Subjective Well-Being and Parenthood in Chile

Being a parent plays an important role in people’s life trajectory and identity. Though the general cultural perception is that having children is a source of subjective well-being, there is evidence that, at least in some societies, the subjective well-being of those who are parents is worse, in some aspects, than that of those who are not. This gap has been the object of interest and controversy. The aim of this study was to compare Chilean adults with and without children in a broad set of well-being indicators, controlling for other sociodemographic variables. A public national probabilistic database was used. The results show that, in terms of positive and negative affect, those who are not parents achieve greater well-being than those who have children. Other results also pointed in that direction. The implications of the social context and gender, which are aspects that pose a burden for the exercise of parenthood in Chile, are discussed.This research was supported by the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development), grant number 1180853, and by study grants from the Advanced Human Capital Formation Program, grant numbers 21181101, 22182188, 21180983, and 21180292, funded by the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de Chile, ANID (Chilean National Agency for Research and Development)

Aspectos dietarios de Alsodes coppingeri Günther, 1881 (Anura: Alsodidae) en Chile

The studies related to dietary composition of anurans present in Chile are a field sparsely explored and allow to contribute with knowledge about the biology of the species. Alsodes coppingeri inhabits mountain streams in Nothofagus temperate forests, of Chilean Patagonia. These frogs have been found under logs in stream margins. In this study, 44 specimens of A. coppingeri from Laguna Caiquenes, Tortel and Villa O’Higgins (Aysen Region, Chile) were analyzed. The prey items were ranked at the ordinal level. The frequency of occurrence percentage and abundance of prey items and relative importance index (IRI) were estimated. The frequency of occurrence percentage was 70.5%, where the diet of A. coppingeri was mainly composed of arthropods. The most important preys were beetles, springtails, flies, spiders and isopods, with an obvious predominance of larval stages of beetles, flies and moths.Los estudios relacionados con la composición dietaria de los anuros presentes en Chile son un campo escasamente explorado y que permiten aportar con conocimiento sobre la biología de las especies. Alsodes coppingeri habita los arroyos de montaña de los bosques templados de Nothofagus de la Patagonia chilena. Estos anuros han sido encontrados bajo troncos en los márgenes de arroyos. Para este estudio se analizaron 44 especímenes de A. coppingeri provenientes de Laguna Caiquenes, Caleta Tortel y Villa O’Higgins (Región de Aysén, Chile). Los ítems presa fueron clasificados a nivel ordinal y se estimó la frecuencia de ocurrencia, de abundancia e índice de importancia relativa (IRI). Se determinó un 70,5% de frecuencia de ocurrencia, donde la dieta de A. coppingeri estuvo compuesta principalmente de artrópodos. Las presas más frecuentes correspondieron a coleópteros, colémbolos, dípteros, arañas e isópodos, con un notorio predominio de estados larvales de coleópteros, dípteros y lepidópteros

Changes in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Amenable Mortality after the Economic Crisis in Cities of the Spanish Mediterranean Coast

Several studies have described a decreasing trend in amenable mortality, as well as the existence of socioeconomic inequalities that affect it. However, their evolution, particularly in small urban areas, has largely been overlooked. The aim of this study is to analyse the socioeconomic inequalities in amenable mortality in three cities of the Valencian Community, namely, Alicante, Castellon, and Valencia, as well as their evolution before and after the start of the economic crisis (2000–2007 and 2008–2015). The units of analysis have been the census tracts and a deprivation index has been calculated to classify them according to their level of socioeconomic deprivation. Deaths and population were also grouped by sex, age group, period, and five levels of deprivation. The specific rates by sex, age group, deprivation level, and period were calculated for the total number of deaths due to all causes and amenable mortality and Poisson regression models were adjusted in order to estimate the relative risk. This study confirms that the inequalities between areas of greater and lesser deprivation in both all-cause mortality and amenable mortality persisted along the two study periods in the three cities. It also shows that these inequalities appear with greater risk of death in the areas of greatest deprivation, although not uniformly. In general, the risks of death from all causes and amenable mortality have decreased significantly from one period to the other, although not in all the groups studied. The evolution of death risks from before the onset of the crisis to the period after presented, overall, a general pro-cyclical trend. However, there are population subgroups for which the trend was counter-cyclical. The use of the deprivation index has made it possible to identify specific geographical areas with vulnerable populations in all three cities and, at the same time, to identify the change in the level of deprivation (ascending or descending) of the geographical areas throughout the two periods. It is precisely these areas where more attention is needed in order to reduce inequalities.This research was partially funded by two research projects, “Cambios socioeconómicos y evolución de las desigualdades en mortalidad en áreas pequeñas de grandes ciudades en la Comunitat Valenciana” (PI16/00670) and “Desigualdades socioeconómicas y medioambientales en la distribución geográfica de la mortalidad en grandes ciudades de España (1996–2015): MEDEA3” (PI16/01004), funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund)

Plan estratégico financiero de Southern Perú

La presente tesis tiene como objetivo identificar las principales variables que afectan el valor de Southern Perú Copper Corporation (SPCC), los riesgos a los que está expuesta, así como las estrategias corporativas y las oportunidades de mejora en gestión financiera, para la elaboración de una propuesta que permita incrementar el valor de la compañía a través de la implementación de una serie de acciones que contribuyan al crecimiento del negocio y mejoras en su rentabilidad. SPCC ha mantenido resultados positivos en los últimos años debido a una prudente estructura de capital y a que cuenta con una ventaja competitiva en sus bajos costos de operación, pero ha disminuido su valor en el mercado a causa principalmente del factor precio, el cual se ha mantenido con una tendencia decreciente desde 2012, afectando sus indicadores de rentabilidad. Si bien la estrategia de la empresa, busca incrementar la producción y venta de cobre para mantener un nivel de utilidad, no ha podido ejecutar nuevos proyectos y solo ha compensado con ampliaciones, los menores niveles de recuperación debido a las leyes de mineral. En el análisis de mercado realizado, se observa que en 2016 SPCC ha pasado a ser el cuarto productor en el ámbito nacional, siendo desplazada por empresas mineras como Cerro Verde y Las Bambas, las cuales sí implementaron nuevos proyectos. Se determinó del valor de la compañía por el método de flujo de caja descontado, donde se obtuvo como resultado un valor fundamental de la acción de US$56.76 y, a partir de ello y el análisis de sensibilidad de los principales inputs de valor, se determinó que la empresa podía realizar una mayor inversión en temas sociales y ambientales, afectando sus costos operativos, con el fin de adelantar el inicio de operaciones de los proyectos que actualmente tiene en cartera. La propuesta planteada busca mejorar la rentabilidad de la empresa ejecutando los proyectos Tía María y Los Chancas, los cuales permitirán un crecimiento de las ventas a partir de 2020. Como resultado de implementar las medidas propuestas, se lograría un incremento en el valor fundamental de 54escenario base, así como mejoras en los indicadores financierosThis thesis has the purpose to identify the main variables that affect the value of Southern Perú Copper Corporation (SPCC), the risks SPCC is exposed, as well as the corporate strategies and improvement opportunities in financial management, to drew up a proposal that allows to increase the company’s value through the implementation of several actions that contribute the business growth and rentability improvement. SPPC has maintained positive results in the last years due to a wise capital structure and the fact that it counts with a competitive advantage because its low operational costs. Notwithstanding it has decreased its utility level, due to the price factor mainly, which has maintained a decrease tendency since 2012, affecting its rentability index. Considering the company strategy search to increase the production and sale of copper to keep a utility level, it has not been able to start up new projects and it has sole compensated with expansions the minor recovery levels due to the mineral laws. In the performed market analysis, we can see that in year 2016 SPCC has moved to fourth place nationwide producer, being moved by mining companies like Cerro Verde and Las Bambas, which did implement new projects. The value of the company was determined by the discount cash flow method that brings a result of$56.76 of basic stock value, based on this and on the sensibility analysis of the main value inputs, it was determined that the company can make major investments in social and environmental issues, affecting its operational costs to bring forward the project beginning that currently may have in portfolio. The considered proposal search to improve the company rentability starting up the projects of Tía María and Los Chancas, the same than can allow a growth in sales since 2020. As a result of proposed measures implementation, it can approach an increase in basic value of 54% in respect of the basis scenario, as well as improvements in financial indexTesi

Flocculation and Expression of FLO Genes of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mezcal Strain with High Stress Tolerance

Mezcal je destilat koji se proizvodi spontanom fermentacijom mošta dobivenog kuhanjem stabljika biljke Agave spp. i prešanjem dobivene smjese. Mošt agave sadržava velike količine fruktoze i fenolnih spojeva, a fermentacija se najčešće odvija pri stresnim i nekontroliranim uvjetima. Kvasci koji mogu rasti u takvim uvjetima obično imaju povoljna biološka i industrijska svojstva koja ih čine otpornijim, poput svojstva flokulacije. U ovom je radu sedam sojeva kvasca Saccharomyces cerevisiae izoliranih iz mošta agave izloženo temperaturama od 10 do 40 °C i uzgojeno u podlogama u prisutnosti fruktoze ili glukoze. Brojanjem kolonija u tzv. „microdrop“ testu potvrđeno je da su kvasci koji su rasli u podlozi s dodatkom fruktoze imali veću otpornost na stres uzrokovan niskom temperaturom (10 °C), u usporedbi s kvascima uzgojenim pri 40 °C. Soj kvasca koji je najbolje podnio stres (Sc3Y8) i komercijalni vinski kvasac (Fermichamp) uzgojeni su u tekućoj podlozi za fermentaciju i dugotrajno izloženi toplinskom stresu, radi određivanja njihove sposobnosti flokulacije. Tijekom fermentacije u podlozi s fruktozom povećalo se nakupljanje metabolita na kraju procesa, osobito pri 40 °C, te je proizvedeno 2,3 puta više glicerola (8,6 g/L), 1,3 puta više etanola (43,6 g/L) i 3,4 puta više octene kiseline (7,3 g/L) nego tijekom fermentacije u podlozi s glukozom. Pomoću konfokalnog mikroskopa utvrđene su morfološke promjene u kvascu, kao što su agregacija stanica i prisutnost ožiljaka na stijenci nastalih uslijed pupanja kvasca, osobito u soju Sc3Y8 izloženom temperaturi od 40 °C. Potvrđeno je da ovaj soj kvasca za proizvodnju pića mezcal flokulira u prisutnosti iona kalcija. Analizom ekspresije gena FLO1, FLO5 i FLO11 uključenih u regulaciju flokulacije potvrđeno je da je došlo do indukcije transkripcije u oba soja kvasca S. cerevisiae, naročito gena FLO5 u soju Sc3Y8.Mezcal is a distillate produced by spontaneous fermentation of the must obtained from stalks of Agave spp. plants that are cooked and pressed. Agave must contains a high amount of fructose and phenolic compounds, and fermentation usually occurs under stressful (and uncontrolled) environmental conditions. Yeasts capable of growing under such conditions usually display advantageous biological and industrial traits for stress tolerance such as flocculation. In this study, seven Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from mezcal must were exposed to temperatures ranging between 10 and 40 °C, and to different sugar sources (fructose or glucose). Yeasts grown in fructose increased their stress tolerance, determined by colony count in a microdrop assay, under low temperature (10 °C) compared to the growth at 40 °C on solid cultures. The most stress-tolerant mezcal strain (Sc3Y8) and a commercial wine (Fermichamp) strain, used as control, were grown under fermentation conditions and exposed to long-term temperature stress to determine their performance and their potential for flocculation. Compared to glucose, fermentation on fructose increased the metabolite accumulation at the end of culture, particularly at 40 °C, with 2.3, 1.3 and 3.4 times more glycerol (8.6 g/L), ethanol (43.6 g/L) and acetic acid (7.3 g/L), respectively. Using confocal microscopy analysis, we detected morphological changes such as aggregation and wall recognition at the level of budding scars in yeast, particularly in the Sc3Y8 strain when it was exposed to 40 °C. The analysis confirmed that this mezcal strain was positive for flocculation in the presence of Ca2+ ions. Analysis of FLO1, FLO5 and FLO11 gene expression implicated in flocculation in both Saccharomyces strains showed a strong transcriptional induction, mainly of the FLO5 gene in the mezcal Sc3Y8 strain

The child as a person and its relation with the rights of the child

[EN] The establishment of the rights of the child has led to some controversy on the issue of their normative foundations. One of these difficulties takes as a main reason the attribution of the status of person to the minors as a requirement to be rights holders. The different perspectives that are taken into account to consider the child as a moral person are outlined below as well as the difficulties and controversies to which it has given rise. There are different ideas about the status of the rights of the child, depending on the results of the different scientific disciplines on the person and according to the perspective adopted. The human person raised the problem of the connection between individuality and its relationship with the idea of person. I will contend that the status of child as a moral person implies the universal recognition of his/her individuality, as a rules of ethical nature. However, the quality of being an individual person will only be reached in the bosom of certain social configuration capable of providing value to the organic individuality. This being so, the rights of the child were proclaimed from the ideological point of view of its legislators. But there are other possible ideological alternatives.[ES] La fundamentación normativa de los derechos del niño dista mucho de ser una cuestión clara y distinta, constituyendo todo un inventario de dificultades. Una de estas dificultades tiene como principal motivo la atribución de la categoría de persona a los menores de edad como requisito para ser titulares de derechos. Se exponen las distintas perspectivas que se tienen en cuenta para considerar al niño como persona moral así como las dificultades y controversias a las que ha dado lugar. En función de los diferentes resultados de las disciplinas científicas sobre la persona y según la perspectiva adoptada, se tienen ideas diferentes sobre el estatus de los derechos del niño. El problema principal que suscita la idea de persona humana podría ser planteado como el problema de la naturaleza de la conexión entre la individualidad y su relación con la idea de persona. Siendo esto así, se señala que la consideración del niño como persona supone el reconocimiento universal, como norma de carácter ético, de su individualidad. Sin embargo, el estado de sujeto personal sólo se alcanzará plenamente en el seno de una determinada configuración social capaz de dotar de valor a dicha individualidad. Siendo esto así, los derechos del niño se enuncian desde los fundamentos ideológicos y doctrinales de los legisladores que los declaran, con la artificiosidad y limitaciones que tales coordenadas llevan consigo y en pugna con otras posibles alternativas ideológicas también presentes.Lozano Vicente, A. (2016). El niño como persona y su relación con los derechos del niño. Revista sobre la infancia y la adolescencia. (11):1-17. doi:10.4995/reinad.2016.3867.SWORD1171

β-Cyclodextrins as affordable antivirals to treat coronavirus infection

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic made evident that there are only a few drugs against coronavirus. Here we aimed to identify a cost-effective antiviral with broad spectrum activity and high safety profile. Starting from a list of 116 drug candidates, we used molecular modelling tools to rank the 44 most promising inhibitors. Next, we tested their efficacy as antivirals against α and β coronaviruses, such as the HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2 variants. Four drugs, OSW-1, U18666A, hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HβCD) and phytol, showed in vitro antiviral activity against HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2. The mechanism of action of these compounds was studied by transmission electron microscopy and by fusion assays measuring SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviral entry into target cells. Entry was inhibited by HβCD and U18666A, yet only HβCD inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in the pulmonary Calu-3 cells. Compared to the other cyclodextrins, β-cyclodextrins were the most potent inhibitors, which interfered with viral fusion via cholesterol depletion. β-cyclodextrins also prevented infection in a human nasal epithelium model ex vivo and had a prophylactic effect in the nasal epithelium of hamsters in vivo. All accumulated data point to β-cyclodextrins as promising broad-spectrum antivirals against different SARS-CoV-2 variants and distant alphacoronaviruses. Given the wide use of β-cyclodextrins for drug encapsulation and their high safety profile in humans, our results support their clinical testing as prophylactic antivirals

β-Cyclodextrins as affordable antivirals to treat coronavirus infection

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic made evident that there are only a few drugs against coronavirus. Here we aimed to identify a cost-effective antiviral with broad spectrum activity and high safety profile. Starting from a list of 116 drug candidates, we used molecular modelling tools to rank the 44 most promising inhibitors. Next, we tested their efficacy as antivirals against α and β coronaviruses, such as the HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2 variants. Four drugs, OSW-1, U18666A, hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HβCD) and phytol, showed in vitro antiviral activity against HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2. The mechanism of action of these compounds was studied by transmission electron microscopy and by fusion assays measuring SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviral entry into target cells. Entry was inhibited by HβCD and U18666A, yet only HβCD inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in the pulmonary Calu-3 cells. Compared to the other cyclodextrins, β-cyclodextrins were the most potent inhibitors, which interfered with viral fusion via cholesterol depletion. β-cyclodextrins also prevented infection in a human nasal epithelium model ex vivo and had a prophylactic effect in the nasal epithelium of hamsters in vivo. All accumulated data point to β-cyclodextrins as promising broad-spectrum antivirals against different SARS-CoV-2 variants and distant alphacoronaviruses. Given the wide use of β-cyclodextrins for drug encapsulation and their high safety profile in humans, our results support their clinical testing as prophylactic antivirals.This work has been funded by grant RTI2018-094445-B100 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (C.R.), by Palex Medical S.A., Sika S.A.U. and 7 more companies, and by Ms. Raquel Casaus Alvarez, Mr. Miguel Pardo Gil, Mr. Jacques Noguès and a total of 2916 citizens through the Precipita crowdfunding platform of Fecyt (Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología). NI-U is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant PID2020-117145RB-I00), EU HORIZON-HLTH-2021-CORONA-01 (grant 101046118) and by institutional funding of Grifols, Pharma Mar, HIPRA, Amassence and Palobiofarma. This work used the computational resources of the Centro de Supercomputación de Galicia (CESGA) supported by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) COVID-19 Fast Track Call for Proposals – Allocation Decision – Proposal COVID19-85.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

She\u27s So Bubbly

We introduce the Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) broker, an astronomical alert broker designed to provide a rapid and self-consistent classification of large etendue telescope alert streams, such as that provided by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and, in the future, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). ALeRCE is a Chilean-led broker run by an interdisciplinary team of astronomers and engineers working to become intermediaries between survey and follow-up facilities. ALeRCE uses a pipeline that includes the real-time ingestion, aggregation, cross-matching, machine-learning (ML) classification, and visualization of the ZTF alert stream. We use two classifiers: a stamp-based classifier, designed for rapid classification, and a light curve–based classifier, which uses the multiband flux evolution to achieve a more refined classification. We describe in detail our pipeline, data products, tools, and services, which are made public for the community (see https://alerce.science). Since we began operating our real-time ML classification of the ZTF alert stream in early 2019, we have grown a large community of active users around the globe. We describe our results to date, including the real-time processing of 1.5 × 10⁸ alerts, the stamp classification of 3.4 × 10⁷ objects, the light-curve classification of 1.1 × 10⁶ objects, the report of 6162 supernova candidates, and different experiments using LSST-like alert streams. Finally, we discuss the challenges ahead in going from a single stream of alerts such as ZTF to a multistream ecosystem dominated by LSST

Beta-Cyclodextrins as affordable antivirals to treat coronavirus infection

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic made evident that we count with few coronavirus-fighting drugs. Here we aimed to identify a cost-effective antiviral with broad spectrum activity and high safety and tolerability profiles. We began elaborating a list of 116 drugs previously used to treat other pathologies or characterized in pre-clinical studies with potential to treat coronavirus infections. We next employed molecular modelling tools to rank the 44 most promising inhibitors and tested their efficacy as antivirals against a panel of alpha and beta coronavirus, e.g., the HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Four drugs, OSW-1, U18666A, hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HbetaCD) and phytol, showed antiviral activity against both HCoV-229E (in MRC5 cells) and SARS-CoV-2 (in Vero E6 cells). The mechanism of action of these compounds was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by testing their capacity to inhibit the entry of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses in ACE2-expressing HEK-293T cells. The entry was inhibited by HbetaCD and U18666A, yet only HbetaCD could inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in the pulmonary cells Calu-3. With these results and given that cyclodextrins are widely used for drug encapsulation and can be safely administered to humans, we further tested 6 native and modified cyclodextrins, which confirmed β-cyclodextrins as the most potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 replication in Calu-3 cells. All accumulated data points to beta-cyclodextrins as promising candidates to be used in the therapeutic treatments for SARS-CoV-2 and possibly other respiratory viruses.This work has been funded by grant RTI2018-094445-B100 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (C.R.), by Palex Medical S.A., Sika S.A.U. and 7 more companies, and by Ms. Raquel Casaus Alvarez, Mr. Miguel Pardo Gil, Mr. Jacques Noguès and a total of 2,916 citizens through the Precipita crowdfunding platform of Fecyt (Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología). NI-U is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant PID2020-117145RB-I00), EU HORIZON-HLTH-2021-CORONA-01 (grant 101046118) and by institutional funding of Grifols, Pharma Mar, HIPRA, Amassence and Palobiofarma. This work used the computational resources of the Centro de Supercomputación de Galicia (CESGA) supported by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) COVID-19 Fast Track Call for Proposals – Allocation Decision – Proposal COVID19-85.N