Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales - Argentina

Habitat loss and human-caused mortality have led to an approximate 50% reduction of the distribution of the jaguar (Panthera onca). The large contraction in the jaguar’s occurrence points to a need to understand its population size and habitat preferences to apply to the species’ conservation. Typically, jaguar densities are estimated with capture–recapture modeling of photographic captures of individually identifiable individuals, while habitat selection is estimated from telemetry data. However, advances in spatial capture-recapture modeling now permit the simultaneous estimation of density and habitat selection based solely upon photographic detection data from camera-trapping grids. Here, we used data from 356 double camera-trap stations across five sites in the Paraguayan Dry Chaco to simultaneously estimate jaguar density and resource selection. We found that jaguar densities ranged from 0.58 to 1.39 individuals/100 km2. At the spatial scale of our analysis, jaguars showed a strong preference for forest cover, while space use was not affected by the Human Footprint Index. Our density estimates were consistent with previous estimates based upon a subset of our data, as well as with estimates for jaguar populations in other dryland ecosystems. Furthermore, the strong selection for forest was also consistent with range-wide patterns in jaguar space use and habitat selection derived from telemetry data. Due to extensive and ongoing deforestation in the Dry Chaco, combined with high human-caused mortality, the jaguar is critically endangered in Paraguay. Although we show that jaguars can persist in anthropogenically altered landscapes in Paraguay, their long-term survival at the national level is strongly dependent upon the effective enforcement of the national jaguar conservation law, and application of the national jaguar management plan, to mitigate negative population effects from habitat loss and human-caused mortality.

We have studied the effects of individual and combined treatment of Insulin (I) and Naringin (NAR) on the bone structure and biomechanical properties of femurs from streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: 1) controls, 2) STZ-induced diabetic rats, 3) STZ rats treated with I, 4) STZ rats treated with NAR, and 5) STZ rats treated with I+NAR. Bone mineral density (BMD), bone histomorphometry, biomechanical testing, bone biomarker expressions were accomplished in femur of all animals, as well as serum biochemical analyses. The combined treatment of I+NAR increased the body weight and the femur BMD from STZ rats. The bone biomechanical properties and the bone morphology of the femurs from STZ rats were also improved by the combined treatment. The increased number of osteoclasts in STZ rats was partially prevented by I, NAR or I+NAR. NAR or I+NAR completely blocked the decrease in the number of osteocalcin (+) cells in the femur from STZ rats. RUNX2 immunostaining was much lower in STZ rats than in control animals; the combination of I+NAR totally blocked this effect. The combined treatment not only ameliorated bone quality and function, but also normalized the variables related to glucose metabolism. Therefore, the combination of I+NAR might be a better therapeutic strategy than the individual I or NAR administration to reduce bone complications in diabetic patients.

This study aimed to characterize and microencapsulate soybean seed coats phenolic compounds by spray‐drying, evaluating physicochemical properties and storage stability. Different extraction methodologies were used to obtain crude extract (SCE), ethyl acetate fraction, water fraction, and bound phenolic extract. Extraction yield, total phenolic and flavonoid contents, and antioxidant capacity were determined. HPLC–electrospray ionization source‐MS/MS analysis was performed on SCE. Microencapsulation by spray‐drying of SCE incorporating 10%, 20%, and 30% maltodextrin (MD) was carried out. Drying yield (DY), encapsulation efficiency (EE), moisture, morphology and particle size, dry, and aqueous storage stability were evaluated on the microcapsules. SCE had 7.79 g/100 g polyphenolic compounds (mainly isoflavones and phenolic acids) with antioxidant activity. Purification process by solvent partitioning allowed an increase of phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Microcapsules with 30% MD exhibited the highest DY, EE, and stability. Microencapsulated polyphenolic compounds from soybean seed coats can be used as functional ingredients in food products. Practical Application Soybean seed coat is a usually discarded agro‐industrial by‐product, which presents antioxidant compounds of interest to human health. These compounds are prone to oxidation due to their chemical structure; therefore, microencapsulation is a viable and reproducible solution to overcome stability‐related limitations. Microencapsulation of soybean seed coats polyphenols is an alternative which protects and extends the stability of phenolic compounds that could be potentially incorporated into food products as a natural additive with antioxidant properties.

To analyze the relationship between the level of BP achieved with treatment and the risk for development of preeclampsia/eclampsia (PE), we conducted a historical cohort study on 149 consecutive pregnant women with treated chronic hypertension, evaluated between January 1, 2016, and November 31, 2022. According to office BP readings and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) performed after 20 weeks of gestation, the cohort was classified in controlled hypertension, white-coat uncontrolled hypertension, masked uncontrolled hypertension and sustained hypertension. Risks for the development of PE were estimated using logistic regression. One hundred and twenty-four pregnant women with a control BP evaluation were included in this analysis. The rates of PE were 19.4%, 27.3%, 44.8% and 47.1% for controlled, white-coat uncontrolled, masked uncontrolled and sustained uncontrolled hypertension, respectively. Compared with women with controlled hypertension, the relative risk for PE increased markedly in women with sustained uncontrolled (OR 3.69, 95% CI, 1.19-11.45) and masked uncontrolled (OR 3.38, 95% CI, 1.30-11.45) hypertension, but not in those with white-coat uncontrolled (OR 1.56 95% CI, 0.36-6.70); adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Each mmHg higher of systolic and diastolic daytime ABPM increased the relative risk for PE ~4% and ~5%, respectively. Each mmHg higher of systolic and diastolic nocturnal BP increased the risk ~5% and ~6%, respectively. When these risks were adjusted for ABPM values in opposite periods of the day, only nocturnal ABPM remained as a significant predictor. In conclusion, masked uncontrolled hypertension implies a substantial risk for the development of PE, comparable to those of sustained uncontrolled. The presence of nocturnal hypertension seems important.

The objective of the chapter is to analyze the evolution of the decarbonization process of electricity generation in South America after the Paris Agreement in terms of climate justice, taking into account that this is a region with a low level of historical incidence of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), particularly in terms of emissions from the energy sector, and also a high degree of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. The gathering of information and analysis techniques are based on documentary research, using two types of secondary sources of information: on the one hand, quantitative data on installed power, electricity generation, and sectoral emissions to analyze the relative position of the region and its recent evolution; on the other hand, qualitative data from the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in order to examine the goals, sources, and obstacles to achieve electricity decarbonization. The findings corroborated the working hypothesis because the region as a whole has rapidly increased the incorporation of low-carbon sources in its electricity generation in relation to the group of the six highest emitting countries, despite the fact that South America started from a higher level in the decarbonization of the electricity mix and that climate change is affecting the generation capacity of its hydroelectric power plants. Likewise, nuances should be noted when analyzing the cases at the national level, given that the fast progress of some countries compensates for the slower speed of others.

A new method for estimating cumulative evapotranspiration using superconducting gravimeter data is presented. Evapotranspiration is computed from the classical water balance equation using precipitation data, estimated runoff, and water storage assessed from temporal variations of gravity. The gravity-based methodology is applied to a study site located at the Argentinian–German Geodetic Observatory (AGGO) in the flatland area of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina), which houses the only superconducting gravimeter in South America. For the period from April 2017 to May 2018, the cumulative evapotranspiration is estimated at 710.7 ± 25.7 mm. Evapotranspiration values are successfully compared with estimates provided by three methods, based on the water balance equation using soil moisture data, the numerical modelling of water flow in the unsaturated zone and the MODIS product (MOD16A2). The analysis of evapotranspiration also allows us to identify a period of soil water stress which is validated by soil moisture measurements.

In the 2020s, understanding disaster risk requires a strong and clear recognition of values and goals that influence the use of political and economic power and social authority to guide growth and development. This configuration of values, goals, power and authority may also lead to concrete drivers of risk at any one time. Building on previous disaster risk frameworks and experiences from practice, since 2010, the ‘Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN)’ approach has been developed to support transdisciplinary research on the transformational pathways societies may follow to recognise and address root causes and drivers of disaster risk. This article explores and assesses the achievements and failures of the FORIN approach. It also focuses on shedding light upon key requirements for new approaches and understandings of disaster risk research. The new requirements stem not only from the uncompleted ambitions of FORIN and the forensic approach but also from dramatic and ongoing transformational changes characterised by climate change, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the threat of global international confrontation, among other potential crises, both those that can be identified and those not yet identified or unknown. Contribution: Disasters associated with extreme natural events cannot be treated in isolation. A comprehensive “all risks” or “all disasters” approach is essential for a global transformation, which could lead to a better world order. To achieve this, an Intergovernmental Panel for Disaster Risk is suggested to assess risk science periodically and work towards sustainability, human rights, and accountability, within a development and human security frame and on a systemic basis and integrated perspective. Keywords: root causes; risk drivers; forensic investigations of disasters; FORIN; social construction of risk; disaster risk creation and construction; transformational change; existential threats; new world order.

This article states the need to decolonize the theories, policies, and practices that dominate health, and reflects on the necessity for a new epistemology built from the Global South. This allows rethinking health with a new categorical framework, which incorporates socially determined health and life, with the optic of reaching the highest conceivable degree of living well/well-living. We put forth that the epistemic bases of epidemiology and the implementation of health systems tend to reproduce a coloniality of power and of established health knowledge. Health systems are viewed as an accumulation of reforms based on theories and policies of the Global North imposed on Latin America and the Caribbean. These systems have been built as bureaucratic, biomedicalized, treatment-oriented, and commercialized health systems that are perceived as external to societies and that reproduce mistreatment, violence, and racism. We make the argument to rethink, remake, and decolonize the theories and practices that govern both epidemiology and health systems, and, from the South, develop strategic processes for building health sovereignty as the vision for the reconstruction of hope and social justice.

El artículo aborda la relación entre experiencia escolar, emociones y desigualdad en la secundaria argentina. Se reconstruye la experiencia escolar estudiantil en políticas de cambio de la secundaria (Escuelas de Reingreso, Ciudad de Buenos Aires; PROA, en la provincia de Córdoba), observando las emociones, el vínculo con sus docentes y el lugar del saber y los aprendizajes. En ambas políticas, la experiencia resulta placentera, pero, al desagregar dicha emocionalidad, se vislumbran formas diferenciales de garantizar el derecho a la educación secundaria. En reingreso, principalmente, se construye un vínculo de reconocimiento; en PROA, se enfatiza lo académico y el disfrute por el aprendizaje, pero con jóvenes elegidos que cuentan con una relación con el saber cercana a la propuesta escolar.

Disturbance is a primary driver of exotic plant invasions, but why disturbance commonly favours exotics over natives is unresolved. To address this question, we conducted the first biogeographic study of disturbance across multiple plant species. We experimentally disturbed grasslands and added seeds of 34 plant species to plots in their native range and in two introduced ranges that differed in invasibility (susceptibility to invasion) to evaluate recruitment while examining potential influences of resource availability, native community recovery from disturbance (resilience) and life‐history traits in local species pools. Species pools in the native (donor) range were more strongly skewed towards ruderal taxa than species pools in the introduced ranges. This bias in the donor pool was exacerbated by introduction filters that further selected for ruderal traits, strongly skewing exotic species pools in the introduced ranges towards ruderals. Sown species, which reflected these trait patterns, benefited from disturbance universally, but their disturbance response was 10‐fold greater in the more invasible introduced range. This result was not explained by nutrient availability, which responded similar to disturbance across ranges. Nor was it driven by background propagule pressure, which was minimal. Rather, the exaggerated disturbance effect in the more invasible introduced range appeared to be driven by weak recovery of the native plant community that allowed ruderal‐biased exotics to proliferate. Overall, disturbance appeared to favoured exotics because they were much more likely than natives to be ruderal. However, this trait bias only corresponded with an invader advantage in the more invasible range where weak community resilience was linked to slow‐growing, stress‐tolerant natives that failed to rapidly recover space and resources. In contrast, in the less invasible introduced range, highly competitive native perennials quickly filled the disturbance gap, demonstrating high community resilience that appeared to limit invader recruitment. Synthesis : Biogeographic influences on local species pools can facilitate invader success following disturbance, but final invasion outcomes are conditioned by native community resilience.

In 2013, Argentina promulgated Law 26844, transforming household workers’ juridical status from “servants,” with almost nonexistent labor rights, to “workers,” with rights virtually equal to all other workers under the law. This article examines how household workers in Buenos Aires who share amicable or kin‐like relationships with their employers and the people they care for experience the transition from a discriminatory normative order of patronage and servanthood into an egalitarian normative order of full labor rights. The article shows, first, that rather than adopting a purely contractual rationality of labor rights and obligations, workers instead often make claims to labor rights in the registers of reciprocal obligation extant in their relationships with their employers and the people they care for. Second, the article shows that, as a type of social capital, the intimate capital that workers accrue in their relationships with their employers and the people they care for, in the form of relational ties with them, sometimes enables workers to access labor rights. Thus, the article demonstrates how household workers claim and access their legal equality against the backdrop of enduring intersectional inequalities between them and their employers in a context of widespread violation of household workers’ labor rights.

Proterochampsidae is a clade of non-archosaurian archosauriforms restricted to the Middle to the Late Triassic of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of Argentina and the Santa Maria Supersequence of Brazil. A reappraisal of proterochampsid specimens from the Brazilian Dinodontosaurus Assemblage Zone (AZ) of the Pinheiros-Chiniquá Sequence (late Ladinian-early Carnian) is presented here. One of the specimens was preliminary assigned to Chanaresuchus sp., whose type species comes from the Massetognathus-Chanaresuchus AZ of the Chañares Formation of Argentina. However, our revision indicates that it differs from Chanaresuchus, being more closely related to the middle-late Carnian Rhadinosuchus gracilis. We therefore propose the new taxon, Pinheirochampsa rodriguesi, to reallocate this specimen. Additionally, we present a revision of other putative Chanaresuchus occurrences in Brazil, including the only known specimen described for the Santacruzodon AZ (Santa Cruz do Sul Sequence; early Carnian), also proposing it as a new taxon: Kuruxuchampsa dornellesi. Both new species are characterized, among other features, by transverse expansion of the anterior end of the rostrum, similar to the condition present in Rhadinosuchus, but absent in Chanaresuchus, Gualosuchus, Pseudochampsa, and non-rhadinosuchine proterochampsids. These two new species expand the growing knowledge of the non-archosaurian archosauriform diversity during the Middle-Late Triassic in South America and enhance faunal and chronological comparisons between approximately coeval geological units between Argentina and Brazil.

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being1,2, addressing the global biodiversity crisis³ still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever⁴. Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature’s values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)⁵ and the UN Sustainable Development Goals⁶, predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature⁷. Arguably, a ‘values crisis’ underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change⁸, pandemic emergence⁹ and socio-environmental injustices¹⁰. On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature’s diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions7,11. Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures.

Accurate completion of archaeological artifacts is a critical aspect in several archaeological studies, including documentation of variations in style, inference of chronological and ethnic groups, and trading routes trends, among many others. However, most available pottery is fragmented, leading to missing textural and morphological cues. Currently, the reassembly and completion of fragmented ceramics is a daunting and time-consuming task, done almost exclusively by hand, which requires the physical manipulation of the fragments. To overcome the challenges of manual reconstruction, reduce the materials' exposure and deterioration, and improve the quality of reconstructed samples, we present IberianVoxel, a novel 3D Autoencoder Generative Adversarial Network (3D AE-GAN) framework tested on an extensive database with complete and fragmented references. We generated a collection of 1001 3D voxelized samples and their fragmented references from Iberian wheel-made pottery profiles. The fragments generated are stratified into different size groups and across multiple pottery classes. Lastly, we provide quantitative and qualitative assessments to measure the quality of the reconstructed voxelized samples by our proposed method and archaeologists' evaluation.

Radishes ( Raphanus sativus L.) are cruciferous vegetables with remarkable nutraceutical properties given their distinctive isothiocyanates (ITCs) profile. These compounds are formed after glucosinolates‐Myrosinase enzymolysis. Although it is important to characterize radishes' ITCs levels, it is also necessary to evaluate the bioactive compounds' physiological fate after radishes ingestion. To do so, the extraction techniques should adapt to such conditions of high aqueous environment. In this work, we studied the bioaccessibility of ITCs and indole‐3‐carbinol (I3C) in radishes taproots considering the analytical implications of this biological process. Results showed that ITCs and indole profiles in the radish's taproots after aqueous‐myrosinase hydrolysis followed by Dispersive Liquid‐Liquid Microextraction were distinctively different from other reports. After in vitro digestion, raphasatin showed the highest bioaccessibility despite its low quantitative yields. Notably, I3C and S‐Sulforaphene become promising phytochemicals, due to their bioaccessibility and their considerable remaining amounts after digestion.

Cancer multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the main mechanisms contributing to therapy failure and mortality. Overexpression of drug transporters of the ABC family (ATP-binding cassette) is a major cause of MDR. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoparticles released by most cells of the organism involved in cell–cell communication. Their cargo mainly comprises, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, which are transferred from a donor cell to a target cell and lead to phenotypical changes. In this article, we review the scientific evidence addressing the regulation of ABC transporters by EV-mediated cell–cell communication. MDR transfer from drug-resistant to drug-sensitive cells has been identified in several tumor entities. This was attributed, in some cases, to the direct shuttle of transporter molecules or its coding mRNA between cells. Also, EV-mediated transport of regulatory proteins (e.g., transcription factors) and noncoding RNAs have been indicated to induce MDR. Conversely, the transfer of a drug-sensitive phenotype via EVs has also been reported. Additionally, interactions between non-tumor cells and the tumor cells with an impact on MDR are presented. Finally, we highlight uninvestigated aspects and possible approaches to exploiting this knowledge toward the identification of druggable processes and molecules and, ultimately, the development of novel therapeutic strategies.