessed by western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC), and mRNA levels were evaluated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Our results revealed a downregulation (protein and mRNA levels) of several presynaptic proteins such as synapsin I (Syn1), synaptophysin (Syp), synaptotagmin (Syt1), syntaxin 1A (Stx1a), vesicle-associated membrane protein 2 (Vamp2), and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (Snap25) in diabetic mice treated with vehicle in comparison with non-diabetic mice. These proteins are involved in vesicle biogenesis, mobilization and docking, membrane fusion and recycling, and synaptic neurotransmission. Sitagliptin was able to significantly prevent the downregulation of all these proteins. We conclude that sitagliptin exerts beneficial effects in the retinas of db/db mice by preventing the downregulation of crucial presynaptic proteins. These neuroprotective effects open a new avenue for treating DR as well other retinal diseases in which neurodegeneration/synaptic abnormalities play a relevant role.This research was funded by grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PID2019-104225RB-I00) and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (DTS18/0163, PI19/01215, and ICI20/00129). The study funder was not involved in the design of the study

Does evidence support the high expectations placed in precision medicine? A bibliographic review

Background: Precision medicine is the Holy Grail of interventions that aretailored to a patient’s individual characteristics.  However, the conventional design of randomized trials assumes that each individual benefits by the same amount. Methods: We reviewed parallel trials with quantitative outcomes published in2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013. We collected baseline and final standard deviations of the main outcome. We assessed homoscedasticity by comparing the outcome variability between treated and control arms. Results: The review provided 208 articles with enough information to conductthe analysis. At the end of the study, 113 (54%, 95% CI 47 to 61%) papers find less variability in the treated arm. The adjusted point estimate of the mean ratio (treated to control group) of the outcome variances is 0.89 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.97). Conclusions: Some variance inflation was observed in just 1 out of 6 interventions, suggesting the need for further eligibility criteria to tailor precision medicine. Surprisingly, the variance was more often smaller in the intervention group, suggesting, if anything, a reduced role for precision medicine.  Homoscedasticity is a useful tool for assessing whether or not the premise of constant effect is reasonable.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Control del riesgo alfa : diseños adaptativos

2013/201

Ensayo clínico : azar, riesgo de sesgo, ética

2013/201

Introducción a R: primeros pasos

2014/201

Inferencia y decisión

2014/201

Prueba de significación y contraste de hipótesis

2014/201