Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the resistance of microsurgically repaired proper palmar digital nerves (PPDN) to mobilization. Thirty-nine PPDN from fresh forearms cadavers were transected and then sutured using 10/0 nylon. After skin closure, each finger was forcefully flexed and extended 10 times. Out of the 39 repaired nerves, two were elongated and four were ruptured; this amounts to a 15.38% complication rate. We recommend immobilization of nerve repairs, although this contradicts most recent studies. Resumen: El objetivo de este trabajo es probar la resistencia de la neurorrafia de los nervios colaterales digitales. Se utilizaron 39 nervios colaterales digitales de 8 antebrazos de cadáver. La sección del nervio se realizó a nivel de la mitad de la falange proximal. La neurorrafia se realizó con Nylon 10-0. Se revisaron los especímenes para constatar el estado de las neurorrafias. Al considerar falla cualquier solución de continuidad o distensión de la zona de sutura se presenta falla de la misma el 15.38%. Los resultados de este estudio llevan a concluir que la inmovilización es necesaria para prevenir la ruptura de la neurorrafia de los nervios colaterales digitales.

El artículo presenta un análisis sobre el papel del Estado en las relaciones entre las comunidades indígenas y los proyectos hidroeléctricos en Colombia, así como las consideraciones jurídicas que se han puesto en juego en estas situaciones. El estudio toma como caso de estudio la construcción de la represa de Urrá en la región del Alto Sinú, la cual tuvo un impacto significativo sobre las condiciones de supervivencia cultural de una comunidad del pueblo Embera-Katío habitante en los territorios de influencia del proyecto. El trabajo hace un seguimiento a las decisiones judiciales de carácter constitucional respecto a la protección de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, en el contexto de un Estado que se reconoce multicultural.

The mechanisms and pathways by which nitrogen in its various forms is removed from waste stabilization ponds (WSP) have been a subject of much debate. In order to improve current understanding of the dynamics of inorganic and organic nitrogen removal in WSP systems, a study using stable nitrogen isotopes (15N) was undertaken on an experimental pilot-scale WSP system at Esholt Wastewater Treatment Works (Bradford, UK) in summer 2005 and 2006. A primary maturation pond was spiked with 15N-labelled ammonia (15NH4Cl) and 15N-labelled algae (Chlorella vulgaris) to track nitrogen transformations and removal associated with ammonia volatilization, nitrification, and algal uptake and its subsequent sedimentation and retention/hydrolysis in the sludge layer. Stable isotope analysis of 15N, in conjunction with performance indicators, revealed that total nitrogen is poorly removed (? 8%) but ammonium nitrogen removal is very good in summer (effluent concentration <2 mg NH4 + -N/L). The nitrogen cycle in maturation ponds is dominated by biological uptake as ammonium nitrogen is rapidly transformed into algal biomass as suspended organic nitrogen which then either leaves in the pond effluent or is sedimented as dead cells. Ammonia removal by volatilization makes little or no contribution to nitrogen removal and biological nitrate uptake prevents classical nitrification. Thus algal uptake of ammonium and subsequent sedimentation and retention in the sludge layer, after parti al ammonification of the algal organic nitrogen, appears to be the dominant mechanism for permanent nitrogen removal in maturation ponds during warm summer months in England.

AlN thin films were grown in a N2 atmosphere onto a Si/Si3N4 substrate by pulsed laser ablation. We have varied the substrate temperature for the thin film growth, using X-ray Reflectometry (XRR) analysis, we have characterized the thickness and density of the thin layer and the interface roughness from the X-ray reflectivity profiles. Experimental data showed that the root-mean-square roughness was in the range of 0.3 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to characterize the chemical.

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in polarising Th lymphocyte subsets but it is unclear what molecular events occur when DCs generate Th2-type responses. Here, we analysed plasma membrane-enriched fractions from immature, pro-Th1 and pro-Th2 DCs and used a combination of iTRAQ labelling and LC–MS/MS to quantify changes in the proteomes. Analysis was performed on triplicate biological samples and changes verified by flow cytometry. MHC class II molecules and CD29 were up-regulated in pro-Th1 DCs whilst CD18 and CD44 were up-regulated in pro-Th2 DCs. One of the most down-regulated molecules in pro-Th1 DCs was YM-1 whilst the greatest decrease in pro-Th2 DCs was NAP-22. Other molecules up-regulated in pro-Th2 DC compared to pro-Th1 DCs included some potentially involved in protein folding during antigen processing (clathrin and Rab-7), whilst other non-membrane proteins such as enzymes/transporters related to cell metabolism (malate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, and ATPase Na+/K+) were also recorded. This suggests that pro-Th2 DCs are more metabolically active while pro-Th1 DCs have a mature ‘end state’. Overall, although several molecules were preferentially expressed on pro-Th2 DCs, our proteomics data support the view of a ‘limited maturation’ of pro-Th2 DCs compared to pro-Th1 DCs.

This paper aims to summarise the Russian Military-Industrial Complex’s role during the Soviet era and its subsequent attempts towards modernisation. First, it will describe the situation of the MIC and its influence in the USSR, stressing the existence of a privileged treatment that finally contributed to MIC’s decline. Second, the paper will analyse the causes of the onset the MIC’s decline, presenting the factors that transformed the MIC’s economic and political world. Third, it will study the revival of the MIC and the possible effects of the State Armaments Programme for the year 2020. Finally, it will provide insights for possible discussions of the MIC’s future.

Photo-identification is an important tool for studying cetacean residence patterns, population size, movements, and social structure. This knowledge directs conservation and management. We examined the reliability of photo-identification studies of pink river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) with the hope of encouraging long-term population monitoring programs. From February 2007 to August 2009, 12 surveys were conducted in two locations of the Colombian Amazon and Orinoco river basins. We obtained 795 suitable digital photographs of Inia dolphins. We evaluated the reliability and duration of photo-identification by describing and evaluating the permanence and consistency of eight mark-types. Marks were categorized as reliable (pigmentation patterns on the dorsal ridge, nicks, bends, and wounds) or supplementary based on their prevalence in the population, and gain and loss rates. We created a catalog of well-marked animals, defined as individuals with at least two reliable marks (55% of the images analyzed for this purpose). It contained photographs of the right side of 57 individuals and the left side of 40 individuals. There were 16 individuals with resightings over a 23-mo period. Future field surveys should use digital cameras with long lenses and fast shutter speeds in areas where dolphins are conspicuous when surfacing.

La prevención del consumo de drogas se ha enfocado en su mayoría en personas jóvenes basándose históricamente en los índices de mortalidad de esta población, dejando aparte las personas que sobreviven a esta problemática y que con el tiempo se convierten en personas mayores, con necesidades específicas que no son contempladas por la comunidad científica, ni organismos de atención en salud. Estas necesidades a futuro serán objetivos para la salud en una población de mayores que va en crecimiento. En este estudio se evaluaron y describieron las necesidades específicas de personas mayores de 50 años usuarias de drogas por medio de análisis temático, se encontraron 13 temáticas de necesidades relacionadas con las actuales dimensiones de atención en salud, y una no contemplada en las mismas, y de estas 14 necesidades, 3 se repitieron en diferentes dimensiones. La atención dedicada al tema de las drogodependencias tiene vacios muy grandes que merecen la gestión y continua evaluación, entre estas la necesidad de mejorar la cobertura institucional, fomentar el trato ético por parte de los profesionales relacionados con la salud, generar nuevos espacios para atender nuevas necesidades, y la inclusión activa de la población como una con características específicas.

As UNESCO indicates ""The Decade of the United Nations for the education with a view to the sustainable development tries to promote the education as foundation of a more viable society for the humanity and to integrate the sustainable development in the system of school education to all the levels”. In essence it proposes to stimulate a solidarity education that contributes to a correct perception of the world state, generate attitudes and responsible behaviors and preparefor the decision making towards the achievement of a cultural plural and physically sustainable development. This way the UPC has developed in its new study plan of studies, a system of generic competitions solved in seven levels: entrepreneur and innovation, sustainability and social understanding, third language, efficient oral and writing communication, team work, solvent use of the resources of information, autonomous learning. With this, as a base of investigation, a group of indicators where developed under the EMAS Project umbrella; that would give the university a system to assess the educational processes that promote the competition in SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT. Nevertheless, as sustainability is not based on a linear definition, but on the comprehension of the interconnections between the different aspects that it concerns, the indicators needed to give answer from different dimensions. That is to say, it where developed a range of indicators that concerned the different degrees of conscience and knowledge that can be acquired during an educational process. These, took into account on one hand the conceptual knowledge acquired and on the other, the personal values, attitudes, behaviors developed during an educational process and finally the coherence the students had between them at the end of the course. Having the previous in account there where developed 5 different indicators (Sustainability Credits Implication, Sustainability Students Internalizing, Professional Activity, Sustainability Investigation Implication, Sustainability Promotion and Diffusion Activities) which evaluate different scopes of the education for the sustainability from the school. The development of this Project has been framed under the rules of the utility, practicality, extension possibilities and continuity at the university. Also it has taken into account the different methodologies for obtaining the data needed for the indicators. Until now the results are being of satisfaction because of the easy -way of use in the different campus of the university and schools but also by the easy way of interpretation and understanding.

Abstract: The island of Sicily has served as one of the most important and common settings for the narrative of the Risorgimento. Italian literature dedicated to narrating the events of the country’s period of unification seems to be somewhat obsessed with this island, which has been created and recreated in novels, novelle and short stories written by both Sicilian and northern writers. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the land, culture and population of Sicily are depicted in three key narrative texts of the twentieth century to see how they may participate of the cultural, social, political and literary phenomenon known as Meridionalismo, which, we intend to prove, may be compared in attitude and scope to Orientalism (as described by Edward Said). We will limit ourselves to these three twentieth century narrations written: Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo, Sciascia’s Il quarantotto and De Cataldo’s I traditori all deal with the events of 1860 and the process of the Risorgimento as it occurred in Sicily and they were all written by men born in the South but that were writing from the North. We will attempt to see whether the social and cultural stereotypical representations of Sicily that characterized much of Meridionalist literature are present in these texts and, if so, how they may or may not connect the literature written about the Meridione by southern writers with the literature written about the Orient. Resumen: La isla de Sicilia ha sido uno de los escenarios más comunes e importantes de las narraciones del Risorgimento, el movimiento de unificación nacional de Italia. Autores Sicilianos y de otras regiones del país han creado y recreado obsesivamente la isla. El propósito de este artículo es explorar la manera en la que la tierra, la cultura y la población de Sicilia son representadas en tres textos narrativos del siglo veinte para analizar de qué manera éstos participan del fenómeno literario conocido como Meridionalismo, que puede ser comparado con el Orientalismo (como lo describió Edward Said). El artículo se limitará a El gatopardo de Lampedusa, El cuarenta y ocho de Sciascia y I traditori de De Caraldo. Estas novelas se centran en los hechos de 1860 y el proceso de Risorgimento mientras atravesaba Sicilia. Las tres fueron escritas por autores del sur de Italia que escribían desde el norte. El artículo explorará si los estereotipos culturales y sociales que caracterizan la literatura Meridionalista estám presentes en estos textos y, si sí, cómo puedenn conectar la literatura escrita sobre el Meridione con la escrita sobre el Oriente.