Factores alimentarios - nutricionales que afectan la calidad de vida de personas con HTA. Centro de Salud N° 9. Salta.

La relevancia clínica de la HTA reside en el incremento del riesgo de padecer ECV y por ende, en el deterioro de la calidad de vida de las personas que la padecen.\ud El objetivo es conocer factores de riesgo alimentario y nutricionales que afectan la calidad de vida de las personas con HTA, asisitidas el Centro de Salud Nº9 Villa Lavalle, Ciudad de Salta. Año 2010

BioPlat: A software for human cancer biomarker discovery

Development of effective tools such as oligo-microarrays and next-generation sequencing methods for monitoring gene expression on a large scale has resulted in the discovery of gene signatures with prognostic/ predictive value in various malignant neoplastic diseases. However, with the exponential growth of gene expression databases, biologists are faced with the challenge of extracting useful information from these repositories. Here, we present a software package, BioPlat (Biomarkers Platform), which allows biologists to identify novel prognostic and predictive cancer biomarkers based on the data mining of gene expression signatures and gene expression profiling databases. BioPlat has been designed as an easy-to-use and flexible desktop software application, which provides a set of analytical tools related to data extraction, preprocessing, filtering, gene expression signature calculation, in silico validation, feature selection and annotation that leverage the integration and reuse of gene expression signatures in the context of follow-up data.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada

Proyecto MAPEC-Salta: una nueva modalidad de atención para personas con hipertensión arterial en tres centros de atención primaria de la salud de la ciudad de Salta, Argentina.

Background: Hypertension (HT) is the first cause of worldwide cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, it is often a poorlycontrolled disease, mainly because health care systems are oriented to the attention of acute diseases. The Argentine Ministry ofHealth proposed a new model for the care of hypertensive patients called MAPEC, based on the Chronic Care Model.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of MAPEC implementation to improve blood pressure (BP) control,changes in lifestyle, disease knowledge and treatment adherence in hypertensive patients treated in three primary health care centersof the City of Salta, Argentina.Methods: Blood pressure was measured with a digital blood pressure monitor and the Batalla and Morisky-Green-Levine tests wereused to evaluate disease knowledge and adherence to treatment, respectively.Results: The study included 232 patients. After model implementation, significant differences (p<0.0001) were found in bloodpressure control, disease understanding, treatment adherence and changes in hygienic-dietary measures. There was a decrease inmean BP with a reduction of 12.97 (95% CI: 9.52-16.42) mm Hg and 6.93 (95% CI: 4.70-9.16) mm Hg in systolic and diastolic BP,respectively.Conclusions: There was evident improvement in the analyzed health parameters after MAPEC implementation. This model canbe easily adapted to primary health care centers at a low cost. In addition, it agrees with the 25×25 WHO targets to reduce 25%cardiovascular premature deaths by 2025.Introducción: La hipertensión arterial (HTA) es la primera causa de morbimortalidad cardiovascular. A menudo es una enfermedadmal controlada porque los sistemas de salud están más orientados a atender enfermedades agudas. El Ministeriode Salud de Argentina propuso un nuevo modelo de atención para pacientes hipertensos conocido como MAPEC, basado enel modelo de cuidados crónicos.Objetivo: Evaluar el impacto de la implementación del MAPEC en el control de la presión arterial (PA), el cuidado de las medidashigiénico-dietéticas, el conocimiento de la enfermedad y la adherencia al tratamiento en pacientes hipertensos asistidosen tres centros de atención primaria de la ciudad de Salta, Argentina.Material y Métodos: Se midió la PA con tensiómetro digital automático; se evaluó el conocimiento de la HTA y la adherenciaal tratamiento con los test de Batalla y Morisky-Green-Levine, respectivamente.Resultados: Se estudiaron 232 pacientes. Hubo diferencias significativas (p <0,0001) luego de la intervención en el controlde la PA, el conocimiento de la enfermedad, la adherencia al tratamiento y las medidas higiénico-dietéticas. También enlos promedios de PA, con una disminución de 12,97 (IC95: 9,52-16,42) mmHg en la presión sistólica y de 6,93 (IC95: 4,70-9,16) mmHg en la presión diastólica.Conclusiones: Fue evidente la mejoría en los parámetros de salud analizados en los pacientes con la implementación del MAPEC.Este modelo es de fácil aplicación y bajo costo. Además, está en consonancia con los objetivos 25×25 de la OMS, mediantelos que se busca una reducción del 25% de las muertes prematuras por enfermedades cardiovasculares hacia el año 2025

Serological Evaluation of Specific-Antibody Levels in Patients Treated for Chronic Chagas' Disease▿†

Serological tests are the main laboratory procedures used for diagnosis during the indeterminate and chronic stages of Chagas' disease. A serological regression to negativity is the main criterion used to define parasitological cure in treated patients. The aim of this work was to monitor the individual specificities of antibody levels for 3 years posttreatment in 18 adult patients. Conventional serological techniques (hemagglutination assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]) were modified by using recombinant antigens to detect early markers of treatment effectiveness. For this purpose, serum samples were taken before and during treatment and every 6 months after treatment for at least 3 years. When hemagglutination assays were used, a decrease in antibody levels was observed in only one patient. When ELISA with serum dilutions was used, antibody clearance became much more apparent: in 77.7% (14/18) of the patients, antibody titers became negative with time. This was observed at serum dilutions of 1/320 and occurred between the 6th and the 30th months posttreatment. The immune response and the interval for a serological regression to negativity were different for each patient. For some of the recombinant antigens, only 50% (9/18) of the patients reached the serological regression to negativity. Recombinant antigen 13 might be a good marker of treatment effectiveness, since 66.6% (six of nine) of the patients presented with an early regression to negativity for specific antibodies to this antigen (P = 0.002)

Biomarkers of therapeutic responses in chronic Chagas disease: state of the art and future perspectives

The definition of a biomarker provided by the World Health Organization is any substance, structure, or process that can be measured in the body, or its products and influence, or predict the incidence or outcome of disease. Currently, the lack of prognosis and progression markers for chronic Chagas disease has posed limitations for testing new drugs to treat this neglected disease. Several molecules and techniques to detect biomarkers in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected patients have been proposed to assess whether specific treatment with benznidazole or nifurtimox is effective. Isolated proteins or protein groups from different T. cruzi stages and parasite-derived glycoproteins and synthetic neoglycoconjugates have been demonstrated to be useful for this purpose, as have nucleic acid amplification techniques. The amplification of T. cruzi DNA using the real-time polymerase chain reaction method is the leading test for assessing responses to treatment in a short period of time. Biochemical biomarkers have been tested early after specific treatment. Cytokines and surface markers represent promising molecules for the characterisation of host cellular responses, but need to be further assessed.RICET RD12/0018/0010. RICET RD12/0018/0021. AGAUR 2014SGR26. Plan Nacional de I+D+I SAF2012-35777. Plan Nacional de I+D+I SAF2013-48527-R. NIMHD/NIH 2G12MD007592. Financial support: CRESIB and IPBLN research members were partially supported by the RICET (RD12/0018/0010, RD12/0018/0021), M-JP and JG received research funds from AGAUR (2014SGR26) and Fundación Mundo Sano, M-CT and M-CL were supported by Plan Nacional de I+D+I (MINECO-Spain) (SAF2012-35777, SAF2013-48527-R and FEDER), ICA was partially supported by NIMHD/NIH (2G12MD007592). Financial support: CRESIB and IPBLN research members were partially supported by the RICET (RD12/0018/0010, RD12/0018/0021), M-JP and JG received research funds from AGAUR (2014SGR26) and Fundación Mundo Sano, M-CT and M-CL were supported by Plan Nacional de I+D+I (MINECO-Spain) (SAF2012-35777, SAF2013-48527-R and FEDER), ICA was partially supported by NIMHD/NIH (2G12MD007592).Peer reviewe

Course of serological tests in treated subjects with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data

Objective: To determine the course of serological tests in subjects with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection treated with anti-trypanosomal drugs. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using individual participant data. Survival analysis and the Cox proportional hazards regression model with random effects to adjust for covariates were applied. The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO; CRD42012002162). Results: A total of 27 studies (1296 subjects) conducted in eight countries were included. The risk of bias was low for all domains in 17 studies (63.0%). Nine hundred and thirteen subjects were assessed (149 seroreversion events, 83.7% censored data) for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), 670 subjects (134 events, 80.0% censored) for indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIF), and 548 subjects (99 events, 82.0% censored) for indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA). A higher probability of seroreversion was observed within a shorter time span in subjects aged 1-19 years compared to adults. The chance of seroreversion also varied according to the country where the infection might have been acquired. For instance, the pooled adjusted hazard ratio between children/adolescents and adults for the IIF test was 1.54 (95% confidence interval 0.64-3.71) for certain countries of South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Paraguay) and 9.37 (95% confidence interval 3.44-25.50) for Brazil. Conclusions: The disappearance of anti-T. cruzi antibodies was demonstrated along the course of follow-up. An interaction between age at treatment and country setting was found.UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland B20393 European project BERENICE - European Community's 7th Framework Programme HEALTH-3059