Universidad Católica de Santa Fe

1 Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens antibiotic effectiveness, but quantitatively evaluating stewardship strategies under partial observability and delayed feedback remains difficult in real-world data. We developed abx_amr_simulator, a Gymnasium-compatible simulation framework, and used it to benchmark reinforcement learning (RL) prescribing policies against value-iteration (VI) benchmarks and fixed prescribing rules across four experiment sets of increasing complexity, with varying levels of information degradation. Across scenarios, temporal abstraction was consistently important: flat PPO was competitive only in simpler settings, whereas hierarchical PPO was generally needed when prescribing decisions had delayed, coupled effects on future resistance. We found that adding recurrent memory did not uniformly improve performance; its value was context-dependent. In some degraded-information settings, memoryless policies performed better by adopting conservative update-responsive behavior, while in more complex, multi-signal partially observable settings, recurrent memory provided modest advantages. Patient heterogeneity and risk-stratification signals were major determinants of policy quality. When agents could differentiate higherfrom lower-risk patients, they more reliably learned selective treatment behavior, stabilized AMR, and improved clinical outcomes. Exaggerated risk stratification modestly outperformed accurate stratification, while compressed stratification produced moderate degradation. In more realistic settings combining noisy patient observations, delayed AMR surveillance, and multi-patient decisions, hierarchical agents outperformed fixed prescribing rules across both stewardship and clinical metrics, converging to conservative low-AMR equilibria with reduced cross-seed variance. Across experiments, results support the utility of hierarchical RL as a best-case policy-analysis tool for stewardship under uncertainty, while also highlighting that performance estimates are sensitive to observation structure and training horizon design. The framework provides a controlled environment for hypothesis generation and for stress-testing prescribing strategies before translation to policy-relevant settings.

The concept of Integral Ecology, introduced in Laudato Si’, highlights the interdependence of humanity, society, and nature, calling for shared global responsibility and sustainable lifestyles. In this context, forty-six communication students and four professors from Ecuador and Argentina participated in a six-week collaborative online international learning (COIL) project, “University Laudato Si’” (2023), integrating the service learning (SL) methodology. Participants were able to co-design and implement an international sustainability campaign adapted to diverse cultural and social contexts. The study adopts a qualitative design, analyzing students’ videos, final presentations, and written reflections. This triangulation identified learning outcomes and collaborative dynamics in both international and local campaigning. The findings indicate that international teamwork enhanced participation, interaction, and intercultural understanding while empowering students to assume leadership roles as promoters of global citizenship committed to sustainability and social responsibility.

Abstract Anthropogenic activities such as agriculture and keeping livestock have significantly modified natural ecosystems, transforming them into agroecosystems and contributing to habitat loss and species decline. In Argentina, agricultural expansion has been accompanied by increased use of agrochemicals, raising concerns about their impact on biodiversity. These chemicals can affect organisms directly during application or persist in the environment, potentially disrupting reproduction. Our study focuses on Caiman latirostris populations, a species whose distribution overlaps with croplands. We conducted a comprehensive long‐term spatial and multitemporal analysis of some reproductive parameters in C. latirostris in 2000–2018, using six nesting areas located in central‐northern Santa Fe, Argentina. This analysis integrated geospatial tools to assess the impact of agrochemical exposure on reproduction. Nest monitoring data from the Proyecto Yacaré conservation program were integrated with geospatial datasets through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, utilizing AI tools to evaluate environmental disturbances of each nesting area and its perinesting environment. This assessment incorporated web feature geoservices (WFS), vegetation indices (NDVI) temporal series, and land use/land cover. Reproductive parameters, including hatching success, the percentage of non‐viable embryos, infertile eggs, and neonate malformations, were analyzed in relation to the proximity of agricultural activities. Results revealed a significant decline in hatching success, accompanied by an increase in the proportion of non‐viable embryos and infertile eggs in the nests, particularly in nesting areas associated with agricultural activities. The integration of geotechnologies provided a comprehensive evaluation of the spatial and temporal aspects of the impacts of agricultural expansion on C. latirostris reproduction. These findings suggest that chronic exposure to agrochemicals is a plausible factor contributing to the decline in reproductive success, with broader implications for conservation in agroecosystems. This study highlights the utility of geotechnologies in monitoring environmental changes and their effects on wildlife. Our results also offer a scalable approach to assess anthropogenic impacts on other species and ecosystems, providing critical insights for conservation strategies.

Inter-alpha Inhibitor Proteins (IAIP) are serine protease inhibitors and a reliable inflammatory biomarker. We have demonstrated that IAIP levels decrease during sepsis in humans and animal models. Currently, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the standard procedure to measure IAIP levels. We developed a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) that allows rapid, point of care detection. We compared IAIP levels in infants with sepsis and/or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) by ELISA and LFIA in a multi-center, cross-sectional study. Blood samples were collected from 47 infants with sepsis, 31 sepsis case controls, 52 gestational age (GA)-matched controls and 10 infants with culture-negative sepsis (“clinical sepsis”). We also collected samples from 17 infants with NEC, 7 NEC case controls and 15 GA controls. IAIP levels at presentation of acute events and over the next 72 hours were significantly reduced in infants with sepsis, NEC and culture negative sepsis when compared to controls. IAIP levels did not differ in patients with sepsis or culture negative sepsis. IAIP levels measured by ELISA and LFIA were highly correlated (R2 = 0.9326) and both showed reliable detection of neonatal sepsis, NEC and culture negative sepsis. IAIP levels were 80.0% sensitive and 92.3% specific using LFIA for the detection of neonatal sepsis. For detection of NEC, IAIP levels were 84.6% sensitive and 86.7% specific.

Brain barriers, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics, and peripheral factors are implicated as significant contributors to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The choroid plexus (ChP) is a blood-brain interface that produces CSF and forms the blood-CSF barrier. However, how ChP pathology develops across the lifespan and contributes to AD has not been systematically characterized. Here, we report a multi-modal ChP atlas integrating single-nucleus transcriptomics from 49 individuals, AI-assisted quantitative histopathology across >500 postmortem samples age 16 to 105, spatial transcriptomics, and functional studies in 5xFAD mice. We identify fibrosis, calcification, and macrophage abnormalities as hallmarks of ChP aging, with AD pathology conferring additional effects, including expansion of a pro-inflammatory fibroblast-macrophage signaling niche. In 5xFAD mice, macrophage dysfunction is associated with impaired epithelial barrier maintenance and repair. Together, these data provide a foundational resource for understanding ChP dysfunction in aging and AD and propose the macrophage-fibroblast-epithelial barrier axis as a driver of ChP pathology.

Memory by definition is the storage of learned information from experiences where it can be recalled in the future. Memory is essential for organisms of any level, from single celled bacteria to complex mammals like whales in order for them to adapt and survive. The storage of long term memory is known to start in the hippocampus but long-term memory is not simply contained in this one region in the brain but across multiple regions including the cortex, amygdala and nucleus accumbens. This diversity of locations that memory can be located in prompts the question of what molecular components within the nervous system are required to establish and maintain long term memory. To dive into this, we utilize the simple neuroanatomy of C. elegans with only 302 neurons to examine the effects of mutations of specific genes on the success of forming long term memories. Previous work established that C. elegans with defective OSM-9 proteins are unable to sustain an aversion to butanone (an odor that they are innately attracted to) after it is paired once with a negative stimulus. This helped established the importance of OSM-9 proteins for short term memory but how can the OSM-9 protein – a homolog to human TRPV5 and TRPV6 commonly associated with recognising pain and thermoregulation rather than memory – play a part within the dynamics of space training induced long term memory? Here we show that the loss of the OSM-9 protein affects the dynamics of memory consolidation, which is the process by which short term memory is converted to long term memory. Previously, OSM-9 protein was implicated in the formation of short term memory which was termed adaptation. Here, we examine spaced training induced memory that is resistant to re-feeding and depends on sleep. This study indicates that after spaced training, the OSM-9 protein is required for the conversion of short term memory to long term memory and not acquisition. Furthermore, we confirmed that 30 minutes on food after spaced training, Wild type C. elegans seem to lose their memory but gain it back 120 minutes after, emphasizing the dynamics of memory and revealing that it is not a smoothly continuous process. Our results demonstrate that TRPV containing channels plays a role in stabilizing memory for long term use. Analyzing the specific point in which the OSM-9 protein plays a part in reactivating memory may help pave the way to a more detailed understanding of memory dynamics and the processes involved in recovering memory. Future work includes: identifying where the loss of memory goes, whether its masked or truly disappears can further explain what the OSM-9 protein supports when long term memory is formed; understanding if OSM-9 is directly involved with the process of “reviving” the memory or is it involved in the development of the C. elegans circuit which allows for this process to occur.

Este artículo desarrolla en primer término la protección legal en Argentina del embrión humano y luego la confronta con las complejas situaciones que presentan las técnicas de reproducción humana asistida. Su contenido se centra en la situación de vulnerabilidad de los embriones no implantados, a partir de la falta de una legislación especial que los proteja. Profundiza las implicancias de la revocabilidad del consentimiento previo, libre e informado y el vacío legal que se origina frente al destino incierto de los embriones sobrantes. Luego del análisis de la legislación vigente y de las decisiones jurisprudenciales más significativas se proponen algunos criterios ineludibles para el respeto de la dignidad humana de la persona en su estado embrionario.

La gestión adecuada de los residuos alimentarios se ha convertido en un desafío central para el desarrollo sostenible, especialmente en el sector gastronómico, donde la generación de desperdicios impacta directamente en el ambiente, la economía y la seguridad alimentaria. La investigación se realizó en un establecimiento gastronómico de la ciudad de Victoria, Entre Ríos (Argentina) mediante la observación directa de las prácticas cotidianas, entrevistas con actores clave, el análisis del contexto normativo y la revisión de antecedentes relacionados con la problemática. Como marco conceptual se utilizó el Modelo Sistémico de Servicios de Alimentación, que permitió abordar la gestión de los residuos desde una visión integral que contempla tanto los factores internos del establecimiento (como la planificación, las compras, la manipulación y los procesos operativos) como los factores externos vinculados al entorno local. A partir de este análisis, se elaboraron propuestas orientadas a prevenir pérdidas y desperdicios en cada etapa del proceso gastronómico. Como conclusión, se observa que la sostenibilidad en el sector gastronómico no depende exclusivamente de la incorporación de herramientas tecnológicas o del cumplimiento de normativas vigentes, sino también de una gestión interna basada en registros diarios e históricos, indicadores, estándares y formación continua del personal. De este modo, este trabajo presenta un modo de reducir pérdidas y desperdicios en el corto plazo y aporta un marco replicable para otros establecimientos gastronómicos que busquen integrar rentabilidad y cuidado ambiental en sus prácticas cotidianas.

El objetivo de este trabajo es describir el régimen presidencialista argentino tomando como base los rasgos particulares definidos por los cientistas para este régimen desde el punto de vista teórico, en el marco del debate parlamentarismo versus presidencialismo. Discusión teórica que se planteó acerca de la conveniencia de uno u otro régimen democrático, y que surge como consecuencia del advenimiento al poder de gobiernos de facto en numerosos países del continente americano; siendo la década del ochenta el momento histórico en el que se da el debate que nos ocupa, y culminando con la llegada de lo que se dio en llamar la tercera ola democratizadora. Los autores se pronunciaron a favor de uno u otro régimen, y nuestro país no fue ajeno a este debate.

El presente trabajo se inscribe en el marco de la teoría general del proceso y se centra en el análisis de la justificación racional exigida a los jueces que se apartan de sus propios precedentes en casos análogos. A partir del examen de las teorías de Alexy y Vigo, se sostiene que el precedente actúa como una norma jurídica ‘sui generis’ que impone al juzgador una carga argumentativa específica. Se propone un test de racionalidad –axiológico, prudencial y consecuencialista– como condición de validez del nuevo criterio. La omisión o insuficiencia en la justificación compromete la seguridad jurídica y puede tornar la decisión judicial inválida por arbitrariedad. En definitiva, se concluye que la argumentación robusta es un deber ineludible para garantizar la coherencia del sistema jurídico y el principio de igual dad ante la ley.