ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic and particularly, mitigation measures taken by government institutions in Mexico, such as the closure of all schools at all levels of education, have brought strong regressive consequences in terms of both education and gender equality. In this paper, we start from a theoretical framework of gender and family to analyze, along with the negative repercussions of this measure (especially for women and children), an embodied experience of upbringing and community education in Mexico. This experience seeks to preserve educational and labor rights violated by school closures such as sociability, guardianship and custody of minors, the right to a life free of violence, work-life balance, among others. Our aim is to suggest some keys for an ecofeminist and community solution to the education crisis in this country. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged showing higher transmissibility and possibly higher resistance to current COVID-19 vaccines than other variants dominating the global pandemic. In a March 2020 study performed in clinical samples, we found that a portion of genomes in the SARS-CoV-2 viral population accumulated deletions at the S1/S2 cleavage site (PRRAR/S) of the spike gene, generating a frameshift and appearance of a premature stop codon. The main aim of this study was to determine the frequency of defective deletions in prevalent variants from the first to sixth pandemic waves in our setting and discuss whether the differences observed might support epidemiological proposals.The complete SARS-CoV-2 spike gene was deeply studied by next-generation sequencing using the MiSeq platform. More than 90 million reads were obtained from respiratory swab specimens of 78 COVID-19 patients with mild infection caused by the predominant variants circulating in the Barcelona city area during the six pandemic waves: B.1.5, B.1.1, B.1.177, Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron.The frequency of defective genomes found in variants dominating the first and second waves was similar to that seen in Omicron, but differed from the frequencies seen in the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants.Our results support the notion cited in epidemiological reports that Omicron did not emerge from continuous evolution of the Alpha, Beta or Delta variant.
Subject(s)
COVID-19ABSTRACT
El objetivo de este artículo es des-cribir e interpretar las transformaciones cau-sadas por la pandemia de Covid-19 en los modos de vida de las personas que habitan el medio rural, así como sus experiencias, los significados socialmente construidos, los ries-gos y las condiciones materiales e históricas para enfrentarla. A partir de una metodología etnográfica colaborativa no presencial que in-cluye una encuesta levantada al final de 2020 en hogares de Tlahuapan, Puebla, se examina que este fenómeno global ha sido resignifi-cado localmente y se expresa en formas par-ticulares, lo que incide en cómo se compren-den las consecuencias y los significados de la contingencia.Alternate abstract:his article aims to discern and in-terpret the transformations in the way of life of rural dwellers caused by the Covid-19 pan-demic. Drawing on a collaborative semi-virtual ethnography and a household survey con-ducted in late 2020 in Tlahuapan, Puebla, we examine their experiences, socially construc-ted meanings, and perceived risks, as well as the material and historical conditions that sha-pe their response to the crisis. Based on this methodology, it is argued that the pandemic has been locally re-signified and expressed in particular ways, affecting our understanding of its consequences and meanings.
ABSTRACT
Jiménez reviews several books about Latin American labor, including Politicized Enforcement in Argentina: Labor and Environmental Regulation by Matthew Amengual;Walmart in the Global South: Workplace Culture, Labor Politics, and Supply Chains edited by Carolina Bank Muñoz, Bridget Kenny and Antonio Stecher;and Continuity Despite Change: The Politics of Labor Regulation in Latin America by Matthew E. Carnes.
ABSTRACT
Background: The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 disease, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, define a large spectrum of symptoms that are mainly dependent on the human host conditions. In Costa Rica, almost 319 000 cases have been reported during the first third of 2021, contrasting to the 590 000 fully vaccinated people. In the pre-vaccination period (the year 2020), this country accumulated 169 321 cases and 2185 deaths. Methods: To describe the clinical presentations at the time of diagnosis of COVID-19 in Costa Rica during the pre-vaccination period, we implemented a symptom-based clustering using machine learning to identify clusters or clinical profiles among 18 974 records of positive cases. Profiles were compared based on symptoms, risk factors, viral load, and genomic features of the SARS-CoV-2 sequence. Results: A total of seven COVID-19 clinical profiles were identified, which were characterized by a specific composition of symptoms. In the comparison between clusters, a lower viral load was found for the asymptomatic group, while the risk factors and the SARS-CoV-2 genomic features were distributed among all the clusters. No other distribution patterns were found for age, sex, vital status, and hospitalization. Conclusion: During the pre-vaccination time in Costa Rica, the clinical manifestations at the time of diagnosis of COVID-19 were described in seven profiles. The host co-morbidities and the SARS-CoV-2 genotypes are not specific of a particular profile, rather they are present in all the groups, including asymptomatic cases. In further analyses, these results will be compared against the profiles of cases during the vaccination period.