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The phenomenon of disinformation raises serious questions for society, affecting public trust and democratic stability. In this context, an attempt is made to configure a profile of the practices of identification and fight against disinformation, assess the incidence of social networks, and identify citizens’ perceptions of media literacy in Ecuador. The methodology used is quantitative and qualitative, with a descriptive approach, using a survey, interviews with experts, and focus groups. The converging points between experts and citizens are the need to develop media literacy processes that begin in basic education and the institutionalisation of the fight against disinformation, which should be assumed through an articulation between citizens and schools. On the other hand, training to identify fake news is directly related to information verification practices. Likewise, statistical evidence shows that Ecuadorians who verify information perceive themselves as fully informed citizens.

Mosquito-borne diseases are a global burden; however, current methods of evaluating human-mosquito contact rates are expensive and time consuming. Validated surveys of self-reported mosquito bites may be an inexpensive way to determine mosquito presence and bite exposure level in an area, but this remains untested. In this study, a survey of self-reported mosquito bites was validated against household mosquito abundance from six communities in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. From February 2021 to July 2022, households were interviewed monthly, and five questions were used to ask participants how often they were bitten by mosquitoes at different times during the day. At the same time, adult mosquitoes were collected using a Prokopack aspirator. Species were identified and counted. Survey responses were compared with the total number of mosquitoes found in the home using negative binomial regression. More frequent self-reported mosquito bites were significantly associated with higher numbers of collected adult mosquitoes. These associations were driven by the prevalence of the dominant genera, Culex. These results suggest that surveys of perceived mosquito bites relate to actual mosquito presence, making them a potentially useful tool for determining the impact of vector-control interventions on community perceptions of risk but less useful for assessing the risk of nondominant species such as Aedes aegypti. Further work is needed to examine the robustness of these results in other contexts.

Disinformation generates political polarization and affects the quality of democracy, so understanding attitudes towards the regulation of disinformation will help society and its leaders to develop effective and inclusive approaches to combat this phenomenon. The purpose of the research is to determine the perceptions and propensities of Andean Community citizens regarding the regulation of disinformation. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have formed a political and economic bloc since 1969, and are subscribers to the Inter-American legal framework. The methodology is quantitative and qualitative, with exploratory and descriptive approaches. The instruments used are a survey, focus groups and expert interviews with experts, which were applied between July 2022 and May 2024, to establish trends and to avoid biases. It was found that 80% of respondents and participants in the focus groups agreed that misinformation alienates people from democratic representation and there was evidence of distrust in elections. A vision of regulation by states persists, through laws, rather than self- or co-regulation. The discussion revolves around the need for a multifaceted approach to combat disinformation, between regulation, media literacy and the responsibility of digital platforms, without compromising freedom of expression.

Spinal tuberculosis, also referred to as Pott's disease, presents a significant risk of severe paralysis if not promptly detected and treated, owing to complications such as spinal cord compression and deformity. This article presents the genetic analysis of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis STB-T1A strain, isolated from the spine of a 29-year-old female diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis. Genomic DNA was extracted from pure culture and subjected to sequencing using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencing system. The genome of the M. tuberculosis STB-T1A strain spans 4,367,616 base pairs with a G+C content of 65.56 % and 4174 protein-coding genes. Comparative genomic analysis, conducted via single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based phylogenetic analysis using the Maximum Likelihood method, revealed that the strain falls within the Indo-Oceanic lineage (Lineage 1). It clusters with the M. tuberculosis 43-16836 strain, which was isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with tuberculous meningitis in Thailand. The complete genome sequence has been deposited at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank database with the accession number JBBMVZ000000000.

Digital citizenship implies people's participation in managing their rights and civic engagements. However, definitions clash with reality due to institutional conditions, perceptions, and limited information literacy skills. In this context, it is of interest to determine the perceptions, forms of intervention and treatment of the concept of digital citizenship from the perspectives of citizens and the media in the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru). The methodology is qualitative and quantitative with a descriptive scope. The research techniques used are a survey, semi-structured interviews and content analysis. 497 people from the Andean countries responded to an online questionnaire between 16 June and 23 July 2023. Participants were selected on the basis of non-probabilistic sampling. The semi-structured interviews were conducted between 15 and 30 May 2023 through Zoom; and the sample of newspaper articles corresponds to quotas. It is concluded that the media and social networks are effective tools for citizen participation, but it is suggested that the agendas to be revised to include the voices of the protagonists. There is a predominance of an instrumental conception, and social networks have been valued as means of communication. Andean inhabitants show resistance to the defense of rights or the management of social change, which could be fostered through a conscious and broad exercise of digital citizenship.

La investigación se enfoca en analizar las narrativas transmedia al momento de informar sobre un terremoto desde un medio de comunicación digital nacional y un medio internacional; también se examina el impacto de la red social Facebook al difundir el acontecimiento. El objetivo es comparar el contenido generado a partir del terremoto del 16 de abril del 2016 en Ecuador mediante el uso de herramientas transmedia en los diarios El Comercio (Ecuador) y El País (España), y en la red social Facebook. Se pretende conocer el rol de la audiencia como prosumidores de información. La metodología aplicada fue mixta, cualitativa y cuantitativa; la muestra analizada fue de 1126 piezas informativas del diario El Comercio, 44 del diario El País y 1155 menciones de Facebook. La necesidad de educar e informar a los ciudadanos sobre la prevención de las consecuencias de los desastres naturales y el tratamiento que dan los medios digitales de comunicación justifica el estudio. La importancia de contar con medidas de prevención hace de esta investigación un aporte para la ciudadanía. La narrativa periodística se fortalece en la variedad de recursos que permiten retratar una historia en diversos contextos; como se muestra en esta investigación, los recursos más utilizados siguen siendo la fotografía y el video.

The visual design of social media content serves an aesthetic function, as well as aiding the communication process. This study analyses the elements of graphic design in the content published by the brands Nike, Victoria's Secret, Zara and Chanel, which have the largest followings on Instagram. The methodology is qualitative, and the presence of elements such as typographies and colours are determined. The research questions are: 1. Are elements of graphic language used in the publications made by the brands on Instagram? 2. Does the brand's corporate identity manifest in a coherent visual manner in the content published on Instagram?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disinformation is multiplied through social networks, and many hoaxes show Russian interests, to the extent that the US and the European Union qualify RT and Sputnik as media outlets for the circulation of false facts. This research aims to identify the disinformation generated by RT and Sputnik related to Ecuador in audiovisual media and social networks. The methodology is qualitative and quantitative, descriptive in scope. It is evident that Russian disinformation is present in the country, especially online. It is important to promote media literacy and open a debate on regulation that promotes freedom of expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]