Two countries, similar practices: the political practices of the food industry influencing the adoption of key public health nutrition policies in Guatemala and Panama

To identify the corporate political activity (CPA) strategies used by food industry actors during the development of two public health nutrition policies in Central America: Law #570 (taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages) in Panama and Bill #5504 (labelling and food marketing regulations) in Guatemala. We triangulated data from publicly available information from 2018 to 2020, (e.g. industry and government materials; social media material) with semistructured interviews with key stakeholders. Guatemala and Panama. Participants: Government, academia and international organisations workers in health and nutrition. CPA strategies were categorised according to an existing internationally used taxonomy into action-based, instrumental strategies (coalition management, information management, direct involvement and influence in policy, legal action) and discursive strategies. Instrumental strategies included the establishment of relationships with policymakers and direct lobbying against the proposed public policies. Discursive strategies were mainly criticising on the unfounded ground that they lacked evidence of effectiveness and will imply negative impacts on the economy. The industry pointed at individuals for making their own food choices, in order to shift the focus away from the role of its products in contributing to ill health. We provide evidence of the political practices used by the food industry to interfere with the development and implementation of public health nutrition policies to improve diets in Central America. Policymakers, public health advocates and the public should be informed about those practices and develop counterstrategies and arguments to protect the public and policies from the vested interests of the food industry.

Long cavity ring fiber mode-locked laser with decreased net value of nonlinear polarization rotation.

We investigate a new configuration of a mode-locked fiber laser by using a nonlinear polarization rotation-based design to generate soliton pulses with low repetition rate. Unlike with previously reported configurations, we introduce a Faraday mirror after the first half of the cavity length to counteract the nonlinear polarization rotation effects. The total cavity length is 437 m including a 400-m long twisted SMF-28 fiber. The fiber was twisted to cancel the linear birefringence and to ensure that the polarization ellipticity is not altered as the pulse travels along the fiber. The strict control of polarization yields a stable relation between the polarization state of the pulses propagating in the cavity and the regimes of generation. Depending on the polarization state we observed three different emission regimes, the single soliton regime (SR), conventional noise-like pulses (NLP) and noise-like square-waveform pulse (NLSWP). In the SR, a 467.2 kHz train of solitons was obtained with pulse duration of 2.9 ps at 1558.7 nm.

Low frequency of positive antithyroid antibodies is observed in patients with thyroid dysfunction related to immune check point inhibitors.

INTRODUCTION: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), such as programmed death-1 inhibitors (anti-PD1), have become a cornerstone for the treatment of different advanced cancers. These antibodies act as modulators of immune checkpoint proteins. However, ICI can lead to the breaking of immune self-tolerance, inducing autoimmune side effects (irAEs), including endocrinopathies. One of the most frequent endocrine irAE of anti-PD1 is thyroid dysfunction, but the exact mechanism of this disease still remains unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a descriptive retrospective study, analyzing 11 patients who received at least one dose of anti-PD1 (nivolumab or pembrolizumab) and presented thyroid irAEs. Data were collected between September 2015 and May 2018 in our hospital. The aim was to analyze the clinically relevant features of thyroid irAEs and the frequency of antithyroid antibodies (ATA) positivity observed on them. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: 8 of the 11 patients were treated with nivolumab and the other three patients received pembrolizumab. Six patients presented silent thyroiditis with a thyrotoxicosis phase; three patients developed directly primary/subclinical hypothyroidism and two patients showed primary hyperthyroidism. Thyroid autoantibodies (anti-Thyroglobulin and anti-Thyroid Peroxidase) were assessed in all the 11 patients, and only in two of them (18%) a positive titer was displayed. Anti-TSH receptor antibodies (TRAbs) were examined in five patients, three with painless thyroiditis at the time of thyrotoxicosis and two with primary hyperthyroidism, and they all had undetectable levels. CONCLUSIONS: In our sample of 11 Caucasian patients with thyroid dysfunction related with anti-PD1, we found low frequency of ATA positive titers, comparable to other recent reports in others ethnicities, which could suggest that silent thyroiditis due to pembrolizumab or nivolumab has a different pathogenesis from the classical autoimmune spontaneous thyroiditis. Further investigations are required to completely understand the immune mechanisms involved.

Abrupt-tapered fiber filter arrangement for a switchable multi-wavelength and tunable Tm-doped fiber laser.

A switchable and tunable multi-wavelength Tm-doped fiber laser is successfully demonstrated using a filter constructed with two tapered fiber elements in the cavity. The proposed system design uses a low-cost simple filter that allows stable dual, triple, quadruple, and quintuple-wavelength emission operation in the region around 1.9 µm. In the dual wavelength regime, the laser is capable of independently tuning each wavelength. For switching and tuning, a curvature is applied to the tapered fibers.

Initial conditions for dissipative solitons in a strict polarization-controlled passively mode-locked Er-Fiber laser.

We report the dynamics of dissipative solitons in a ring cavity passively mode-locked fiber laser with a strict control of the polarization state. We study the relation between the polarization state of the pulses propagating in the cavity and the regimes of generation. We have found that at pulse ellipticities between 5° and 15°, the laser generates one bunch of pulses in the cavity, while at higher ellipticities the laser generates multiple bunches. At constant ellipticity we rotated the polarization azimuth and observed a regime transition from the generation of noise-like pulses (NLP) to that of soliton crystal. The NLP regime was found when the azimuth was rotated towards smaller low-power transmission through the polarizer. The number of solitons in the soliton crystal also depended on the azimuth in a straightforward way: the higher the initial transmission, the bigger the number of solitons.

IGF-1 modulates gene expression of proteins involved in inflammation, cytoskeleton, and liver architecture.

Even though the liver synthesizes most of circulating IGF-1, it lacks its receptor under physiological conditions. However, according to previous studies, a damaged liver expresses the receptor. For this reason, herein, we examine hepatic histology and expression of genes encoding proteins of the cytoskeleton, extracellular matrix, and cell-cell molecules and inflammation-related proteins. A partial IGF-1 deficiency murine model was used to investigate IGF-1's effects on liver by comparing wild-type controls, heterozygous igf1+/-, and heterozygous mice treated with IGF-1 for 10 days. Histology, microarray for mRNA gene expression, RT-qPCR, and lipid peroxidation were assessed. Microarray analyses revealed significant underexpression of igf1 in heterozygous mice compared to control mice, restoring normal liver expression after treatment, which then normalized its circulating levels. IGF-1 receptor mRNA was overexpressed in Hz mice liver, while treated mice displayed a similar expression to that of the controls. Heterozygous mice showed overexpression of several genes encoding proteins related to inflammatory and acute-phase proteins and underexpression or overexpression of genes which coded for extracellular matrix, cytoskeleton, and cell junction components. Histology revealed an altered hepatic architecture. In addition, liver oxidative damage was found increased in the heterozygous group. The mere IGF-1 partial deficiency is associated with relevant alterations of the hepatic architecture and expression of genes involved in cytoskeleton, hepatocyte polarity, cell junctions, and extracellular matrix proteins. Moreover, it induces hepatic expression of the IGF-1 receptor and elevated acute-phase and inflammation mediators, which all resulted in liver oxidative damage.

Unconventional superconductivity in PuCoGa5.

In the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, electrons form (Cooper) pairs through an interaction mediated by vibrations in the underlying crystal structure. Like lattice vibrations, antiferromagnetic fluctuations can also produce an attractive interaction creating Cooper pairs, though with spin and angular momentum properties different from those of conventional superconductors. Such interactions have been implicated for two disparate classes of materials--the copper oxides and a set of Ce- and U-based compounds. But because their transition temperatures differ by nearly two orders of magnitude, this raises the question of whether a common pairing mechanism applies. PuCoGa5 has a transition temperature intermediate between those classes and therefore may bridge these extremes. Here we report measurements of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate and Knight shift in PuCoGa5, which demonstrate that it is an unconventional superconductor with properties as expected for antiferromagnetically mediated superconductivity. Scaling of the relaxation rates among all of these materials (a feature not exhibited by their Knight shifts) establishes antiferromagnetic fluctuations as a likely mechanism for their unconventional superconductivity and suggests that related classes of exotic superconductors may yet be discovered.

Structural tuning of unconventional superconductivity in PuMGa5 (M=Co,Rh).

The superconducting properties of the recently discovered PuMGa5 (M=Co,Rh) superconductors, including the power law behavior of the specific heat, the evolution of the superconducting transition T(c) temperature with pressure, and the linear relation between T(c) and ratio of tetragonal lattice parameters c/a, are compared to those of the heavy fermion CeMIn5 (M=Co,Rh,Ir) unconventional superconductors. The striking similarity of the properties between the two families of superconductors suggests a common physics and a common (magnetically mediated) mechanism of superconductivity.

Photoemission and the electronic structure of PuCoGa5.

The electronic structure of the first Pu-based superconductor PuCoGa5 is explored using photoelectron spectroscopy and a novel theoretical scheme. Exceptional agreement between calculation and experiment defines a path forward for understanding the electronic structure aspects of Pu-based materials. The photoemission results show two separate regions of 5f electron spectral intensity, one at the Fermi energy and another centered 1.2 eV below the Fermi level. The results for PuCoGa5 clearly indicate 5f electron behavior on the threshold between localized and itinerant. Comparisons to delta phase Pu metal show a broader framework for understanding the fundamental electronic properties of the Pu 5f levels in general within two configurations, one localized and one itinerant.

Crystal engineering of the composition of pharmaceutical phases.

The carboxylic acid-pyridine supramolecular heterosynthon can be exploited to predictably generate binary crystalline phases involving rac-ibuprofen, rac-flurbiprofen or aspirin.

Plutonium-based superconductivity with a transition temperature above 18 K.

Plutonium is a metal of both technological relevance and fundamental scientific interest. Nevertheless, the electronic structure of plutonium, which directly influences its metallurgical properties, is poorly understood. For example, plutonium's 5f electrons are poised on the border between localized and itinerant, and their theoretical treatment pushes the limits of current electronic structure calculations. Here we extend the range of complexity exhibited by plutonium with the discovery of superconductivity in PuCoGa5. We argue that the observed superconductivity results directly from plutonium's anomalous electronic properties and as such serves as a bridge between two classes of spin-fluctuation-mediated superconductors: the known heavy-fermion superconductors and the high-T(c) copper oxides. We suggest that the mechanism of superconductivity is unconventional; seen in that context, the fact that the transition temperature, T(c) approximately 18.5 K, is an order of magnitude greater than the maximum seen in the U- and Ce-based heavy-fermion systems may be natural. The large critical current displayed by PuCoGa5, which comes from radiation-induced self damage that creates pinning centres, would be of technological importance for applied superconductivity if the hazardous material plutonium were not a constituent.

Anestesia espinal, un factor protector en la enfermedad tromboembólica. Estudio de cohortes retrospectivo de 484 artroplastias / Spinal anesthesia: a protective factor in thromboembolic disease. A retrospective study of 484 arthroplasties

OBJETIVOS. Valorar la relación entre la anestesia general y espinal con la enfermedad tromboembólica en el postoperatorio de cirugía ortopédica de pacientes tratados profilácticamente con heparinas de bajo peso molecular. PACIENTES Y MÉTODO. Se realizó un estudio de cohortes retrospectivo sobre 484 artroplastias, de las que 209 fueron prótesis totales de cadera, 111 prótesis parciales de cadera y 164 prótesis totales de rodilla. En 328 casos se realizó anestesia espinal (epidural o subaracnoidea) y en 156 anestesia general. Se consideró que existía enfermedad tromboembólica cuando el paciente presentaba sintomatología clínica compatible con la misma, confirmada mediante eco-Doppler y/o venografía para la trombosis venosa profunda, y mediante gammagrafía para el embolismo pulmonar. Se estudió la relación con la edad, peso, fracturas previas del miembro inferior, tromboembolismo previo, diabetes, hipertensión arterial, enfermedad cardíaca y medicación. RESULTADOS. Se observaron complicaciones tromboembólicas en 21 pacientes, en 12 de ellos tras cirugía con anestesia general y en nueve tras anestesia espinal, siendo significativamente menor la incidencia en esta última (p < 0,01) (odds ratio de 3,23 e IC del 95 por ciento). El análisis multivariante también demostró un aumento significativo de la enfermedad tromboembólica (p < 0,05) en los pacientes mayores de 70 años (odds ratio de 2,67 e IC del 95 por ciento).CONCLUSIONES. La anestesia espinal se comporta como un factor de protección frente a la enfermedad tromboembólica en la cirugía artroplástica. La edad avanzada es un factor de riesgo (AU)

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Treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee with valgus deformity by means of varus osteotomy.

Nineteen cases of osteoarthritis of the knee with valgus deformity in 17 patients were treated by femoral supracondylar varus osteotomy (17 cases) or by high tibial varus osteotomy (2 cases) over the last 15 years. Fixation was performed using a 95 degrees AO blade-plate in 13 of the femoral osteotomies and a straight plate in the other four. The mean follow-up time was 6.5 years. The valgus deformity was idiopathic in 14 cases, secondary to rheumatoid arthritis in 2 cases and to tibial valgus in one case. The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score was used to evaluate the clinical results: nearly 75% were excellent or good. The causes related to poor results are analyzed regarding indication and surgical technique. It appears that varus osteotomy is an effective procedure for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee with valgus deformity, above all in order to alleviate pain, although the operation requires precision, and correct selection of patients is of prime importance.

Nuestra experiencia en el tratamiento de la epifisiolisis femoral proximal. Algunos aspectos controvertidos / Our experience in the treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis. Controversial points

Se presenta una revisión de 17 casos de epifisiolisis de cadera en 14 pacientes (tres de ellos con afectación bilateral). Se analizan los resultados obtenidos: a) en la fijación con agujas de Kirschner y con tornillos y b) en tres casos que fueron tratados con osteotomías arciformes tridimensionales. Se emplearon las escalas de valoración clínica de Heyman y Herndon y la radiológica de Boyer. Se analiza también la fijación de la cadera contralateral de manera profiláctica. Por otro lado se revisa la bibliografía referente a la presentación con carácter familiar, a raíz de tres casos acontecidos en nuestra casuística (AU)

[The in-vitro digestive availability of lipase and trypsin in pancreatic supplements under different degrees of acidity]. / Disponibilidad digestiva in vitro de lipasa y tripsina en suplementos pancreáticos bajo diferentes grados de acidez.

We evaluated the in vitro disintegration time and the remanent digestive activity of eight pancreatic supplements under pH conditions similar to the gastrointestinal tract. They were incubated for 45 min at various pH levels (1, 3 or 6) and continued thereafter at pH 6, for another 135 min. The activities of lipase and trypsin were evaluated titrimetrically every 15 min. At pH 6, the products without an enteric coat and Creon, showed the shortest disintegration times; under acidic conditions, those times were longer in all the enteric coated products. At constant pH 6, lipase activity was greater in Creon, Pankreon and Cotazym-B; trypsin activity was greater in Nutrizym-C, Onoton and Cotazym-B. After acidic pH exposure enzyme bioavailability was decreased in all the products. Disintegration times and acid inactivation of enzymes, should be considered when prescribing PS.

[Chaetotaxy of Gastrodiscus aegyptiacus cercaria (Trematoda, Paramphistomoidea) a horse parasite]. / Chétotaxie de la cercaire de Gastrodiscus aegyptiacus (Trematoda, Paramphistomoidea) parasite du cheval.

Cercarial chaetotaxy of Gastrodiscus aegyptiacus (Paramphistomoidea), parasite of the Horse, is described. Cercariae were shed by experimentally infected Bulinus forskalii. This description is the first one of a Gastrodiscidae. The cercarial chaetotaxy of the Gastrodiscidae is quite different from those of Paramphistomoidea and Diplodiscidae.