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The text aims to trace a genealogical itinerary of the concepts of populism and hegemony in the first part of Ernesto Laclau's work, corresponding to the phase in which his thought is still situared within a Marxist perimeter, however heterodox. Following the method of Quentin Skinner, the birth and evolution of the notions at stake are retraced, as well as the relationship with other key concepts of his theoretical scheme, such as hegemony, articulation and “the political”. At the same time, the theoretical and political stimuli that lead the Argentine thinker to formulate and revise the scope of the two notions are framed. The text also takes into consideration the years of Laclau's political-militant formation within the Peronist left and his very first writings on political economy in which the concept of populism does not appear. These first political and intellectual experiences constitute a decisive substrate for understanding Laclau's subsequent theoretical movements. Finally, taking a leap forward, an examination of the similarities and differences between the theory of populism developed in Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory of 1977 and that offered in On Populist Reason of 2005 is advanced. Ernesto Laclau; Populism; Hegemony; Post-marxism., ——— Materialismo Storico ——— Rivista di filosofia, storia e scienze umane, V. 13 N. 2 (2022): L’egemonia dopo Gramsci #3: pedagogia, teoria politica e storia (Urbino 2021)

Data de publicació electrònica: 19-01-2023 Engineered live bacteria could provide a new modality for treating lung infections, a major cause of mortality worldwide. In the present study, we engineered a genome-reduced human lung bacterium, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, to treat ventilator-associated pneumonia, a disease with high hospital mortality when associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. After validating the biosafety of an attenuated M. pneumoniae chassis in mice, we introduced four transgenes into the chromosome by transposition to implement bactericidal and biofilm degradation activities. We show that this engineered strain has high efficacy against an acute P. aeruginosa lung infection in a mouse model. In addition, we demonstrated that the engineered strain could dissolve biofilms formed in endotracheal tubes of patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia and be combined with antibiotics targeting the peptidoglycan layer to increase efficacy against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We expect our M. pneumoniae-engineered strain to be able to treat biofilm-associated infections in the respiratory tract. This work was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under grant agreement no. 670216 (MYCOCHASSIS). We thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness to the EMBL partnership, the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa and the CERCA Program from the Generalitat de Catalunya, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, grant no. 634942 (MycoSynVac), La Caixa Health (HR18-00058), CB 06/06/0028/CIBER de enfermedades respiratorias-Ciberes and ICREA Academy/Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 2.603/IDIBAPS, SGR/Generalitat de Catalunya for their support. M.L.-S. thanks the funder Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII, Acción Estratégica en Salud 2016, FEDER project, reference CP16/00094) for support of the research of this work. We also thank the staff of the CRG/UPF Proteomics Unit, which is part of the Spanish Infrastructure for Omics Technologies unit and a member of the ProteoRed PRB3 consortium, supported by grant no. PT17/0019 of the PE I+D+i 2013–2016 from the ISCIII and European Regional Development Fund.

Airborne Wind Energy is a lightweight technology that allows power extraction from the wind using airborne devices such as kites and gliders, where the airfoil orientation can be dynamically controlled in order to maximize performance. The dynamical complexity of turbulent aerodynamics makes this optimization problem unapproachable by conventional methods such as classical control theory, which rely on accurate and tractable analytical models of the dynamical system at hand. Here we propose to attack this problem through Reinforcement Learning, a technique that -- by repeated trial-and-error interactions with the environment -- learns to associate observations with profitable actions without requiring prior knowledge of the system. We show that in a simulated environment Reinforcement Learning finds an efficient way to control a kite so that it can tow a vehicle for long distances. The algorithm we use is based on a small set of intuitive observations and its physically transparent interpretation allows to describe the approximately optimal strategy as a simple list of manoeuvring instructions.

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Antigenic variation is the main immune escape mechanism for RNA viruses like influenza or SARS-CoV-2. While high mutation rates promote antigenic escape, they also induce large mutational loads and reduced fitness. It remains unclear how this cost-benefit trade-off selects the mutation rate of viruses. Using a traveling wave model for the co-evolution of viruses and host immune systems in a finite population, we investigate how immunity affects the evolution of the mutation rate and other non-antigenic traits, such as virulence. We first show that the nature of the wave depends on how cross-reactive immune systems are, reconciling previous approaches. The immune-virus system behaves like a Fisher wave at low cross-reactivities, and like a fitness wave at high cross-reactivities. These regimes predict different outcomes for the evolution of non-antigenic traits. At low cross-reactivities, the evolutionarily stable strategy is to maximize the speed of the wave, implying a higher mutation rate and increased virulence. At large cross-reactivities, where our estimates place H3N2 influenza, the stable strategy is to increase the basic reproductive number, keeping the mutation rate to a minimum and virulence low.

Physica status solidi / B 260(4), 2200535 (2023). doi:10.1002/pssb.202200535, The local ordering in amorphous Ga$_2$O$_3$ and (In$_x$Ga$_{1−}$x )$_2$O$_3$ thin films on Si(111) and its change on crystallization upon annealing are investigated. Synchrotron-based extended X-ray absorption fine structure data, as probed across the Ga K-edge in conjunction with a numerical implementation of the scattering process including multiple scattering events, provide detailed insights into the bonding character of the Ga cations. Bond lengths and coordination numbers indicate the preferential formation of GaO$_4$ tetrahedrons in the amorphous binary and ternary solid solution at the absence of long-range ordering. Upon annealing there is no tendency toward the formation of long-range ordering for the ternary alloy, while the amorphous Ga$_2$O$_3%$ film turns into monoclinic β-Ga$_2$O$_3$ crystallites with both tetra- and octahedral coordination., Published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

Strategic and standardised approaches to analysis and reporting of surveillance data are essential to inform antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mitigation measures, including antibiotic policies. Targeted guidance on linking full-scale AMR and antimicrobial consumption (AMC)/antimicrobial residues (AR) surveillance data from the human, animal, and environmental sectors is currently needed. This paper describes the initiative whereby a multidisciplinary panel of experts (56 from 20 countries—52 high income, 4 upper middle or lower income), representing all three sectors, elaborated proposals for structuring and reporting full-scale AMR and AMC/AR surveillance data across the three sectors. An evidence-supported, modified Delphi approach was adopted to reach consensus among the experts for dissemination frequency, language, and overall structure of reporting; core elements and metrics for AMC/AR data; core elements and metrics for AMR data. The recommendations can support multisectoral national and regional plans on antimicrobials policy to reduce resistance rates applying a One Health approach. [This article was written with the contribution of the One Health EJP WP5 Science to Policy Translation]

Background. To improve maternal and child health, it is essential to adhere to health-promoting and preventive measures. However, reliable information as well as effective tools are not easy to identify in this field. Our cross-sectional study investigated the needs and expectations of expectant and new mothers and fathers -primary users of an app supporting the first 1000 days of life. Methods. Between May and August 2022, we recruited expectant and new parents by administering a 71-item 5-point Likert scale questionnaire related to content, functionalities, and technical features of a hypothetical app. We stratified responses by sociodemographic characteristics and then performed ward hierarchical clustering. Results. The 94 women and 69 men involved in our study generally agreed with the proposed content, but expressed low interest in certain app functionalities, especially those related to interaction mechanism and interactivity. Women were generally more demanding than men, and family income declined as the needs and expectations increased. Conclusions. Our findings, resulting from the engagement of end-users, may be useful for designers and technology providers to implement mHealth solutions that, in addition to conveying reliable information, are tailored to the needs and preferences of end-users in the first 1000 days of life.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is often associated with interstitial pneumonia. However, there is insufficient knowledge on the presence of autoimmune serological markers in patients with COVID-19. We analyzed the presence and role of autoantibodies in patients with COVID-19-associated pneumonia. We prospectively studied 33 consecutive patients with COVID-19, 31 (94%) of whom had interstitial pneumonia, and 25 age-matched and sex-matched patients with fever and/or pneumonia with etiologies other than COVID-19 as the pathological control group. All patients were tested for the presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANAs), anti-antiphospholipid antibodies, and anti-cytoplasmic neutrophil antibodies (ANCAs). Clinical, biochemical, and radiological parameters were also collected. Fifteen of 33 patients (45%) tested positive for at least one autoantibody, including 11 who tested positive for ANAs (33%), 8 who tested positive for anti-cardiolipin antibodies (immunoglobulin (Ig)G and/or IgM; 24%), and 3 who tested positive for anti-β2-glycoprotein antibodies (IgG and/or IgM; 9%). ANCA reactivity was not detected in any patient. Patients that tested positive for auto-antibodies had a significantly more severe prognosis than other patients did: 6 of 15 patients (40%) with auto-antibodies died due to COVID-19 complications during hospitalization, whereas only 1 of 18 patients (5.5%) who did not have auto-antibodies died (P=0.03). Patients with poor prognosis (death due to COVID-19 complications) had a significantly higher respiratory rate at admission (23 breaths per minute vs. 17 breaths per minute; P=0.03) and a higher frequency of auto-antibodies (86% vs. 27%; P=0.008). In conclusion, auto-antibodies are frequently detected in patients with COVID-19 possibly reflecting a pathogenetic role of immune dysregulation. However, given the small number of patients, the association of auto-antibodies with an unfavorable prognosis requires further multicenter studies.

IMT504, a noncoding, non-CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, modulates pain-like behavior in rats undergoing peripheral nerve injury, through mechanisms that remain poorly characterized. Here, we chose the spared nerve injury model in rats to analyze the contribution of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the mechanisms of action of IMT504. We show that a single subcutaneous administration of IMT504 reverses mechanical and cold allodynia for at least 5 weeks posttreatment. This event correlated with long-lasting increases in the percentage of MSCs in peripheral blood and injured sciatic nerves, in a process seemingly influenced by modifications in the CXCL12-CXCR4 axis. Also, injured nerves presented with reduced tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β and increased transforming growth factor-β1 and interleukin-10 protein levels. In vitro analysis of IMT504-pretreated rat or human MSCs revealed internalized oligodeoxynucleotide and confirmed its promigratory effects. Moreover, IMT504-pretreatment induced transcript expression of Tgf-β1 and Il-10 in MSCs; the increase in Il-10 becoming more robust after exposure to injured nerves. Ex vivo exposure of injured nerves to IMT504-pretreated MSCs confirmed the proinflammatory to anti-inflammatory switch observed in vivo. Interestingly, the sole exposure of injured nerves to IMT504 also resulted in downregulated Tnf-α and Il-1β transcripts. Altogether, we reveal for the first time a direct association between the antiallodynic actions of IMT504, its promigratory and cytokine secretion modulating effects on MSCs, and further anti-inflammatory actions at injured nerves. The recapitulation of key outcomes in human MSCs supports the translational potential of IMT504 as a novel treatment for neuropathic pain with a unique mechanism of action involving the regulation of neuroimmune interactions.

Background: Dysregulation of the inflammatory and immune response to injury may increase susceptibility to secondary infections after trauma. It is unknown whether cytokines involved in this respon...