Universidad Agroforestal Fernando Arturo de Meriño

In 2017, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) conducted a survey in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic that revealed a high rate of mental health disorders. To address the shortage of mental health services, ISMMS collaborated with the Instituto Terapéutico y Psicológico para la Familia (INTEP) to provide training sessions to local primary care providers (PCPs) and psychologists in psychopharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, respectively. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the training on providers' confidence about and attitudes towards providing mental health care.Trainees were administered a survey pre, immediate post, and three-months following training sessions to assess their comfort in diagnosing and treating psychiatric conditions. Post-training interviews were conducted to assess the impact of the training.A total of 78 PCPs participated in the initial training session. Chi-squared and Fisher Exact analyses conducted on PCPs' responses to individual survey items revealed significant increases in the proportion of respondents agreeing to feeling comfortable managing targeted psychiatric conditions after training as compared to before training. Interviews with 28 PCPs supported these results. Five of the 12 trained psychologists were interviewed and endorsed success in integrating the training into their practice, noting improved patient outcomes.Both PCPs and psychologists described an enhanced sense of confidence in managing patients with mental health disorders after training, emphasizing the positive impact that psychiatric training initiatives in primary care settings have in promoting sustainable mental healthcare systems in low-resource settings.

La investigación analizó la educación financiera en jóvenes universitarios latinoamericanos, enfocándose en estudiantes de la Facultad de Contaduría y Negocios de la Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México. Se utilizó un enfoque cuantitativo, diseño no experimental transversal. La unidad de análisis incluyó a 1,300 estudiantes (agosto 2023 - enero 2024), con una muestra de 106. Los datos se recopilaron mediante un cuestionario distribuido por WhatsApp y correo institucional. Los resultados revelaron una brecha significativa en educación financiera: el 57% rara vez o nunca accede a información financiera y sólo el 32% lo hace ocasionalmente. El 91% depende económicamente de sus familias. Respecto a la elaboración de presupuestos, solo el 10% siempre los realiza, el 38% tiene cierta planificación, y el 35% no hace presupuestos. Solo el 13% proyecta sus finanzas constantemente. En cuanto al conocimiento del sistema financiero mexicano, apenas el 3% lo considera sólido. No obstante, el 61% manifestó interés en recibir formación financiera. Sobre su nivel de conocimiento, el 3% lo calificó como alto, el 65% medio y el 32% bajo. Entre los desafíos destacan el bajo nivel de educación financiera, la desconexión entre la formación académica y la práctica, la dependencia económica familiar, la falta de hábitos de ahorro y el acceso irregular a información, limitando decisiones responsables. Las oportunidades incluyen la alta demanda de formación financiera, la integración de esta en los planes de estudio, la promoción del ahorro, el uso de herramientas digitales, el fortalecimiento del apoyo familiar y el potencial impacto en el desarrollo económico regional.

Do emerging industrial nations have little hope in the face of the new technological revolution 4.0, given the powerful self-reinforcing mechanisms characteristic of the innovation systems in central regions? Or can socio-technical trajectories, initially emerging as niches but later evolving into sectors or even networks, pave the way for technological leapfrogging in these emerging countries? If so, can we envision specific techno-industrial policies to facilitate these leaps, and more importantly, can we develop specific tools and methods to diagnose and promote such policies?This paper aims to contribute to the improvement and application of a Structural Network Analysis (SNA) methodology to identify, within a large set of longitudinal patent data, in a subdomain of industry 4.0 (namely, green technologies), the most promising technological domains for a given country under study (South Korea).The interest of this perspective on technological economic policies is to target a technological domain that is both critical and stimulating enough to generate a network effect, yet sufficiently niche to not require capital beyond the capacity of an emerging nation.In the current state of our intermediate research results, the findings are only partially satisfactory. The results regarding the most promising technologies appear significant only half of the time (whereas in the reference study, they tend towards 100%). Nevertheless, many avenues for improvement in research remain open.JEL classification: 030.

Desde que dio inicio el nuevo siglo, varios estudios sobre la culicidofauna de la Hispaniola han elevado el conocimiento de este grupo de artrópodos, muy relevantes desde el punto de vista médico y veterinario. En relación a la diversidad de la familia Culicidae, los hallazgos más recientes se han realizado en el municipio de Jarabacoa, República Dominicana. Con el objetivo de profundizar en la diversidad de los culícidos presentes en esta localidad montañosa de El Cibao, se procedió a la búsqueda de criaderos de mosquitos, sobre todo de origen natural, desde enero de 2018 hasta junio de 2019. La identificación de los especímenes se realizó mediante la utilización de lupa binocular y microscopio, con la ayuda de claves taxonómicas. Se reportan seis nuevas especies para Jarabacoa, sumando un total de 22 para el municipio, sobre las cuales se analizan cuestiones como su bioecología y su papel en la transmisión de agentes patógenos, entre otras. Destaca la presencia de Culex interrogator Dyar y Knab, 1906, especie que se reporta por primera vez en la Hispaniola, y por segunda en el Caribe insular. A pesar de que este culícido no está implicado hasta la fecha en la transmisión de patógenos al ser humano, otras especies encontradas en este estudio como Anopheles crucians Wiedemann, 1828, Aedes scapularis (Rondani, 1848) y Psorophora confinnis (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891) deben ser tenidas en cuenta en los programas de vigilancia y control, a tenor de su relevancia médica.

Introduction: Discarded vehicle tires represent a serious threat both to the environment and to public health as they have the potential to harbor important mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) vectors.Objective: To assess the importance of used vehicle tires as larval habitats for mosquito fauna that colonize these artificial reservoirs in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.Materials and methods: Used tires were sampled with pipettes at specialized tire fitting shops and scattered stockpiles of tires between June and August, 2018.Results: We sampled 396 tires; 57 (Container Index=14.4%) were positive for immature stages and contained 2,400 specimens, 11 species, and four genera (Anopheles, Aedes, Culex, and Toxorhynchites). The most abundant species was Aedes albopictus (42.3%) followed by Aedes aegypti (34.3%), and Culex quinquefasciatus (14.0%) while other species (9.4%) were less abundant. The container index varied significantly among the different tire sizes (x2=13.4; p≤0.05). The highest infestation levels were found in the largest tires. A low positive correlation (r=0.38, n=396; p≤0.001) between the tire size and the prevalence of immature stages was recorded. The presence of organic matter had an overall positive effect on the infestation levels (U=11,430.0; p≤0.001).Conclusions: These rubber residues, usually located nearby human populations, represent suitable breeding sites for arboviruses vectors such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and West Nile.

Se presenta una metodología para la determinación del uso óptimo de la tierra de los ecosistemas terrestres y para la valoración de los servicios ecosistémicos que estos producen, alcanzando ambos propósitos a partir del costo de oportunidad del uso agrícola de sus territorios. Dicha metodología se fundamenta en la observación y la aceptación de que la productividad agrícola de la tierra disminuye a medida que aumenta su pendiente, tal y como se puede comprobar en muchos estudios citados sobre la planificación y la vocación de uso de la tierra. Estos estudios también concluyen que la vocación de la tierra de alta pendiente es la conservación para la producción de servicios ecosistémicos. Si la productividad agrícola y, por ende, el costo de oportunidad varían con la pendiente de la tierra, entonces debería existir un punto óptimo por debajo del cual siempre sería más conveniente producir alimentos, y por encima de él convendría más producir servicios ecosistémicos, lo cual podría asegurar que la distribución resultante entre ambos usos de la tierra concilie los objetivos 1, 2, 13 y 15 de la Agenda 2030 de las Naciones Unidas.

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are important vectors of diverse pathogenic organisms, particularly arboviruses and protozoa. The immature stages of mosquitoes occur in a wide range of natural or human-made aquatic habitats. On this basis, some anthropogenic places such as cemeteries, usually serve as thrive and productive artificial-breeding habitats for mosquitoes. Despite being important foci for vector species, urban cemeteries are frequently overlooked in control and surveillance programs. This study evaluates the association of ecological variables and attributes (type of material, presence of flowers, water availability and height from the ground) of the breeding sites with the levels of infestation of mosquito immature stages. In 2017, an entire urban cemetery in Jarabacoa (Dominican Republic) was sampled at two different climatic periods (March: dry and August: rainy) for the characterization of the artificial breeding-sites, collection of immature stages of culicids and subsequent laboratory rearing for species identification. In total 968 containers were studied, containing 7 758 immature stages in 203 (21.0 %) water-filled containers which accounted for four species: Culex quinquefasciatus (50.5 %), Aedes aegypti (47.1 %), Aedes albopictus (1.9 %) and Culex nigripalpus (0.4 %). The mean of A. aegypti immatures in infested containers was roughly two times higher compared to C. quinquefasciatus and significantly lower compared to A. albopictus. The total Container Index (CI) was 20.9 %, and among the type of materials, those made from rock (cement, ceramic, and mud) and plastic had the highest CI = 25.9 % and 23.4 %, respectively. Almost 95 % of the total infested water-filled containers were made of plastic or rock. No association was found between the type of material of the containers and the density of mosquitoes. However, overall, greater densities of immature stages were found at ground than at higher levels. A weak positive correlation between water volume and density was found in some species of immature stages. Significantly higher number of C. quinquefasciatus were recorded in containers with flowers and large water volume. In contrast, A. aegypti immature stages were more frequent in containers without flowers. A weak negative association between water volume and infestations was found for A. albopictus immatures. As reflected of their opportunistic behaviour and broad ecological plasticity, Culex spp. and Aedes spp. mosquitoes were abundant pests in cemetery habitats where were able to breed in almost any kind of water-filled container regardless the type of material. However, our study showed that some ecological variables have critical impact for the development of the immature stages of some species. The health authorities and cemetery keepers can benefit from these results by focusing on the implementation of detailed plans and integrated strategies for the control and prevention of cemetery infestations by mosquitoes.

El presente estudio registra por primera vez a la especie Uranotaenia cooki (Diptera: Culicidae) en República Dominicana, concretamente en el municipio de Jarabacoa. Con este hallazgo, el culícido se encuentra oficialmente presente en todos los países que conforman las Antillas Mayores.

Several illnesses of vectorial origin have a great medical and veterinary relevance, due to the adaptations developed by the species involved in their transmission. To support preventive programs with updated ecological information of Ae. aegypti populations, an entomological survey was carried out in three Health Areas of Camagüey, Cuba, during low and high rain seasons of 2013. For this, we assessed the type and number of positive containers, quantified larvae and pupae in positive containers, according to the container location in or outside the house. Both the container representativeness percentage and the pupal index by specific containers were calculated (PIsC). The total of houses as well as the positive habitual-use and non-disposable containers were compared among weather seasons, using the non parametric Chi2 test. The existent relationship between the total of positive houses and the habitual-use and non-disposable container was explored through the test of proportions hypothesis, with a level of significance of P ≤ 0.05. Ae. aegypti colonized 73 different types of containers, being habitual-use and non-disposable a 23.2 %. This number included 76 % of the positive containers. The greatest larvae collections were obtained in exterior water tanks and barrels, with important pupal production (PIsC = 3.04 and 1.75, respectively), and as well as significant differences towards the rainy season respect to positive houses (PUIA: Chi2 = 32.89; P = 0.00; PUE: Chi2 = 127.44; P = 0.00 and PUJAM: Chi2 = 127.44; P = 0.00), and the habitual-use and non-disposable container (PUIA: Chi2 = 30.37; P = 0.00; PUE: Chi2 = 37.26; P = 0.00 and PUJAM: Chi2 = 81.82; P = 0.00). These data reinforce the priority given to the control and surveillance actions conducted by the community in their respective houses.