Introduction: In public discourse and media, as well as in medical settings, dementia is often portrayed as a tragedy, a perspective that contributes to stigma. Descriptions using metaphors like decaying fruit, or statements labeling dementia as death in life’’ and a tsunami for healthcare systems,’’ not only perpetuate negative emotions like fear and helplessness, but also promote social distance. These dehumanizing expressions can intensify the suffering of those living with dementia and those around them, besides complicating understanding of the condition, exacerbating social isolation, and hindering timely medical attention. Questioning the narrative of dementia as a tragedy does not imply denying or underestimating the challenges and suffering associated with this condition. However, diagnosis should not hinder the recognition of moments of pleasure, the potential for internal growth of the person living with dementia and those around them, as well as the persistence of connection and dignity. The philosophy of ambiguity offers a useful framework for countering a stigmatizing narrative and addressing dementia with a more compassionate and nuanced approach. The philosophy of ambiguity, primarily expounded by Simone de Beauvoir, invites us to recognize the coexistence of multiple realities and the simultaneous presence of contradictions. This is reflected in the complex contradictions and paradoxes present in our experiences, both personal and social. Health itself is an ambiguous concept, representing not only the absence of illness but also a dynamic and multifaceted state, culturally and contextually influenced. By focusing on preserved abilities, we can contribute to the well-being of those living with dementia, reinforcing their dignity and self-esteem. The success of this approach depends on having adequate social support and an effective healthcare system. Understanding dementia in a broad social and cultural context allows us to overcome the traditional Manichean view that categorizes it strictly as either tragedy or well-being. It is crucial for medical personnel to use empathetic and respectful communication to maintain dignity and foster hope in those living with dementia. Listening carefully and avoiding stigmatizing language are fundamental to recognizing individual worth and creating a more compassionate and humane care environment.

A broad gap exists between “God’s eye” transit maps from above that experts draw and how domestic workers map their commutes in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia, through a street-level approach. Based on fieldwork conducted in both cities between 2017 and 2018, including interviews, participant observation, and social cartography, this translational article brings domestic workers’ understanding of the city they traverse daily vis-à-vis how experts conceive modern and rational public transportation systems. Delving into the literature on cartography, the Right to the City (RtC), and feminist geography, the study analyzes this gap and finds how it limits an effective RtC for this massive group of female commuters. It further provides public policy recommendations to address the gap and ensure RtC for all.

In this paper, we are interested in investigating notions of stability for generalized linear differential equations (GLDEs). Initially, we propose and revisit several definitions of stability and provide a complete characterization of them in terms of upper bounds and asymptotic behaviour of the transition matrix. In addition, we illustrate our stability results for GLDEs to linear periodic systems and linear impulsive differential equations. Finally, we prove that the well-known definitions of uniform asymptotic stability and variational asymptotic stability are equivalent to the global uniform exponential stability introduced in this article.

The hawksbill sea turtle Eretmochelys imbricata is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and its population has declined by over 80% in the last century. The Eastern Pacific population is one of the most threatened hawksbill populations globally. Western Mexico is the northern distribution limit for hawksbill sea turtles in the Eastern Pacific and recent research indicates that the Mexican Pacific portion of the population is a separate management unit because of the restricted movements of these turtles. Here we use the most complete database of sighting records in the north-west Pacific of Mexico to identify sites where hawksbill turtles are present. We also develop a conservation index to determine the conservation status of hawksbill turtle sites. Our results demonstrate the importance of this region for juveniles and the relevance of rocky reefs and mangrove estuaries as habitats for hawksbill turtles. We identified 52 sites with records of hawksbill turtles. Most of these sites (71%) are not protected; however, sites with high conservation value included islands and coastal sites along the Baja California peninsula that are established as marine protected areas. Reefs and mangrove estuaries relevant for hawksbill turtles are probably also significant fish nursery areas that are important for local fishing communities, creating opportunities for conservation strategies that combine science, local engagement and policy to benefit both local fishing communities and hawksbill sea turtle conservation.

The Ongamira Valley (Córdoba, Argentina) shows a persistent occupational history of its territory. Even one of the first Argentinian radiocarbon (14C) dates was calculated in this valley; for 70 years, the chronology was based on relative dates (stratigraphy and its cultural content). For this reason, since 2010 a 14C dating program has been developed focusing on the chronology of eight of the 60 sites identified so far for the valley. This work reports the outcomes of this program with 27 new dates. These data have been related to characteristics of the material culture, use of space and mobility of hunter-gatherer societies. The results have allowed us to bring new insights into a continuous occupation of the valley since the Middle Holocene according to the human peopling models proposed. It has also been possible to provide greater chronological precision to various activities related to feeding practices, use of space associated with rock-shelters, palaeoenvironmental changes and incorporation of new technologies into daily practices.

We study the differentiability properties of the topological equivalence between a uniformly asymptotically stable linear nonautonomous system and a perturbed system with suitable nonlinearities. For this purpose, we construct a homeomorphism inspired in the Palmer's one restricted to the positive half line, studying additional continuity properties and providing sufficient conditions ensuring its Cr–smoothness.

Hybrid organic-inorganic semiconducting interfaces have attracted attention in photodiodes and field-effect transistors (FETs) due to the realization of intrinsic p-n junctions and their mechanical flexibility. With the difficulty of developing high-mobility n-type organic semiconductors due to the necessity of low LUMO levels and ambient environment stability, solution processable inorganic materials are an excellent alternative. ZnO is an intrinsic n-type semiconductor which is non-toxic and sol-gel processable, creating avenues for film patterning and fully solution processed devices. We report the improvement of electron mobilities in ZnO FETs through simple UV-Ozone processing which reduces lattice defects within the film and at the SiO2/ZnO interface. Treated ZnO films yield electron mobilities close to 10-2 cm2/Vs and on/off current ratios of 104 while non-treated films have mobilities on the order of 10-5 cm2/Vs and an order of magnitude lower on/off current ratios. Treated films also yield improved photoresponsivity and detectivity in hybrid ZnO-organic photodetectors.

In this work, the evaluation of the growth of cracks in specimens of square cross section requested by symmetrical cyclic torsion moments was performed. The specimens were manufactured from AISI 1015. A pre-crack was machined on one side to induce the crack growth. The crack length with the increase in the number of cycles was measured by means of penetrating liquids method. By means of the Finite Element Method, the stress – strain state of the specimens was simulated. The displacements in the crack tip were determined to apply the technique of the Crack Tip Opening Displacements to calculate the Stress Intensity Factor. The calculated Stress Intensity Factor was related to the dimensions of the specimen and the size of the crack to propose an equation for the shape function.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) involves numerous fabrication parameters, the interaction between those parameters determine the final characteristics of the resulting part and because of the latter, it is considered a complex process. Low-density components is one of the main issues of the SLM process, due to the incorrect selection of process parameters. These defects are undesired in high specialized applications (i.e. aerospace, aeronautic and medical industries). Therefore, the characterization of the defects (pores) found in aluminum parts manufacture by SLM and the relationship with fabrication parameters was performed. A robust orthogonal design of experiments was implemented to determine process parameters, and then parts were manufactured in SLM. Relative density of the samples was then characterized using the Archimedes principle and microscopy; the data was then statistically analyzed in order to determine the optimal process parameters. The main purpose of the present research was to establish the best processing parameters of an in-house SLM system, as well as to characterize the pore geometry in order to fully eliminate pores in a future research.

Current chemotherapeutic agents for leishmaniasis have several disadvantages interfering with the effective treatment and therefore more and better antileishmanial drugs are needed. Discovery of candidates for leishmaniasis treatment requires not only accurate and precise methodologies but also well-known biological system to measure infectivity of parasites and antileishmanial activity of the new compounds. Significant variation in the in vitro and in vivo infectivity and sensitivity to established and experimental drugs in Leishmania strains are reported. This work reports the in vitro biological behavior and antileishmanial drugs sensitivity of different green fluorescent protein transfectant Leishmanias strains. The in vitro growth kinetic and infectivity to U937 cells vary slightly in the Leishmania transfectant strains in comparison with their correspondant wild-type. However, the insertion of the pIR3(-)-eGFP may affect the sensitivity of the parasites to meglumine antimoniate (MA) and miltefosine but not to amphotericin B (AMB) and pentamidine isethionate. In consequence, AMB or pentamidine isethionate but not MA or miltefosine should be used as antileishmanial control drugs during in vitro assays of antileishmanial activity. Furthermore, is recommended to test compounds against more than one Leishmania strain in order to verify that the antileihmanial activity of these compound is similar among species.

For the first time, we used computer simulations to study lift forces on two static disks placed side-by-side within a two-dimensional granular flow and found them to be either repulsive or attractive depending on the flow velocity and separation between the disks. Our simulations results reveal that differences in the flow velocity between the disks and outside of that region are closely correlated with the lift force. We propose an empirical function for the lift force based on this correlation and our dimensional analysis. The specific region where the measured velocity exhibits this correlation suggests that attractive lift is not a Bernoulli-like effect. Instead, we speculate that it might be explained by a force balance based on Coulomb’s theory of passive failure in a Mohr–Coulomb material. Our results confirm that repulsive lift is due to the jamming of particles flowing between the disks.

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection caused by several species of the genus Leishmania that is considered as a neglected disease. Drug development process requires a robust and updated high-throughput technology to the evaluation of candidate compounds that imply the manipulation of the pathogenic species of the parasite in the laboratory. Therefore, it is restricted to trained personal and level II biosafety environments. However, it has been established the utility of Leishmania tarentolae as a model for in vitro screening of antileishmanial agents without the necessity of level II biosafety setups. In parallel the transfection of Leishmania parasites with reporter genes as the eGFP using non-commercial integration vectors like the pIRmcs3(−) has proved to be a powerful tool for the implementation of semi automatized high-throughput platforms for the evaluation of antileishmanial compounds. Here we report the generation of a new L. tarentolae strain overexpressing the eGFP gene harboured by the non-commercial vector pIR3(−). We also demonstrate its utility for the semi-automatized screening of antileshmanial compounds in intracellular forms of the L. tarentolae parasite.

Overall, autologous bone grafting continues to be the gold standard for the restoration of bone defects while other practices include metallic meshes and plates. These practices are not always suitable particularly when performing reconstructive surgery in the maxillofacial region as the defects tend to be complex in terms of size and shape. These bone defect usually occur due to trauma, infection or a result of oncologic surgeries and therefore the patient requires large amount of bone grafting material [1].

There is a need for alternative methods such as is artificial bone scaffolds with regenerative medicine approaches in order to enable original tissue regeneration. In order to stimulate tissue regeneration scaffolding materials are required to have certain properties such as biocompatibility, adequate mechanical properties and internal and surface topographical features in order to provide specific biological signals to promote cell attachment and proliferation. Ideally, it would also need to be biodegradable and provide sufficient support for both the particular defect area and cellular ingrowth to degrade over time as new bone tissue is formed [2]. This work analyses the mechanical and chemical properties of Hydroxyapatite (HA) - poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) and Hydroxyapatite (HA) - poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) based composites used as artificial bone scaffold material with internal structures optimized using finite element analysis (FEA) using Hyperworks OptiStruct (Altair, USA) Topological Optimization and manufactured using commercially available additive manufacturing techniques in order to develop a product that can be introduced directly into the patient. The technique allows implants to be custom made, having the right dimensions and the right mechanical properties.

Testing of the ceramic-hydrogel composite include mechanical testing in compression, tension, bending, impact and hardness while chemical analysis include Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Morphology was analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy.

Tissue engineering scaffolding is the external media or structure in which cell growth, migration and reproduction is enabled in order to stimulate tissue regeneration. In order to promote tissue regeneration, scaffolding materials are required to have certain properties such as biocompatibility, adequate mechanical properties and surface topographical features in order to provide specific biological signals to promote cell attachment and proliferation [1].

Cellulose is the most abundant, inexpensive and readily available carbohydrate polymer in the world and it is traditionally extracted from plants or their wastes [2]. Although the plant itself is the major contributor of cellulose, various types of bacteria are able to produce cellulose and it is termed bacterial cellulose [3]. Bacterial cellulose is a well suited scaffold for tissue regeneration due to its biocompatibility, mechanical properties and its ability to be combined with other structures such calcium phosphates [4], which can create composites with intrinsic properties that meet the requirements of the different tissues of the human body [5].

Through additive manufacturing, highly complex structures can be created which are similar to those found in nature. This work will explore the different ways to produce biomimetic structures for tissue engineering applications through the combination of bacterial cellulose and additive manufacturing producing complex structures of a highly a biocompatible material for a range of different biomedical applications [6]. In addition to the manufacturing and processing techniques, the use of mango (juice/peel) as a complex carbon source for the production of bacterial cellulose was investigated.

The rational search of novel bioactive molecules against pathogens with immunomodulatory activity is presently one of the most significant approaches to discover and design new therapeutic agents for effective control of infectious diseases, such as the infection caused by Leishmania parasites. In the present study, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of the recently characterized immunomodulatory compound 11α,19β-dihydroxy-7-acetoxy-7-deoxoichangin, a seco-limonoid derived from the bark of Raputia heptaphylla (Pittier) using: (1) peritoneal macrophages and (2) Mesocricetus auratus hamsters infected with Leishmania (V.) panamensis and Leishmania (L.) amazonensis. We observed the ability of this seco-limonoid to induce the effective control of the parasite either in vitro [determining an effective concentration 50 (EC50) of 59 µ m at the infection model] and in vivo (inducing clinical improvement or even cure in infected animals treated compared with the groups of animals treated with vehicle solution or meglumine antimoniate).