Economía sostenible: teoría y política

[Resumen] La compatibilidad entre crecimiento economico y sostenibilidad ambiental es un gran reto que deben afrontar a medio y largo plazo tanto la politica economica como los ciudadanos y las empresas. En los ultimos años estamos asistiendo en el ambito de los procesos de decisión públicos y privados a la aparicion de nuevos paradigmas en los que la sostenibilidad se ha convertido en una cuestion de justicia intergeneracional que introduce restricciones a dichos procesos de decision. Con el título de Economia sostenible. Teoria y politica, en este libro se analiza el impacto de esos nuevos paradigmas tanto en el ambito de la teoria como en el de la politica economica. Se entiende aqui por economia sostenible el analisis economico con restricciones de sostenibilidad ambiental, en contraposicion a definiciones de ese termino que impone la agenda politica actual, mas amplias pero menos operativas. Se trata asi de abordar cuestiones como la escala optima de la economia en relación con el ecosistema que la sustenta, las reglas de explotacion de recursos naturales, el diseño de impuestos ecologicos optimos o los indicadores que se deben utilizar para medir la sostenibilidad ambiental de un pais. Especial atencion merece en el texto el analisis de la politica economica con restricciones de sostenibilidad. Destacan, en este sentido, el estudio de los procesos de coordinacion entre las politicas fiscal, monetaria y ambiental, o el analisis del papel que desempeñan variables como los tipos de interes en los resultados de las politicas macroeconomicas cuando se pretende respetar el equilibrio ambiental

An ontology-aware integration of clinical models, terminologies and guidelines: an exploratory study of the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA)

Background: Electronic rating scales represent an important resource for standardized data collection. However, the ability to exploit reasoning on rating scale data is still limited. The objective of this work is to facilitate the integration of the semantics required to automatically interpret collections of standardized clinical data. We developed an electronic prototype for the Scale of the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA), broadly used in neurology. In order to address the modeling challenges of the SARA, we propose to combine the best performances from OpenEHR clinical archetypes, guidelines and ontologies. Methods: A scaled-down version of the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) was built, extracting the terms that describe the SARA tests from free-text sources. This version of the HPO was then used as backbone to normalize the content of the SARA through clinical archetypes. The knowledge required to exploit reasoning on the SARA data was modeled as separate information-processing units interconnected via the defined archetypes. Each unit used the most appropriate technology to formally represent the required knowledge. Results: Based on this approach, we implemented a prototype named SARA Management System, to be used for both the assessment of cerebellar syndrome and the production of a clinical synopsis. For validation purposes, we used recorded SARA data from 28 anonymous subjects affected by Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 36 (SCA36). When comparing the performance of our prototype with that of two independent experts, weighted kappa scores ranged from 0.62 to 0.86. Conclusions: The combination of archetypes, phenotype ontologies and electronic information-processing rules can be used to automate the extraction of relevant clinical knowledge from plain scores of rating scales. Our results reveal a substantial degree of agreement between the results achieved by an ontology-aware system and the human experts.This work presented in this paper was supported by the National Institute of Health Carlos III [grant no. FIS2012-PI12/00373: OntoNeurophen], FEDER for national and European funding; PEACE II, Erasmus Mundus Lot 2 Project [grant no. 2013-2443/001-001-EMA2]; and the Modern University for Business and Science (M.U.B.S)S

Virtual restoration and visualization changes through light: A review

This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage.The virtual modification of the appearance of an object using lighting technologies has become very important in recent years, since the projection of light on an object allows us to alter its appearance in a virtual and reversible way. Considering the limitation of non-contact when analysing a work of art, these optical techniques have been used in fields of restoration of cultural heritage, allowing us to visualize the work as it was conceived by its author, after a process of acquisition and treatment of the image. Furthermore, the technique of altering the appearance of objects through the projection of light has been used in projects with artistic or even educational purposes. This review has treated the main studies of light projection as a technique to alter the appearance of objects, emphasizing the calibration methods used in each study, taking into account the importance of a correct calibration between devices to carry out this technology. In addition, since the described technique consists of projecting light, and one of the applications is related to cultural heritage, those studies that carry out the design and optimization of lighting systems will be described for a correct appreciation of the works of art, without altering its state of conservationThis work has been funded by project number RTI2018-097633-A-I00 of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, entitled 'Photonic restoration applied to cultural heritage: Application to Dali's painting: Two Figures.

Psychological Distress and Work Engagement of Construction Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Differential Study by Sex

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major impact on the mental health of the population has been observed, with women being one of the most affected groups. From the lockdown to “de-escalation” phases, sex differences have been recognised as significant determinants of mental health. Thus, equally ensuring physical and mental protection at work remains one of the challenges faced by industrial companies, especially in the construction sector, where the percentage of employed women has increased in recent years. This study aims to examine the impact of sex differences on psychological distress and work engagement in the productive construction sector, as well as related variables. For this, a cross-sectional descriptive study was performed. Descriptive statistical analyses were completed, and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U and Chi-squared tests were used to identify differences between men and women. This was followed by logistic regression analysis by sex. Psychological distress is more prevalent among women, even after controlling for most variables. Both sexes receive equal preventive measures and training from the companies, yet women still experience higher levels of psychological distress. At the beginning of the pandemic, women reported higher levels of anxiety and fear of COVID-19 and of perceived danger associated with the pandemic than men. However, these differences were not present by 2023. For men, work engagement appeared to be a determining factor for a stable mental health, while for women, health and physical status seemed to be more influential. In both sexes, psychological distress was found to be conditioned by mental and emotional well-being. In a sector where women are increasingly present, the differences observed in terms of how physical and mental health are affected across the two sexes justify the need to promote data analysis that acknowledges this reality.This research is part of the project “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional and occupational health of construction workers: Evaluation and intervention proposals” which was funded by the Andalusian Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Hazards (IAPRL), part of the Ministry of Employment, Training and Self-Employment of Andalusia (CTC-2022142721).Departamento de Biología Ambiental y Salud Públic

Automated semantic annotation of rare disease cases: a case study

Motivation: As the number of clinical reports in the peer-reviewed medical literature keeps growing, there is an increasing need for online search tools to find and analyze publications on patients with similar clinical characteristics. This problem is especially critical and challenging for rare diseases, where publications of large series are scarce. Through an applied example, we illustrate how to automatically identify new relevant cases and semantically annotate the relevant literature about patient case reports to capture the phenotype of a rare disease named cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis. Results: Our results confirm that it is possible to automatically identify new relevant case reports with a high precision and to annotate them with a satisfactory quality (74% F-measure). Automated annotation with an emphasis to entirely describe all phenotypic abnormalities found in a disease may facilitate curation efforts by supplying phenotype retrieval and assessment of their frequencyNational Institute of Health Carlos III (grant no. FIS2012-PI12/00373: OntoNeurophen). Funding for open access charge: National Institute of Health Carlos III (grant no. FIS2012-PI12/00373)S

Practicum de derecho I

En los nuevos planes de estudio de las Facultades de Derecho, se ha introducido en los programas de varios cursos, una nueva disciplina a través de la cual se pretende introducir al alumno en cuestiones instrumentales y de método de conocimiento, para facilitar y completar sus estudios

Evolución posquirúrgica a largo plazo de la hernioplastia inguinal laparoscópica TAPP y TEP en el Hospital Nacional Rosales.

La reparación de la hernia inguinal es el procedimiento más común en cirugía general en todo el mundo. Cada año, aproximadamente 20 millones de hernias se reparan en todo el mundo, de ellas, casi 700,000 se reparan en Europa y EE.UU. La reparación de hernia inguinal es uno de los procedimientos quirúrgicos más comúnmente realizados, y esto trae consigo sobre una importante carga de costes y morbilidad a nivel mundial. La selección de una técnica quirúrgica óptima para la reparación de la hernia inguinal, que permita un rendimiento seguro y una recuperación rápida sin quejas a largo plazo, puede contribuir significativamente a la reducción de los costos nacionales de atención médica. La primera técnica para la reparación de la hernia inguinal fue descrita por E. Bassini en 1887. Desde entonces, se han introducido más de 70 métodos. Hoy en día, solo quedan tres técnicas que han sido científicamente validadas y pueden recomendarse para su aplicación clínica: 1. la técnica Shouldice, una forma de reparación con sutura, 2. reparación abierta con materiales protésicos (mallas) de acuerdo con Lichtenstein, y 3. laparoscópica / reparación de malla plana posterior endoscópica. Las tres técnicas muestran ventajas y desventajas específicas con respecto a la dificultad de rendimiento, materiales, complicaciones y tasas de recurrencia, tiempos de recuperación y tasas de dolor agudo y crónico. Además, en una era de gastos de atención de la salud cada vez mayores, es importante evaluar la carga financiera de estas técnicas atribuible a la operación (costos directos) y el período de recuperación (costos indirectos)

Querying phenotype-genotype relationships on patient datasets using semantic web technology: the example of cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis

Background: Semantic Web technology can considerably catalyze translational genetics and genomics research in medicine, where the interchange of information between basic research and clinical levels becomes crucial. This exchange involves mapping abstract phenotype descriptions from research resources, such as knowledge databases and catalogs, to unstructured datasets produced through experimental methods and clinical practice. This is especially true for the construction of mutation databases. This paper presents a way of harmonizing abstract phenotype descriptions with patient data from clinical practice, and querying this dataset about relationships between phenotypes and genetic variants, at different levels of abstraction. Methods: Due to the current availability of ontological and terminological resources that have already reached some consensus in biomedicine, a reuse-based ontology engineering approach was followed. The proposed approach uses the Ontology Web Language (OWL) to represent the phenotype ontology and the patient model, the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) to bridge the gap between phenotype descriptions and clinical data, and the Semantic Query Web Rule Language (SQWRL) to query relevant phenotype-genotype bidirectional relationships. The work tests the use of semantic web technology in the biomedical research domain named cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX), using a real dataset and ontologies. Results: A framework to query relevant phenotype-genotype bidirectional relationships is provided. Phenotype descriptions and patient data were harmonized by defining 28 Horn-like rules in terms of the OWL concepts. In total, 24 patterns of SWQRL queries were designed following the initial list of competency questions. As the approach is based on OWL, the semantic of the framework adapts the standard logical model of an open world assumption. Conclusions: This work demonstrates how semantic web technologies can be used to support flexible representation and computational inference mechanisms required to query patient datasets at different levels of abstraction. The open world assumption is especially good for describing only partially known phenotype-genotype relationships, in a way that is easily extensible. In future, this type of approach could offer researchers a valuable resource to infer new data from patient data for statistical analysis in translational research. In conclusion, phenotype description formalization and mapping to clinical data are two key elements for interchanging knowledge between basic and clinical research.The work presented in this paper has been developed in the funded national project Gestión de Terminologías Médicas para Arquetipos (TIN2009-14159-C05-05) by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. This work was partly supported by the network REGENPSI (2009/019) from the Program of Consolidation and Structure of Competitive Units, Consellería de Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia, and by FEDER funds for regional development. PNR was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFGRO2005/4-2)S

Evaluation of the Level of Psychological Distress in Construction Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Spain

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a major challenge for construction companies, which were confronted with the need to prevent the enormous negative socio-psychological impact of the pandemic on their employees. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of psychological distress among construction workers in an advanced phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Andalusia, southern Spain. For this, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using online questionnaires with data on sociodemographic variables and employment situation, COVID-19 pandemicrelated data, and Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). A total of 860 questionnaires from all provinces of Andalusia, Spain, were collected between March and May 2022. Descriptive statistical analyses and non-parametric Mann–Whitney U and Chi-squared tests were performed, followed by logistic regression analysis. The incidence of psychological distress was higher among women, individuals under 43 years of age, those with a family income below EUR 1200, participants whose working conditions had been affected by the pandemic, those who had not received adequate means or specific training to protect themselves from infection, those who had experienced symptoms, those who had suffered side effects after vaccination, and those who had been hospitalised. The logistic regression analysis predicted the occurrence of psychological distress in this study by the effect of the pandemic on mental/emotional well-being, the working conditions affected during the pandemic, health-related variables, and the age of the worker. The correctly classified percentage was 75.1%. Assessing psychological distress in construction sectors may allow for the identification of vulnerable groups or even help to reduce the number of errors in daily practice and potential risks of occupational injury or illness.This research is part of the project "Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional and occupational health of construction workers: Evaluation and intervention proposals" which was funded by the Andalusian Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Hazards (IAPRL), part of the Ministry of Employment, Training and Self-Employment of Andalusia (CTC-2022142721).Departamento de Biología Ambiental y Salud PúblicaDepartamento de Economía General y EstadísticaDepartamento de Enfermerí