Objetivo: Caracterizar las metodologías para la evaluación integral de la sostenibilidad del transporte urbano, e identificar las oportunidades de investigación en países en desarrollo. Materiales y métodos: Se hace una revisión estructurada de la literatura en tres etapas y se propone una taxonomía para la caracterización de marcos conceptuales, modelos analíticos, índices e indicadores. Se presenta también un análisis de los indicadores en once categorías propuestas. Resultados y discusión: Se evidencia un incremento en la literatura científica e institucional dedicada al estudio de metodologías para la evaluación de la sostenibilidad en las últimas dos décadas. Sin embargo, se observa también la carencia de métodos que permitan incluir las dimensiones económica, ambiental y social de manera integral, en particular para evaluar la sostenibilidad de los sistemas de transporte urbano. La mayor parte de los trabajos está centrada en el desarrollo de índices e indicadores, y en la aplicación en países europeos y norteamericanos. Conclusiones: La caracterización identifica cuáles son las metodologías, las instituciones y los países que han implementado evaluaciones integradas de la sostenibilidad del transporte urbano. Igualmente, se identifican las dimensiones de la sostenibilidad más estudiadas, y se reseñan las oportunidades de investigación en países en desarrollo.

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection caused by several species of the genus Leishmania that is considered as a neglected disease. Drug development process requires a robust and updated high-throughput technology to the evaluation of candidate compounds that imply the manipulation of the pathogenic species of the parasite in the laboratory. Therefore, it is restricted to trained personal and level II biosafety environments. However, it has been established the utility of Leishmania tarentolae as a model for in vitro screening of antileishmanial agents without the necessity of level II biosafety setups. In parallel the transfection of Leishmania parasites with reporter genes as the eGFP using non-commercial integration vectors like the pIRmcs3(-) has proved to be a powerful tool for the implementation of semi automatized high-throughput platforms for the evaluation of antileishmanial compounds. Here we report the generation of a new L. tarentolae strain overexpressing the eGFP gene harboured by the non-commercial vector pIR3(-). We also demonstrate its utility for the semi-automatized screening of antileshmanial compounds in intracellular forms of the L. tarentolae parasite.

Micrurus dumerilii is a coral snake of clinic interest in Colombia. Its venom is mainly composed of phospholipases A2 being MdumPLA2 the most abundant protein. Nevertheless, Micrurus species produce a low quantity of venom, which makes it difficult to produce anticoral antivenoms. Therefore, in this work, we present the recombinant expression of MdumPLA2 to evaluate its biological activities and its immunogenic potential to produce antivenoms. For this, a genetic construct rMdumPLA2 was cloned into the pET28a vector and expressed heterologously in bacteria. His-rMdumPLA2 was extracted from inclusion bodies, refolded in vitro, and isolated using affinity and RP-HPLC chromatography. His-rMdumPLA2 was shown to have phospholipase A2 activity, a weak anticoagulant effect, and induced myonecrosis and edema. The anti-His-rMdumPLA2 antibodies produced in rabbits recognized native PLA2, the complete venom of M. dumerilii, and a phospholipase from another species of the Micrurus genus. Antibodies neutralized 100% of the in vitro phospholipase activity of the recombinant toxin and a moderate percentage of the myotoxic activity of M. dumerilii venom in mice. These results indicate that His-rMdumPLA2 could be used as an immunogen to improve anticoral antivenoms development. This work is the first report of an M. dumerilii functional recombinant PLA2.