Early Report on the Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak in Neurosurgical Practice Among Members of the Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies

Abstract Background Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) affect a significant percentage of the neurosurgical workforce. The aim of the current questionnaire-based study was to examine the prevalence of WMSDs amongst neurosurgeons, identify risk factors, and study the views of neurosurgeons regarding ergonomics. Methods From June to August 2020, members of the “European Association of Neurosurgical Societies,” the “Neurosurgery Research Listserv,” and the “Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies” were asked to complete an electronic questionnaire on the topics of WMSDs and ergonomics. Results A total of 409 neurosurgeons responded to the survey, with a 4.7 male to female ratio. Most of the surgeons worked in Europe (76.9%) in academic public hospitals. The vast majority of the participants (87.9%) had experienced WMSDs, mainly affecting the shoulder, neck, and back muscles. The most common operations performed by the participants were “Craniotomy for convexity/intrinsic tumors” (24.1%) and “Open lumbar basic spine” (24.1%). Neurosurgeons agreed that ergonomics is an underexposed area in the neurosurgical field (84.8%) and that more resources should be spend (87.3%) and training curricula changes should be made (78.3%) in order to alleviate the burden of WMSDs on neurosurgeons. Univariate analysis did not reveal any associations between the development of WMSDs and age, gender, tenure, average duration of operation, operating time per week, type of operation, and surgical approach. Conclusions The problem of WMSDs ought to be more closely addressed and managed by the neurosurgical community. More studies ought to be designed to investigate specific ergonomic parameters in order to formulate practice recommendations.

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Behavior of Traffic Congestion and Public Transport in Eight Large Cities in Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11104703 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 4703

Author(s):

Renato Andara ◽

Jesús Ortego-Osa ◽

Melva Inés Gómez-Caicedo ◽

Rodrigo Ramírez-Pisco ◽

Luis Manuel Navas-Gracia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

Public Transport ◽

Public Transportation ◽

Traffic Congestion ◽

Urban Transport ◽

Control Measures ◽

Johns Hopkins Hospital ◽

Large Cities ◽

Public Data ◽

The Impact

This comparative study analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on motorized mobility in eight large cities of five Latin American countries. Public institutions and private organizations have made public data available for a better understanding of the contagion process of the pandemic, its impact, and the effectiveness of the implemented health control measures. In this research, data from the IDB Invest Dashboard were used for traffic congestion as well as data from the Moovit© public transport platform. For the daily cases of COVID-19 contagion, those published by Johns Hopkins Hospital University were used. The analysis period corresponds from 9 March to 30 September 2020, approximately seven months. For each city, a descriptive statistical analysis of the loss and subsequent recovery of motorized mobility was carried out, evaluated in terms of traffic congestion and urban transport through the corresponding regression models. The recovery of traffic congestion occurs earlier and faster than that of urban transport since the latter depends on the control measures imposed in each city. Public transportation does not appear to have been a determining factor in the spread of the pandemic in Latin American cities.

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Beatriz Palacios: Ukamau’s Cornerstone (1974–2003)

Latin American Perspectives ◽

10.1177/0094582x20988693 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 77-92

Author(s):

Isabel Seguí

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

American Cinema ◽

Political Cinema ◽

Latin American Cinema ◽

Popular Classes ◽

Authorial Persona ◽

Correct Understanding ◽

The Impact ◽

The Voice ◽

Cine Latinoamericano

Beatriz Palacios’s instrumental role in the Ukamau group has been largely ignored by film historiography and criticism. The authorial persona of her comrade and husband, Jorge Sanjinés, has eclipsed Palacios’s work and ideas. Her erasure is due to the perspectives chosen to analyze Ukamau (male-centered auteurist and formalist approaches) and to the almost exclusive use of the voice of Sanjinés (interviews, essays, and films interpreted in an authorial key) to construct the group’s history. Ignoring the contribution and importance of Palacios’s work and not accounting for her share in the authorship of the films made during the years they lived and worked together impedes a correct understanding of the complexity of the production context and the amplitude of the contribution of Ukamau to Latin American cinema. While her work as a producer is increasingly recognized, delving into her roles as a disseminator of political cinema in alternative circuits, evaluator of the impact of the movies on the popular classes, and documentary director completes the portrait of her all-encompassing life and career. En gran medida, el papel instrumental de Beatriz Palacios en el grupo Ukamau ha sido ignorado por la historiografía y la crítica cinematográficas. La persona autoral de su camarada y esposo, Jorge Sanjinés, ha eclipsado la obra e ideas de Palacios. Dicha eliminación se debe a las perspectivas elegidas para analizar Ukamau (enfoques y formalistas) y al uso casi exclusivo de la voz de Sanjinés (entrevistas, ensayos y películas interpretadas en clave autoral) para construir la historia del grupo. Ignorar la contribución e importancia del trabajo de Palacios, así como su participación en la autoría de las películas realizadas durante los años que vivieron y trabajaron juntos, impide una correcta contribución de Ukamau al cine latinoamericano. Mientras que su trabajo como productora es cada vez más reconocido, ahondar en su labor como divulgadora de cine político en circuitos alternativos, evaluadora del impacto de las películas en las clases populares y directora de documentales, completa debidamente retrato de su vida y carrera.

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Between Basilea and Utopia: Exploring the Impact of Kingdom Theology in US Latinx Pentecostalism

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel12070470 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 470

Author(s):

Juan C. Morales

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Life Experiences ◽

Assemblies Of God ◽

Kingdom Of God ◽

Leonardo Boff ◽

Pentecostal Theology ◽

Northeast Us ◽

The Impact ◽

Piri Thomas

This article is a general exploration of US Latinx Pentecostalism’s explicit and implicit theology of the Kingdom of God and how it can contribute to US Latinx Pentecostalism’s socio-political engagement. An overview will be provided of traditional, US Pentecostal Kingdom theology and Kingdom theology in Latin American Liberation Theology. These will be contrasted with US Latinx Pentecostal perspectives. To locate US Latinx Pentecostal theology of the Kingdom of God, this paper will first provide a wide-ranging description of a traditional evangelical hermeneutical process. Afterward, an understanding of the Kingdom that is generally taught and accepted in most evangelical contexts will be discussed. This will be followed by a survey of dominant US Pentecostal theology of the Kingdom of God through the lens of the Assemblies of God doctrinal statements and Pentecostal scholars. The life and work of various Pentecostal ministers and author Piri Thomas will provide a Kingdom perspective of US Latinx Pentecostal practitioners. I will provide an analysis based on their life experiences and some of their writings. The writings of Orlando Costas will set the stage in order to examine the works of other US Latinx Pentecostal scholars. Thereafter, the theologies of Latin American Liberation Theologians Clodivis and Leonardo Boff and others will be surveyed. Before concluding, the article will provide a historical overview of Latinx Pentecostal social engagement in the northeast US with the goal of identifying Kingdom values and priorities.

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The Sovereign and its Shadow: Constituent Assembly and Indigenous Movement in Ecuador

Journal of Latin American Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022216x03006965 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

pp. 721-750 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

ROBERT ANDOLINA

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Latin American ◽

Latin American Politics ◽

Political Actors ◽

Constituent Assembly ◽

Institutional Politics ◽

Ideological Struggle ◽

Indigenous Movement ◽

The Impact ◽

Constitutive Principles

A crucial development in current Latin American politics is the growing involvement of indigenous movements in democracies grappling with the challenges of regime consolidation. This article examines how Ecuador's indigenous movement consecrated new rights and national constitutive principles in the 1997–8 constitutional assembly. It argues that the indigenous movement defined the legitimacy and purpose of the assembly through an ideological struggle with other political actors, in turn shaping the context and content of constitutional reforms in Ecuador. The article concludes that softening the boundary between ‘cultural politics’ and ‘institutional politics’ is necessary in order to understand the impact of social movements in Latin America.

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The nexus between financial development and energy consumption: Estimating the role of foreign direct investment, economic growth and urbanization

Energy & Environment ◽

10.1177/0958305x211045375 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0958305X2110453

Author(s):

Jaleel Ahmed ◽

Shuja ur Rehman ◽

Zaid Zuhaira ◽

Shoaib Nisar

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Foreign Direct Investment ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Financial Development ◽

Latin American ◽

Direct Investment ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

The Impact

This study examines the impact of financial development on energy consumption for a wide array of countries. The estimators used for financial development are foreign direct investment, economic growth and urbanization. The study employed a panel data regression on 136 countries with time frame of years 1990 to 2019. The model in this study deploys system GMM technique to estimate the model. The results show that financial development has a significant negative impact on energy consumption overall. Foreign direct investment and urbanization has significant impact on energy consumption. Also, economic growth positive impact on energy consumption its mean that economic growth promotes energy consumption. When dividing further the sample into different groups of regions such as Asian, European, African, North/Latin American and Caribbean countries then mixed results related to the nexus between financial development and energy consumption with respect to economic growth, urbanization and foreign direct investment. The policymakers in these different groups of countries must balance the relationship between energy supply and demand to achieving the sustainable economic development.

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The Impact of Digitalization in the Latin American Wine Industry During the Covid-19 Pandemic

10.1109/icte51655.2021.9584612 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Reyna Virginia Barragan-Quintero ◽

Stefania Pareti ◽

Oscar Omar Ovalle-Osuna

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

Wine Industry ◽

The Impact

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Empirical Literature on Economic Growth, 1991–2020: Uncovering Extant Gaps and Avenues for Future Research

Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies ◽

10.1177/09749101211061626 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 097491012110616

Author(s):

Natalia I. Doré ◽

Aurora A. C. Teixeira

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Latin American ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Empirical Literature ◽

Future Research ◽

Long Run ◽

Scientific Attention ◽

The Impact ◽

Determinants Of Economic Growth ◽

Latin American And Caribbean

The factors required to achieve sustainable economic growth in a country are debated for decades, and empirical research in this regard continues to grow. Given the relevance of the topic and the absence of a comprehensive, systematic literature review, we used bibliometric techniques to examine and document several aspects in the empirical literature related to growth, from 1991 to 2020. Five main results are worth highlighting: (a) the share of empirical articles on economic growth show a clear upward trend; (b) among all the groups of countries considered, the emerging economies (EEs) have received the most scientific attention; (c) the economic growth processes of the Latin American and Caribbean EEs have observed negligible scientific attention; (d) the very long-run studies comprise a residual share among the empirical literature on growth; (e) the extant empirical studies on economic growth have addressed mainly the impact of “macroeconomic conditions.” Our findings suggest there is a need to redirect the empirical growth agenda, so as to encourage more scientific attention devoted to the analysis of key determinants of economic growth in the very long run. There should also be increased scrutiny of the processes of economic growth in Latin American and Caribbean EEs

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Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy

10.1093/oso/9780197526941.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Magda Hinojosa ◽

Miki Caul Kittilson

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Political Engagement ◽

Political Support ◽

Democratic Process ◽

Gender Gaps ◽

Women's Representation ◽

Representation Of Women ◽

Women’S Representation ◽

The Impact

How does the more equitable representation of women in positions of power affect male and female citizens? We argue that the election of women to political office—particularly where women’s presence is highly visible to the public—strengthens the connections between women and the democratic process. For women, seeing more “people like me” in politics changes attitudes and orientations toward the democratic process. Substantial variation persists across Latin America in gender gaps in political engagement and political support. To assess the effects that women’s officeholding has on these, we pair comparative survey data from Latin American countries with case study evidence from Uruguay. The Uruguayan case offers a unique laboratory for testing the impact of women’s representation in elected positions of power on political engagement and support. Our panel survey of Uruguayan citizens reveals that the expected gender gaps in political knowledge, political interest, and other forms of political engagement were alive and well six weeks before the elections. Yet, just six weeks following the election—after the use of a gender quota had led to a doubling of women’s representation in the Senate—those gender gaps had largely disappeared or had significantly waned. Our findings indicate that far-reaching gender gaps can be overcome by more equitable representation in our political institutions.

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Colonial Ideologies, Narratives, and Popular Perceptions of Ethno-racial Otherness in the Dynamics of Urban Exclusion: Debates and Evidence from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina

Latin American Perspectives ◽

10.1177/0094582x211029593 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 48 (6) ◽

pp. 48-66

Author(s):

Javier Ruiz-Tagle ◽

Carolina Aguilera

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Latin American ◽

Residential Segregation ◽

Urban Studies ◽

Race And Ethnicity ◽

Research Agenda ◽

Critical Perspective ◽

Indigenous Social Movements ◽

New Research ◽

The Impact

Although ethnic differentiations began with colonialism, racism was not widely addressed in Latin American social sciences until recently, since class perspectives were predominant. Within this, studies on residential segregation and urban exclusion have ignored race and ethnicity, with the exceptions of Brazil and Colombia. However, these issues have recently become crucial because of the adoption of multiculturalism, the impact of postcolonialism and postmodernism, the emergence of black and indigenous social movements, changes in state policy, and new trends in migration. A review of debates and evidence from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina shows that persistent colonial ideologies, narratives, and popular perceptions of ethno-racial denial sustain various kinds of urban exclusion in the region. The evidence calls for a new research agenda to decolonize urban studies that adopts a critical perspective on the coloniality of power. Aunque las diferenciaciones étnicas comenzaron con el colonialismo, el racismo no se abordó ampliamente en las ciencias sociales latinoamericanas hasta hace poco, ya que predominaban las perspectivas de clase. Los estudios sobre la segregación residencial y la exclusión urbana han ignorado la raza y el origen étnico, con excepción de Brasil y Colombia. Sin embargo, estas cuestiones se han vuelto cruciales recientemente debido a la adopción del multiculturalismo, el impacto del poscolonialismo y el posmodernismo, la aparición de movimientos sociales negros e indígenas, los cambios en la política estatal y nuevas tendencias en la migración. Una revisión de los debates y evidencia en México, Colombia, Chile y Argentina muestra que las ideologías coloniales persistentes, las narrativas y las percepciones populares de la negación etnoracial sostienen varios tipos de exclusión urbana en la región. La evidencia exige una nueva agenda de investigación para descolonizar los estudios urbanos y adoptar una perspectiva crítica sobre la colonialidad del poder.

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