Within human physiology, systemic interactions couple physiological variables to maintain homeostasis. These interactions change according to health status and are modified by factors such as age and sex. For several physiological processes, sex-based distinctions in normal physiology are present and defined in isolation. However, new methodologies are indispensable to analyze system-wide properties and interactions with the objective of exploring differences between sexes. Here we propose a new method to construct complex inferential networks from a normalization using the clinical criteria for health of physiological variables, and the correlations between anthropometric and blood tests biomarkers of 198 healthy young participants (117 women, 81 men, from 18 to 27 years old). Physiological networks of men have less correlations, displayed higher modularity, higher small-world index, but were more vulnerable to directed attacks, whereas networks of women were more resilient. The networks of both men and women displayed sex-specific connections that are consistent with the literature. Additionally, we carried out a time-series study on heart rate variability (HRV) using Physionet’s Fantasia database. Autocorrelation of HRV, variance, and Poincare’s plots, as a measure of variability, are statistically significant higher in young men and statistically significant different from young women. These differences are attenuated in older men and women, that have similar HRV distributions. The network approach revealed differences in the association of variables related to glucose homeostasis, nitrogen balance, kidney function, and fat depots. The clusters of physiological variables and their roles within the network remained similar regardless of sex. Both methodologies show a higher number of associations between variables in the physiological system of women, implying redundant mechanisms of control and simultaneously showing that these systems display less variability in time than those of men, constituting a more resilient system.

For this, fishery catches information was obtained from the artisanal fleet, at six landing sites in the Gulf, and the sex ratio, fork length (FL) and the catch per unit effort (CPUE) were estimated. From all sampling sites, a total of 3 494 females, and 3 877 males were obtained, and dolphinfish size as fork length (FL) ranged from 20.5 to 152cm. Fish size ranged from 25.5 to 148cm furcal length (FL) in males, and 20.5 to 129cm FL in females. The sex ratio (males:females) was 1:1, except in April-May (1:1.5, p<0.05) and November (1:0.5, p<0.05). The sex ratio at different size classes showed a significant bias towards females at smaller sizes (<75cm FL), whereas the males were predominant in larger size classes (>100cm FL). The size structure was bimodal, with a variation in the size average; the modes were defined as the small group (FL=50-55cm) and the large size group (FL=100-110cm). The CPUE showed seasonal changes: values were high for the November-December period, and values were lower for July-August. The seasonal and inter annual variation in the abundance of dolphinfish is probably related to a pre-spawning migration in close relation to the rain-drought regime characteristic of the region, and the associated wind upwelling season of "Tehuanos" in the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (2): 611-626. Epub 2014 June 01.

The present discourse of admission to the Mexican Academy of Language traces the biological foundations of human language in animal behavior, hominization, and neuroscience. Animal intentional and symbolic expressions constitute evident foundations of human propositional language and thought. Through arduous training, individual parrots and apes learn, recognize, and express abstract symbols, while vervet monkeys in their natural habitat produce different cries to identify their predators. A communicative intention is furthermore suggested by social play, tactic deception, machiavellic intelligence, or calls to name individuals. Such capacities evolved toward Homo sapiens and its early pictorial representations show adaptive and innovative symbolic talents based on neuronal networks that generate cognitive resources in coordination with the environment. Right-hand skills, tool production, symbolic language, and left hemisphere predominance constitute associated capacities emerging during the human split from the apes 2.5 million years ago. Even though the modularity of language engages specialized brain areas for expression and comprehension, meaning requires a wider connectivity. Processing verbal information involves the activations of neural networks genetically-disposed in a brain device that is conditioned by repetitive learning. Linguistic representation utilizes firing codes of neurons organized in such networks; their contents are determined by the origin and destiny of the neural pathways, while meanings emerge from the dynamic patterned process of the interconnections among brain modules. The human symbolic realm is detectable in the world of expression and culture because it is mediated by social processes tangled to brain processes through appropriate practices. Meaning is thereby conceived as a dynamic braid with an external or cultural loop, and an internal or neurosemantic loop. The nascent contribution of biological, cognitive and brain sciences in coordination to humanistic disciplines to understand the nature of language is as revealing as it is challenging.Key words: Language, communication, neuropsychology, culture. RESUMENEl presente texto de ingreso a la Academia Mexicana de la Lengua perfila los fundamentos biológicos del lenguaje y el significado en la conducta animal, la hominización y la neurociencia.Las expresiones intencionales y simbólicas en animales constituyen claros cimientos del lenguaje y el pensamiento proposicional humano. Mediante entrenamiento, ejemplares de aves y simios aprenden, reconocen y expresan símbolos abstractos, en tanto que los monos verdes en su medio natural emiten diferentes voces para identificar a sus predadores. La intención comunicativa está además sugerida por el juego social, el engaño táctico, la inteligencia maquiavélica o los silbidos para nombrar individuos. Dichas habilidades evolucionaron hasta el Homo sapiens cuyas representaciones pictóricas iniciales marcan una simbolización adaptativa basada en circuitos neuronales que generan recursos...

En el presente artículo se muestra una propuesta de enseñanza donde se utiliza la balanza como un recurso didáctico para el aprendizaje de las ecuaciones lineales. El objetivo del estudio fue el de propiciar la comprensión del concepto de ecuación lineal con una incógnita y de ecuación lineal con dos variables con estudiantes de primer grado de secundaria, mediante el uso de manipulables. Este estudio considera como referente teórico el enfoque cognitivo basado en los registros de representación semiótica de Raymond Duval y las actividades diseñadas promueven la articulación de los registros de representación verbal, tabular, gráfico y algebraico. La metodología de trabajo fue el estudio de casos; por la naturaleza del trabajo los casos a estudiar fueron parejas de estudiantes. Con el uso de la balanza como instrumento de enlace se logró la conversión directa y recíproca entre los registros de representación algebraico y gráfico. Con base al análisis de resultados se encontró que la balanza constituyó un valioso recurso para lograr incidir positivamente en el aprendizaje...

DOI  http://dx.doi.org/10.15304/ag.34.1.2215