Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Ingeominas, Isagen and Colciencias have developed a 20 month project; the most ambitions in terms of geothermic energy carried out so far. This natural resource, with low environmental impact, is obtained from the internal heat of the Earth. The first sources were already identified in Nevado del Ruiz Volcano.

Published by Universidad Nacional de Colombia • ISSN 1657-0987 • www.agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co/english-news

http://www.unperiodico.unal.edu.co/en • un_periodico@unal.edu.coBogotá D.C. - Colombia • Issue 5 • November 2011

Health S&T Innovación AgricultureStressaffects memory

Molecule to treat tuberculosis is modified

A nutritive hamburger made out of banana

Lotus, bovine food against global warming

7 9 10 17

Energy will be produced out of volcanic soil

Energy will be produced out of volcanic soil

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First Colombian catalogof primitive insectsMore than 400 million years ago, some “bugs” appeared on Earth, and with the pass of time, they evolved as well as mammals did. The information of 1,673 of such species was gathered by specialist that presented the first catalog of primitive insects developed in the country to the scientific community.

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Executive Director: Carlos Alberto Patiño VillaPress Chief: Nelly Mendivelso Rodríguez

Copy Editor–Translator: Wilson García Proofreader: Carolina GutiérrezAssociate Spanish Editor: Carlos Andrey Patiño

Art Editor: Ricardo González Angulo Spanish Copy Editor: Verónica Barreto Agencia de Noticias UN Editors: Félix Enrique Blanco, Luis Miguel Palacio

Printing: Imágenes Gráficas S.A.Expressed opinions are those of the authors alone and don’t compel or compromise principles by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia or politics by the UN Periódico.

Web Page: http://www.unperiodico.unal.edu.co Mail: un_periodico@unal.edu.co Phones: (571) 316 5348 - (571) 316 5000 ext. 18384 / Fax: (571) 316 5232 Edificio Uriel Gutiérrez Carrera 45 Nº 26-85, piso 5º. Bogotá - Colombia ISNN1657-0987

Science

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Lauraceae leaves mixed with solvent (ethanol).

Lauraceae extract.

The distillation process separates the solvent from the extract obtained from the leaves.

Process to obtain active substances from the extract.

Cardiovascular benefits of

Colombian plants are tested in human blood

Luis Miguel PalacioUnimedios

The Lauraceae family is com-posed by a diverse group of plants of great economic importance in the world such as avocado, laurel and cinnamon tree. These plants are very common in Brazil and Co-lombia, where they have been used for a long time as part of traditional medicine in indigenous populations such as the Awá’s, from the high parts of Nariño.

However, the Natural Vegetable Products Research Group (GIPNV, for its acronym in Spanish), from Universidad Nacional de Colom-bia, observed that a big variety of these plants are used in the depart-ments of Magdalena, Caquetá and Antioquia to treat diseases related to inflammatory disorders or cardio-vascular problems such as asthma, arthritis, rheumatic complications, mastitis and arteriosclerosis.

Figures from the National Insti-tute of Colombian Health recorded 57.607 fatal victims during 2009 due to diseases in the circulatory system.

Finding Lauraceaes

After investigating the uses that traditional medicine has for these plants, the group started studing three species: Jigua (Pleurothyri-um cinereum), Aguacatillo (Ocotea macrophylla) and Yellow Laurel (Nectandra amazonum), in order to determine their content of anti–in-flammatory substances and cardio-vascular benefit.

Just in Colombia, there are around 150 species of Lauraceae, and 60% of them have not been studied enough; for instance, these three spe-cies. The investigation started with a journey through the forests of dif-ferent regions in the country. Several specimens were recollected in Nari-ño, Cundinamarca and the deepness of Amazonas, in the biological station El Zafire of Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

The extract

After collecting and classifying the samples, reaching the extract was the most challenging thing for the scientist. For this reason, they separated the leaves and mixed them with ethanol, a solvent sub-stance, during seven days.

The resulting mixture was fil-tered to remove the solvent, then, it went through a distillation pro-cess from which the extract was ob-tained: a paste that was analyzed in order to evaluate its beneficial characteristics.

¡Eureka! This was the result.From these three species stud-

ied, 52 pure substances were ob-tained, 13 new for science, a situa-tion that implies a possibility of new different functions for pharmaco-logical uses.

Eight of the 52 extracts proved an efficient and safe effect (this means, they are not toxic for the organism), between 15% and 25% better than common medicine

used for inflammation, for instance, ibuprofen.

An anti–inflammatory com-pound is a substance that inhibits swelling in any part of the organ-ism. It acts in one or several ways; for example, it prevents the action of an enzyme called ciclooxigenase, which produces pro–inflammatory compounds. During in vitro tests and using human blood, the new substances, especially one called 9–nor–isolicarin–B, stopped the ef-fect of the enzyme.

“It is well known that treating cardiovascular problems related to heart problems and circulatory dys-functions is necessary to stop the ac-cumulation of platelets that obstruct the arteries in some situations, and this is done by means of analgesics such as aspirin,” asserted Ericsson Coy, PhD in chemistry and main au-thor of this investigation.

The compounds found in the Lauraceae –cinerin and others– proved an effectiveness similar to that of the medicine, but 60% safer, since they do not produce ulcers or other secondary effects in the diges-tive system. This was proved in trials

made in laboratories, in which the substances did not change ciclooxi-genase, an important part in gastric and intestinal terms.

Some of the most common cardiovascular diseases are arterio-sclerosis and thrombosis, which are treated by means of the inhibition of the platelet aggregation.

“This investigation not only dis-covered new chemical substances in nature, which are possibly going to be used in pharmaceutical formula-tions after two or three processes, but also developed a chemical re-action to get access –in the lab– to chemical structures present in na-ture,” explained Luis Enrique Cuca, main researcher of GIPNV.

A new reaction?

Despite of the findings, an obsta-cle in the extraction of vegetable sub-stances is its amounts. For instance, for obtaining around 10 milligrams of the compound, it would be necessary to remove all the leaves from a tree; a big problem, considering the fact that they grow naturally.

For this reason, the group ob-

tained a big part of the compounds in the lab. For doing this, they de-veloped organic substances based on a process created by the chemist Richard F. Heck –with which he won the Chemistry Nobel prize in 2010– These substances allow the union of organic molecules in an efficient way for artificially obtaining substances that are only present in nature.

The GIPNV, supported by the Natural Products Chemistry Group of the University of Postdam (Germa-ny), performed some modifications to Heck’s proposals to create a chemi-cal reaction that allowed obtaining bigger amounts of cinerin than those obtained from the plants. This pro-cedure for synthesizing substances is new, announced Organic Letters, a publication from the American Chemical Society, in March last year.

The investigation, which was also a cover of the English magazine Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry in May, 2010, brings new possibili-ties to incorporate pharmaceutical substances that not only are effective to treat diseases, but safer than those currently used by the pharmaceuti-cal industry.

Chemists from Universidad Nacional de Colombia found 52 pure substances in Jigua, Aguacatillo, and Yellow Lau-rel leaves, 13 new substances for science, which prove their important anti—inflammatory effect and their ac-tion against cardiovascular diseases. The extracts are 60% safer than some drugs such as aspirin.

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Scientists from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Palmira found that mercury concentrations are much bigger than the limits established by the WHO in five species of fish fre-quently consumed by humans. Such fish were extracted from Buenaventura’s harbor, which is receiving the waste of the mine exploitation of Dagua River. According to the special-ists, the accumulation of this toxic mineral in the organism could alter movements, speech and hearing perception.

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Jeinst Campo RiveraUnimedios

Gold fever, which has af-fected more than eight thousand artisanal miners and the owners of 236 backhoes that quickly drill the boarders of Dagua River since March of 2009, is seriously affect-ing the fish resource of Buenaven-tura’s harbor.

An investigation performed by the Contamination and Ecology Group in Palmira’s campus reveals that mercury, which is tradition-ally used for gold exploitation, is contaminating Bluegill, Sea Bass, Grunt and other fish eaten by hu-mans in the Colombian Pacific. This metal is in the fish’s blood and muscles in high amounts in differ-ent species.

The situation is alarming be-cause, since the end of 2009, the Ministry of Mines and Energy re-ported a gold production of 47,84 million grams in the country, and according to the owners of the dredging machines in Zaragoza township, in Buenaventura, in the same period, 40 tons of gold were extracted. These figures represent COP 2,1 billion. The out of control exploitation is a direct result of an increase in the international gold price and the drop of the dollar price.

In fact, during the extrac-tion of this attractive mineral, big amounts of mercury are used and they end up in Dagua River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean, seri-ously affecting the fish of Bue-naventura’s harbor.

High concentrations

When studying such toxic ef-fects in the species mentioned before, scientist discovered that mercury magnifies and can reach higher concentrations, having se-rious effects when consumed by humans.

“After analyzing blood and tissue samples in more than 120 individuals and taking samples of the seafloor, we found high con-centrations of bioaccumulation (an amount of the contaminating substance in the water and food that is transmitted to fish) and biomagnification (an increase of the concentration of the contami-nating substance) of metal in this aquatic animals,” said the proj-ect’s director, Professor Guillermo Duque, PhD in Oceanography and Coast Sciences.

The study was carried out during one year in four specific stations of Buenaventura’s harbor: Punta Arena, Santa Delicia, Piedra Piedra and La Bocana

The investigation revealed that the highest concentration of mercury is in Grunt fish, with 0,62 µg/g (microgram of mercu-ry in each muscle gram) of the metal. Bluegill is next with 0,36 µg/g, and then Sea Bass with 0,21 µg/g. This last species, despite having the lowest concentration among the three species, exceeds the maximum amount permitted for human consumption, which is 0,2 µg/g, according to the World Health Organization.

“This analysis proves that these fish represent a serious risk for human health, especially for the inhabitants that consume this fish daily,” mentions Professor Duque.

Science

Mercury effects on humans

Pilar Cogua, a professor and researcher in this project, candi-date to PhD in Sciences in Marine Biology, affirms that, the species mentioned, are the most danger-ous for humans, since they have the highest concentrations of mer-cury, which is impossible to elimi-nate when cooking and that accu-mulates in the organism.

According to the Guide for Toxicological Urgencies, made in 2008 by specialists from Univer-sidad Nacional de Colombia for the Ministry of Social Protection, “mercury can be found in differ-ent chemical and physical shapes, each with a different toxicity, how-ever, methylmercury is the most important from the toxicity per-spective, since it can accumulate in water species.”

For Doctor Javier Rodríguez, Magister in Toxicology, mercury effects are highly toxic. “It can pro-duce alterations in the peripheral and central nervous system, which is reflected in behavior changes, movement and speech difficulties, and reduction in vision sharpness and hearing perception. That also depends on the amount of mer-cury consumed by the person. Ad-ditionally, it can generate prena-tal intoxication, since these com-

pounds produce malformations on the fetus,” asserted the expert.

Who is responsible for this situation?

Decree 4741 of December 30th, 2005 of the Minister of Environ-ment, Housing and Regional De-velopment (MAVDT, for its acro-nym in Spanish) establishes that mercury is a dangerous material that should be used properly by those who manipulate it, and the environmental entities have to control it.

Thus, Article 39 from Decree 2820 of 2010 establishes that en-vironmental authorities (on this case, Corporación Autónoma Re-gional del Valle del Cauca, CVC, for its acronym in Spanish) have to control and monitor the proj-ects, constructions or activities subject to environmental license or Plan de Manejo Ambiental (En-vironmental Management Plan).

Regarding this case, the Min-ister of Environment, Housing and Regional Development, Beatriz Elena Uribe, affirms: “The portfo-lio is waiting for the study results ordered by the Second Court of Buenaventura about the effects of illegal mining, which is taking place in Zaragoza township; how-ever, up to now, information about this specific place is nonexistent.”

Likewise, Luisa Marina Baena, a chemical engineer from CVC, asserts: “The control and surveil-lance is made by the Environmen-tal Technical Direction (DAR, for its acronym in Spanish), through a six month monitoring in Buenaven-tura’s harbor. Specialists from CVC took some samples last month and analyzed mercury and other met-als in the skin, muscles and inter-nal organs of water crab and Lisa, obtaining results below the estab-lished limited for mercury.

However, the study performed by Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia proved that contamination levels due to organic mercury, spe-cifically in Buenaventura’s harbor, are very high and severely affect the marine ecosystem, on this case fish, and could affect human health.

For this reason, it is impor-tant that both miners and people in charge of the manipulation of these materials, such as the dif-ferent environmental entities that have to regulate and control the use of these highly toxic elements, become aware about the impor-tance of the correct use and control of material and chemical waste to evade future extinction.

Mercury contaminated fish in Buenaventura

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Progress in treatment for leishmaniasis

Research on the energetic metabolism of the parasite that causes leishmaniasis determined that finding thera-peutic targets for treating the disease is possible.

Catalina Ávila ReyesUnimedios

The first part of the investiga-tion was focused on understand-ing the metabolic processes used by Leishmania, a protozoan para-site responsible for the transmis-sion of leishmaniasis, to obtain the energy that enables it to adapt to any environment. This pathogen agent, which attacks mammals, causes thousands of cases of this infectious disease in Colombia eve- ry year. This disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of an insect (vector) of the genus Lutzomyia or Phlebotomus.

According to the World Health Organization, leishmaniasis, which shows three predominant common forms (cutaneous, mu-cocutaneous and visceral), is dis-tributed in America, Europe, Africa and Asia, and considered endemic in tropical and subtropical regions in 88 countries. Its prevalence in the world is calculated in 20 mil-lion cases and its annual incidence fluctuates between 1, 5 and 2 mil-lion new affected patients.

“In Colombia, there are three common forms of this disease, be-ing cutaneous the most frequent. Visceral leishmaniasis is endemic and it is commonly found in the valley of Magdalena River and its tributaries. Vector L. longipalpis is also present in some other regions such as Tolima, Huila and Cundi-namarca, and vector L. evansi in Bolívar, Córdoba and Sucre,” as-serted Martha Stella Ayala Sotelo, coordinator of the Parasitology Group of the National Institute of Health (INS, for its acronym in English).

Based on the 2009 annual re-port on the behavior of the leish-maniasis in Colombia, made by the Deputy Direction of Surveil-lance and Control on Public Health of INS, up to last year, 12,232 cases were reported, from which 98, 7% were cutaneous; 0,8%, mucocu-taneous; and 0,5%, visceral. The most affected departments are Meta and Guaviare, reporting ac-cumulated incidences over 708 cases in each 100 thousand inhab-itants, followed by Caquetá, San-tander, Nariño and Putumayo.

Given the epidemic power of leishmaniasis, the seriousness of the lesions that it produces and the unavailability of vaccines or effective treatments against it, Luis Ernesto Contreras, a student of the Science–Biochemistry Master program of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, studied the para-site. From the study An approxi-mation to the metabolism of the Nicotinamide Adenine dinucle-otide (NAD+) in Leish–mania, he obtained results that could be the starting point for the development of therapeutic strategies to fight against the disease.

The advancements are con-sidered to be so promissory that, in 2010, Contreras obtained the first place in the Natural Sciences area of the National Contest of Best Thesis Work Otto de Greiff, which evaluates the most out-standing thesis in ten universities of Colombia.

The investigation

“We decided to study the ex-istence of the molecular compo-nents in charge of synthesizing the coenzyme NAD+ in the parasite, and it was very interesting because in the process we discovered ther-apeutic targets that could be even-

The study on Leishmania is performed in the Basic Research In Biochemistry Lab (Libbiq) of Universidad Nacio-nal de Colombia. Its results provide a possible generation of medicine or vaccines for treating leishmaniasis.

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tually used to fight the pathogen,” affirmed the young researcher.

The NAD+ is part of multiple events in the cell metabolism and energy production due to its prop-erties of electronic transference. Such events prove its functional versatility in the entire organism, from bacteria to humans.

“We could say that it is like an energetic coin in the cells and its synthesis is very complex. We were looking for its most important point and we found it in the para-site. Through bioinformatic strate-gies and molecular biology tools, we identified the NMNAT (Nico-tinamide Mononucleotide Adeny-lyltransferase) in the genome of the organism. Subsequently, we reproduced it in the lab using re-combining DNA, which was intro-duced in the Escherichia coli, a sys-tem that allowed us to obtain big amounts of the protein,” asserted professor María Helena Ramírez, director of the research group in Biochemistry of the Chemistry De-partment at Universidad Nacional de Colombia

“Taking into account the pro-gressive increase of the Leishma-nia’s resistance to the current con-trol measures, it is necessary to de-velop new therapeutic strategies, deeply knowing its biology. The results allowed identifying molec-ular markers, which are exclusive of the parasite and are essential to performe diagnostic tests,” added the researcher.

Knowing your enemy

This study is the first experi-mental approach to the NAD+ me-tabolism in such organism, which creates new opportunities for the development of control strategies from a biochemist and molecular perspective of the biology of the Leishmania.

Professor Ramírez explains that “knowing the metabolism of the protozoan is a reference point to compare it to that of the humans. We need to determine which the differences are between the molecule of the parasite and ours. If we could detect it, we would be able to define attack strategies.”

“We managed to identify the structural differ-ences between the proteins of humans and those of the par-asite. This result could be used to directly attack the Leishmania protein without af-fecting the carrier,” said Contreras.

The second part of the project is being devel-oped and it consists on char-acterizing the enzymes of the pro-tein. “We need to see in detail the

way it works. For doing this, we need to study the speeds in which it works and the way in which it adapts to temperature, pH and con-centration changes, for instance,” asserted Professor Ramírez.

This scientific work is a start-ing point to develop new research on Leishmania and the metabo-lism of NAD+, a valuable aspect for a tropical country such as Co-lombia, in which many cases of diseases are reported due to these parasites.

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A genetic relationship between the onset of lupus and arthritis is found

Patricia BarreraUnimedios

Three years of investigation allowed Marta Ramírez, a special-ist in genetics of rheumatology from Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia, finding a relation between the polymorphism (change of a DNA sequence in the genes) and the onset of autoimmune diseases (AD) such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and generalized lupus ery-thematosus (GLE) in Colombian population.

This is the second study per-formed in the country on the PTPN 22 gene and the first in Colombian population on the CTLA4 gene. The results obtained in the Biology Department of Universidad Na-cional de Colombia contradict the first study made in Antioquia on PTPN22, in which any relation be-tween this gene and arthritis was ruled out.

These findings are fundamen-tal, since such diseases occur due to multiple genetic and environ-mental factors; such factors that are part of people’s lives and have not been identified yet.

“We studied three genes, PT-PN22, CTLA4, and a STAT4 gene, known in the world as associated to autoimmune diseases, in two groups of patients; a healthy and a sick one. All the individuals were from the Atlantic Coast (Barran-

quilla) and the central region of Colombia (Bogotá). The samples were significantly enough (1,451 individuals). The relation that we found between the PTPN22 gen and RA and GLE was very direct. This result was independent from the seriousness of the diseases,” explains Ramírez.

The replica of this study in caucasian and costal people al-lowed determining that this poly-morphism is a risk factor for the development of these diseases.

Avoid stillness

Arthritis is a disease that af-fects the body’s joints, which are covered by a tissue called synovial. It causes swallowing, pain, and, in its final stage, it impedes mobility.

Besides, it affects more women than men (the proportion is 3 to 1); however, in patients over 60 years that develop the disease this pro-portion tends to be equal. Its initial state frequently appears in patients between 20 and 45 years old.

Systemic lupus erythematosus produces an excess of blood pro-teins, called antibodies, which can cause, for instance, rashes, adhere to blood vessels or going to the kid-neys, brain, lungs or joints.

During the onset of this dis-ease, the most common symptoms are similar to those of the flue (fever, tiredness, headaches, and

muscular and joint pain).The SLE is different from rheu-

matic arthritis in a very important aspect; it does not atrophy joints, although it can deform them some-times.

By means of a procedure of molecular biology (called Poly-merase Chain Reaction, PCR) in real time, with hybridization and hydrolysis waves, these relations were identified.

“Once the sequence of a nor-mal gene and a sick one are identi-fied, a pattern with these charac-teristics is designed using hybrid-ization waves. Then, the genetic material is introduced to observe if it matches with the pattern and then determine if it is a normal or a mutated protein,” explains the scientist.

“When these diseases are early detected, its natural course can be modified to help preventing negative effects for the organism, avoiding structural damages in the joints, pain, swallowing, and de-formation. It affects very young people,” affirms professor Antonio Iglesias, a specialist in rheumatol-ogy and immunology, who allowed professor Ramírez work with his patients in the Fracture Hospital in Barranquilla.

The outcomes of this study, which was supported by the Insti-tute of Parasitology and Biomed-icine (Spain), are very important

to take control measures: “People suffering from this polymorphism (which can be detected through specific exams for rheumatoid ar-thritis) have to pay attention to en-vironmental factors (such as sun rays) to mitigate the possibility of developing these diseases. In the same way, they have to avoid smok-ing, since these factors aggravate the disease,” explains the scientist.

“No” is also an answer

The work on the third gene, CTLA4, did not show any evidence of relation with autoimmunity. So, “we suggest that it does not play any critical role in genetic predis-position to develop RA or SLE,” affirms Martha Ramírez.

However, she mentions the need of developing a replica study with a bigger number of cases and controls to confirm that it is not a marker that indicates susceptibil-ity to these diseases in Colombian population.

“In the genetic epidemiology field, non–association results play a very important role, since they help ruling out possible genes that seem to be important for the dis-ease,” explained the scientist.

This investigation with Co-lombian population is one of the few that have been performed on this topic in Latin America.

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Rheumatic arthritis affects in the same way joints of both sides of the body. Wrists, fingers, knees and feet are the most affected.

A person with parents or siblings suf-fering from systemic lupus erythema-tosus is 10% more prone to develop the disease.

A scientific study carried out with the inhabitants of the Atlantic coast and Bogotá found an association between the changes of a DNA se-quence in two genes and the predisposition to develop arthritis and lupus. These findings allow advancing towards the early diagnosis of these diseases that affect 5% of the population in the world.

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Personalized dose could improve knee radiotherapy

A study on medical physics establishes that, the more personalized the dose of ra-dioactive liquid is when ap-plied during radiotherapy to patients suffering from knee arthritis, the more risks are minimized and the success of the procedure increases.

Carlos Andrey Patiño GuzmánUnimedios

Are there any medical physi-cists? Of course! For a long time! When you go to a hospital and lis-ten to the doctors talking about radiotherapy, radio diagnosis, ra-diology, nuclear medicine or MRIs, then you need to think about the physicists involved. Not long ago, Colombia had to “import” experts in medical physics or educate them abroad.

A small group of recently quali-fied graduates from the master pro-gram in Medical Physics from Uni-versidad Nacional de Colombia are generating solutions for the country with their investigations in this im-portant area of modern medicine.

This is the case of Luis Carlos Lagares, who studied and charac-terized the way in which the dose of radioactive liquid in knee radiosyn-ovectomy is given to patients. When the word radio is analyzed, it refers to the use of radioactive isotopes (disintegrated atoms that become new ones) with medical purposes, while synovectomy refers to the medical procedure in which the synovial membrane, a tissue that recovers small bones and makes the articulation of extremities possible, is eliminated.

“The study helped calculat-ing the amount of radiation that patients receive during the knee radiosynovectomy treatment, con-sisting in injecting radioactive ma-terial in this joint cavity, where syn-ovial membrane swallows due to some sort of disease, for instance rheumatoid arthritis,” asserted the

medical physicist.He affirms that in the majority

of patients with this type of disease, a standard amount of radioactive liquid (a therapeutic radiopharma-ceutical) is applied. However, he mentions that, “the more personal-ized the dose, the more risks can be reduced and results can be better.”

Radiopharmaceuticals are used for different medical purposes, such as diagnosing cancer cells or re-moving damaged biological tissues, which is the objective of radiosyn-ovectomy. In this case, the idea is that the injected liquid releases a type of specific radiation to elimi-nate the segment of sick cells.

But, is there any risk of affect-ing healthy cells? The scientist says no, since tumor cells, due to their condition, are more sensitive to ra-diation, while healthy cells resist better to this procedure.

The core of science

The patient that participated in Lagares’ study was treated with the radiopharmaceutical Renio 188 (188R), largely used in medicine, that in the case of the synovial mem-brane relieves the pain and stops the inflammation.

“Although this is a standard process for all patients, there is no certainty about the real amount of irradiation that the membrane or the patients need to receive in each case,” asserted Lagares.

For doing this calculation, the researcher used a simulation ap-plying the mathematical method Monte Carlo, which helps averaging data in order to obtain a reasonable

answer regarding the studied topic, using the probability theory.

The researcher also used a tool called Geant4, software that accu-rately simulates the movement of particles through matter, taking in-to account the geometry of the sys-tem to be analyzed (the knee), the materials to be used (the radioac-tive element and the living tissue), the fundamental particles (Renio 188), and the processes among the particles.

Renio is a chemical element of the periodic table. When artifi-cially modified, it can be used for medical applications, since it emits radiation of beta and gamma type, reported in the National Nuclear Data Center due to its properties. This was the starting point for the investigation made by Luis Carlos, who also used other tools of the ap-plied physics: a virtual model of the knee developed from MRI nuclear images. With all this elements, the results started to appear.

A matter of dosimetry

During his case study, Lagares found out that the average dose de-posited on the swallowed synovial membrane is 135 Gy (a unit from the International System of Units that measures the amount of the ionizing radiation absorbed by a determined material).

“This measure is the adequate for a successful treatment for this disease. In addition, it was estimat-ed that the average dose for adja-cent healthy tissue is considerably lower, except the auricular cartilage, where it is 48 Gy,” affirms the physi-

cist from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

In this sense, if the standard dose for the radiopharmaceutical does not generate any problems, what is the objective of specifying the amount for each patient? Luis Carlos affirms that the previous quantities are average for most of the people, but there are exceptions.

“Some patients can have a re-lapse; some others can cure with “non-adequate” amounts. So, it is impossible to be completely sure of the success of the current treat-ment in all cases, since it depends on each individual.”

Supported by virtual simula-tion, Lagares found that the effect of the standard dose varies depend-ing on the size of the synovial cav-ity in each person. In a big cavity the reactive liquid cannot reach the objective. As a consequence, the disease becomes resistant to the treatment, which will prevent using the technique in future therapies again.

On the other hand, if the syn-ovial cavity is too small and the same standard dose is used, then an overdose could damage the sur-rounding healthy tissues, produc-ing a necrosis or cell pathologic death.

In these cases, the implemen-tation of techniques to improve the medical procedures is vital. For this reason, Luis Carlos Lagares consid-ers that it is necessary to person-alize the radiotherapy treatments in order to prevent risks for the patients. This is a contribution to medical physics.

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Radiosynovectomy uses a dose of radioactive liquid to eliminate dama-ged tissues due to rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that incapacitates the patients if there is no treatment. X-ray of a swallowed cartilage due to arthritis.

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7Patricia Barrera Silva

Unimedios

Many sleepless nights study-ing for the final exams, and when the day comes –just when you are in front of the paper– your memory blanks out! This is not a fictional story, it is reality, and it occurs more frequently than what people be-lieve. The explanation is simple: “When information is received un-der stress, it is easily forgotten,” affirms Alejandro Múnera, director of the Behavioral Neurophysiology Research Group from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

For six years, Múnera and his colleagues have been investigating the effects of stress in the memory functioning. For doing this, the scientists have used worldwide recognized psychological experi-mentation tools, and they have developed their own models in lab rats for the analysis of acute stress.

Some of the results reveal that when tension is introduced in any of the learning process stages (mo-tivation, knowledge, comprehen-sion, application, validation), the effects on knowledge retention are adverse.

A memory is a trace each ex-perience prints in the brain, and it is expressed by behavioral changes in each individual.

Although the neuronal pro-cess has not been completely un-derstood, it is believed that the repetition of circumstances in the same place where the experienc-es took place reactivate memo-ries. The Neurophysiology Group proved this phenomenon in the following experiment.

Stressed rodents

During the first stage of the study, the rats were induced in or-der to follow instructions by using a psychological tool called Barnes maze, which is used to assess spa-tial learning and memory.

It is a 90 centimeters construc-tion in which the rodents are intro-duced. “The test involves making the surface of the maze aversive using bright illumination and loud noise levels over 90 decibels. The animal is given the opportunity to escape the maze surface by crawl-ing through the correct hole, un-der which is located a safe box,” affirms the researcher.

Two groups of rats were used for this experiment. The first group was exposed to long periods of pressure (between 1 and 4 hours) before entering the maze. “We achieved this reaction by lock-ing the rats up in plastic tubes where they could only breathe

Stress affects

memoryWhat people learn under stress conditions is quickly forgotten. A study in rats, car-ried out by behavioral neu-rophysiology researchers proves this phenomenon.

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When the training was finished (eight sessions), an albino rat like this learned how to find the hole in less than a minute.

Barns maze is famous in the world as a useful tool to assess spatial learning and memory.

and move their legs. We know they were stressed because when we measured corticosterone, a stress hormone that is produced by rats and humans, in their blood the levels were high: they went from 80 nanograms per milliliter to 250 or 300,” asserted Múnera.

Agility during learning

The Barnes maze consists of a circular table with 17 circular holes around the circumference of the table. Under each hole is a slot for a box, called the drop box. The goal of the maze is to reach the drop box, where the animal can shelter to escape from the noise and light.

At the beginning of the tests, the stressed rats took almost four minutes to find the hole with the drop box. Those that could not do it, were helped by the scientists in an action that was repeated eight times, with five minute intervals. “We called this sequence learning session,” explains the researcher.

As a result, it was detected that with each repetition the time spent by the rats to find the box and enter into it was reduced. While in the first sequence they took 240 seconds to find it, in the last one they took only 60 seconds. Besides, the number of mistakes (when they chose the wrong holes) was reduced; from 15 it dropped to 5 at the end.

According to Múnera, the ses-sion was repeated the next day with the two groups of rodents (the stressed ones and those that were in normal conditions): “We observed that the rats perfectly remembered how to find the hole to the box and they did it in less than a minute, with less than five mistakes. What is still uncertain is if they really learned where the right hole was.”

For making the test more diffi-cult, the scientist removed the box from the shelter hole. As a result, all the holes of the platform were the same. After that, they put the two groups of rodents eight times to complete the learning sequence, while they counted the number of times the rodents introduced their noses in the holes.

“We observed that the rats that had not been exposed to stress the day before insisted in introducing their nose in the hole that used to have the box. This indicates that they did not forget that the exit hole was there. On the contrary, although the stressed rats learned how to escape from the maze, when we removed the box, they tried to find the exit hole in the same way in all holes.

As a result, it was determined that the stressed animals did not clearly remember the way out, oppo-site to the control group, which did it quickly,” asserted the researcher.

Remembering

Once the rodents learned to acknowledge the space (the maze), they were exposed to acute stress for 24 hours after the training in order to determine their capac-ity to remember. “We observed that memory extinction is faster in stressed animals that in controlled ones, which shows how stress par-tially interferes in memory evoca-tion. Besides, stress makes mem-ory more susceptible to change,” added Múnera.

Although tension can generate damages to systems and organs such as the brain, there is some-thing positive from this analysis: according to the neurophysiolo-gist, stress is a fundamental tool to modify previous experiences and quickly learn new ones. “It makes knowledge acquisition difficult and makes it volatile, but it also offers the possibility of easily ac-quiring new information,” affirms the researcher.

When making the analogy to human behavior, these results are important, since they will help un-derstanding how some individuals have a better capacity to adapt to new environments. Some future studies may reveal this.

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Fanny Lucía Pedraza ValenciaUnimedios

Parkinson has been cataloged as the second most frequent neuro-degenerative disease in Colombia. It alters the control of muscular movements and its normal symp-toms are shaking in the hands, arms and legs, as well as equilib-rium and coordination problems. It affects men and women in their 60's; however, there have been cases of 40 year old patients.

According to the statistics, in the country, for each 100 thou-sand inhabitants, 270 can suffer from this disease, very common in white people.

Since the 60's, the clinical treatment has been the admin-istration of medicine to control shaking and lack of coordination; however, this medicine does not stop the development of the dis-ease. Likewise, some patients un-dergo surgery to improve involun-tary movements and rigidity from the opposite side of the lesion with very good results; however, these procedures do not alter the pro-gressive course of the disease.

Considering the need to find an optimal clinical procedure and reducing the mortality rates due to this disease, researchers from the Control and Digital Processing of Signals group of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Maniza-les, developed a software that al-lows specifying brain surgery and obtaining good results through mathematical algorithms.

A tool for surgeries

“Parkinson has been tradi-tionally seen as an incurable dis-ease; however, some medical stud-ies have proved that there is a zone in the brain known as subthalamic nucleus, that can be cauterized to eliminate the symptoms,” explains Luis David Avendaño Valencia, a magister in Industrial Automation and a student from the Doctorate in Automatic Engineering–Line of Universidad Nacional de Colom-bia in Manizales.

Based on this study, stereot-actic surgery was designed, which consists on performing a small per-foration –the size of a coin– in an area of the cranium to introduce a catheter with electrodes on its ex-treme. The catheter is introduced until it reaches the subthalamic nucleus, where the cauterization of the tissue is made.

The contribution of the re-search group of Universidad Na-cional de Colombia has been de-signing a methodology to recog-nize patterns that can be used as support for the neurosurgeon to immediately locate the subtha-lamic nucleus during surgery.

“The measured signals on the extreme of the catheter are charac-terized and classified using meth-odologies for the processing of variable signals in time. This way, we have been able to accurately locate the area in which the ex-treme of the catheter is,” affirmed Avendaño Valencia.

According to the neurosur-geon Hans Carmona Villada, “in this case, the software automati-cally finds clinical changes dur-ing the surgery and informs the moment in which we enter in the duct, its conditions and position compared to a tridimensional space.”

The constant monitoring of the patient indicates how advanced Parkinson disease is and the effective-ness that surgery can have.

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Software

Scientific cooperation

Apart from the experts of Uni-versidad Nacional de Colombia, professionals from Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira (UTC) and the Neurocenter for Epilepsy and Parkinson of the Eje Cafetero also participated in the development of the software and the analysis of the disease from different perspec-tives.

“It is a biomedicine work (a medical research complemented by several disciplines) with great impact in our community, in which there are close to six thousand reg-istered cases of people who suffer from this disease. The computing and production techniques of this software will facilitate the diagno-sis processes and will improve ac-curacy and security in the surgical procedures,” explained Carmona Villada, also a specialist in Stereot-actic and Functional Neurosurgery (a manipulation technique that al-

lows finding the biopsy place by means of an external analysis of coordinates).

For Luis David Avendaño, “this engineering development obtained by Universidad Nacio-nal de Colombia and Tecnólogica de Pereira, directly benefits the Neurocenter. This institution pro-vides the electroencephalographic records we use to train and vali-date our algorithms, and it also gives advice on topics related to the medical part of the project.”

Due to this institutional coop-eration, the design and construc-tion of very sophisticated equip-ment, similar to that used by devel-oped countries, has been possible. The cost of this equipment is 500 million, while Colombian ones do not exceed 35 million. Therefore, the cost reduction is close to 70%.

The software for brain signal recognition has given promising results during the tests. “Apart from defining the location of the subtha-

lamic nucleus, it can be used to ex-plore new areas of investigation to improve the algorithms. Once the testing is finished, the validation with gold standard (golden rule in medicine) will be carried out to procede with the construction of prototypes that will be given to the Neurocenter,” asserted the doctor-ate student from Universidad Na-cional de Colombia in Manizales.

Parallel investigations

Another research topic in which the Control and Digital Pro-cessing of Signals group works is the localization of epileptic focus-es. What they want now is to elimi-nate the brain tissue that origi-nates the crisis of epilepsy attacks.

“These practices in medicine foster new treatments for patients and benefit the poorest economic sectors, since a treatment can be obtained at a low cost,” concluded the electronic engineer.

Science and technology

A new mathematical algorithm that de-tects brain signals will make surgery more reliable for patients with neurodegener-ative diseases such as Parkinson.

will reduce risks in Parkinson surgery

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Molecule to treat tuberculosis is modified

This disease that causes annually more than 2 million deaths worldwide could be attacked more effectively with a new molecule modified in Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Alejandro Borráez,Unimedios

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a microorgan-ism called Mycobacterium, which causes two million deaths each year, according to the world Health Organization.

In Colombia, transmission rate is close to 25 cases in each 100 thousand inhabitants, according to the report Surveillance of the resis-tant of Mycobacterium to medicine, made by the Health National Insti-tute (INS, for its acronym in Span-ish) in 2006.

However, there is a high sub-rate, and the real amount could be of 53 cases in each 100 inhabit-ants, asserted Carlos Yesid Soto, Director of the Group of Molecular Biochemistry and Biology of Mi-crobacteria, of the Chemistry De-partment at Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

The increase of this disease, associated with AIDS and other diseases that affect the immune system, made this group of re-searchers focus on the possible creation of more efficient antitu-bercular drugs, better than those sold in the market and with less

risk for patients’ health. An important progress was

made with the structural modifi-cation of some molecules similar to those of proteins, but smaller, called peptides, which are pres-ent in the first line of defense of the immune system against infec-tions, since an indiscriminate at-tack could even affect good cells in the organisms.

“Through bioinformatics, a tool that allows analyzing biologi-cal data by means of virtual pro-grams, we could chemically modify those molecules to attack specifi-cally and effectively tuberculosis bacteria” asserted Luz Mary Sala-zar, researcher from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Partial results have been suc-cessful, and according to Soto, this is an important element for the creation of new drugs against My-cobacterium.

Usually, this infection is treat-ed with first line antitubercular antibiotics such as Isoniazid, Ri-fampicin, and Ethanbutol. If they do not work due to the different stages of this disease or bacterial resistance, second line drugs such as Capreomycin, Biomicin and ka-namycin are used. The problem is

that their results are not very effec-tive and could generate adverse ef-fects in the organism, mainly liver complications.

Antitubercular peptides

Peptides are organized chains of amino acids (organic com-pounds that combine to form proteins). “We have identified key amino acids for them to recognize the bacillus, and what we do is combining their order for them to act only on the objective”, asserted the researcher that has been de-veloping this study, along with his group, for four years.

When modifying their struc-ture and shape, molecules are ca-pable of braking cell walls of in-fections bacteria. Salazar explains, as an example, the effectiveness of this experiment: “if a concen-tration of native molecules kills a thousand bacteria, ours, with less quality, kills a million, which allows reducing secondary effects and boost drugs that already exist.”

After analyzing 12 structurally modified molecules, which were synthesized and characterized,

and finally tested, “we obtained a promising outcome in the antimi-crobial performance, as well as in the oxidation levels that were low (1.2%), and in the concentrations (50 micrograms per milliliter). This also implies the reduction of col-lateral damages occasioned by an-titubercular drugs (mainly hepatic and kidney drugs) and the time of the treatment that sometimes leads to bacterial resistance,” men-tioned Carlos Yesid Soto, director of the research group.

Although this molecule is not ready to be used in patients yet (since it has to go through more tests), it opens the possibilities to new studies that could go further in the consolidation of a peptide that helps improving drugs cur-rently used.

The Group of Molecular Bio-chemistry and Biology of Mi-crobacteria expects that this in-vestigation can be useful to create exclusive biopharmaceuticals and improve patients’ conditions, as well as reducing costs for hospitals and secondary effects. Likewise, they expect this study contributes to mitigate the health problem that tuberculosis represents in the world.

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A nutritive hamburger made out of banana

Researchers from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medel-lin, supported by Zenú Industries, developed a low fat hamburger based on banana fiber. The interest for innovating in the meat sector helped them develop a sausage made from cherry extract, which has a significant antioxidant value that can be beneficial for the immune system.

The hamburger with banana fiber helps improving digestion since it

cleans the digestive system in both, the

large and small intestine.

David CalleUnimedios

In the country, per capita con-sumption of frozen meat is estimat-ed in approximately three kilos per year and, according to the experts, these products are always in the ba-sic consumption products of each Colombian household, due to their low price and easiness to cook.

For evaluating new materials to be used as raw materials, the Food Science and Technology Re-search Group (Gicta, for its acro-nym in Spanish) of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Food Industry Zenu, found in banana fiber and cherry extract properties that make them a good option to be implemented in the elaboration of meat derivates.

These are two successful proj-ects, a result of the joining between University and Enterprise, made in real scale during two months in the pilot plant of Zenu, and from which promising results were obtained in the sensorial tests, among other analysis, that will be subject to marketing tests to evaluate the impact in the consumers.

Ac c o rd i n g to Diego Re-strepo, director of Gicta, this ba-nana fiber –from non–expor ted banana– was provided by the company Cor-banacol: “it was changed to suit the formula, and then it was directly included as an ingredient in the hamburger.”

“This product contains around 20% of fat. We replaced 10% of such substance with hydrated ba-nana fiber, without affecting the texture or the flavor of the ham-burger,” explained Silvia Ospina, a student of the Master in Food Sci-ence and Technology, and leader of the study of Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

The sausage

The second study made by both institutions determined that cherry extract can be added to Frankfurt sausages without any problem. In vitro studies proved that it has an antioxidant capacity and it can be beneficial for people’s health. Besides, it stops one of the biggest problems related to the quality of the sausages: lipid or fat oxidation, which produces rancid-

ity, unpleasant smells and tastes, and color changes.

In addition, Yeni Isaza, a stu-dent of the Master, explained that “industrially, synthetic antioxi-dants such as sodium ascorbate (a salt with a metal associated to sodium) are used, and, according to the analysis, they can generate negative effects in people with ar-terial hypertension. The idea was to find a natural and accessible alternative for companies – for in-stance, the extract, which is com-mercially sold– to include and ob-tain the benefits.”

Oscar Alberto Ochoa Gon-zalez, director of Research and Meat Business Development of the National Group of Chocolate, highlighted the importance of the union between the University and the industry to obtain important results, not only by generating an innovative product, but also by generating knowledge.

“Eight participants of Zenu’s research group, trained to detect flavors, aromas, colors, among oth-

ers, tried all the different formu-las developed with the cherry extract and the banana fiber in the pilot plant. None of the sub-stances altered the characteris-tics of the prod-ucts,” asserted the researcher.

The experi-ment was vali-dated in the lab

and now, it is going to be evaluated from the perspective of the con-sumer.

Tomato and beans

The Food Science and Tech-nology Research Group has led the studies related to meat derivates in the country, especially in lycopene inclusion, an antioxidant obtained from tomato.

Another innovative project is related to beans. The researcher uses 10 tons of the pod of this leguminous tree – around 20,000 Libras- that are disposed daily in the biggest Plaza in Medellin. After a rigorous process, they extract the hydrated fiber to replace 50% of the total amount of fat of the ham-burger. Professor Diego Restrepo affirms that with this project, op-timal sensorial characteristics of the product and its consistence during the preparation have been achieved.

In Zenu’s plant, more than 2,500 hamburgers were pre-pared, and in the labs of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, microbiological and physiological studies were made on the products.

Innovación

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11

Replacement for the harmful wood burning stove

Cooking with wood and coal, a very common practice in rural zones, is as harmful as smoking cigarettes, since it also produces lung can-cer. For this reason, the Gemma group from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin and the Institution for the Planning and Promotion of Energetic Solutions for Non-Interconnected Zones (IPSE, for its acronym in Spanish) designed efficient stoves that are being successfully used in the Colombian Caribbean coast.

David CalleUnimedios

Nelly Suárez, a wayúu artisan, was told by her doctor not to use this cooking method, since it is seriously affecting her vision: “at night, I feel a terrible burning in my eyes, but I need to cook with wood, because I don’t have enough money to buy gas,” she said.

In Nazareth, a small town of the municipality of Uribia (Gua-jira), where the artisan lives, there is no alternative, since “progress has not arrived here yet,” asserted the woman.

Her case could be cataloged as “moderate”, since only her eyes have been affected; however, it is well known that these wood burn-ing stoves produce uncontrollable amounts of smoke and are re-sponsible for the increase of the frequency of respiratory diseases, even to chronic stages.

A study performed by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 90% of the rural houses in the world use natural coal, dung, wood or agricultural residues such as corn cane, among others, to cook.

“These solid combustibles are burned in stoves with inefficient combustion and poor ventila-tion systems. In such conditions, their use generates the emission of harmful substances for human health (for instance, particles that can be breathed and carbon mon-oxide) in concentrations higher than the international permitted standards,” mentioned the report made by the WHO.

Fernando De La Hoz, a pro-fessor of the Faculty of Medicine of Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia in Bogotá and coordinator of the Interfaculties Doctorate in Public Health, explained that the fumes from wood are similar to those of the cigarette, and they are associated to the increase of lung cancer cases: “People start smoking from the age of 12, while many are exposed to wood fumes since they are born,” mentions the professor.

For the Doctor, the use of wood burning stoves is more le-thal, since it produces many re-spiratory diseases such as asthma in children and adults, and even chronic bronchitis.

According to De La Hoz, 20% of the families in the country cook with wood. From this number, 70% correspond to rural inhabit-ants and 10% to people who live in extreme poverty in big cities and don’t have the possibility of using an electric or gas stove.

An efficient stove

Leris Zúñiga, a police inspec-tor from Isla Fuerte (a small town in Cartagena, located in the south of the gulf of Morrosquillo), ex-plained that cooking with wood was a very common practice among natives; however, with the passing of time and the support of the department of Bolivar, today, the big majority of inhabitants cook using gas stoves. However, “there are two or three sectors that still use the old system. The idea is to eradicate this practice, not only due to the health prob-lems it causes (the ophthalmology brigades have determined that people in general are suffering

Recommendations

• Alfredo Saavedra, a pul-monology professor from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, explained that “the bigger the continu-ous exposition to fumes in enclosed places, the more health complications will occur.”

• The doctor recommended those who cook with wood to do it in big and open spaces. “A typical situation among our peasants is to have the dining table in the kitchen. The idea is separat-ing both places. Likewise, chimneys are important to eliminate the contamination in the household,” men-tioned the expert.

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from Terigi), but also because the inhabitants use mangrove swamp as combustible, a situation that affects biodiversity and erode the beach,” explains the police in-spector.

In fact, the Research Group in Georesources, Mining and En-vironment (Gemma, for its acro-nym in Spanish), of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Mede- llin, associated with the Institution for the Planning and Promotion of Energetic Solutions of Non–In-terconnected Zones (IPSE), built the first prototype of the efficient stove in Isla Fuerte as part of the Bioclimatic Houses project.

This initiative contemplates the elaboration of three houses in non–interconected zones such as Isla Fuerte, Nazareth and Titu-mate, in Chocó. As a result, the use of wood to cook is reduced and the accumulation of dangerous fumes in the houses is prevented.

Oswaldo Serna, a researcher of Gemma group, explained: “We used designs implemented in oth-er parts of the world. The stove is composed by a 70 centimeters structure with three hotplates (ten centimeters each) on top and a box bellow to storage the wood.

“What we propose is using

typical materials from the zones: mud, stones and straw. It is an economical stove, since it costs between 60 and 90 thousand Co-lombian pesos,” asserted Juan Di-ego García, an architect from Uni-versidad Nacional de Colombia.

The project comes with in-structions that include eight dif-ferent designs, and they will be given to the inhabitants of the region for them to build the stoves based on their needs.

This is not the only case in the country, since several region-al autonomous corporations and NGO's, for instance Colombia Sin Hambre, are carrying out pro-grams for the construction of ef-ficient stoves.

The most successful case is the program Vegetable Gardens and Clean Woodfired Stoves Eco-nomically and Environmentally Sustainable of Cornare, in the department of Antioquia, which started with this project since 1993, and by 2007 it had already helped 13 thousand families in 26 municipalities, part of Cornare’s jurisdiction.

“The impact has been the 60% reduction of the use of wood. This means less extractive pressure on the native forests and the decrease

of emissions to the atmosphere. Likewise, the conditions in the households are better, since hav-ing a chimney avoids the accumu-lation of toxic gases,” explained Alberto Lopera, coordinator of the Vegetable Gardens program.

20% Colombian families cook using wood coal.

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Energy will be produced out of volcanic soil

Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Ingeominas, Isagen and Colciencias have developed a 20 month project; the most ambitions in terms of geothermic energy carried out so far. This natural resource, with low environmental impact, is obtained from the internal heat of the Earth. The first sources were already identified at Nevado del Ruiz Volcano.

Catalina Ávila Reyes,Unimedios

Heat existing in the nucleus of the Earth is transferred to the surface as a particular type of en-ergy called geothermic, which is mainly expressed in zones near volcanoes. There, incandescent rocks increase the temperature of rainwater and filter it into the subsoil; a situation that generates this energy. This process, known as hydrothermal system, is also used for medicinal baths, tourism and agriculture.

For generating electricity, the temperatures of steam, hydro-thermal water or rocks must be higher than 150°C. Heat extrac-tion is made through the drill-ing of wells to reach the deepest rocks called reservoirs. Water and steam are extracted by using tubes that take them to a turbine that moves an electric generator. The excess of material is re-injected again into the reservoir in a cy-clical and natural way. Then, the

energy produced is sent to the na-tional electricity network to fulfill the energetic demand.

Due to its geological charac-teristics and the presence of 13 active volcanoes, Colombia has a big potential to obtain geothermic energy. Sources of thermal water surrounding these areas are a tes-timony of this idea.

Nevado del Ruiz, “a sleeping lion”

In the middle of deep narrow valleys and high peaks, surround-ed by unique species in the world such as the parrot of the peaks and the moorland hummingbird is located Nevado del Ruiz, the biggest volcano in the Cordillera Central mountain ranges, and one of the most active volcanoes in the planet.

With its 5,321 meters high and a location that covers the depart-ments of Caldas and Tolima, the volcano is characterized by its pe-riodic explosive eruptions, and its

multiple layers of hardened lava (pyroclastic material) and volcanic ashes. Within the volcano, there are three craters, and its top is covered by a volume of 1,200 and 1,500 million cubic meters of ice.

The important thermal sourc-es and fumaroles of its surround-ings represent the possibility of obtaining geothermic energy, something that Colombian and foreign scientists have been look-ing for since the 60s.

However, up to now, no proj-ect had been able to confirm the existence of a hydrothermal sys-tem, a necessary element to ob-tain this resource. For this rea-son, Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia, Ingeominas, Isagen, and Colciencias, have been exploring the volcano’s surroundings for 20 months, as part of the most ambi-tious project of geothermic energy developed in the country to use this natural resource.

For generating such energy four steps are necessary: first, a source of heat; second, a fluid like

water to transport it; third, a per-meable rock through which the fluid can circulate, and, finally, a seal layer (impermeable rock) to retain the water. These elements were analyzed from geology, geo-physics, and geochemistry in the volcanic area of Cordillera Central on the border between Caldas and Tolima.

“The information obtained in the technical and scientific studies allows considering the existence of two hydrothermal systems. The first comes from a source of heat located under Nevado del Ruiz’s main crater, and the other located on the southwest,” asserted Carlos Zuluaga, Professor of the Depart-ment of Geosciences at Universi-dad Nacional de Colombia.

Costs and risks

This is a long term, expen-sive and risky project. The devel-opment of the phases that will determine the possibility of gen-erating energy will take five years.

Nevado del Ruiz is projected as an energy generator in Colombia

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13The costs of the study, until the exploration phase, could go over 30 million dollars, without having the certainty of the existence of this resource. However, the poten-tial of this volcano is high, but it is just until the model is finished that it will be possible to know if the source to produce energy exists.

“The entire world is looking for non conventional renewable sources of energy that protect the environment. This type of energy is constant, and presents bigger advantages in comparison to other sources of energy that deplete. Be-sides, since this is a resource of the subsoil, Colombian State must carry out its exploration by stages, in order to reduce economic risks involved in the project (which are high). However, when recovering the initial investment, cost will be substantially reduced, since only the operational and maintenance cost will be needed, compensat-ing the costs generated,” asserted Claudia Alfaro, chief of the explo-ration of Geothermal Resources project of Ingeominas.

With this project, a model of the magmatic hydrothermal sys-tem will be created: “We will es-tablish the current composition of the volcano, as well as its fluid distribution and system’s compo-nents (such as magma), presence of permeable rocks and seal layer,” explained Professor Zuluaga, main researcher.

Luis Alberto Posada, director of Project Development in Isagen S.A., explains: with this method, we are going to identify the loca-tion and distribution of the sources of heat, as well as their deepness, and the temperature they generate accurately. With this information, we will determine if the necessary characteristics exist for geother-mal exploration.

The exploration phase will start in 2012 by drilling five wells at depths of up to 2 to 3 km (each with an estimate cost of 5 mil-lion dollars). If the presence of this resource is proved, the well for production and reinjection of water will be drilled by the end of 2013. The next step will be the con-struction of a plant for the genera-tion of eclectic energy, operated by Isagen.

During each stage, risks are reduced. For Javier Alonso Men-dez, Isagen’s official, it is necessary to invest and develop all the tech-nology, knowledge and experience that is needed, since there are no means to know if Colombia can count on this energy source, whose characteristics and amounts are still unknown.

Resource with more than 100 years

The capacity for electricity generation in Colombia is close to 14,000 megawatts (MW) per year. Since the country counts on enough water resources, 70% of the energy is produced by hy-droelectric sources; however, this does not guarantee the absence of restrictions in the service supply; a situation that occurred in the 90s, when this supply was restricted due to the lack of water in the reservoirs. The rest of the energy comes from thermal energy, pro-duced by gas, coal and other fuels.

Due to this dependence, Isa-gen and other companies promote the development of non conven-tional sources of energy, such as the geothermal production, char-acterized for being one of the

cleanest sources of energy, since it does not emit polluting gases to the air, or generate solid waste or liquids that are thrown into the water. This reduces the climate change effects and gas emissions.

The use of geothermal energy, which started almost a century ago, has increased considerably in coutries such as Philipines, United states, Italy, New Zeland, Iceland, Costa Rica, El slavador, Guatemala and Russia. In these Nations, the average generation of energy is of 8,000 MW, which solves an im-portant proportion of the energy demand.

“In 2005, close to 24 countries produced electric energy out of geothermal sources, and 78 were generating it for indirect uses such as heating, refrigeration, health care centers, fish farming, and industry,” asserted the Professor from Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia.

In Colombia, other potential zones for the production of geother-mal energy have been identified, such as Azufral volcano in the coun-try’s south; the northeast region of Boyaca (Paipa and surrounding ar-eas), and Nevado de Santa Isabel volcano, also located in Cordillera Central mountain ranges.

However, due to the develop-ment of all phases and subsequent drillings, this project will confirm if Colombia will count on a differ-ent source of energy that not only benefits the environment, but also has the capacity of constantly pro-duce clean and high quality ener-gy without depending on climatic factors or fossil fuels. This resource will increase the electricity scope

The temperature of the soil is higher at great depths. This geothermal energy project aims at taking advantage of this natural resource in order to produce clean and high quality electricity as complement to other sources of energy. Geothermal power stations can generate from 100 KW to 1,000 MW, depending on the demand and available energy. According to the station’s capacity, it has rural uses for electricity production, as well as national miniconextions and interconnections.

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With public, private, national and international capital. The goal for 2018 is to increase the generation capacity in 3,000 MW, in order to strengthen the national coverage. Exportations to Central America are projected.

Environment

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David CalleUnimedios

When you hear about optical pliers, don’t imagine an instrument to pluck your eyebrows or some-thing similar. According to science, it is a device that uses a beam of light to capture molecules, and its contribution to nanotechnology and molecular biology is huge.

With this tool, cells, bacteria, virus, macromolecules, DNA in-dividual molecules, and biologi-cal material can be manipulated, according to Professor Román Castañeda, director of the Opti-cal Group OF Universidad Nacio-nal de Colombia in Medellin that built a prototype with their own technology.

This proposal consists of an inverted microscope with addi-tional optical components, such as lens and mirrors, which create images to concentrate the proper light to capture the particle to be studied. This process can be observed through a camera that shows the images in a computer screen.

The students María Isabel Ál-varez Castaño and Nelson Alonso Correa, from the Master in Sci-ence–physics of Universidad Na-cional de Colombia, participated in the development of this tool, as well as Jean Pierre Galaup, from University of Paris–Sud 11 (France).

“This prototype, conceived from standard optical compo-nents, was successfully tested dur-ing the capturing of polystyrene microspheres,” explained María Isabel Álvarez.

Multiple uses

"The optical pliers are used during in vitro fertilization (fecun-dation based on the union of an ovule and sperm in the lab), in animals and humans to manip-ulate DNA molecules and intro-duce genes in specific areas, and in biotechnology and genetic en-gineering applications that involve controlled spatial displacement of cells, bacteria, or virus,” asserted the researcher.

Its applications go far beyond: in cooperation with the Photonic and Optoelectronics Group of Uni-versidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin, the researchers are studying the behavior of fluids con-tained in nanostructures (dimen-sion of one thousand millionth of a millimeter) in optical fibers, when the microparticles captured by the pliers get closer.

According to Nelson Correa, one of the main advantages of this optical tool is that it allows characterizing physics and chemi-cal properties from different or-ganisms and cells without alter-ing them; for instance, checking the elasticity of cell membranes without damaging them. “In the case of human cells, determining such properties help establishing, in detail, a person’s health state,” asserted Correa.

This instrument for scientific research is very innovative, since those that are currently used are imported. “We are the pioneers in developing optical pliers with our own technology, which not only increases our scientific and tech-

nological knowledge, but also sub-stantially reduces the cost of the studies that use them. Our device costs less than 50 thousand dol-lars and the commercial ones al-ways cost more than that,” affirms Román Castañeda.

He also stresses the capac-ity of this methodology to sepa-rate components from complex systems. According to the scien-tists, “with other technologies it is necessary to work with groups of crystals, molecules or cells, for instance, while optical pliers allow isolating the elements of interest of those groups.” He also men-tioned that the tool developed at Universidad Nacional de Colom-bia does not use or produce any toxic material and it does not rep-resent a risk for the users and the environment.

Innovation in the world

"This technology has been widely used and distributed in the U.S. and Europe. It is scarce in Latin America, and it has not been introduced in Colombia; situation that has restricted the access of the region and the country to studies in which the pliers are essential;" mentioned Carlos Saavedra, direc-tor of the Optical and Photonics Center of University of Concepcion (Chile).

He also mentioned that Bra-zil is the country of the region with the biggest development on this issue. There, several research groups have used this technique and have generated very impor-tant contributions in terms of ab-solute calibration and cross eyed

microscopy.Regarding his research group

in Concepcion, he explained: “We contributed with the use of fast cameras for the characterization of the traps (when the object of study is trapped as the beam of light is concentrated in a specific point) and the low resolution videos gen-erated have been used to obtain high resolution images. For doing this, we have established agree-ments with the Optical Research Center of Universidad Nacional de la Plata (Argentina) and Universi-dad Nacional de Colombia in Me-dellin. We have started new experi-ments in both places.”

A new goal

The Optical Group of Univer-sidad Nacional in Medellin is aim-ing at providing this new develop-ment to the scientific community: an efficient device for the ma-nipulation of mesoscopic objects (submicron scale), used in many disciplines.

For doing this, they want to perfect something called holo-graphic optical pliers to obtain several luminous points simulta-neously and move them at random without using mechanical instru-ments. “We are going to develop this system so that we can manipu-late the pliers with a computer,” asserted Nelson Correa.

This experiment will be per-formed with a modern inverted microscope that was acquired by the Optical Lab, supported by the Research Direction of the Campus in Medellin (DIME, for its acronym in Spanish).

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A device that concentrates laser rays to capture microscopic organ-isms is being developed in a Colombian lab. Although its size is small, it is an important optical tool that allows manipulating cells, bacteria, and even virus, perfect for the research needs of the country.

Optical pliers to study microworlds

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New packaging prolongs life of gulupa

Luis Miguel Palacio,Unimedios

Tropical fruits grow in mild and hot weather and, apart from their typical color and pleasant smell; they have high concentrations of vitamins and important compo-nents for human organisms, such as carotenes and antioxidants.

After being cultivated in coun-tries such as Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia, the fruits are sent to collection centers in different cit-ies, where they are cleaned, select-ed and packed to be distributed in different parts of the national territory and maritime ports for its export to Europe and the U.S.

Gulupa, Passiflora edulis, which has an acid pulp similar in taste and shape to passion fruit, but with a more resistant and smooth skin, has become the favorite prod-uct of important export companies such as Ocati, Colombian Exotic fruits and Vegetables, which annu-ally export 80 tons of this fruit, according to Sergio Lloreda, repre-sentative of the company.

Based on data from DANE and DIAN, Proexport Colombia indi-cates that in 2007 the exports of gulupa reached a value close to 2 million dollars, and in 2008 a num-ber close to 5,5 million dollars. In 2009, they reached 6,5 million dollars; an amount that made this fruit the second most exported in the country, after physalis, accord-ing to the study El mercadeo de frutas exóticas, made by professor Claudia Álvarez from Universidad de la Salle.

When buying, national and international consumers demand a product that keeps its organo-leptic characteristics, such as good smell and hydration intact, which greatly depends on the technology used to pack it and transport it.

Too ripped

Chemist César Sierra, director of the Macromolecules Research Group of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, mentions that the main problem with this species during commercialization is its fast ripen-ing process. For this reason, close to 20% of the fruit that reaches dis-tribution centers in the old conti-nent suffers from bad appearance and phytosanitary problems.

“Traditional packing pro-motes this difficulty, since it causes the ripening of the product and produces water condensation, a source of fungi,” asserted Sierra.

Most of the Colombian trad-ers use expensive imported pack-aging for transporting the fruits out of the country. According to recent studies of the Chemistry and Biology Department of Uni-versidad Nacional de Colombia, these packages do not solve the problem –such as fungi–, that oc-curs during the export journey, which produces rejection of the global market.

It is estimated that the time spent by fruits to reach the shelves of minimarkets in Europe from crops is about 35 days.

From the last decade, and in export terms, the Ministry of Ag-riculture has denominated some tropical fruits as important parts for the national economy; drag-on fruit arazá and gulupa, among others. Likewise, it has identified weaknesses in the production chain, especially in transportation packages and some phytosanitary problems. For this reason, recent-ly it is giving some incentives to

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Close to 20% of the gulupas that reach distribution centers in Europe suffer from bad appearance and phytos-anitary problems. This package created at Universidad Nacional de Colombia increases the life of the fruit.

Gulupa (Passiflora edulis)

Innovation

Gulupa, or purple passion fruit, as it is known in the world, will have a longer life period. After identify-ing the problems gulupas have during their ripen-ing process in the postharvest, chemists designed a package to preserve them for almost 50 days.

support research studies, such as this one, conducted by Universi-dad Nacional de Colombia, which aims at finding solutions to such problems.

For improving postharvest management for export, the Mac-romolecules Research Group, which has a lot of experience with plastic materials, develops a pack-age with anti–ripening and anti–fogging effect, with the purpose of helping the fruit to avoid the culture medium that produces mi-croorganisms.

Polymeric package

It is basically a plastic wrap-ping (polyolefin). For obtaining the product, the scientists Sugey Martínez and Alejandro Gutier-rez tried around 50 different formulas, con-sidering the type of poly-mer, varia-

tion in its thickness and propor-tion, as well as chemical nature of some additives. When applied to the plastic, these additives are the agents in charge of providing the “bag” with anti–ripening and ant–fogging properties in order to protect not only the life, but also the quality of the fruit, which aver-age weight is 60 grams.

For obtaining the final prod-uct, which is similar to a super-market bag, it was necessary to use very precise mixing methods in a machine called “extrusora”, which was in charge of combining the polyolefin with relatively low amounts of the additive.

The result was a thin and al-most transparent layer –currently in national patent process–, which

is easily changed into an effective pack-

age to ensure the best postharvest

process of this tropical fruit.

With this new package, gu-lupa remains fresh for 50 days, after being collected. This means that the fruit resists, without any inconvenient, the 35 day journey to Europe, with 15 more additional days of life in the shelves of sellers, preserving an excellent external and internal appearance, without losing weight due to dehydration.

The trials to test the effec-tiveness of the product designed at Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia were comparatively per-formed measuring the behavior of the fruits in commercial packages, fruits without packing, and finally in the new prototype of the Chem-istry Department.

During one month and a half (in multiple trials of the same type per-formed alongside), variables such as weight loss, ripening rates, and texture were monitored. Likewise, a trained group of tasters monitored their smell, color and taste.

The analysis proved that the period of life of some gulupas with-out packing is between eight and ten days, those packed in com-mercial bags last around 30 days, while those protected by the new bag remain fresh for 50 days.

According to researcher César Sierra, the knowledge obtained in this study, carried out for two years, allows inferring similar techniques for making packages that could be applied to other tropical fruits, some even more delicate fruits, such as physalis.

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Satellite technology would improve fishing in the Pacific

In 2009, fish production in the Pa-cific Region fell 66.3%, according to the International Colombian Corporation (CCI, for its acronym in Spanish). By means of satellite technology, researchers from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Palmira identified promising areas for fishing that will improve the life conditions of the inhabit-ants of that region, which depend on this sector as a living.

Jeinst Campo RiveraUnimedios

Artisanal and industrial fish-ing in Buenaventura port, the main producer of this sector in Colom-bia, unloaded 36,685,79 tons of this product in 2009, indicating a decrease of 41,70 % in comparison to 2008, which was 62,922,28.

In the Caribbean, the situa-tion is similar if it is considered that during 2009 the amount of unloaded fish in the information points of CCI was 8,321 tons, while last year’s was 9,601. This situation proves a critical de-crease in the production in the entire country.

In this context, more that 3,000 fishermen of the Pacific that live from what their fishnets provide to feed their families are affected.

“In less than a year, the float of 720 ships of the region has been reduced to 80 fishing boats. This has produced high unemployment rates, and the main problem is that the government does not sup-port the sector,” asserted Manuel Bedoya, president of the National Association of Artisanal Fisher-men of Buenaventura (Anpar, for its acronym in Spanish).

Thus, uploads of industrial fish were of 31,880,12 tons, equivalent to 86,90% of the total production in the Pacific. The decrease was 44,01% compared to that of 2009, a situation that, according to the International Colombian Corpora-tion (CCI), might be a consequence of the cease of shoal fishing (small banks of fish) in August, 2009; the 33,5% decrease of tuna unloads; and the banning of the shrimp of surface water in September of the same year.

Technology reduces costs and efforts

Aiming at improving the con-ditions of fishermen from this coast region of Colombia, researchers from the Hydrobiological Resourc-es Group of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Palmira identified and evaluated productive areas to fish pelagic fish (an organism that lives in water columns), by means

Temperature fronts and its validation with the localization of the fish-ing float.

Analysis of the information obtained with the fishermen of the Pacific.

Fishing of golden fish during the expedition on board of the fishing boat Doña Rosario.

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of technologies of satellite ocean-ography that reduce the time spent in finding the fish.

This project has been carried out for two years and a half, sup-ported by the Ministry of Agri-culture and Rural Development, the Research Vice Presidency of Universidad Nacional de Colom-bia in Bogotá, and the Institute for Marine and Costal Research (Invemar, for its acronym in Span-ish), among other institutions in the country.

“Through digital oceanogra-phy, we collected satellite images of the chlorophyll and surface tem-perature of the sea, and we identi-

fied patterns such as temperature fronts, that is to say, places that can be very productive, since they have a big amount of organisms that attract big predators such as golden tuna, etc.,” asserted profes-sor Angela Inés Guzmán, director of the research group of Universi-dad Nacional de Colombia.

For validating these produc-tive areas, the study used histori-cal information regarding the fish abundance, given by industrial fishermen of the region, who could not only save time, but also save oil, since their costs exceed COP 35 million during a fish trip, which lasts around one month.

“In the Pacific Region, this is the first time that we talk about a technology used to find fishing areas, which significantly reduces the efforts that have limited the sector for many years,” affirms Wilberto Angulo, staff member of Invemar.

During the project, on the fishing boat Doña Rosario, pro-duction areas were also validated in November, 2009.

Researchers identified differ-ent fishing zones that had not been identified before by the industrial fisherman of the region, and they also performed an evaluation to determine the time the tempera-ture fronts remain in the ocean, since they can quickly disappear or last a few weeks.

“During the evaluation of the project in Tumaco, we obtain ap-proximately 40% more fish than the amount we normally find in other places in the Pacific, this in-dicates that the temperature fronts provide accurate results,” asserted Mr. Guillermo, one of the artisanal fishermen that participated in the expedition.

However, Professor Jhon Sel-varaj, director of the study, men-tioned that “it is important to con-sider that the productive places can vary depending on the weath-er conditions and variables such as salinity and sea temperature.”

The satellite information of this project will be published in a web page, in which fishermen will be able to find detailed maps with the information of the tempera-ture fronts. “The idea is that they can use these maps in their fish-ing, reducing costs and efforts,” mentioned the professor.

This project was awarded a prize for the best work in the post-er of the international event Ocean From Space 2010, organized by the European Space Agency, in Italy. The outcomes socialization for the fishermen will take place next year, aiming at helping the fishing sector, which during 2010 have moved more than 85 million dollars in exports, and which is expected to help artisanal and in-dustrial fishermen, not only in the Colombian pacific, but also in the entire country.

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17Agriculture

bovine food against global warming

Innovative forage could mitigate the high levels of global warming gases that cattle industry pro-duces in the country. It is a small leguminous plant that not only reduces methane formations in the intestines of the cattle, but also increases its pro-duction almost 18%.

Carlos Andrey Patiño GuzmánUnimedios

One of the biggest protein re-serves for human diet, beef cattle, contributes directly to the global warming problem and the degra-dation of the ecosystems.

However, the solution is not avoiding beef and milk! Accord-ing to researcher Édgar Cárdenas, a zootechnician expert in forage (grass eaten by cows), almost all human consumption affects the balance of the environment. For this reason, it is important to make sure that all food is produced ef-ficiently and ecologically.

In the case of cattle industry, the answer is not reducing the number of heads of cattle, but improving animal production. Thus, instead of having a cow that produces ten liters of milk, it is possible to have one that produces 20 or 25 liters, eating the same amount of forage.

According to the results of a study carried out by professor Cárdenas in the Faculty of Veteri-nary Medicine and Animal Hus-bandry at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota, this is possible just by changing the diet of the ani-mals generating benefits in three ways: for stockbreeders, the envi-ronment and the cattle. It is a spe-cial forage that his research group has successfully tested in cattle –a leguminous plant that will be de-scribe later–, which is an exquisite diet for their palatals.

A trace in the environment

Have you ever thought about what is behind a delicious beef or a creamy glass of milk?

According to Cárdenas, the process to obtain one kilo of meat demands 15 cubic meters of wa-ter –close to 15 tons–, while the production of one glass of milk of 200 milliliters requires 200 liters of water.

Cattle industry produces 13% of the global warming gases. From this number, 90% are gases such as nitrous oxide and methane. It is important to consider that one molecule of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere has a global warming potential 296 times bigger than one molecule of CO

2 (carbon dioxide), while one molecule of methane has 23 times more potential.

On the other hand, 65% of the soil for cattle farming is fertil-ized with nitrogen products, one of the substances that most affect the environment, especially water sources.

For this reason, the challenges for the cattle industry are big: main-taining the production of meat and milk during the whole year to mini-mize the nutritional unbalance that exists in the world population, and reduce the environmental impact, affirms Cárdenas.

He mentioned that “human population is about 6 trillion peo-ple, and in 2050, this number will be 9 trillion. Meat consumption will go from 229 million tons (2000) to the double in 2050. Same will happen to milk: currently, the con-sumption of this product is 580 million tons, and in 2050 it will be one thousand tons.”

From the environmental per-spective, the challenge is reduc-ing the pressure on fragile eco-systems, minimizing and improv-ing fertilization –with nitrogen or phosphate, used in grass– and, the most important, reducing polluting emissions of those gases that cattle

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produces due to the fermentation of food in their stomach. In fact, flatulencies, breathing and burping of cattle contribute to global warm-ing, the emission of gases such as methane and stool decomposition and urine release ammoniac and nitrous oxide.

The expert mentioned that in Colombia there are 24 million heads of cattle, being the ninth country with the highest stock in the world. The goal of the union is to increase that number, which is not convenient –affirms–, due to the global warming effects.

Magnificent vegetable

Lotus, a small leguminous plant, arises as a nutritional alter-native for reducing the emissions of cattle from high lands such as Sabana de Bogotá. It is prodigious from all points of view; however, it has just one “defect”: its slow growth. After several research stud-ies made by undergraduate and postgraduate students, several properties have been detected and identified.

This vegetable, when eaten by cattle, considerably reduces nitrog-enous emissions in the urine and the subsequent generation of N2O (nitrous oxide); likewise, it reduces the emissions of CH4 (methane). Cárdenas affirms that this hap-pens since the protein in the diet

of cattle is absorbed by the animal’s intestine, instead of degrading (as it happens with other diets). At the same time, methanogenesis is re-duced, that means, methane for-mation due to intervention of in-testinal microbes.

Lotus also counts on tannins, secondary metabolites (chemical compounds synthesized by the plants) responsible for a better pro-duction and quality of milk. The experiments performed for more than 13 years, supported by Minag-ricultura, associations and cattle unions, proved that, due to forage consumption, mixed with kikuyu grass and without nitrogenous fer-mentation, production of milked increases 18% in comparison with traditional grass consumption.

“Kikuyu is a type of grass that needs fertilization with nitroge-nous, 400 kilos in a year per hect-are. In contrast, Lotus takes it from the environment and fixes it in its tissues,” asserted the investigator. This is important data considering that only 35% of the urea (nitrog-enous fertilizer) that is used in the plant is captured by the plant itself. The rest pollutes the environment, especially water sources.

It was also proved that the milk of cattle fed with Lotus has 14% more protein and 11% more fat. In addition, the plant is resistant to extreme cold weather, retains the humidity of the soil, resists the stress of cattle footprints and

spreads properly once it establish-es the terrain.

One month ago, when Lotus was introduced to society, around 600 stockbreeders from Sabana of Bogotá were astonished, although for some this was not new. Édgar Cárdenas explains that this legu-minous plant is from New Zealand and it was brought to the coun-try by stockbreeders more than 30 years ago, but it was not conceived as a food option.

“Lotus seed takes between eight and nine months to spread in the terrain, and if it is transplant-ed, it takes between four and six months, depending on the fertil-ity and humidity of the soil. Mean-while, stockbreeders want grass similar to ryegrasso, which is ready in 70 days.”

How to convince the sector? Just with something as simple as being competitive. The researcher from Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia explains that international markets demand products that do not significantly affect the en-vironment; otherwise, they close their doors. Switzerland, Swiss and New Zealand aim at protecting the environment and demand their providers to do it too. As a result, Universidad Nacional de Colombia contributes to improve sustainabil-ity and competitiveness, protecting the environment and participating in new markets.

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Bacteria to produce clean fertilizers are found

Jeinst Campo RiveraUnimedios

During the Copenhagen Cli-mate Conference, carried out on December 15th 2009, the partici-pants agreed that it was just neces-sary an increase of 2 °C in the tem-perature of the planet to trigger an environmental catastrophe.

In this event, the importance of reducing 80% of the gas emis-sions that produce the global warming effect by 2050 was dis-cussed. In this sense, agriculture plays an important role, since 15% of such substances are emitted due to the intensive use of fertilizers of chemical synthesis of phospho-rous, nitrogenous, and phosphate, as well as synthetic pesticides.

Such components used on a daily basis by around 2,5 million farmers in the country, who con-sider this is the adequate media to accelerate the production of their crops, affected by the phospho-rous deficiency that affects more than four million cultivated hect-ares in the entire country.

Biofertilizers

Despite of the explanation giv-en by the farmers, Nubia Moreno, a professor of Universidad Nacio-nal de Colombia and the national representative of the Latin Ameri-can Network of Biological Fertil-izers for Agriculture and the Envi-ronment (Biofag, for its acronym in Spanish), affirms that: “Helping crops to improve their productiv-ity to accomplish the objective of feeding thousands of people in the world, without damaging the soil and the habitats, is possible with the organic products obtained from microorganisms or biofertil-izers that can be easily used in farming.”

In the country, the investiga-tion to elaborate biofertilizers has been timidly carried out, but it has shown promising results. The Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA, for its acronym in Spanish) has 110 products of this type reg-istered, which are produced, im-ported, and commercialized by 93 companies. In addition, there is a law for the use and control of the bioinputs in the sector, based on the Resolution 375 of February 27th 2004.

However, Professor Marina Sánchez de Prager, a soil biology researcher from Universidad Na-cional de Colombia in Palmira, affirms that “more studies about these aspects are necessary for farmers to consider biofertilizers as a sustainable technological op-tion and not as a product difficult to obtain.”

The effective bacteria

Carlos Ómar Patiño, a student of the Agricultural Science Doctor-ate at Universidad Nacional de Co-lombia in Palmira, identified seven isolations of two bacteria capable of dissolving phosphorous and helping plants in their growth. The microorganisms could be used as biofertilizers, replacing 50% of the phosphoric rock (PR), a material used as fertilizer in the agricultural processes in the country.

For starting his research study, Patiño took samples of the soil stuck to the roots of peach–palm plants that grow wildly in Bajo Calima Township in Buenaventu-ra. This zone is characterized by its acid and phosphorous deficient soils, excellent to isolate bacteria.

Plants treated with B ambifaria bacteria vs. plants without in-oculation or fertilizer.

Plants treated with phosphoric rock and inoculated with B ambi-faria bacteria.

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In Colombia, a big part of the agricultur-al industry uses chemicals to grow and obtain productivity from their crops. Such chemicals deteriorate and affect the environment. Soil researches found two efficient bacteria in the Colombian Pacific that could be the base for the production of biological fertilizer.

Agriculture

“After collecting the samples and taking them to the lab, we evaluated the solubilizing capac-ity (chemical transformation of phosphorous) of the 22 obtained bacterial isolations, to the point in which the plants needs were fulfilled to promote an adequate growth.” Patiño also mentions that “we selected seven bacterial isola-tions that revealed this capacity; two of them resulted particularly effective.”

During the lab analysis, the re-searcher found that one of the iso-lations was part of the Pseudomo-nas putida bacteria, other two be-longed to Burkholderia lata and the other four to Burkholderia am-bifaia, the most effective during the in vitro evaluation.

For proving if the bacteria helped plant growth in other plants different from peach–palm, the re-searcher conducted several trials in the greenhouses of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, using B. ambifaria and B. lata in Chile.

“We inoculated some plants independently and then we evalu-ated the progress of the leaves and the roots for three months. We ap-plied PR in an amount of 24 and 12 grams to see if bacteria reacted to find the necessary dose for an appropriate growth,” asserted the PhD student.

The results of the investiga-tion showed effectively that, when using PR simultaneously with the solubilizing bacteria, the process is accelerated considerably, di-

minishing the amount of chemical material used.

“Plants increased their phos-phorous absorption and improved their growth in 230% and 130% more in radical biomass and in the aerial part respectively, in com-parison with the non–inoculated,” asserted Patiño.

These results, which evidenced a big advance in the theoretical–practical research on biofertil izers in Colombia, allow improving the bioinput industry and proposing commercial products made from these two phosphorus solubilizing bacteria.

“Through molecular biology techniques (which allow the study of the structure and function of the genes), it was established that some of the species not only solu-bilize phosphorus, but also that they have fundamental character-istics within the group of bacte-ria that promote growth (BGPR), which seem to be promising or-ganisms for the development of biological input in the country,” asserted Marina Sánchez de Prag-er, director of the study.

The study, which won the first prize in the Biotechnology Latin American Congress, carried out in Manizales, not only will reduce the costs for producers, but also will contribute to the knowledge of the national microbial biodiversity and the peach-palm biology, a very im-portant species for the economy and food security of the agricul-tural ecosystems in the region.

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19Agriculture

Gene to protect rice against plagues is developed

Luis Miguel PalacioUnimedios

A general description of the situation caused by the most im-portant predator that is affecting rice growers in Colombia can be explained in the following way:

From the 200,000 hectares of grain planted in the first period of 2010, at least 50% needed an application against the famous in-sect borers of the rice stalk. The es-timate value of this dose of insecti-cide is COP 15,000; so, controlling the “bug” cost growers almost COP 2,000 millions, just until June.

Likewise, the problem of a complex group of insects called cotton bollworm, which attacks almost 70% of the dry rice crops (grown in dry land), is serious. The total area cultivated with this system was 150,000 hectares dur-ing the first semester of last year, and the application of insecticides to fight against the plague costs almost COP 1,600 millions.

For this reason, in order to mitigate the effect of the two pred-ators, it was necessary to invest close to COP 3,000, without count-ing other types of losses such as the reduction of productivity of the crops.

Regarding this insects known as Lepidoptera, the Plant Genetic Engineering Group of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá developed a semisynthetic version of the Cry1Ac gene, for a geneti-cally modified type of rice.

This gene is part of the Bacil-laceae family, same as the Bacil-lus thuringiensis bacteria, which modifies insecticide proteins and is used for biologic control since 1938.

Elkin Flores, technical assistant manager of Fedearroz, affirms that only the insect borer reduces the yield in almost 10%, and the cotton bollworm turns to be as damag-ing and persistent that sometimes even three sprayings are necessary for its extermination.

As it is shown in the photo, the rice plant dies after the insect borer de-stroys the stalk.

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How do these plagues act in the rice crops? The larva of the insect borer gets into the stalk of the plant and provokes a syn-drome known as “dead heart”. In this place the larva is protected against insecticides, for this rea-son the researchers developed a method to fight against it in its hiding place, using a genetically modified plant with a protective gene such as Cry1Ac.

Cotton bollworms, which at-tack the plant on its earlier stage, eat it before it grows. This situation happens in crops in Tolima and Huila, departments with the high-est rice production in the country.

Colombian version

The semisyntethic gene Cry1-Ac was developed in the lab based on information of DNA sequences from different organisms, and its use is exclusive in scientific inves-tigation or biotechnical processes.

Its elaboration –through com-puters– began with information published in scientific articles, patents and gene data bases. Once the virtual model was ready, the

scientist made it real.There are different versions

of the Cry1Ac in the world, which have been applied to cotton and corn crops, especially in countries such as United States, Brasil, China and Australia. The objective of the obtained version in Universidad Nacional de Colombia is to give the variety of Colombian rice plants the necessary resistance against insects considered real plagues.

These types of genes have been tested in 25 countries in the world. Recently, China developed a commercial genetically modified variety for rice plants, with a cat-egorical success: it controlled 90% of the larvae that attack this cereal, which is economically important in this Asian country.

Alternative research

Parallel to this study, which allowed developing an optimal design of the gene, the research-ers worked on the development of systems of genetic engineering, used to elaborate the protocols that will allow implementing the semisynthetic gene in the genome

of future generations of rice plants in Colombia.

Alejandro Chaparro, director of the group of scientists of Uni-versidad Nacional de Colombia, affirmed that in order to do this a methodology based on the ex-ploitation of a natural bacterium called Agrobacterium tumefaciens will be used. This bacterium can be found in a big variety of plants and it is characterized by its ca-pacity to transfer its own genes to those of the vegetables. What the Colombian researchers are plan-ning to do is using it to transfer the gene Cry1Ac to rice plants, for them to acquire the necessary resistance.

Most of the rice produced in the world is of two types: between 80% and 90% belong to the Japon-ica subspecies and between 20% and 10% to Indian subspecies. The most important countries in the production of this cereal, such as United States, Brasil, and China, mainly cultivate the Japonica sub-species, directing most of the in-vestigations in rice genetic engi-neering of this type of rice.

According to Chaparro, the studies on the Indian subspecies are few up to now; meanwhile, there were no studies on Colom-bian varieties such as Fedearroz 50, Fedearroz 2.000 and Fedearroz 369. “This is the first investigation made to achieve a genetic improvement,” asserted the agricultural engineer and PhD in genetics.

These analyses are highly reg-ulated, and the type of investiga-tions that have to be performed after the development of the gene and the genetically modified plant for their commercialization will be determined according to the law.

Although there is enough in-formation and evidence to prove that these crops will not affect any other insects and that the final product will not have negative ef-fects on the consumers, the com-mercial release of this type of rice could take almost five years.

Insects have become a big problem for rice growers in the country. Their damaging ac-tion represented big losses for almost COP 3,500 millions in the first semester of last year. Experts developed a gene that will make cereal plants much more resistant.

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Fungus controls severe rice disease

Jeinst Campo Rivera,Unimedios

One basic product in any Co-lombian household is without any doubt rice. Served alone, accom-panied, as a dessert or even in bev-erages, this cereal has a privileged position in the world, since accord-ing to the Food and Agriculture Or-ganization of the United Nations (FAO), its per capita consumption is 58 kilograms. Besides, in 2010, rice production in the worlds was of 466 million tons. Rice production is concentrated especially in the Asian continent, which contributes with close to 65% of the total production. (China 33% and India 32%).

In Colombia, Fedearroz es-timated in 2009 a production of 2’154,671 tons, result of the 468 thousand hectares planted in the country. This amount is distributed among 45 million inhabitants with a per capita consumption of 39kg in the entire country.

However, some aspects such as temperature changes, soil erosion, deficiency of nutrients, and, mainly, some plagues or diseases such as ‘rust’ or ‘panicle rice mite’ have been determining factors in the reduction of its production in the world.

A thesis of the Doctorate in Ag-

ricultural Sciences of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Palmira, written by Ana Teresa Mosquera Es-pinosa, under direction of Professor Joel Tupac Otero Ospina, identified a fungus in orchids capable of defend-ing rice crops against this dangerous disease known as ‘rust’, which have caused a reduction between 30% and 50% of the production of rice in the country.

Alert due to diseases

In June, 2011, the Colombian Agriculture Institute (ICA, for its ac-ronym in Spanish) emitted a bulletin in which all the Colombian territory was declared in phytosanitary emer-gency due to the panicle rice mite, which is seriously attacking the rice sector’s production since it affects the quality and productivity of the crop in almost 60%.

Likewise, the direction of veg-etal sanity from the same institution warned about the effects of ‘rust’ that, like panicle rice mite, are acti-vated with temperature changes.

Until now, the most effective method to control this disease is using chemicals such as fungicides (produced industrially), which have an effect in the environment and increase the production costs

of the cereal.Luis Santos, professional from

ICA, explained that “rush is caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, whose effect starts in the water, and then extends to the upper part of the plant, affecting the stem and staining the grain, which affects the quality of the final product.”

From orchids

In 2008, the agronomist found a fungus in the roots of orchid plants planted in different habitats, and, when evaluating 12 samples, she found that the fungus also had posi-tive effects.

In the laboratory, through mo-lecular techniques, it was estab-lished that the fungus is part of the Ceratobasidium type, and in the greenhouse, its effect as biological controller was proved. During the next stage, the researchers wanted to prove a contrary effect, that is to say, if this fungus was pathological (with the capacity to cause a dis-ease) on rice plants.

“We inoculated 12 samples of the fungus in healthy crops and, sur-prisingly, the percentage of severity was below 2%, asserted professor Mosquera.

The experiment included oth-

er tests: analyzing, under the same greenhouse conditions, the impact of Ceratobasidium on plants infect-ed with ‘rush’.

The harmful R. solani was also inoculated in healthy rice plants with a 21 day development, and two days after, Ceratobasidium was used to identify its potential as biocon-troller of the disease.

In the control tests, performed at the International Center of Tropi-cal Agriculture (CIAT, for its acronym in Spanish), scientists found that by inoculating only R. solani, a 16% severity percentage was obtained in the plants, while by using Ceratoba-sidium, the percentage was reduced even to 5%.

“It was an amazing outcome, which proved that Rhizoctonia, in its benefic condition, is capable of counteract up to 50% of R. solani,” asserted Professor Tupac Otero.

Ana Teresa Mosquera affirms that this is the first time Ceratoba-sidium from orchids is used as a biocontroller of pathogens in crops. Therefore, this work represents the foundations to develop strategies for the integral management of diseas-es, which means reducing the use of products that affect the environ-ment and the quality of the product eaten by the consumer.

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In Colombia, Fedearroz estimated in 2009 a production of 2’154,671 tons, result of the 468 thousand hectares, planted in the country.

Isolation of the Ceratobasidium pure culture.

Cross-section or orchid roots with the presence of the fungus.

In the roots of orchids, agronomist found a fungus capable of controlling ‘rust or panicle rice mite, a high risk disease that affects the performance of rice crops in Latin America and occasions losses up to 40% in rice production.

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21

Gen that affects the quality of milk is found

Giovanni Clavijo Figueroa, Unimedios

Between 18 and 20 percent of cows in the most important milk zone in Cundinamarca (Valle de Ubaté, Sabana de Bogotá, Madrid y Mosquera) suffer from bovine mas-titis, a bacterial disease that directly affects the compositional quality of milk, including fat and protein con-centrations, calcium, phosphorous, and casein reduction, and increases of chloride and sodium.

This was pointed out by a study made by the Group of Molecular Genetics of Pathogens (Gempa, for its acronym in Spanish), of the Fac-ulty of Veterinarian Medicine and Animal Husbandry from Universi-dad Nacional de Colombia, which also found, for the first time in raw milk, the mecA gen of the bacte-ria Staphylococcus aureus, which is highly resistant to antibiotics.

“Milk coming from cows with mastitis represents a potential risk for human health, not only due to the transmission of pathogen agents, but also for the presence of antimicrobial residues used for the treatment of the disease,” asserted the Veterinarian Diego Benavides.

Since they are source of nu-trients, milk and its derivatives are considered pieces of food that con-tribute to improve human health in the entire world. The importance of these products in commercial terms is shown in the figures presented by the Nacional Council of Eco-nomic and Social Politics (Conpes), which indicate that, during 2008, more than 5,500 million litters were commercialized. For this reason, it is necessary to guarantee its quality, starting from its primary produc-tion, which means, from the milking process, to consumption.

This labor implies taking into account all aspects related to its composition (fat, proteins and total solids) and to its nutritional and industrial potential, as well as mi-crobiological risks, referred to the presence of microorganisms that can affect the consumer’s health.

Resistance

The potential emergence and dissemination of resistant microor-ganisms has been object of scien-tific research and normative inter-vention. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have addressed in the past other pub-lic health problems related to the use of antimicrobials in animas that produce food; for this reason, it is important to monitor the resistance of both, humans and animals.

As a consequence, the presence of residues coming from medicinal

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For the first time, the mecA gen from the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus is studied in samples of milk from cows with mastitis in dairy herds in Cundinamarca.

Researchers from Universidad Nacional de Colombia analyzed raw milk by isolating and charactering the causal agents of mastitis in one of the most important zones for dairy industry.

For the first time, the mecA gen from the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus is studied in samples of milk from cows with mastitis in dairy herds in Cundinamarca.

Agriculture

products favors the emergence of resistant microorganisms. Accord-ing to researcher Jenny Hernández, one example of this is S. aureus, whose mecA gen creates the resis-tance of the microorganism to the medicine called–SARM–.

Furthermore, beta–lactam anti-biotics include a group of common-ly used antibiotics in human and animal medicine, mainly penicillin and cephalosporins. “Resistance of bacteria to antimicrobials hinders the treatment of infectious diseases; for this reason, it is important to make studies and prevention cam-paigns,” mentioned Martha Suárez, director of Gempa group.

Detection of the Gen

When evaluating the suscepti-bility of microorganisms to medical treatments, scientists noticed that resistance patters of the isolated strains are frequently present when penicillin is used.

Therefore, according to Hernán-dez, the detection of mecA of S. au-reus in milk samples coming directly from the primary production is rel-evant. This emphasizes the impor-tance of the control and prevention of chemical and microbiological risks, starting from the farm.

“Frequently, this gene is studied in S. aureus coming from human pa-tients, but it has never been studied

in food (milk in this case), and less during its primary production. This is a high distribution pathological bacterium present in nature, and it is associated to local and systemic infections, as well as to food–borne outbreaks,” asserted the researcher.

Suárez explained that “in bo-vines, the infection produced by S. aureus in the mammary gland, known as mastitis, can be part of the entire breastfeeding.”

Due to this problem dairy herds have, the group of experts from Universidad Nacional de Colombia suggested managing antimicrobials properly in the farms by providing the animals the complete doses of the antibiotics on the period of time given by the veterinarian. While these cows are in treatment, the milk they produce cannot be con-sumed by humans.

Thus, the possibility of these microorganisms to become resistant and to have antimicrobial residues in dairy products and its derivates is diminished.

The study, supported by Col-ciencias and Sena, in alliance with the Nacional Council for the Quality of Milk and Prevention of Mastitis (CNLM, for its acronym in Span-ish) contributes to create knowledge on the causes of this disease and to study antimicrobial resistance in this important milk zone in Cundi-namarca.

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Wild pigs and their importance in the ecosystems

Sex of capybaras is being determined to save the species

Agencia de Noticias UN

Although there is little information about collared peccary or zaino (Pecarí tajacu), researchers have studied its importance in ecosystems.

Zainos are medium sized mam-mals that play an important role in ecosystems as predators and seed dis-persers, controlling the growth of wild plants. They also modify the struc-ture of the soil and help establishing pioneer plants. As preys, they are an important source of food for other bigger mammals, such as cougars and jaguars.

The protection of zaino’s popula-tion is very important in the ecosys-tems, since the lack of these animals make felines go after other preys such as domestic animals (cattle), a situa-tion that generates conflicts between wild fauna and human communities, explained Olga Lucía Montenegro, Professor at the Institute for Natural sciences.

Studying the collared peccary’s density and occupation areas and its relation with the habitat in Tuparro National Natural Park and Piumawai Natural Reserve was a labor performed by the Science–Biology Master’s stu-dent, Bibiana Gómez.

Professor Montenegro explained that this research study focused on es-

timating the abundance of the species in these zones that biogeographically correspond to Colombian Guayana. “In this study, a characterization of the habitat was made in order to de-termine the factors that are related to the profusion of the collared peccary. The habitat in Tuparro covers a lot of natural savanna, while Puinawai cov-ers forest mainly.

Montenegro also indicated that a bigger abundance was expected in the forest, but it was found that the abun-dance of collared peccary is low. “The importance of this is that there is little information about this species, and it is the first estimation performed in the country and, particularly, in these reservoirs.

These species are hunt in different communities for human consump-tion, and in some countries such as Peru and Argentina its skin is used in the leather industry.

Professor Montenegro explains that in the study it was evident that these species are versatile concern-ing the habitat, since they can live in forests or savannas. The scarce abun-dance of the collared peccary in these studied areas coincides with a com-mon pattern in the region of Guayana. “This is a fragile zone since it keeps the developed ecosystem upon a very ancient geological formation.

Collared peccary in Colombian Orinoquia.

The use of molecular markers to determine the sex of the species is very useful due to the accuracy of the results. Sex determina-tion can help preservation, production, exploitation programs and environmental studies of the populations.

Agencia de Noticias UN

A study from Universidad Nacion-al de Colombia will allow determining the sex of the capybaras, a character-istic that cannot be determined with a naked eye, and could help preserving the future generations of this species.

Fredy Alexander Colorado, from the department of Biology at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, worked using molecular tools, a technique employed to analyze the population and evolu-tion of species and organisms from DNA information in order to accurately determine the sex of the animals.

Although some people affirm that males can be distinguished easily from the females morphologically, since males are bigger or due to some protu-berances in their forehead, this infor-mation has been distorted.

From the capybara, (Hidrochoerus hydrochaeris) its skin, meat and fat can be exploited; however, recent studies suggest that for obtaining a sustain-able exploitation it is necessary to es-tablish a differential hunting by sex, taking mainly males, since each female hunted represents a potential repro-ductive reduction of the species.

The hunting of these animals in Colombia is permitted during the first three months of the year, and it is forbidden during the rest of the year since their number diminished dra-matically during the 50's, endangering the population.

Studies

The molecular tools are useful for time optimization, accuracy on results and minimum sampling (blood, hair, etc.). Besides, they are little invasive in the studied populations, and they provide valuable data for the analysis of the populations and their evolution for their conservation.

“For this job, we took blood sam-ples from the capybaras in the zoos, we obtained the DNA and then we used the PCR (polymerase chain reac-tion) tool of the molecular markers: Amelogenin and the HMG preserved region of the Sry gen, located in the X and Y chromosomes,” explained Colo-rado.

This technique has been used in other biological groups, such as birds, due to an absence of sexual features for some species, which makes it dif-ficult to determine the sex based on the phenotype, a project previously carried out by professor Nubia Matta, who directed the investigation of Fredy Alexander Colorado.

The Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Regional Development is planning to legalize the hunting of this rodent during the whole year; therefore, the objective of the biolo-gist from Universidad Nacional de Colombia is providing a molecular and forensic tool to control sex selec-tive hunting.

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23Medioambiente

First Colombian catalogof primitive insects

More than 400 million years ago, some “bugs” appeared on Earth, and with the pass of time, they evolved as well as mammals did. The information of 1,673 of such species was gathered by specialist that presented the first catalog of primi-tive insects developed in the country to the scientific community.

Elizabeth Vera Martínez,Unimedios

Close to 1.673 species from 80 families make part of the first and most complete catalog of primi-tive insects presented to the sci-entific community. The inventory was created by the entomologists Germán Amat García and Fernan-do Fernández, from the Natural Sciences Institute of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá.

Insects are the biggest group of animals that inhabit the Earth (Between 60% and 75% of all liv-ing organisms). The majority ap-peared on the planet million years ago, and they have changed in both, their external appearance (morphological) and their internal organs (physciological) through an evolution cycle. They have also changed their lifestyle and adapta-tion to the environment.

The oldest

Primitive insects are different from all other insects, since their geological record locates them in periods such as the Carboniferous (from the Paleozoic Era), charac-terized by their big extensions of forests that were buried and gave origin to coal. On this Era, many amphibians existed, however, di-nosaurs we also inhabiting the planet as well and the continents were joining into a mega-conti-nent known as Pangea.

Fernando Fernandez, a pro-fessor and specialist in ants, ex-plains that all animals we know today, such as beetles, flies, crane flies, bees, and fireflies had insect ancestors without wings, but they had different evolution process.

It was also determined that they did not use to copulate nor had direct sex. The mating be-tween males and females was not through penetration of the male organ in the female to ensure fe-cundation, but it was direct; in other words, males used to put their sperm on the soil or in some sort of tissue similar to a spider web and made females take it.

Today, this process can be seen in scorpions –whose oldest fossils are 410 million years old–, that perform a dance in which males grab females’ claws and in-vite them to walk on their sperm.

Evolutionary innovations

Among the groups of primi-tive insects that have had evolu-tionary variations are the termites, coming from the fusion between cockroaches and microbes. They are characterized by the way they

digests wood cellulose when it de-composes.

Another example is the dung-hill beetle that eats cow excrement, helping the soli to keep clean from this material.

Professor Fernandez explains that all ants, some bees and wasps are characterized by their social skills. They have a queen that re-produces by herself, all her daugh-ters are sterile and have to protect the colony as well as finding food for the others. “This is a recent evolutionary innovation, for this reason, we cannot see their fossils as we can see those of other primi-tive insects.”

“Insects are related to the functioning of the planet, since a big part of them are disintegrators; if they did not exist, matter would accumulate, recycling wound not exist and energy would not flow,”

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It is estimated that in a hectare of tropical forest, per each kilo of verte-brate animal, there are 14 insects, which tells the impact of these species in biomass terms.

asserted Professor Amat.

Silverfish (Zygentoma)

This species, one of the oldest, is found in bathrooms and kitch-ens. Its habitats are cracks, holes, basements and rugs with fungi, molds, and cellulose accumula-tions. It has a long and flat shape, it is 1.2 and 2.5 cm, and its color is gray or silver. It is part of an old lin-age of insects, which do not have winds and live close to five or six years.

Dragonflies (Odonata)

They are known as devil hors-es. They have big and compound eyes, this means, thousands of receptive units called ommatidia, formed by cells capable of distin-

guish the presence and absence of light and distinguish colors. This insect, different from its contem-poraries, has two pairs of transpar-ent and strong wings and a large abdomen.

Dragonflies are predators; they live close to lakes, puddles, rivers and swamps. They eat mosquitoes, bees, moths, and butterflies, and clean the ecosystem from flies that transmit diseases such as dengue fever and gastroenteritis.

Cockroaches (Dictyoptera)

People find them repulsive and some species of this type carry pathogenic bacteria, microorgan-isms that cause diseases and aller-gies, a situation that makes them a threat for people’s health.

Among more than 4,000 spe-cies that exist, they are the few considered a plague or bad for humans, since they live in kitch-ens, garbage and toilets. In Nature, they are also known as processors of organic material, which para-doxically guarantee the health of ecosystems.

Earwigs (Dermaptera)

They are dark reddish insects with short antennas. They are easy to identify due to the scissors lo-cated at the end of their abdomen called forceps, which they use to intimidate the enemy. They are complely inoffensive for humans.

Earwigs dig some centimeters under stones or wood in order to deposit their eggs while females remain with the eggs until they de-velop. They eat organic material in decomposition and, occasionally, fruits and other insects.

The first catalog of primitive insects also contains the descrip-tion of springtails (Collembola), jumping bristletails (Archaeogna-tha), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), web spinner (Embioptera), and zo-ropterans (Zoraptera).

The heirs

The elaboration of this inven-tory of the insect diversity started with the Botanic Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada, led by Jose Celestino Mutis, a labor con-tinued in Cundinamarca by Jorge Tadeo Lozano and Fray Diego García during the 18th century.

“The idea is to consolidate this information and elaborate a real catalog of the biodiversity of insects in the country. This is pos-sible with the research capacity of human resources and the support of institutions and the govern-ment,” asserted Amat.

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Scientist discover whymalaria parasites multiply

in an excessive mannerAgencia de Noticias UN

The answer that was found in Universidad Nacional de Colombia indicates that Plasmodium falci-parum (parasite that causes malar-ia) has the same characteristics as tumor cells that produce cancer.

The study is about an en-zyme called telomerase that is in charge of the quick multiplication of this parasite as well as of can-cer cells. This study was carried out by the chemist Eliana Calvo in her doctoral thesis with which she received the attention of the scientific community that studies tropical diseases.

A jury, composed by five out-standing experts that participate in the Congress of the Latin American Federation of Parasitology, high-lighted the innovative approach of this project. For this reason, she was awarded the first prize among 13 doctoral theses from Colombian and Latin–American Universities.

“Our work consisted in ana-lyzing how important telomerase is for the parasite. We observed, through different methodologies, that when diminishing or limiting the enzyme, the parasite’s repli-cation diminishes,” explained the Scientists, whose thesis was direct-

ed by biochemist Moisés Wasser-man.

Eliana asserted that several studies have been made about the implications of telomerase in tu-mor cell replication, but this is the first time in which this event is described in Plasmodium. For this reason this thesis is innovative.

These tinny living beings are characterized by their tremendous capacity to reproduce; from juts one being, between 16 and 48 new individuals can be born in just 48 hours. Thus, it is very important to address the treatment of malaria.

“It is important to mention that these types of complexs, such as telomerase, are present in cells in a silent way: they are activated when cancer appears, in the case of mammals.”

The importance of these find-ings is that parasitologists are go-ing to be able to create new ways of fighting this disease, attacking the parasites without affecting body cells.

“We have determined that the enzyme is not only involved in maintaining this proliferation rate of Plasmodium, but also that it has other functions that are still un-known. This is our new challenge” asserted Eliana Calvo.

Motilon, exotic fruit rich in anthocyaninsAgencia de Noticias UN

Motilon, a wild fruit that grows in cold zones of Nariño and Cauca, has a high content of anthocya-nins, antioxidant substances that contribute to prevent cancer in the gastrointestinal track.

This finding is the conclusion of the thesis Análisis químico de antocianinas en frutos silvestres co-lombianos (chemical analysis of anthocyanins in Colombian wild fruits), elaborated by Juliana Santa Cruz Cifuentes, a student of the Master in Sciences–Chemistry, and directed by Doctor Coralia Oso-rio Roa, associate professor of the Chemistry Department of Univer-sidad Nacional de Colombia.

The study analyzed wild fruits commonly known as motilon, Jabuticaba, coral and small black-berry, mentioned professor Oso-rio Roa, director of the research group: Vegetal Species as Source of Aromas, Pigments and Bioactive Substances of the Chemistry De-partment, at Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

“The most interesting fruit was motilon (hyeronima macrocarpa) due to its high content of antho-cyanins and because it has a high potential and antioxidant capacity to trap free radicals”, explained Pro-fessor Osorio Roa.

The results of the study indi-cate that each 1000 grams of mo-tilon contain 240 milligrams of an-thocyanins, a value ten times big-ger than that of other fruits stud-ied, among them castilla’s black-berry, that contains 18 miligrams per each 100 grams of fruit.

Jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflo-ra), which has a smaller presence in the country and that is much known in Brazil, occupied the sec-ond place in the content analysis of anthocyanins.

The antioxidant capacity re-fers to the effectiveness to trap free radicals, harmful substances for the organism that act rapidly, and the potential refers to the speed to neutralize them.

The analysis evaluated the con-tent of anthocyanins, qualitatively and quantitatively. The antioxidant capacity of these wild fruits was determined by means of two pro-cesses: the traditional method of Untraviolet Visible Spectrometry, in order to measure the concentration of radicals for absorption, and the non conventional technique of Para-magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (PRS), that permits the direct mea-suring of the concentration of free radicals. In the application of this technique Doctor Ovidio Almanza, an associate professor of the Physics Department of Universidad Nacio-nal de Colombia, participated.

Kinetic data obtained during the study “are very important since they allow evaluating the competi-tive activity of antioxidants against harmful reactions of free radicals in the organism. A radical has to be eliminated before it reacts with other cell chemical structures,” as-serted Doctor José Carriazo, as-sociate professor of the Chemistry Department, who participated in the analysis.

Based on the outcome of the study, asserted Professor Osorio Roa, a microencapsulation of mo-tilon is expected to be produced, to preserve the sensorial (color and aroma) and biofuncional (antioxi-dant activity) characteristics of this fruit that grows on trees that sur-round LA Cocha lake in Nariño.

Professor Osorio Roa also high-lighted that this investigation has been the result of a two year inter-disciplinary work, in which profes-sors of the areas of food chemistry, catalysis and physics participated.

The properties of motilon, a fruit that is consumed fresh by peasants in homemade preserves, open the possibility of future inves-tigations that work on the possibil-ity to remove it from the forest and technify it as a crop. These studies would be pertinent, taking into ac-count that, according to informa-tion obtained by researchers, this bush is being cut to feed cattle.

Motilon has ten times more an-thocyanins that other fruits stud-ied up to now, mentioned the the-sis of student Juliana Santa Cruz Cifuentes.

Jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora), very common in Brazil, occupied the second place in the content analysis of anthocyanins.

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