The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Crisis and the labour market

Since the financial and economic crisis began to affect the real economy and spread throughout the world, the region’s economies have been faced with a situation where data on employment and labour reflect the real stories of millions of women and men for whom the future has become uncertain. When these problems began to appear, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned that the world faced a global employment crisis whose consequences could lead to a social recession. As the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has pointed out, the outbreak of the crisis put an end to a five-year period of sustained growth and falling unemployment. As early as the second half of 2008, the figures began to reflect slowing economic growth, while a downward slide began in the labour market. This initial bulletin, produced jointly by ECLAC and ILO, seeks to review the ways in which the crisis is affecting the region’s labour markets. Amidst a situation characterized by shocks and uncertainty, governments and social partners must have the inputs needed for designing public policies to increase the population’s levels of employment and well-being. It is planned to produce two further bulletins by January 2010, in order to measure the impact of the crisis on employment and provide an input to the process of defining the best public policies to reverse its consequences. The bulletin reviews the most recent available indicators and analyses them in order to establish trends and detect variations. It provides statistics for the first quarter, estimates for the rest of 2009, and a review of policies announced by the Governments. In 2008, the last year of the growth cycle, the region’s urban unemployment stood at 7.5%. According to economic growth forecasts for 2009, the average annual urban unemployment rate for the region will increase to between 8.7% and 9.1%; in other words, between 2.8 million and 3.9 million additional people will swell the ranks of the unemployed. Data for the first quarter of 2009 already confirm that the crisis is hitting employment in the region. Compared with the first quarter of 2008, the urban unemployment rate was up by 0.6 percentage points, representing over a million people.Work will continue until September 2009 on the preparation of a new report on the employment situation, using data updated to the first half of 2009. This will provide a picture of the region’s employment situation, so that growth and employment projections can be adjusted for 2009 as a whole. Strategies for dealing with the crisis must have jobs and income protection as their central goals. Policies are moving in that direction in Latin America and the Caribbean and, if they are effective, an even greater worsening of the situation may be avoided. Labour produces wealth, generates consumption, keeps economies functioning and is a key factor in seeking out the way to more sustainable and equitable growth once the crisis is past.

Guaranteeing indigenous people's rights in Latin America. Progress in the past decade and remaining challenges. Summary

As the twenty-first century advances, the countries of Latin America are building deeper democracies and looking critically at the development process, in the growing conviction that development should focus on equality and be approached on the basis of rights. This means tackling the region’s persistent inequalities, especially those affecting indigenous peoples, who have historically suffered exclusion and discrimination. It also means guaranteeing indigenous people both the enjoyment of human rights on an equal footing to the rest of society, and the right to be collectively different. This is a challenge for this century, which began with the recognition of the rights of indigenous people and the role they unquestionably play on national and international agendas.

Transsexuality in the interface with, the gender relationships

Over the past 60 years, the advancement of the sciences, the urbanization process of industrial centers, the mediatical advancement, the new family arrangements, the conquers of sexual minorities: homosexuals, transsexuals, transvestites, among other phenomena, coupled with the emphasis on individualism, and upon obtaining mediatical visibility, have softened the ethos of gender relationships in such a way to insert other approaches to the hegemony of the heteronormativity, whose resonances are present in and through symbolic exchanges with the other being, through which the contemporary subject comprises the subjectivation process.

Changing presentation of complete hydatidiform mole at the New England Trophoblastic Disease Center over the past three decades: does early diagnosis alter risk for gestational trophoblastic neoplasia?

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Solar Forcing of Gulf of California Climate During The Past 2000 Yr Suggested by Diatoms and Silicoflagellates

High-resolution records of the past 2000 yr are compared in a north–south transect (28° N to 24° N) of three cores from the eastern slopes of the Guaymas, Carmen, and Pescadero Basins of the Gulf of California (hereafter referred to as the “Gulf”). Evenly-spaced samples from the varved sediments in each core allow sample resolution ranging from ∼ 16 to ∼ 37 yr. Diatoms and silicoflagellates capture the seasonal variation between a late fall to early spring period of high biosiliceous productivity, that is driven by northwest winds, and a summer period of warmer, more stratified waters during which these winds slacken and/or reverse direction (monsoonal flow). As these winds decrease, tropical waters enter the Gulf and spread northward. Individual samples represent a composite of 7 to 23 yr of deposition and are assumed to record the relative dominance of the winter vs. summer floral components. Intervals of enhanced summer incursion of tropical waters, alternating with periods of increased late fall to early spring biosiliceous productivity are recorded in all three cores. Regularly spaced cycles (∼ 100 yr duration) of Octactis pulchra, a silicoflagellate proxy for lower SST and high productivity, and Azpeitia nodulifera, a tropical diatom, occur between ∼ A.D. 400 and ∼ 1700 in the more nearshore Carmen Basin core, NH01-21 (26.3° N), suggesting a possible solar influence on coastal upwelling. Cores BAM80 E-17 (27.9° N) and NH01-26 (24.3° N) contain longer-duration cycles of diatoms and silicoflagellates. The early part of Medieval Climate Anomaly (∼ A.D. 900 to 1200) is characterized by two periods of reduced productivity (warmer SST) with an intervening high productivity (cool) interval centered at ∼ A.D. 1050. Reduced productivity and higher SST also characterize the record of the last ∼ 100 to 200 yr in these cores. Solar variability appears to be driving productivity cycles, as intervals of increased radiocarbon production (sunspot minima) correlate with intervals of enhanced productivity. It is proposed that increased winter cooling of the atmosphere above southwest U.S. during sunspot minima causes intensification of the northwest winds that blow down the Gulf during the late fall to early spring, leading to intensified overturn of surface waters and enhanced productivity. A new silicoflagellate species, Dictyocha franshepardii Bukry, is described and illustrated.

High Resolution Paleoceanography of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, During the Past 15 000 Years

Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 480 (27°54.10’N, 111°39.34’W; 655 m water depth) contains a high resolution record of paleoceanographic change of the past 15 000 years for the Guaymas Basin, a region of very high diatom productivity within the central Gulf of California. Analyses of diatoms and silicoflagellates were completed on samples spaced every 40-50 yr, whereas ICP-AES geochemical analyses were completed on alternate samples (sample spacing 80-100 yr). The Bolling-Allerod interval (14.6-12.9 ka) (note, ka refers to 1000 calendar years BP throughout this report) is characterized by an increase in biogenic silica and a decline in calcium carbonate relative to surrounding intervals, suggesting conditions somewhat similar to those of today. The Younger Dryas event (12.9-11.6 ka) is marked by a major drop in biogenic silica and an increase in calcium carbonate. Increasing relative percentage contributions of Azpeitia nodulifera and Dictyocha perlaevis (a tropical diatom and silicoflagellate, respectively) and reduced numbers of the silicoflagellate Octactis pulchra are supportive of reduced upwelling of nutrient-rich waters. Between 10.6 and 10.0 ka, calcium carbonate and A. nodulifera abruptly decline at DSDP 480, while Roperia tesselata, a diatom indicative of winter upwelling in the modern-day Gulf, increases sharply in numbers. A nearly coincident increase in the silicoflagellate Dictyocha stapedia suggests that waters above DSDP 480 were more similar to the cooler and slightly more saline waters of the northern Gulf during much of the early and middle parts of the Holocene (~10 to 3.2 ka). At about 6.2 ka a stepwise increase in biogenic silica and the reappearance of the tropical diatom A. nodulifera marks a major change in oceanographic conditions in the Gulf. A winter shift to more northwesterly winds may have occurred at this time along with the onset of periodic northward excursions (El Nino-driven?) of the North Equatorial Countercurrent during the summer. Beginning between 2.8 and 2.4 ka, the amplitude of biogenic silica and wt% Fe, Al, and Ti (proxies of terrigenous input) increase, possibly reflecting intensification of ENSO cycles and the establishment of modern oceanographic conditions in the Gulf. Increased numbers of O. pulchra after 2.8 ka suggest enhanced spring upwelling.

New historical archeointensity data from Brazil: Evidence for a large regional non-dipole field contribution over the past few centuries

We report new archeointensity data obtained from the analyses of baked clay elements (architectural and kiln brick fragments) sampled in Southeast Brazil and historically and/or archeologically dated between the end of the XVIth century and the beginning of the XXth century AD. The results were determined using the classical Thellier and Thellier protocol as modified by Coe, including partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) and pTRM-tail checks, and the Triaxe protocol, which involves continuous high-temperature magnetization measurements. In both protocols, TRM anisotropy and cooling rate TRM dependence effects were taken into account for intensity determinations which were successfully performed for 150 specimens from 43 fragments, with a good agreement between intensity results obtained from the two procedures. Nine site-mean intensity values were derived from three to eight fragments and defined with standard deviations of less than 8%. The site-mean values vary from similar to 25 mu T to similar to 42 mu T and describe in Southeast Brazil a continuous decreasing trend by similar to 5 mu T per century between similar to 1600 AD and similar to 1900 AD. Their comparison with recent archeointensity results obtained from Northeast Brazil and reduced at a same latitude shows that: (1) the geocentric axial dipole approximation is not valid between these southeastern and northeastern regions of Brazil, whose latitudes differ by similar to 10 degrees, and (2) the available global geomagnetic field models (gufm1 models, their recalibrated versions and the CALSK3 models) are not sufficiently precise to reliably reproduce the non-dipole field effects which prevailed in Brazil for at least the 1600-1750 period. The large non-dipole contribution thus highlighted is most probably linked to the evolution of the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA) during that period. Furthermore, although our dataset is limited, the Brazilian archeointensity data appear to support the view of a rather oscillatory behavior of the axial dipole moment during the past three centuries that would have been marked in particular by a moderate increase between the end of the XVIIIth century and the middle of the XIXth century followed by the well-known decrease from 1840 AD attested by direct measurements. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Archeointensity in Northeast Brazil over the past five centuries

This study presents the first archeointensity results from Northeast Brazil obtained from 14 groups of architectural brick fragments sampled in the city of Salvador, Bahia State (13 degrees S, 38.5 degrees W) and dated between the middle of the XVIth century and the beginning of the XIXth century. The dating is ascertained by historical documents complemented by archeological constraints, yielding in all cases age uncertainties of less than 50 years. Analyses were carried out using two experimental protocols: 1 the ""zero field-in field"" version of the classical Thellier and Thellier method as proposed by Coe (TT-ZI), including partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) and pTRM-tail checks, and 2 the Triaxe procedure involving continuous high temperature magnetization measurements. Both TRM anisotropy and cooling rate effects were taken into account for the intensity determinations. The cooling rate effect was further explored for the TT-ZI protocol using three increasing slow cooling times (5 h, 10 h and 25 h) between 450 C and room temperature. Following archeological constraints, the slowest cooling time was retained in our study, yielding decreases of the raw intensity values by 4% to 14%. For each fragment, a mean intensity was computed and retained only when the data obtained from all specimens (between 2 and 6) satisfied a coherence test at similar to 5%. A total of 57 fragments (183 specimens) was considered for the computations of site-mean intensity values, with derived standard deviations of less than 8% of the corresponding means. When separately computed using the two experimental techniques, the site-mean intensity values always agree to within 5%. A good consistency is observed between intensity values of similar or close ages, which strengthen their reliability. Our data principally show a significant and continuous decrease in geomagnetic field intensity in Northeast Brazil between the first half of the XVIIth century and the XXth century. One result dated to the second half of the XVIth century further suggests that the geomagnetic field intensity reached a maximum around 1600 AD. This evolution is in good agreement with that expected in the city of Salvador from the available global geomagnetic field models. However, the accuracy of these models appears less well constrained between similar to 1550 AD and similar to 1650 AD. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A palaeobiogeographic model for biotic diversification within Amazonia over the past three million years

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain high species diversity in Amazonia, but few generalizations have emerged. In part, this has arisen from the scarcity of rigorous tests for mechanisms promoting speciation, and from major uncertainties about palaeogeographic events and their spatial and temporal associations with diversification. Here, we investigate the environmental history of Amazonia using a phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis of trumpeters (Aves: Psophia), which are represented by species in each of the vertebrate areas of endemism. Their relationships reveal an unforeseen 'complete' time-slice of Amazonian diversification over the past 3.0 Myr. We employ this temporally calibrated phylogeny to test competing palaeogeographic hypotheses. Our results are consistent with the establishment of the current Amazonian drainage system at approximately 3.0-2.0 Ma and predict the temporal pattern of major river formation over Plio-Pleistocene times. We propose a palaeobiogeographic model for the last 3.0 Myr of Amazonian history that has implications for understanding patterns of endemism, the temporal history of Amazonian diversification and mechanisms promoting speciation. The history of Psophia, in combination with new geological evidence, provides the strongest direct evidence supporting a role for river dynamics in Amazonian diversification, and the absence of such a role for glacial climate cycles and refugia.

Different approaches for dealing with rare variants in family-based genetic studies: application of a Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 problem

Rare variants are becoming the new candidates in the search for genetic variants that predispose individuals to a phenotype of interest. Their low prevalence in a population requires the development of dedicated detection and analytical methods. A family-based approach could greatly enhance their detection and interpretation because rare variants are nearly family specific. In this report, we test several distinct approaches for analyzing the information provided by rare and common variants and how they can be effectively used to pinpoint putative candidate genes for follow-up studies. The analyses were performed on the mini-exome data set provided by Genetic Analysis Workshop 17. Eight approaches were tested, four using the trait’s heritability estimates and four using QTDT models. These methods had their sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values compared in light of the simulation parameters. Our results highlight important limitations of current methods to deal with rare and common variants, all methods presented a reduced specificity and, consequently, prone to false positive associations. Methods analyzing common variants information showed an enhanced sensibility when compared to rare variants methods. Furthermore, our limited knowledge of the use of biological databases for gene annotations, possibly for use as covariates in regression models, imposes a barrier to further research.

Effect of Nd:YAG laser combined with fluoride on the prevention of primary tooth enamel demineralization

Most studies dealing with the caries preventive action of Nd:YAG laser have been done in permanent teeth and studies on primary teeth are still lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro the effect of Nd:YAG laser combined or not with fluoride sources on the acid resistance of primary tooth enamel after artificial caries induction by assessing longitudinal microhardness and demineralization depth. Sixty enamel blocks obtained from the buccal/lingual surface of exfoliated human primary molars were coated with nail polish/wax, leaving only a 9 mm² area exposed on the outer enamel surface, and randomly assigned to 6 groups (n=10) according to the type of treatment: C-control (no treatment); APF: 1.23% acidulated phosphate fluoride gel; FV: 5% fluoride varnish; L: Nd:YAG laser 0.5 W/10 Hz in contact mode; APFL: fluoride gel + laser; FVL: fluoride varnish + laser. After treatment, the specimens were subjected to a des-remineralization cycle for induction of artificial caries lesions. Longitudinal microhardness data (%LMC) were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test and demineralization depth data were analyzed by oneway ANOVA and Fisher’s LSD test (á=0.05). APFL and APF groups presented the lowest percentage of microhardness change (p<0.05). Demineralization depth was smaller in all treated groups compared with the untreated control. In conclusion, Nd:YAG laser combined or not with fluoride gel/varnish was not more effective than fluoride alone to prevent enamel demineralization within the experimental period.

Reassessment of the taxonomic status of Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius, 1787) with the description of three new species, Amblyomma tonelliae n. sp., Amblyomma interandinum n. sp. and Amblyomma patinoi n. sp., and reinstatement of Amblyomma mixtum Koch, 1844, and Amblyomma sculptum Berlese, 1888 (Ixodida: Ixodidae)

A reassessment of the taxonomic status of Amblyomma cajennense based on the morphological analyses of ticks from the whole distribution area of the species resulted in the redescription of A. cajennense, the validation of 2 species which had been reduced to synonymy in the past, Amblyomma mixtum and Amblyomma sculptum, and the description and definition of 3 new species, Amblyomma tonelliae n. sp., Amblyomma interandinum n. sp., and Amblyomma patinoi n. sp. This study provides descriptions and redescriptions, scanning electron microscopic and stereomicroscopic images, updated synonymies, information on geographical distributions, and host associations for each of the 6 species. Amblyomma cajennense s.s. is found in the Amazonian region of South America, A. interandinum is reported from the northern part of the Inter-Andean valley of Peru, A. mixtum is present from Texas (U.S.A.) to western Ecuador, A. patinoi occurs in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia, A. tonelliae is associated with the dry areas of the Chaco region which spans from central-northern Argentina to Bolivia and Paraguay, whereas A. sculptum is distributed from the humid areas of northern Argentina, to the contiguous regions of Bolivia and Paraguay and the coastal and central-western states of Brazil.

The effects of hypocalcemia on spatial alternans and ventricular fibrillation studied with the optical mapping technique

The heart is a wonderful but complex organ: it uses electrochemical mechanisms in order to produce mechanical energy to pump the blood throughout the body and allow the life of humans and animals. This organ can be subject to several diseases and sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the most catastrophic manifestation of these diseases, responsible for the death of a large number of people throughout the world. It is estimated that 325000 Americans annually die for SCD. SCD most commonly occurs as a result of reentrant tachyarrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF)) and the identification of those patients at higher risk for the development of SCD has been a difficult clinical challenge. Nowadays, a particular electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormality, “T-wave alternans” (TWA), is considered a precursor of lethal cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death, a sensitive indicator of risk for SCD. TWA is defined as a beat-to-beat alternation in the shape, amplitude, or timing of the T-wave on the ECG, indicative of the underlying repolarization of cardiac cells [5]. In other words TWA is the macroscopic effect of subcellular and celluar mechanisms involving ionic kinetics and the consequent depolarization and repolarization of the myocytes. Experimental activities have shown that TWA on the ECG is a manifestation of an underlying alternation of long and short action potential durations (APDs), the so called APD-alternans, of cardiac myocytes in the myocardium. Understanding the mechanism of APDs-alternans is the first step for preventing them to occur. In order to investigate these mechanisms it’s very important to understand that the biological systems are complex systems and their macroscopic properties arise from the nonlinear interactions among the parts. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and it cannot be understood only by studying the single parts. In this sense the heart is a complex nonlinear system and its way of working follows nonlinear dynamics; alternans also, they are a manifestation of a phenomenon typical in nonlinear dynamical systems, called “period-dubling bifurcation”. Over the past decade, it has been demonstrated that electrical alternans in cardiac tissue is an important marker for the development of ventricular fibrillation and a significant predictor for mortality. It has been observed that acute exposure to low concentration of calcium does not decrease the magnitude of alternans and sustained ventricular Fibrillation (VF) is still easily induced under these condition. However with prolonged exposure to low concentration of calcium, alternans disappears, but VF is still inducible. This work is based on this observation and tries to make it clearer. The aim of this thesis is investigate the effect of hypocalcemia spatial alternans and VF doing experiments with canine hearts and perfusing them with a solution with physiological ionic concentration and with a solution with low calcium concentration (hypocalcemia); in order to investigate the so called memory effect, the experimental activity was modified during the way. The experiments were performed with the optical mapping technique, using voltage-sensitive dye, and a custom made Java code was used in post-processing. Finding the Nolasco and Dahlen’s criterion [8] inadequate for the prediction of alternans, and takin into account the experimental results, another criterion, which consider the memory effect, has been implemented. The implementation of this criterion could be the first step in the creation of a method, AP-based, discriminating who is at risk if developing VF. This work is divided into four chapters: the first is a brief presentation of the physiology of the heart; the second is a review of the major theories and discovers in the study of cardiac dynamics; the third chapter presents an overview on the experimental activity and the optical mapping technique; the forth chapter contains the presentation of the results and the conclusions.

Antegrade cerebral protection in thoracic aortic surgery: lessons from the past decade

Prolonged deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) adversely affects outcome and quality of life in thoracic aortic surgery. Several techniques of antegrade cerebral perfusion are routinely used: bilateral selective antegrade cerebral protection (SACP) by introducing catheters in the innominate and left carotid artery, unilateral perfusion through the right axillary antegrade cerebral perfusion (RAACP) or a combination of right axillary perfusion with an additional catheter in the left carotid artery (RAACCP), resulting also in bilateral perfusion. The aim of the present study was to analyse the impact of the different approaches on the quality of life (QoL).

Circulation dynamics and its influence on European and Mediterranean January-April climate over the past half millennium: results and insights from instrumental data, documentary evidence and coupled climate models

We use long instrumental temperature series together with available field reconstructions of sea-level pressure (SLP) and three-dimensional climate model simulations to analyze relations between temperature anomalies and atmospheric circulation patterns over much of Europe and the Mediterranean for the late winter/early spring (January–April, JFMA) season. A Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) investigates interannual to interdecadal covariability between a new gridded SLP field reconstruction and seven long instrumental temperature series covering the past 250 years. We then present and discuss prominent atmospheric circulation patterns related to anomalous warm and cold JFMA conditions within different European areas spanning the period 1760–2007. Next, using a data assimilation technique, we link gridded SLP data with a climate model (EC-Bilt-Clio) for a better dynamical understanding of the relationship between large scale circulation and European climate. We thus present an alternative approach to reconstruct climate for the pre-instrumental period based on the assimilated model simulations. Furthermore, we present an independent method to extend the dynamic circulation analysis for anomalously cold European JFMA conditions back to the sixteenth century. To this end, we use documentary records that are spatially representative for the long instrumental records and derive, through modern analogs, large-scale SLP, surface temperature and precipitation fields. The skill of the analog method is tested in the virtual world of two three-dimensional climate simulations (ECHO-G and HadCM3). This endeavor offers new possibilities to both constrain climate model into a reconstruction mode (through the assimilation approach) and to better asses documentary data in a quantitative way.