Central University of Ecuador

About: Central University of Ecuador is a education organization based out in Quito, Ecuador. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 2220 authors who have published 1910 publications receiving 15052 citations.

The prevalence of functional constipation in children was unchanged after the Rome IV criteria halved the diagnosis period in Rome III.

Abstract: Aim The Rome IV criteria for the diagnosis of functional constipation are one month, compared with two months in the Rome III criteria. Our aim was to see whether this altered the prevalence in Ecuador by surveying school children and comparing the results to our previous study. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Quito, Ecuador, in 2013 two randomly selected schools: one private and one public. Children aged 8-15 completed the Spanish version of the Questionnaire of Paediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms based on the Rome IV criteria. We compared our findings with our previous 2013 study based on the Rome III criteria. Results A total of 951 children (61% male) completed the Rome IV questionnaire from June to July 2017 at a mean age of 11.2 ± 1.8 years, and 417 children (52% male) completed the Rome III questionnaire in June 2013 at a mean age of 12.0 ± 1.8 years. We found that 14.4% met the Rome IV criteria for functional constipation compared with 11.8% for the Rome III criteria (p = 0.11). Conclusion Modifying the time required for a diagnosis functional constipation from two months to one month did not result in a significant difference in the prevalence.

Sand fly fauna (Diptera, pcychodidae, phlebotominae) in different leishmaniasis-endemic areas of ecuador, surveyed using a newly named mini-shannon trap.

Abstract: To study the sand fly fauna, surveys were performed at four different leishmaniasis-endemic sites in Ecuador from February 2013 to April 2014. A modified and simplified version of the conventional Shannon trap was named "mini-Shannon trap" and put to multiple uses at the different study sites in limited, forested and narrow spaces. The mini-Shannon, CDC light trap and protected human landing method were employed for sand fly collection. The species identification of sand flies was performed mainly based on the morphology of spermathecae and cibarium, after dissection of fresh samples. In this study, therefore, only female samples were used for analysis. A total of 1,480 female sand flies belonging to 25 Lutzomyia species were collected. The number of female sand flies collected was 417 (28.2%) using the mini-Shannon trap, 259 (17.5%) using the CDC light trap and 804 (54.3%) by human landing. The total number of sand flies per trap collected by the different methods was markedly affected by the study site, probably because of the various composition of species at each locality. Furthermore, as an additional study, the attraction of sand flies to mini-Shannon traps powered with LED white-light and LED black-light was investigated preliminarily, together with the CDC light trap and human landing. As a result, a total of 426 sand flies of nine Lutzomyia species, including seven man-biting and two non-biting species, were collected during three capture trials in May and June 2014 in an area endemic for leishmaniasis (La Ventura). The black-light proved relatively superior to the white-light with regard to capture numbers, but no significant statistical difference was observed between the two traps.

Fog Harvesting and IoT based Environment Monitoring System at the Ilalo volcano in Ecuador

Abstract: Environmental monitoring is critical to develop appropriate policies for environmental sustainability. The quality of drinking and agricultural water is affected by bad environmental management strategies. In addition, natural water sources have been reduced due to climate changes and the lack of police and compliance with regulations for water resources management. In the Andes region of Ecuador, these problems have increased in recent decades. The lack of water affects not only human well-being, but also causes soil degradation. Therefore, finding alternative water sources has become the underlying requirement to provide human well-being and mitigate soil degradation in these regions. This article presents a fog collection system based on water condensation towers and Internet of Things (IoT) technology with real-time monitoring. Our system allows monitoring of environmental parameters while providing alternative sources of water from the environmental fog. Therefore, by collecting information related to the process of fog collection and climatic measurements of the environment, we seek to determine the state and trends of environmental conditions with respect to the performance of fog collection. In addition, our system allows the storage of historical environmental data, which can be used to develop environmental management policies. We have deployed our system on the slopes of the Ilalo volcano, Pichincha province, being part of the Ecuadorian Andes, where the soil deterioration has increased in recent years and has the largest soil degradation rate in Ecuador