Los gitanos en España: mercado de trabajo y educación: crónica de un desencuentro

Los gitanos en Europa y, concretamente en España, se han caracterizado por mantener una situación de marginación social y cultural a pesar de los cambios experimentados por las sociedades (económicos, demográficos, sociales y políticos). En los últimos cuarenta años, los gitanos se han ido adaptando a las diferentes coyunturas económicas y sociales que les han afectado pero que no les han comportado, a una gran parte, la salida de la situación marginal en que viven. El trabajo que presentamos, aunque focalizado en el mercado laboral y la educación, presenta la situación de los gitanos ante los cambios acaecidos y su actual situación laboral y educativa. Esta última es uno de sus principales problemas ya que la escasa titulación y la distancia (cuando no rechazo) que expresan hacia el sistema educativo español tal como está concebido les sitúa y les condena a posiciones subordinadas en el mercado laboral, que también hay que decir que en ocasiones no quieren abandonar.

Broken colinearity of the amphioxus Hox cluster.

Background In most eumetazoans studied so far, Hox genes determine the identity of structures along the main body axis. They are usually linked in genomic clusters and, in the case of the vertebrate embryo, are expressed with spatial and temporal colinearity. Outside vertebrates, temporal colinearity has been reported in the cephalochordate amphioxus (the least derived living relative of the chordate ancestor) but only for anterior and central genes, namely Hox1 to Hox4 and Hox6. However, most of the Hox gene expression patterns in amphioxus have not been reported. To gain global insights into the evolution of Hox clusters in chordates, we investigated a more extended expression profile of amphioxus Hox genes. Results Here we report an extended expression profile of the European amphioxus Branchiostoma lanceolatum Hox genes and describe that all Hox genes, except Hox13, are expressed during development. Interestingly, we report the breaking of both spatial and temporal colinearity for at least Hox6 and Hox14, which thus have escaped from the classical Hox code concept. We show a previously unidentified Hox6 expression pattern and a faint expression for posterior Hox genes in structures such as the posterior mesoderm, notochord, and hindgut. Unexpectedly, we found that amphioxus Hox14 had the most divergent expression pattern. This gene is expressed in the anterior cerebral vesicle and pharyngeal endoderm. Amphioxus Hox14 expression represents the first report of Hox gene expression in the most anterior part of the central nervous system. Nevertheless, despite these divergent expression patterns, amphioxus Hox6 and Hox14 seem to be still regulated by retinoic acid. Conclusions Escape from colinearity by Hox genes is not unusual in either vertebrates or amphioxus and we suggest that those genes escaping from it are probably associated with the patterning of lineage-specific morphological traits, requiring the loss of those developmental constraints that kept them colinear.

Stress, coping and personal strengths and difficulties in internationally adopted children in spain

This study analyses the types of coping strategies used by internationally adopted children, and explores the relation between these strategies and personal strengths and difficulties. The Kidcope checklist (Spirito, Stark, & Williams, 1998) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997) were administered to a sample of 35 Spanish adoptees (25.7% boys and 74.3% girls, aged 8-12 years) and their parents. Self-reported problems were categorised and their relation with coping strategies and psychological adjustment was explored. Results indicated that adopted children report problems of interpersonal nature. The content of the problems mainly refers to relationships and health, illness, or accidents. Parents reported that children were generally well-adjusted and they had no problems outside the normal range. International adoptees used mainly control-oriented coping strategies. Escape-oriented coping was linked to parents' ratings of total difficulties, with self-criticism accounting for the highest percentage of the variance.

A human immune data-informed vaccine concept elicits strong and broad T-cell specificities associated with HIV-1 control in mice and macaques

Background: None of the HIV T-cell vaccine candidates that have reached advanced clinical testing have been able to induce protective T cell immunity. A major reason for these failures may have been suboptimal T cell immunogen designs. Methods: To overcome this problem, we used a novel immunogen design approach that is based on functional T cell response data from more than 1,000 HIV-1 clade B and C infected individuals and which aims to direct the T cell response to the most vulnerable sites of HIV-1. Results: Our approach identified 16 regions in Gag, Pol, Vif and Nef that were relatively conserved and predominantly targeted by individuals with reduced viral loads. These regions formed the basis of the HIVACAT T-cell Immunogen (HTI) sequence which is 529 amino acids in length, includes more than 50 optimally defined CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell epitopes restricted by a wide range of HLA class I and II molecules and covers viral sites where mutations led to a dramatic reduction in viral replicative fitness. In both, C57BL/6 mice and Indian rhesus macaques immunized with an HTI-expressing DNA plasmid (DNA.HTI) induced broad and balanced T-cell responses to several segments within Gag, Pol, and Vif. DNA.HTI induced robust CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses that were increased by a booster vaccination using modified virus Ankara (MVA.HTI), expanding the DNA.HTI induced response to up to 3.2% IFN-γ T-cells in macaques. HTI-specific T cells showed a central and effector memory phenotype with a significant fraction of the IFN-γ+ CD8+ T cells being Granzyme B+ and able to degranulate (CD107a+). Conclusions: These data demonstrate the immunogenicity of a novel HIV-1 T cell vaccine concept that induced broadly balanced responses to vulnerable sites of HIV-1 while avoiding the induction of responses to potential decoy targets that may divert effective T-cell responses towards variable and less protective viral determinants.