A Tight Squeeze

Many beginning writers are easily disheartened when their work is criticized for that inevitable tyro vice, wordiness. Others, indignant over what they consider to be an impugnment of their artistic sensitivity, ignore all admonitions to tighten up their styles, choosing instead to continue at the ration of one sentence per ream of paper. Still others, intent on pleasing their mentors, plunge immediately into the kind of ellipticism that would make J.P. Donleavy seem like a chatterbox. The following hypothetical situation concerns such a fellow

Ser de donde no soy : identidades en conflicto en el ámbito social y educativo

Este texto se presentó como comunicación al II Congreso Internacional de Etnografía y Educación: Migraciones y ciudadanías. Barcelona, 5-8 Septiembre 2008La incorporación de los adolescentes inmigrados latinoamericanos al sistema educativo español se da en un escenario complejo en el que se presentan diversos componentes. Un ámbito específico corresponde al impacto de la experiencia migratoria en adolescentes y niños inmigrados; enfrentar un sistema educativo desconocido -cuyas reglas han de irse descubriendo paulatina y, a veces, traumáticamente- pone a prueba las bases de la seguridad emocional e intelectual. En este trabajo se presenta algunos hallazgos de un estudio acerca de las formas que adopta la inserción de los adolescentes latinoamericanos en la sociedad española, llevado a cabo con adolescentes entre los 12 y 17 años de edad que asistían a la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, en el curso 2005-2006, en centros educativos públicos y concertados en Madrid, Murcia y Valladolid. El trabajo muestra, primero, algunos elementos del contexto migratorio en el que ocurren las vivencias de los adolescentes, constituidos en inmigrantes involuntarios; y, en segundo lugar, examina algunas de las experiencias a las que los adolescentes se hallan expuestos en el ámbito educativo y social, que asignan rasgos particulares al proceso de construcción de la identidad. Integrarse en el sistema educativo es uno de los primeros retos que enfrentan chicos y chicas latinos que asisten a la ESO, dado que la escuela constituye para ellos el espacio en el cual se sientan las bases para determinada socialización en la vida española. En esta cobran expresión las dificultades que, en parte provenientes de su origen nacional y familiar, encaran los adolescentes latinoamericanos durante el proceso de inserción social y educativa. Todas las dificultades afloran a través de las formas que adoptan los intercambios con la sociedad de acogida. Y dentro de esos intercambios importan significativamente las condiciones que el alumnado de origen extranjero encuentra en la sociedad y en las escuelas españolas. De una parte, la sociedad española vive con particular sensibilidad la irrupción migratoria y, en algunos sectores de ella, el fenómeno es respondido con manifestaciones de racismo y xenofobia que, en cierta medida, repercuten en la escuela. De otra parte, en el sistema educativo se experimentan desafíos no resueltos, provenientes del intenso cambio social de las últimas décadas, a los que se suma la llegada del contingente de jóvenes inmigrados, para quienes no se ha desarrollado mecanismos de adaptación específicos. Desde una y otra vertiente proceden tensiones que recaen en el proceso de construcción del joven latinoamericano inmigrado, que este trabajo esboza

A New Concept for Controlled Lifting Entry Flight Experiments

Feasibility of trajectory guidance and control concept for lifting configuration with roll modulatio

Immunopathogenesis of Hepatic Brucellosis

The hepatic immune system can induce rapid and controlled responses to pathogenic microorganisms and tumor cells. Accordingly, most of the microorganisms that reach the liver through the blood are eliminated. However, some of them, including Brucella spp., take advantage of the immunotolerant capacity of the liver to persist in the host. Brucella has a predilection for surviving in the reticuloendothelial system, with the liver being the largest organ of this system in the human body. Therefore, its involvement in brucellosis is practically invariable. In patients with active brucellosis, the liver is commonly affected, and the most frequent clinical manifestation is hepatosplenomegaly. The molecular mechanisms implicated in liver damage have been recently elucidated. It has been demonstrated how Brucella interacts with hepatocytes inducing its death by apoptosis. The inflammatory microenvironment and the direct effect of Brucella on hepatic stellate cells (HSC) induce their activation and turn these cells from its quiescent form to their fibrogenic phenotype. This HSC activation induced by Brucella infection relies on the presence of a functional type IV secretion system and the effector protein BPE005 through a mechanism involved in the activation of the autophagic pathway. Finally, the molecular mechanisms of liver brucellosis observed so far are shedding light on how the interaction of Brucella with liver cells may play an important role in the discovery of new targets to control the infection. In this review, we report the current understanding of the interaction between liver structural cells and immune system cells during Brucella infection.Fil: Giambartolomei, Guillermo Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo; ArgentinaFil: Delpino, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo; Argentin

SARS-CoV-2 interacts with renin-angiotensin system: impact on the central nervous system in elderly patients

SARS-CoV-2 is a recently identified coronavirus that causes the current pandemic disease known as COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor, suggesting that the initial steps of SARS-CoV-2 infection may have an impact on the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Several processes are influenced by RAS in the brain. The neurological symptoms observed in COVID-19 patients, including reduced olfaction, meningitis, ischemic stroke, cerebral thrombosis, and delirium, could be associated with RAS imbalance. In this review, we focus on the potential role of disturbances in the RAS as a cause for central nervous system sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in elderly patients.Fil: Quarleri, Jorge Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; ArgentinaFil: Delpino, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; Argentin

Influence of HIV Infection and Antiretroviral Therapy on Bone Homeostasis

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV)/AIDS pandemic represents the most significant global health challenge in modern history. This infection leads toward an inflammatory state associated with chronic immune dysregulation activation that tilts the immune-skeletal interface and its deep integration between cell types and cytokines with a strong influence on skeletal renewal and exacerbated bone loss...Fil: Delpino, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo; ArgentinaFil: Quarleri, Jorge Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; Argentin

Dynamic parameter estimation problem for ethanol production from seaweed

Ethanol has been studied extensively as one of the current and probably future energy vectors. Fermentation of hydrolysed oligosaccharides from macroalgae biomass to ethanol has been certified, and several processing options have been proposed. In the present work, we model the production of ethanol based on Laminaria, a seaweed genus that belongs to the so-called "brown algae" group, as the carbon source. In brown algae, the most relevant sugars that can be used as substrate for fermentation are mannitol -the alcohol form of the sugar mannose- and laminaran, a linear polysaccharide of(1,3)-β-Dglucopyranose. We consider the yeast Pichia angophorae as the fermenting microorganism. The model includes dynamic mass balances for biomass, ethanol, mannitol and laminaran. Growth is controlled via limiting functions that modify the biomass equation for temperature and oxygen transfer rate (OTR). It is also modified by including a term that considers inhibition by ethanol. Based on the proposed model, a dynamic parameter estimation problem is formulated, the objective function being weighted least-squares fit to data, subject to the mass balance equations. The data set for parameter estimation was obtained in batch liquid cultures, with experiments performed over 40 hours. Numerical results provide useful insights on ethanol production using macroalgae biomass as carbon sourceFil: Delpino, Claudio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: de Genaro, Pablo Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Di Maggio, Jimena Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Estrada, Vanina Gisela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Díaz, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis: Imbalance in the Renin-Angiotensin System Favors Lung Fibrosis

After SARS-CoV-2 infection, a major complication of those who survived to COVID-19 outbreak is the development of severe lung disease leading to pulmonary fibrosis. At earliest step of virus-host cell interaction when the SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the ACE2 receptor highly expressed in pneumocytes type II, a linkage is established between the renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) and the viral pathogenesis. Within this important system, the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is deputed to the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II (AngII), a potent vasoconstrictive peptide involved directly in inflammation and fibrosis development. AngII is hydrolyzed by ACE2 to Ang1-7, triggering a cascade of events that counteract fibrosis. This imbalance is known to be due to inflammatory damage. However, because ACE2 is the receptor for SARS-Cov-2, we could also speculate that the virus per se could modulate its enzymatic activity. In our opinion the wound healing pathways that mediate tissue repair after SARS-CoV-2 mediated injury, should consider managing the imbalanced ACE/ACE2 axis. We hypothesize that the heptapeptide Ang1-7 could provide novel therapeutic interventions for pulmonary fibrosis patients. Understanding how the RAS, wound healing and other pro-fibrotic pathways act after viral infection should lead to novel therapeutics in the future.Fil: Delpino, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo; ArgentinaFil: Quarleri, Jorge Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; Argentin

Molecular mechanisms implicated in SARS-CoV-2 liver tropism

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by severe acuterespiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Hepatic involvement iscommon in SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals. It is currently accepted that thedirect and indirect hepatic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection play a significant rolein COVID-19. In individuals with pre-existing infectious and non-infectious liverdisease, who are at a remarkably higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 anddeath, this pathology is most medically relevant. This review emphasizes thecurrent pathways regarded as contributing to the gastrointestinal and hepaticailments linked to COVID-19-infected patients due to an imbalanced interactionamong the liver, systemic inflammation, disrupted coagulation, and the lung.Fil: Quarleri, Jorge Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; ArgentinaFil: Delpino, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; Argentin

'Speaking Up' for patient safety and staff well-being::a qualitative study

Background Freedom To Speak Up Guardians (FTSUGs) and Confidential Contacts (CCs) were appointed nationally following the Mid Staffordshire inquiry to listen to and support staff who were unable to address concerns through normal channels of communication.Aim Explore perceptions of an FTSUG and CCs through shared experiences and personal stories.Objectives (1) Explore perceptions of an FTSUG and CCs. (2) Consider how individuals can be best supported. (3) Improve staff knowledge on speaking up. (4) Understand factors influencing reflections around patient safety. (5) Share exemplars of good practice through use of personal stories to promote a culture of openness to raise concerns.Method A focus group of eight participants, namely the FTSUG and CCs working within one large National Health Service (NHS) trust, was used to gather data. Data were collated and organised using a created table. Thematic analysis enabled each theme to emerge and be identified.Conclusion (1) An innovative approach to the introduction, development and implementation of an FTSUG and CC roles and responsibilities in healthcare. (2) To gain insight into the personal experiences of a FTSUG and CCs working within one large NHS trust. (3) To be supportive of culture change with committed leadership responsiveness