The article provides an empirical analysis on the impact of renewable energy development on the unemployment rate, agricultural output and relative rural population in Ecuador. Using an empirical ...approach, the study examined how the production and consumption of this energy affects the labor market in rural regions. To this end, relevant data on the development of renewable energies in the context of Ecuador were collected, and statistical analyses were carried out to evaluate the relationships between these and the variables of interest. The results obtained indicate that the development of renewable energies has can reduce the unemployment rate and has a positive effect on the relative population of rural regions, however, it does not seem to significantly affect agricultural production. These findings support the idea that the production and consumption of renewable energies can generate jobs directly, due to the need for workers for the construction and maintenance of these technologies, and indirectly, through cheaper energy, increased productive efficiency and better conditions for the expansion of companies. The study offers a significant contribution to the field of energy economics in developing countries and highlights the importance of the adoption of renewable energy sources for rural regions.
Glucose intolerance associates with M1/M2 macrophage unbalance. We thus wanted to examine the effect of M2 macrophage administration on mouse model of glucose intolerance.
C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat ...diet (HFD) for 12 weeks and then received thrice 20 mg/kg streptozotocin (HFD-GI). Bone marrow-derived stem cells were collected from donor mice and differentiated/activated into M2 macrophages for intraperitoneal administration into HFD-GI mice.
M2 macrophage treatment abolished glucose intolerance independently of obesity. M2 macrophage administration increased IL-10 in visceral adipose tissue and serum, but showed no effect on serum insulin. While nitric oxide synthase-2 and arginase-1 remained unaltered, M2 macrophage treatment restored AKT phosphorylation in visceral adipose tissue.
M2 macrophage treatment abolishes glucose intolerance by increasing IL-10 and phosphorylated AKT.
Even if it has been less than a decade and a half since Tian introduced his concept of evolution algebras to represent algebraically non-Mendelian rules in Genetics, their study is becoming ...increasingly widespread mainly due to their applications to many scientific disciplines. In order to facilitate further research on the topic, this paper deals with the past and present research on these kind of algebras, together with the most relevant topics regarding them.
The unpredictable, evolutionary nature of the influenza A virus (IAV) is the primary problem when generating a vaccine and when designing diagnostic strategies; thus, it is necessary to determine the ...constant regions in viral proteins. In this study, we completed an in silico analysis of the reported epitopes of the 4 IAV proteins that are antigenically most significant (HA, NA, NP, and M2) in the 3 strains with the greatest world circulation in the last century (H1N1, H2N2, and H3N2) and in one of the main aviary subtypes responsible for zoonosis (H5N1). For this purpose, the HMMER program was used to align 3,016 epitopes reported in the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB) and distributed in 34,294 stored sequences in the Pfam database. Eighteen epitopes were identified: 8 in HA, 5 in NA, 3 in NP, and 2 in M2. These epitopes have remained constant since they were first identified (~91 years) and are present in strains that have circulated on 5 continents. These sites could be targets for vaccination design strategies based on epitopes and/or as markers in the implementation of diagnostic techniques.
This analysis presents a comprehensive description of malaria burden and risk factors in the Peruvian Amazon. Socio-demographic studies are key to direct malaria control strategies. Display omitted
► ...Plasmodium vivax causes most malaria in the Peruvian Amazon. ► Severe malaria morbidity and mortality are negligible in the region. ► Specific occupational groups move malaria parasites among micro-regions. ► Socio-demographic studies are critical for assessing malaria transmission risk.
This analysis presents a comprehensive description of malaria burden and risk factors in Peruvian Amazon villages where malaria transmission is hypoendemic. More than 9000 subjects were studied in contrasting village settings within the Department of Loreto, Peru, where most malaria occurs in the country. Plasmodium vivax is responsible for more than 75% of malaria cases; severe disease from any form of malaria is uncommon and death rare. The association between lifetime malaria episodes and individual and household covariates was studied using polychotomous logistic regression analysis, assessing effects on odds of some vs. no lifetime malaria episodes. Malaria morbidity during lifetime was strongly associated with age, logging, farming, travel history, and living with a logger or agriculturist. Select groups of adults, particularly loggers and agriculturists acquire multiple malaria infections in transmission settings outside of the main domicile, and may be mobile human reservoirs by which malaria parasites move within and between micro-regions within malaria endemic settings. For example, such individuals might well be reservoirs of transmission by introducing or reintroducing malaria into their home villages and their own households, depending on vector ecology and the local village setting. Therefore, socio-demographic studies can identify people with the epidemiological characteristic of transmission risk, and these individuals would be prime targets against which to deploy transmission blocking strategies along with insecticide treated bednets and chemoprophylaxis.
The presence of viruses in arthropods in Spain has been studied over 5 years. Flaviviruses similar to cell-fusing agent, sequences of a flavivirus related to those transmitted by mosquitoes, and a ...phlebovirus similar to Naples and Toscana viruses were detected. Their potential human or animal pathogenicity should be studied.
Local variations in soil type and (to a lesser extent) topography determine seismic amplification, thereby establishing spatial patterns in the damages caused by large earthquakes, such as the two ...that occurred in Chiapas, Mexico on 6 October 1975 and 7 September 2017. The latter, of Mw 8.2, was the region’s strongest during the last 100 years. Based upon damage patterns, an analysis was made to identify the effects of sediment thickness and type upon seismic amplification in the urban zone of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas. Salgado et al., (2004) had shown that the fundamental periods of soil vibration in the city vary from0.14 s to0.39 s. From those periods, and using the model presented in Newmark and Rosenbleuth (1976), with an average shear-wave velocity of 150 m/s, the variation of the sediment thicknesses that cause site effects in the area was determined. The thicknesses ranged between 7.12 and 14.6 m. Finally, through the use of a map prepared with GIS software, a spatial correlation was made with the historical earthquake damage recorded within the city.
La ciudad de Chiapa de Corzo ubicada en el centro del estado de Chiapas se encuentra en una de las regiones sísmicas más activas de México. Las condiciones locales del suelo han determinado la ...amplificación sísmica del lugar creando patrones en los daños observados tras la ocurrencia de sismos importantes, como el sucedido el 06 de octubre de 1975 que provocó cambios radicales en los habitantes de la ciudad, y el más reciente del 07 de septiembre de 2017, de magnitud 8.2 Mw. En este trabajo se presenta una propuesta de zonificación sísmica para regiones donde no existen estudios de vibración ambiental a través de una metodología simplificada, la cual constituye una herramienta para evaluar la vulnerabilidad física por exposición de las construcciones en ciudades con sistemas constructivos homogéneos en materiales, edades y patologías. La metodología propuesta emplea parámetros geológicos, edafológicos y la inclusión de dos variables cruciales como son las zonas inundables y los daños históricos por sismo. De acuerdo con los resultados del álgebra de mapas se obtuvieron dos zonas, una de mayor amplificación en donde se registraron el 85% de los daños para ambos sismos. Los insumos principales fueron cartografía digital, recorridos en campo para identificar las características constructivas de las estructuras que presentaban daños y procesamiento a través de software tipo SIG. Finalmente se determinó la vulnerabilidad por exposición a la amplificación sísmica en cada manzana en la zona urbana de Chiapa de Corzo, utilizando las regiones de amplificación como una variable determinante para denominar las construcciones vulnerables por exposición. Para gestión de riesgo esta técnica permite seleccionar las viviendas que deben ser reforzadas, reparadas o construidas con estándares de seguridad más altos.
PDF
