Dropout and Engineering undergraduate programs at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia between 2012-2019

[EN] Dropout is a topic of significant concern to Higher Education Institutions, especially in Colombia it is considered one of the most important indicators to define higher education quality. Nevertheless, in Colombia, and particularly at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, it has been generally assessed only academic dropout. This decision has prevented understanding other types of dropouts that also occur in the university. The research group performed Multiple Correspondence Analysis to assess the relationship between dropout types (academic, dropout on request, and expiry of time limits) and variables such as sex, socioeconomic stratum, type of admission, and semester of dropout. In the results, we found a disparity between types of dropout concerning the type of university admission, sex, socio-economic stratum, and the semester in which dropout occurs. Women are related to the dropout request while men are associated with the academic dropout. Additionally, the academic dropout occurs in the first 4 semesters, and the expiry of time limits occurs in the last ones.Sánchez-Nítola, M.; Grijalba, DM.; Embus, M.; Suarez, A.; Guevara Montoya, J. (2020). Dropout and Engineering undergraduate programs at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia between 2012-2019. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):1331-1337. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11270OCS1331133730-05-202

Developing novel blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is the public health crisis of the 21st century. There is a clear need for a widely available, inexpensive and reliable method to diagnosis Alzheimer's disease in the earliest stages, track disease progression, and accelerate clinical development of new therapeutics. One avenue of research being explored is blood based biomarkers. In April 2012, the Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation convened top scientists from around the world to discuss the state of blood based biomarker development. This manuscript summarizes the meeting and the resultant discussion, including potential next steps to move this area of research forward