Instituto De Investigaciones Research Articles

Georgina Sposetti: trial recruitment revolutionary.

In 2013, Georgina Sposetti was diagnosed with Lewis-Sumner syndrome, a rare nervous system disorder for which there was no treatment at the time. As the founder of one of Argentina's foremost research centres, the Mar Del Plata Instituto de Investigaciones Clinica (Buenos Aires), her first impulse was to go online and volunteer for a medical trial, but she was immediately struck by how difficult it might be for a non-specialist to navigate the opaque world of clinical research. “At that moment”, she explains over a Zoom call, “I realised that for anyone who does not have the technical knowledge, this was an impossible task.” Since then, she has been working to demystify her profession and revolutionise trial recruitment in Latin America so that anyone with an internet connection and the right profile can sign themselves up.

SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Households in a Peri-Urban Community of Lima, Peru: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Few studies have prospectively evaluated SARS-CoV-2 infections in households. We assessed the prevalence and incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in a prospective study of households in Lima, Peru.Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study in a peri-urban district of Lima, Peru. Households with at least a child, a young adult (age 18 to 50 years) and an older adult age >50 years, were followed with twice-a-week household visits during a two-month period for health surveillance. Nasal swabs and saliva specimens were collected twice weekly, and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected weekly from each participant, regardless of symptoms. Laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was defined by two RT-PCR tests from any of the collected specimens within a week. Blood samples collected at enrolment and end of follow­-up were tested with rapid serological tests. We calculated the prevalence and incidence of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections during the study period.Findings: We enrolled 132 participants from 44 households, including 44 children, 44 young adults and 44 older adults. A total of 13 SARS-CoV-2 infections were detected in 9 households, for an overall period prevalence of 9·85% (95% confidence interval [CI]:5·35-16·25). Most (66·67%) infections were symptomatic. Eight of 11 (72·73%) SARS-CoV-2 detections corresponded to the Lambda variant. During 218·79 person-months at risk of follow-up there were six new SARS-CoV-2 infections detected (2·74 per 100 person-month, 95% CI: 1·25– 6·04). At enrollment, 59 of 128 participants tested had positive SARS-CoV-2 IgG serology (46·09%, 95% CI: 37·25-55·12). Five of six new infections occurred among participants with negative baseline serology.Interpretation: We demonstrated high incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in households during periods of active circulation of the Lambda variant, especially among subjects without evidence of prior infection, most of them not detected by the Ministry of Health system.Funding Information: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología – CONCYTEC-PROCIENCIA, Lima, Peru (contract No. 082-2020); Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville TN, USA; and Instituto de Investigación Nutricional, Lima, Peru. Declaration of Interests: None to declare. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by the ethics review boards (ERBs) of the Instituto de Investigacion Nutricional and Vanderbilt University. All adults signed their own ERB approved written informed consent form (ICF). For individuals under 18 years of age, either the mother or the father signed an ICF. Additionally, children 8 years and older signed a written informed assent form.

INFESTACIÓN DE Dolops discoidalis (CRUSTACEA: BRANCHIURA) EN Pseudoplatystoma punctifer (SILURIFORMES: PIMELODIDAE), Colossoma macropomum (CHARACIFORMES: SERRASALMIDAE) Y Brochis multiradiatus (SILURIFORMES: CALLICHTHYIDAE)

El estudio se realizó en las instalaciones del Centro de Investigaciones Fernando Alcántara Bocanegra (CIFAB) del Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), Iquitos; con el objetivo de conocer el comportamiento parasitario de Dolops discoidalis (Bouvier, 1899) (Crustacea: Branchiura) en tres especies de peces. El muestreo se realizó durante los meses de noviembre y diciembre del 2018. Para este estudio se extrajeron individuos de esta especie de parásitos de la superficie corporal de ejemplares adultos de Pseudoplatystoma punctifer (Castelnau, 1855), criados en cautiverio en las instalaciones del CIFAB. Los parásitos colectados fueron llevados al Laboratorio de Parasitología y Sanidad Acuícola del IIAP para ejecutar dos experimentos relacionados al comportamiento parasitario de D. discoidalis en tres especies de peces: P. punctifer, Colossoma macropomum (Cuvier, 1816) y Brochis multiradiatus (Orcés V., 1960). El experimento I consistió en colocar un ejemplar de cada especie de pez en un acuario de vidrio (4 réplicas) y distribuir 18 ejemplares de D. discoidalis por unidad experimental con la finalidad de determinar el comportamiento parasitario de esta especie. Para el experimento II, se colocaron dos ejemplares de C. macropomum en dos acuarios diferentes y cuatro ejemplares de B. multiradiatus en un acuario, con 11 parásitos en cada una de las unidades experimentales. Los resultados del experimento I mostraron a todos los individuos de D. discoidalis parasitando únicamente a P. punctifer, revelando una marcada afinidad por esta especie de pez. En el experimento II se observó que el parásito D. discoidalis ante la ausencia de P. punctifer, es capaz de parasitar a ejemplares de C. macropomum y B. multiradiatus detectando entre uno a dos parásitos por pez parasitado, revelando muy baja afinidad. Se recomienda realizar estudios histológicos para determinar el grado de daño que causa este parasito en los peces, principalmente en P. punctifer, especie que mostró alta susceptibilidad ante D. discoidalis.

The publications of Ramon Margalef in Investigación Pesquera and Scientia Marina: The beginnings of marine ecology in the CSIC

Ramon Margalef López (1919-2004) was one of the most prominent scientists of the 20th century in the fields of limnology, oceanography and ecology. His contributions to theoretical ecology, which won him international recognition, were based on a great deal of laboratory and field work and on extensive observations of the natural world, a passion that he acquired at a young age. Some of the early papers of Ramon Margalef appeared in the Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada, but as of 1955 many of his marine studies were published in Investigación Pesquera, the journal of the Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras of the CSIC in Barcelona. He also wrote several articles for Scientia Marina, the journal that replaced Investigación Pesquera in 1989 after the Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras became the Institut de Ciències del Mar. The present article aims to give an overview of Margalef’s contributions to these journals to mark the celebration in 2019 of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Special Issue on Roads to Reference

This special issue of MANUSCRITO collects original articles by leading scholars from Latin America and Spain about topics discussed in Mario Gomez-Torrente’s recent book Roads to Reference: An Essay on Reference Fixing in Natural Language (2019). Each article is followed by GomezTorrente’s reply. The idea of the issue grew out of a workshop on GomezTorrente’s book organized in July 16th 2020 at the Instituto de Investigaciones Filosoficas (UNAM). We hope the issue will increment the interest for this book in particular and bring a substantial contribution to the discussion of central topics in contemporary analytic philosophy.

Comparative study on the un test n` 5 application on cargoes that emit flammable gases similar to dri c that requires ventilation

This technical note summarizes a technical comparison of common testing procedures, as well as reviewed of the UN Test N` 5, for the assessment of the self-heating properties of cargoes and materials that has shown a clear trend on maritime fire and explosions events, as well as considering of external factors that can combine self-heating and emit flammable gases to conclude in an unlikely event affecting the security of crews and ships. A high understanding of the external factors effect on the cargo materials certainly will help the application of spontaneous reactions management actions (SRMA) on board of ships during the cargo sea passage. The intended comparison is based on laboratory, industry and field observations and data, whereas the among the external factors considered are, moisture content, stockpile procedure and aging, air velocities and moderate pressures internal and externally to the cargo material. The comparison results have shown that the self-heating and the flammable gas emissions has a common pattern when reacting with any oxygen available source, regardless the reactive material chemical composition.
 Keywords: reactive materials, self-heating, self-ignition, direct reduced iron fines, materials handling, UN test N` 5, maritime safety, spontaneous reactions, risk management. IMSBC Code , IMO.
 References
 [1]A. M. DeGennaro, M. W. Lohry, L. Martinelli, C. W. Rowley. Uncertainty Quantification for Cargo Hold Fires. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
 [2]L.L.Sloss Assessing and Managing Spontaneous Combustion of Coals. IEA Clean Coal Center (CCC 259). Oct. 2015.
 [3].A. Janes, G Marlair, D Carson, j. Chaneausx. Towards the improvement of UN Test N1 5 Method for the characterization of substances which in contact with water emit Flammable Gases. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries. Elsevier 2012, 25 (3), pp 524-534.
 [4]G. Rouget, B. Majidi, D. Picard, G. Gauvin, D. Ziegler, J. Mashreghi, and H. Alamdar. Electrical Resistivity Measurement of Petroleum Coke Powder by Means of Four-Probe Method. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B. Vol. 48B, Oct. 2017-2543.
 [5]Y. Rubiela Hernández Puerto, M.Triviño Restrepo. El coque metalúrgico aplicado a protección catódica (Metallurgia coque applied to catodic protection). Revista del Instituto de Investigaciones FIGMMG. Vol. 10, Nº 20, 60-67 (2007) UNMSM I.
 [6]S. Narayan Jha, K. Narsaiah, A.L. Basediya, R.Sharma, P. Jaiswal, R. Kumar, and R. Bhardwaj. Measurement techniques and application of electrical properties for nondestructive quality evaluation of foods—a review. Food Sci Technol. 2011 Aug; 48(4): 387–411.
 [7]R. Fontes Araujo, J. Batisa Zonta, E. Fontes Araujo, E. Heberle, E, F. Miranda Garcia Zonta. Teste de Conductividade Eletrica para Smentes de Feijao Mungo Verde 1. Rev. Brasikleira de Sementes, Vol. 33, N` 1, pp123/130, 2011.
 [8]P.A. Eidem. Electric Resistivity of Coke Beds. PhD Thesis. Norwegian University of Science and Technology Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Tronheim Oct. 2008.
 [9]N. Birks, et.al. - Mechanism in Corrosion Induced Auto-ignition of Direct Reduced Iron. Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh.
 [10]Monitoring Implementation of the Hazardous and Noxious Substances Convention. Report on incidents involving HNS. Submitted by the United Kingdom. IMO 85th Session, Agenda item 5- LEG 85/INF.2, 19 September 2002.

Response of red clover to deficit irrigation: dry matter yield, populations, and irrigation water use efficiency in southern Chile

Red clover is a very important species in temperate regions of Chile and around the world. Southern Chile has been affected by climate variability, particularly relating to the quantity, distribution, and frequency of rainfall patterns. Over time, this has changed the red clover persistence and dry matter (DM) yield. The study was conducted at the Regional Research Center Carillanca of the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA-Carillanca), Region de La Araucania, Chile (38°41′ S, 72°25′ W, and its elevation is 188 m.a.s.l.) during the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 growing seasons. The objective was to evaluate the response of red clover materials on dry matter yield, populations, and irrigation water use efficiency under deficit irrigation (DI) conditions. The irrigation treatments were: non-stressed (T1; irrigation application was supplied when the volumetric soil moisture content was close to 50% of total water available), 80% of T1 (T2), 60% of T1 (T3) and rainfed (T4) were imposed. Forage yield (FY), plant density (Src) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) were measured. The highest total average forage yield was 27.5 and 24.6 t DM ha−1 for all evaluated irrigation treatments and red clover materials, respectively. The highest average value of plant population was above 30 plants m−2 at the end of the second season. IWUE was close to 2.6 kg DM m−3 during the periods of maximum atmospheric demand (from January to March) for both growing seasons. A reduction of 20% of the applied irrigation could be a viable alternative for saving water in southern Chile without significantly reducing forage yield.

A hardware system with ARM-based data processing for nano satellites

<span>The Institute of Scientific and Technical Research for Defense in Argentina (Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa - CITEDEF) is developing a processing hardware module based on a ARM Cortex M4 processor from STMicroelectronics. The microcontroller (MCU) has the capacity to run at a maximum clock frequency of 180 MHz, integrates a Floating Point Unit (FPU). An 8MB SDRAM was included for dynamic data allocation. This hardware will host and process the algorithms to calculate and determine the nanosatellite’s attitude. The module is intended to be Cubesat compatible, possess a flexible design, handles various inertial sensors and can manage backups on microSD memory cards with sizes up to 32GB.</span>

Substituting Angiotensin-(1-7) to Prevent Lung Damage in SARS-CoV-2 Infection?

Substituting Angiotensin-(1-7) to Prevent Lung Damage in SARS-CoV-2 Infection?

Comparison between Supplementation and a Diet High in Vitamins A, C, E on Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Patients with Cardiometabolic Risk

Cardiometabolic risk refers to interrelated traditional risk factors for metabolic syndrome such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia as well as behavioral factors such as physical inactivity, smoking, and unhealthy eating patterns. Family history, age, sex, and race/ethnicity also contribute to cardiometabolic risk. Currently Mexico has presented an increase in cases of obesity, according to the OCDE, Mexico is the second country, after the United States, with higher degree of obesity in the adult population. Oxidative stress and inflammation play a central role in the onset and development of many of the diseases that appear in patients with cardiometabolic risk, due to this an alternative in the treatment would be the use of antioxidants such as vitamins A, C and E. High dietary intake of vitamin C, carotenoids, and vitamin E have been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality, but these associations have not shown conclusive results. In addition, there is controversy between whether it is better to supplement these vitamins or include them in diet foods.Therefore, the objective of this work was to compare the effect between foods and supplements with a high contribution of vitamin C, A and E on markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in patients with cardiometabolic risk. The sample selection is from voluntary subjects and consists of 30 people between 30 and 60 years of age who present cardiometabolic risk factors, which were divided into two groups, one received the vitamins in supplements and the other in the food of the diet for 90 days. At the beginning and the end of the treatment, anthropometric measurements, biochemical determinations such as glucose and lipid profile, as well as markers of inflammation (IL‐6 and TNF‐α) and oxidative stress (TBARS and Glutathione) were performed.On average the patients was 33.4 years old and they had a BMI of 34.5. Women had a waist circumference of 88 cm and 102 cm for men which most were obese. In addition, patients had impaired fasting glucose levels (105.4 mg/dL) and low HDL levels (Men: 31.3 mg/dL; Women: 42 mg/dL). As they were patients with cardiometabolic risk presented oxidative stress and inflammation. The consumption of supplements showed a greater effect in reducing these parameters since were higher doses that can’t be achieved with diet foods. The results indicate that consumption of vitamins A, C and E in patients with cardiometabolic risk is a tool that can complement the treatment of these patients because it helps reduce oxidative stress and inflammation due to its antioxidant effects.Support or Funding InformationThis project was sponsored by the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Universidad de Morelia S.C.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-Driven Monoclonal Gammopathies and Myeloma

Background: Multiple myeloma remains an incurable plasma cell malignancy. While its origin is enigmatic, an association with infectious pathogens including hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been suggested. Methods: We studied thirteen patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) or multiple myeloma with previous HCV infection. Viral load was quantified using the VERIS MDx system. The antigen specificity of purified monoclonal immunoglobulins was determined using the INNO-LIA HCV Score, dot-blot assays, and a multiplex infectious-antigen microarray. Findings: The target of the purified monoclonal immunoglobulin was identified for 8/13 patients. The monoclonal immunoglobulin from 6/8 patients reacted against HCV. Four of the patients received antiviral treatment and had a better evolution than untreated patients. Following antiviral treatment, one patient with multiple myeloma in third relapse achieved complete remission with minimal residual disease negativity, as assessed by next generation multiparameter flow cytometry. Two patients did not receive antiviral treatment and progressed. For the two additional patients whose monoclonal immunoglobulin did not react against HCV, antiviral treatment was not effective for MGUS or multiple myeloma disease. Interpretation: Our results suggest a causal relationship between HCV infection and MGUS and multiple myeloma progression. When HCV is eliminated, chronic antigen-stimulation disappears, allowing control of clonal plasma cells. This opens new possibilities of treatment for MGUS and multiple myeloma. Funding Statement: This work was supported by grants to S.H. from the Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer (Comites Departementaux 44, 56, 29, 85, 35) and International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) (Brian D. Novis senior grant). We acknowledge of Instituto de Investigacion Hospital 12 de Octubre (i+12), CIBERONC, AECC (Accelerator Award), and the CRIS foundation for their help. M.L. had a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FPDI-2013-16409) and a grant from the Spanish Society of Hematology Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by our Institutional Review Board and the patients provided written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Critical Value of Soil Potassium for Potato Crops in Volcanic Soils

The critical value of soil exchangeable potassium (K) (mg K kg−1) is a valuable tool for an efficient K fertilization management in potato production systems. The aim of the present study was to determine the critical value of soil exchangeable K for potato crops grown in different environments and differing availabilities of initial exchangeable K. The data used in this study were taken from 34 experiments on K fertilization conducted in southern Chile from 1977 to 2017 by the National Potato Center at the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA). Yield responses to K fertilization rates were assessed with linear-plateau and Mitscherlich models in order to determine the critical soil exchangeable K across environments. Across experiments, the average fresh tuber yield ranged between 18 and 91 Mg ha−1. Fresh tuber yields decreased by up to 70% when no K fertilization was applied. Yield reduction was concentrated around 25% in response to K deficiency. Relative yields were described as significant by both linear-plateau and Mitscherlich models. However, relative yields were better described by the linear-plateau model (p < 0.01, R2 = 0.62; SEE = 0.11). The critical soil exchangeable K value identified with the linear-plateau model was 224 mg K kg−1. This critical K value will be useful for potato farmers that produce their crops in volcanic soils, such as Andisols. Moreover, this critical K value will help to increase K use efficiency through better K fertilization management strategies aimed at building and/or maintaining K levels in soils.

Letters of an antifascist. Marianne Angermann to her parents, antifascists in Germany from 7 / 5 / 1936 to 14 / 7 / 1936.

Marianne Angermann was a German biochemist who emigrated to New Zealand in 1948 when her husband, the German-Jewish physician Franz David Bielschowsky, took up a position in Dunedin as director of research for the British Empire Cancer Research Fund (today, the New Zealand Cancer Society). This publication focuses on copies of her letters from 1936 which are held in the Hocken Collections at the University of Otago. The letters were written to her parents in Germany (Langenberg and Berlin) from Spain where Marianne had moved to take up a position at the Instituto de investigaciones médicas (Institute of Medical Research) at the invitation of Professor Carlos Jiménez Díaz. Her colleagues were drawn from the elite of Spanish scientific researchers and included future Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa de Albornoz. Angermann describes daily life in Madrid and makes references to the country's political tensions as the nation headed towards the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939). She also discusses the work undertaken to establish Jiménez Díaz's institute based at the medical faculty on the new Madrid University campus (the Ciudad Universitaria). In November 1936 this facility would become the site of bitter fighting between Republicans and Franco's Nationalist forces. The introduction provides biographical information on Marianne Angermann: her upbringing in the Rhineland, her father's position as mayor of Langenberg, the political turmoil of the 1920s (inflation, French occupation of the Rhineland), her study at the universities of Greifswald and Freiburg, the difficulties faced by women in the field of chemistry, and the fates of her Jewish colleagues and friends when the Nazis seized power in 1933. Keywords: Angermann, Bielschowsky, medical, research, Dunedin, Jews, migration, New Zealand, National Socialism, anti-Semitism, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Madrid, university, Carlos Jiménez Díaz, Germany, Instituto de investigaciones médicas, Spanish Republic, Nationalists

Letters of an antifascist. Marianne Angermann to her parents, antifascists in Germany from 2 / 3 / 1936 to 26 / 4 / 1936.

Marianne Angermann was a German biochemist who emigrated to New Zealand in 1948 when her husband, the German-Jewish physician Franz David Bielschowsky, took up a position in Dunedin as director of research for the British Empire Cancer Research Fund (today, the New Zealand Cancer Society). This publication focuses on copies of her letters from 1936 which are held in the Hocken Collections at the University of Otago. The letters were written to her parents in Germany (Langenberg and Berlin) from Spain where Marianne had moved to take up a position at the Instituto de investigaciones médicas (Institute of Medical Research) at the invitation of Professor Carlos Jiménez Díaz. Her colleagues were drawn from the elite of Spanish scientific researchers and included future Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa de Albornoz. Angermann describes daily life in Madrid and makes references to the country's political tensions as the nation headed towards the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939). She also discusses the work undertaken to establish Jiménez Díaz's institute based at the medical faculty on the new Madrid University campus (the Ciudad Universitaria). In November 1936 this facility would become the site of bitter fighting between Republicans and Franco's Nationalist forces. The introduction provides biographical information on Marianne Angermann: her upbringing in the Rhineland, her father's position as mayor of Langenberg, the political turmoil of the 1920s (inflation, French occupation of the Rhineland), her study at the universities of Greifswald and Freiburg, the difficulties faced by women in the field of chemistry, and the fates of her Jewish colleagues and friends when the Nazis seized power in 1933.Keywords: Angermann, Bielschowsky, medical, research, Dunedin, Jews, migration, New Zealand, National Socialism, anti-Semitism, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Madrid, university, Carlos Jiménez Díaz, Germany, Instituto de investigaciones médicas, Spanish Republic, Nationalists

Letters of an antifascist. Marianne Angermann to her parents, antifascists in Germany from 22 / 12 / 1935 to 24 / 2 / 1936.

Marianne Angermann was a German biochemist who emigrated to New Zealand in 1948 when her husband, the German-Jewish physician Franz David Bielschowsky, took up a position in Dunedin as director of research for the British Empire Cancer Research Fund (today, the New Zealand Cancer Society). This publication focuses on copies of her letters from 1936 which are held in the Hocken Collections at the University of Otago. The letters were written to her parents in Germany (Langenberg and Berlin) from Spain where Marianne had moved to take up a position at the Instituto de investigaciones médicas (Institute of Medical Research) at the invitation of Professor Carlos Jiménez Díaz. Her colleagues were drawn from the elite of Spanish scientific researchers and included future Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa de Albornoz. Angermann describes daily life in Madrid and makes references to the country's political tensions as the nation headed towards the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939). She also discusses the work undertaken to establish Jiménez Díaz's institute based at the medical faculty on the new Madrid University campus (the Ciudad Universitaria). In November 1936 this facility would become the site of bitter fighting between Republicans and Franco's Nationalist forces. The introduction provides biographical information on Marianne Angermann: her upbringing in the Rhineland, her father's position as mayor of Langenberg, the political turmoil of the 1920s (inflation, French occupation of the Rhineland), her study at the universities of Greifswald and Freiburg, the difficulties faced by women in the field of chemistry, and the fates of her Jewish colleagues and friends when the Nazis seized power in 1933.Keywords: Angermann, Bielschowsky, medical, research, Dunedin, Jews, migration, New Zealand, National Socialism, anti-Semitism, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Madrid, university, Carlos Jiménez Díaz, Germany, Instituto de investigaciones médicas, Spanish Republic, Nationalists

Virginia y la reforma de la esclavitud, 1800–1865: Los límites del progreso en una sociedad esclavista by Gerardo Gurza Lavalle

Reviewed by: Virginia y la reforma de la esclavitud, 1800–1865: Los límites del progreso en una sociedad esclavista by Gerardo Gurza Lavalle Matt Childs Virginia y la reforma de la esclavitud, 1800–1865: Los límites del progreso en una sociedad esclavista. By Gerardo Gurza Lavalle. Historia Internacional. (Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 2016. Pp. 223. Paper, $22.99, ISBN 978-607-9475-48-2.) Mexican historian Gerardo Gurza Lavalle takes up the challenge of analyzing how the religious, political, and economic elite of Virginia attempted to modify and reform the institution of slavery in the nineteenth century. The author structures his analysis by arguing that, with the North industrializing and the Deep South expanding cotton production, Virginia slave masters took concrete steps to reform and diminish the state's economic reliance on slavery, even while they took steps to prolong slavery's existence. At the heart of Gurza Lavalle's analysis is to probe the contradictions embedded in attempts to simultaneously reform and protect slavery in nineteenth-century Virginia. The strength of the work is to revisit the split-personality upper South elite, who looked toward an industrial future in the early nineteenth century, but who remained reliant on an agricultural past. Over time, their inability to disavow their slaveholding past and their enthusiastic defense of slavery as a distinct cultural characteristic of the region became crystallized by responding to abolitionists' critiques with the evangelical furor supplied by the Second Great Awakening. The author analyzes the American Colonization Society as part of Virginia elites' efforts to reform slavery, even though he recognizes its overall ineffectiveness. For Gurza Lavalle, the overall failure of reform illustrates the inability of the Virginia elite to conceive of how to create a society free of slavery where former slaves could live. In the remaining chapters, the author focuses on the role of the church in promoting two distinct reform movements: first, those that attempted to eradicate or greatly diminish the importance of slavery to the Virginia economy; and second, those that accepted the inability to abolish the institution but attempted to make it less violent and more in accord with the Christian principles animating the Second Great Awakening. As his subject is the slaveholding elite and those closely aligned to their objectives, the author writes from the slave masters' perspective. He draws heavily from ecclesiastical sources, such as those produced by the Baptists, and in particular the minutes of local Baptist associations throughout Virginia. Gurza Lavalle recognizes that reforms were designed to maintain slave masters' dominance over society, but he asserts that some of their policies "reflected an authentic preoccupation for the living conditions of their slaves, and the desire to create a progressive and 'civilized' society" (p. 19). At certain places throughout the text, the argument that any reform of slavery essentially weakened the institution stands in contrast to recent studies that have shown that the nineteenth-century South was a dynamic malleable society. In recognition of arguments by Edward E. Baptist and Walter Johnson on the capitalist and modern features of nineteenth-century slavery, Gurza Lavalle argues that [End Page 703] his study complements their insights by showing how reformers hoped to develop an economy that moved beyond slavery. The promise of reform on the part of slaveholders to eliminate, modernize, and ameliorate slavery was far more than just a defensive strategy aimed at addressing abolitionists' discourses, according to Gurza Lavalle. Throughout the work, a critical examination of self-serving discourses that promised benevolent reforms on the part of the slaveholding elite and the actual social practices and experiences of the enslaved remains underdeveloped, an issue many readers will be quick to point out. However, it should be stressed that this is precisely the author's point; as social legitimacy was questioned on economic, religious, and political fronts, self-justification by the master class became all the more necessary and ever more defensive. In the end, the proliferation of attempts to modify slavery and its changing discursive legitimacy serves itself as an index of a society unraveling and the limits of reform. In closing, Gurza Lavalle provides an insightful analysis of the changes made...

Advances in phenology and harvest characterization of the Chilean Vitis sp. germplasm collection and its use in table grape breeding

Germplasm collection and characterization is essential for plant breeding. Chile holds a collection of 347 Vitis accessions at Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, La Platina, that have been successfully used to develop new table grape cultivars such as Maylen®. Located in the central valley of Chile, a section of the Vitis collection was characterized for two consecutive seasons for phenology as well as fruit quality parameters at harvest. In terms of phenology, the collections can be grouped in four main clusters, with a higher representation of individuals at the middle and late timing. Fruit phenotyping showed significant differences among wine and table grapes for cluster and berry weight, seed number and fresh seed weight, polar and equatorial diameters, as well as the ratio among these parameters. Interestingly, rachis weight, a novel parameter associated with fruit storage capacity, did not show differences among groups. Other novel traits, such as the combination of commercial seedleesness and berry equatorial diameters above 2cm were less represented, suggesting the need to create and introduce genetic variability for table grape breeding purposes.

English

Bovine papillomavirus (BPV) causes benign tumours in the mucosal and cutaneous epithelium and is characterized by the presence of warts. The present study includes the molecular identification of BPV strains in samples of warts using degenerate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers FAP59/64. Skin biopsies were taken from crossbred cattle from two experimental farms of Instituto de Investigacion Agropecuaria de Panama (IDIAP) during the period from July 2016 to February 2018. Fourteen samples were positive by PCR amplification and sequenced at the laboratory of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (IMELCF). The analysis of the sequences allowed the identification of strains related to seven viral types; this was the first time that this type of study was carried out in Panama. The present study showed that PCR amplification with the primers FAP59/64, which partially amplify the L1 gene, followed by direct sequencing was useful for genotyping BPV. This study possibly identified local strains of BPV2 and BBA2; however, it is necessary to carry out more studies to establish the diversity and distribution of this virus in the country. The results in this study are important for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic measures that contribute to reducing the economic losses associated with BPV in Panama. Key words: Livestock, biotechnology, molecular genetics, virology, animal health.

News, Programs, Publications, and Awards

News, Programs, Publications, and Awards

Retrieving Peromyscus bullatus from P. difficilis (Rodentia: Cricetidae) through cranial morphometry in a mammal collection

Peromyscus bullatus and Peromyscus difficilis are sympatric and phenotypically similar rodents. Because of this, misidentification of both species is frequent in the field and in mammal collections. In this study, P. bullatus specimens were retrieved from the P. difficilis specimens, in the mammal collection of the Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas of the Universidad Veracruzana, through the analysis of morphometric measurements of the tympanic bulla, proposed by González-Ruíz et al. (2005) as discrimination key variables between both species.