Informality and social urban planning in Medellin

La ciudad de Medellín, después de unas décadas de aislamiento e involución caracterizadas por altos índices de inseguridad, violencia y segregación social, ha venido experimentando en la última década un proceso de renacimiento urbanístico que tuvo comienzo bajo el liderazgo del Alcalde Sergio Fajardo y que se conoce con el nombre de Urbanismo Social. Entre los pilares de dicho proceso están los Proyectos Urbanos Integrales (PUI), estrategias de intervención física en los sectores informales de la ciudad que buscan colmar la enorme deuda social que la ciudad formal ha venido acumulando durante años de olvido. El objetivo de este artículo es describir las características de dichas intervenciones analizando en detalle su proyecto piloto, el Proyecto Urbano Integral de la Nororiental, ubicado en unas de las áreas con los índices más bajos de calidad de vida de la ciudad.La ciutat de Medellín, després d’unes dècades d’aïllament i involució caracteritzades per alts índexs d’inseguretat, violència i segregació social, ha experimentat en l’última dècada un procés de renaixement urbanístic que va tenir començament sota el lideratge de l’alcalde Sergio Fajardo i que es coneix amb el nom d’Urbanisme Social. Entre els pilars d’aquest procés hi ha els Projectes Urbans Integrals (PUI), estratègies d’intervenció física en els sectors informals de la ciutat que busquen satisfer l’enorme deute social que la ciutat formal ha vingut acumulant durant anys. d’oblit. L’objectiu d’aquest article és descriure les característiques d’aquestes intervencions analitzant en detall el seu projecte pilot, el Projecte Urbà Integral de la nord-oriental, situat en una de les àrees amb els índexs més baixos de qualitat de vida de la ciutat.After decades of isolation and involution characterized by high levels of insecurity, violence and social segregation, the city of Medellin has been experiencing an urban renaissance process over the last decade. This process has begun under the leadership of Mayor Sergio Fajardo and it’s known as Social Planning. The Integral Urban Projects (PUI), are among the pillars of this process, as physical intervention strategies in the informal sectors of the city, and seeks to tackle the huge social debt that the formal city has been building over years of neglect. The aim of this paper is to describe the interventions described and to discuss in detail its pilot project, the Northeast Integral Urban Project, located in one of the areas with lowest quality of life in the city.Peer Reviewe

Bacterial Contamination of Clothes and Environmental Items in a Third-Level Hospital in Colombia

Objective. This study evaluates the bacterial contamination rate of items in the hospital setting that are in frequent contact with patients and/or physicians. By determining the bacterial species and the associated antibiotic resistance that patients are exposed to. Methods. Hospital-based cross-sectional surveillance study of potential bacterial reservoirs. Cultures from 30 computer keyboards, 32 curtains, 40 cell phones, 35 white coats, and 22 ties were obtained. Setting. The study was conducted an urban academic 650-bed teaching hospital providing tertiary care to the city of Medellin, Colombia. Results. In total, 235 bacterial isolates were obtained from 159 surfaces sampled. 98.7% of the surfaces grew positive bacterial cultures with some interesting resistance profiles. Conclusion. There are significant opportunities to reduce patient exposure to frequently pathogenic bacteria in the hospital setting; patients are likely exposed to many bacteria through direct contact with white coats, curtains, and ties. They may be exposed to additional bacterial reservoirs indirectly through the hands of clinicians, using computer keyboards and cell phones

A high incidence of native portal vein thrombosis in veterans undergoing liver transplantation

The incidence of native portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in liver transplant recipients has been reported to range from 2.1 to 13.8%. We have identified an inordinately high incidence of PVT in a consecutive series of U.S. veterans receiving liver transplants. Between October 1989 and February 1994, 88 consecutive U.S. veterans received 99 orthotopic liver transplants under primary Tacrolimus (Prograf, formerly FK506) based immunosuppression. A number of clinical features were examined in an effort to identify risk factors for PVT and outcome was compared to patients without PVT. Native PVT was present in 23/88 (26%) patients. All of these patients were male U.S. veterans with a mean age of 47 years. When compared to the 65 patients without PVT, we found no significant difference with respect to underlying liver disease, age, Childs-Pugh score (mean = 12), UNOS status as defined prior to April 1995 (95% UNOS 3 or 4), previous abdominal surgery, or liver volume. Median blood loss for patients with PVT (21 units of packed red blood cells) was greater than for those without PVT (14 units, P = 0.04). Portal thrombectomy was performed in 11 patients, 11 patients required mesoportal jump grafts, and 1 patient had an interposition graft. Standard veno-venous bypass was used in 10 patients with single bypass utilized for the remainder. Actuarial patient survival for all patients at 1, 2, and 4 years was 88, 85, and 79%, respectively. There was no significant difference in patients with or without PVT. Patients with PVT had poorer graft survival than patients without PVT (86% vs 65%, 1 year; 81% vs 65%, 2 years; 81% vs 61%, 4 years; P = 0.03); however, this was not related to technical problems with the portal venous inflow. PVT occurred in 26% of U.S. veterans undergoing liver transplantation. These patients bad significantly higher operative blood loss and poorer graft survival. The high incidence of postnecrotic cirrhosis in a predominantly male group of patients with advanced disease, as is evident by the high mean Childs-Pugh score and UNOS status, perhaps accounts for our observations

Autobiografía de un banco

El Banco de la República. Antecedentes, evolución y estructura. Banco de la República. Bogotá, 1990, 782 págs

Synthesis and Evaluation of Thiochroman-4-One Derivatives as Potential Leishmanicidal Agents

ABSTARCT: The S-containing heterocyclic compounds benzothiopyrans or thiochromones stand out as having promising biological activities due to their structural relationship with chromones (benzopyrans), which are widely known as privileged scaffolds in medicinal chemistry. In this work, we report the synthesis of 35 thiochromone derivatives and the in vitro antileishmanial and cytotoxic activities. Compounds were tested against intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania panamensis and cytotoxic activity against human monocytes (U-937 ATCC CRL-1593.2). Compounds bearing a vinyl sulfone moiety, 4h, 4i, 4j, 4k, 4l and 4m, displayed the highest antileishmanial activity, with EC50 values lower than 10 μM and an index of selectivity over 100 for compounds 4j and 4l. When the double bond or the sulfone moiety was removed, the activity decreased. Our results show that thiochromones bearing a vinyl sulfone moiety are endowed with high antileishmanial activity and low cytotoxicity

Linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients in GaAs/Ga1−xAlxAs concentric double quantum rings : Effects of hydrostatic pressure and aluminum concentration

ABSTRACT: The linear and nonlinear intra-band optical absorption coefficients in GaAs/Ga1−xAlxAs two-dimensional concentric double quantum rings are investigated. Taking into account the combined effects of hydrostatic pressure and aluminum concentration the energies of the ground and the first excited state have been found using the effective mass approximation and the transfer matrix formalism. The energies of these states and the corresponding threshold energy of the intra-band optical transitions are examined as a function of hydrostatic pressure and aluminum concentration for different sizes of the structure. We also investigated the dependencies of the linear, nonlinear, and total optical absorption coefficients as functions of the incident photon energy for different values of hydrostatic pressure, aluminum concentration, sizes of the structure, and incident optical intensity. Its is found that the effects of the hydrostatic pressure and the aluminum concentration lead to a shifting of the resonant peaks of the intra-band optical spectrum

Fluorescent and Electroactive Monoalkyl BTD-Based Liquid Crystals with Tunable Self-Assembling and Electronic Properties

We report here on a series of redox active benzothiadiazole-based luminophores ffinctionalized on one edge with a phenyl-nonyl substituent, which confers these molecules a rodlike shape and a tendency to self-assemble into layered superstructures. On the other edge, the molecules are endowed with different p-substituted phenyl rings, which allows the modulation of their redox and optical properties on the basis of the electronic nature of the terminal substituents. We have found that just one lateral alkyl chain is sufficient to induce mesomorphism in these molecules, which present nematic or smectic mesophases upon therinal treatment. Single-crystal analysis allows us to get an insight into the nature of the forces responsible for different supramolecular assemblies in these derivatives, and point to a strong contribution of the terminal groups in the different arrangements observed. The interesting redox and optical properties together with their self-assembling tendencies render these new materials interesting candidates for optoelectromcs