Demographics and clinical characteristics of a new population of Centenarians in Colombia. The COOLCEN cohort

Objetivo: los centenarios representan un modelo exitoso de envejecimiento biológico que se está volviendo cada vez más Común pero aún en gran medida desconocido. Los datos sobre centenarios en Colombia son escasos. El objetivo de esto El estudio fue para proporcionar una descripción de las características demográficas y clínicas de una nueva cohorte de centenarios en Colombia. Métodos: se realizó un estudio de cohorte retrospectivo y basado en la población, empleando un Registro validado proporcionado por una compañía de seguros de salud. Información demográfica y Se evaluaron las tasas de prevalencia de enfermedades crónicas significativas. La distribución geográfica de Los centenarios a nivel nacional fueron mapeados. Luego se compararon los datos con otros grupos de edad. (> 18-59 y 60-99 años), y con descripciones previas de centenarios. Resultados: Entre las 2.362.436 personas incluidas en el estudio, una prevalencia de 0.12% centenarios se observó, de los cuales 50.7% eran mujeres y la mayoría reside en las áreas urbanas (64.9%). Se observaron enfermedades crónicas en 275 (9.27%) centenarios, de los cuales 113 (3.81%) revelaron uno Enfermedad crónica y 162 (5.46%) revelada multimorbilidad. Las enfermedades crónicas más frecuentes eran hipertensión esencial (8,6%) y enfermedad renal crónica (4.4%), que fueron significativamente inferior en comparación con otros grupos de edad. Los centenarios estaban libres de hematológicos, inflamatorios Artritis, tuberculosis e infecciones por virus de inmunodeficiencia humana. Covid-19 se observó en 2% de los casos. Se observaron diferencias significativas en los resultados de salud evaluados al comparar nuestro Resultados con centenarios de zonas azules descritas anteriormente. Conclusiones: la cohorte Coolcen revela una baja prevalencia de enfermedades crónicas relacionadas con la edad, bajo Estado económico y sin diferencia en la distribución de género. El estudio proporcionará ideas valiosas en envejecimiento saludable, prevención de enfermedades y mejora del bienestar de los adultos mayores. Palabras clave: centenarios, envejecimiento, envejecimiento saludable, Colombia, multimorbilidad.Aim: Centenarians represent a successful model of biological aging that is becoming increasingly common but still largely unknown. Data about centenarians in Colombia is scarce. The aim of this study was to provide a description of the demographic and clinical characteristics of a new cohort of centenarians in Colombia. Methods: A retrospective, population-based cohort study was undertaken, employing a nationally validated registry provided by a health insurance company. Demographic information and prevalence rates of significant chronic diseases were evaluated. The geographical distribution of centenarians at the national level was mapped. Data were then compared with other age groups (>18-59 and 60-99 years-old), and with previous descriptions of centenarians. Results: Among the 2,362,436 persons included in the study, a prevalence of 0.12% centenarians was observed, of which 50.7% were female and the majority resides in urban areas (64.9%). Chronic diseases were observed in 275 (9.27%) centenarians, of whom 113 (3.81%) disclosed one chronic disease and 162 (5.46%) disclosed multimorbidity. The most prevalent chronic diseases were essential hypertension (8.6%), and chronic kidney disease (4.4%), which were significantly lower compared to others age groups. Centenarians were free of hematological, inflammatory arthritis, tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus infections. COVID-19 was observed in 2% of cases. Significant differences in health outcomes assessed were seen when comparing our results with centenarians from previously described blue zones. Conclusions: The COOLCEN cohort discloses a low prevalence of age-related chronic diseases, low economic status and no difference in gender distribution. The study will provide valuable insights into healthy aging, disease prevention, and improving the well-being of older adults. Key words: Centenarians, Aging, Healthy Aging, Colombia, Multimorbidity.https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0368-0577https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hG_TD_sAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=aohttps://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0000175361Revista Internacional - No indexadaS

Carbon remineralization by small mesopelagic and bathypelagic Stomiiforms in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean

The organic carbon resulting from photosynthesis in the upper ocean is transferred downward through the passive sinking of organic particles, physical mixing of particulate and dissolved organic carbon as well as active flux transported by zooplanktonic and micronektonic migrants. Several meso- and bathypelagic organisms feed in shallower layers during the nighttime and respire, defecate, excrete and die at depth. Recent studies suggest that migrant micronekton transport similar amounts of carbon to migrant zooplankton. However, there is scarce information about biomass and carbon flux by non-migratory species in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones. The non-migratory bristlemouth fishes (Cyclothone spp.) and partial migrator (A. hemigymnus) remineralise organic carbon at depth, and knowledge about this process by this fauna is lacking despite them having been referred to as the most abundant vertebrates on Earth. Here we show the vertical distribution of biomass and respiration of non-migratory mesopelagic fishes, during day and night, using the enzymatic activity of the electron transfer system (ETS) as a proxy for respiration rates. The study is focused on five Cyclothone species (C. braueri, C. pseudopallida, C. pallida, C. livida and C. microdon) and Argyropelecus hemigymnus. The samples were taken on a transect from the oceanic upwelling off Northwest Africa (20° N, 20° W) to the south of Iceland (60° N, 20° W). Cyclothone spp. showed, by far, the largest biomass (126.90 ± 86.20 mg C·m⁻²) compared to A. hemigymnus (0.54 ± 0.44 mg C·m⁻²). The highest concentrations of Cyclothone spp. in the water column were observed between 400 and 600 m and from 1000 to 1500 m depths, both during day and night. For the different species analysed, ETS activity did not show significant differences between diurnal and nocturnal periods. The total average specific respiration of Cyclothone spp. (0.02 ± 0.01 d⁻¹) was lower than that observed for A. hemigymnus (0.05±0.02 d⁻¹). The average carbon respiration of Cyclothone spp. was 2.22 ± 0.81 mg C·m⁻²·d⁻¹, while it was much lower for A. hemigymnus (0.04 ± 0.03 mg C·m⁻²·d⁻¹). The respiration of Cyclothone spp. was lower in the bathypelagic than in the mesopelagic zone (0.84 ± 0.48 vs 1.36 ± 1.01 mg C·m⁻²·d⁻¹, respectively). These results, to our knowledge, provide the first account of remineralisation by this community in the meso and bathypelagic zones of the ocean.En prens

Applicability of the national policy of environmental education in educational institutions

La educación ambiental es un proceso que incentiva el desarrollo de capacidades para compatibilizar las actividades del hombre sobre el medio ambiente, a razón de esto, Colombia adoptó la Política Nacional de Educación Ambiental que orienta a la implementación de Proyectos Ambientales Escolares-PRAE. Esta investigación buscó analizar la aplicabilidad de esta Política mediante un comparativo entre los lineamientos de la política de educación ambiental y el estado actual de las actividades de las instituciones educativas (IE) enmarcadas en la educación ambiental. Esto se realizó mediante la utilización de la herramienta “talleres aplicados” cuya finalidad fue la recolección primaria del grupo de estudio, entre los resultados encontrados se evidenció un desconocimiento en las instituciones educativas sobre los ejes temáticos y líneas de trabajos de los PRAE, dificultades en la divulgación del PRAE en toda la institución y poco apoyo administrativo para la implementación respectivamente. En general los resultados indican que las actividades relacionadas a la temática ambiental están rezagadas a las áreas de conocimiento de ciencias naturales y estos a su vez no son coherentes con los PRA

The state of health in the European Union (EU-27) in 2019:a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease study 2019

BACKGROUND: The European Union (EU) faces many health-related challenges. Burden of diseases information and the resulting trends over time are essential for health planning. This paper reports estimates of disease burden in the EU and individual 27 EU countries in 2019, and compares them with those in 2010.METHODS: We used the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study estimates and 95% uncertainty intervals for the whole EU and each country to evaluate age-standardised death, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates for Level 2 causes, as well as life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (HALE).RESULTS: In 2019, the age-standardised death and DALY rates in the EU were 465.8 deaths and 20,251.0 DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. Between 2010 and 2019, there were significant decreases in age-standardised death and YLL rates across EU countries. However, YLD rates remained mainly unchanged. The largest decreases in age-standardised DALY rates were observed for "HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases" and "transport injuries" (each -19%). "Diabetes and kidney diseases" showed a significant increase for age-standardised DALY rates across the EU (3.5%). In addition, "mental disorders" showed an increasing age-standardised YLL rate (14.5%).CONCLUSIONS: There was a clear trend towards improvement in the overall health status of the EU but with differences between countries. EU health policymakers need to address the burden of diseases, paying specific attention to causes such as mental disorders. There are many opportunities for mutual learning among otherwise similar countries with different patterns of disease.</p

Calibration of the Logarithmic-Periodic Dipole Antenna (LPDA) Radio Stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an Octocopter

An in-situ calibration of a logarithmic periodic dipole antenna with a frequency coverage of 30 MHz to 80 MHz is performed. Such antennas are part of a radio station system used for detection of cosmic ray induced air showers at the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the so-called Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA). The directional and frequency characteristics of the broadband antenna are investigated using a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) carrying a small transmitting antenna. The antenna sensitivity is described by the vector effective length relating the measured voltage with the electric-field components perpendicular to the incoming signal direction. The horizontal and meridional components are determined with an overall uncertainty of 7.4^{+0.9}_{-0.3} % and 10.3^{+2.8}_{-1.7} % respectively. The measurement is used to correct a simulated response of the frequency and directional response of the antenna. In addition, the influence of the ground conductivity and permittivity on the antenna response is simulated. Both have a negligible influence given the ground conditions measured at the detector site. The overall uncertainties of the vector effective length components result in an uncertainty of 8.8^{+2.1}_{-1.3} % in the square root of the energy fluence for incoming signal directions with zenith angles smaller than 60{\deg}.Comment: Published version. Updated online abstract only. Manuscript is unchanged with respect to v2. 39 pages, 15 figures, 2 table

Multi-resolution anisotropy studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory

We report a multi-resolution search for anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory with local zenith angles up to $80^\circ$ and energies in excess of 4 EeV ($4 \times 10^{18}$ eV). This search is conducted by measuring the angular power spectrum and performing a needlet wavelet analysis in two independent energy ranges. Both analyses are complementary since the angular power spectrum achieves a better performance in identifying large-scale patterns while the needlet wavelet analysis, considering the parameters used in this work, presents a higher efficiency in detecting smaller-scale anisotropies, potentially providing directional information on any observed anisotropies. No deviation from isotropy is observed on any angular scale in the energy range between 4 and 8 EeV. Above 8 EeV, an indication for a dipole moment is captured; while no other deviation from isotropy is observed for moments beyond the dipole one. The corresponding $p$-values obtained after accounting for searches blindly performed at several angular scales, are $1.3 \times 10^{-5}$ in the case of the angular power spectrum, and $2.5 \times 10^{-3}$ in the case of the needlet analysis. While these results are consistent with previous reports making use of the same data set, they provide extensions of the previous works through the thorough scans of the angular scales.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe

Azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of the surface detector signals of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of signals in Auger surface detector stations is a source of information on shower development. The azimuthal asymmetry is due to a combination of the longitudinal evolution of the shower and geometrical effects related to the angles of incidence of the particles into the detectors. The magnitude of the effect depends upon the zenith angle and state of development of the shower and thus provides a novel observable, $(\sec \theta)_\mathrm{max}$, sensitive to the mass composition of cosmic rays above $3 \times 10^{18}$ eV. By comparing measurements with predictions from shower simulations, we find for both of our adopted models of hadronic physics (QGSJETII-04 and EPOS-LHC) an indication that the mean cosmic-ray mass increases slowly with energy, as has been inferred from other studies. However, the mass estimates are dependent on the shower model and on the range of distance from the shower core selected. Thus the method has uncovered further deficiencies in our understanding of shower modelling that must be resolved before the mass composition can be inferred from $(\sec \theta)_\mathrm{max}$.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Ultrahigh-energy neutrino follow-up of Gravitational Wave events GW150914 and GW151226 with the Pierre Auger Observatory

On September 14, 2015 the Advanced LIGO detectors observed their first gravitational-wave (GW) transient GW150914. This was followed by a second GW event observed on December 26, 2015. Both events were inferred to have arisen from the merger of black holes in binary systems. Such a system may emit neutrinos if there are magnetic fields and disk debris remaining from the formation of the two black holes. With the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory we can search for neutrinos with energy above 100 PeV from point-like sources across the sky with equatorial declination from about -65 deg. to +60 deg., and in particular from a fraction of the 90% confidence-level (CL) inferred positions in the sky of GW150914 and GW151226. A targeted search for highly-inclined extensive air showers, produced either by interactions of downward-going neutrinos of all flavors in the atmosphere or by the decays of tau leptons originating from tau-neutrino interactions in the Earth's crust (Earth-skimming neutrinos), yielded no candidates in the Auger data collected within $\pm 500$ s around or 1 day after the coordinated universal time (UTC) of GW150914 and GW151226, as well as in the same search periods relative to the UTC time of the GW candidate event LVT151012. From the non-observation we constrain the amount of energy radiated in ultrahigh-energy neutrinos from such remarkable events.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe