Observation protocol as a professional development tool for in-service teachers

This work has been funded by Cabildo de Tenerife (Spain)

Características de la personalidad de los padres o cuidadores de los menores que asisten a controles de salud en entidades de salud públicas y privadas (2013-2015)

Introduction. The study of personality is complex due to a multiplicity of factors (biological, psychological, social and cultural, among others). Traits indicate a personality that is functional (healthy) or dysfunctional (pathological). The most outstanding personality studies focus on personality disorders or abnormalities. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a higher prevalence of bipolar affective disorder (60 million patients), schizophrenia and other psychoses (21 million patients), and dementia (47.5 million patients). However, there are few studies of mental health in people with a functional personality, as considered in this research. The WHO assets that mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders and it is an integral part of health, since there is no health without mental health. The objective is to describe the personality traits of parents attending health checkups with their children at public and private healthcare entities (2013-2015). Methodology. Descriptive cross-sectional study that assesses 14 personality variables; convenience sample: 145 parents attending health check-ups with their children at local public hospitals in Girón and Bucaramanga, and private social company “The Rehabilitation Committee” (Medellín). Information was gathered using the sociodemographic questionnaire and the CUIDA Test (Questionnaire for the Assessment of Adoptive Parents, Caregivers, Guardians and Mediators). Results. 93.1 % of the parents or caregivers are women and 6.9 % are men; 84.8 % aged between 30 and 59; their socioeconomic levels are 1, 2 and 3; 50 % are single mothers. The parents or caregivers with a functional personality showed weaknesses on test scores, as they showed emotional dependency, low self-esteem, low frustration tolerance, limited flexibility, difficulty in establishing emotional ties and low grief resolution capacity, among others. Few parents had high scores on the factors that benefit the care of their children: between 0 % and 22.9 %. Conclusions. In the sample, mostly made up of single mothers, few achieved the high-test scores that were expected in people with a functional personality. On the contrary, low scores predominated, which are not very favorable for the care for children’s health. Personality traits, whether they are functional or not, are transmitted more in the child rearing process by mothers than by fathers. [Díaz-Gordon P, Ortega-Ortíz ME, Díaz-Cadavid D, Naranjo-García AS. Personality traits of parents or caregivers of children attending health checkups at public and private healthcare entities (2013-2015). MedUNAB.2018;21(2):12-28. doi:10.29375/01237047.2424]Introducción. El estudio de la personalidad resulta complejo por una multiplicidad de factores (biológicos, psicológicos, sociales, culturares, entre otros). Los rasgos indican personalidad funcional (saludable) o disfuncional (patológica). Los estudios de personalidad más destacados se enfocan en trastornos o alteraciones de la personalidad. En el 2017, la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) reportó una mayor prevalencia del trastorno afectivo bipolar (60 millones de pacientes), la esquizofrenia y otras psicosis (21 millones de pacientes), y la demencia (47,5 millones de pacientes). Sin embargo, son escasos los estudios de salud mental en personas con personalidad funcional, como lo plantea esta investigación. La OMS afirma que la salud mental es más que la ausencia de trastornos mentales y es parte integral de la salud, pues no hay salud sin salud mental. El objetivo es describir los rasgos de personalidad de los padres que asisten con sus hijos a controles de salud en entidades de salud públicas y privadas (2013-2015). Metodología. Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal que evalúa 14 variables de personalidad; muestra por conveniencia: 145 padres que asisten a los controles de salud con sus hijos de hospitales locales, públicos de Girón y Bucaramanga, y la empresa privada de carácter social, “El Comité de Rehabilitación” (Medellín). Se recolectó información con el cuestionario sociodemográfico y el Test CUIDA (Cuestionario para la Evaluación de Adoptantes, Cuidadores, Tutores y Mediadores). Resultados. El 93.1 % de los padres o cuidadores son mujeres y el 6.9 %, hombres; el 84.8 % está entre los 30 y 59 años de edad; sus estratos socioeconómicos son 1, 2 y 3; el 50 % son madres cabeza de hogar. Los padres o cuidadores con personalidad funcional, presentaron debilidades en los puntajes de las pruebas, pues manifestaron dependencia emocional, baja autoestima, poca tolerancia a la frustración, poca flexibilidad, dificultad para establecer vínculos afectivos y baja capacidad de resolución de duelo, entre otros. Pocos padres tuvieron puntajes altos en los factores que benefician el cuidado de sus hijos; entre el 0 % y el 22.9 %. Conclusiones. En la muestra, compuesta en su mayoría por madres cabeza de hogar, pocas lograron puntajes altos en las pruebas; aquellos que se esperaban en personas con personalidad funcional. Por el contrario, predominaron los puntajes bajos, que poco favorecen el cuidado de la salud de los hijos. Las características de personalidad funcionales o no, son transmitidas en el proceso de crianza maternal más que paternal. [Díaz-Gordon P, Ortega-Ortíz ME, Díaz-Cadavid D, Naranjo-García AS. Características de la personalidad de los padres o cuidadores de los menores que asisten a controles de salud en entidades de salud públicas y privadas (2013-2015). MedUNAB. 2018;21(2):12-28. doi:10.29375/01237047.2424

Interplay between Human Intestinal Microbiota and Gut-to-Brain Axis: Relationship with Autism Spectrum Disorders

A growing body of scientific reports suggests a relevant key role of human intestinal microbiota (HIM) in maintaining the host’s physiological and mental balance; thus any disturbance in the microbiota diversity and/or concentrations may result in impaired stimulation of the gastrointestinal (GI) system-central nervous system (CNS) bidirectional pathway, termed gut-to-brain axis. Recent data show that HIM composition is significantly unbalanced among a subset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) subjects, as compared with non-ASD siblings or age-matched control subjects. Several authors claim that specific changes in HIM (diet-based alteration of Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio and death of predominant microbiota after antibiotic treatments, among others) could either trigger or be highly associated events with persistent ASD signs and behaviors. Whether HIM plays a causative or a circumstantial role in ASD severity, then HIM manipulation might be applied as a therapeutic alternative to improve ASD clinical manifestations and behaviors

Factores de riesgo para repitencia en estudiantes de la carrera de medicina

Analizar los factores de riesgo asociados a la repitencia en estudiantes de primer ingreso de la Unidad didáctica de física de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala en el año 2014. Estudio observacional analítico de casos y controles en 465 estudiantes, se definió como casos a los que reprobaron 282 (60%) y controles a los que aprobaron 183 (40%); se obtuvieron los datos de la base electrónica del cuestionario de asignación de pruebas específicas previo a ingresar a la Universidad, se asoció la repitencia estudiantil con los factores personales, académicos y socioeconómicos; se utilizó la prueba de Chi cuadrado para asociación y Odds Ratio para calcular la fuerza de asociación, estimándose la probabilidad de ocurrencia de la variable dependiente con las independientes para lo que se utilizó regresión logística. Cinco variables estuvieron asociadas a la repitencia estudiantil: sexo (x2 4.54, OR 1.5), preparación académica previa (x2 7.51, OR 2.5), nivel educativo del padre (x2 6.76, OR 1.6), número de aplicaciones (x2 42.34, OR 3.6) y grupo de jóvenes (x2 4.05, OR 2.5En este estudio existe evidencia suficiente para rechazar la hipótesis nula lo que determina que existe asociación entre: sexo femenino, preparación académica previa, nivel educativo del padre, número de aplicaciones y grupo de jóvenes con la repitencia estudiantil en la Unidad didáctica de física de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemal

Predicting response to transdiagnostic iCBT for emotional disorders from patient and therapist involvement

Background Transdiagnostic iCBT has been shown to be effective for the treatment of emotional disorders. Less is known about the optimal level of therapist and patient involvement in these interventions. Specific characteristics of Internet-delivered interventions include treatment adherence (e.g., amount of review of the materials) and guidance (e.g., amount of therapist support). Exploring the importance of these elements in treatment outcome may help to maximize the efficiency of Internet-delivered psychological interventions. Aim In this study, we aimed to analyze the relationship between patient and therapist involvement (i.e., platform usage and amount of therapist guidance) in a sample of patients with emotional disorders who received transdiagnostic iCBT in Spanish public specialized mental healthcare services. Method This is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. The sample included 63 patients who completed transdiagnostic iCBT for emotional disorders. Platform usage metrics included number of logins into the platform and number of times the participants reviewed the modules. Therapist guidance was measured as the number of support phone calls with a therapist and their total duration (minutes). Logistic regressions and ROC analyses were performed to explore the predictive value of platform usage and therapist guidance in symptom reduction. Clinical outcomes included depressive and anxiety symptoms assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The bivariate relationship between the platform usage and therapist guidance variables was also explored. Results Overall, platform usage and therapist guidance were not associated with symptom improvement. However, the patient and therapist involvement parameters were intercorrelated. Specifically, the number of calls and their duration were associated with a greater number of logins (r = 0.61; p < .001) and more frequent reviews of the modules (0.46 ≤ r ≤ 0.60; p < .001). Higher baseline depression and anxiety were, respectively, associated with greater improvements in depression (r = −0.37, p = .003) and anxiety after treatment completion (r = −0.48, p < .001). Discussion The results suggest that there is no reliable cut-off point for platform usage and therapist guidance in predicting optimal symptom reduction. However, significant associations were found between platform usage and guidance variables that warrant additional research. More research on this topic is necessary to further clarify the role of these and other platform usage and guidance variables in Internet-delivered iCBT outcomes

Papel de los virus en las enfermedades neurodegenerativas: Uso beneficioso de vectores virales como terapia e infecciones virales que podrían desencadenar en estas enfermedades

Las enfermedades neurodegenerativas son un gran problema en la sociedad actual, cuyas causas aún no están bien definidas, sin embargo, en un mundo científico moderno, la búsqueda de causas y soluciones nos han llevado a crear una relación fuerte entre los virus y estás enfermedades. Existen virus que nos ayudan en nuestra búsqueda de combatir genéticamente las enfermedades neurodegenerativas, y otros que al parecer desencadenan cambios fisiológicos que culminan en la aparición de estas mismas enfermedades. Entre los virus en cuestión encontramos el virus de Influenza A, Herpes Simplex Tipo 1, Adenovirus, Picornavirus y el Citomegalovirus. Por estas razones el tema se vuelve de gran importancia científica, ya que el conocimiento de esta área se vuelve cada vez mas imprescindible en la actualidad, por lo cual buscamos informar sobre los últimos avances en estos temas.AbstractNeurodegenerative diseases are a main problem in today's society, the causes are not well defined, however, in a modern scientific world, the search for causes and solutions have led us to create a strong relationship between viruses and these diseases. There are viruses that help us in our search for genetically combat neurodegenerative diseases, and others apparently trigger physiological changes that culminate in the emergence of these same diseases.Among the virus we can find the Influenza A virus, Herpes Simplex Type 1, Adenovirus, Cytomegalovirus and Picornavirus. For these reasons, the issue becomes of great scientific importance, since knowledge of this area is becoming more essential nowadays, so we seek to inform about the latest developments in these areas

El papel del tratamiento con vectores víricos en enfermedades cardíacas

El tratamiento génico con vectores virales ha cobrado gran relevancia en los últimos años. Este método se ha usado en distintas patologías, desde enfermedades del sistema nervioso central hasta congénitas. Por otro lado, las patologías cardíacas han sido históricamente enfermedades crónicas pues los pacientes nunca pierden el riesgo de sufrir alguna complicación después de haber presentado alguna afectación en dicho órgano. En esta investigación se describió la utilidad de los vectores virales en el tratamiento de las enfermedades cardíacas a partir de 17 fuentes bibliográficas. Algunos de los vectores que se utilizan hoy en día son: el Adenovirus serotipo 9 (AAV9), serotipo 2 (AAV2), serotipo 2/5 (AAV2/5), serotipo 2.6 (AAV2.6), serotipo 2.9 (AAV2.9), entre  otros pues han demostrado buena penetración en los cardiomiocitos. Aunque útil, aún queda mucho campo abierto a las mejoras y a la implementación de nuevo conocimiento para que este método sea aprovechado en su totalidad.ABSTRACTThe gene therapy with viral vectors has gained great importance in recent years. This method has been used in various pathologies, from central nervous system diseases, to congenital diseases. On the other hand, heart diseases have been historically chronic diseases, because patients never lose the risk of complications after having any pathology involving this organ. This article will describe the development of new strategies for the use of viral vectors in heart diseases from 15 literature sources. Some of the vectors that are used today are the Adenovirus serotype 9 (AAV9), serotype 2 (AAV2), serotype 2/5 (AAV2 / 5), serotype 2.6 (AAV2.6), serotype 2.9 (AAV2.9), among others that have already shown good penetration in cardiomyocytes. Although useful, the field remains open to improvement and implementation of new knowledge for this method to be fully exploited

Ecological momentary intervention to enhance emotion regulation in healthcare workers via smartphone: a randomized controlled trial protocol

Background: CUIDA-TE is an APP that offers transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy focused on enhancing emotion regulation. As a novelty, it incorporates ecological momentary interventions (EMI), which can provide psychological support in real time, when suffering arises. The main goal of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of CUIDA-TE to improve emotion regulation in healthcare workers, a population that has been particularly emotionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this three-arm, randomized controlled trial (RCT) the study sample will be composed of a minimum of 174 healthcare workers. They will be randomly assigned to a 2-month EMI group (CUIDA-TE APP, n = 58), a 2-month ecological momentary assessment (EMA) only group (MONITOR EMOCIONAL APP, n = 58), or a wait-list control group (no daily monitoring nor intervention, n = 58). CUIDA-TE will provide EMI if EMA reveals emotional problems, poor sleep quality/quantity, burnout, stress, or low perceived self-efficacy when regulating emotions. Depression will be the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes will include emotion regulation, quality of life, and resilience. Treatment acceptance and usability will also be measured. Primary and secondary outcomes will be obtained at pre- and post-intervention measurements, and at the 3-month follow-up for all groups. Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first RCT that evaluates the efficacy of an APP-based EMI to improve emotion regulation skills in healthcare workers. This type of intervention might ultimately help disseminate treatments and reach a larger number of individuals than traditional face-to-face individual therapies. Trial registration: ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT04958941 Registered 7 Jun 2021. Study status: Participant recruitment has not started