Functional neuroimaging studies of bipolar disorder:examining the wide clinical spectrum in the search for disease endophenotypes

Bipolar disorder (BP) is among the top ten most disabling illnesses worldwide. This review includes findings from recent studies employing functional neuroimaging to examine functional abnormalities in neural systems underlying core domains of the psychopathology in BP: emotion processing, emotion regulation and executive control, and common comorbid features of BP, that are relevant to the wide spectrum of BP rather than focused on the more traditional BPI subtype, and that may facilitate future identification of diagnostically-relevant biomarkers of the disorder. In addition, an emerging number of studies are reviewed that demonstrate the use of neuroimaging to elucidate biomarkers whose identification may help to (1) identify at-risk individuals who will subsequently develop the illness to facilitate early intervention, (2) identify targets for treatment and markers of treatment response. The use of newer neuroimaging techniques and potential confounds of psychotropic medication upon neuroimaging findings in BP are also examined. These approaches will help to improve diagnosis and the mental well-being of all individuals with BP.

Avaliação da evapotranspiração na microrregião do Seridó: uma contribuição metodológica

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq

Cumplimiento del lavado de manos por parte del personal de los servicios de clínica y pediatría del Hospital Teófilo Dávila 2007-2008, Machala - Ecuador

Las infecciones intrahospitalarias se desencadenan en su mayoría por falta de cumplimiento de las normas de bioseguridad por parte del personal de salud que labora en los hospitales. Nuestro estudio tiene como objetivo determinar el cumplimiento de lavado de manos que tiene el personal de salud que labora en los departamentos de Clínica y Pediatría del Hospital Teófilo Dávila de Machala. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo-observacional del cumplimiento del lavado de manos al personal de salud que labora en las áreas de Clínica y Pediatría, la observación se realizó por 30 minutos tomándose en cuenta si cumplía la técnica adecuada, el tiempo necesario y si utilizaron o no jabón antiséptico. Se encontró que el hospital no dispone de jabón antiséptico para el lavado de manos, y que el lavado de manos se realiza con jabones no adecuados (100) con falla en la técnica y tiempo (100). Se concluye que el personal de salud no dispone de los recursos necesarios, no conoce de las normas de bioseguridad y que se requiere implementar con urgencia una estrategia educativa para incrementar los conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas a nivel hospitalario dirigido a todo el personal como defensa de la salud de los pacientes y del mismo personal de salud. El presente estudio es parte del programa de evaluación de los conocimientos de las actitudes y de las prácticas del lavado de manos a nivel hospitalario que conjuntamente la FFCCMM de la universidad de Cuenca con ReAct Latinoamérica se encuentra ejecutando

Living Landscape: The European Landscape Convention in Research Perspective

This special issue reports some of the highlights of the conference Living Landscape – The European Landscape Convention in Research Perspective, organised jointly by UNISCAPE and Landscape Europe (UNISCAPE, 2010). Starting questions for this conference were: what has science contributed to the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (CoE, 2000) and what are the topics for the future of European landscape? The 10th anniversary of the Florence Convention in October 2010 was an opportunity to discuss the merits of landscape science in integrated research of a rapidly changing environment. Many interdisciplinary contributions presented referred to the Landscape Convention. The conference focused on cutting-edge research results at the crossroads of sciences and humanities, design and empiricism. Not by chance, the conference was also the occasion to launch a new ESF-COST Science-Policy Briefing on Landscape Research (Bloemers, Daniels, Fairclough, Pedroli, & Stiles, 2010 Bloemers, T., Daniels, S., Fairclough, G., Pedroli, B., & Stiles, R. (Eds.) (2010) Landscape in a changing world. Bridging Divides, integrating disciplines, serving society. Science Policy Briefing nr 41. Strasbourg and Brussels: ESF-COST. ): ‘Landscape in a Changing World – Bridging Divides, Integrating Disciplines, Serving Society’. It emphasises the importance of four interdisciplinary themes: Universal commons: securing landscape as a common good. Roots and routes: coming to terms with mobility and evolving lifestyles. Reactions and resilience: long-term landscape transformations. Road maps: landscape as baseline and context for future change. The papers in this special issue largely reflect these themes.