Factores de riesgo en la transmisión de la hepatitis B en la Amazonía colombiana

A control program for fulrninant hepatitis infectionwascamied out inan Indiand school in San Rafael of Carauarana, located in the Colombian Amazonia, b$the National Institute of Health and the Amazon Health Service. A risk factors study was conducted among 198 children, ages ranged between 8 and 15 years, who showed elevated HBV infection prevalence of 61%. The risk factors linked to the HVB infection in our survey were: personal contact with an icteric relative (OR: 3.1) and a personal history of pyodermitis (OR: 2.22). Our findings try to shed some light on the transmission mechanisms of this infection in Colombia.En un internado indígena de San Rafael del Caraparaná, en la región amazónica colombiana, se lleva a cabo un programa de control de la hepatitis fulminante por intermedio del Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) y el Servicio de Salud del Amazonas. Se aplicó una encuesta de riesgo a 198 niños en edades comprendidas entre 8 y 15 años, quienes mostraban una prevalencia de infección del 61 %. Los factores de riesgo ligados a la infección por VHB en nuestro estudio fueron: contacto con un familiar ictérico (OR=3.1) y antecedente familiar de piodermitis (OR=2 22). Nuestros hallazgos amplían los conocimientos sobre mecanismos de transmisión del virus de la hepatitis B en Colombia

Quality of life of people with venous leg ulcers: A comparison of the discriminative and responsive characteristics of two generic and a disease specific instruments

BACKGROUND: Venous leg ulcers are an important source of morbidity in society. Measuring the impact of leg ulcers on quality of life is important within clinical and economic evaluations. In this study we report a validation study of the leg ulcer disease specific Hyland questionnaire and compare its discriminative and responsive characteristics to general health quality of life measures: the SF-12 and EQ-5D. Methods: HRQoL of venous leg ulcer patients from 9 UK regions was measured using SF-12, EQ-5D and Hyland, at baseline and every three months for 1 year. Psychometric analysis was used to confirm the validity of the Hyland questionnaire. Quarterly scores for all instruments were calculated. Effect size and standardised mean difference were used to investigate the responsiveness to ulcer healing and discriminative abilities of the instruments. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighty seven individuals were recruited into the VenUS I study. Baseline health related quality of life data from the study participants suggested a two factor solution for the Hyland. This questionnaire was associated with small and moderate ability to discriminate individuals according to age, mobility, initial ulcer size and ulcer duration. SF-12 and EQ-5D had good evaluative properties; both instruments were responsive to changes in HRQoL after ulcer healing. High levels of bodily pain were reported in the SF-12 questionnaire, whilst only minor ulcer related discomfort was reported in the Hyland. DISCUSSION: SF-12 and EQ-5D are suitable for exploring dimensions of health related quality of life in people with chronic venous leg ulceration. The responsiveness to healing of the Hyland questionnaire is unclear. We would recommend the use of generic instruments for the measurement of HRQoL in patients with venous leg ulcers

Diagnostic de la maladie coronarienne stable par FFR non invasive, mythe ou réalité [Diagnosis of stable coronary artery disease with non-invasive FFR: myth or reality?].

Decision to revascularize a patient with stable coronary artery disease should be based on the detection of myocardial ischemia. If this decision can be straightforward with significant stenosis or in non-significant stenosis, the decision with intermediate stenosis is far more difficult and require invasive measures of functional impact of coronary stenosis on maximal blood (flow fractional flow reserve=FFR). A recent computer based method has been developed and is able to measure FFR with data acquired during a standard coronary CT-scan (FFRcT). Two recent clinical studies (DeFACTO and DISCOVER-FLOW) show that diagnostic performance of FFRcT was associated with improved diagnostic accuracy versus standard coronary CT-scan for the detection of myocardial ischemia although FFRcT need further development

Experimental observation of evanescent modes at the interface to slow-light photonic crystal waveguides

We experimentally study the fields close to an interface between two photonic crystal waveguides that have different dispersion properties. After the transition from a waveguide in which the group velocity of light is v(g) similar to c/10 to a waveguide in which it is v(g) similar to c/100, we observe a gradual increase in the field intensity and the lateral spreading of the mode. We attribute this evolution to the existence of a weakly evanescent mode that exponentially decays away from the interface. We compare this to the situation where the transition between the waveguides only leads to a minor change in group velocity and show that, in that case, the evolution is absent. Furthermore, we apply novel numerical mode extraction techniques to confirm experimental results. (C) 2011 Optical Society of AmericaPublisher PDFPeer reviewe