RELACIÓN SER HUMANO-NATURALEZA: DEBATIENDO EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE DESDE LA FILOSOFÍA DE LA CIENCIA

The global ecological-economic dynamic tends to foment a false dichotomy between human beings and nature. This logic has generated a debate over the role of interdisciplinary approaches to eco-social studies. With an eye towards enriching this debate we propose a theoretical reflection on the human-nature relation y how emergent interdisciplinary connections provide a response in a society undergoing constant change

Discrete Model of Ideological Struggle Accounting for Migration

A discrete in time model of ideological competition is formulated taking into account population migration. The model is based on interactions between global populations of non-believers and followers of different ideologies. The complex dynamics of the attracting manifolds is investigated. Conversion from one ideology to another by means of (i) mass media influence and (ii) interpersonal relations is considered. Moreover a different birth rate is assumed for different ideologies, the rate being assumed to be positive for the reference population, made of initially non-believers. Ideological competition can happen in one or several regions in space. In the latter case, migration of non-believers and adepts is allowed; this leads to an enrichment of the ideological dynamics. Finally, the current ideological situation in the Arab countries and China is commented upon from the point of view of the presently developed mathematical model. The massive forced conversion by Ottoman Turks in the Balkans is briefly discussed.Comment: 24 pages, with 5 figures and 52 refs.; prepared for a Special issue of Advances in Complex System

Implementing integrated care: a synthesis of experiences in three European countries

Many countries are experimenting with new models to better integrate care; yet, innovative care models are often implemented as time-limited, localised projects with limited impact on service delivery more broadly. This paper seeks to understand the processes behind successful projects that achieved some form of ‘routinisation’ and informed system-wide integrated care strategies. It draws on detailed case studies of three integrated care experiments: the ‘Integrated effort for people living with chronic diseases’ project in Denmark; the Gesundes Kinzigtal network in Germany; and Zio, a care group in the Maastricht region in the Netherlands. It explores how they were developed, implemented and sustained, and how they impacted the wider system context. All three models implicitly or explicitly adopted processes shown to be conducive to the dissemination of innovations, including dedicated time and resources, support and advocacy, leadership and management, stakeholder involvement, communication and networks, adaptation to local context and feedback. Each showed robust evidence of improvements on a number of service and patient outcomes and these findings were central to their wider impacts, shaping country-wide integrated care polices. However, the wider dissemination of projects occurred in an incremental and somewhat haphazard way. To further redesign health and social care a more formal strategy, alongside resources, may thus be needed to provide funders and providers with genuine incentives to invest in new business models of care. There remains a crucial need for better understanding of specific local conditions that influence implementation and sustainability to enable translation to other contexts and settings

Antiferromagnetic 4-d O(4) Model

We study the phase diagram of the four dimensional O(4) model with first (beta1) and second (beta2) neighbor couplings, specially in the beta2 < 0 region, where we find a line of transitions which seems to be second order. We also compute the critical exponents on this line at the point beta1 =0 (F4 lattice) by Finite Size Scaling techniques up to a lattice size of 24, being these exponents different from the Mean Field ones.Comment: 26 pages LaTeX2e, 7 figures. The possibility of logarithmic corrections has been considered, new figures and tables added. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Low innate production of interleukin-1beta and interleukin-6 is associated with the absence of osteoarthritis in old age

OBJECTIVE We investigated whether innate differences in cytokine response were associated with the absence of osteoarthritis (OA) in old age. DESIGN In 82 participants from a cross-sectional birth cohort, radiographs of hands, hips and knees were taken at the age of 90 years. OA was defined as a Kellgren-Lawrence score of at least two. "Free from OA" was defined at patient level as absence of hip and knee OA, and presence of OA in maximally two hand joints. The innate cytokine response was determined in whole-blood samples upon stimulation with lipopolysaccharide. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate associations between absence of OA in relation to tertiles of interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, IL-1 receptor antagonist (RA) and IL-10. Adjustments were made for gender and body mass index. RESULTS Sixteen percent of the participants were "free from OA". Subjects in the lowest tertile of Il-1beta production had a 11-fold increased chance to be free of OA [odds ratio (OR) 11.3, confidence intervals (CI) 95% 1.1-115.9], subjects in the lowest tertile of IL-6 production had an almost 7-fold increased chance to be free of OA (OR 6.7, 95% CI 1.1-41.2). Absence of hand OA was associated with low innate production of IL-6 and IL-1RA, absence of hip OA was associated with low innate IL-1beta production. No associations were found for TNF-alpha and IL-10. CONCLUSIONS Low innate capacity to produce the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1beta and IL-6 is associated with the absence of OA in old age.Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Identification of the factors associated with outcomes in a condition management programme

&lt;p&gt;Background: A requirement of the Government’s Pathways to Work (PtW) agenda was to introduce a Condition Management Programme (CMP). The aim of the present study was to identify the differences between those who engaged and made progress in this telephone-based biopsychosocial intervention, in terms of their health, and those who did not and to determine the client and practitioner characteristics and programme elements associated with success in a programme aimed at improving health.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Methods: Data were obtained from the CMP electronic spreadsheets and clients paper-based case records. CMP standard practice was that questionnaires were administered during the pre- and post-assessment phases over the telephone. Each client’s record contains their socio-demographic data, their primary health condition, as well as the pre- and post-intervention scores of the health assessment tool administered. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the relationships between the database variables. Clients were included in the study if their records were available for analysis from July 2006 to December 2007.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; Results: On average there were 112 referrals per month, totalling 2016 referrals during the evaluation period. The majority (62.8%) of clients had a mental-health condition. Successful completion of the programme was 28.5% (575 “completers”; 144 “discharges”). Several factors, such as age, health condition, mode of contact, and practitioner characteristics, were significant determinants of participation and completion of the programme. The results showed that completion of the CMP was associated with a better mental-health status, by reducing the number of clients that were either anxious, depressed or both, before undertaking the programme, from 74% to 32.5%.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Conclusions: Our findings showed that an individual's characteristics are associated with success in the programme, defined as completing the intervention and demonstrating an improved health status. This study provides some evidence that the systematic evaluation of such programmes and interventions could identify ways in which they could be improved.&lt;/p&gt

Summing Divergent Perturbative Series in a Strong Coupling Limit. The Gell-Mann - Low Function of the \phi^4 Theory

An algorithm is proposed for determining asymptotics of the sum of a perturbative series in the strong coupling limit using given values of the expansion coefficients. Operation of the algorithm is illustrated by test examples, method for estimating errors is developed, and an optimization procedure is described. Application of the algorithm to the $\phi^4$ theory gives a behavior $\beta(g)\approx 7.4 g^{0.96}$ at large $g$ for its Gell-Mann -- Low function. The fact that the exponent is close to unity can be interpreted as a manifestation of the logarithmic branching of the type $\beta(g)\sim g (\ln g)^{-\gamma}$ (with $\gamma\approx 0.14$), which is confirmed by independent evidence. In any case, the $\phi^4$ theory is internally consistent. The procedure of summing perturbartive series with arbitrary values of expansion parameter is discussed.Comment: 23 pages, PD

Glucoregulation after canine islet transplantation:Contribution of insulin secretory capacity, insulin action, and the entero-insular axis

The physiological glucoregulatory mechanisms after islet transplantation have been incompletely investigated, We studied the insulin secretory capacity (ISC) by intravenous arginine stimulation during 35-mM glucose clamps, insulin action during hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamps, and mixed-meal stimulation at 6-9 mo after intrasplenic islet autotransplantation in 8 dogs, as compared with 30 controls, The enteroinsular axis in the recipients was examined by infusion of porcine glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) (7-36 amide) under 8.5-mM glycemic clamp conditions in order to mimic the postprandial glycemia after transplantation. The grafts comprised 25% of the native islet mass, and the ISC likewise averaged 25% of the control value, The postprandial insulin response, in contrast, had increased to 140% after transplantation-albeit with a concomitant glucose excursion to approximately 8.5 mM, Insulin action declined on average by 45% posttransplant. The ISC correlated both with the postprandial glucose excursion and insulin action in the grafted dogs, Insulin action did not correlate with the postprandial glucose excursion, Infusion of GIP had no effect, but GLP-1 nearly doubled glucose-stimulated insulin, Thus, a hyperglycemia-enhanced insulinotropic effect of GLP-1, and perhaps other gut hormones, may account for the difference in the insulin response to the intravenous and oral challenges, Because the ISC reflects the engrafted islet mass and appears to be the primary determinant of glucose tolerance, transplantation of higher islet doses should allow prolonged near-normal glucoregulation-at least, in the autotransplant setting. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc

Business experience and start-up size: buying more lottery tickets next time around?

This paper explores the determinants of start-up size by focusing on a cohort of 6247 businesses that started trading in 2004, using a unique dataset on customer records at Barclays Bank. Quantile regressions show that prior business experience is significantly related with start-up size, as are a number of other variables such as age, education and bank account activity. Quantile treatment effects (QTE) estimates show similar results, with the effect of business experience on (log) start-up size being roughly constant across the quantiles. Prior personal business experience leads to an increase in expected start-up size of about 50%. Instrumental variable QTE estimates are even higher, although there are concerns about the validity of the instrument