Objetos, personas y relaciones en los hogares de José C Paz. Annette Weiner y los desafíos de hacer una etnografía colectiva

En este artículo presentamos los resultados de la etnografía realizada por el equipo que investiga sobre “Objetos, personas y relaciones: un estudio etnográfico sobre la cultura material en hogares del conurbano bonaerense”, radicado en el Instituto de Estudios Sociales en Contextos de Desigualdades de la Universidad Nacional de José Clemente Paz (IESCODE-UNPAZ). Nuestra contribución articula la propuesta de Annette Weiner con los sistemas de clasificación del mundo de los objetos, actualizados por nuestros interlocutores de campo “puertas adentro” en 5 hogares de estudiantes de la UNPAZ en 2019. Hacemos foco en las formas de jerarquizar las cosas cotidianas, exhibirlas, usarlas, guardarlas, y analizamos cómo participan de lo que dicha autora denomina “objetos inalienables”.In this article we present the results of the ethnography carried out by the team that investigates “Objects, people and relationships: an ethnographic study on material culture in homes in the Buenos Aires suburbs”, based at the Institute of Social Studies in Contexts of Inequalities of the Universidad Nacional de José Clemente Paz (IESCODE-UNPAZ)”. We want to contribute with a presentation that articulates the ideas of Annette Weiner with the classification systems of the world of objects, updated by our field interlocutors “indoors” in 5 homes of UNPAZ students in 2019. We focalizes in forms of prioritize everyday things, display them, use them, save them, and we analyses about how, it participate, in what this author calls “inalienable possessions”.Neste artigo apresentamos os resultados da etnografia realizada pela equipe que investiga “Objetos, pessoas e relações: um estudo etnográfico sobre a cultura material nos lares da periferia de Buenos Aires”, com sede no Instituto de Estudos Sociais em Contextos de Desigualdades da Universidad Nacional de José Clemente Paz (IESCODE-UNPAZ)”. A partir das contribuições de Annette Weiner, queremos contribuir com uma apresentação que articule os sistemas de classificação do mundo dos objetos, atualizados por nossos interlocutores de campo “dentro de casa”, em 5 residências de alunos da UNPAZ em 2019, suas formas de priorizar o cotidiano, mostre-os, use-os, salve-os e pense em como, talvez alguns deles, participam do que este autor chama de “objetos inalienáveis”

A Plant-Derived Recombinant Human Glucocerebrosidase Enzyme—A Preclinical and Phase I Investigation

Gaucher disease is a progressive lysosomal storage disorder caused by the deficiency of glucocerebrosidase leading to the dysfunction in multiple organ systems. Intravenous enzyme replacement is the accepted standard of treatment. In the current report, we evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of a novel human recombinant glucocerebrosidase enzyme expressed in transformed plant cells (prGCD), administered to primates and human subjects. Short term (28 days) and long term (9 months) repeated injections with a standard dose of 60 Units/kg and a high dose of 300 Units/kg were administered to monkeys (n = 4/sex/dose). Neither clinical drug-related adverse effects nor neutralizing antibodies were detected in the animals. In a phase I clinical trial, six healthy volunteers were treated by intravenous infusions with escalating single doses of prGCD. Doses of up to 60 Units/kg were administered at weekly intervals. prGCD infusions were very well tolerated. Anti-prGCD antibodies were not detected. The pharmacokinetic profile of the prGCD revealed a prolonged half-life compared to imiglucerase, the commercial enzyme that is manufactured in a costly mammalian cell system. These studies demonstrate the safety and lack of immunogenicity of prGCD. Following these encouraging results, a pivotal phase III clinical trial for prGCD was FDA approved and is currently ongoing.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00258778

The neural basis of monitoring goal progress

The neural basis of progress monitoring has received relatively little attention compared to other sub-processes that are involved in goal directed behavior such as motor control and response inhibition. Studies of error-monitoring have identified the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) as a structure that is sensitive to conflict detection, and triggers corrective action. However, monitoring goal progress involves monitoring correct as well as erroneous events over a period of time. In the present research, 20 healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) while playing a game that involved monitoring progress toward either a numerical or a visuo-spatial target. The findings confirmed the role of the dACC in detecting situations in which the current state may conflict with the desired state, but also revealed activations in the frontal and parietal regions, pointing to the involvement of processes such as attention and working memory (WM) in monitoring progress over time. In addition, activation of the cuneus was associated with monitoring progress toward a specific target presented in the visual modality. This is the first time that activation in this region has been linked to higher-order processing of goal-relevant information, rather than low-level anticipation of visual stimuli. Taken together, these findings identify the neural substrates involved in monitoring progress over time, and how these extend beyond activations observed in conflict and error monitoring

Comply with Me: Using Design Manipulations to Affect Human–Robot Interaction in a COVID-19 Officer Robot Use Case

This study examines the effect of a COVID-19 Officer Robot (COR) on passersby compliance and the effects of its minor design manipulations on human–robot interaction. A robotic application was developed to ensure participants entering a public building comply with COVID restrictions of a green pass and wearing a face mask. The participants’ attitudes toward the robot and their perception of its authoritativeness were explored with video and questionnaires data. Thematic analysis was used to define unique behaviors related to human–COR interaction. Direct and extended interactions with minor design manipulation of the COR were evaluated in a public scenario setting. The results demonstrate that even minor design manipulations may influence users’ attitudes toward officer robots. The outcomes of this research can support manufacturers in rapidly adjusting their robots to new domains and tasks and guide future designs of authoritative socially assistive robots (SARs)

BBB opening by low pulsed electric fields, depicted by delayed-contrast MRI, enables efficient delivery of therapeutic doxorubicin doses into mice brains

Abstract Background Pharmacological treatment of CNS diseases is limited due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Recent years showed significant advancement in the field of CNS drug delivery enablers, with technologies such as MR-guided focused ultrasound reaching clinical trials. This have inspired researchers in the field to invent novel brain barriers opening (BBo) technologies that are required to be simple, fast, safe and efficient. One such technology, recently developed by us, is BDF (Barrier Disrupting Fields), based on low pulsed electric fields (L-PEFs) for opening the BBB in a controlled, safe, reversible and non-invasive manner. Here, we conducted an in vivo study to show that BDF is a feasible technology for delivering Doxorubicin (Doxo) into mice brain. Means for depicting BBBo levels were developed and applied for monitoring the treatment and predicting response. Overall, the goals of the presented study were to demonstrate the feasibility for delivering therapeutic Doxo doses into naïve and tumor-bearing mice brains and applying delayed–contrast MRI (DCM) for monitoring the levels of BBBo. Methods L-PEFs were applied using plate electrodes placed on the intact skull of naïve mice. L-PEFs/Sham mice were scanned immediately after the procedure by DCM (“MRI experiment”), or injected with Doxo and Trypan blue followed by delayed (4 h) perfusion and brain extraction (“Doxo experiment”). Doxo concentrations were measured in brain samples using confocal microscopy and compared to IC50 of Doxo in glioma cell lines in vitro. In order to map BBBo extent throughout the brain, pixel by pixel MR image analysis was performed using the DCM data. Finally, the efficacy of L-PEFs in combination with Doxo was tested in nude mice bearing intracranial human glioma tumors. Results Significant amount of Doxo was found in cortical regions of all L-PEFs-treated mice brains (0.50 ± 0.06 µg Doxo/gr brain) while in Sham brains, Doxo concentrations were below or on the verge of detection limit (0.03 ± 0.02 µg Doxo/gr brain). This concentration was x97 higher than IC50 of Doxo calculated in gl261 mouse glioma cells and x8 higher than IC50 of Doxo calculated in U87 human glioma cells. DCM analysis revealed significant BBBo levels in the cortical regions of L-PEFs-treated mice; the average volume of BBBo in the L-PEFs-treated mice was x29 higher than in the Sham group. The calculated BBBo levels dropped exponentially as a function of BBBo threshold, similarly to the electric fields distribution in the brain. Finally, combining non-invasive L-PEFs with Doxo significantly decreased brain tumors growth rates in nude mice. Conclusions Our results demonstrate significant BBBo levels induced by extra-cranial L-PEFs, enabling efficient delivery of therapeutic Doxo doses into the brain and reducing tumor growth. As BBBo was undetectable by standard contrast-enhanced MRI, DCM was applied to generate maps depicting the BBBo levels throughout the brain. These findings suggest that BDF is a promising technology for efficient drug delivery into the brain with important implications for future treatment of brain cancer and additional CNS diseases

Additional file 6 of BBB opening by low pulsed electric fields, depicted by delayed-contrast MRI, enables efficient delivery of therapeutic doxorubicin doses into mice brains

Supplementary Material 6: Video 2b. Growth of U87 cells treated with 200nM Doxo

Additional file 2 of BBB opening by low pulsed electric fields, depicted by delayed-contrast MRI, enables efficient delivery of therapeutic doxorubicin doses into mice brains

Supplementary Material 2: Video 1a. Growth of GL261 cells without treatment

Additional file 7 of BBB opening by low pulsed electric fields, depicted by delayed-contrast MRI, enables efficient delivery of therapeutic doxorubicin doses into mice brains

Supplementary Material 7: Video 2c. Growth of U87 cells treated with 800nM Doxo