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Biomedical subjects

A Alvarez

Publications and source records attributed to A Alvarez.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Resignifying hygienic concepts: the establishment of a sanitation authority in Buenos Aires in the 1880s].

The late nineteenth century saw the establishment of a sanitation authority in Buenos Aires, grounded on the ideas of nineteenth century hygienics. The article focuses on the scientific, technical and political innovations that were introduced and on the role that the process of medical professionalization played within this institution. The features of the sanitation policy that came to prevail in Buenos Aires at the turn of the century helped shape a system of standards and archetypes regarding the human body and its physical and mental well-being.

Brazil↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Neurophysiological clinical study of 70 patients with type 2 spinocerebellar ataxia].

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of hereditary ataxia in Holguín, Cuba, is 43 per 100,000 inhabitants, but in some regions reaches 503 per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure never previously recorded in the international literature. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the part played by non-cerebellar structures and vias in causing some of the clinical signs of the disorder by means of clinico-electro physiological correlation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A neurological examination, peripheral nerve conduction studies and somato-sensorial evoked potentials of the median and posterior tibial nerves were done in 70 patients with type 2 spinocerebellar ataxia. RESULTS: The commonest clinical signs were ataxia on walking, dysarthria, dysmetria and adiadochokinesia. Correlation analysis showed that the variable most significantly correlated with the degree of ataxia and Romberg's sign was latency of the P40 component, whilst tendon reflexes were best correlated with H reflex latency. However, the duration of the disease was not found to have statistical correlation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that degeneration of long peripheral nerves and sensory paths contributes to the degree of ataxia and other clinical signs. At present no correlation has been found between the duration of the illness and increasing electrophysiological changes, and therefore seems not to have a major effect on neurodegenerative mechanisms.

Adolescent↗
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[Ethical considerations on human cloning. A psychoanalytic perspective].

A brief review of ethical issues related to two types of human cloning is presented: cloning embryonic cells not intended to culminate in the birth of a new individual and cloning human beings. Advantages and objections related to both types of human cloning are analyzed from an ethical point of view. Repercussions on individuals born by the technique of cloning are discussed from a psychoanalytical perspective. It can be concluded that cloning embryonic cells could be admissible, while not cloning considered as a reproductive option.

Bioethics↗
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[Death in medical practice. Excluded subjectivity].

Medical practice when facing death is reviewed in this article. It is considered the result of two circumstances. First, the development of medical technology which has been an important support to physicians, but has led them to give less importance on patient's subjectivity. Second, changes on society' attitudes toward death which over time have led to its present negation. Nowadays, doctors do not respond to the emotional needs of their patients at the end of life. Medical students should receive education to be prepared to stay close to their patients when a cure is no longer possible.

Attitude to Death↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Presence of four stem cell populations in monolayer cultures derived from teratocarcinoma embryoid bodies.

In the present work, flow cytometry techniques together with morphologic studies were used to perform multiparametric analyses in cell cultures derived from CE44 teratocarcinoma embryoid bodies. The intrinsic cell parameters studied by flow cytometry were size (FALS), cytoplasmic complexity (ISS) and autofluorescence, expressed as LIGFL/FALS (green fluorescence intensity on a logarithmic scale/FALS). Our results showed that CE44 teratocarcinoma yields monolayers whose cells show a marked morphological heterogeneity and can be grouped according to flow cytometric criteria into four populations that remain stable throughout the entire time of culture. Moreover, these populations showed a different immunolabelling with the differentiation markers SSEA-1, TROMA-1 and anti-vimentin.

Animals↗
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[Study of the long term sequelae of traumatic brain injury: evaluation of declarative and procedural memory, and its neuroanatomic substrate].

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The hippocampus and the striatum have been proposed as respectively cerebral substrates of declarative and procedural memory. Both structures are vulnerable to traumatic brain injury. Although declarative and procedural memory have been reported to be impaired in traumatic brain injury (TBI), volumetric measures have so far failed to associate this impairment with atrophy of hippocampal and striatal structures. In our study, we investigated the profile of declarative and procedural memory in children who suffered from moderate to severe traumatic brain injury during childhood (injury test interval: 9.42+/-1.98 years). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nineteen patients and matched controls were evaluated on tests of declarative memory and motor learning. Results showed that TBI subjects exhibit poorer performance in both tasks. Moreover, structural magnetic resonance images were obtained from TBI subjects. In order to relate neuropsychological performance with hippocampal and neostriatal volumetric data, correlation analyses were performed. RESULTS: Significant positive correlations were obtained between hippocampal volume and memory for objects. Striatal volume correlated positively with motor learning and with verbal memory. CONCLUSIONS: It thus seems that plasticity does not completely compensate for the memory deficits resultant from neural loss in the immature brain.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Simplified perioperative management in vertical banded gastroplasty.

Vertical Banded Gastroplasty (VBG) is the most commonly performed weight loss operation in the United States and is of proven adjunctive benefit in the treatment of morbid obesity. In an attempt to reduce the hospital related complications associated with morbidly obese patients we simplified the perioperative management of 244 patients undergoing VBG. Our goals were early feeding, early ambulation and a short hospital stay. Neither nasogastric tube nor Foley catheter was used after surgery. Mean postoperative stay was 3.24 +/- 0.8. Forty-one patients (16.8%) developed significant complications. Only two of these had a nosocomial complication (0.8%). The remaining 39 patients had technical complications not related to the protocol of simplified perioperative care. Short hospital stay and simplified perioperative management are feasible and safe for the large majority of patients undergoing VBG and may, in fact, significantly decrease the nosocomial morbidity common to this type of patients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Insight, neurocognition and psychopathology in schizophrenia].

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, research has been aimed at finding variables mediating between neurocognition and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia, proposing insight as one of these variables. Some authors have found associations between insight and functional outcome, and between insight and symptomatology, although these associations remain unclear. These different findings could be explained by the insight definition used. The current study evaluates insight unidimensionally and multidimensionally and studies its relationship with cognitive and psychopathological variables. METHODS: The sample consisted of 94 subjects admitted to an outpatient Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program, all diagnosed of schizophrenia according to ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. A brief version of the Neuropsychology Battery Test Barcelona and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were used to evaluate cognitive variables. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to evaluate psychopathology. Insight was assessed with the PANSS item ((lack of judgment and insight)), and with a semi-structured interview. RESULTS: Two insight factors were found, one including more specific knowledge about the disease and its consequences (cognitive factor), that is related to executive functions, and another referring to unspecific knowledge about suffering from an illness and the need for treatment (psychotic factor). Each factor was statistically related to positive symptoms and superior cognitive functions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support a relationship between insight and low cognitive performance.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[A solitary intracardiac metastasis in the left atrium from a pulmonary carcinoma].

Cardiac metastases are the most common cause of neoplastic disease of the heart. Usually the metastases involve the pericardium and/or myocardium but rarely they form intracavitary masses. We report a patient with a lung cancer and solitary left atrial intracardiac metastases. General features of cardiac metastases and the differential diagnosis of left intra-atrial masses are discussed.

Carcinoma↗
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[Seroepidemiology of human rotaviruses in a community of the Avellaneda district, Province of Buenos Aires].

The results obtained during a prospective study performed in 49 families of the Avellaneda District, Buenos Aires Province, in order to known the seroepidemiology of human rotaviruses under natural conditions were described. Families which included a pregnant woman, were voluntarily recruited. The newborn was studied together with its family until two years of age, in order to assess the moment of the primary rotavirus infection. Feces from every person with gastrointestinal symptoms were obtained for rotavirus diagnosis. Blood samples from every member of the family were obtained since their recruitment and each 6 months until the newborn reached two years of age. Rotavirus infections were established by determining the amount of circulating rotavirus IgG antibodies in paired serum samples using ELISA. In all, 502.2 six-month periods with paired serum samples were studied. Most of the infections detected during the first year of life were primary infections (0.64 cases per child-year; 91.3% in seronegative children; p less than 0.005). The peaks of rotavirus diarrhea incidence were observed at the same age (0.25 cases per child-year; p less than 0.01). It must be stated that 51.9% of the newborns presented circulating anti-rotavirus IgG antibodies transmitted by the mother; 72% were breastfed for a mean period of 9.7 months. The total incidence of rotavirus infections was 0.63 cases per person-year, without significant variations for each age group. Most of them were asymptomatic cases and 61.6% were reinfections. These results show the high endemicity of human rotavirus in our population where siblings and adults act as reservoirs of the infection. Finally we found a significant relation between the level of circulating anti-rotavirus antibodies and the resistance to infection and illness caused by rotavirus during the six-month periods studied with paired serum samples (p less than 0.005 for infection; p less than 0.03 for diarrhea). The incidence of rotavirus infection did not seem to be statistically different among all the age groups. As we found a high incidence of reinfections and we were able to determine the total decrease in the level of serum anti-rotavirus IgG antibodies in 5% of the infections one year after the seroconversion was detected, we postulate a short duration of high antibody levels and protection associated with circulating anti-rotavirus antibodies.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Evaluation of the anti-arrhythmia effect of intravenous flecainide in supraventricular tachyarrhythmias].

We studied the effects of intravenous flecainide acetate, given as a single dose of 2 mg/kg in no less than 15 minutes, on 31 patients with supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. Fourteen (87%) of the 16 patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation converted to sinus node rhythm. All 7 (100%) of the patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia converted to sinus node rhythm. Five (60%) of the 8 patients with paroxysmal atrial flutter converted to sinus node rhythm. The average time of conversion, after completion of drug administration, was 15 +/- 20 minutes. The QRS was prolonged an average of 82 to 91 milliseconds; in those cases who converted, the PR interval duration was 180 milliseconds average; QT was prolonged an average of 425-450 milliseconds. There were no changes in the JT interval, and we observed no hemodynamic untoward effects.

Adult↗