Procrastinación académica y bienestar psicológico en estudiantes universitarios

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo principal determinar la relación entre Procrastinación Académica y Bienestar Psicológico en estudiantes universitarios de las carreras de Psicología y de Publicidad y Multimedia de la Universidad Católica de Santa María, en Arequipa, Perú; teniendo como muestra a 407 estudiantes universitarios entre 18 y 24 años, de los cuales 112 (27.52%) fueron hombres y 295(72.48%) fueron mujeres. El diseño fue no experimental de corte transversal de tipo correlacional. Para la medición se utilizó la Escala de Procrastinación Académica EPA y la Escala de Bienestar Psicológico de Ryff en la versión de 39 ítems, obteniendo como resultado una relación estadísticamente significativa negativa de magnitud baja entre procrastinación académica y bienestar psicológico, es decir que a mayor bienestar psicológico, menor autorregulación académica y postergación.Tesi

Necrostatin-1 supplementation enhances young porcine islet maturation and in vitro function

BACKGROUND: Necroptosis has been demonstrated to be a primary mechanism of islet cell death. This study evaluated whether the supplementation of necrostatin-1 (Nec-1), a potent inhibitor of necroptosis, to islet culture media could improve the recovery, maturation, and function of pre-weaned porcine islets (PPIs). METHODS: PPIs were isolated from pre-weaned Yorkshire piglets (8-15 days old) and either cultured in control islet culture media (n = 6) or supplemented with Nec-1 (100 µM, n = 5). On days 3 and 7 of culture, islets were assessed for recovery, insulin content, viability, cellular composition, GLUT2 expression in beta cells, differentiation of pancreatic endocrine progenitor cells, function, and oxygen consumption rate. RESULTS: Nec-1 supplementation induced a 2-fold increase in the insulin content of PPIs on day 7 of culture. When compared to untreated islets, Nec-1 treatment doubled the beta- and alpha-cell composition and accelerated the development of delta cells. Additionally, beta cells of Nec-1-treated islets had a significant upregulation in GLUT2 expression. The enhanced development of major endocrine cells and GLUT2 expression after Nec-1 treatment subsequently led to a significant increase in the amount of insulin secreted in response to in vitro glucose challenge. Islet recovery, viability, and oxygen consumption rate were unaffected by Nec-1. CONCLUSION: This study underlines the importance of necroptosis in islet cell death after isolation and demonstrates the novel effects of Nec-1 to increase islet insulin content, enhance pancreatic endocrine cell development, facilitate GLUT2 upregulation in beta cells, and augment insulin secretion. Nec-1 supplementation to culture media significantly improves islet quality prior to xenotransplantation

Espacio público, medio físico y percepción de inseguridad en el barrio Solanda

The objective of this academic exercise is to identify the variables of the physical environment with greater presence, and which influence the perception of insecurity within a case study in the Metropolitan District of Quito, Solanda neighborhood. To this end, the research adopts several methodological phases. The first phase focused on a literary review to build an instrument for observing the physical environment, which included all factors that have been related to the perception of insecurity; the second phase of focus groups with the inhabitants of Solanda made it possible to contrast the literary findings and collect the perceptions of the neighbors in relation to the physical environment; during the third phase, spatial audits were carried out in parks, squares, parking lots, streets and alleys. The results indicate that those variables of the physical environment with the greatest presence and influence on the perception of insecurity among the inhabitants are derived from the privatizations and invasions of public space because of the expansion of housing, to prevent free movement or entry to alleys, or by the occupation of informal commerce. In addition, a large part of the problem stems from the great densification of the neighborhood, the changes in its demographic composition and mobility based on private vehicles, which generates visual barriers on the landscape.El objetivo de este estudio es el identificar las variables del medio físico que influyen en la percepción de inseguridad y que tienen mayor presencia en el espacio público dentro de un caso de estudio en el Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, barrio Solanda. Con este fin la investigación adopta una medología estructurada en varias fases. La primera fase se centró en una revisión literaria para construir un instrumento de observación del medio físico, con todos los factores que desde la literatura se han identificado y relacionado con la percepción de inseguridad; la segunda fase de grupos focales con los habitantes de Solanda permitió contrastar los hallazgos literarios y recolectar las percepciones de los vecinos en relación con el medio físico; la tercera fase en la que, a través del instrumento de observación, se realizaron auditorías espaciales en parques, plazas, parqueaderos, calles y callejones, a fin de identificar aquellos espacios y factores de inseguridad con mayor presencia en el barrio. Los resultados indicaron que aquellas variables del medio físico con mayor presencia e influencia sobre la percepción de inseguridad entre los pobladores se derivan de las privatizaciones e invasiones del espacio público realizadas para la ampliación de viviendas, para impedir la libre circulación o ingreso a callejones o espacios públicos, o por la ocupación del comercio informal; además, gran parte de la problemática se deriva de la gran densificación del barrio, los cambios en su composición demográfica y la movilidad basada en el vehículo privado, lo que genera barreras..

Steady Decline of Corals and Other Benthic Organisms in the SeaFlower Biosphere Reserve (Southwestern Caribbean)

Coral reef decline persists as a global issue with ties to climate change and human footprint. The SeaFlower Biosphere reserve includes some of the most isolated oceanic coral reefs in the Southwestern Caribbean, which provide natural experiments to test global and/or basin-wide factors affecting coral reefs. In this study, we compared coral and other substrate cover (algae, cyanobacteria, and octocorals), along population densities of keystone urchin species from two atolls (Serrana and Roncador Banks), during 1995, 2003, and 2015/2016. We also surveyed benthic foraminifera as a water quality proxy for coral growth in the last period. A steady reduction in coral cover was clearly observed at Roncador’s lagoon, but not at Serrana’s reefs, with significant differences between 1995 and 2015/2016. Percent cover of fleshy algae decreased significantly also at Roncador between 1995 and 2003 but did not change notably from 1995 to 2016 at Serrana. However, both Banks exhibited a loss in crustose coralline algae from 2003 to 2015/2016. Likewise, a reduction in bottom complexity, measured as bottom rugosity, was evident between 1995 and 2003. Roncador Bank had unprecedented high octocoral densities, which increased almost threefold from 2003 to 2015. In contrast, urchin densities were low in Roncador; only Diadema antillarum increased from 2003 to 2016 in Serrana Bank. The Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring (FORAM) Index (FI) in the two Banks was below the range expected for healthy coral reefs. Although both Banks follow a reduction in CCA and CA cover, Roncador Bank also faces an alarming decline in coral cover, urchins and bottom complexity (rugosity) in contrast to increases in octocoral densities and potential loss of resilience and eutrophication suggested by the FI index. These unexpected findings led us to consider and discuss potential outcomes, where these reefs deteriorate (i.e., erode and drown) providing ideal conditions for octocoral growth. Hence, it is of utmost urgency to start monitoring reef budgets, octocorals and nutrient sources

FungalTraits:A user-friendly traits database of fungi and fungus-like stramenopiles

The cryptic lifestyle of most fungi necessitates molecular identification of the guild in environmental studies. Over the past decades, rapid development and affordability of molecular tools have tremendously improved insights of the fungal diversity in all ecosystems and habitats. Yet, in spite of the progress of molecular methods, knowledge about functional properties of the fungal taxa is vague and interpretation of environmental studies in an ecologically meaningful manner remains challenging. In order to facilitate functional assignments and ecological interpretation of environmental studies we introduce a user friendly traits and character database FungalTraits operating at genus and species hypothesis levels. Combining the information from previous efforts such as FUNGuild and Fun(Fun) together with involvement of expert knowledge, we reannotated 10,210 and 151 fungal and Stramenopila genera, respectively. This resulted in a stand-alone spreadsheet dataset covering 17 lifestyle related traits of fungal and Stramenopila genera, designed for rapid functional assignments of environmental studies. In order to assign the trait states to fungal species hypotheses, the scientific community of experts manually categorised and assigned available trait information to 697,413 fungal ITS sequences. On the basis of those sequences we were able to summarise trait and host information into 92,623 fungal species hypotheses at 1% dissimilarity threshold