Growing a local organic movement: The Mexican Network of Organic Markets

Over the past several years, in response to the rapid growth in global demand for organic goods, the amount of organic production in Mexico has increased dramatically. Indeed, while Mexican agriculture as a whole has suffered severe crises, the organic sector has boomed, and today more than 83 000 producers farm organically on over 300 000 hectares of land. Of these producers, 98 percent are small scale, farming an average of three hectares, and over 50 percent are indigenous people. Unfortunately, as is the case in many developing countries, the vast majority of organic production remains focused on export crops – particularly coffee, but also cocoa, coconut, and other fruit and vegetables – with 85 percent of organic goods being sent to foreign markets. From an environmental point of view, exportoriented production is extremely damaging because of the amounts of fossil fuels required for transportation. In addition, packaging for export consumes precious resources and creates mountains of waste. Moreover, an export-oriented focus constrains the degree to which domestic markets are developed, and it leaves Mexican producers highly vulnerable to international market fluctuations

Susana González Aktories: «Antologías poéticas en México».

Sin resume

A propósito de Tres golpes de timbal de Daniel Moyano.

Sin resume

Characterization of postnatal microglia as a model for in vitro microglial studies

Microglia are the resident immune cells of the central nervous system. They have been found to play a major role in the development of different neurodegenerative diseases. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, understanding microglial interactions with Aβ peptides, a major hallmark of the disease, could unveil potential therapeutic targets. In order to study this interaction, it is important to be able to replicate it in vitro. However, there is no current model for microglial cells in vitro. Primary cultures of rodent postnatal microglia are currently the most used in vitro model for microglial cells, as they are the simpler method to obtain large numbers of primary cells. Nevertheless, this study shows that postnatal microglia grown in vitro with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) do not present the levels of expression of microglial signature markers (TMEM119, FCRLS, P2RY12, TREM2) found in adult microglia in vivo. This microglial signature was also downregulated in postnatal microglia compared to adult microglia. From immunostaining of tissue slices at postnatal day 3 (P3) it was shown that at least one of this characteristic microglial markers (P2RY12) was present in most of the neonatal microglial cells, although it had lower levels of expression than in adult cells. Together, these results show that postnatal microglia have an immature phenotype and that current culture conditions are not able to promote differentiation of these immature cells into an adult phenotype. For this reason, neonatal microglia are currently not a good model for microglial studies concerning diseases that affect the adult brain.Ingeniería Biomédic

The qualitative-quantitative dichotomy: integration pos- sibilities and mixed designs

El presente artículo sintetiza uno de los ejes temáticos tratados en la conferencia inaugural presentada en el 3º Congreso Ibero-Americano de Investigación Cualitativa celebrado en Badajoz en el mes de julio de 2014, en el que se discutieron los trabajos más novedosos realizados en el ámbito de las Ciencias Sociales llevados a cabo con métodos cualitativos. El trabajo que se presenta tiene como objetivo la búsqueda de conciliación entre paradigmas y metodologías en la investigación en Ciencias sociales. El objetivo es concretar las formulaciones epistemológicas generales en las que se fundamentan los métodos cualitativos, en propuestas metodológicamente más precisas y actuales, asumiendo que estamos en un momento apasionante en la investigación cualitativa en el que se aprecia una clara tendencia en el uso de la metodología mixta (mixed method approach).The present article provides a synthesis of some of the main themes addressed in in the inaugural lecture presented at the 3rd Ibero-American Conference on Qualitative Research (3º Congreso Ibero-Americano de Investigación Cualitativa) held in Badajoz, Spain in July 2014, which deliberated the most innovative research carried out in the field of Social Sciences using qualitative methods. The paper seeks a conciliation among research paradigms and methodologies in the Social Sciences. Its aim is to specify the general episte- mological formulations on which qualitative methods are based in methodologically more precise and up-to-date proposals, in the understanding that this is currently an exciting moment in qualitative research in which a clear tendency to use the mixed method approach can be observed.peerReviewe

Entre América y España: Hermeneútica y Analogía

Reseña del libro: Gordo Piñar, Gemma. Entre América y España: Hermeneútica y Analogía. México D.F.: Analogía filosófica, 201