Factores psicosociales implicados en el control de la hipertensión arterial

La presión arterial alta o hipertensión arterial constituye uno de los principales factores de riesgo cardiovascular, cuya alta prevalencia y la posibilidad de ser modificada mediante la intervención terapéutica la convierten en un problema de gran interés sanitario y socioeconómico. Se entiende la hipertensión arterial como un problema de salud de origen multifactorial, en el que existen tres grandes categorías de factores implicados: los factores biológicos clásicos, los factores comportamentales de riesgo asociado (hábitos de alimentación, consumo de tabaco y alcohol, y la práctica de ejercicio físico) y los factores psicológicos, incluyendo en estos últimos tanto los efectos de estrés sobre el sistema cardiovascular, como las variables individuales de tipo disposicional (hostilidad e ira como rasgo) y emociones negativas como la ira, la ansiedad o la depresión

Effectiveness of Seasonal Vaccine in Preventing Confirmed Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations in Community Dwelling Older Adults

Background. Current evidence supporting the effectiveness of influenza vaccine in preventing hospitalizations in older adults is insufficient

A gay paper: why should sociolinguistics bother with semantics?: Can sociolinguistic methods shed light on semantic variation and change in reference to the adjective gay?

The study of meaning and changes in meaning has enjoyed varying levels of popularity within linguistics. There have been periods during which the exploration of meaning was of prime importance. For instance, in the late 19th century scholars considered the exploration of the etymology of words to be crucial in their quest to find the ‘true’ meaning of lexemes (Geeraerts, 2010; Malkiel, 1993). There have also been periods where semantic analysis was considered redundant to linguistic investigation (Hockett, 1954: 152). In the past 20–30 years semantics has enjoyed a period of revival. This has been mainly led by the advances in cognitive linguistics (and to some extent, historical linguistics) as well by the innovations associated with the development of electronic corpora and computational methods for extracting and tracing changes in the behaviour of the lexicon (cf. Geeraerts, 2010: 168ff, 261ff). However, there are still areas of linguistics which hardly involve lexis in their theoretical and epistemological considerations. One such area is sociolinguistics

Primary screening of blood donors by nat testing for HCV-RNA: development of an "in-house" method and results Triagem primária de doadores de sangue por teste de ácidos nucléicos: desenvolvimento de um método não-comercial e resultados

An "in-house" RT-PCR method was developed that allows the simultaneous detection of the RNA of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and an artificial RNA employed as an external control. Samples were analyzed in pools of 6-12 donations, each donation included in two pools, one horizontal and one vertical, permitting the immediate identification of a reactive donation, obviating the need for pool dismembering. The whole process took 6-8 hours per day and results were issued in parallel to serology. The method was shown to detect all six HCV genotypes and a sensitivity of 500 IU/mL was achieved (95% hit rate). Until July 2005, 139,678 donations were tested and 315 (0.23%) were found reactive for HCV-RNA. Except for five false-positives, all 310 presented the corresponding antibody as well, so the yield of NAT-only donations was zero, presenting a specificity of 99.83%. Detection of a window period donation, in the population studied, will probably demand testing of a larger number of donations. International experience is showing a rate of 1:200,000 - 1:500,000 of isolated HCV-RNA reactive donations.<br>Desenvolveu-se uma metodologia própria ("in-house") baseada em RT-PCR, que permite detectar simultaneamente o RNA do vírus HCV e de um RNA artificial empregado como controle externo. As amostras são analisadas em pools de 6-12 doações, cada doação sendo incluída em dois pools diferentes, um horizontal e um vertical, permitindo a identificação imediata de uma doação reativa, sem a necessidade de desmembrar-se um pool reativo. O processo todo consumiu de 6-8 horas diárias e os resultados foram emitidos em paralelo à sorologia. O método detectou os seis genótipos de HCV, com um limite de sensibilidade de 500 UI/mL (95% hit rate). Até julho de 2005 haviam sido testadas 139.678 doações com a detecção de 315 (0,23%) doações reativas para HCV-RNA. Exceto cinco falso-positivas, todas estas doações também apresentavam o respectivo anticorpo, portanto não se detectou nenhuma doação em janela imunológica. A especificidade foi de 99,83%. A detecção de amostra em janela imunológica, nesta população de doadores, provavelmente demandará a análise de um número maior de doações, espelhando-se na experiência internacional que tem mostrado a detecção de amostras HCV-RNA isoladas em 1:200.000 - 1:500.000 doações