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Background. Research suggests a relationship between university majors and the perception of contextual barriers to physical activity (PA). This study aims to identify and compare, differentiating by the sexes, the perceived barriers to PA among students of Physical Activity and Sport Pedagogy (PASP) and students from other social science majors at the Technical University of Machala. Methods. This research is descriptive and cross-sectional with a quantitative approach. A convenience sample of 526 students (168 men and 358 women) was obtained using a non-probabilistic intentional sampling technique by accessibility. Of these, 100 were PASP students (68 males and 32 females) and 426 were studying other majors (100 males and 326 females). The instrument used was the Barriers to Being Active Quiz (BBAQ) scale adapted to Spanish. The 21 items and the seven instrument categories were analyzed according to their nature and scale. Results. Female PASP students did not perceive barriers in any of the seven BBAQ categories, while women from other majors perceived barriers in four categories: lack of energy, lack of time, lack of will, and lack of resources. Significant differences were found in only one of the 21 scale items and in the associations of barriers with studies in the categories of lack of time (p<0.023) and lack of energy (p<0.042), with lower perception of barriers in PASP students. In male students, the main barriers for both groups were lack of time and lack of energy. Lack of resources was a barrier for men in other majors, while lack of willingness was a barrier for PASP students. Significant differences were found in four of the 21 scale items and in the associations in two categories: social influence (p<0.036) and fear of injury (p<0.016), with a higher perception of barriers in men from other majors. Conclusions. The type of university major affects the perception of barriers to PA among university students. This should be addressed with specific university policies to reconcile academic life with regular physical exercise programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Civic action describes participation in political and prosocial activities aimed at benefiting one's communities. A growing literature rooted in critical consciousness (CC) theory suggests that engaging in critical action, which challenges societal inequities, is important for the positive development of youth of color. Although valuable, existing literatures have yet to consider how psychological processes related to the immigrant experience, such as immigrant optimism (IO), may differentially influence the civic participation of immigrant youth of color. IO is a phenomenon in which immigrant groups hold higher aspirations and more positive views of the host society than their nonimmigrant peers, and this often is associated with positive outcomes. This article reviews and integrates relevant research on the civic development of immigrant youth of color, considering both how IO may be a particularly relevant process in shaping immigrant youths' CC development and how civic action may take different forms among these youth. Method: We define concepts, integrate previously siloed literatures, and make recommendations for future research. Results: We propose expanding existing frameworks to consider IO and forms of action, along with their intended outcome. Conclusions: Incorporating IO into studies of CC or civic development can clarify important differences and enhance our understanding of how best to support immigrant youth. Similarly, examining forms of action and their intended outcome may be advantageous in facilitating young immigrants' development as active and engaged members of society. Public Significance Statement: This integrative review and synthesis highlight evidence for the immigrant optimism (IO) hypothesis as a relevant but underexamined process in existing frameworks of critical consciousness and civic development. Examining IO as an antecedent to action can improve our understanding of the civic development of immigrant youth of color, whose experiences have too often been neglected. We also describe a need to consider the various forms of action in which these youth engage and the intentions youth have for engaging in these actions, which may allow researchers to draw meaningful distinctions in civic action among immigrant youth of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodontitis is one of the most prevalent human inflammatory diseases. It is characterized by periodontal tissue destruction, progressively driven by the host response. In this regard, cytokines associated with tissue destruction, such as interleukin (IL)–6 and IL-23, use a common signaling pathway mediated by STAT3. This transcription factor is also needed for IL-17A production, a key mediator in periodontitis pathogenesis. Although several studies have reported increased activation of STAT3 in experimental periodontitis, a detailed characterization of STAT3 activation in human gingival tissues and its involvement in alveolar bone loss has yet to be explored. Using a cross-sectional study design, we detected increased proportions of pSTAT3-positive cells during periodontitis compared with health, particularly in epithelial cells and T cells. Other cell types of hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic origin also display STAT3 activation in gingival tissues. We detected increased STAT3 phosphorylation and expression of STAT3-related genes during experimental periodontitis. Next, we evaluated the role of STAT3 in alveolar bone destruction using a mouse model of STAT3 loss of function (mut- Stat3 mice). Compared with controls, mut- Stat3 mice had reduced alveolar bone loss following ligature-induced periodontitis. We also evaluated pharmacologic inhibition of STAT3 in ligature-induced periodontitis. Like mut- Stat3 mice, mice treated with STAT3 small-molecule inhibitor had reduced bone loss compared with controls. Our results demonstrate that STAT3 activation is increased in epithelial and T cells during periodontitis and indicate a pathogenic role of STAT3 in inflammatory alveolar bone loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Los problemas de localización consisten en determinar la correcta ubicación de centros de servicio (fábricas, almacenes, hospitales, etc.). Difieren unos de otros en el objetivo que se persigue alcanzar con cada uno de ellos. Tradicionalmente en el sector privado el objetivo ha sido el de la eficiencia, consistente en determinar la ubicación que hace que el coste sea mínimo (problema de la p-mediana), mientras que en el sector público se buscan soluciones equitativas (problema del p-centro). En el primer caso se trata de soluciones que aunque eficientes pueden resultar injustas para algunos usuarios, mientras que en el segundo la equidad puede producir soluciones ineficientes. Por este motivo nos planteamos el problema de la p-centdiana que proporciona soluciones de compromiso y lo resolvemos con modelos de programación matemática. Estos modelos los aplicamos a la localización de centros de servicio en la ciudad de Kinshasa (República Democrática del Congo). ABSTRACT Location models in public and private sectors share the objective of optimizing any utility measure that satisfies some constraints, but they differ in how to establish the objective and the constraints. Decisions in the private sector involve a big amount of characteristics, including non-economic ones, but they assume, as a reasonable objective, minimizing the cost or maximizing the profit. Public location decisions are answers to social demands and the objective in this case is to maximize a benefit or to minimize a cost non-based in monetary terms. This idea leads to the inclusion of the concept of a compromise solution, namely p-centdian that is a convex combination between p-median (efficiency) and p-center (equity). In this paper we solve de p-centdian problem by using mathematical programming models. We use these models to locate some facilities in Kinshasa.

Los problemas de localización tratan de averiguar la ubicación de las instalaciones de una empresa de modo que se minimicen los costes o se maximicen los beneficios. Dos de los modelos más utilizados en ocalización en redes son el problema de la p-mediana y el problema del p-centro. El primero consiste en minimizar la suma total de las distancias ponderadas, mientras que el segundo trata de minimizar la máxima distancia ponderada desde un centro de servicio hasta sus usuarios asignados. El objetivo del problema de la p-mediana hace que sea eficiente pero no equitativo, mientras que la cota implícita en el problema del p-centro lo convierte en equitativo pero no eficiente. Para combinar ambos aspectos, aparece en la década de los 70 un nuevo problema, el de la p-centdiana, cuya función objetivo es una mezcla de las dos anteriores. En este trabajo consideramos el problema generalizado de la p-centdiana sobre una red en la que los pesos asociados al p-centro y a la p-mediana no son necesariamente iguales. Mientras que los conjuntos dominantes finitos de los dos primeros problemas son relativamente sencillos de calcular, esto no es así para la p-centdiana generalizada. Proponemos un algoritmo que nos permitirá calcular este conjunto.