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Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky and Kunibert Raffer, eds., Sovereign Debt Crises: What Have We Learned? This is the case of countries that lack such policy space; however, countries with a wider room for manoeuvre do not face this constraint, therefore, they can treat both domestic and foreign creditors equally. PIIE Working Paper Series (August) https://www.piie.com/sites/default/files/publications/wp/wp13-8.pdf Footnotes 1 The forecast issue is certainly critical when the IMF intervenes in sovereign debt crises and restructuring processes; however, the book also points out to the unrealistic forecasts by the Fund when assessing countries' sustainability as a broader methodological flaw. [Extracted from the article]

In Mexico, the Center of origin and diversity of maize, a daily per capita average of 0.5 kg of maize-based foods are consumed. Approximately 10 million tons of maize is produced in small peasant holdings. Nevertheless, a greater proportion of industrially produced maize-derived products have started to appear in recent years. We traced the presence of transgenes and glyphosate in maize-based foods collected in Mexico and elsewhere as a means to describe the landscape of distribution, abundance, and types of transgenes in maize-derived food in Mexico. Transgenic sequences were present in overall 82% of assayed food categories; while the most widely form of maize consumption in Mexico, tortillas, had recombinant sequences in 90.4% of the samples. Furthermore, we found statistically indistinguishable frequency distributions of transgenes in samples from Mexico and other countries. Additionally, glyphosate was detected in approximately 27.7% of the samples rendered positive for transgenic events tolerant to this herbicide. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Authentication of food products is of primary importance for consumers and industries. They expect that product labeling represents its true identity. However, in many cases, either accidental or fraudulent substitution occurs. Molecular biology based methodologies are acquiring great interest for their applicability to track a given item at any stage along the food supply chain. PCR analysis allows the identification of DNA traces that may remain in a given food matrix from the principal component and/or from contaminants. This work describes a novel experimental protocol to extract, amplify and identify apple DNA from commercially available quince jams. Aiming to extract DNA from this complex matrix, a DNA extraction method was developed, based in reagents such as CTAB and PTB, that minimize the amount of contaminants co-precipitating with DNA and thus reducing PCR inhibition. In order to identify apple DNA in quince jam, two molecular methods based on the amplification by PCR and RFLP analysis of the highly conserved chloroplast gene maturase-k (matk), were developed. The results obtained show the presence of two distinct species Cydonia oblonga (quince) and Malus sp. (apple) in all commercial quince jams analyzed. This study represents an advance in DNA methodologies for the detection of fraud and/or contaminants in this complex food matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a genomic surveillance program for real-time monitoring of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOCs) in Uruguay. We report on a PCR method for SARS-CoV-2 VOCs, the surveillance workflow, and multiple independent introductions and community transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 P.1 VOC in Uruguay.

Uruguay controlled the viral dissemination during the first nine months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Unfortunately, towards the end of 2020, the number of daily new cases exponentially increased. Herein, we analyzed the country-wide genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 between November 2020 and April 2021. We identified that the most prevalent viral variant during the first epidemic wave in Uruguay (December 2020-February 2021) was a B.1.1.28 sublineage carrying Spike mutations Q675H + Q677H, now designated as P.6, followed by lineages P.2 and P.7. P.6 probably arose around November 2020, in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital department, and rapidly spread to other departments, with evidence of further local transmission clusters; it also spread sporadically to the USA and Spain. The more efficient dissemination of lineage P.6 with respect to P.2 and P.7 and the presence of mutations (Q675H and Q677H) in the proximity of the key cleavage site at the S1/S2 boundary suggest that P.6 may be more transmissible than other lineages co-circulating in Uruguay. Although P.6 was replaced by the variant of concern (VOC) P.1 as the predominant lineage in Uruguay since April 2021, the monitoring of the concurrent emergence of Q675H + Q677H in VOCs should be of worldwide interest.

Uruguay is one of the few countries in the Americas that successfully contained the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) epidemic during the first half of 2020. Nevertheless, the intensive human mobility across the dry border with Brazil is a major challenge for public health authorities. We aimed to investigate the origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains detected in Uruguayan localities bordering Brazil as well as to measure the viral flux across this ∼1,100 km uninterrupted dry frontier. Using complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the Uruguayan-Brazilian bordering region and phylogeographic analyses, we inferred the virus dissemination frequency between Brazil and Uruguay and characterized local outbreak dynamics during the first months (May-July) of the pandemic. Phylogenetic analyses revealed multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 Brazilian lineages B.1.1.28 and B.1.1.33 into Uruguayan localities at the bordering region. The most probable sources of viral strains introduced to Uruguay were the Southeast Brazilian region and the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Some of the viral strains introduced in Uruguayan border localities between early May and mid-July were able to locally spread and originated the first outbreaks detected outside the metropolitan region. The viral lineages responsible for Uruguayan urban outbreaks were defined by a set of between four and 11 mutations (synonymous and non-synonymous) with respect to the ancestral B.1.1.28 and B.1.1.33 viruses that arose in Brazil, supporting the notion of a rapid genetic differentiation between SARS-CoV-2 subpopulations spreading in South America. Although Uruguayan borders have remained essentially closed to non-Uruguayan citizens, the inevitable flow of people across the dry border with Brazil allowed the repeated entry of the virus into Uruguay and the subsequent emergence of local outbreaks in Uruguayan border localities. Implementation of coordinated bi-national surveillance systems is crucial to achieve an efficient control of the SARS-CoV-2 spread across this kind of highly permeable borderland regions around the world., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Mir, Rego, Resende, Tort, Fernández-Calero, Noya, Brandes, Possi, Arleo, Reyes, Victoria, Lizasoain, Castells, Maya, Salvo, Schäffer Gregianini, Mar da Rosa, Garay Martins, Alonso, Vega, Salazar, Ferrés, Smircich, Sotelo Silveira, Fort, Mathó, Arantes, Appolinario, Mendonça, Benítez-Galeano, Simoes, Graña, Motta, Siqueira, Bello, Colina and Spangenberg.)