The University of Caldas (Spanish: Universidad de Caldas), is a public, coeducational, research university based in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. It is the most important higher education institution in the Department of Caldas. It is a public university of national character, subject to inspection and surveillance through Law 1740 of 2014 and Law 30 of 1992 of the Ministry of Education of Colombia; it houses students from all corners of Colombia and abroad; It is considered the best university in the "eje cafetero" and one of the best in Colombia.
Plantain is a staple food in Colombia, with a per capita consumption of 72 kg/year. The crop covers 438,051 ha, producing 4.61 million tons and yielding 10.53 t/ha. In this study, we aimed to quantify and identify the plant-parasitic nematodes associated with Musa AAB 'Hart & oacute;n' in Puerto Salgar, Cundinamarca, Colombia. Composite samples of 2 kg of roots and 3 kg of soil were collected from succession suckers of recently flowered plants in 20 farms (one sample per hectare, each comprising 10 subsamples). The nematodes were extracted in the Nematology Laboratory of Universidad de Caldas using the blending-centrifugation-sugar flotation method. We identified six plant-parasitic nematode genera: Pratylenchus, Helicotylenchus, Meloidogyne, Tylenchus, Dorylaimus, and Criconemoides. Pratylenchus was predominant in both soil and root samples, with a population frequency of 85% and maximum densities of 24,796 individuals/100 g of roots, followed by Helicotylenchus (50%; 7,670 individuals/100 g of roots) and Meloidogyne (40%; 10,451 individuals/100 g of roots). Root dysfunction ranged from 40% to 87%, characterized by cortical cylinder damage, reddish discoloration, necrosis, and gall formation caused by these genera. Nematode populations were positively correlated with the percentage of non-functional roots (Pearson's r = 0.68). This study constitutes the first report of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with Musa AAB (plantain subgroup) 'Hart & oacute;n' in the municipality of Puerto Salgar. It provides a baseline for developing integrated nematode management strategies to mitigate yield losses.
The Paletara Caldera deposits represent the only well-defined geological and geomorphological evidence in Colombia of a large caldera-forming eruption. The deposits are composed mostly of ignimbrite, reach up to 300 m in thickness, crop out in an area of 2300 km, and yield an estimated bulk volume of 258-275 km3. Physical descriptions indicate lag breccias near the caldera rim, welded eutaxitic facies at the base of the deposit and nonwelded facies at the top. Lithofacies variations suggest fluctuations in flow boundary zones during the progressive aggradation of a sustained pyroclastic density current. Further petrographic analyses revealed an ignimbrite deposit composed of pumice and lithic fragments embedded in a fine ash matrix of glass shards, plagioclase, quartz, and biotite. Devitrification textures, columnar jointing, lithophysae, spherulites, and welding ranks III-IV suggest high-temperature emplacement and slow cooling. The estimated volume of 258-275 km3 corresponds to a VEI 7, demonstrating that the Paletara Caldera was formed by the most voluminous eruptive event documented so far in the geological history of the Colombian Andes.
Background: Environmental degradation and climate-related territorial transformation are increasingly recognized as social determinants of adolescent mental health. However, empirical evidence on solastalgia among young people in the Global South remains limited. This study aimed to examine psychosocial, health-related, school-related, family, and territorial factors associated with solastalgia among school-attending adolescents in Colombia. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional analytical study was conducted between August 2025 and February 2026 with 1005 adolescents from three Colombian territories undergoing different forms of environmental transformation: an urban setting affected by construction-related change, a semiurban setting affected by agricultural transformation, and a rural setting affected by extractivism. Solastalgia was assessed using the Brief Solastalgia Scale. Psychosocial, health-related, school-related, and contextual variables were measured using validated or locally supported instruments. Bivariate analyses, multiple linear regression, and non-parametric territorial comparisons were conducted. Results: Solastalgia differed significantly across territorial groups, with the semiurban group showing the highest mean ranks for solastalgia, followed by the rural and urban groups. However, territorial comparisons showed heterogeneous psychosocial and health-related patterns rather than a uniform gradient across all outcomes. Older age was independently associated with higher solastalgia scores. In the final regression model, solastalgia was independently associated with resilience, substance use screening, suicide risk, age, physical health status, conflict resolution, concern about climate change, and territorial origin. The model explained 42.9% of the variance in solastalgia scores. Territorial origin contributed a small but statistically significant additional proportion of explained variance. Conclusions: Adolescent solastalgia in Colombia is not reducible to individual psychological vulnerability. It reflects a broader socioecological configuration involving emotional distress, perceived health, psychosocial resources, school-related experiences, concern about climate change, and place-based environmental transformation. These findings support the need for school-based and community-based public health responses that integrate adolescent mental health care with environmental protection, cultural safety, and territorial justice.
Local community participation plays an increasingly important role in the sustainable management of river basins. Communities’ contribution to protecting hydrological basins and the ecosystems surrounding them has been recognized in the political and scientific debate. Hence, protecting these ecosystems from a socio-ecosystemic approach is necessary. This research work, based on empirical evidence, aims to contribute to comprehending the relationship between communitarian action and the protection of river basins and the ecosystems surrounding them. For this purpose, we conduct a documentary and ethnographic study of the Community Water Supply Service Systems (CWS) located in the high and middle basin of the Guarino River in Marulanda, Caldas, Colombia. This work considers the communitarian character of these systems as well as their compatibility with the environment and their long-term sustainability. Recognizing some of these community systems as strategies for environmental protection and an efficient supply of water services is necessary for improving water management in river basins. It also recognizes the indissociable relationship existing between environmental sustainability and the construction of territorialities around community governance of water resources in rural areas.
In the last two decades, changes in the paradigms and approaches of medicine have led to an increasing interest in the study of bioactive compounds, particularly phenolic compounds (PC), due to their features, mainly as antioxidants. The quantification of these substances, i.e., the determination of the antioxidant capacity (AOC) or the total phenolic content (TPC), as well as their affinity for free radicals of biological relevance, known as antioxidant activity (AOA), has been performed traditionally in extracts, juices, or leaf preparations, fruits, and roots, using spectrophotometric techniques and chromatography. Such techniques usually require pollutant reagents, robust equipment, and highly qualified personnel for their accurate interpretation. As an emerging multidisciplinary field of interest for the agricultural and food industries, medicine, pharmacology, and nutrition, the necessity to explore alternative methodologies that result in affordable, environmentally friendly, and easy-to-use products for personnel trained in disciplines other than analytical chemistry has risen; outstandingly, electrochemical methodologies and biosensors are among them. This work compiles a collection of papers found in the Scopus, Web of Science, and Dimensions databases regarding analytical methods used for the determination of PC in agricultural products and the assessment of their AOC. Finally, it is concluded that electrochemical biosensors are a promising resource for determining AOC and AOA at the same performance level as traditional techniques; however, it is still necessary to encourage researchers and engineers from different fields to cooperate in interdisciplinary work to overcome biosensor limitations related to affordable production techniques as well as more versatile, compact, and miniaturised designs. Meanwhile, chemical receptors related to PC have to be developed along with fine algorithms for signal processing and data analysis that yield a sensitive detection of PC and the capability for identifying PC families or species according to their signal response to attain a competitive final product.
