Estas son algunas de las habilidades blandas demandadas en Colombia

Este producto forma parte de una serie de infografías de divulgación científica que buscan reseñar algunas de las investigaciones más importantes en las que ha tenido participación la Universidad EAFIT, publicadas en las revistas especializadas más prestigiosas del mund

Hydrological drought types in cold climates : Quantitatives analysis of causing factors and qualitatives survey of impacts’

International audienceFor drought management and prediction, knowl- edge of causing factors and socio-economic impacts of hy- drological droughts is crucial. Propagation of meteorologi- cal conditions in the hydrological cycle results in different hydrological drought types that require separate analysis. In addition to the existing hydrological drought typology, we here define two new drought types related to snow and ice. A snowmelt drought is a deficiency in the snowmelt discharge peak in spring in snow-influenced basins and a glacier- melt drought is a deficiency in the glaciermelt discharge peak in summer in glacierised basins. In 21 catchments in Austria and Norway we studied the meteorological condi- tions in the seasons preceding and at the time of snowmelt and glaciermelt drought events. Snowmelt droughts in Nor- way were mainly controlled by below-average winter pre- cipitation, while in Austria both temperature and precipita- tion played a role. For glaciermelt droughts, the effect of below-average summer air temperature was dominant, both in Austria and Norway. Subsequently, we investigated the impacts of temperature-related drought types (i.e. snowmelt and glaciermelt drought, but also cold and warm snow sea- son drought and rain-to-snow-season drought). In histori- cal archives and drought databases for the US and Europe many impacts were found that can be attributed to these temperature-related hydrological drought types, mainly in the agriculture and electricity production (hydropower) sec-tors. However, drawing conclusions on the frequency of oc- currence of different drought types from reported impacts is difficult, mainly because of reporting biases and the in- evitably limited spatial and temporal scales of the informa- tion. Finally, this study shows that complete integration of quantitative analysis of causing factors and qualitative analy- sis of impacts of temperature-related droughts is not yet pos- sible. Analysis of selected events, however, points out that it can be a promising research area if more data on drought impacts become available

Dietary supplement for energy and reduced appetite containing the β-agonist isopropyloctopamine leads to heart problems and hospitalisations

In 2013 the Dutch authorities issued a warning against a dietary supplement that was linked to 11 reported adverse reactions, including heart problems and in one case even a cardiac arrest. In the UK a 20-year-old woman, said to have overdosed on this supplement, died. Since according to the label the product was a herbal mixture, initial LC-MS/MS analysis focused on the detection of plant toxins. Yohimbe alkaloids, which are not allowed to be present in herbal preparations according to Dutch legislation, were found at relatively high levels (400–900 mg kg–1). However, their presence did not explain the adverse health effects reported. Based on these effects the supplement was screened for the presence of a β-agonist, using three different biosensor assays, i.e. the validated competitive radioligand β2-adrenergic receptor binding assay, a validated β-agonists ELISA and a newly developed multiplex microsphere (bead)-based β-agonist assay with imaging detection (MAGPIX®). The high responses obtained in these three biosensors suggested strongly the presence of a β-agonist. Inspection of the label indicated the presence of N-isopropyloctopamine. A pure standard of this compound was bought and shown to have a strong activity in the three biosensor assays. Analysis by LC-full-scan high-resolution MS confirmed the presence of this ‘unknown known’ β3-agonist N-isopropyloctopamine, reported to lead to heart problems at high doses. A confirmatory quantitative analysis revealed that one dose of the preparation resulted in an intake of 40–60 mg, which is within the therapeutic range of this compound. The case shows the strength of combining bioassays with chemical analytical techniques for identification of illegal pharmacologically active substances in food supplements