Dignidad, Poder, Resistencia // Dignity, Power, Resistance

First To Go Abroad is a partnership between the Loyola Marymount University First To Go Program, LMU Study Abroad, and the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), which seeks to increase study abroad opportunities for first-generation college students. In May 2017, fifteen first-gen students and two first-gen faculty mentors traveled together to Santiago, Dominican Republic, where they spent ten days exploring the country and learning about the local cultures, customs, and histories of the people who call the DR home. Travel is a privilege not all students have the same access to; for some students, this trip was the first time out of the United States. Like the first-generation college experience, the experience of international travel is marked by daily encounters with new spaces, people, and cultural practices that can be at once overwhelming and inspiring. This was a topic of exploration throughout the trip and the subject of the pages contained in this volume. The narratives published here are the product of a cross-institutional writing workshop, where students from LMU and the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra worked together to draft essays documenting their encounters with change that have pushed boundaries, broken down borders, and generated personal growth. We hope our readers around the world will appreciate these works, which showcase the transformative power of creative and collaborative global encounters

Visual fixation in the vegetative state: an observational case series PET study

BACKGROUND: Assessment of visual fixation is commonly used in the clinical examination of patients with disorders of consciousness. However, different international guidelines seem to disagree whether fixation is compatible with the diagnosis of the vegetative state (i.e., represents "automatic" subcortical processing) or is a sufficient sign of consciousness and higher order cortical processing. METHODS: We here studied cerebral metabolism in ten patients with chronic post-anoxic encephalopathy and 39 age-matched healthy controls. Five patients were in a vegetative state (without fixation) and five presented visual fixation but otherwise showed all criteria typical of the vegetative state. Patients were matched for age, etiology and time since insult and were followed by repeated Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) assessments for at least 1 year. Sustained visual fixation was considered as present when the eyes refixated a moving target for more than 2 seconds as defined by CRS-R criteria. RESULTS: Patients without fixation showed metabolic dysfunction in a widespread fronto-parietal cortical network (with only sparing of the brainstem and cerebellum) which was not different from the brain function seen in patients with visual fixation. Cortico-cortical functional connectivity with visual cortex showed no difference between both patient groups. Recovery rates did not differ between patients without or with fixation (none of the patients showed good outcome). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that sustained visual fixation in (non-traumatic) disorders of consciousness does not necessarily reflect consciousness and higher order cortical brain function

New results from the NUMEN project

NUMEN aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of the cross sections of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. First evidence about the possibility to get quantitative information about NME from experiments is found for the (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) reactions. Moreover, to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half-life of 0νββ decay, the knowledge of the NME is a crucial aspect. The key tools for this project are the high resolution Superconducting Cyclotron beams and the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy). The measured cross sections are extremely low, limiting the present exploration to few selected isotopes of interest in the context of typically low-yield experimental runs. A major upgrade of the LNS facility is foreseen in order to increase the experimental yield of at least two orders of magnitude, thus making feasible a systematic study of all the cases of interest. peerReviewe

Classifying the evolutionary and ecological features of neoplasms

The consensus conference was supported by Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences. C.C.M. is supported in part by US NIH grants P01 CA91955, R01 CA149566, R01 CA170595, R01 CA185138 and R01 CA140657 as well as CDMRP Breast Cancer Research Program Award BC132057. M.J. is supported by NIH grant K99CA201606. K.S.A. is supported by NCI 5R21 CA196460. K. Polyak is supported by R35 CA197623, U01 CA195469, U54 CA193461, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. K.J.P. is supported by NIH grants CA143803, CA163124, CA093900 and CA143055. D.P. is supported by the European Research Council (ERC-617457- PHYLOCANCER), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2015-63774-P) and the Education, Culture and University Development Department of the Galician Government. K.S.A. is supported in part by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and NCI R21CA196460. C.S. is supported by the Royal Society, Cancer Research UK (FC001169), the UK Medical Research Council (FC001169), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001169), NovoNordisk Foundation (ID 16584), the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), the European Research Council (THESEUS) and Marie Curie Network PloidyNet. T.A.G. is a Cancer Research UK fellow and a Wellcome Trust funded Investigator. E.S.H. is supported by R01 CA185138-01 and W81XWH-14-1-0473. M.Gerlinger is supported by Cancer Research UK and The Royal Marsden/ICR National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre. M.Ge., M.Gr., Y.Y., and A.So. were also supported in part by the Wellcome Trust [105104/Z/14/Z]. J.D.S. holds the Edward B. Clark, MD Chair in Pediatric Research, and is supported by the Primary Children's Hospital (PCH) Pediatric Cancer Research Program, funded by the Intermountain Healthcare Foundation and the PCH Foundation. A.S. is supported by the Chris Rokos Fellowship in Evolution and Cancer. Y.Y. is a Cancer Research UK fellow and supported by The Royal Marsden/ICR National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre. E.S.H. was supported in part by PCORI grants 1505–30497 and 1503–29572, NIH grants R01 CA185138, T32 CA093245, and U10 CA180857, CDMRP Breast Cancer Research Program Award BC132057, a CRUK Grand Challenge grant, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. A.R.A.A. was funded in part by NIH grant U01CA151924. A.R.A.A., R.G. and J.S.B. were funded in part by NIH grant U54CA193489

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Water management practices and adaptation to climate change: Cocoa farmers perceptions in Alto Beni, Bolivia

Cocoa is mainly managed by smallholder farmers in the tropics and constitutes one of the most important export commodities, being an important source of income. Lately, conventional cocoa monoculture has been promoted to achieve high short-term productivity at the expense of deforestation. However, such systems have negatively affected the water cycle with more intense heavy rains and longer drought periods, which is threatening food security and human welfare. In that sense, the perception that farmers have on climate change is determinant to the adoption and implementation of adaptation measures and policies in agriculture. Thus, it is imperative a more agroecological approach to answer the question whether and to what extent cocoa farmers perceive and adapt their farming practices to the climatic variations, in conjunction with water use estimations of cocoa systems under different management. As such, the present study includes an analysis of farming practices’ adaptations to climate change and a comparison of evapotranspiration in cocoa cultivation under different management. In Bolivia, traditional cocoa production systems include shade trees. Particularly, cocoa agroforestry systems managed organically have proven to have smaller water footprint and are considered an effective nature-based solution to address climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity and rural poverty among other environmental and social challenges of this value chain. This study sought to assess evapotranspiration as a measure of water use in conventional monocultures and organic agroforestry systems in a long-term field trial in tropical Bolivia. In addition, to assess water and climate change-related management issues and their impacts on local rural livelihoods, farmers were interviewed to assess their perception of climate change, the adaptation of farming practices and water management related knowledge. The results provide a joint assessment of the water use, key characteristics and, potential challenges of different management for cocoa cultivation in the context of waterrelated climate change. The socio-economic profile of farmers as well as the characteristics of the cocoa farms are described. Furthermore, on farm activities related to water management, a comparison among farmers’ perceptions on the current climatic picture and the use of weather forecast tools among other adaptations are presented

An examination of proprietary costs and their impact on the quality of financial reporting for domestic publicly listed firms for year 2000-2004

In a globalized economy where competition among firms intensifies and where the demand for greater quality of financial disclosures heightens, the need for companies to strike a balance between the preservation of their competitive position in the market and commitment to transparent financial reporting is never more imperative. In order to achieve this equilibrium, there is a need to account for all the possible disclosure related costs vis-Ã -vis the related benefits of greater transparency in financial reporting. To shed new perspective in investigating the financial reporting quality, this study investigates how a firm\u27s competitive costs affect its financial reporting quality. The researchers interpret a firm\u27s financial reporting policy as a choice precision for the disclosed accounting earnings. Literature identifies these competitive costs as those related to disclosing propriety information, hence the term proprietary cost. Using the proprietary cost theory, the researchers provide empirical evidence that the higher the proprietary costs, the lower the quality of reported accounting earnings. These findings support the disclosure theory which suggest that all else held constant, as the proprietary cost of disclosure increases, earnings quality decreases

Flux sensitivity as a function of exposure time for Athena mission instruments

Language: python (jupyter lab, jupyter notebook), Additional software: HEASOFT with PyXspec.Determine the flux sensitivity in a given energy band for a given instrument of the Athena X-ray mission as a function of exposure time. The simulations can be done either running the jupyter notebook from the command line or executing (cell-by-cell) the jupyter-notebook Athena_Xray_flux_vs_expTime.ipynb. The steps followed are: 1. Importing libraries 2. Defining input parameters, derived parameters and Xspec parameters 3. Gettting background count rate in the reference band normalized to the source area 4. Determining counts, flux (cgs units; erg cm-2 s-1), confusion flux (cgs), optimum extraction flux (cgs) & optimum extraction radius (arcsec) in the reference band over a loop of exposure times 5. Output file with results: the information provided by the output file comprises: Time_s, Flux_cgs, Flux_confusion_cgs, FluxOptimumExtraction cgs & RadiusOptimumExtraction_arcsec 6. Plotting limiting sensitivity vs exposure time.With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence’ accreditation MDM-2017-0765 Funded by the Spanish Ministry MCIU under project RTI2018-096686-B-C21 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE), co-funded by FEDER funds.Peer reviewe