ABSTRACT Chronic neurological disorders generate disabilities affecting multiple aspects of life, including sexuality. Objective To describe the presence of sexual dysfunction and comorbidities in a population with chronic neurological disorders. To analyze the relationship between disability and sexual dysfunction. Methods A cross-sectional case-control study was carried out. Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and stroke of at least one year since the onset of symptoms were included, and compared with controls with no neurological disease, matched by age and sex. Results We included 71 participants: 29 controls, with a mean age of 49.4 years, and 42 patients with a mean age of 53.8 years. Sexual dysfunction was present in 22.5% of the controls and 77.5% of the patients. A statistically significant relationship between sexual dysfunction and disability was found in the logistic regression analysis (OR = 20.38, 95%CI: 2.5 –165.86). Conclusions Disability proved to be the main variable related to the presence of sexual dysfunction. Patients with ALS had the worst rates of sexual dysfunction. Patients with MS were similar to the control group. As for the PD group, no patient had normal sexuality. Finally, in stroke patients, the presence of comorbidities and their treatment may have negatively influenced sexuality. These findings showed that patients with chronic neurological diseases have sexual dysfunction and underscore the need for neurologists to know and address this problem.

RESUMO Las enfermedades neurológicas crónicas generan discapacidad afectando múltiples aspectos de la vida, incluida la sexual. Objetivo Describir en una población con enfermedades neurológicas crónicas la presencia de disfunción sexual y posibles comorbilidades acompañantes. Analizar la relación entre discapacidad y disfunción sexual. Métodos Se realizó un estudio transversal de tipo casos y controles. Se incluyeron pacientes con Esclerosis Lateral Amiotrófica (ELA), Esclerosis Múltiple (EM), enfermedad de Parkinson (EP) y secuelados por enfermedad cerebrovascular (sACV) de al menos un año de evolución, controlando con sujetos sin enfermedad neurológica pareados por edad y sexo. Resultados Se incluyeron 71 sujetos: 29 controles, con una edad media 49,4 años y 42 casos con una edad media de 53,8 años. Presentaron disfunción sexual el 22,5% de los controles y el 77,5% de los casos. En el análisis por regresión logística se encontró una relación estadísticamente significativamente entre disfunción sexual y discapacidad. (OR = 20.38, IC95%: 2.5–165.86). Conclusiones La discapacidad demostró ser la principal variable relacionada con la presencia de disfunción sexual. Los enfermos con ELA fueron los que peores índices de disfunción sexual presentaron. Los pacientes con EM se comportaron de forma similar al grupo control. En cuanto al grupo de EP todos los pacientes tuvieron algún trastorno en su sexualidad. Por último, en sACV la presencia de comorbilidades y su tratamiento podrían influir negativamente en la sexualidad. Estos hallazgos evidencian que la disfunción sexual está presente en los pacientes con enfermedades neurológicas crónicas y confirma la necesidad de conocer este problema por parte de los neurólogos.

Abstract: An extensive family of univariate models of autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity is applied to Peru’s daily stock market returns for the period January 3,1992 to March 30, 2012 with four different specifications related to the distribution of the disturbance term. This concerns capturing the asymmetries of the behavior of the volatility, as well as the presence of heavy tails in these time series. Using different statistical tests and different criteria, the results show that: (i) the FIGARCH (1,1)-t is the best model among all symmetric models while the FIEGARCH (1,1)-Sk is selected from the class of asymmetrical models. Also, the model FIAPARCH (1,1)-t is selected from the class of asymmetric power models; (ii) the three models capture well the behavior of the conditional volatility; (iii) however, the empirical distribution of the standardized residuals shows that the behavior of the tails is not well captured by either model; (iv) the three models suggest the presence of long memory with estimates of the fractional parameter close to the region of nonstationarity.

Resumen: Una extensiva familia de modelos univariados de heterocedasticidad autorregresiva condicional es aplicada a los retornos bursátiles diarios del Perú para el periodo del 3 de enero 1992 hasta el 30 de marzo del 2012 utilizando cuatro diferentes especificaciones para la distribución del término de perturbación. Con ello se trata de capturar asimetrías en el comportamiento de la volatilidad así como el tratamiento de colas pesadas en las series de tiempo. Utilizando diferentes estadísticos y criterios, los resultados muestran lo siguiente: (i) el modelo FIGARCH (1,1)-t es el mejor modelo entre todos los modelos simétricos mientras que el modelo FIEGARCH (1,1)-Sk es seleccionado entre la clase de modelos asimétricos. Asimismo, el modelo FIAPARCH (1,1)-t es seleccionado entre la clase de modelos de potencia asimétrica; (ii) los tres modelos capturan bien el comportamiento de la volatilidad condicional; (iii) sin embargo, la distribución empírica de los residuos estandarizados muestran que el comportamiento de las colas no es bien capturado por ninguno de los modelos; (iv) los tres modelos sugieren la presencia de larga memoria con estimados del parámetro fraccional cercanos a la región de no estacionariedad.

The results of database based on the efficiency packed model for metallic glasses. The database contains the atomic radii information as well as elastic properties of the most commonly used alloying elements, permitting composition, packing efficiency and elastic property predictions to be made for binary, ternary and quaternary bulk metallic glasses. Twenty different alloys per system (binary, ternary and quaternary) experimentally reported in the literature were compared with those estimated by the database. Comparison charts and diagrams showed good agreement between the composition predictions and those reported from the experimentally processed metallic glasses. The elastic properties predictions could be used to elaborate Blackman diagrams in order to know, in advance, the intrinsic toughness that the investigated alloys might present. The database is intended for designing bulk metallic glasses. Finally, some quaternary alloys were experimentally produced based on the prediction obtained with the database, showing a glassy phase. The microhardness values obtained experimentally of the Zr57.52Ag10.62Al10.62Co21.24, Zr57.19Al10.7Ni10.7Cu21.41 and Hf60.22Al9.95Cu9.95Ni19.89alloys, are 3.8, 4.0 and 3.6 GPa, respectively. The Young´s modulus calculated using microhardness values (E/Hv = 20) are closed to the values obtained by the "mixing rules".

The impact of climate change requires developing and validating models that help to project possible scenarios that must adapt to new varieties. This study seeks to validate and calibrate the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) model as a tool that facilitates the characterization of the behavior of new varieties in the face of new scenarios generated by climate change. The determination of genetic coefficients of three bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties was considered in the methodology; this was done with the database of the historical records of the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) Wheat Breeding Program for the 2000 to 2011 period. Once the adjustment level of the model was dealt with, it was feasible to obtain genetic coefficients of three spring wheat varieties (Pandora-INIA, Kipa-INIA, and Millan-INIA); days from planting to anthesis variable exhibited RMSE values fluctuating between 3.5 and 9.7 depending on the variety. For total duration of days to maturity, ’Millan-INIA’ exhibited a very good adjustment (RMSE = 0.25) as compared to ’Pandora-INIA’ (RMSE = 1.35) and ’Kipa-INIA’ (12.22). Furthermore, the coefficient of determination of the genetic coefficients indicates that the varieties have minimum vernalization requirements; these are similar to the photoperiod between ’Pandora-INIA’ and ’Millan-INIA’ and lower in the case of ’Kipa-INIA’. Thermal requirements for grain filling, biomass production, and plant height did not exhibit any important differences among varieties. Finally, the methodology allowed calibrating the DSSAT model and achieving a good predictive level of yields for the three varieties. The plant development parameters must be studied in greater detail because of the low association between simulated and observed values.

This article briefly describes the already known clinical features and pathogenic mechanisms underlying sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, namely excitoxicity, oxidative stress, protein damage, inflammation, genetic abnormalities and neuronal death. Thereafter, it puts forward the hypothesis that astrocytes may be the cells which serve as targets for the harmful action of a still unknown environmental agent, while neuronal death may be a secondary event following the initial insult to glial cells. The article also suggests that an emergent virus or a misfolded infectious protein might be potential candidates to accomplish this task.

El artículo presente describe, brevemente, las características clínicas y los mecanismos patogénicos de la esclerosis lateral amiotrófica esporádica, tales como la excitotoxicidad, el stress oxidativo, el daño proteico, la inflamación, las anormalidades genéticas y la muerte neuronal. Luego de ello, sugiere la posibilidad hipotética de que los astrocitos podrían ser el blanco primario de la acción de una agente ambiental, externo, aún desconocido, y que la muerte neuronal aconteciera secundariamente a ese daño astrocitario inicial. El artículo concluye discutiendo la posibilidad de que un virus ambiental o endógeno o una proteína mal plegada, que adquiriera características de infectividad, puedan ser la causa de la enfermedad.

Se presenta la revisión de las subespecies de Pierella helvina de la región neotropical, con la finalidad de describir una nueva subespecie procedente de la localidad de Amalfi (Antioquia), ubicada a 1600 m de altura en la Cordillera Central de Colombia, siendo éste el registro de mayor altura reportado para una especie de Pierella. Se presentan los datos de localidades de colecta para cada subespecie en base a la revisión de colecciones donde se aprecia un patrón de distribución geográfico restringido que está correlacionado con los principales centros de endemismo propuestos por Brown (1982) y Haffer (1987), los cuales revisten especial interés en los estudios biogeográficos y de evolución de las especies.

We present a review of the Pierella helvina subspecies of the neotropical region, with the aim of describing a new subspecies from the locality of Amalfi (Antioquia), located at 1600 m of altitude in the Cordillera Central of Colombia, the latter being the record with the most altitude reported for a Pierella species. By manual capture using an entomological net, the data of each collection locality for each subspecies based on the review of collections where there is restricted geographic distribution pattern that is correlated with the major centers of endemism proposed by Brown (1982) and Haffer (1987), which are of particular interest in biogeographical and evolution studies of the species.