La pandemia de gripe de 1918–1919 en Bogotá y Boyacá, 91 años después

ResumenIntroducciónLa pandemia de gripa de 1918–1919 causó la mayor mortalidad en la historia en corto tiempo. Se estima que entre 20 millones y 50 millones de personas fallecieron en menos de un año. Los historiadores de Europa y Estados Unidos registran tres oleadas, con mayor impacto en octubre y noviembre (80% de la mortalidad), que afectaron la población económicamente activa. La gripa nos ha acompañado en América desde el segundo viaje de Colón, probablemente asociada a la importación de cerdos y caballos infectados.Materiales y métodosSe describen las condiciones sociales y de salud en Bogotá y Boyacá, a partir de fuentes documentales de la época. Las tasas de mortalidad se calcularon a partir de los registros de la Iglesia.ResultadosLas condiciones de pobreza y hacinamiento acentuaron la letalidad. La iniciativa privada asumió el control y la atención de las víctimas, dada la ineficiencia de las auautoridades. Se recolectaron 106.484 registros de defunción del periodo 1912–1927, 9,5% (10.123 muertes) por gripa. Entre octubre y noviembre de 1918, hubo 2.019 muertes en Boyacá, con una tasa de 4,8 por 1.000 habitantes, y predominio en menores de 5 años y en ancianos; no se observaron oleadas. La mayor altura sobre el nivel del mar resultó ser un factor de riesgo para la muerte por gripa.DiscusiónLas condiciones actuales favorecen una nueva pandemia. Los nuevos medios de transporte podrían aumentar la velocidad de transmisión de la infección. Se hace necesario conocer el pasado y las implicaciones en la mortalidad para evitar repetir los errores en el futuro.AbstractIntroductionThe pandemic Flu of 1918–19 was the cause of the greatest mortality in history, in a very short period of time. An estimated mortality between 20 and 50 million deaths/year was calculated. The European and American researchers registered three different epidemic peaks, with a special impact between October and November (80% mortality), affecting a large proportion of the economically active population. Since Colombo's second travel, the Flu has been within us, probably associated with the presence infected pigs and horses, brought by the Spaniards.Materials and methodsWe describe the social and health conditions in Bogotá and Boyacá, from documentary sources of the time. Mortality rates were estimated from Church records.ResultsPoverty and overcrowding conditions increased the epidemic lethality. As a result of the inefficiency of the authorities of that time, the control and care of victims were assumed by private organizations. We collected 106,484 records from death certificates, since 1912 until 1927; 9.5% (10,123 deaths) were caused by flu. The mortality rate attributed to the Flu was 4.8 per 1,000 people (2,019 deaths) between October and November of 1918. Children under 5 years and the elder people were mainly affected by Flu. The highest altitude above sea level was a risk factor for Flu mortality and non epidemic waves were observed.DiscussionDue to current general conditions, a new epidemic is possible. New means of transportation may increase its transmission rate. Lessons from the past can lead us to avoid repeating same mistakes in the future

Total Roman {2}-domination in graphs

[EN] Given a graph G = (V, E), a function f: V -> {0, 1, 2} is a total Roman {2}-dominating function if every vertex v is an element of V for which f (v) = 0 satisfies that n-ary sumation (u)(is an element of N (v)) f (v) >= 2, where N (v) represents the open neighborhood of v, and every vertex x is an element of V for which f (x) >= 1 is adjacent to at least one vertex y is an element of V such that f (y) >= 1. The weight of the function f is defined as omega(f ) = n-ary sumation (v)(is an element of V) f (v). The total Roman {2}-domination number, denoted by gamma(t)({R2})(G), is the minimum weight among all total Roman {2}-dominating functions on G. In this article we introduce the concepts above and begin the study of its combinatorial and computational properties. For instance, we give several closed relationships between this parameter and other domination related parameters in graphs. In addition, we prove that the complexity of computing the value gamma(t)({R2})(G) is NP-hard, even when restricted to bipartite or chordal graphsCabrera García, S.; Cabrera Martinez, A.; Hernandez Mira, FA.; Yero, IG. (2021). Total Roman {2}-domination in graphs. Quaestiones Mathematicae. 44(3):411-444. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073606.2019.1695230S41144444

Increasing biomass in Amazonian forest plots

A previous study by Phillips et al. of changes in the biomass of permanent sample plots in Amazonian forests was used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink. However, these results generated a vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. Therefore we present a new analysis of biomass change in old-growth Amazonian forest plots using updated inventory data. We find that across 59 sites, the above-ground dry biomass in trees that are more than 10 cm in diameter (AGB) has increased since plot establishment by 1.22 ± 0.43 Mg per hectare per year (ha-1 yr-1), where 1 ha = 104 m2), or 0.98 ± 0.38 Mg ha-1 yr-1 if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is neither confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor dependent on the allometric equation used to estimate AGB. The conclusion is also robust to uncertainty about diameter measurements for problematic trees: for 34 plots in western Amazon forests a significant increase in AGB is found even with a conservative assumption of zero growth for all trees where diameter measurements were made using optical methods and/or growth rates needed to be estimated following fieldwork. Overall, our results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand-level change than was reported by Phillips et al. Considering the spatial and temporal scale of sampling and associated studies showing increases in forest growth and stem turnover, the results presented here suggest that the total biomass of these plots has on average increased and that there has been a regional-scale carbon sink in old-growth Amazonian forests during the previous two decades

Gene Expression Analyses in Non Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Reveals a Role for Alternative Splicing and Tp53 Status

Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) represents a crucial problem for the national health care systems due to its high rates of recurrence and the consequent need of frequent follow-ups. Here, gene expression analyses in patients diagnosed as NMIBC were performed to determine those molecular pathways involved in tumor initiation, finding that both MYC and E2F are up regulated and helps to tumor initiation and progression. Our results also support an important involvement of alternative splicing events, modifying key pathways to favour bladder tumor evolution. Finally, since MDM2 showed differential exon usage, mutations in TP53 and its protein expression have been also studied in the same patients. Our data support that recurrence is epigenetically mediated and favoured by an increase protein expression of TP53, which appears more frequently mutated in advanced stages and grades, being associated to a worse prognosis. Therefore, TP53 mutational status could be used as a potential biomarker in the first stages of NMIBC to predict recurrence and prognosis

Transportability of non-target arthropod field data for the use in environmental risk assessment of genetically modified maize in Northern Mexico

In country, non-target arthropod (NTA) field evaluations are required to comply with the regulatory process for cultivation of genetically modified (GM) maize in Mexico. Two sets of field trials, Experimental Phase and Pilot Phase, were conducted to identify any potential harm of insect-protected and glyphosate-tolerant maize (MON89Ø34-3 × MON-88Ø17-3 and MON-89Ø34-3 × MON-ØØ6Ø3-6) and glyphosatetolerant maize (MON-ØØ6Ø3-6) to local NTAs compared to conventional maize. NTA abundance data were collected at 32 sites, providing high geographic and environmental diversity within maize production areas from four ecological regions (ecoregions) in northern Mexico. The most abundant herbivorous taxa collected included field crickets, corn flea beetles, rootworm beetles, cornsilk flies, aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs and thrips while the most abundant beneficial taxa captured were soil mites, spiders, predatory ground beetles, rove beetles, springtails (Collembola), predatory earwigs, ladybird beetles, syrphid flies, tachinid flies, minute pirate bugs, parasitic wasps and lacewings. Across the taxa analysed, no statistically significant differences in abundance were detected between GM maize and the conventional maize control for 69 of the 74 comparisons (93.2%) indicating thatthe single or stacked insect-protected and herbicide-tolerant GM traits generally exert no marked adverse effects on the arthropod populations compared with conventional maize. The distribution of taxa observed in this study provides evidence that irrespective of variations in overall biodiversity of a given ecoregion, important herbivore, predatory and parasitic arthropod taxa within the commercial maize agroecosystem are highly similar indicating that relevant data generated in one ecoregion can be transportable for the risk assessment of the same or similar GM crop in another ecoregion

Transcriptomic Profile of Canine DH82 Macrophages Infected by Leishmania infantum Promastigotes with Different Virulence Behavior

Zoonotic visceral leishmaniosis caused by Leishmania infantum is an endemic disease in the Mediterranean Basin affecting mainly humans and dogs, the main reservoir. The leishmaniosis outbreak declared in the Community of Madrid (Spain) led to a significant increase in human disease incidence without enhancing canine leishmaniosis prevalence, suggesting a better adaptation of the outbreak’s isolates by other host species. One of the isolates obtained in the focus, IPER/ES/2012/BOS1FL1 (BOS1FL1), has previously demonstrated a different phenotype than the reference strain MCAN/ES/1996/BCN150 (BCN150), characterized by a lower infectivity when interacting with canine macrophages. Nevertheless, not enough changes in the cell defensive response were found to support their different behavior. Thus, we decided to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction of both parasites with DH82 canine macrophages by studying their transcriptomic profiles developed after infection using RNA sequencing. The results showed a common regulation induced by both parasites in the phosphoinositide-3-kinase–protein kinase B/Akt and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways. However, other pathways, such as phagocytosis and signal transduction, including tumor necrosis factor, mitogen-activated kinases and nuclear factor-κB, were only regulated after infection with BOS1FL1. These differences could contribute to the reduced infection ability of the outbreak isolates in canine cells. Our results open a new avenue to investigate the true role of adaptation of L. infantum isolates in their interaction with their different hosts

Aerosol concentration at two heights (2550 and 650 m a.s.l.) in SE Spain

Ponencia presentada en: XXXV Jornadas Científicas de la AME y el XIX Encuentro Hispano Luso de Meteorología celebrado en León, del 5 al 7 de marzo de 2018.The simultaneous aerosol sampling at two heights in southern Spain may provide valuable information on the vertical structure of the dust transport from North Africa to the Iberian Peninsula. It also allows the characterization of the ambient air at two sites with distinct anthropogenic impact. This work presents the results obtained from the first field campaign of the FRESA project (Impact of dust-laden African air masses and of stratospheric air masses in the Iberian Peninsula. Role of the Atlas Mountains), performed in the period July-November 2017 at El Albergue Universitario in Sierra Nevada (2550 m a.s.l.) and the city of Granada (650 m a.s.l.). The two sites were instrumented with a low-volume sampler with PM10 inlet for daily sampling and mass and chemical composition characterization, a high-volume sampler for total suspended particles (TSP) for weekly sampling and radionuclide activity determination, and with a GRIMM 365 optical particle counter that provides continuously the aerosol size distribution

Synthesis of Fe nanoparticles functionalized with oleic acid synthesized by inert gas condensation

In this work, we study the synthesis of monodispersed Fe nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) in situ functionalized with oleic acid. The nanoparticles were self-assembled by inert gas condensation (IGC) technique by using magnetron-sputtering process. Structural characterization of Fe-NPs was performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Particle size control was carried out through the following parameters: (i) condensation zone length, (ii) magnetron power, and (iii) gas flow (Ar and He). Typically the nanoparticles generated by IGC showed diameters which ranged from ∼0.7 to 20 nm. Mass spectroscopy of Fe-NPs in the deposition system allowed the study of in situ nanoparticle formation, through a quadrupole mass filter (QMF) that one can use together with a mass filter. When the deposition system works without quadrupole mass filter, the particle diameter distribution is around +/−20%. When the quadrupole is in line, then the distribution can be reduced to around +/−2%

Safety of switching from intravenous to subcutaneous rituximab during first-line treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma: the Spanish population of the MabRella study

Rituximab is a standard treatment for non-Hodgkin diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL) and follicular (FL) lymphomas. A subcutaneous formulation was developed to improve the resource use of intravenous rituximab, with comparable efficacy and safety profiles except for increased administration-related reactions (ARRs). MabRella was a phase IIIb trial to assess the safety of switching from intravenous to subcutaneous administration of rituximab during first-line induction/maintenance for DLBCL or FL, focusing on ARRs. Efficacy, satisfaction and quality of life were also assessed. Patients received subcutaneous rituximab plus standard induction chemotherapy for DLBCL or FL for 4–7 cycles, and/or every 2 months maintenance monotherapy for FL for 6–12 cycles. The study included 140 patients: DLBCL, n = 29; FL, n = 111. Ninety-five percent of patients experienced adverse events, reaching grade ≥3 in 38 6% and were serious in 30 0%. AARs occurred in 48 6%, mostly (84 9%) at the injection site, with only 2 1% of patients reaching grade 3. The end-of-induction complete/unconfirmed complete response rate was 69 6%. After a median follow-up of 33 5 months, median disease-/event-/progression-free and overall survivals were not attained. The Rituximab Administration Satisfaction Questionnaire showed improvements in overall satisfaction and the EuroQoL-5D a good quality-of-life perception at induction/maintenance end. Therefore, switching to subcutaneous rituximab showed no new safety issues and maintained efficacy with improved satisfaction and quality of life

Immunization with the HisAK70 DNA Vaccine Induces Resistance against Leishmania Amazonensis Infection in BALB/c Mice

Leishmania amazonensis is the aetiological agent of a broad spectrum of leishmaniosis in South America. It can cause not only numerous cases of cutaneous leishmaniosis but also diffuse cutaneous leishmaniosis. Considering the diversity of parasite species causing different forms of the disease that coexist in the same region, it is desirable to develop a vaccine capable of eliciting cross-protection. We have previously described the use of HisAK70 DNA vaccine for immunization of mice to assess the induction of a resistant phenotype against Leishmania major and infantum infections. In this study, we extended its application in the murine model of infection by using L. amazonensis promastigotes. Our data revealed that 14 weeks post-infection, HisAK70-vaccinated mice showed key biomarkers of protection, such as higher iNOS/arginase activity, IFN-γ/IL-10, IFN-γ/IL-4, and GM-CSF/IL-10 ratios, in addition to an IgG2a-type response when compared to the control group. These findings correlated with the presentation of lower footpad swelling and parasite burdens in the immunized compared to the control mice. Overall, this study suggests that immunization with HisAK70 may be considered a suitable tool to combat leishmaniosis as it is able to induce a potent cellular immune response, which allows to control the infection caused by L. amazonensis