This study delves into the dynamic landscape of pension funds in Colombia, examining both its current research status and practical implications. Understanding the state of pension systems is crucial for individuals' financial security and a country's overall economic stability, especially given factors such as an aging population and evolving socio-economic dynamics. By comprehensively analyzing scholarly publications on Colombian pension funds using the Scopus database, this research sheds light on key trends and contributors shaping policy formulation and financial planning. The analysis covers a period from 1987 to 2023, identifying 71 relevant articles through keyword searches and filters. Various metrics, including publication trends, citations, international collaboration, and authorship dynamics, were quantitatively assessed. The results reveal an annual growth rate of 5.37%, with research articles comprising 81.69%, review articles 7.04%, and other formats like books, book chapters, and conference papers making up 11.27% of the total documents. Notably, countries such as the UK, the USA, Spain, and Colombia emerge as key contributors to the literature. Among authors, Mesa-Lago, L., stands out as a significant figure, with one of the earliest publications on the topic. The findings underscore the growing importance of pension funds in Colombia, particularly in the context of fund performance research amid financial crises. The prevalence of international collaboration suggests a global interest in understanding and contributing to the development of Colombian pension systems. Furthermore, the study identifies research gaps, particularly in areas concerning the socio-economic impact of pension policies, providing a roadmap for future investigations. Policymakers, financial practitioners, and researchers can leverage these insights to inform strategic decision-making and address critical challenges in optimizing pension fund management in Colombia.

Vascular access in hemodialysis is one of the pillars of success of the program. Therefore, efforts should be directed firstly to achieve the greatest number of vascular accesses of the arteriovenous fistula type, and secondly to reduce complications related to access cannulation in order to functionally preserve the access. Several strategies have been described to improve this last aspect; this article describes the use of ultrasound to improve the probability of successful cannulation in cases considered difficult by the nursing team.

Amyloidosis is a systemic disorder produced by the deposition of insoluble protein fibrils that fold and deposit in the myocardium. Patients with amyloidosis and cardiac involvement have higher mortality than patients without cardiac involvement. The two most prevalent forms of amyloidosis associated with cardiac involvement are AL amyloidosis, due to the deposition of immunoglobulin light chains, and ATTR amyloidosis, due to the deposition of the transthyretin (TTR) protein in mutated or senile form. This article aims to review the different cardiac imaging modalities (echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine and tomography) that allow to determine the severity of cardiac involvement in patients with amyloidosis, the type of amyloidosis and its prognosis. Finally, we suggest a diagnostic algorithm to determine cardiac involvement in amyloidosis adapted to locally available diagnostic tools, with a practical and clinical approach.

In recent years, ghost imaging has made important progress in the field of remote sensing imaging. In order to promote the application of solar ghost imaging in this field, this paper studies the computational ghost imaging based on the incoherent light of blackbody radiation. Firstly, according to the intensity probability density function of blackbody radiation, the expression of contrast-to-noise ratio (R_CN) describing the quality of computational ghost imaging is obtained, and then the random speckle pattern simulating blackbody radiation is generated by computer with the idea of slice sampling, finally, a digital light projector is used to modulate and generate the random modulated light that simulates the blackbody radiation light source, and this light source is used to realize the computational ghost image of the reflective object in the experiment. The “ghost image” of the object under different measurement frame numbers is reconstructed, and the contrast-to-noise ratio describing the imaging quality is measured. The results show that the image quality is relatively good when the average intensity (gray) of the randomly modulated speckle is about 160. On the other hand, the contrast-to-noise ratio of the image gradually increases from 0.8795 to 1.241, 1.516, 1.755, 2.100 and 2.371 as the number of measurement frames increases from 2,000 to 4,000, 6,000, 8,000, 12,000 and 20,000, respectively. The experimental results are basically consistent with the theoretical analysis. The results are of great significance for the application of ghost imaging with incoherent light, such as sunlight, which is approximately regarded as blackbody radiation, in the field of remote imaging.

In the present research work, we investigated the use of the image intensifier in the extraction of radiopaque foreign bodies in traumatology. First of all, it is necessary to clarify that this method constitutes an essential component of practically generalized use, in which low current level radiation is used, that is, fluoroscopic radiation, so that it can be applied for a considerably longer time than that of the longest radiographic exposure. This tool works with a tube intended for this purpose, which is known as fluoroscopy. The radiations from the tube pass through the patient and reach the serigraph, on which the image intensifier or fluoroscopic screen is mounted. In the latter case, this is where the chain ends, since it is on this screen that the image is formed and where the physician directly observes the region to be studied. It is also necessary to define that a foreign body is any element foreign to the body that enters it, either through the skin or through any natural orifice such as the eyes, nose, throat, preventing its normal functioning. It was possible to obtain as a result that the advantages of fluoroscopic navigation are the reduction of surgical time and the amount of irradiation, which goes from about 140 seconds without navigation to only 8 seconds, which is a substantial difference. Among the conclusions, it was possible to highlight that in the case of a radiopaque object, it is essential to have an image intensifier for localization of the foreign body during surgery; while in the case of a radiolucent foreign body, it is more advisable to locate it through the clinic, since these tend to form granulomas.

Forest ecological benefit compensation plays a promoting role in improving the enthusiasm of forest ecological builders and maintainers, maintaining the legitimate economic interests of forest owners, and coordinating the fairness between the “clear water and green mountains” protectors and the “gold and silver mountains” beneficiaries. Comprehensive combed the domestic forest ecological benefit compensation mechanism, including the compensation scope, compensation subject, compensation object, the research progress of compensation standard, summarized the forest ecosystem benefits measurement, including physical appraisal method, the value evaluation method, energy analysis method and the characteristics and application research progress of ecological model method. This paper discusses the research status and existing problems of the calculation basis of compensation standard, the origin, research emphasis and progress of forest ecological service payment abroad in recent years, and the mechanism of forest ecological service payment in many countries. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to improve the compensation mechanism of forest ecological benefits in China. On the one hand, it is necessary to broaden the source of funds through various ways of marketization and scientifically evaluate the forest ecological benefits. On the other hand, the compensation standard should be established scientifically and reasonably to achieve different compensation levels or compensation intervals.