Ribeiro's typology, genomes, and Spanish colonialism, as viewed from Gran Canaria and Colombia

Four biallelic and six multiallelic Y-chromosome polymorphisms were investigated in 59 Gran Canarian, 60 North African Berber and 46 Spanish subjects. These new data were merged with equivalent literature information to obtain the parental Y-chrosomomal contribution in Gran Canarians, Colombians, and Venezuelans. The results were then compared, for Gran Canarians and Colombians, to those derived from autosomal and mtDNA. In both groups, the Spanish Y-chromosome contribution was much more marked than that estimated using mtDNA. This analysis showed a usual trend in the Spanish Colonial history, characterized by a demographic collapse of the aboriginal population, but with considerable introgression of genes through native women. In accordance to D. Ribeiro's typology for peoples subjected to Colonialism, the Y-chromosomes of these admixed populations are classified as transplanted, their mtDNA as witness, and their autosome sets as new

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with paediatric cancer in low-income, middle-income and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, observational cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Paediatric cancer is a leading cause of death for children. Children in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) were four times more likely to die than children in high-income countries (HICs). This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the delivery of healthcare services worldwide, and exacerbated the disparity in paediatric cancer outcomes between LMICs and HICs. DESIGN: A multicentre, international, collaborative cohort study. SETTING: 91 hospitals and cancer centres in 39 countries providing cancer treatment to paediatric patients between March and December 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Patients were included if they were under the age of 18 years, and newly diagnosed with or undergoing active cancer treatment for Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Wilms' tumour, sarcoma, retinoblastoma, gliomas, medulloblastomas or neuroblastomas, in keeping with the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: All-cause mortality at 30 days and 90 days. RESULTS: 1660 patients were recruited. 219 children had changes to their treatment due to the pandemic. Patients in LMICs were primarily affected (n=182/219, 83.1%). Relative to patients with paediatric cancer in HICs, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 12.1 (95% CI 2.93 to 50.3) and 7.9 (95% CI 3.2 to 19.7) times the odds of death at 30 days and 90 days, respectively, after presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 15.6 (95% CI 3.7 to 65.8) times the odds of death at 30 days (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected paediatric oncology service provision. It has disproportionately affected patients in LMICs, highlighting and compounding existing disparities in healthcare systems globally that need addressing urgently. However, many patients with paediatric cancer continued to receive their normal standard of care. This speaks to the adaptability and resilience of healthcare systems and healthcare workers globally

Drastic Vegetation Change in the Guajira Peninsula (Colombia) During the Neogene

International audienceDry biomes occupy ~35% of the landscape in the Neotropics, but these are heavily human-disturbed. In spite of their importance, we still do not fully understand their origins and how they are sustained. The Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia is dominated by dry biomes and has a rich Neogene fossil record. Here, we have analyzed its changes in vegetation and precipitation during the Neogene using a fossil pollen and spore dataset of 20 samples taken from a well and we also dated the stratigraphic sequence using microfossils. In addition, we analyzed the pollen and spore contents of 10 Holocene samples to establish a modern baseline for comparison with the Neogene as well as a study of the modern vegetation to assess both its spatial distribution and anthropic disturbances during the initial stages of European colonization. The section was dated to span from the latest Oligocene to the early Miocene (~24.2 to 17.3 Ma), with the Oligocene/Miocene boundary being in the lower Uitpa Formation. The early Miocene vegetation is dominated by a rainforest biome with a mean annual precipitation of ~2,000 mm/yr, which strongly contrasts with Guajira's modern xerophytic vegetation and a precipitation of ~300 mm/yr. The shift to the dry modern vegetation probably occurred over the past three millions years, but the mechanism that led to this change is still uncertain. Global circulation models that include the vegetation could explain the ancient climate of Guajira, but further work is required to assess the feedbacks of vegetation, precipitation, and CO2

Advances in Science No. 01

Esta publicación tiene la decidida intención de acercar la investigación que realiza la Universidad del Rosario de Bogotá, Colombia, a un gran número de lectores para mostrarles, desde el periodismo científico, el quehacer investigativo de la institución. Queremos presentarle al mundo, tal como lo dijo hace dos siglos uno de nuestros hijos más ilustres, Francisco José de Caldas, el sentido final del ejercicio de investigar: “[...] todo para bienestar de los hombres”.It is the explicit goal of this publication is to get research carried out by the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia to a large number of readers, showing them, through sci-ence journalism, the daily investigative work carried out at this institution. And we want the world to see it in the spirit of the ultimate meaning of the practice of research, just as it was expressed two centuries ago by one of our most illustrious sons, Francisco José de Caldas, who underlined that it is “all for the well-being of humankind.