Age-Dependent Branching Processes for Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases with Incubation Period

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent results of the authors in the area of infectious disease modeling by means of branching stochastic processes. This is a new approach involving age-dependent branching models, which turned out to be more appropriate and flexible for describing the spread of an infection in a given population, than discrete time ones. Concretely, Bellman–Harris and Sevast'yanov's branching processes are investigated. It is justified that the proposed models are proper candidates as models of infectious diseases with incubation period like measles, mumps, avian flu, etc. It is worth to notice that in general the developed methodology is applicable to the diseases that follow the so-called SIR (susceptible–infected–removed) scheme in terms of epidemiological models. Two policies of extra-vaccination level are proposed and compared on the ground of simulation examples

A preliminary study of chemical properties in temperate forest fire of the Chilean Andean range for planning of ecosystems restoration

Despite vegetation in fire-prone landscapes having different fire adaptations, a change in the worldwide fire regime could affect all ecosystem processes and systems. In this sense, soil systems play a key role in ecosystems, not only providing inorganic nutrients to plants, but also serve as filter water and carbon storage. The aim of this research was to identify the effects of wildfire on the chemical properties of young volcanic soils over the medium-term in two natural protected areas of Andean Mountain range. A comparative statistical analysis was performed to identify significant differences in different soil parameters between forty-eight unburned and burned soil samples. Therefore, significant differences were identified between evaluated samples in organic matter, macronutrients, micronutrients, and cation exchange capacity. Whilst organic soil matter and potassium content substantially increased due to incomplete vegetation combustion; the presence of calcium content and cation exchange capacity decreased with the occurrence of fire. Our findings showed that there were significant differences between unburned soils or a soil that had been burned once and soil that had been burned twice in thirteen years. These findings should support decision making, improving the selection of passive or active restoration actions and thus efficiency in forest management

Medios de control de la actuación administrativa

Los medios de control de la actuación administrativa, se ejercen a través de las acciones administrativas, por medio de ellas los administrados acuden a la jurisdicción contenciosa, para someter ante ella, los actos y hechos de la administración, que consideren, quebrantan la legalidad del orden jurídico

COVID-19 pandemic, mechanical reperfusion and 30-day mortality in ST elevation myocardial infarction

Objective The initial data of the International Study on Acute Coronary Syndromes - ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction COVID-19 showed in Europe a remarkable reduction in primary percutaneous coronary intervention procedures and higher in-hospital mortality during the initial phase of the pandemic as compared with the prepandemic period. The aim of the current study was to provide the final results of the registry, subsequently extended outside Europe with a larger inclusion period (up to June 2020) and longer follow-up (up to 30 days)

Functional recovery of secondary tropical forests

One-third of all Neotropical forests are secondary forests that regrow naturally after agricultural use through secondary succession. We need to understand better how and why succession varies across environmental gradients and broad geographic scales. Here, we analyze functional recovery using community data on seven plant characteristics (traits) of 1,016 forest plots from 30 chronosequence sites across the Neotropics. By analyzing communities in terms of their traits, we enhance understanding of the mechanisms of succession, assess ecosystem recovery, and use these insights to propose successful forest restoration strategies. Wet and dry forests diverged markedly for several traits that increase growth rate in wet forests but come at the expense of reduced drought tolerance, delay, or avoidance, which is important in seasonally dry forests. Dry and wet forests showed different successional pathways for several traits. In dry forests, species turnover is driven by drought tolerance traits that are important early in succession and in wet forests by shade tolerance traits that are important later in succession. In both forests, deciduous and compound-leaved trees decreased with forest age, probably because microclimatic conditions became less hot and dry. Our results suggest that climatic water availability drives functional recovery by influencing the start and trajectory of succession, resulting in a convergence of community trait values with forest age when vegetation cover builds up. Within plots, the range in functional trait values increased with age. Based on the observed successional trait changes, we indicate the consequences for carbon and nutrient cycling and propose an ecologically sound strategy to improve forest restoration success

Functional recovery of secondary tropical forests

One-third of all Neotropical forests are secondary forests that regrow naturally after agricultural use through secondary succession. We need to understand better how and why succession varies across environmental gradients and broad geographic scales. Here we present data on functional recovery, using community data on seven plant characteristics (traits) of 1016 forest plots from 30 chronosequence sites across the Neotropics. By analyzing communities in terms of their traits one can enhance understanding of the mechanisms of succession and assess ecosystem recovery