MentAlzh: Mobile Application Prototype for Early Detection of Cognitive Impairment

The increasing incidence of neurodegenerative diseases has raised a pressing need for practical tools to detect mild cognitive impairment in its early stages. This study presents MentAlzh, a mobile app prototype that employs an interactive multimedia approach to cognitive assessment, adapting traditional methods. The app was developed using the design thinking methodology to engage the end-user; the prototype encompasses six cognitive tests inspired by established methods, focusing on orientation, clock drawing, fixation, language, calculation, and memory. A group of 21 participants, aged between 51 and 76, evaluated the app regarding usability, accuracy, and repeatability. Results demonstrated consistent performance on orientation and fixation tasks, while variability on memory and clock drawing tests indicated potential areas for further refinement. The MentAlzh prototype was found to have the potential to serve as an accessible and user-friendly tool for early cognitive screening

Detección y caracterización por métodos moleculares de aislamientos colombianos de herpesvirus bovino tipo 1

La Rinotraqueitis Infecciosa Bovina (RIB) es una enfermedad, altamente contagiosa, de distribución mundial, de origen viral, causada por el Herpesvirus Bovino-1 (BoHV-1). Produce alteraciones en el sistema respiratorio y reproductivo, lo que la convierte en una enfermedad con un gran impacto económico para los sistemas de producción ganadera. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo caracterizar, mediante técnicas de biología molecular, tres aislamientos colombianos del BoHV-1 (dos de la sabana de Bogotá y uno de los Llanos Orientales). Los aislamientos fueron analizados con las enzimas de restricción Bam HI, Bst EII, Eco RI Pst I y Hind III. En este estudio también se implementó una rápida, sensitiva y específica prueba de PCR para la detección de tres glicoproteínas de superficie del Herpesvirus Bovino-1 (BoHV-1), cuyos fragmentos fueron secuenciados, lo que permitió encontrar homologías del 100% comparadas con los reportes del Gene Bank. Por medio del análisis con la enzima de restricción Hind III se clasificaron los aislamientos de la sabana de Bogotá como subtipo BoHV-1.2a y el de los Llanos Orientales como subtipo BoHV-1.1

Compensating control participants when the intervention is of significant value: experience in Guatemala, India, Peru and Rwanda

The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial is a randomised controlled trial in Guatemala, India, Peru and Rwanda to assess the health impact of a clean cooking intervention in households using solid biomass for cooking. The HAPIN intervention—a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and 18-month supply of LPG—has significant value in these communities, irrespective of potential health benefits. For control households, it was necessary to develop a compensation strategy that would be comparable across four settings and would address concerns about differential loss to follow-up, fairness and potential effects on household economics. Each site developed slightly different, contextually appropriate compensation packages by combining a set of uniform principles with local community input. In Guatemala, control compensation consists of coupons equivalent to the LPG stove’s value that can be redeemed for the participant’s choice of household items, which could include an LPG stove. In Peru, control households receive several small items during the trial, plus the intervention stove and 1 month of fuel at the trial’s conclusion. Rwandan participants are given small items during the trial and a choice of a solar kit, LPG stove and four fuel refills, or cash equivalent at the end. India is the only setting in which control participants receive the intervention (LPG stove and 18 months of fuel) at the trial’s end while also being compensated for their time during the trial, in accordance with local ethics committee requirements. The approaches presented here could inform compensation strategy development in future multi-country trials

Racism as a determinant of health: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Despite a growing body of epidemiological evidence in recent years documenting the health impacts of racism, the cumulative evidence base has yet to be synthesized in a comprehensive meta-analysis focused specifically on racism as a determinant of health. This meta-analysis reviewed the literature focusing on the relationship between reported racism and mental and physical health outcomes. Data from 293 studies reported in 333 articles published between 1983 and 2013, and conducted predominately in the U.S., were analysed using random effects models and mean weighted effect sizes. Racism was associated with poorer mental health (negative mental health: r = -.23, 95% CI [-.24,-.21], k = 227; positive mental health: r = -.13, 95% CI [-.16,-.10], k = 113), including depression, anxiety, psychological stress and various other outcomes. Racism was also associated with poorer general health (r = -.13 (95% CI [-.18,-.09], k = 30), and poorer physical health (r = -.09, 95% CI [-.12,-.06], k = 50). Moderation effects were found for some outcomes with regard to study and exposure characteristics. Effect sizes of racism on mental health were stronger in cross-sectional compared with longitudinal data and in non-representative samples compared with representative samples. Age, sex, birthplace and education level did not moderate the effects of racism on health. Ethnicity significantly moderated the effect of racism on negative mental health and physical health: the association between racism and negative mental health was significantly stronger for Asian American and Latino(a) American participants compared with African American participants, and the association between racism and physical health was significantly stronger for Latino(a) American participants compared with African American participants.<br /

Model for automatic detection of lexical-syntactic errors in texts written in Spanish

La valoración de textos escritos es una tarea que considera principalmente dos aspectos: el sintáctico y el semántico. El primero de ellos, se enfoca en la forma del texto y el segundo en el significado. La puesta en marcha de dicha tarea realizada en forma manual implica un esfuerzo en tiempo y recursos, que se puede reducir si parte del proceso se lleva a cabo de forma automática. De acuerdo con los antecedentes revisados en la corrección automática de textos, se identifican diferentes técnicas, entre ellas la lingüística, la cual se centra en los elementos sintácticos, semánticos y pragmáticos. Así, la investigación en curso se orienta a la revisión automática de textos escritos en español desde el punto de vista de la sintaxis, como punto de partida para garantizar la coherencia y la cohesión en la composición de textos, lo que puede ser de utilidad e impacto en el medio académico.Con el propósito de llevar a cabo este estudio se recolectó y analizó un conjunto de textos de estudiantes de un programa académico, al cual se le aplicó técnicas de procesamiento de lenguaje natural y aprendizaje de máquina. Adicionalmente, se realizó una corrección manual con la finalidad de comparar ambos resultados. De esta manera, se determinó que hay correspondencia entre ellos, lo cual permitió concluir que el método automático sirve de apoyo en el proceso de corrección sintáctica de un texto escrito en español.Evaluating written texts is a task that mainly considers two aspects: syntactics and semantics. The first one focuses on the form of the text, and the second one, on its meaning. Conducting this task manually implies an effort in time and resources that can be reduced if part of the process is carried out automatically. According to the reviewed literature, there are different techniques for automatically correcting texts. One of them is the linguistic approach, which focuses on syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic elements. Likewise, this ongoing research is concerned with the automatic evaluation of syntactic errors in texts written in Spanish as a starting point to ensure coherence and cohesion in text composition, which may be useful in the academic environment. In order to carry out this study, a set of texts by students enrolled in an academic program was collected and analyzed by applying natural language processing and machine learning techniques. Additionally, the content of the corpus was manually corrected to compare the results of both methods, and correspondence was established between them. For this reason, it was concluded that the automatic method supports the syntactic correction process of a text written in Spanish

Fifth European Dirofilaria and Angiostrongylus Days (FiEDAD) 2016

Peer reviewe

¿Qué tan sensibles son los mercados financieros al brote por COVID-19? Evidencia de los mercados de Estados Unidos y Colombia

In this article, the market risk associated with the financial markets of New York and Colombia is evaluated in three periods belonging to the 2019–2020-time window, characterized by shocking economic and social conditions such as the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the global pandemic by COVID-19. Risk measurement is carried out using the value at risk (VaR) and Median Shortfall (MS), applying a statistical methodology that considers the use of parametric and non-parametric resampling techniques (Bootstrapping). Data from five indices (Standard and Poor's 500, Dow Jones, COLCAP, VIX and Brent) were taken in order to evaluate the effects caused by variables such as the price of oil and the conditions generated by the COVID-19 pandemic on the dates of study, as the main result it is obtained that in general there is a very high volatility in the periods affected by the two aforementioned phenomena when they occurred simultaneously, and that in addition to large falls in the reference indices, there is also evidence of large recoveries that contribute positively to the trend in prices.  En este artículo, se evalúa el riesgo de mercado asociado a los mercados financieros de New York y Colombia en tres períodos pertenecientes a la ventana temporal 2019-2020, caracterizados por condiciones económicas y sociales impactantes como la guerra de precios del petróleo entre Arabia Saudita y Rusia y la pandemia mundial por COVID-19.  Se realiza la medición de riesgo por medio del uso del valor en riesgo (VaR) y déficit medio (MS), aplicando una metodología estadística que considera el uso de técnicas de remuestreo (Bootstrapping) paramétrico y no paramétrico. Se tomaron datos de cinco índices (Standard and Poor’s 500, Dow Jones, COLCAP, VIX y Brent) con el fin de evaluar los efectos ocasionados por variables como el precio del petróleo y las condiciones generadas por la pandemia COVID-19 en las fechas de estudio, como resultado principal se obtiene que en general se presenta una volatilidad muy elevada en los periodos afectados por los dos fenómenos ya mencionados cuando se dieron de manera simultánea, y que además de grandes caídas en los índices de referencia, también se tiene la evidencia de grandes recuperaciones que contribuyen positivamente a la tendencia en los precios

Predictors of latent tuberculosis treatment initiation and completion at a U.S. public health clinic: a prospective cohort study

Background Treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a key component in U.S. tuberculosis control, assisted by recent improvements in LTBI diagnostics and therapeutic regimens. Effectiveness of LTBI therapy, however, is limited by patients’ willingness to both initiate and complete treatment. We aimed to evaluate the demographic, medical, behavioral, attitude-based, and geographic factors associated with LTBI treatment initiation and completion of persons presenting with LTBI to a public health tuberculosis clinic. Methods Data for this prospective cohort study were collected from structured patient interviews, self-administered questionnaires, clinic intake forms, and U.S. census data. All adults (>17 years) who met CDC guidelines for LTBI treatment between January 11, 2008 and May 6, 2009 at Wake County Health and Human Services Tuberculosis Clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina were included in the study. In addition to traditional social and behavioral factors, a three-level medical risk variable (low, moderate, high), based on risk factors for both progression to and transmission of active tuberculosis, was included for analysis. Clinic distance and neighborhood poverty level, based on percent residents living below poverty level in a person’s zip code, were also analyzed. Variables with a significance level <0.10 by univariate analysis were included in log binomial models with backward elimination. Models were used to estimate risk ratios for two primary outcomes: (1) LTBI therapy initiation (picking up one month’s medication) and (2) therapy completion (picking up nine months INH therapy or four months rifampin monthly). Results 496 persons completed medical interviews and questionnaires addressing social factors and attitudes toward LTBI treatment. 26% persons initiated LTBI therapy and 53% of those initiating completed therapy. Treatment initiation predictors included: a non-employment reason for screening (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0-2.5), close contact to an infectious TB case (RR 2.5, 95% CI 1.8-3.6), regular primary care(RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0-2.0), and history of incarceration (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.0-2.8). Persons in the “high” risk category for progression/transmission of TB disease had higher likelihood of treatment initiation (p < 0.01), but not completion, than those with lower risk. Conclusions Investment in social support and access to regular primary care may lead to increased LTBI therapy adherence in high-risk populations

BACE1 RNAi restores the composition of phosphatidylethanolamine-derivates related to memory improvement in aged 3xTg-AD mice

ABSTRACT: β-amyloid (Aβ) is produced by the β-secretase 1 (BACE1)-mediated enzymatic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein through the amyloidogenic pathway, making BACE1 a therapeutic target against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alterations in lipid metabolism are a risk factor for AD by an unknown mechanism. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of RNA interference against BACE1 (shBACEmiR) on the phospholipid profile in hippocampal CA1 area in aged 3xTg-AD mice after 6 and 12 months of treatment compared to aged PS1KI mice. The shBACEmiR treatment induced cognitive function recovery and restored mainly the fatty acid composition of lysophosphatidylethanolamine and etherphosphatidylethanolamine, reduced the cPLA2’s phosphorylation, down-regulated the levels of arachidonic acid and COX2 in the hippocampi of 3xTg-AD mice. Together, our findings suggest, for the first time, that BACE1 silencing restores phospholipids composition which could favor the recovery of cellular homeostasis and cognitive function in the hippocampus of triple transgenic AD mice. Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, phospholipids, BACE1, RNA interference, hippocampus, cognitive functio