Multi-view hierarchical Variational AutoEncoders with Factor Analysis latent space

Real-world databases are complex, they usually present redundancy and shared correlations between heterogeneous and multiple representations of the same data. Thus, exploiting and disentangling shared information between views is critical. For this purpose, recent studies often fuse all views into a shared nonlinear complex latent space but they lose the interpretability. To overcome this limitation, here we propose a novel method to combine multiple Variational AutoEncoders (VAE) architectures with a Factor Analysis latent space (FA-VAE). Concretely, we use a VAE to learn a private representation of each heterogeneous view in a continuous latent space. Then, we model the shared latent space by projecting every private variable to a low-dimensional latent space using a linear projection matrix. Thus, we create an interpretable hierarchical dependency between private and shared information. This way, the novel model is able to simultaneously: (i) learn from multiple heterogeneous views, (ii) obtain an interpretable hierarchical shared space, and, (iii) perform transfer learning between generative models.Comment: 20 pages main work, 2 pages supplementary, 14 figure

Económia Social Impacto del parque nacional de ferias en la económia familiar de los emprendedores al primer trimestre 2019

En esta investigación se analiza el impacto del Parque Nacional de Ferias en la economía familiar de los emprendedores al primer trimestre del 2019, para ellos se identificaron las políticas que promueven el emprendedurismo, la asociatividad y el cooperativismos; el MEFCCA como rector de esta política y el papel del PNF en su aplicación. El estudio permite caracterizar a los protagonistas, sus condiciones socioeconómicas y sus negocios. Además, permitió identificar los beneficios que el PNF brinda a los emprendedores, tanto para los negocios que migraron hacia sus instalaciones en buscan nuevos canales de distribución, como para aquellos proyectos que nacieron en él. En ambos casos, el PNF ha promocionado en los medios de comunicación, les brinda capacitación, asesorías, gestiona financiamiento y fomenta el liderazgo. Los negocios tienen utilidades que se utilizan en el mejoramiento de la economía de las familias emprendedoras. Se analizan las experiencias exitosas y se valora la eficacia del PNF en base a los objetivos de esta investigación

Caracterización del perfil del consumidor responsable, en las categorías: Servicios de comunicación, financieros y artículos electrónicos, del área metropolitana de San Salvador.

La actual investigación denominada “Caracterización del perfil del consumidor responsable, en las categorías: servicios de comunicación, financieros y artículos electrónicos, del Área Metropolitana de San Salvador”, se determinó la existencia de un consumo responsable al momento de adquirir: préstamos personales, tarjetas de crédito, internet residencial, telefonía celular prepago, laptop, tablet y smartphone. Uno de los fenómenos que afecta la economía de las familias salvadoreñas es la globalización que promueve comprar cosas innecesarias en el hogar, familia y trabajo provocando una inestabilidad en el presupuesto familiar. Él envió de las remesas tienen un gran significativo para el país, debido que en su mayoría van destinadas al consumo y una pequeña parte al ahorro, indica un problema en los consumidores dado la falta de información y educación que hoy en día está teniendo, ocasionándole daños a su economía como al medioambiente. Para obtener la información requerida se aplicaron entrevistas a personas conocedoras del comportamiento del consumidor, pertenecientes a instituciones gubernamentales: Defensoría del Consumidor, Superintendencia General de Electricidad y Telecomunicaciones y Superintendencia del Sistema Financiero y a vendedores de empresas reconocidas del país, con cinco años de experiencia como mínimo, dentro del Área Metropolitana de San Salvador, que brindaran el tipo de productos y servicios en la investigación. También se realizó una encuesta a personas que hayan adquirido los productos y servicios antes mencionados. Se determinó que los factores internos (estilo de vida, edad, personalidad, percepción, motivación) y los factores externos (los grupos sociales, familia, cultura, clase social) influyen en las decisiones de compra que tienen los consumidores, ante la compra de estos productos. ii La finalidad de la investigación fue analizar los factores que influyen en la decisión de compra para identificar un consumo responsable en las categorías: artículos electrónicos, servicios de comunicación y servicios financieros y de esta manera dar paso a la creación del perfil del consumidor responsable, sin embargo, al momento de procesar la información se encontró que el comportamiento del consumidor es muy variante en estas categorías, por lo tanto, se procedió a realizar tres caracterizaciones donde se encuentran: consumidores responsable, intermedio y no responsable. Considerando los problemas existentes se buscó dar una propuesta alternativa de innovación como es el desarrollo de un plan de comunicación dirigido a la Defensoría del Consumidor por ser el ente donde acuden más los consumidores a exigir sus derechos y de esta manera fomentar la cultura de consumo responsable mediante: brochure, afiches informativos con rutas de ubicación de las entidades gubernamentales, una escala de medición (escalómetro) para la web, de esta manera los consumidores puedan medir el nivel de responsabilidad que tienen en sus decisiones de compras. Por lo enunciado anteriormente se proyecta para la campaña de publicidad una inversión de $1,090.00 para las 3 propuestas y de esta manera promover la concientización sobre el consumo responsable en las categorías: artículos electrónicos, servicios de telecomunicación y servicios financieros del Área Metropolitana de San Salvador

Comprensiones de perdón, reconciliación y justicia en víctimas de desplazamiento forzado en Colombia

El presente estudio buscó comprender las concepciones de perdón, reconciliación y justicia, en el marco del conflicto armado, de 68 personas víctimas de desplazamiento forzado residentes en el municipio de Soacha (Cundinamarca, Colombia). Se realizó a través de la metodología cualitativa empleando el método de teoría fundamentada. Se encontró que el perdón se entiende como un tránsito de emociones negativas a positivas; además, es sinónimo de olvido. La reconciliación se entiende como un proceso de restablecimiento de vínculos. La justicia (restaurativa y/o distributiva) se evidencia como necesaria para que se dé un proceso de perdón y reconciliación en el marco del conflicto armado. Además, surge de manera emergente la relevancia que tiene la religión en los procesos de perdón y reconciliación.The present study analyzes the concepts of forgiveness, reconciliation and justice, in the context of the Colombian armed conflict, on the part of 68 victims of forced displacement who live in the town of Soacha (Cundinamarca, Colombia). It is based on a qualitative methodology drawn from grounded theory. It found that those victims understood forgiveness to involve a transition from negative to positive emotions, and as a synonym for forgetfulness, while reconciliation was understood as a means to restore broken links. Thus, in the context of an armed conflict, justice (restorative and / or distributive) is a requirement for securing forgiveness and reconciliation. The study also reveals the importance of religious faith in the acceptance of forgiveness and reconciliation by the victims.Este estudo pretendeu compreender as concepções de perdão, reconciliação e justiça, no âmbito do conflito armado, de 68 pessoas vítimas de deslocamento forçado residentes no município de Soacha (Cundinamarca, Colômbia). Realizou-se por meio da metodologia qualitativa e empregou-se o método da teoria fundamentada. Constatou-se que o perdão se entende como uma transição de emoções negativas a positivas; além disso, é sinônimo de esquecimento. A reconciliação entende-se como um processo de restabelecimento de vínculos. A justiça (restaurativa e/ou distributiva) evidencia-se como necessária para que o processo de perdão e reconciliação aconteça no contexto do conflito armado. Ainda, surge de maneira emergente a relevância que a religião tem nos processos de perdão e reconciliação

Efficacy of the unified protocol for the treatment of emotional disorders in the Spanish public mental health system using a group format: study protocol for a multicenter, randomized, non-inferiority controlled trial

Background: Emotional disorders, which include both anxiety and depressive disorders, are the most prevalent psychological disorders according to recent epidemiological studies. Consequently, public costs associated with their treatment have become a matter of concern for public health systems, which face long waiting lists. Because of their high prevalence in the population, finding an effective treatment for emotional disorders has become a key goal of today ’ s clinical psychology. The Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders might serve the aforementioned purpose, as it can be applied to a variety of disorders simultaneously and it can be easily performed in a group format. Methods: The study is a multicenter, randomized, non-inferiority controlled clinical trial. Participants will be 220 individuals with emotional disorders, who are randomized to either a treatment as usual (individual cognitive behavioral therapy) or to a Unified Protocol condition in group format. Depression, anxiety, and diagnostic criteria are the primary outcome measures. Secondary measures include the assessment of positive and negative affect, anxiety control, personality traits, overall adjustment, and quality of life. An analysis of treatment satisfaction is also conducted. Assessment points include baseline, post-treatment, and three follow-ups at 3, 6, and 12 months. To control for missing data and possible biases, intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses will be performed. Discussion: This is the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a transdiagnostic intervention in a group format for the treatment of emotional disorders in public settings in Spain. Results obtained from this study may have important clinical, social, and economic implications for public mental health settings in Spain. Trial registration: Retrospectively registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ . Trial NCT03064477 (March 10, 2017). The trial is active and recruitment is ongoing. Recruitment is expected to finish by January 202

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia. Departamentos del Cesar y Cundinamarca.

La violencia en Colombia se vive en todos sus territorios, esto genera daño en la red de apoyo y la salud, es por ello que en este trabajo conocerán la técnica narrativa, una herramienta que se utiliza para la intervención con víctimas y con ella se busca ayudar a transformar los relatos e historias de vida en expresiones transformadoras; Para lograrlo se requiere de la implementación de preguntas orientadoras, reflexivas y estratégicas, de las cuales encontrarán una muestra a lo largo del desarrollo de este escrito. Por medio de la narrativa se crea el camino a una construcción de memoria social y colectiva logrando generar vínculos entre las personas. Adicionalmente hallaran el análisis del caso de Ernesto, refugiado desde la niñez en otro país solo porque miembros de su familia eran líderes comunitarios. Se logró extraer de su relato los emergentes psicosociales, sus elementos resilientes y estrategias de afrontamiento que lo ayudaron a salir adelante pese a las circunstancias. También en estas páginas pueden visibilizar otro análisis desde el testimonio de unos sobrevivientes de la masacre del Salado, 20 años después de vivir el horror perpetrado por paramilitares en los montes de maría para el año de 2000, se refleja en la búsqueda realizada los esfuerzos personales, familiares, colectivos y comunitarios que movilizaron a esta comunidad a romper el ciclo de violencia e injusticia que vivieron. Al final podrán evidenciar una muestra de la herramienta foto voz la cual genera una visión diferente de las consecuencias de la guerra captada en imágenes.Violence in Colombia is experienced in all its territories, this generates damage in the support network and health, that is why in this Works you will learn about the narrative technique, a tool used for intervention with victims and with it seeks to help transform the stories and life stories in transformative expressions; To achieve this requires the implementation of guiding, reflective and strategic questions, of which you will find a sample throughout the development of this paper. By means of the narrative, the way to a social and collective memory construction is created, generating links between people. Additionally, you will find the analysis of the case of Ernesto, a refugee since childhood in another country only because members of his family were community leaders. It was possible to extract from his story the psychosocial emergencies, his resilient elements and coping strategies that helped him to get ahead despite the circumstances. Also in these pages you can see another analysis from the testimony of some survivors of the Salado massacre, 20 years after living the horror perpetrated by paramilitaries in the montes de Maria in 2000, it is reflected in the search for personal, family, collective and community efforts that mobilized this community to break the cycle of violence and injustice they lived through. At the end you can see a sample of the photo-voice tool which generates a different vision of the consequences of the war captured in images

Gelatin Nanoparticles-HPMC Hybrid System for Effective Ocular Topical Administration of Antihypertensive Agents

The increment in ocular drug bioavailability after topical administration is one of the main challenges in pharmaceutical technology. For several years, different strategies based on nanotechnology, hydrogels or implants have been evaluated. Nowadays, the tolerance of ophthalmic preparations has become a critical issue and it is essential to the use of well tolerated excipients. In the present work, we have explored the potential of gelatin nanoparticles (GNPs) loaded with timolol maleate (TM), a beta-adrenergic blocker widely used in the clinic for glaucoma treatment and a hybrid system of TM-GNPs included in a hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) viscous solution. The TM- loaded nanoparticles (mean particle size of 193 ± 20 nm and drug loading of 0.291 ± 0.019 mg TM/mg GNPs) were well tolerated both in vitro (human corneal cells) and in vivo. The in vivo efficacy studies performed in normotensive rabbits demonstrated that these gelatin nanoparticles were able to achieve the same hypotensive effect as a marketed formulation (0.5% TM) containing a 5-fold lower concentration of the drug. When comparing commercial and TM GNPs formulations with the same TM dose, nanoparticles generated an increased efficacy with a significant (p < 0.05) reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) (from 21% to 30%) and an augmentation of 1.7-fold in the area under the curve (AUC)(0–12h). On the other hand, the combination of timolol-loaded nanoparticles (TM 0.1%) and the viscous polymer HPMC 0.3%, statistically improved the IOP reduction up to 30% (4.65 mmHg) accompanied by a faster time of maximum effect (tmax = 1 h). Furthermore, the hypotensive effect was extended for four additional hours, reaching a pharmacological activity that lasted 12 h after a single instillation of this combination, and leading to an AUC(0 12h) 2.5-fold higher than the one observed for the marketed formulation. According to the data presented in this work, the use of hybrid systems that combine well tolerated gelatin nanoparticles and a viscous agent could be a promising alternative in the management of high intraocular pressure in glaucoma

Combined hyperosmolarity and inflammatory conditions in stressed human corneal epithelial cells and macrophages to evaluate osmoprotective agents as potential DED treatments

Purpose: To develop an easy-to-perform combined model in human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) and Balb/c mice macrophages J774.A1 (MP) for preliminary screening of potential ophthalmic therapeutic substances. Methods: HCECs were exposed to different osmolarities (350–500 mOsm/L) and MTT assay was employed for cell survival and flow cytometry to assess apoptosis-necrosis and relative cell size (RCS) distribution. Effectiveness of Betaine, L-Carnitine, Taurine at different concentrations (ranging from 20 mM to 200 mM) was studied. Also, mucoadhesive polymers such as Hyaluronic acid (HA) and Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) (0.4 and 0.8%) were evaluated. Cells were pre-incubated with the compounds (8h) and then exposed to hyperosmotic stress (470 mOsm/L) for 16h. Moreover, anti-inflammatory activity was performed in LPS-stimulated MP. Results: Exposure to hyperosmotic solutions between 450 and 500 mOsm/L promoted the highest cell death after 16h exposures (p < 0.0001) with a drop in viability to 34.96% ± 11.77 for 470 mOsm/L. Pre-incubation with Betaine at 150 mM and 200 mM provided the highest cell survival against hyperosmolarity (66.01% ± 3.65 and 65.90% ± 0.78 respectively) while HA 0.4% was the most effective polymer in preventing cell death (42.2% ± 3.60). Flow cytometry showed that Betaine and Taurine at concentrations between 150-200 mM and 20–80 mM respectively presented the highest anti-apoptotic activity. Also, HA and HPMC polymers reduced apoptoticinduced cell death. All osmoprotectants modified RCS, and polymers increased their value over 100%. LCarnitine 50 mM, Taurine 40 mM and HA 0.4% presented the highest TNF-α inhibition activity (60%) albeit all of them showed anti-inflammatory inhibition percentages higher than 20%. Conclusions: HCECs hyperosmolar model combined with inflammatory conditions in macrophages allows the screening of osmoprotectants by simulating chronic hyperosmolarity (16h) and inflammation (24h)

Al·lèrgies i intoleràncies alimentàries als centres escolars del Tarragonès durant el curs 2010-11 [cartell]

Al·lèrgies alimentàries; Intolerància alimentària; Menjador escolar; Malaltia celíacaAlergias alimentarias; Intolerancia alimentaria; Comedor escolar; Enfermedad celíacaFood allergies; Food intolerance; School dinning room; Celiac DiseasePòster que parla sobre les al·lèrgies i intoleràncies alimentàries que pateixen els escolars que dinen als menjadors escolars del Tarragonès durant el curs 2010-11

Thermo-Responsive PLGA-PEG-PLGA Hydrogels as Novel Injectable Platforms for Neuroprotective Combined Therapies in the Treatment of Retinal Degenerative Diseases

The present study aims to develop a thermo-responsive-injectable hydrogel (HyG) based on PLGA-PEG-PLGA (PLGA = poly-(DL-lactic acid co-glycolic acid); PEG = polyethylene glycol) to deliver neuroprotective agents to the retina over time. Two PLGA-PEG PLGA copolymers with different PEG:LA:GA ratios (1:1.54:23.1 and 1:2.25:22.5) for HyG-1 and HyG-2 development respectively were synthetized and characterized by different techniques (gel permeation chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), critical micelle concentration (CMC), gelation and rheological behaviour). According to the physicochemical characterization, HyG-1 was selected for further studies and loaded with anti-inflammatory drugs: dexamethasone (0.2%), and ketorolac (0.5%), alone or in combination with the antioxidants idebenone (1 µM) and D-α-Tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) (0.002%). In vitro drug release and cytotoxicity studies were performed for the active substances and hydrogels (loaded and drug-free). A cellular model based on oxidative stress was optimized for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant screening of the formulations by using retinal-pigmented epithelial cell line hTERT (RPE-1). The copolymer 1, used to prepare thermo-responsive HyG-1, showed low polydispersity (PDI = 1.22) and a strong gel behaviour at 25% (w/v) in an isotonic buffer solution close to the vitreous temperature (31–34 °C). Sustained release of dexamethasone and ketorolac was achieved between 47 and 62 days, depending on the composition. HyG-1 was well tolerated (84.5 ± 3.2%) in retinal cells, with values near 100% when the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents were included. The combination of idebenone and dexamethasone promoted high oxidative protection in the cells exposed to H2O2, with viability values of 86.2 ± 14.7%. Ketorolac and dexamethasone-based formulations ameliorated the production of TNF-α, showing significant results (p ≤ 0.0001). The hydrogels developed in the present study entail a novel biodegradable tool to treat neurodegenerative processes of the retina overtim