[Chronic illness from the perspective of patients and health professionals: a qualitative study in Mexico]

Chronic diseases are leading causes of morbidity, mortality, and increasing expenditures in numerous countries. However, little is known about how chronic diseases are perceived and managed by social actors. This article aims to compare the perspectives of health professionals and patients towards chronic diseases, besides analyzing the relationship between these two groups. A qualitative, multi-center study was conducted in three Mexican cities: Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, and Mexico City. Participants included chronically ill individuals, physicians, and other health professionals from primary and secondary health care centers. Data collection used focus groups and interviews. The data were analyzed using discourse analysis. Participants' perceptions varied, from the medicalized view of physicians to that of patients focused on illness and the lifeworld. The participants agreed that there are unequal relationships between health professionals, families, and the chronically ill, but that relationships are more equal among the chronically ill themselves. The article includes by discussing various implications of the findings

Resultados da cirurgia de catarata em pacientes diabéticos : resultados do Pan-American Collaborative Retina Study Group

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the visual and anatomical outcomes after cataract surgery in diabetic patients with different intraoperative therapeutic strategies. Methods: The research design comprised of a multicentric, retrospective, interventional study conducted at 6 centers in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Venezuela. We included 138 diabetic patients with at least 6-month follow-up following phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield thickness were collected at baseline and at 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. Of these, 42 cases were not treated with any intraoperative coadjuvant medication (Group 1), 59 patients received intraoperative bevacizumab (Group 2) and 37 patients received intraoperative triamcinolone (4 mg/0.1 ml) (Group 3). Results: The mean logMAR [± standard deviation (SD)] BCVA improved from 0.82 (± 0.43) at baseline, to 0.14 (± 0.23) at 6-month follow-up (p<0.001) in Group 1; from 0.80 (± 0.48) to 0.54 (± 0.45) (p<0.001) in Group 2; and from 1.0 (± 0.40) to 0.46 (± 0.34) (p<0.001) in Group 3. The mean central subfield thickness increased from 263.57 μm (± 35.7) at baseline to 274.57 μm (± 48.7) at 6-month follow-up (p=0.088) in Group 1; from 316.02 μm (± 100.4) to 339.56 μm (± 145.3) (p=0.184) in Group 2; and from 259.18 μm (± 97.9) to 282.21 μm (± 87.24) (p=0.044) in Group 3. Conclusions: Diabetic patients may significantly benefit from cataract surgery. This study provides evidence to support the use of intravitreal triamcinolone or bevacizumab at the time of cataract surgery in cases with pre-existent diabetic macular edema or moderate-severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Resultados da cirurgia de catarata em pacientes diabéticos : resultados do Pan-American Collaborative Retina Study Group

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the visual and anatomical outcomes after cataract surgery in diabetic patients with different intraoperative therapeutic strategies. Methods: The research design comprised of a multicentric, retrospective, interventional study conducted at 6 centers in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Venezuela. We included 138 diabetic patients with at least 6-month follow-up following phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield thickness were collected at baseline and at 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. Of these, 42 cases were not treated with any intraoperative coadjuvant medication (Group 1), 59 patients received intraoperative bevacizumab (Group 2) and 37 patients received intraoperative triamcinolone (4 mg/0.1 ml) (Group 3). Results: The mean logMAR [± standard deviation (SD)] BCVA improved from 0.82 (± 0.43) at baseline, to 0.14 (± 0.23) at 6-month follow-up (p<0.001) in Group 1; from 0.80 (± 0.48) to 0.54 (± 0.45) (p<0.001) in Group 2; and from 1.0 (± 0.40) to 0.46 (± 0.34) (p<0.001) in Group 3. The mean central subfield thickness increased from 263.57 μm (± 35.7) at baseline to 274.57 μm (± 48.7) at 6-month follow-up (p=0.088) in Group 1; from 316.02 μm (± 100.4) to 339.56 μm (± 145.3) (p=0.184) in Group 2; and from 259.18 μm (± 97.9) to 282.21 μm (± 87.24) (p=0.044) in Group 3. Conclusions: Diabetic patients may significantly benefit from cataract surgery. This study provides evidence to support the use of intravitreal triamcinolone or bevacizumab at the time of cataract surgery in cases with pre-existent diabetic macular edema or moderate-severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Production of Σ(1385)± and Ξ(1530)0 in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

The production of the strange and double-strange baryon resonances (Σ(1385)±, Ξ(1530)0) has been measured at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. Transverse momentum spectra for inelastic collisions are compared to QCD-inspired models, which in general underpredict the data. A search for the ϕ(1860) pentaquark, decaying in the Ξπ channel, has been carried out but no evidence is seen. © 2015, CERN for the benefit of the ALICE collaboration

Freeze-out radii extracted from three-pion cumulants in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC

In high-energy collisions, the spatio-temporal size of the particle production region can be measured using the Bose–Einstein correlations of identical bosons at low relative momentum. The source radii are typically extracted using two-pion correlations, and characterize the system at the last stage of interaction, called kinetic freeze-out. In low-multiplicity collisions, unlike in high-multiplicity collisions, two-pion correlations are substantially altered by background correlations, e.g. mini-jets. Such correlations can be suppressed using three-pion cumulant correlations. We present the first measurements of the size of the system at freeze-out extracted from three-pion cumulant correlations in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE. At similar multiplicity, the invariant radii extracted in p–Pb collisions are found to be 5–15% larger than those in pp, while those in Pb–Pb are 35–55% larger than those in p–Pb. Our measurements disfavor models which incorporate substantially stronger collective expansion in p–Pb as compared to pp collisions at similar multiplicity