Nilton Edu Montoya

Violence witnessing, perpetrating and victimization in medellin, Colombia: a random population survey

BackgroundThe burden of injury from violence and the costs attributable to violence are extremely high in Colombia. Despite a dramatic decline in homicides over the last ten years, homicide rate in Medellin, Colombia second largest city continues to rank among the highest of cities in Latin America. This study aims to estimate the prevalence and distribution of witnesses, victims and perpetrators of different forms of interpersonal violence in a representative sample of the general population in Medellin in 2007.MethodsA face-to-face survey was carried out on a random selected, non-institutionalized population aged 12 to 60 years, with a response rate of 91% yielding 2,095 interview responses.ResultsWe present the rates of prevalence for having been a witness, victim, or perpetrator for different forms of violence standardized using the WHO truncated population pyramid to allow for cross-national comparison. We also present data on verbal aggression, fraud and deception, yelling and heavy pranks, unarmed aggression during last year, and armed threat, other severe threats, robbery, armed physical aggression, and sexual aggression during the lifetime, by age, sex, marital and socioeconomic status, and education. Men reported the highest prevalence of being victims, perpetrators and witnesses in all forms of violence, except for robbery and sexual violence. The number of victims per perpetrator was positively correlated with the severity of the type of violence. The highest victimization proportions over the previous twelve months occurred among minors. Perpetrators are typically young unmarried males from lower socio-economic strata.ConclusionsDue to very low proportion of victimization report to authorities, periodic surveys should be included in systems for epidemiological monitoring of violence, not only of victimization but also for perpetrators. Victimization information allows quantifying the magnitude of different forms of violence, while data on factors associated with aggression and perpetrators are necessary to estimate risk and protective factors that are essential to sound policies for violence prevention formulation.

Tolerancia al quebrantamiento de la norma en el area metropolitana de Medellín, Colombia

Abstract: This article analyzes the tolerance to the breaches of the norm in Medellin and municipalities in Metropolitan Area. For this purpose, we use data from the study about magnitude, distribution and factors associated with violence in Metropolitan Area of Medellin that was conducted in 2004 to ten of its municipalities. In this study was estimated the magnitude of this important risk factor for violence on society. Results emphasize that the standardized indicators of anomie and legitimacy to the breach of the rule are surprisingly high in all municipalities in the Metropolitan Area of Medellin, for both men and women, although most prevalent among men, children and youth. Sociological arguments are presented to provide elements that explain the presence and characteristics of this phenomenon and the factors that motivate a person to cause an incident that contributes to this phenomenon. Among the explanatory values are mentioned both inadequate and lack of certain cultural values, the result of sociocultural constraints and economic situation as individual rationality.

Predicting Resilient Adolescents and Youths: Validation of a Screening Test in Colombia

Background: This article presents the validation of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure-58 (CYRM-58) in the Colombian context and in Spanish language. Methods: CYRM-58 has 58 questions and was developed by an international team of researchers coordinated by the Resilience Research Centre (Dalhousie University, Canada). Simplified CYRM Colombia is a test that uses 7 questions of CYRM-58; for its validation we tested reproducibility in 22 persons aged 14 to 23 years. Results: We validated content and internal consistency in 39 resilients, 43 youth with deviant behaviors, and 66 controls matched by age and sex. We estimated internal consistency by non-parametric factorial analysis, and we assessed content validity by means of the Mann-Whitney test, bootstrap regression and logistic regression. The reproducibility was found to be in the range of 75–86%. Correlation between measurements was 75%. Conclusion: The best predictive model or Simplified CYRM Colombia was found to have seven questions (sensitivity = 96%, specificity = 76%, power = 80%).

An immunoenzymatic test for IgG antibody levels against 10 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae

INTRODUCTION Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of morbi-mortality in early childhood and elderly. However, a test to measure the antibody responses after specific vaccination is not available in Colombia. OBJECTIVE An immunoenzymatic test was standardized for the measurement of serum IgG levels against 10 serotypes of S. pneumoniae in response to the specific vaccination. MATERIAL AND METHODS Capsular polysaccharides 1, 3, 4, 5, 6B, 9V, 14, 18, 19F, 23F of S. pneumoniae were used as antigens in a solid-phase ELISA. These responses were characterized in a randomized selected healthy individuals from a Colombian population. RESULTS The reference and control sera showed great reactivity against all the polysaccharides evaluated, especially against polysaccharide 14 and 19F. The lowest reactivity in these two sera was observed against polysaccharide 3 and 4. Among the children evaluated, polysaccharide 5/19F showed the highes pre-vaccination reactivity, and polysaccharide 14/19F showed the highest post-vaccination reactivity. Among the adults, polysaccharides 14 and 19F showed the greatest reactivity pre- and post-vaccination. For all the polysaccharides (excepting polysaccharide 5), an inverse association among high polysaccharide-specific pre-vaccination- and the increase of post-vaccination-IgG levels was observed. CONCLUSION This ELISA test reliably quantifies the serum levels of specific IgG against 10 serotypes of S. pneumoniae. According to the responses by healthy individuals, the current study validates parameters used internationally as an adequate the response to the 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine.

From Insult to Injury: How Disputes Begin and Escalate among Adolescents and Young Adults in Medellin, Colombia

This article aims to contribute to the understanding of circumstances, causes of initiation, and process of escalation of physical disputes or fights resulting in physical injury. We analyzed data from a case-control study of perpetrators of violence between the ages of 15 to 24 (n=373) in the city of Medellin, Colombia. The findings show that 89% of conflicts resulting in injury took place in public places and most often involved males (78%). Six percent involved the consumption of alcohol, 20% reported having used illicit drugs before the initiation of the confrontation. Circa 50% of disputes began because of verbal aggression. Alcohol consumption was found to be associated with verbal aggression towards a friend or companion but not to other circumstances that start disputes. Drug use was not associated with the initiation of disputes. In 18.5% of the cases, a weapon was used while 5% of these disputes ended in a homicide. In none of the cases in which homicide was the outcome was there bystander intervention. In contrast, homicide did not result in the cases in which bystanders intervened.

Effect of maternal immunization against pertussis in Medellin and the metropolitan area, Colombia, 2016–2017

BACKGROUND In 2013, pertussis immunization (Tdap) for pregnant women was implemented in Colombia to protect newborns in response to increased pertussis incidence. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of Tdap maternal immunization on the concentration of mother/umbilical cord antibodies and the occurrence of pertussis in infants during their first six months of life. METHODS A cohort study in eight randomly selected hospitals in Medellin and metropolitan area of Antioquia, Colombia was conducted in 2015-2016. IgG PT antibody levels in paired maternal and umbilical cord sera were measured from 805 mothers immunized recruited during labor and 200 mothers recruited during the prenatal care before immunization and followed until delivery. Antibodies were analyzed by commercial ELISA kits. 896 infants were followed to detect acute respiratory infections and paroxysms of coughing, inspiratory whoop, apnea, cyanosis or post-tussive vomiting. For laboratory confirmation, B. pertussis- specific real time PCR was performed. RESULTS We observed a high prevalence of titers >100 IU/mL (mother: 18.40% [95% CI 16-21%]; umbilical cord: 23.1% [95% CI 19.2-27.4%]), positive correlation of umbilical cord and maternal antibodies, higher antibody concentration in vaccinated than in non-vaccinated mothers and significant difference in antibody levels before and after vaccination (Wilcoxon test p = 0.000). The trans placental transport ratio was higher if the mother was vaccinated between 26 and 30 weeks of pregnancy and maximum eight weeks before delivery. Two cases of pertussis were confirmed in infants (incidence of 1.99 per 1000). CONCLUSION The expected effect of Tdap maternal vaccination against pertussis was observed.