Quality of mortality statistics in Chile, 1997-2003

Nunez, M.L. Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Talca. Icaza, M.G.Instituto de Matemática y Física, Universidad de Talca.Death certification is the basis for the study of mortality patterns and the identification of leading causes of death. These data are used for planning health policies and prevention programs. Aim: To evaluate the quality of mortality statistics in Chile from 1997 and 2003. Material and methods: Mortality data from 1997 to 2003 available at the Chilean Ministry of Health was used. Quality of information was evaluated using the percentage of certifications done by physicians and ill-defined causes of death according to rural or urban residence, medical services, age and gender. Results: Death certification done by physicians increased from 97.6% to 99.0% in the studied period. The greatest increase was observed in rural areas, from 89.9% to 94,8%. There was a steady reduction in the percentage of ill-defined causes of deaths, from 4.7% in 1997 to 2.8% in 2003. The percentage of ill-defined causes had a great variation among the different medical services. The variation went from 1.5% in Magallanes to 13.7% in Araucania Sur. There was an inverse linear correlation between death certification by physicians and ill-defined conditions. Conclusions: Quality of Chilean mortality statistics has improved over time. Nevertheless, there is still space for enhancement for the appropriate use of this information

A macroscopic quantum state analysed particle by particle

Explaining how microscopic entities collectively produce macroscopic phenomena is a fundamental goal of many-body physics. Theory predicts that large-scale entanglement is responsible for exotic macroscopic phenomena, but observation of entangled particles in naturally occurring systems is extremely challenging. Synthetic quantum systems made of atoms in optical lattices have been con- structed with the goal of observing macroscopic quantum phenomena with single-atom resolution. Serious challenges remain in producing and detecting long-range quantum correlations in these systems, however. Here we exploit the strengths of photonic technology, including high coherence and efficient single-particle detection, to study the predicted large-scale entanglement underlying the macroscopic quantum phenomenon of polarization squeezing. We generate a polarization-squeezed beam, extract photon pairs at random, and make a tomographic reconstruction of their joint quantum state. We present experimental evidence showing that all photons arriving within the squeezing coherence time are entangled, that entanglement monogamy dilutes entanglement with increasing photon density and that, counterintuitively, increased squeezing can reduce bipartite entanglement. The results provide direct evidence for entanglement of macroscopic numbers of particles and introduce micro-analysis to the study of macroscopic quantum phenomena

Control System for Less than Wind Turbines 1500W

Using wind power generation is another alternative for remote homes, where there is no electricity grid. Especially in Ecuador there are several places where the wind resource is really stable for the year, though at times the wind regime it becomes turbulent wind speeds become quite high exceeding 12 m / s affecting the wind turbine components.Generally in the Ecuadorian highlands are available permanent winds of medium intensity capable of generating electricity, but by having a system of turbulence for short periods of time it jeopardizes the deployed equipment and therefore the investments made by what this study guarantees the stability of small wind turbines that are very useful in our environment to generate electricity in field type housing shelters

Patrón de comportamiento tipo A, ira y enfermedades cardiovasculares (ECV) en población urbana chilena

Diaz, EM (Moyano Diaz, Emilio)1; Icaza, G (Icaza, Gloria); Mujica, V (Mujica, Veronica); Nunez, L (Nunez, Loreto); Leiva, E (Leiva, Elba); Vasquez, M (Vasquez, Marcela); Palomo, I (Palomo, Ivan)A worldwide raise in the number of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the existence of a higher percentage in Maule (Chile) than the national media, and increased attention in the analysis of psychological factors motivate to analyze the Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) and anger in relation to CVD. The sample was 1007 adults between 18 and 74 years old (citizens of Talca, Chile), mostly women. They provided information about their demographic details, eating habits and lifestyle, answered the Novaco's Anger inventory and the Retiro Scale of Type A Behavior (RSTAB), and also were taken measurements like weight, body mass index and blood pressure and blood tests related to risk factors to traditional cardiovascular diseases. The results show Overall, that the participants appear highly sedentary (79.9%) with relatively high levels of tabaquism (53.6%), and hypercholesterolemia (44.5%), overweight (40.7%) and obesity (32.6%). A quarter of the sample also presents hyperglycemic indexes, hypertension and TABP unequally distributed by sex. The absence of PCTA (or PCTB presence) appeared mostly associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors (CRF). Regarding anger, women present more high than men (2.1% against 0.3%; c(2)(3) = 27.99,p<.0001), decreasing for both sexes with age, while also befall stroke by sex

Prevalencia de factores de riesgo cardiovascular clásicos en población adulta de Talca, Chile, 2005

Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunohematología, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile. Instituto de Matemática y Física, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile. Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile. Escuela de Psicología, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile.Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has several traditional risk factors (RF), and some of them are potentially modifiable. Aim: To determine the prevalence of most common risk factors in adult population in Talca in Central Chile. Subjects and methods: We studied 1007 subjects aged 18 to 74 years (66% women), living in Talca, selected by a probability sampling. They answered a questionnaire and anthropometry, blood pressure, lipid profile and blood glucose were measured. Results: Thirty seven percent of subjects smoked, 70.1% had a body mass index over 25 kg/m2 and 41% had an abnormally high circumference. High blood pressure was found in 37% (36% of these subjects were unaware of this condition), 44.5% had hypercholesterolemia, 21.5% had low HDL cholesterol, 40.1% had hypertriglyceridemia and 26.3% had high blood glucose levels. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of risk factors for CVD in adult population from Talca. The prevalence of risk factors is higher than that reported by the 2003 National Health Survery

Antiviral and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Fluoxetine in a SARS-CoV-2 Infection Mouse Model

Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Since a large portion of the world’s population is currently unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated and has limited access to approved treatments against COVID-19, there is an urgent need to continue research on treatment options, especially those at low cost and which are immediately available to patients, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Prior in vitro and observational studies have shown that fluoxetine, possibly through its inhibitory effect on the acid sphingomyelinase/ceramide system, could be a promising antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatment against COVID-19. Objectives The aim of this sudy was to test the potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities of fluoxetine against SARS-CoV-2 in a K18-hACE2 mouse model of infection, and against several variants of concern in vitro, and test the hypothesis of the implication of ceramides and/or their derivatives hexosylceramides. Methods We evaluated the potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities of fluoxetine in a K18-hACE2 mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and against variants of concern in vitro, i.e., SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain, Alpha B.1.1.7, Gamma P1, Delta B1.617 and Omicron BA.5. Results Fluoxetine, administrated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, significantly reduced lung tissue viral titres (Figure 1) and expression of several inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-6, TNFα, CCL2 and CXCL10) (Figure 2). It also inhibited the replication of all variants of concern in vitro. A modulation of the ceramide system in the lung tissues, as reflected by the increase in the ratio HexCer 16:0/Cer 16:0 in fluoxetine-treated mice, may contribute to explain these effects (Figure 3). Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties of fluoxetine in a K18-hACE2 mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and its in vitro antiviral activity against variants of concern, establishing fluoxetine as a very promising candidate for the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease pathogenesis