Institutional setting of decentralised government in The Netherlands: The role of support organisations

The aim of this research is to facilitate the country programmes (Zambia, Bolivia and Bangladesh) of SINPA in the process of improving urban management capacity in a manner that will be sustainable locally. The three countries initiated this process by bringing together existing local development partners and capacity building institutions so as to improve capacity. With this research new ideas and lessons learned can be taken into consideration for lightening the heavy tasks put on municipal shoulders, by providing ideas in creating new institutions in SINPA countries helpful in assisting local government with urban management issues. This specific research will be a case study on the role of capacity building and advisory organisations for urban management in The Netherlands. The emphasis will be on policy formulation and planning related issues rather than on implementation of policies

Entorno Institucional de la Desentralización Estatal en los Países Bajos el papel de las organizaciones de apoyo

A partir de 1998, el IHS se vinculó al SINPA (Programa de apoyo para la implementación de planes nacionales de acción – Support for Implementation of National Plans of Action) financiado por la Dirección general de cooperación al desarrollo de los Países Bajos, junto con la ciudades de Tangail, Santa Cruz y Kitwe y los gobiernos correspondientes de Bangladesh, Bolivia y Zambia. La meta general del Programa SINPA es ayudar a implementar los planes de acción nacionales y la Agenda Hábitat, fortaleciendo la construcción de capacidad local sustentable para la planeación y gestión efectivas del desarrollo urbano. En términos más concretos, el programa busca ayudar al gobierno local y a sus contrapartes a construir capacidad de acción en las áreas más amplias relacionadas con la buena gobernabilidad, la planificación participativa, el alivio de la pobreza, la vivienda y los servicios básicos, y la gestión local ambiental. SINPA se concentra principalmente en la relación entre las organizaciones dedicadas a construir capacidad local (universidades, organizaciones profesionales, organizaciones no gubernamentales u ONG), por una parte, y entre el gobierno local y las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, por otra, con el fin de mejorar sus capacidades de tal forma que sus esfuerzos sean sustentables localmente

Avances en la agenda urbana : Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Este libro tiene como objetivo principal, presentar algunos trabajos del SINPA que contribuyeron y representan “Avances en la Gestión Urbana”. Estos artículos son fruto de la experiencia del proyecto SINPA como aporte a los cambios y procesos de fortalecimiento de la gestión urbana en el Municipio de Santa Cruz de la Sierra. La experiencia y lecciones aprendidas en estos últimos tres años, son extremadamente actuales en el año en que la comunidad internacional se reunió para evaluar la experiencia urbana de HABITAT+5, cinco años después de la II Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas para los Asentamientos Humanos (Hábitat II, Estambul 1996) (UNCHS, 1997). Uno de los puntos clave de las recomendaciones de esta Conferencia fue la necesidad de que los gobiernos locales establezcan asociaciones con organizaciones de la sociedad civil, en los procesos de planificación y gestión urbana. Otra línea directriz de Hábitat II fue la profundización de políticas sostenibles de desarrollo urbano, tomando en cuenta los principios ya consagrados en el capítulo 7 de la Agenda 21 (UNEP, 1992)

Fortalecimiento institucional al municipio de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

El programa de Apoyo para la Implementación de los Planes Nacionales de Acción SINPA (Support for Implementation of National Plans of Action) surge para dar cumplimiento a las políticas y directrices proclamadas durante la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas para los Asentamientos Humanos - HABITAT II (Estambul 1996) (UNCHS 1997) en tres ciudades de diferentes países. En Bolivia, SINPA materializa el fortalecimiento del Gobierno Municipal de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, ciudad tropical prometedora y de grandes contrastes (motor del desarrollo económico, concentra los mayores índices de pobreza absoluta del país), se rige por un convenio suscrito entre el gobierno municipal el Instituto de Estudios de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano IHS (Holanda) y dos universidades locales. El país de fuerte tradición centralista y con bajo nivel de relacionamiento y articulación entre los estamentos político y civil, introduce a partir de 1994 drásticas reformas al Estado una de las cuales es la descentralización que se da como municipalización. Con este surgimiento se presentan e identifican una serie de debilidades en los gobiernos locales para enfrentar las nuevas responsabilidades y competencias. SINPA es un intento de subsanar esta realidad desarrollando capacidades de gestión desde el interior del gobierno municipal, enfatizando la planificación desde cuatro pilares: gestión ambiental, fortalecimiento institucional, participación ciudadana y desarrollo económico local

El Plan Estratégico y el Desarrollo Económico Local de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentinade

The Strategic Plan of Córdoba (PEC) is one of the few strategic urban development plans in Latin America which has actually been implemented in the majority of its components. The PEC was conceived as a collective and global project of the city as a whole without excessive protagonism or special ownership by a few. The PEC integrated a policy of public works – oriented at the “social debt” which existed in the city – with a work on urbanistic norms and directions and economic development. The PEC as a space for articulation achieved to organise a great number of representatives from civil society organisations, achieving legitimacy and representation in the work of the PEC

Cerebral hemodynamics during atrial fibrillation: computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of lenticulostriate arteries using 7T high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, inducing irregular and faster heart beating. Aside from disabling symptoms - such as palpitations, chest discomfort, and reduced exercise capacity - there is growing evidence that AF increases the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, even in the absence of clinical strokes. Among the possible mechanisms, the alteration of deep cerebral hemodynamics during AF is one of the most fascinating and least investigated hypotheses. Lenticulostriate arteries (LSAs) - small perforating arteries perpendicularly departing from the anterior and middle cerebral arteries and supplying blood flow to basal ganglia - are especially involved in silent strokes and cerebral small vessel diseases, which are considered among the main vascular drivers of dementia. We propose for the first time a computational fluid dynamics analysis to investigate the AF effects on the LSAs hemodynamics by using 7 T high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We explored different heart rates (HRs) - from 50 to 130 bpm - in sinus rhythm and AF, exploiting MRI data from a healthy young male and internal carotid artery data from validated 0D cardiovascular-cerebral modeling as inflow condition. Our results reveal that AF induces a marked reduction of wall shear stress and flow velocity fields. This study suggests that AF at higher HR leads to a more hazardous hemodynamic scenario by increasing the atheromatosis and thrombogenesis risks in the LSAs region

Detectability and accuracy of computational measurements of in-silico and physical representations of enlarged perivascular spaces from magnetic resonance images

BACKGROUND: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) visible perivascular spaces (PVS) have been associated with age, decline in cognitive abilities, interrupted sleep, and markers of small vessel disease. But the limits of validity of their quantification have not been established. NEW METHOD: We use a purpose-built digital reference object to construct an in-silico phantom for addressing this need, and validate it using a physical phantom. We use cylinders of different sizes as models for PVS. We also evaluate the influence of 'PVS' orientation, and different sets of parameters of the two vesselness filters that have been used for enhancing tubular structures, namely Frangi and RORPO filters, in the measurements' accuracy. RESULTS: PVS measurements in MRI are only a proxy of their true dimensions, as the boundaries of their representation are consistently overestimated. The success in the use of the Frangi filter relies on a careful tuning of several parameters. Alpha= 0.5, beta= 0.5 and c= 500 yielded the best results. RORPO does not have these requirements and allows detecting smaller cylinders in their entirety more consistently in the absence of noise and confounding artefacts. The Frangi filter seems to be best suited for voxel sizes equal or larger than 0.4 mm-isotropic and cylinders larger than 1 mm diameter and 2 mm length. 'PVS' orientation did not affect measurements in data with isotropic voxels. COMPARISON WITH EXISTENT METHODS: Does not apply. CONCLUSIONS: The in-silico and physical phantoms presented are useful for establishing the validity of quantification methods of tubular small structures

The Strategic Plan and Local Economic Development of Cordoba, Argentina

The Strategic Plan of Cordoba (SPC) is one of the few strategic urban development plans in Latin America, which has actually been implemented in the majority of its components. The SPC was conceived as a collective and global project of the city as a whole without excessive conflicting interests or special ownership by a few. The SPC integrated a policy of public works – oriented at the “social debt” which existed in the city – with a work on urban norms and directions and economic development. The SPC as a space for articulation achieved to organise a great number of representatives from civil society organisations, achieving legitimacy and representation in the work of the SPC. The SPC has given a new orientation and increased the municipal capacity to manage the city. The SPC has developed innovative and participatory forms of management (e.g. the Follow-Up and Monitoring Groups, with their annual meetings for presenting audit reports known as “presenting the bills”). The population has perceived the incentive to participate in the planning process of the SPC since it was possible to propose concrete projects, as long as these were feasible. The SPC has p

Multipotent adult progenitor cells for hypoxic-ischemic injury in the preterm brain

Background: Preterm infants are at risk for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. No therapy exists to treat this brain injury and subsequent long-term sequelae. We have previously shown in a well-established pre-clinical model of global hypoxia-ischemia (HI) that mesenchymal stem cells are a promising candidate for the treatment of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. In the current study, we investigated the neuroprotective capacity of multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC®), which are adherent bone marrow-derived cells of an earlier developmental stage than mesenchymal stem cells and exhibiting more potent anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties. Methods: Instrumented preterm sheep fetuses were subjected to global hypoxia-ischemia by 25 min of umbilical cord occlusion at a gestational age of 106 (term ~147) days. During a 7-day reperfusion period, vital parameters (e.g., blood pressure and heart rate; baroreceptor reflex) and (amplitude-integrated) electroencephalogram were recorded. At the end of the experiment, the preterm brain was studied by histology. Results: Systemic administration of MAPC therapy reduced the number and duration of seizures and prevented decrease in baroreflex sensitivity after global HI. In addition, MAPC cells prevented HI-induced microglial proliferation in the preterm brain. These anti-inflammatory effects were associated with MAPC-induced prevention of hypomyelination after global HI. Besides attenuation of the cerebral inflammatory response, our findings showed that MAPC cells modulated the peripheral splenic inflammatory response, which has been implicated in the etiology of hypoxic-ischemic injury in the preterm brain. Conclusions: In a pre-clinical animal model MAPC cell therapy improved the functional and structural outcome of the preterm brain after global HI. Future studies should establish the mechanism and long-term therapeutic effects of neuroprotection established by MAPC cells in the developing preterm brain exposed to HI. Our study may form the basis for future clinical trials, which will evaluate whether MAPC therapy is capable of reducing neurological sequelae in preterm infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy