Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 fitness is a determining factor in viral rebound and set point in chronic infection.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates from 20 chronically infected patients who participated in a structured treatment interruption (STI) trial were studied to determine whether viral fitness influences reestablishment of viremia. Viruses derived from individuals who spontaneously controlled viremia had significantly lower in vitro replication capacities than viruses derived from individuals that did not control viremia after interruption of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and replication capacities correlated with pre-ART and post-STI viral set points. Of note, no clinically relevant improvement of viral loads upon STI occurred. Virus isolates from controlling and noncontrolling patients were indistinguishable in terms of coreceptor usage, genetic subtype, and sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies. In contrast, viruses from controlling patients exhibited increased sensitivity to inhibition by chemokines. Sensitivity to inhibition by RANTES correlated strongly with slower replication kinetics of the virus isolates, suggesting a marked dependency of these virus isolates on high coreceptor densities on the target cells. In summary, our data indicate that viral fitness is a driving factor in determining the magnitude of viral rebound and viral set point in chronic HIV-1 infection, and thus fitness should be considered as a parameter influencing the outcome of therapeutic intervention in chronic infection.

Systemic and pulmonary vascular dysfunction in children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies.

BACKGROUND: Assisted reproductive technology (ART) involves the manipulation of early embryos at a time when they may be particularly vulnerable to external disturbances. Environmental influences during the embryonic and fetal development influence the individual's susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, raising concerns about the potential consequences of ART on the long-term health of the offspring. METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed systemic (flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery, pulse-wave velocity, and carotid intima-media thickness) and pulmonary (pulmonary artery pressure at high altitude by Doppler echocardiography) vascular function in 65 healthy children born after ART and 57 control children. Flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery was 25% smaller in ART than in control children (6.7±1.6% versus 8.6±1.7%; P<0.0001), whereas endothelium-independent vasodilation was similar in the 2 groups. Carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity was significantly (P<0.001) faster and carotid intima-media thickness was significantly (P<0.0001) greater in children conceived by ART than in control children. The systolic pulmonary artery pressure at high altitude (3450 m) was 30% higher (P<0.001) in ART than in control children. Vascular function was normal in children conceived naturally during hormonal stimulation of ovulation and in siblings of ART children who were conceived naturally. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy children conceived by ART display generalized vascular dysfunction. This problem does not appear to be related to parental factors but to the ART procedure itself. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00837642.

Financial crisis: theory and practice

In the last 50 years, we have had approximately 40 events with characteristics related to financial crisis. The most severe crisis was in 1929, when the financial markets plummet and the US gross domestic product decline in more than 30 percent. Recently some years ago, a new crisis developed in the United States, but instantly caused consequences and effects in the rest of the world.This new economic and financial crisis has increased the interest and motivation for the academic community, professors and researchers, to understand the causes and effects of the crisis, to learn from it. This is the one of the main reasons for the compilation of this book, which begins with a meeting of a group of IAFI researchers from the University of Barcelona, where researchers form Mexico and Spain, explain causes and consequences of the crisis of 2007.For that reason, we believed this set of chapters related to methodologies, applications and theories, would conveniently explained the characteristics and events of the past and future financial crisisThis book consists in 3 main sections, the first one called "State of the Art and current situation", the second named "Econometric applications to estimate crisis time periods" , and the third one "Solutions to diminish the effects of the crisis". The first section explains the current point of view of many research papers related to financial crisis, it has 2 chapters. In the first one, it describe and analyzes the models that historically have been used to explain financial crisis, furthermore, it proposes to used alternative methodologies such as Fuzzy Cognitive Maps. On the other hand , Chapter 2 , explains the characteristics and details of the 2007 crisis from the US perspective and its comparison to 1929 crisis, presenting some effects in Mexico and Latin America.The second section presents two econometric applications to estimate possible crisis periods. For this matter, Chapter 3, studies 3 Latin-American countries: Argentina, Brazil and Peru in the 1994 crisis and estimates the multifractal characteristics to identify financial and economic distress.Chapter 4 explains the crisis situations in Argentina (2001), Mexico (1994) and the recent one in the United States (2007) and its effects in other countries through a financial series methodology related to the stock market.The last section shows an alternative to prevent the effects of the crisis. The first chapter explains the financial stability effects through the financial system regulation and some globalization standards. Chapter 6, study the benefits of the Investor activism and a way to protect personal and national wealth to face the financial crisis risks.

Art i ciència: converses

A la infància, Enric Canadell químic teòric i Àlex Nogué artista visual comparteixen pupitre i jocs de carrer a Castellfollit de la Roca, un poble de la Garrotxa, Girona. Segueixen trajectes vitals ben diferents i desenvolupen una ampla experiència professional internacional en la ciència i l'art. Quaranta-cinc anys més tard es retroben novament sota el projecte "En comptes de la revolució, converses" promogut per Cafè Central i l'Associació per les Arts Contemporànies H.ACC per tal de cercar coincidències en les seves activitats professionals aparentment tan dispars i en la seva forma de viure-les.

Urban Regeneration. A challenge for Public Art [1999]. Edition 2005

Urban Regeneration. A challenge for Public Art, supposed the start of a trend of critical thought related to the topics of Public Art, Urban Regeneration and Urban Design. This trend agglutinated around the Public Art Observatory that, still today, develops its activities.The book gathers a series of critical proposals organized in the chapters " Art and Design in/for Public Space ", " Forms and Representations of Public Art/Public Space. The Producer/User Dilemma " and " Public Art / Cities in Competition: Strategies, Bridges and Gateways ", with the participation of, among others, Sergi Valera, Ray Smith, Martí Peran, Ian Rawlinson, Chaké Matosian, Enric Pol, J. Hyatt, J. Gingell or T. Bovaird.

Interruptions of cART limits CD4 T-cell recovery and increases the risk for opportunistic complications and death.

BACKGROUND: A major goal of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-1-infected persons is the recovery of CD4 T lymphocytes, resulting in thorough protection against opportunistic complications. Interruptions of ART are still frequent. The long-term effect on CD4 T-cell recovery and clinical events remains unknown. METHODS: Immunological and clinical endpoints were evaluated in 2491 participants of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study initiating ART during a mean follow-up of 7.1 years. Data were analysed in persons with treatment interruptions (n = 1271; group A), continuous ART, but intermittent HIV-1 RNA at least 1000 copies/ml (n = 469; group B) and continuous ART and HIV-1 RNA constantly less than 1000 copies/ml (n = 751; group C). Risk factors for low CD4 T-cell counts and clinical events were analysed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: In groups A-C, CD4 T lymphocytes increased to a median of 427, 525 and 645 cells/μl at 8 years. In group A, 63.0 and 37.2% reached above 350 and 500 CD4 T cells/μl, whereas in group B 76.3 and 55.8% and in group C 87.3 and 68.0% reached these thresholds (P < 0.001). CD4 T-cell recovery directly depended on the cumulative duration of treatment interruptions. In addition, participants of group A had more Centers for Disease Control and Prevention B/C events, resulting in an increased risk of death. Major risk factors for not reaching CD4 T cells above 500 cells/μl included lower baseline CD4 T-cell count, higher age and hepatitis C virus co-infection. CONCLUSION: In persons receiving continuous ART larger CD4 T-cell recovery and a reduced risk for opportunistic complications and death was observed. CD4 T-cell recovery was smaller in persons with treatment interruptions more than 6 months.

El treball cooperatiu com a mètode d'experimentació en l'art : treballar l'educació artística a l'educació infantil

Els objectius de l’estudi realitzat en aquest treball són: comprovar que l’educació artística també pot ser una eina d’inclusió a l’escola, conèixer els beneficis de l’experimentació/exploració en l’art, i observar com aquests influeixen en l’aprenentatge dels infants, i finalment veure els beneficis del treball cooperatiu com a mètode d’experimentació en l’art. L’estudi s’ha realitzat a partir d’ una recerca teòrica i duent a terme una part pràctica de vàries sessions amb la col·laboració dels infants de P4 de l’escola Joan XXIII d’Hostalets de Balenyà. La pràctica s’ha anomenat “Art amb pedres”, que com el seu nom indica, les pedres eren l’element natural que han utilitzat els infants per a convertir-se en verdaders artistes!

L'Experiència autobiogràfica, l'art i el compromís ètic de l'escriptor: tres eixos de la narrativa de Maria Àngels Anglada

L’obra de M. Àngels Anglada constitueix un tramat complex de lectures i influències que s’interpreta a través de nivells de significació i d’interessos que s’entrecreuen. Com a pilar que sosté tot aquest corpus hi ha un gran bagatge clàssic i una vasta formació literària que, juntament amb l’experiència vital i el posicionament ètic de l’autora, proporcionen les claus de lectura dels seus llibres. Partint d’aquesta idea, l’article aprofundeix en els tres aspectes que considerem eixos fonamentals de l’obra de l’escriptora: els elements autobiogràfics, l’art i el compromís social.

Callings in career: A typological approach to essential and optional components

A sense of calling in career is supposed to have positive implications for individuals and organizations but current theoretical development is plagued with incongruent conceptualizations of what does or does not constitute a calling. The present study used cluster analysis to identify essential and optional components of a presence of calling among 407 German undergraduate students from different majors. Three types of calling merged: "negative career self-centered", "pro-social religious", and "positive varied work orientation". All types could be described as vocational identity achieved (high commitment/high self-exploration), high in career confidence and career engagement. Not defining characteristics were centrality of work or religion, endorsement of specific work values, or positivity of core self-evaluations. The results suggest that callings entail intense self-exploration and might be beneficial because they correspond with identity achievement and promote career confidence and engagement while not necessarily having pro-social orientations. Suggestions for future research, theory and practice are suggested.

No longitudinal mitochondrial DNA sequence changes in HIV-infected individuals with and without lipoatrophy.

The potential for mitochondrial (mt) DNA mutation accumulation during antiretroviral therapy (ART), and preferential accumulation in patients with lipoatrophy compared with control participants, remains controversial. We sequenced the entire mitochondrial genome, both before ART and after ART exposure, in 29 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected Swiss HIV Cohort Study participants initiating a first-line thymidine analogue-containing ART regimen. No accumulation of mtDNA mutations or deletions was detected in 13 participants who developed lipoatrophy or in 16 control participants after significant and comparable ART exposure (median duration, 3.3 and 3.7 years, respectively). In HIV-infected persons, the development of lipoatrophy is unlikely to be associated with accumulation of mtDNA mutations detectable in peripheral blood.

Usability of Virtual Museums and the Diffusion of Cultural Heritage

Les prioritats per als museus canvien. La missió de la nova museologia és convertir els museus en llocs per a gaudir i aprendre, cosa que fa que hagin de dur a terme una gestió financera molt semblant a la d'una empresa social que competeixi en el sector del lleure. Amb el pas del temps, els museus han d'establir i aplicar els criteris necessaris per a la supervivència, aplanant el terreny perquè altres institucions públiques siguin més obertes en els seus esforços per comunicar i difondre el seu patrimoni. Ja podem començar a parlar d'algunes conclusions comunament acceptades sobre el comportament dels visitants, que són necessàries per a planificar exposicions futures que vegin l'aprenentatge com un procés constructiu, les col·leccions com a objectes amb significat i les mateixes exposicions com a mitjans de comunicació que haurien de transformar la manera de pensar de l'espectador i que estan al servei del mateix missatge. Sembla que internet representa un mitjà efectiu per a assolir aquests objectius, ja que és capaç (a) d'adaptar-se als interessos i les característiques intel·lectuals d'un públic divers; (b) de redescobrir els significats dels objectes i adquirir un reconeixement sociocultural del seu valor per mitjà del seu potencial interactiu, i (c) de fer ús d'elements atractius i estimulants perquè tothom en gaudeixi. Per a aquest propòsit, és bàsic fer-nos les preguntes següents: quins criteris ha de seguir un museu virtual per a optimar la difusió del seu patrimoni?; quins elements estimulen els usuaris a quedar-se en una pàgina web i fer visites virtuals que els siguin satisfactòries?; quin paper té la usabilitat de l'aplicació en tot això?

Gallery districts of Barcelona: the strategic play of art dealers

This article focuses on Barcelona"s art market to explore the underlying factors behind the clustering of art dealers in several of the city"s districts. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data, the article analyses how such clustering reveals a strategic action in the sense attributed to it by Crozier and Friedberg (1981). Gallery districts are not a reflection of structural factors (economic, urban development-related or social) but the result of a combination of strategic choices either individual or collective which explain the permanence of leading gallery districts or the emergence of new ones.

Right ventricular dysfunction in children and adolescents conceived by assisted reproductive technologies.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) predispose the offspring to vascular dysfunction, arterial hypertension, and hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. Recently, cardiac remodeling and dysfunction during fetal and early postnatal life have been reported in offspring of ART, but it is not known whether these cardiac alterations persist later in life and whether confounding factors contribute to this problem. We, therefore, assessed cardiac function and pulmonary artery pressure by echocardiography in 54 healthy children conceived by ART (mean age 11.5 ± 2.4 yr) and 54 age-matched (12.2 ± 2.3 yr) and sex-matched control children. Because ART is often associated with low birth weight and prematurity, two potential confounders associated with cardiac dysfunction, only singletons born with normal birth weight at term were studied. Moreover, because cardiac remodeling in infants conceived by ART was observed in utero, a situation associated with increased right heart load, we also assessed cardiac function during high-altitude exposure, a condition associated with hypoxic pulmonary hypertension-induced right ventricular overload. We found that, while at low altitude cardiac morphometry and function was not different between children conceived by ART and control children, under the stressful conditions of high-altitude-induced pressure overload and hypoxia, larger right ventricular end-diastolic area and diastolic dysfunction (evidenced by lower E-wave tissue Doppler velocity and A-wave tissue Doppler velocity of the lateral tricuspid annulus) were detectable in children and adolescents conceived by ART. In conclusion, right ventricular dysfunction persists in children and adolescents conceived by ART. These cardiac alterations appear to be related to ART per se rather than to low birth weight or prematurity.

Understanding academics' popular science publishing : institution culture and management style effects

Most universities and higher education systems have formally taken up a third mission, which involves various public outreach and engagement activities. Little is known regarding how higher education institutions' organisations interact with academic's level of public outreach. This article examines to which extent the perceptions academics have of their institutions' culture and management style, as well as some of their own individual and statutory characteristics interact with their level of public outreach. Using the Academic Profession in Europe comparative and quantitative research database, this article focuses on two countries on the extremities of the spectrum - Switzerland and the United Kingdom.