A History of the Elimination of Iodine Deficiency Disorders in the Americas: A Dramatic Achievement and Lessons Learned.

Iodine is essential for the synthesis of thyroid hormones, which regulate cell metabolism, growth, and development. Although iodine deficiency (ID) causes adverse health effects across the lifespan, it is particularly problematic in pregnancy, when it can lead to irreversible fetal brain damage. A high prevalence of severe ID, manifesting as endemic goiter and cretinism, predated the arrival of European explorers in the Americas.

Evaluation of the hemoglobin cutoff point for anemia in adult women residents of different altitudinal levels in Peru.

Background: Anemia prevalence is high in countries where high proportion of the population lives at high altitude (HA) due perhaps to the unsuitability hemoglobin correction factor proposed by the WHO. The present study has been designed to evaluate a new approach to establish thresholds of hemoglobin (Hb) when defining anemia at HA.

Materials & Methods: Cross-sectional study evaluating 217 women aged 18 to 75 years-old, residents of 2 cities at low altitude (LA) (130 and 150 meters) and 2 at HA (3800 and 4300 meters).

Women's mood at high altitude. sexual dimorphism in hypoxic stress modulation by the tryptophan-melatonin axis.

Sexual (and gender)-dimorphism in tolerance to hypobaric hypoxia increasingly matters for a differential surveillance of human activities at high altitude (HA). At low altitudes, the prevalence of anxiety and depression in women has already been found to double when compared with men; it could be expected to even increase on exposure to HA. In purposefully caring for the health of women at HA, the present work explores the potential involvement of the tryptophan (Trp)-melatonin axis in mood changes on exposure to hypobaric hypoxia.

Household Air Pollution Concentrations after Liquefied Petroleum Gas Interventions in Rural Peru: Findings from a One-Year Randomized Controlled Trial Followed by a One-Year Pragmatic Crossover Trial.

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from biomass fuel combustion remains a leading environmental risk factor for morbidity worldwide.

Objective: Measure the effect of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) interventions on HAP exposures in Puno, Peru.

Methods: We conducted a 1-y randomized controlled trial followed by a 1-y pragmatic crossover trial in 180 women age 25-64 y.

Association between iron supplementation and the presence of diarrhoea in Peruvian children aged 6-59 months: analysis of the database of the Demographic and Family Health Survey in Peru (DHS, Peru), years 2009-2019.

Introduction: According to the WHO, anaemia is a severe public health problem when the prevalence is ≥ 40 %. In 2019, in Peru, 40·1 % of children (aged 6 to 35 months) are diagnosed as anaemic. This is a concern since, despite the efforts of the governments to reduce the prevalence, the problem has stagnated since 2011.

Characteristics and outcomes from COVID-19 among Peruvian physicians: a nationwide register-based study.

The healthcare workforce has played an integral role in fighting COVID-19 and continues to do so despite the continuous adverse outcomes. To address this issue, official public data concerning COVID-19 cases and deaths of Peruvian physicians was used to quantify the risk of death and infection by SARS-CoV-2. 20.

Association between air pollution in Lima and the high incidence of COVID-19: findings from a post hoc analysis.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) originated in the People's Republic of China in December 2019. Thereafter, a global logarithmic expansion of cases occurred. Some countries have a higher rate of infections despite the early implementation of quarantine.

Nitrogen dioxide exposures from LPG stoves in a cleaner-cooking intervention trial.

Background: Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves have been promoted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a clean energy alternative to biomass burning cookstoves.

Objective: We sought to characterize kitchen area concentrations and personal exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO) within a randomized controlled trial in the Peruvian Andes. The intervention included the provision of an LPG stove and continuous fuel distribution with behavioral messaging to maximize compliance.

Changes in hemoglobin levels with age and altitude in preschool-aged children in Peru: the assessment of two individual-based national databases.

According to the World Health Organization, the cutoff hemoglobin (Hb) value for defining anemia is 11 g/dL in preschool-aged children, and Hb measurements should be corrected above an altitude of 1000 meters. This study sought to determine the altitude at which the Hb value increases compared with that at sea level, Hb changes with age and region in Peru, the prevalence of anemia according to three different models used to correct Hb for altitude, and the association of the Hb value with stunting. Two individual-based Peruvian national databases were analyzed.

High altitude reduces infection rate of COVID-19 but not case-fatality rate.

Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is suggested that life at high altitude may reduce COVID-19 infections and case-fatality rates (cases/deaths). We study data from Peru COVID-19 pandemics, which first case was recorded on March 6th, 2020.

Nitrogen dioxide exposures from biomass cookstoves in the Peruvian Andes.

Background: Household air pollution from biomass cookstoves is a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality, yet little is known about exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO ).

Objective: To characterize NO kitchen area concentrations and personal exposures among women with biomass cookstoves in the Peruvian Andes.

Methods: We measured kitchen area NO concentrations at high-temporal resolution in 100 homes in the Peruvian Andes.

New Insights into the Genetic Basis of Monge's Disease and Adaptation to High-Altitude.

Human high-altitude (HA) adaptation or mal-adaptation is explored to understand the physiology, pathophysiology, and molecular mechanisms that underlie long-term exposure to hypoxia. Here, we report the results of an analysis of the largest whole-genome-sequencing of Chronic Mountain Sickness (CMS) and nonCMS individuals, identified candidate genes and functionally validated these candidates in a genetic model system (Drosophila). We used PreCIOSS algorithm that uses Haplotype Allele Frequency score to separate haplotypes carrying the favored allele from the noncarriers and accordingly, prioritize genes associated with the CMS or nonCMS phenotype.

Higher androgen bioactivity is associated with excessive erythrocytosis and chronic mountain sickness in Andean Highlanders: a review.

Populations living at high altitudes (HA), particularly in the Peruvian Central Andes, are characterised by presenting subjects with erythrocytosis and others with excessive erythrocytosis (EE)(Hb>21 g dl(-1) ). EE is associated with chronic mountain sickness (CMS), or lack of adaptation to HA. Testosterone is an erythropoietic hormone and it may play a role on EE at HA.

Serum testosterone levels and excessive erythrocytosis during the process of adaptation to high altitudes.

Populations living at high altitudes (HAs), particularly in the Peruvian Andes, are characterized by a mixture of subjects with erythrocytosis (16 g dl(-1)21 g dl(-1)). Elevated haemoglobin values (EE) are associated with chronic mountain sickness, a condition reflecting the lack of adaptation to HA. According to current data, native men from regions of HA are not adequately adapted to live at such altitudes if they have elevated serum testosterone levels.

Exercise pathophysiology in patients with chronic mountain sickness exercise in chronic mountain sickness.

Background: Chronic mountain sickness (CMS) is characterized by a combination of excessive erythrocytosis,severe hypoxemia, and pulmonary hypertension, all of which affect exercise capacity.

Methods: Thirteen patients with CMS and 15 healthy highlander and 15 newcomer lowlander control subjects were investigated at an altitude of 4,350 m (Cerro de Pasco, Peru). All of them underwent measurements of diffusing capacity of lung for nitric oxide and carbon monoxide at rest, echocardiography for estimation of mean pulmonary arterial pressure and cardiac output at rest and at exercise, and an incremental cycle ergometer cardiopulmonary exercise test.

Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacology of Lepidium meyenii (Maca), a Plant from the Peruvian Highlands.

Lepidium meyenii (maca) is a Peruvian plant of the Brassicaceae family cultivated for more than 2000 years, which grows exclusively in the central Andes between 4000 and 4500 m altitude. Maca is used as a food supplement and also for its medicinal properties described traditionally. Since the 90s of the XX century, an increasing interest in products from maca has been observed in many parts of the world.

Stillbirth rates in Peruvian populations at high altitude.

Objective: To compare the stillbirth rates in 4 cities at different altitudes in Peru.

Methods: The stillbirth rates from a sample of 22,662 births recorded in the Perinatal Information System database were analyzed between 2005 and 2006 for the cities of Lima (150 m), Huancayo (3280 m), Cuzco (3430 m), and Puno (3850 m).

Results: Stillbirths were higher at high altitude (>3000 m) (OR 4.

Peruvian contributions to the study on human reproduction at high altitude: from the chronicles of the Spanish conquest to the present.

Humans have lived in the Peruvian Andes for about 12,000 years providing adequate time for adaptation to high altitude to have occurred. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century potentially altered this process through genetic admixture. Early records revealed a potential for reduced fertility and a high perinatal and neonatal mortality amongst the early Spanish inhabitants who settled at high altitude when compared to the native Inca population.