Impacto de las transferencias condicionadas sobre el mercado de crédito: el caso de Familias en Acción en Colombia

A pesar de que existen estudios que evalúan el impacto del programa colombiano de transferencias condicionadas Familias en Acción, en la demanda de crédito, en este artículo se usa información de registros administrativos para varios años, con los cuales se espera ofrecer nuevas luces acerca de los efectos que sobre el mercado de crédito pueda tener el programa, más allá del mejoramiento que sobre la calidad de vida de las personas tenga la estrategia vía externalidades ocurridas en el mercado laboral y en el mercado de bienes y servicios. En particular, se utilizan los registros del programa Familias en Acción urbano, y el censo nacional de los registros trimestrales de crédito con el sector financiero formal de la Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia

Triclosan-caffeic acid hybrids: Synthesis, leishmanicidal, trypanocidal and cytotoxic activities

The synthesis, cytotoxicity, anti-leishmanial and anti-trypanosomal activities of twelve triclosan-caffeic acid hybrids are described herein. The structure of the synthesized products was elucidated by a com- bination of spectrometric analyses. The synthesized compounds were evaluated against amastigotes forms of L. (V) panamensis , which is the most prevalent Leishmania species in Colombia, and against Trypanosoma cruzi, which is the pathogenic species to humans. Cytotoxicity was evaluated against hu- man U-937 macrophages. Eight compounds were active against L. (V) panamensis ( 18 e 23, 26 and 30 ) and eight of them against T. cruzi ( 19 e 22 , 24 and 28 e 30 ) with EC 50 values lower than 40 m M. Compounds 19 e 22 , 24 and 28 e 30 showed higher activities than benznidazole (BNZ). Esters 19 and 21 were the most active compounds for both L. (V) panamensis and T. cruzi with 3.82 and 11.65 m M and 8.25 and 8.69 m M, respectively. Compounds 19 e 22 , 24 and 28 e 30 showed higher activities than benznidazole (BNZ). Most of the compounds showed antiprotozoal activity and with exception of 18 , 26 and 28 , the remaining compounds were toxic for mammalian cells, yet they have potential to be considered as candidates for anti-trypanosomal and anti-leishmanial drug development. The activity is dependent on the length of the alkyl linker with compound 19 , bearing a four-carbon alkyl chain, the most performing hybrid. In general, hydroxyl groups increase both activity and cytotoxicity and the presence of the double bond in the side chain is not decisive for cytotoxicity and anti-protozoal activity

Synthesis, leishmanicidal, trypanocidal and cytotoxic activities of quinoline-chalcone and quinoline-chromone hybrids

We report herein the synthesis and biological activities (cytotoxicity, leishmanicidal and trypanocidal) of six quinoline-chalcone and five quinoline-chromone hybrids. The synthesized compounds were evaluated against amastigotes forms of Leishmania (V) panamensis, which is the most prevalent Leishmania species in Colombia and Trypanosoma cruzi, which is the major pathogenic species to humans. Cytotoxicity was evaluated against human U-937 macrophages. Compounds 8–12, 20, 23 and 24 showed activity against Leishmania (V) panamensis, while compounds 9, 10, 12, 20 and 23 had activity against Trypanosoma cruzi with EC50 values lower than 18 mg mL−1. 20 was the most active compound for both Leishmania (V) panamensis and Trypanosoma cruzi with EC50 of 6.11 ± 0.26 μg mL−1 (16.91 μM) and 4.09 ± 0.24 (11.32 μM), respectively. All hybrids compounds showed better activity than the anti-leishmanial drug meglumine antimoniate. Compounds 20 and 23 showed higher activity than benznidazole, the current anti-trypanosomal drug. Although these compounds showed toxicity for mammalian U-937 cells,they still have the potential to be considered as candidates to antileishmanial or trypanocydal drug development

MONITORING THE SEVERITY AND VARIABILITY OF BROWN RUST (Puccinia melanocephala) IN SUGARCANE VARIETIES IN THE CAUCA VALLEY, COLOMBIA

Abstract THE VARIETIES CC 85-92 and CC 84-75 are grown on more than 80% of the area planted with cane in the Colombian sugar industry; these varieties were initially resistant to brown rust disease. Brown rust has been present in Colombia since 1979. Genetic variability in Puccinia melanocephala is thought to have affected resistance in some varieties through the appearance of what are thought to be new races of the pathogen. This situation has been observed in some resistant varieties (e.g. CC [85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92], where recently the disease has occurred at low severity. Therefore, an evaluation was made of the severity and possible variability of brown rust in the varieties selected by CENICAÑA in the Cauca River Valley. Samples were taken from plants from 1-14 months of age in the varieties CC 84-75, CC 85-92, CC 93-3895, CC 92-2804 and MZC 74-275 on 91 estates (10 sugar mills). On each plantation 20 stalks were selected at random, and the third leaf from the top visible dewlap leaf was taken from each stalk. Both disease reaction and severity were evaluated. Morphological and microscopic analyses of the structures found in the rust pustules were undertaken in leaf samples taken from each variety. Simultaneously, pathogen samples were collected and molecular techniques used (focusing on initiators of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA)) to detect possible genetic variation of P. melanocephala. The results showed that the disease reaction type in the varieties evaluated was 5 or less, with severities ranging from 0-12% leaf area affected. Variety MZC 74-275 showed susceptibility, with a reaction of 6 and a severity of 20% on the estates where it was evaluated. No differences were found among the morphological structures in the samples evaluated, all of which corresponded to P. melanocephala. The results obtained from the amplification of the ITS1 and ITS2 regions of the rDNA and from the PCR-RFLP did not show differences among the samples evaluated. These results could indicate that the variation of the pathogen is not reflected in its rDNA or that the molecular technique used was not sufficiently sensitive to detect small variations in the genome. Initial results about the presence or absence of gene Bru1 and susceptibility to brown rust are discussed

The impact of culture on neuropsychological performance: A global social cognition study across 12 countries

AbstractBackgroundDecades of researches aiming to unveil truths about human neuropsychology may have instead unveil facts appropriate to only a fraction of the world's population: those living in western educated rich democratic nations (Muthukrishna et al., 2020 Psych Sci). So far, most studies were conducted as if education and cultural assumptions on which neuropsychology is based were universals and applied everywhere in the world. The importance given to sociological or cultural factors is thus still relatively ignored. With the growth of international clinical studies on dementia, we believe that documenting the potential inter‐cultural differences at stake in a common neuropsychological assessment is an essential topic. This study thus aimed to explore these potential variations in two classical tasks used in neuropsychology that are composing the mini‐SEA (Bertoux et al., 2012 JNNP), i.e. a reduced version of the well‐known Ekman faces (FER), where one has to recognize facial emotions, and a modified version of the Faux Pas test (mFP), where one has to detect and explain social faux.MethodThe data of 573 control participants were collected through the Social Cognition & FTLD Network, an international consortium investigating social cognitive changes in dementia covering 3 continents (18 research centres in 12 countries). Impact of demographic factors and the effect of countries on performance (mini‐SEA, FER, mFP) were explored through linear mixed‐effects models.ResultAge, education and gender were found to significantly impact the performance of the mini‐SEA subtests. Significant and important variations across the countries were also retrieved, with England having the highest performance for all scores. When controlling for demographical factors, differences within countries explained between 14% (mFP) and 24% (FER) of the variance at the mini‐SEA. These variations were not explained by any economical or sociological metrics.ConclusionImportant variations of performance were observed across the 12 countries of the consortium, showing how cultural differences may critically impact neuropsychological performance in international studies

Does Culture Shape Our Understanding of Others’ Thoughts and Emotions? An Investigation Across 12 Countries

Q2Q2Measures of social cognition have now become central in neuropsychology, being essential for early and differential diagnoses, follow-up, and rehabilitation in a wide range of conditions. With the scientific world becoming increasingly interconnected, international neuropsychological and medical collaborations are burgeoning to tackle the global challenges that are mental health conditions. These initiatives commonly merge data across a diversity of populations and countries, while ignoring their specificity. Objective: In this context, we aimed to estimate the influence of participants’ nationality on social cognition evaluation. This issue is of particular importance as most cognitive tasks are developed in highly specific contexts, not representative of that encountered by the world’s population. Method: Through a large international study across 18 sites, neuropsychologists assessed core aspects of social cognition in 587 participants from 12 countries using traditional and widely used tasks. Results: Age, gender, and education were found to impact measures of mentalizing and emotion recognition. After controlling for these factors, differences between countries accounted for more than 20% of the variance on both measures. Importantly, it was possible to isolate participants’ nationality from potential translation issues, which classically constitute a major limitation. Conclusions: Overall, these findings highlight the need for important methodological shifts to better represent social cognition in both fundamental research and clinical practice, especially within emerging international networks and consortia.https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9422-3579https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6529-7077Revista Internacional - IndexadaA2N

Implicaciones metodológicas e inconsistencias de la Tercera Comunicación Nacional sobre Cambio Climático de Colombia

Las Comunicaciones Nacionales sobre Cambio Climático (CNCC) son un mecanismo para que los países informen sus avances en mitigación y adaptación, y constituyen uno de los elementos de base para la política sobre cambio climático a escala nacional. Colombia ha emitido tres CNCC. La tercera plantea un escenario que considera las proyecciones de diversos modelos incluidos en la quinta fase del Proyecto de Comparación de Modelos Acoplados (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, CMIP), el cual se estima como el promedio de las proyecciones correspondientes a las cuatro trayectorias de concentración representativa (Representative Concentration Pathways,RCP) presentadas en el quinto reporte de evaluación del Panel Intergubernamental sobre Cambio Climático. Cada una de estas RCP representa una trayectoria de concentración de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) para un escenario particular de crecimiento poblacional, económico y tecnológico que conduce a una posible trayectoria de evolución del sistema climático. En este estudio se comparan las proyecciones presentadas en la Tercera CNCC con las obtenidas directamente de los modelos empleados. Nuestros resultados demuestran que al utilizarse un promedio de RCP se pierden escenarios alternos que podrían ser importantes a la hora de considerar posibles futuros diferentes y anulan la utilidad de plantear diversas trayectorias de emisiones de GEI. Más aun, una comparación entre la Segunda y la Tercera CNCC muestra proyecciones de precipitación opuestas para diferentes regiones del país, lo cual es de particular importancia, pues el escenario de cambio climático planteado en la Tercera CNCC sirve de referencia para la toma de decisiones en materia de cambio climático a nivel nacional

Cabbage and fermented vegetables : From death rate heterogeneity in countries to candidates for mitigation strategies of severe COVID-19

Large differences in COVID-19 death rates exist between countries and between regions of the same country. Some very low death rate countries such as Eastern Asia, Central Europe, or the Balkans have a common feature of eating large quantities of fermented foods. Although biases exist when examining ecological studies, fermented vegetables or cabbage have been associated with low death rates in European countries. SARS-CoV-2 binds to its receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). As a result of SARS-CoV-2 binding, ACE2 downregulation enhances the angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT(1)R) axis associated with oxidative stress. This leads to insulin resistance as well as lung and endothelial damage, two severe outcomes of COVID-19. The nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) is the most potent antioxidant in humans and can block in particular the AT(1)R axis. Cabbage contains precursors of sulforaphane, the most active natural activator of Nrf2. Fermented vegetables contain many lactobacilli, which are also potent Nrf2 activators. Three examples are: kimchi in Korea, westernized foods, and the slum paradox. It is proposed that fermented cabbage is a proof-of-concept of dietary manipulations that may enhance Nrf2-associated antioxidant effects, helpful in mitigating COVID-19 severity.Peer reviewe

Nrf2-interacting nutrients and COVID-19 : time for research to develop adaptation strategies

There are large between- and within-country variations in COVID-19 death rates. Some very low death rate settings such as Eastern Asia, Central Europe, the Balkans and Africa have a common feature of eating large quantities of fermented foods whose intake is associated with the activation of the Nrf2 (Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2) anti-oxidant transcription factor. There are many Nrf2-interacting nutrients (berberine, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, quercetin, resveratrol, sulforaphane) that all act similarly to reduce insulin resistance, endothelial damage, lung injury and cytokine storm. They also act on the same mechanisms (mTOR: Mammalian target of rapamycin, PPAR gamma:Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, NF kappa B: Nuclear factor kappa B, ERK: Extracellular signal-regulated kinases and eIF2 alpha:Elongation initiation factor 2 alpha). They may as a result be important in mitigating the severity of COVID-19, acting through the endoplasmic reticulum stress or ACE-Angiotensin-II-AT(1)R axis (AT(1)R) pathway. Many Nrf2-interacting nutrients are also interacting with TRPA1 and/or TRPV1. Interestingly, geographical areas with very low COVID-19 mortality are those with the lowest prevalence of obesity (Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia). It is tempting to propose that Nrf2-interacting foods and nutrients can re-balance insulin resistance and have a significant effect on COVID-19 severity. It is therefore possible that the intake of these foods may restore an optimal natural balance for the Nrf2 pathway and may be of interest in the mitigation of COVID-19 severity

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049