Autonomy, Good Humor and Support Networks, Potential of Community Resilience Intervention in People Victims of the Earthquake in the Calderón Parish

Resilience is a concept widely used in recent years, especially when it comes to evaluating the level of recovery of communities that are hit by natural phenomena. It can be stated that conceptually resilience constitutes the ability to react effectively and quickly to the effects of disasters, being a complex phenomenon to evaluate and define. And although the level of resilience does not necessarily imply greater control of vulnerability, it can be affirmed that the reduction of vulnerable conditions can strengthen and consolidate the resilient capacity of individuals and communities, in the face of the effects of natural disasters

Prevention of mucositis in bone marrow transplantation: A double blind randomised controlled trial of sucralfate

Mucositis is still a leading side effect of high dose chemotherapy and irradiation delivered in autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. In this double blind randomised study, we tested the efficacy of sucralfate for the prevention of mucositis induced by such conditioning treatments. Treatment was started one day before conditioning regimen and patients were prospectively evaluated. The main endpoint was severe mucositis that was more frequent in the placebo group than in the sucralfate group (47% vs. 29%, P = 0.07). This trend was confirmed after adjustment on total body irradiation (TBI) (P = 0.06), the sole stratification parameter. Interestingly, patients receiving sucralfate showed a significant reduction of diarrhoea (25% vs. 53%, P = 0.005). Overall, the preventive administration of sucralfate appears to be an effective proce dure to diminish the occurrence of severe oral and intestinal mucositis in patients treated by high dose chemotherapy alone or combined with TBI before bone marrow transplantatio

On the Use of Finite-Size Scaling to Measure Spin-Glass Exponents

Finite-size scaling (FSS) is a standard technique for measuring scaling exponents in spin glasses. Here we present a critique of this approach, emphasizing the need for all length scales to be large compared to microscopic scales. In particular we show that the replacement, in FSS analyses, of the correlation length by its asymptotic scaling form can lead to apparently good scaling collapses with the wrong values of the scaling exponents.Comment: RevTeX, 5 page

Estimating Kidney Function in the Critically Ill Patients

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is an accepted measure for assessment of kidney function. For the critically ill patient, creatinine clearance is the method of reference for the estimation of the GFR, although this is often not measured but estimated by equations (i.e., Cockroft-Gault or MDRD) not well suited for the critically ill patient. Functional evaluation of the kidney rests in serum creatinine (Crs) that is subjected to multiple external factors, especially relevant overhydration and loss of muscle mass. The laboratory method used introduces variations in Crs, an important fact considering that small increases in Crs have serious repercussion on the prognosis of patients. Efforts directed to stratify the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) have crystallized in the RIFLE or AKIN systems, based in sequential changes in Crs or urine flow. These systems have provided a common definition of AKI and, due to their sensitivity, have meant a considerable advantage for the clinical practice but, on the other side, have introduced an uncertainty in clinical research because of potentially overestimating AKI incidence. Another significant drawback is the unavoidable period of time needed before a patient is classified, and this is perhaps the problem to be overcome in the near future

The scale of population structure in Arabidopsis thaliana

The population structure of an organism reflects its evolutionary history and influences its evolutionary trajectory. It constrains the combination of genetic diversity and reveals patterns of past gene flow. Understanding it is a prerequisite for detecting genomic regions under selection, predicting the effect of population disturbances, or modeling gene flow. This paper examines the detailed global population structure of Arabidopsis thaliana. Using a set of 5,707 plants collected from around the globe and genotyped at 149 SNPs, we show that while A. thaliana as a species self-fertilizes 97% of the time, there is considerable variation among local groups. This level of outcrossing greatly limits observed heterozygosity but is sufficient to generate considerable local haplotypic diversity. We also find that in its native Eurasian range A. thaliana exhibits continuous isolation by distance at every geographic scale without natural breaks corresponding to classical notions of populations. By contrast, in North America, where it exists as an exotic species, A. thaliana exhibits little or no population structure at a continental scale but local isolation by distance that extends hundreds of km. This suggests a pattern for the development of isolation by distance that can establish itself shortly after an organism fills a new habitat range. It also raises questions about the general applicability of many standard population genetics models. Any model based on discrete clusters of interchangeable individuals will be an uneasy fit to organisms like A. thaliana which exhibit continuous isolation by distance on many scales

The impact of physical, psychological, and sexual intimate partner violence on women's mental health: depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder, state anxiety, and suicide

Objective: This study aimed to determine the impact of lifetime physical, psychological, and sexual intimate male partner violence (IPV) on the mental health of women, after controlling for the contribution of lifetime victimization. The comorbidity of depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their relation to state anxiety and suicide were also assessed. Methods: Physically/psychologically (n 75) and psychologically abused women (n 55) were compared with nonabused control women (n 52). Information about sociodemographic characteristics, lifetime victimization, and mental health status (depressive and state anxiety symptoms, PTSD, and suicide) was obtained through face-to-face structured interviews. Results: Women exposed to physical/psychological and psychological IPV had a higher incidence and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, PTSD, and thoughts of suicide than control women, with no differences between the two abused groups. The concomitance of sexual violence was associated with a higher severity of depressive symptoms in both abused groups and a higher incidence of suicide attempts in the physically/psychologically abused group. The incidence of PTSD alone was very rare, and depressive symptoms were either alone or comorbid with PTSD. The severity of state anxiety was higher in abused women with depressive symptoms or comorbidity, as was the incidence of suicidal thoughts in the physically/psychologically abused group. Lifetime victimization was not a predictor of the deterioration of mental health in this study. Conclusions: These findings indicate that psychological IPV is as detrimental as physical IPV, with the exception of effects on suicidality, which emphasizes that psychological IPV should be considered a major type of violence by all professionals involved.Este es un artículo ampliamente citado internacionalmente respeto a violencia de pareja y consecuencias en la salud de las mujeres

The Scrounge-atron: a phased approach to the Advanced Hydrotest Facility utilizing proton radiography

The Department of Energy has initiated its Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program (SSMP) to provide a single, integrated technical program for maintaining the continued safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of nuclear testing. Consistent with the SSMP, the Advanced Hydrotest Facility (AHF) has been conceived to provide improved radiographic imaging with multiple axes and multiple time frames. The AHF would be used to better understand the evolution of nuclear weapon primary implosion shape under normal and accident scenarios. There are three fundamental technologies currently under consideration for use on the AHF. These include linear induction acceleration, inductive-adder pulsed-power technology (both technologies using high current electron beams to produce an intense X-ray beam) and high-energy proton accelerators to produce a proton beam. The Scrounge-atron (a proton synchrotron) was conceived to be a relatively low cost demonstration of the viability of the third technology using bursts of energetic protons, magnetic lenses, and particle detectors to produce the radiographic image. In order for the Scrounge-atron to provide information useful for the AHF technology decision, the accelerator would have to be built as quickly and as economically as possible. These conditions can be met by "scrounging" parts from decommissioned accelerators across the country, especially the Main Ring at Fermilab. The Scrounge-atron is designed to meet the baseline parameters for single axis proton radiography: a 20 GeV proton beam of ten pulses, 10 degrees protons each, spaced 250 ns apart. (2 refs)

Immunodeficiency in Bloom’s Syndrome

Bloom’s syndrome (BS) is an autosomal recessive disease, caused by mutations in the BLM gene. This gene codes for BLM protein, which is a helicase involved in DNA repair. DNA repair is especially important for the development and maturation of the T and B cells. Since BLM is involved in DNA repair, we aimed to study if BLM deficiency affects T and B cell development and especially somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) processes. Clinical data of six BS patients was collected, and immunoglobulin serum levels were measured at different time points. In addition, we performed immune phenotyping of the B and T cells and analyzed the SHM and CSR in detail by analyzing IGHA and IGHG transcripts using next-generation sequencing. The serum immunoglobulin levels were relatively low, and patients had an increased number of infections. The absolute number of T, B, and NK cells were low but still in the normal range. Remarkably, all BS patients studied had a high percentage (20–80%) of CD4+ and CD8+ effector memory T cells. The process of SHM seems normal; however, the Ig subclass distribution was not normal, since the BS patients had more IGHG1 and IGHG3 transcripts. In conclusion, BS patients have low number of lymphocytes, but the immunodeficiency seems relatively mild since they have no severe or opportunistic infections. Most changes in the B cell development were seen in the CSR process; however, further studies are necessary to elucidate the exact role of BLM in CSR