Triatoma mexicana (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Guanajuato, Mexico: house infestation and seasonal variation

Triatoma mexicana was described by Herrich-Schaeffer in 1848. In 1940, a male specimen was found in Hidalgo. In 1970, this species was recorded in the state of Queretaro. Later, it was registered in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi. In the present paper we performed an investigation in 545 dwellings from three counties in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, from March 2003 to May 2004. The search and capture of triatomines were seasonally performed indoors and outdoors. Entomological indexes were calculated. The risk and no risk relations between triatomine presence and housing construction materials were analyzed. Fourteen triatomines were collected indoors and 151 outdoors. The vectors were collected in houses built with either risky and non-risky materials. Adults go indoors but do not settle there, hence, no relationship was found between the building materials and infestation of houses. Conventional interventions like house improvement or insecticide spraying are not efficient for the control of T. mexicana, because its developmental cycle is accomplished outdoors in the area surrounding the houses.

La formación de usuarios en una biblioteca virtual universitaria

En un context d'educació a distància i amb usuaris virtuals, la formació en l'ús dels serveis i recursos d'una biblioteca universitària requereix d'una adaptació de les formes tradicionalment ofertes des de les Biblioteques presencials al nou entorn amb mètodes nous i innovadors. En aquest sentit, la Biblioteca de l'UOC ha desenvolupat noves vies de comunicació i nous formats per poder difondre serveis i per formar els nostres usuaris en l'ús d'aquests. La característica comuna de la majoria d'ells, és la de ser 'formació a distància' que es du a terme a través d'un 'Campus virtual'. Les diferents opcions seran analitzades en la comunicació així com les problemàtiques i avantatges que presenten els diversos mètodes de formació duts a terme per les biblioteques universitàries en entorns virtuals.

La Biblioteca de la UOC : continguts digitals per a una biblioteca virtual

En aquesta comunicació, farem un repàs dels continguts digitals que actualment conformen el fons de la Biblioteca de la UOC. Parlar de continguts digitals a la Biblioteca de la UOC implica necessàriament recordar que la nostra biblioteca es defineix a si mateixa com a virtual, una virtualitat caracteritzada per la possibilitat oferta als nostres usuaris d'accedir remotament a continguts i serveis bibliotecaris, en què es combinen notícies bibliogràfiques, textos electrònics, bancs d'imatges i tota mena d'informacions per mitjà d'una xarxa telemàtica. La relació entre continguts digitals i virtualitat és, evidentment, directa: els serveis que s'ofereixen virtualment es fan sobre la base de documents digitals i, al mateix temps, aquests serveis virtuals també generen documents electrònics.

Leiomiosarcoma de vesícula seminal. Presentación de un caso

Aims: Leiomyosarcoma of the seminal vesicle is extremely rare and very little information is available on how best it should be treated. The advantage of adjuvant therapy treatment is unclear. Methods and results: We report a case of leiomyosarcoma arising from the seminal vesicle in a 65-year-old man. Conclusion: Leiomyosarcoma is a malignant neoplasm with a poor prognosis and radical surgical excision is the treatment of choice.

Carcinoma verrugoso de vagina. Presentacion de un caso

Verrucous carcinoma of the vagina is a rare neoplasm. This entity is a slow-growing, locally invasive but generally nonmetastasizing neoplasm, with a characteristic gross and microscopic appearance. We report a case of verrucous carcinoma of the vagina in a postmenopausal woman diagnosed 4 years after transvaginal hysterectomy for grade 4 uterine prolapse. We also discuss the differential diagnosis and treatment.Verrucous carcinoma of the vagina is a rare neoplasm. The differential diagnosis includes typical squamous cell carcinoma, warty carcinoma, and condyloma acuminatum. Surgery remains the most effective treatment.

Escalas de valoración del riesgo de desarrollar úlceras por presión

Aim: to find the Risk Assessment Scales (RAS) for pressure ulcers in children published in the literature. To determine which of them have been properly validated. Methods: a systematic review of the literature has been conducted searching in 14 Health Sciences databases. The inclusion criteria were: studies published between 1962 and 2009, with a prospective design, less than a 25 % lost to follow-up, and with data of validity, prognostic or reliability. No language restriction was applied. Methodological quality of the studies was assessed by the CASP guide. Results: seventeen studies were found. In these studies 11 RAS for children were identified. Most of them were developed for the critical care area, based on previous risk assessment scales for adult. There are only 3 scales with one validation study: NSRAS, Braden Q and Starkid Skin. Their sensibility and specificity figures are: Braden Q, sens = 88% and specif. 58%; NSRAS, 83% and 81%; and Starkid Skin, 17% and 98%. Although the NSRAS scale has good validity figures, the simple size of this study was too small, so these results need further validation. The Starkid scale has a sensibility too low. The Braden Q was the only scale with suitable validity and prognostic figures, though its inter-observers reliability has not been tested, so more research to confirm these results is needed. The assessment of pressure ulcers risk in children is recommended, although, with the available evidence, we can not recommend the use of any of these RAS over the others. More research about this topic is needed.

Paternity and health services. Qualitative research on men's experiences during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum of theirs partners

Background: Little research has been carried out with regards to the inclusion of men during the birth process. The objective of this paper involves exploring the needs and expectations of the health services manifested by a group of fathers as a result of their experience during the birth process. Methods: Qualitative research was carried out in Granada in 2004 via individual interviews with fathers who showed shared responsibility in the upbringing. The profile is: employment, medium-high educational level, one or more child: 0-6 months of age. The transcript was subsequently submitted to hermeneutic analysis. Results: Some semantic constructs are: 1) Health Services do not concede the women as protagonists, 2) Birth process is depending on the body. Fathers can only support and fight for the relevance of men, 3) Men seem like “invisible”, 4) Health services inhibit their participation, and 5) have dealings with fathers according to their gender roles. The participants address the relationship between expectations of care during the birth process and unsatisfied demands, and the manner in which they employ the obstacles encountered within health services that inhibit their participation as arguments that confirm their separation from the process. Conclusions: This paper draws attention to the limited scope of the provision of healthcare during the birth process in terms of protagonism afforded to fathers. Indeed, despite their requisitory discourse, the interviewees manifest contradictory attitudes in the face of changes that require them to make commitments. We identify elements that could be improved to adapt services to the needs of fathers and vice versa.

Prognostic factors in left-sided endocarditis: results from the andalusian multicenter cohort

Despite medical advances, mortality in infective endocarditis (IE) is still very high. Previous studies on prognosis in IE have observed conflicting results. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of in-hospital mortality in a large multicenter cohort of left-sided IE.Methods An observational multicenter study was conducted from January 1984 to December 2006 in seven hospitals in Andalusia, Spain. Seven hundred and five left-side IE patients were included. The main outcome measure was in-hospital mortality. Several prognostic factors were analysed by univariate tests and then by multilogistic regression model. Results.The overall mortality was 29.5% (25.5% from 1984 to 1995 and 31.9% from 1996 to 2006; Odds Ratio 1.25; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.97-1.60; p = 0.07). In univariate analysis, age, comorbidity, especially chronic liver disease, prosthetic valve, virulent microorganism such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae and fungi, and complications (septic shock, severe heart failure, renal insufficiency, neurologic manifestations and perivalvular extension) were related with higher mortality. Independent factors for mortality in multivariate analysis were: Charlson comorbidity score (OR: 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1-1.3), prosthetic endocarditis (OR: 1.9; CI: 1.2-3.1), Staphylococcus aureus aetiology (OR: 2.1; CI: 1.3-3.5), severe heart failure (OR: 5.4; CI: 3.3-8.8), neurologic manifestations (OR: 1.9; CI: 1.2-2.9), septic shock (OR: 4.2; CI: 2.3-7.7), perivalvular extension (OR: 2.4; CI: 1.3-4.5) and acute renal failure (OR: 1.69; CI: 1.0-2.6). Conversely, Streptococcus viridans group etiology (OR: 0.4; CI: 0.2-0.7) and surgical treatment (OR: 0.5; CI: 0.3-0.8) were protective factors.Conclusions Several characteristics of left-sided endocarditis enable selection of a patient group at higher risk of mortality. This group may benefit from more specialised attention in referral centers and should help to identify those patients who might benefit from more aggressive diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures.

Programa de apoyo a madres y padres de adolescentes

El CDROM incluye las transparencias que hay al final de cada cuaderno, su contenido se centra en cada una de las actividades de las sesiones de trabajo.

Genetic analysis of caveolin-1 and eNOS genes in colorectal cancer.

Caveolae are involved in physical compartmentalization between different groups of signaling events. Its main component, CAV1, modulates different pathways in cellular physiology. The emerging evidence pointing to the role of CAV1 in cancer led us to study whether different alleles of this gene are associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). Since one of the most characterized enzymes regulated by CAV1 is eNOS, we decided to include both genes in this study. We analyzed five SNPs in 360 unrelated CRC patients and 550 controls from the general population. Two of these SNPs were located within eNOS and three within the CAV1 gene. Although haplotype distribution was not associated with CRC, haplotype TiA (CAV1) was associated with familiar forms of CRC (p<0.05). This was especially evident in CRC antecedents and nuclear forms of CRC. If both CG (eNOS) and TiA (CAV1) haplotypes were taken together, this association increased in significance. Thus, we propose that CAV1, either alone or together with eNOS alleles, might modify CRC heritability.

Analysis of CXCL12 3 ' UTR G > A polymorphism in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in developed countries. However, the genetic factors influencing its appearance remain far from being fully characterized. Recently, a G>A functional transition mapping the 3' untranslated region of the CXCL12 gene (rs1801157) has been found to be under-represented among rectal cancer patients when compared to colon cancer patients from a Swedish series. Here we present the results from an independent analysis of CXCL12 rs1801157 in a larger CRC series of Spanish origin in order to analyse the robustness of this association within a different European population. No significant difference was observed between controls and colon or rectal cancer patients. We were also unable to find a correlation between rs1801157 and different prognostic markers such as metastasis development or disease-free survival time. The epidemiologic data involving CXCL12 rs1801157 in colorectal cancer risk are discussed.

Methylation alterations are not a major cause of PTTG1 misregulation.

BACKGROUND On its physiological cellular context, PTTG1 controls sister chromatid segregation during mitosis. Within its crosstalk to the cellular arrest machinery, relies a checkpoint of integrity for which gained the over name of securin. PTTG1 was found to promote malignant transformation in 3T3 fibroblasts, and further found to be overexpressed in different tumor types. More recently, PTTG1 has been also related to different processes such as DNA repair and found to trans-activate different cellular pathways involving c-myc, bax or p53, among others. PTTG1 over-expression has been correlated to a worse prognosis in thyroid, lung, colorectal cancer patients, and it can not be excluded that this effect may also occur in other tumor types. Despite the clinical relevance and the increasing molecular characterization of PTTG1, the reason for its up-regulation remains unclear. METHOD We analysed PTTG1 differential expression in PC-3, DU-145 and LNCaP tumor cell lines, cultured in the presence of the methyl-transferase inhibitor 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine. We also tested whether the CpG island mapping PTTG1 proximal promoter evidenced a differential methylation pattern in differentiated thyroid cancer biopsies concordant to their PTTG1 immunohistochemistry status. Finally, we performed whole-genome LOH studies using Affymetix 50 K microarray technology and FRET analysis to search for allelic imbalances comprising the PTTG1 locus. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that neither methylation alterations nor LOH are involved in PTTG1 over-expression. These data, together with those previously reported, point towards a post-transcriptional level of misregulation associated to PTTG1 over-expression.

Peripheral arterial disease in HIV patients older than 50 years of age

Our objective was to analyze the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in HIV patients at risk and to compare them with the general population. All HIV patients older than 50 years who attended our unit from October 2005-July 2006 and all persons attending for an annual medical checkup at an employees' insurance association during the same period were invited to participate in the study. Of the latter (n = 407), a person of the same sex and age (+/-5 years) was included for each HIV patient. PAD was assessed by the ankle-brachial index (ABI) in all subjects, and all completed the Edinburgh questionnaire. Ninety-nine HIV patients and 99 persons from the general population of the same age and sex were included in the study. The HIV patients had a greater prevalence of dyslipidemia, diabetes, and PAD, which was symptomatic in five of them and in one subject from the general population. Patients with HIV infection older than 50 had a high prevalence of PAD, and as it was asymptomatic in half the cases, an ABI may be performed in this population to actively look for PAD. Control of cardiovascular risk factors and the use of such drugs as platelet antiaggregation agents should therefore be optimized in this population.