Paro Nacional de 2021 en Colombia. Arte, performance digital y árbol de contenidos

In 2021, Colombia experienced an unprecedented social mobilization. Amidst the numerous forms of protest that emerged, certain artistic initiatives led by national artists and collectives had distinct repercussions in the collective imagination. These initiatives gained significance due to their effective symbolic articulation in the streets and subsequent viralization on social media platforms. In this article, we investigate these expressions with in the framework of art and resistance. The study represents an exploratory analysis of recognized initiatives such as "Arte y resistencia" (Luis Carlos Velez), "Batucada" (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, CUT), "El paro suena" (Evelyn Cadena), "las filarmónicas en las calles" (Susana Boreal), "El voguing como resistencia trans" (Piisciis), and "Sonidos autóctonos" (Compromiso Cauca). The findings reveal novel nuances in contemporary art, surpassing essentialist notions and providing a deeper understanding of its politicization within the digital realm.En 2021 Colombia vivió una movilización social sin precedentes. En medio de tantas formas de manifestación que se presentaron, algunas iniciativas artísticas de artistas y colectivos nacionales tuvieron repercusiones especiales en el imaginario colectivo, gracias a la articulación de su eficacia simbólica en las calles y su viralización en redes sociales. En este artículo estudiamos esas expresiones en clave de arte y resistencia. Se trata de un estudio exploratorio de las iniciativas reconocidas como Arte y resistencia (Luis Carlos Vélez), Batucada (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, CUT), El paro suena (Evelyn Cadena), las filarmónicas en las calles (Susana Boreal), El voguing como resistencia trans (Piisciis) y Sonidos autóctonos (Compromiso Cauca). Los resultados muestran nuevos matices para el arte contemporáneo, en los cuales se superan ciertas nociones esencialistas que permiten ahora comprenderlo en términos de su politicidad desde lo digital

Multiprofessional intervention improves health-related physical fitness in adolescents with greater effect on girls compared to boys

Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar as diferenças entre as respostas de meninos e meninas a um programa multiprofissional de tratamento da obesidade sobre a aptidão física relacionada à saúde. Fizeram parte do estudo 163 adolescentes com excesso de massa corporal e idade entre 10 e 18 anos. Foram avaliados parâmetros antropométricos, composição corporal, flexibilidade, força e resistência abdominal e aptidão cardiorrespiratória antes e após 16 semanas de intervenção multiprofissional. A intervenção multiprofissional contou com a participação de profissionais de educação física, nutrição, psicologia e pediatria e teve como foco principal o incentivo a mudanças nos hábitos alimentares e de atividade física que pudessem promover alterações positivas nos parâmetros analisados. A intervenção teve frequência semanal de três sessões, sendo uma hora de intervenções teóricas com os profissionais de educação física, nutrição e psicologia e a outra hora destinada à prática regular de exercícios físicos, com predominância de exercícios físicos resistidos, aeróbios e prática de basquetebol. Após a intervenção tanto as meninas quanto os meninos apresentaram melhoras significativas nas variáveis IMC, circunferência de cintura e quadril, massa gorda relativa e absoluta, massa magra, flexibilidade, força/resistência abdominal e aptidão cardiorrespiratória, porém com resultados mais expressivos para as meninas sobre a circunferência de cintura, gordura corporal (kg), VO2max e força/resistência abdominal.This study aimed to verify the differences between both boys and girls responses to a multidisciplinary program of obesity treatment on health-related physical fitness. One hundred and sixty three adolescents with excess body weight and aged 10 to 18 years took part in the present study. It was assessed anthropometric parameters, body composition, flexibility, abdominal strength/resistance and cardiorespiratory fitness before and after 16 weeks of a multiprofessional intervention. The multiprofessional intervention was developed by physical educators, nutritionist, psychologist, pediatrician and was focused on motivate eating and exercise changes which could promote positive changes on the parameters analyzed. The intervention was conducted three times per week in which theoretical intervention lasted one hour with physical educators, nutritionist and psychologist and another hour designated to practical interventions of the physical educators in which predominated resistance and aerobic exercise as well as basketball practice. After the intervention, both girls and boys presented significant improvements in BMI, waist and hip circumference, relative and absolute body fat, lean mass, flexibility, strength and resistance in abdominal and cardiorespiratory fitness; however the results were more expressive for girls on waist circumference, body fat (kg), VO2max and abdominal strength/resistance

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

Dementia in Latin America : paving the way towards a regional action plan

Regional challenges faced by Latin American and Caribbean countries (LACs) to fight dementia, such as heterogeneity, diversity, political instabilities, and socioeconomic disparities, can be addressed more effectively grounded in a collaborative setting based on the open exchange of knowledge. In this work, the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium on Dementia (LAC-CD) proposes an agenda for integration to deliver a Knowledge to Action Framework (KtAF). First, we summarize evidence-based strategies (epidemiology, genetics, biomarkers, clinical trials, nonpharmacological interventions, networking and translational research) and align them to current global strategies to translate regional knowledge into actions with transformative power. Then, by characterizing genetic isolates, admixture in populations, environmental factors, and barriers to effective interventions and mapping these to the above challenges, we provide the basic mosaics of knowledge that will pave the way towards a KtAF. We describe strategies supporting the knowledge creation stage that underpins the translational impact of KtAF

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Exergy analysis of the Colombian energy matrix: An insight from its economic sectors and energy resources

In this paper, the exergy analysis of the Colombian energy matrix for the years 1975,1993, 2012 and 2016 is developed, based on data measured by the Colombian Planning Office of Mining and Energy (UPME) along with the reported values of the general exergy performance of industrial processes and other specific to the productive activities of the Colombian energy matrix. Differently from the existent evaluation methodology of the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), in this work, a methodology based on the concept of exergy (i.e. the combined analysis of the First and Second law of the Thermodynamics) is used to assess the performance of each economic sector without the need for differentiating between primary and secondary resources. The exergy performance of the utilization of the various energy resources through the different economic sectors is represented via Grassmann diagrams from two points of view, namely representing the exergy losses by energy resource and determining the exergy losses by economic sector. The first approach focuses on the study of how the resources are used in the Colombian energy matrix, whereas the latter one focuses on how efficient the Colombian economic sectors perform. As a novel outcome, it was possible to evidence an increasing trend, although still incipient, of the evolution of the overall exergy efficiency of the Colombian energy sectors. These results prove to be useful in identifying the actual bottlenecks and forecast the future shortcomings that the planning offices and economic decision-makers will face in the scenario of a newly industrializing country with a growing and energy demanding population