Minor Surgery in Primary Care

Minor surgical procedures are defined as a set of procedures in which short surgical techniques are applied on superficial tissues, usually with local anesthesia, and minimal complications, that usually do not require postoperative resuscitation and need minimal equipment, many of which are used on a daily basis, and can be easily and safely performed in a short amount of time during clinic visit. General practitioners should have an optimal infrastructure and medical furniture in a minor surgery operating room. It is important to manage the instruments and materials involved for basic and advanced surgery. Also, for a good clinical practice in minor surgery, it is necessary that general practitioners handle anesthesia techniques (local anesthetic infiltration and regional blocks) and have knowledge of the body areas of risk in minor surgery and the topographic anatomy of the skin for the right performance of surgical procedure. The patients should be informed about the procedure and its technical details before asking them to sign the informed consent form

Optimization of MgF2-deposition temperature for far UV Al mirrors

10 pags., 6 figs., tab. -- OCIS codes: (230.4040) Mirrors; (310.1515) Protective coatings; (260.7210) Ultraviolet, vacuum; (160.4670) Optical materials; (310.6860) Thin films, optical properties; (120.6085) Space instrumentation.Progress towards far UV (FUV) coatings with enhanced reflectance is invaluable for future space missions, such as LUVOIR. This research starts with the procedure developed to enhance MgF-protected Al reflectance through depositing MgF on a heated aluminized substrate [Quijada et al., Proc. SPIE 8450, 84502H (2012)] and it establishes the optimum deposition temperature of the MgF2 protective film for Al mirrors with a reflectance as high as ∼90% at 121.6 nm. Al films were deposited at room temperature and protected with a MgF2 film deposited at various temperatures ranging from room temperature to 350°C. It has been found that mirror reflectance in the short FUV range continuously increases with MgF deposition temperature up to 250°C, whereas reflectance decreases at temperatures of 300°C and up. The short-FUV reflectance of mirrors deposited at 250°C only slightly decreased over time by less than 1%, compared to a larger decay for standard coatings prepared at room temperature. Al mirrors protected with MgF2 deposited at room temperature that were later annealed displayed a similar reflectance enhancement that mirrors protected at high temperatures. MgF and Al roughness as well as MgF density were analyzed by x-ray grazing incidence reflectometry. A noticeable reduction in both Al and MgF roughness, as well as an increase of MgF2 density, were measured for films deposited at high temperatures. On the other hand, it was found a strong correlation between the protective-layer deposition temperature (or post-deposition annealing temperature) and the pinhole open area in Al films, which could be prevented with a somewhat thicker Al film.Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (AYA2013-42590-P, ESP2016-76591-P).Peer Reviewe

Risk factors associated with sexually transmitted infections and HIV among adolescents in a reference clinic in Madrid.

INTRODUCTION:Adolescents have a higher incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than persons of older age groups. The WHO emphasises the need to adopt specific and comprehensive prevention programmes aimed at this age group. The objective of this work was to analyse the prevalence of HIV/STIs among adolescents and to identify the sociodemographic, clinical and behavioural markers associated with these infections, in order to promote specific preventive strategies. METHODOLOGY:Retrospective descriptive study of adolescents, aged 10-19 years, who were attended to for the first consultation between 2016 and 2018 in a reference STI clinic in Madrid. All adolescents were given a structured epidemiological questionnaire where information on sociodemographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics was collected. They were screened for human inmmunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The processing and analysis of the data was done using the STATA 15.0 statistical package. RESULTS:The frequency of HIV/STIs detected among all adolescents was: gonorrhoea 21.7%, chlamydia 17.1%, syphilis 4.8% and HIV 2.4%. After conducting a multivariate analysis, the independent and statistically significant variables related to the presence of an STI were having first sexual relations at a young age and having a history of STIs. Latin American origin was just below the level of statistical significance (p = 0.066). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS:Adolescents who begin sexual relations at an early age or those who have a history of HIV/STIs are at higher risk of acquiring STIs. Comprehensive prevention programmes aimed specifically at adolescents should be implemented, especially before the age of 13 years