The evolution of loan volume and non-performing loans under COVID-19 innovations: The Colombian case.

Financial institutions' scale of total and non-performing loans are important figures signaling economic activity and its risk level. COVID-19 created an external shock with overarching effects on the global economy, impacting the credit activity and debtors' ability to repay their obligations. We study how Colombia's loans and non-performing loans market ratios could react to an external shock (absent of any relief measures) by developing a vector autoregressive model with exogenous variables (VARX) with the Central Bank intervention rate as an exogenous variable. We use impulse response functions to simulate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market of loans and default levels in Colombia. Our results show that the effects remain significant over long periods.

Creating psychometric scales for perceptual assessment of fruit juices' refreshing and thickness attributes.

Persons look for beverages to satisfy thirst (refresh) and feel fulfilled (thick). However, refreshing and thickness are concepts that lack a measurement instrument that captures an accurate judgment of consumers' perceptions. This research aims to propose a tool to assess consumers' refreshing and thickness expectations of fruit juices. Items were developed through a two-stage qualitative-exploratory study, followed by a quantitative study describing the scale's composition using an Item Response Theory approach. Hence, we suggest a set of items to consider when measuring both concepts from a perception task. Moreover, results show that thickness and refreshing are distinct and independent ideas. We provide a theoretical contribution defining each construct and recognizing the attributes that best describe refreshing and thickness for five different fruit juices. Our methodological contribution is creating a scale for each of the concepts. Practically, developing a thickness and refreshing scale is useful for product developers and marketers who expect to satisfy consumers' needs for soft drinks.

English proficiency level in Colombian undergraduate students of medical programs / Nivel de inglés de los futuros egresados de los programas de pregrado de medicina en Colombia

Abstract Introduction: The government intends to position Colombia as a health and welfare tourism destination. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase the levels of English proficiency in health professionals, which is in line with the goal set by the Colombian Ministry of National Education for 2014: 20% of medical graduates should score at intermediate or advanced English proficiency levels. Objectives: To determine if the bilingualism goal set for 2014 was achieved by students of undergraduate medical programs in Colombia. Materials and methods: Descriptive and statistical approach (parametric and nonparametric tests) based on data from the Saber Pro test (2011-2015) for medical programs offered in universities of academic nature. Results: The overall percentage of students who met the goal countrywide (28.6%) was satisfactory; however, only 16 medical programs out of 43 (37.2%) achieved the goal. Conclusions: In general, the English proficiency level of potential medical graduates is aligned with the government's goal. However, there is much to be improved considering that about 70% of future medical graduates do not have an intermediate or advanced level in this skill.

Resumen Introducción. El gobierno propuso posicionar a Colombia como un destino turístico de salud y bienestar, siendo uno de los objetivos aumentar los niveles de competencia del inglés en los profesionales de la salud. Esto se relaciona con la meta, para 2014, del Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN) de que 20% de los graduados deberían clasificar en nivel intermedio o superior en inglés. Objetivos. Analizar el cumplimiento de la meta establecida por el MEN para los graduandos de los programas de medicina. Materiales y métodos. Aproximación descriptiva y estadística (pruebas de proporciones paramétricas y no paramétricas) que empleó datos de la prueba Saber Pro (2011-2015) para los programas de medicina de las instituciones de educación superior de carácter académico universitario. Resultados. El porcentaje global de estudiantes que cumplió la meta (28.6%) fue satisfactorio; sin embargo, solo 18 de 43 (37.2%) programas de medicina la cumplieron. Conclusiones. El nivel de inglés de los potenciales graduados de los programas de medicina está alineado con la meta del gobierno. No obstante, hay mucho por mejorar si se tiene en cuenta que cerca del 70% de los futuros graduados de los programas de medicina no alcanza un nivel intermedio o superior en esta competencia.

Serological detection of Toxoplasma gondii in domestic dogs in the western region of Cuba.

We investigated the prevalence of IgG antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in 176 dogs from Havana Province and Mayabeque Province, Cuba, by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA). The overall prevalence was 72.72% (128/176). Dogs living on the cemented floor environment were significantly higher (p=0.01) in being positive for T. gondii. The high detection of antibodies to T. gondii parasite confirms the outstanding dogs in the West of the Cuban provinces, which is a potential hazard in the region, not only for dogs, but also for public health, considering it is a zoonosis of great importance.