7 research outputs found
First COVID-19 case in Zambia — Comparative phylogenomic analyses of SARS-CoV-2 detected in African countries
Since its first discovery in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has spread rapidly worldwide. While African countries were relatively spared initially, the initial low incidence of COVID-19 cases was not sustained for long due to continuing travel links between China, Europe and Africa. In preparation, Zambia had applied a multisectoral national epidemic disease surveillance and response system resulting in the identification of the first case within 48 h of the individual entering the country by air travel from a trip to France. Contact tracing showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection was contained within the patient’s household, with no further spread to attending health care workers or community members. Phylogenomic analysis of the patient’s SARS-CoV-2 strain showed that it belonged to lineage B.1.1., sharing the last common ancestor with SARS-CoV-2 strains recovered from South Africa. At the African continental level, our analysis showed that B.1 and B.1.1 lineages appear to be predominant in Africa. Whole genome sequence analysis should be part of all surveillance and case detection activities in order to monitor the origin and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 lineages across Africa
Primer congreso científico UNACHI 2015.
La Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI), a través de la
Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado (VIP), en cumplimiento de
su misión, visión y objetivos estratégicos, realiza el Primer Congreso
Científico del 5 al 9 de octubre de 2015, con el lema: “Impulsando la
cultura, la ciencia y la humanidad”.
En atención al Plan Estratégico del Gobierno de la República
de Panamá 2015-2019; al Plan Estratégico Nacional de Ciencia,
Tecnología e Innovación (PENCYT) 2015-2019 de la Secretaría Nacional
de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT); al Plan Estratégico
Institucional 2013-2018 de la Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí y
a las Políticas de Investigación e Innovación de la Universidad, se
presenta a la consideración de la comunidad científica universitaria
y a la sociedad panameña, los resultados de las investigaciones
correspondientes al período académico 2014-2015. Las investigaciones
que hoy se presentan, corresponden a trabajos realizados por
investigadores procedentes de nuestra institución, de universidades
y centros de investigación del país y de investigadores procedentes
de países hermanos, quienes comparten con nosotros los productos
de sus muchas horas de trabajo realizadas en sus laboratorios, redes
temáticas y giras de campo.
El Congreso tiene sus antecedentes en los seis encuentros
científicos realizados, anualmente en la universidad, desde el año
2009 hasta el año 2014. No obstante, dado el impulso y decidido
respaldo de la Magnífica Rectora, Etelvina Medianero de Bonagas, al
eje de investigación e innovación y al trabajo realizado por nuestros
investigadores, se presentó ante el Consejo Académico N° 11-2015,
del 16 de junio de 2015, la propuesta para elevar los encuentros a
congreso científico, y que fue aprobada por unanimidad. Se convierte
este evento académico, en un reto para la institución y a la vez en
una gran oportunidad para el fortalecimiento de la investigación e
innovación, al servicio de la sociedad y de los grandes temas de interés
nacional.
Con mucho agrado se puede señalar que en el Congreso se
exponen conferencias magistrales, conferencias cortas, ponencias,
mesas redondas, videoconferencias y dos exposiciones fotográficas
tituladas: “Nuestros ríos, nuestro futuro” y “La luz en las ciencias”. Por
segundo año consecutivo se realiza el reconocimiento al investigador
del año; en esta oportunidad se honrará al connotado ambientalista
Demetrio Miranda Miranda. Se presentan investigadores nacionales
de la Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación; de la
Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá; del Instituto de Investigaciones
Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología; de la Universidad de Panamá;
del Ministerio de Salud y de la Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí.
También se cuenta con investigadores internacionales procedentes
de Estados Unidos, Honduras, Costa Rica y de República Dominicana.
Los registros de los participantes, en la página web de la universidad,
nos indican que durante el congreso se tendrá la participación de
investigadores procedentes de las áreas de las ciencias económicas
administrativas, de las ciencias de la salud, de las ciencias sociales y
humanidades y de las ciencias naturales y exactas, estos últimos en un
mayor porcentaje.
Atendiendo a sus políticas institucionales, la UNACHI está
cimentando las bases de un sistema de investigación e innovación,
a través de acciones muy puntuales, las cuales aspiran a convertir
a la Institución, en un centro de educación superior de excelencia y
a disponer de un conjunto de investigadores de alto nivel. Con este
propósito, se ha aprobado en el Consejo Académico, el Reglamento
de Investigación e Innovación, donde se establece por primera vez,
la figura del investigador a tiempo completo, a fin de impulsar la
investigación en todas las áreas del conocimiento humano; se ha
firmado un convenio con SENACYT para la reinserción de talentos
en el nivel doctoral, a partir del año 2015, con miras a fortalecer la
investigación científica y se han incrementado, significativamente, los
fondos destinados a los subsidios de las investigaciones de las tesis de
licenciatura, de las tesis de maestrías, de las tesis de doctorados y de
los docentes investigadores, con proyectos que se encuentran en este
momento en revisión por los evaluadores externos
The Early Stages of Speciation in Amazonian Forest Frogs: Phenotypic Conservatism Despite Strong Genetic Structure
Phylogeographic perspectives incorporating multiple classes of characters, especially those relating to sexual signals, are promising for the elucidation of recent evolutionary mechanisms driving speciation. Here, forest frogs were used as a model system to access distinct stages in the process of evolutionary differentiation. We studied 280 individuals assigned to three species: Allobates paleovarzensis, A. nidicola and A. masniger. Samples were collected at 20 localities arranged in two study systems, along the middle Amazon and the lower Madeira Rivers, in Central Amazonia. Mantel tests, analyses of molecular variance, and the spatial distribution of haplogroups indicated that the distribution of genetic variability, as inferred from a mitochondrial DNA marker, was determined by a combination of isolation-by-distance effects and the transposition of large Amazonian rivers. These two factors had contrasting relative influences in each of the study systems, which also differed regarding the estimated time of the major cladogenetic events. Pronounced population genetic structure was observed. However, multivariate discriminant function analyses revealed that the phenotypic (morphological and acoustic) divergence was loosely related with genetic differentiation and did not successfully predict assignment of individuals to genetic groups. The observed distribution of genetic variability showed the important role of genetic drift in the diversification of the mitochondrial marker studied. The phenotypic conservatism among populations was surprising in view of the high genetic structuring observed, and indicates a prevailing role of stabilizing selective forces in the process of sexual signal and morphological differentiation. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease
BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used
Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease
BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline