Predictive Echocardiography

In this thesis multiple echocardiographic approaches and techniques to predict clinical and functional outcome were evaluated. The value of high-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography for the prediction of longterm cardiac events was evaluated in various clinical settings in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. Low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging were used to evaluate myocardial viability and left ventricular remodelling in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy who underwent myocardial revascularization or percutaneous transplantation of skeletal myoblasts. The value of myocardial contrast echocardiography was studied to predict functional recovery in patients with acute myocardial infarction who underwent primary coronary intervention. Next, resting 2-D echocardiography was used to predict the onset of dilated-hypokinetic evolution and cardiovascular events in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Finally, the role of intracardiac echocardiography was investigated for prediction of the infarct area in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who underwent percutaneous septal myocardial ablation

O democracia ,o neuroliberalismo.

During the rise of neoliberalism the last decades of the twenty century it was the believe that this conception and this possessive praxis of the world maintained a biunivocal correspondence with democracy. After the disastrous consequences experienced by the implementation of the so-called conservative revolution, currently has extended the idea that far from identifying with the general will, we are in the presence of one of their most sustained antagonists. Ergo, democracy, rather than partnering with unrestricted market and ultraminim State, is in connection with alternative thought, the ethic of solidarity and human rights. Among the authors who have worked for that way of knowing and behavior, this paper analyze different examples of more authentic democracies: the works of González Casanova, Sousa Santos and Pablo González Guadarrama, the civil movements of “indignados” and the popular Latin American governments of our days.Si bien durante el auge del neoliberalismo se ha llegado a creer –banal y vanamente– que esa concepción y esa praxis posesiva del mundo mantenían una correspondencia biunívoca con la democracia, tras las funestas consecuencias experimentadas por la implantación de la denominada revolución conservadora en la actualidad se ha ido extendiendo la idea de que, lejos, de identificarse con un sistema de vida representativo de la voluntad general, se está en presencia por lo contrario de uno de sus antagonistas más sostenidos. Ergo, la democracia, en lugar de asociarse con el mercado irrestricto y el Estado ultramínimo, se ha aproximado con una suerte de pensamiento alternativo que vela por una ética de la solidaridad y los derechos humanos. Entre los autores que han bregado por ese modus cognoscendi y operandi se rescatan en este trabajo a González Casanova, Sousa Santos y el propio colega homenajeado: Pablo Guadarrama González. Tampoco deja de rescatarse la presencia en el escenario internacional de los movimientos civiles que, frente al modelo de la globalización conservadora, reclaman por una auténtica democracia, una forma de gobierno que también puede verificarse hoy en distintos gobiernos nuestro-americanos que atraviesan por una etapa posneoliberal

FILIPPI, ALBERTO (dir.), Argentina y Europa. Visiones españolas. Ensayos y documentos (1910-2010), Buenos Aires, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, 2011

La calificación más alta que puede merecer este nuevo emprendimiento intelectual colectivo –brindado por Alberto Filippi y sus estrechos colaboradores– proviene sobre todo del caudal de documentos epocales aquí reunidos, sin desmerecer la notoria excelencia académica que contienen los ensayos y estudios incluidos en la primera parte de la obra –algunos de los cuales ya fueron dados a conocer precedentemente. Me propongo abordar dichas fuentes primarias desde una fehaciente divisoria de aguas: la concepción tradicional hegemónica y las vertientes crítico-alternativas.La calificación más alta que puede merecer este nuevo emprendimiento intelectual colectivo –brindado por Alberto Filippi y sus estrechos colaboradores– proviene sobre todo del caudal de documentos epocales aquí reunidos, sin desmerecer la notoria excelencia académica que contienen los ensayos y estudios incluidos en la primera parte de la obra –algunos de los cuales ya fueron dados a conocer precedentemente. Me propongo abordar dichas fuentes primarias desde una fehaciente divisoria de aguas: la concepción tradicional hegemónica y las vertientes crítico-alternativas.

Memorabilia: del grito de Córdoba al mayo francés

As it is known, in May 1968 France lived a cultural revolution. Nevertheless, besides the real meaning of that feature, fifty years before, Latin American students, in the same sense, inspired one of the social movements more relevant in Western civilization: the Reform of their university and other important things, for instance, a citizenship beyond the National State and the creation of intellectual an unionist nets with the purpose to give a special strength to alternative or utopian thought.    Al mayo francés puede asignársele una trascendencia semejante al de una verdadera revolución. No por ello cabe desconocer el carácter anticipador que tuvieron distintas proposiciones y efectividades de la juventud universitaria latinoamericana en los inicios del siglo XX, la cual, entre sus tantos aportes generacionales, ha defendido la  ciudadanía supranacional y ha armado una legión de redes intelectuales y sindicales. Como el mismo Mayo francés, la Reforma Universitaria de 1918 cabe ser rescatada por su capacidad para potenciar el derecho a la utopía y al pensamiento alternativo

Impaired Activation of CA3 Pyramidal Neurons in the Epileptic Hippocampus.

We employed in vitro and ex vivo imaging tools to characterize the function of limbic neuron networks in pilocarpine-treated and age-matched, nonepileptic control (NEC) rats. Pilocarpine-treated animals represent an established model of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Intrinsic optical signal (IOS) analysis of hippocampal-entorhinal cortex (EC) slices obtained from epileptic rats 3 wk after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE) revealed hyperexcitability in many limbic areas, but not in CA3 and medial EC layer III. By visualizing immunopositivity for FosB/DeltaFosB-related proteins which accumulate in the nuclei of neurons activated by seizures we found that: (1) 24 h after SE, FosB/DeltaFosB immunoreactivity was absent in medial EC layer III, but abundant in dentate gyrus, hippocampus proper (including CA3) and subiculum; (2) FosB/DeltaFosB levels progressively diminished 3 and 7 d after SE, whereas remaining elevated (p < 0.01) in subiculum; (3) FosB/DeltaFosB levels sharply increased 2 wk after SE (and remained elevated up to 3 wk) in dentate gyrus and in most of the other areas but not in CA3. A conspicuous neuronal damage was noticed in medial EC layer III, whereas hippocampus was more preserved. IOS analysis of the stimulus-induced responses in slices 3 wk after SE demonstrated that IOSs in CA3 were lower (p < 0.05) than in NEC slices following dentate gyrus stimulation, but not when stimuli were delivered in CA3. These findings indicate that CA3 networks are hypoactive in comparison with other epileptic limbic areas. We propose that this feature may affect the ability of hippocampal outputs to control epileptiform synchronization in EC

Nucleation of superconducting pairing states at mesoscopic scales at zero temperature

We find the spin polarized disordered Fermi liquids are unstable to the nucleation of superconducting pairing states at mesoscopic scales even when magnetic fields which polarize the spins are substantially higher than the critical one. We study the probability of finding superconducting pairing states at mesoscopic scales in this limit. We find that the distribution function depends only on the film conductance. The typical length scale at which pairing takes place is universal, and decreases when the magnetic field is increased. The number density of these states determines the strength of the random exchange interactions between mesoscopic pairing states.Comment: 11 pages, no figure