La modelación matemática y los pedestales de las ciencias biomédicas / Mathematical Modeling and the Pedestals of Biomedical Sciences

En 2020 se cumplen 155 años de lo que Thomas Morgan llegó a llamar …en materia biológica, el más grande descubrimiento de los últimos quinientos años. Fue entonces cuando Gregor Mendel presentó, en la Sociedad de Brno para el Estudio de las Ciencias Naturales (el 8 de febrero y 8 de marzo de 1865) su afamado trabajo Experimentos sobre hibridación de plantas...(AU)

Announcing the winners of our 50th Anniversary Science Communication Competition.

The FEBS Journal is pleased to announce the three winners of its 50th Anniversary Science Communication Competition. Read on to see their prize-winning entries!

[Academic resonances of the intellectual baggage brought by Augusto Pi Suñer to Venezuela (1939-1962]. / Resonancias académicas del equipaje que trajo Augusto Pi Suñer a Venezuela (1939-1962).

The article read over the intellectual connection between two physiologists, the Catalan exiled Augusto Pi Suñer in 1939 and the Venezuelan Francisco De Venanzi beyond their common research subject like as: the academic insertion of the biological sciences and the related debate with the natural sciences; the scientific development and the necessity to attract the human resources for it; the publication of the project results by owner institutional reviews; the legal establishment at the highest govern level to development the scientific research. All of these subjects were developed when the scientific community in Venezuela are confirming her institutional organization.

Prometeo: regeneración tisular: pifias de la naturaleza y esperanzas de la ciencia / Prometheus: tissue regeneration: natural errors and scientific hope

En el movisimo campo de las células troncales ("stem cell") y la medicina regenerativa, la búsqueda del Santo Grial de la investigación científica, es la recreacion o la inducción del renacimiento de un órgano funcional, llamese hígado, retina o riñon. En un extremo el hígado de Prometeo, de inherente capacidad para regenerarse, la demanda del órgano excede en mucho la disponibilidad de donantes. En Estados Unidos de America, 9% de los pacientes con insuficiencia hepática fallecen a la espera de un trasplante, así que la investigación en tratamientos regenerativos nunca ha tenido más fundamento y adquirido más énfasis que en estos tiempos. En el otro extremo, la retina, inexplicable olvido de la naturaleza, como otras neuronas del sistema nervioso incapaz de regenerarse a sí misma y hasta ahora, inmune a la neuroprotección y reparación después de una injuria. No obstante en un futuro no muy lejano será posible preservar y restaurar la visión en personas en las que se encuentre amenazada o se haya perdido por enfermedad o injuria del nervio óptico

In the newest field of stem cells and regenerative medicine, the quest for the Holy Grail of scientific research is the recreation or induction of rebirth of a functional organism, such as the liver, retina o kidney. At one end liver of Prometheus with its inherent capacity to regenerate, has a demand that greatly exceeds the availability of donors. In the United States of America, 9% of patients with liver failure die waiting for a transplant, so research in regenerative treatment has never had more importance or acquired greater emphasis than at this time. At the other end, the retina, inexplicable oblivion of nature, is, as other neurons of the central nervous system, unable to regenerate itself and so far, immune to neuroprotection and repair after an injury. Nevertheless, in the future it will be possible, however, to preserve and restore vision in people whose optic nerve are threatened or have been lost due to illness or injury

Além do mecanicismo e do vitalismo: a normatividade da vida em Georges Canguilhem / Beyond mechanism and vitalism: the normativity of life according to Georges Canguilhem

Discutimos a epistemologia das ciências da vida e das ciências da saúde de Georges Canguilhem, revendo sua crítica à concepção mecanicista da normalidade e da patologia e seu posicionamento frente ao vitalismo. Sugerimos que, enfatizando o conceito de "normatividade da vida", Canguilhem teria apontado para uma superação da oposição entre mecanicismo e vitalismo. Para tal, fazemos uma breve comparação da "normatividade da vida" com o conceito contemporâneo de auto-organização de Michel Debrun, argumentando que a emergência da norma vital se situa num estágio secundário de um processo de (auto-)organização da vida e, portanto, tal normatividade não teria a conotação vitalista, erroneamente atribuída a Canguilhem.

We discuss the epistemology of the sciences of life and health elaborated by Georges Canguilhem. First we review his criticism to mechanicist concepts of normality and pathology, and his position regarding vitalism. We suggest that, when emphasizing the concept of "normativity of life", Canguilhem goes beyond the dichotomy of mechanism and vitalism. We make a brief comparison of his concept of "normativity of life" with the contemporary concept of "self-organization" proposed by Michel Debrun, arguing that the emergency of the vital norm occurs on the second stage of the process of life self-organization and therefore such normativity does not have the vitalist connotation erroneously attributed to Canguilhem.

Hipólito Unanue visto por Augusto Salazar Bondy: La tradición organicista de la ciencia en el Perú / Hipolito Unanue as seen by Augusto Salazar Bondy: the organicist tradition of science in Peru

Existe una suerte de consenso entre los historiadores de las ideas en el Perú, en caracterizar a Unanue y los jóvenes que con él se agruparon en la revista Mercurio Peruano (1790-1795) como fundadores del pensamiento ilustrado en el Perú. No obstante, una minuciosa investigación textual de la obra científica de Hipólito Unanue muestra la presencia de un paradigma de cientificidad natural que operaba con categorías y perspectivas notoriamente divergentes de la tradición mecanicista ilustrada. Unanue refleja en una misma época y en un mismo espíritu científico el entrecruzamiento de dos paradigmas en disputa desde el siglo XVII: el de la 'razón' físico-matemática, que se opone al de la razón histórico-natural. Voy a sostener la hipótesis de que la opción epistemológica de Unanue no fue un asunto personal sino una característica histórica persistente de nuestra comunidad científica. En ella se evidencia una hegemonía del paradigma organicista de la naturaleza y una metodología ligada a las ciencias biológicas. Tal vez, dicho examen nos puede ayudar a evaluar hoy tanto nuestras debilidades como nuestras ventajas comparativas en la tarea de desarrollar una cultura científica moderna en el Perú. Es posible que el predominio de la tradición organicista en nuestra comunidad científica nacional haya sido un fuerte obstáculo para el desarrollo de ciertas disciplinas científicas en las que fructificó el paradigma mecanicista (particularmente en las ciencias físicas). Pero es también cierto que el paradigma organicista constituyó un fuerte estímulo para el desarrollo de las llamadas ciencias biológicas, las cuales han alcanzado importante desarrollo en el Perú.(AU)

Reflexiones en torno al desarrollo histórico de las ciencias biomédicas en Chile y el rol que jugó la Revista Médica de Chile: un homenaje al cumplir 130 años / Reflections about the historical development of biomedical sciences in Chile and the role of Revista Médica de Chile: an homage on 130-years old

When Revista Médica de Chile turns to be 130 years old, the author reflects about the difficulties that scientific and technological creativity faces in Chile, considering that there was a 70 years gap between its historical origin in Chile compared to developed countries. The scientific progress erases the boundaries between Biomedicine and science and technology. This progress has resulted in an improvement in the quality of scientific publications in Revista Medica de Chile. The editorial work has also contributed to this improvement. Revista Medica de Chile has obtained international recognition and stands in a good position as a medical journal in Latin America and Chile.

[Biomedicine or anthropological medicine]. / Biomedicina o medicina antropológica.

The huge developments in the biological research and in the technics used in other spheres of science (physics, mathematics, chemistry, cybernetics, etc.) have a great influence on the constitution of the actual medical paradigm, as well as other non strictly scientific factors. These external factors are economic, political and cultural ones -such as the pharmaceutical industry and the public health systems, the privatisation of health services, the large amount of professionals, the advances in the medical instruments, etc. The theoritician of the Heidelberg School, called this prevalent model "biomedical" or "natural-scientific", underlying this way the tendance to the biological reductionism in relation to the concept of "illness" thus excluding the subjectivity, the history and the sociability of the patient when dealing with the pain, the inability and the death. Since the middle of XXth Century a serious criticism of this medical paradigm has been raised. This criticism revolved around the so called anthropological or integral model. This article makes a revision of this problem from a historical and epistemological outlook, revisiting some specific features in the psychiatric field.

[Reflections about the historical development of biomedical sciences in Chile and the role of Revista Médica de Chile: an homage on 130-years old]. / Reflexiones en torno al desarrollo histórico de las ciencias biomédicas en Chile y el rol que jugó la Revista Médica de Chile: un homenaje al cumplir 130 años.

When Revista Médica de Chile turns to be 130 years old, the author reflects about the difficulties that scientific and technological creativity faces in Chile, considering that there was a 70 years gap between its historical origin in Chile compared to developed countries. The scientific progress erases the boundaries between Biomedicine and science and technology. This progress has resulted in an improvement in the quality of scientific publications in Revista Medica de Chile. The editorial work has also contributed to this improvement. Revista Medica de Chile has obtained international recognition and stands in a good position as a medical journal in Latin America and Chile.

[A view of tropical biology through the electron microscope]. / Una visión de la biología tropical a través del microscopio electrónico.

The first electron microscope in Costa Rica was a donation from the government of Japan through its International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1974. This donation made possible the consolidation of what was to become the University of Costa Rica's Electron Microscope Unit (UME). Within three years the first scientific papers were published, dealing with ultrastructural aspects of "Corn's rayado fino virus" and rotavirus, viral agent of human diarrhea. Subsequent papers out of the UME were published for the most part in the Journal of Tropical Biology, totaling at least 50 in that journal alone by the year 2000. With the recent acquisition of Energy Dispersive Spectrometer to coupled in transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope to X ray analysis, the data acquisition of the UME has been greatly enhanced, making possible to analyze both structure and elemental chemical composition in a specimen. Other applications of this new technology include studies of environmental pollution with heavy metals, such as comparative analysis of residues on leaves from urban areas and those on leaves from primary forest.

The history of science and the introduction of plant genetics in Mexico.

The emergence and development of 'national sciences' in Latin American countries were not, until very recently, part of the agenda of historians of science because the 'traditional' history of sciences was not interested in the scientific activity of peripheral areas. The history of science is a recent discipline in Mexican historiographic studies. The methodological interest in the history of science, the creation of schools and institutes that deal with it, the establishment of particular chairs, the organization of national societies, and the publication of books and periodicals are all very recent. It is important to carry out studies in the history of science that examine the development of Mexican science introducing the 'local' context, and study how this development has influenced the formation of scientific societies and the development of scientific disciplines in the country. We want to explore the introduction of genetics in Mexico as applied to agriculture between 1930 and 1960. This matter has not been investigated in Mexico and therefore this work would represent one of the first studies of this subject and one of the first studies in the general field of Mexican scientific history.

[A tribute to professor Héctor Croxatto Rezzio: setting up science in Chile. "Nature is always more amazing than our imagination can conceive"]. / Homenaje al Doctor Héctor Croxatto Rezzio: instalando la ciencia en Chile. "La naturaleza siempre es más maravillosa que lo que imaginamos".

Héctor R. Croxatto, M.D., has recently celebrated his 90th anniversary, fully active in scientific research and in other academic activities. Along his productive life, he has contributed with original observations on the role of certain peptides in the pathogenesis of arterial hypertension. Furthermore, he has been a leader in the development of biological research in Chile and the mentor or teacher of several prominent disciples who have had, or are having, their own brilliant careers in medicine and in science in Chile and other Latinamerican countries. Although most of his scientific productivity has been published in top journals in the international field, several of his papers have been published in Revista Médica de Chile. In this issue, the journal pays a tribute to this outstanding scholar, his exceptional personality and fruitful academic career. The tribute includes this Editorial, a Letter to the Editor and its reply, and his most recent manuscript, all testifying the exceptional virtues of a great man.

Evocaçäo de Walter Oswaldo Cruz / Evocation of Walter Oswaldo Cruz

Evoca fatos marcantes da trajetória profissional de Walter Oswaldo Cruz, pesquisador respeitado mundialmente por seus trabalhos de pesquisa na área das Ciências Biológicas.(MAM)