RESUMEN
The impacts of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions have provided a valuable global experiment into the extent of improvements in air quality possible with reductions in vehicle movements. Mexico City, London and Delhi all share the problem of air quality failing WHO guideline limits, each with unique situations and influencing factors. We determine, discuss and compare the air quality changes across these cities during the COVID-19, to understand how the findings may support future improvements in their air quality and associated health of citizens. We analysed ground-level PM10, PM2.5, NO2, O3 and CO changes in each city for the period 1st January to August 31, 2020 under different phases of lockdown, with respect to daily average concentrations over the same period for 2017 to 2019. We found major reductions in PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and CO across the three cities for the lockdown phases and increases in O3 in London and Mexico City but not Delhi. The differences were due to the O3 production criteria across the cities, for Delhi production depends on the VOC-limited photochemical regime. Levels of reductions were commensurate with the degree of lockdown. In Mexico City, the greatest reduction in measured concentration was in CO in the initial lockdown phase (40%), in London the greatest decrease was for NO2 in the later part of the lockdown (49%), and in Delhi the greatest decrease was in PM10, and PM2.5 in the initial lockdown phase (61% and 50%, respectively). Reduction in pollutant concentrations agreed with reductions in vehicle movements. In the initial lockdown phase vehicle movements reduced by up to 59% in Mexico City and 63% in London. The cities demonstrated a range of air quality changes in their differing geographical areas and land use types. Local meteorology and pollution events, such as forest fires, also impacted the results.
Asunto(s)
Contaminantes Atmosféricos , Contaminación del Aire , COVID-19 , Contaminantes Atmosféricos/análisis , Contaminación del Aire/análisis , Ciudades , Control de Enfermedades Transmisibles , Monitoreo del Ambiente , Humanos , India , Londres , México , Pandemias , Material Particulado/análisis , SARS-CoV-2RESUMEN
There is an urgent need in multinational studies for efficient and sensitive tests for the evaluation of dementias. These tests are used to investigate the regional characteristics of dementias, providing possible insight into the different etiologies of the disorders. These tests are also utilized to assess the outcome of treatment interventions at multinational levels. We validated and standardized the Syndrom Kurztest, a brief European neuropsychological test, in a population of elderly Chileans, possessing high levels of illiteracy. In our sample, the SKT was found to be an effective instrument for the diagnosis of dementias, and for differentiating mild-moderate from severe degrees of the disease. There was a good correlation between the scores on the SKT and the age of the participants, but the gender and the years of schooling had no effect. The test is a useful contribution to the study of dementias, found in the aging developing world, particularly because it can be used in illiterate populations.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer/diagnóstico , Comparación Transcultural , Países en Desarrollo , Lenguaje , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas/estadística & datos numéricos , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/psicología , Chile , Escolaridad , Femenino , Alemania , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Psicometría , Reproducibilidad de los ResultadosRESUMEN
Breast cancer in México has the second place in frequency in general population (10.6%) as well as in females (16.4%). There has been found an increase in mortality from 3.6, in 1985, to 6 x 100,000 inhabitants, in 1994. Breast cancer diagnosis is made in advanced stages (III, IV, N.C.) in two out of three of our patients and a great proportion of them are younger than 50 years old. In order to know if age at diagnosis of breast cancer women in Mexico is similar of that of women of other countries, and in consequence, if breast screening has to be done as they have determined, we analyzed the age at diagnosis of 29,075 mexican women with breast cancer from 1993 to 1996. We found that median age of our patients was 51 years, one decade younger than that of European or white American women (60-64 years), and 45.5% of Mexican women are less than 50 years old at diagnosis of breast cancer, therefore, breast cancer screening indications adopted in Mexico, do not cover, not even theoretically, almost 50% of our women. It is mandatory to determine indications of breast screening according to our reality.