Level of quality of life and health self-care in university students of health sciences at the National University of Villa María

The purpose of this study is the analysis of self - perceived quality of life and self-care of university students in their first years of Health Sciences Degrees at Instituto Académico Pedagógico de Ciencias Humanas (IAPCH) - National University of Villa María (UNVM). Methods: An observational, descriptive and correlational, cross-sectional design was implemented to conduct this study. It involved all the students in the first three years of the Medicine and Occupational Therapy degrees, with an estimated total of 280 students. The socio-demographics considered were: age, gender, origin and level of education of the immediate family members (father, mother and brother/sister). The Quality of Life assessment was carried out based on the SF-36 and the self-care assessment was performed according to the “Appraisal of the Capacity for Self-Care Agency Scale”. Results: Regarding quality of life, the Physical Component Summary (PCS) is higher than the Mental Component Summary (MCS) and with regard to the analysis based on gender, men revealed a higher perceived quality of life in both the physical and mental aspects. Women revealed a lower perceived quality of life regarding their physical functioning, emotional role, vitality, mental health, social role, bodily pain and general health. The analysis of self – care capacity showed that the total score in men and women corresponds to a medium level of self-care capacity, however, the highest proportion, in men as well as in women, was found in the category of low self-care capacity.Fil: Romero, D. E.. Universidad Nacional de Villa Maria. Instituto Academico de Ciencias Humanas; ArgentinaFil: Gili, Juan Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Villa Maria. Instituto Academico de Ciencias Humanas; ArgentinaFil: Trecco, P.. Universidad Nacional de Villa Maria. Instituto Academico de Ciencias Humanas; ArgentinaFil: Torres, V.. Universidad Nacional de Villa Maria. Instituto Academico de Ciencias Humanas; ArgentinaFil: Chiriotti, V.. Universidad Nacional de Villa Maria. Instituto Academico de Ciencias Humanas; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, A. R.. Universidad Nacional de Villa Maria. Instituto Academico de Ciencias Humanas; Argentin

La maîtrise des risques : une approche indispensable dans le développement des études de tunnels en terrains diificiles

L’étude et la construction de tunnels longs et profonds et de tunnels en milieu urbain sont souvent associées au risque dérivant de la non conformité des informations géotechniques, d’un choix non adéquat de la méthodologie de construction et des incidents potentiels pendant la construction. La gestion de la plupart des risques peut avoir lieu à travers l’utilisation d’un Plan de gestion du risque (Risk Management Plan, RMP). Le RMP identifie et quantifie les risques et les problèmes, en sélectionnant et mettant en action les mesures pour mitiger et contrôler les risques et indique s’il existe un risque résiduel qui devra être partagé entre les sujets impliqués dans le projet. Le système d’aide à la décision pour les tunnels DAT (Decision Aids for Tunnelling), logiciel de support au processus de décision dans l’étude des tunnels et partie intégrante de l’analyse des risques, est utilisé pour simuler, de façon probabiliste, le processus de la construction en souterrain. Les résultats du DAT illustrent les effets des incertitudes liées à la géologie, à la méthode de construction, etc., en termes de temps et coûts pour les différentes solutions alternatives. La discussion du processus de développement d’un RMP est suivie par l’application des concepts de RMP à deux projets pris comme exemple : 1) le tunnel de base Maurienne-Ambin faisant partie de la liaison ferroviaire Lyon-Turin et 2) les tunnels des lignes C et S du métro de Porto au Portugal. Les résultats démontrent que le processus de gestion du risque est un instrument d’ingénierie pratique qui peut être appliqué aux études de tunnels garantissant des résultats satisfaisants et des bénéfices en ce qui concerne temps, coûts et sécurité

Monte Carlo tools to supplement experimental microdosimetric spectra

Tissue-equivalent proportional counters (TEPCs) are widely used in experimental microdosimetry for characterising the radi- ation quality in radiation protection and radiation therapy environments. Generally, TEPCs are filled with tissue-equivalent gas mixtures, at low gas pressure, to simulate tissue site sizes similar to the cell nucleus (1 or 2 mm). The TEPC response using Monte Carlo (MC) codes can be applied to supplement experimental measurements. Most of general-purpose MC codes currently available recourse to the condensed-history approach to model the electron transport and do not transport low-energy electrons (<1 keV), which can lead to systematic errors, especially in thin layers and in gas-condensed medium interfaces. In this work, a comparison between experimental microdosimetric spectra of 60Co and 137Cs radiation at different simulated sizes (from 1.0 to 3.0 mm) in pure propane versus simulated spectra obtained with two general-purpose codes FLUKA and PENELOPE, which include a detailed simulation of electron – photon transport in arbitrary materials, including gases, is presented

ASSESSING THE CONTRIBUTION OF CROSS-SECTIONS TO THE UNCERTAINTY OF MONTE CARLO CALCULATIONS IN MICRO- AND NANODOSIMETRY

International audienc

SOI microdosimetry and modified MKM for evaluation of relative biological effectiveness for a passive proton therapy radiation field

With more patients receiving external beam radiation therapy with protons, it becomes increasingly important to refine the clinical understanding of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for dose delivered during treatment. Treatment planning systems used in clinics typically implement a constant RBE of 1.1 for proton fields irrespective of their highly heterogeneous linear energy transfer (LET). Quality assurance tools that can measure beam characteristics and quantify or be indicative of biological outcomes become necessary in the transition towards more sophisticated RBE weighted treatment planning and for verification of the Monte Carlo and analytical based models they use. In this study the RBE for the CHO-K1 cell line in a passively delivered clinical proton spread out Bragg peak (SOBP) is determined both in vitro and using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microdosimetry method paired with the modified microdosimetric kinetic model. The RBE along the central axis of a SOBP with 2 Gy delivered at the middle of the treatment field was found to vary between 1.11-1.98 and the RBE for 10% cell survival between 1.07-1.58 with a 250 kVp x-ray reference radiation and between 1.19-2.34 and 0.95-1.41, respectively, for a Co60 reference. Good agreement was found between RBE values calculated from the SOI-microdosimetry-MKM approach and in vitro. A strong correlation between proton lineal energy and RBE was observed particularly in the distal end and falloff of the SOBP

Characterization of GaAs:Cr sensors using the charge-integrating JUNGFRAU readout chip

Chromium compensated GaAs sensors have been characterized using the charge-integrating readout chip JUNGFRAU. Due to its low noise performance and 75 × 75 μm2 pixel size, JUNGFRAU enables a precise measurement of the charge (of either polarity) with a high spatial resolution. Several sensor parameters like dark current, noise and spectral performance as well as the charge transport properties of the electrons have been determined. The short lifetime of holes in GaAs:Cr gives rise to an effect where pixels adjacent to a pixel with a photon hit show a strong negative signal when being absorbed close to the readout electrode. This so-called `crater effect' has been simulated and allows an estimation of the hole lifetime in GaAs:Cr

Dose-and time-dependent gene expression alterations in prostate and colon cancer cells after in vitro exposure to carbon ion and X-irradiation

Hadrontherapy is an advanced form of radiotherapy that uses beams of charged particles (such as protons and carbon ions). Compared with conventional radiotherapy, the main advantages of carbon ion therapy are the precise absorbed dose localization, along with an increased relative biological effectiveness (RBE). This high ballistic accuracy of particle beams deposits the maximal dose to the tumor, while damage to the surrounding healthy tissue is limited. Currently, hadrontherapy is being used for the treatment of specific types of cancer. Previous in vitro studies have shown that, under certain circumstances, exposure to charged particles may inhibit cell motility and migration. In the present study, we investigated the expression of four motility-related genes in prostate (PC3) and colon (Caco-2) cancer cell lines after exposure to different radiation types. Cells were irradiated with various absorbed doses (0, 0.5 and 2 Gy) of accelerated (13)C-ions at the GANIL facility (Caen, France) or with X-rays. Clonogenic assays were performed to determine the RBE. RT-qPCR analysis showed dose- and time-dependent changes in the expression of CCDC88A, FN1, MYH9 and ROCK1 in both cell lines. However, whereas in PC3 cells the response to carbon ion irradiation was enhanced compared with X-irradiation, the effect was the opposite in Caco-2 cells, indicating cell-type-specific responses to the different radiation types