Sr. Editor, Hemos leído con atención el artículo de S. Durand y col. publicado recientemente en la revista que dirige, titulado: “Frecuencia elevada de casos de dengue grave durante la epidemia por el linaje II del DENV-2 americano/asiático en el Perú”, el cual se centra en describir las características clínicas de pacientes hospitalizados en la Unidad de Dengue del Hospital de Iquitos en febrero del 2011 (1).

Sr. Editor, Las crisis suscitadas en los últimos años de nuestro siglo, como la pandemia COVID-19 o el impacto en salud de la crisis climática, han puesto en evidencia la relevancia y acrecentado el interés, a nivel mundial, en la salud pública (1,2). Estos eventos resaltan la importancia y la necesidad de disponer de médicos con una adecuada formación en epidemiología y estadística, disciplinas que constituyen la base para la formación médica en salud pública (3).

Over a comprehensive 5-year assessment, and extrapolating it prospectively until 2025, a thorough examination was conducted of productive agrobiodiversity in nine rural agricultural districts across Peru. The present study involved in-depth interviews with 180 representative farmers of the Coast, Highlands, and Jungle natural regions. Employing the Shannon–Weiner diversity index and the Margalef species richness index, the dynamics within years and across different zones were analyzed. Utilizing quadratic trend models, we assessed the frequency of each crop, aiming for the optimal fit concerning absolute deviation from the mean, mean squared deviation, and mean absolute percentage error. These findings revealed five distinct crop types—tuberous, fruits, cereals, legumes, and roots—distributed across 25 diverse families. Looking ahead to 2025, our projections indicated positive tren...

Over a comprehensive 5-year assessment, and extrapolating it prospectively until 2025, a thorough examination was conducted of productive agrobiodiversity in nine rural agricultural districts across Peru. The present study involved in-depth interviews with 180 representative farmers of the Coast, Highlands, and Jungle natural regions. Employing the Shannon–Weiner diversity index and the Margalef species richness index, the dynamics within years and across different zones were analyzed. Utilizing quadratic trend models, we assessed the frequency of each crop, aiming for the optimal fit concerning absolute deviation from the mean, mean squared deviation, and mean absolute percentage error. These findings revealed five distinct crop types—tuberous, fruits, cereals, legumes, and roots—distributed across 25 diverse families. Looking ahead to 2025, our projections indicated positive tren...

The objective of the research was to evaluate a biodegradable container from cassava starch to prolong the useful life of two fruits, strawberry (VESCA) and blackberry (Rubus sp.), stored at room temperature and refrigeration. Three factors were evaluated with two levels each (container, temperature and type of fruit). The variable response was the useful life time, for which it was determined: PH, acidity, °Brix, Color (LAB *) and calorific energy. Both fruits, strawberry and blackberry, were kept up to seven days at room temperature and nine days in refrigeration, using the biodegradable container, obtaining times superior to control (without packaging to the environment).  

The objective of the research was to evaluate a biodegradable container from cassava starch to prolong the useful life of two fruits, strawberry (VESCA) and blackberry (Rubus sp.), stored at room temperature and refrigeration. Three factors were evaluated with two levels each (container, temperature and type of fruit). The variable response was the useful life time, for which it was determined: PH, acidity, °Brix, Color (LAB *) and calorific energy. Both fruits, strawberry and blackberry, were kept up to seven days at room temperature and nine days in refrigeration, using the biodegradable container, obtaining times superior to control (without packaging to the environment).  

The objective of the research was to evaluate a biodegradable container from cassava starch to prolong the useful life of two fruits, strawberry (VESCA) and blackberry (Rubus sp.), stored at room temperature and refrigeration. Three factors were evaluated with two levels each (container, temperature and type of fruit). The variable response was the useful life time, for which it was determined: PH, acidity, °Brix, Color (LAB *) and calorific energy. Both fruits, strawberry and blackberry, were kept up to seven days at room temperature and nine days in refrigeration, using the biodegradable container, obtaining times superior to control (without packaging to the environment).  

The objective of the research was to evaluate a biodegradable container from cassava starch to prolong the useful life of two fruits, strawberry (VESCA) and blackberry (Rubus sp.), stored at room temperature and refrigeration. Three factors were evaluated with two levels each (container, temperature and type of fruit). The variable response was the useful life time, for which it was determined: PH, acidity, °Brix, Color (LAB *) and calorific energy. Both fruits, strawberry and blackberry, were kept up to seven days at room temperature and nine days in refrigeration, using the biodegradable container, obtaining times superior to control (without packaging to the environment).  

En el Perú se vienen reportando serovares de Salmonella no tifoidea (SNT) en casos humanos que estarían relacionados a los hallados en huevos comerciales, carcasas de broilers y subproductos. El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar mediante el porcentaje de similaridad de los perfiles genéticos de los serovares de SNT aislados de humanos y productos aviares mediante la Electroforesis en Gel de Campo Pulsado (PFGE). Se obtuvieron 49 aislados bacterianos de serovares de SNT de casos clínicos humanos y productos aviares (huevos, carcasa de broilers, vísceras, cama de ave), que se analizaron mediante PFGE. Con el programa bioinformático Bionumerics v. 7.0 se generó un dendrograma que muestra la relación XbaI – perfiles PFGE. El análisis de las bandas generadas se realizó mediante el uso del Método de grupo de pares no ponderados con media aritmética (UPGM) para evalua...

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding of the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico, Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnológica (FONDECYT) through the Project with Contract N? 026-2016 Círculo de Investigación para la Innovación y el fortalecimiento de la cadena de valor del cacao nativo fino de aroma en la zona nor oriental del Perú-CINCACAO, and the support and execution of this project by the Instituto de Investigación para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Ceja de Selva (INDES-CES).

Objective: To determine the association between depression and the domains of geriatric assessment. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in five highland communities from Ayacucho, Peru. Trained personnel administered structured questionnaires, including the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Pfeiffer Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living, and Abbreviated and modified Gijon's social-familial evaluation scale (SFES). Sociodemographic information and blood oxygen saturation were collected from among ≥60 years population members (n = 156). For bivariate analysis, Fisher's exact and chi-square tests were used. Bivariate and multivariate Poisson regression with 95% CI were also administered to explore the association of geriatric depression with sociodemographic information, blood oxygen l...

Hydration is a typical operation applied to legumes before cooking, reducing time and the associated energy cost. To monitor the process, mass balance method is the most used methodology, despite this method is destructive, repetitive, and time-consuming. For that reason. hyperspectral techniques are presented as an alternative for assessing the hydration process since it is a noninvasive method. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the technique of hyperspectral imaging for studying the hydration kinetics of pinto beans. For this purpose, a sample of pinto beans was hydrated in distilled water, determining moisture content during the process and taking hyperspectral images by reflectance mode, in the range 400 to 800 nm until constant mass. The moisture content was modelled using Peleg and a sigmoidal model. Next, the images were pre-treated and the median spectral prof...

Dielectric spectroscopy was used in this study to predict and classify pork quality during the post-mortem time. Eighty ~1 kg- longissimus dorsi muscles were collected and stored at 4 ± 1 ◦C and pH, instrumental color, and dielectric properties (ε’ and ε’’) were subsequently determined in the microwave range (0.5–9 GHz) at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 24 h post-mortem (hpm), as well as moisture at 8 hpm and drip weight loss at 24 hpm. Of the 80 pork samples, two types of meat were found. RFN (33) and DFD (47) between males and females. Quality parameters: RFN (pH=5.708–5.714; L*=43.341–43.692; moisture (%) = 68.857–69.604; drip loss = 1.655–1.833) and DFD (pH=6.154–6.177; L*=40.152–41.91; moisture (%) = 69.032–69.9; drip loss = 1.129–1.693). Quality parameter predictions during muscle-to-meat transformation showed R² of 0.743 (pH), 0.811 (L*) and 0.603 (C*) f...

The utilization of magnetic fields in agricultural contexts has been demonstrated to exert a beneficial effect on various aspects of crop development, including germination, growth, and yield. The present study investigates the impact of magnetic biostimulation on seeds of purple maize (Zea mays L.), variety INIA 601, cultivated in Cajamarca, Peru, with a particular focus on their physical characteristics, yield, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activity. The results demonstrated that seeds treated with pulsed (8 mT at 30 Hz for 30 min) and static (50 mT for 30 min) magnetic fields exhibited significantly longer cobs (16.89 and 16.53 cm, respectively) compared with the untreated control (15.79 cm). Furthermore, the application of these magnetic fields resulted in enhanced antioxidant activity in the bract, although the untreated samples exhibited higher values (110.56 μg/mL) compare...

The utilization of magnetic fields in agricultural contexts has been demonstrated to exert a beneficial effect on various aspects of crop development, including germination, growth, and yield. The present study investigates the impact of magnetic biostimulation on seeds of purple maize (Zea mays L.), variety INIA 601, cultivated in Cajamarca, Peru, with a particular focus on their physical characteristics, yield, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activity. The results demonstrated that seeds treated with pulsed (8 mT at 30 Hz for 30 min) and static (50 mT for 30 min) magnetic fields exhibited significantly longer cobs (16.89 and 16.53 cm, respectively) compared with the untreated control (15.79 cm). Furthermore, the application of these magnetic fields resulted in enhanced antioxidant activity in the bract, although the untreated samples exhibited higher values (110.56 µg/mL) compare...

This research aimed to evaluate the oxidative stability and rheological properties of dark chocolates with the addition of essential oils (EO) of Cymbopogon citratus, Pimpinella anisum, and Mintostachys mollis. For this purpose, before the inclusion in chocolates, the EO were chemically characterized to identify the most important volatile compounds. We added essential oils of P. anisum, C. citratus and M. mollis to dark chocolates (cocoa 70%) at doses of 10, 12 and 14 μL per 500 g, separately. These chocolates were evaluated for oxidative activity, hardness, microstructure, rheological and melting properties and antioxidant capacity. It was found that C. citratus EO (10 μL/500 g of chocolate) improve the oxidative stability of the chocolates at 90 days of storage at 25 ◦C (230 meq O2/kg), while higher concentrations promote lipid oxidation. The incorporation of essential oils improv...

The chocolate industry is progressively seeking to incorporate novel ingredients in order to satisfy the demand for innovative products. Nevertheless, the modification of formulations in chocolates can result in alterations to their properties. This study aimed to evaluate the rheological, bioactive and sensory properties of dark chocolates by adding freeze-dried berries and stevia sweetener. The chocolate tablets were formulated with four dried berry pulps and three doses of stevia sweetener. It was found that the addition of stevia at any of the concentrations tested increased the viscosity (2.97 ± 3.84 Pa-s), yield strength (11.6–17.6 Pa), and hardness (42.06 ± 3.10 N) of the chocolates, benefiting the texture and heat resistance of dark chocolates. Moreover, the incorporation of stevia resulted in enhanced thermal stability and antioxidant capacity, indicating a probable enhancem...