La información escrita del farmacéutico mejora el cumplimiento de la antibioterapia

Non-compliance with therapeutic guidelines represents a potential public health risk, given that it contributes to bacterialresistance. One of the strategies used to improve compliance to such guidelines is to provide the patient with betterinformation in written form. The objectives of the present investigation were the following; To evaluate the influencethat written information, provided by the community pharmacist, has on compliance with antibiotic therapy, to verify theconsequences of degree of compliance on patient health, and to discover other factors influencing patient compliance.The experimental study was carried on patients that attend a community pharmacy for antibiotic prescriptions. Membersof the control group were given information in verbal form only, while members of the experimental group were giventhe same information in both verbal and written form. The degree of compliance was determined through telephoneinterviews, carried out the day after having finished treatment. 214 patients completed the study. A 14% increase incompliance among members of the experimental group was achieved. Patients that had completed treatment, had a betterperception of their own health than those that had not. Another factor found to have a significant influence oncompliance was the number of daily dosages.In conclusion, the written information provided by the pharmacist improves therapeutic compliance. Therapeutic complianceimproves patients’ perception of their state of health. The number of daily dosages also have an influence to bear, butcontradict appropriate antibiotic administration policies.El incumplimiento terapéutico es un riesgo potencial para la salud pública al contribuir al incremento de lasresistencias bacterianas. Una de las estrategias utilizadas para mejorar el cumplimiento terapéutico es el de mejorarla información del paciente mediante información escrita. Los objetivos fueron evaluar la influencia de la informaciónescrita del farmacéutico comunitario sobre el cumplimiento antibiótico, verificar sus consecuencias sobre lasalud y descubrir otros factores que influyan en el cumplimiento. Se trata de un estudio experimental en pacientesque acuden a una farmacia comunitaria con una prescripción antibiótica. Al grupo control se le da informaciónverbal sobre su tratamiento, y al grupo de intervención la misma información, pero también por escrito. Se mideel cumplimiento mediante encuesta telefónica al día siguiente de haber tenido que finalizar el tratamiento. 214pacientes finalizaron el estudio. Los pacientes del grupo de intervención incrementaron el cumplimiento terapéuticoen un 14,2%. Los pacientes que cumplen el tratamiento tienen una mejor percepción de salud respecto de losincumplidores. Otro factor que influye significativamente en el cumplimiento es la pauta posológica diaria. Estetrabajo concluye que la información escrita del farmacéutico mejora el cumplimiento terapéutico. El cumplimientoterapéutico mejora la percepción de salud de los pacientes

The effect of written information provided by pharmacists on compliance with antibiotherapy

El incumplimiento terapéutico es un riesgo potencial para la salud pública al contribuir al incremento de las resistencias bacterianas. Una de las estrategias utilizadas para mejorar el cumplimiento terapéutico es el de mejorar la información del paciente mediante información escrita. Los objetivos fueron evaluar la influencia de la información escrita del farmacéutico comunitario sobre el cumplimiento antibiótico, verificar sus consecuencias sobre la salud y descubrir otros factores que influyan en el cumplimiento. Se trata de un estudio experimental en pacientes que acuden a una farmacia comunitaria con una prescripción antibiótica. Al grupo control se le da información verbal sobre su tratamiento, y al grupo de intervención la misma información, pero también por escrito. Se mide el cumplimiento mediante encuesta telefónica al día siguiente de haber tenido que finalizar el tratamiento. 214 pacientes finalizaron el estudio. Los pacientes del grupo de intervención incrementaron el cumplimiento terapéutico en un 14,2%. Los pacientes que cumplen el tratamiento tienen una mejor percepción de salud respecto de los incumplidores. Otro factor que influye significativamente en el cumplimiento es la pauta posológica diaria. Este trabajo concluye que la información escrita del farmacéutico mejora el cumplimiento terapéutico. El cumplimiento terapéutico mejora la percepción de salud de los pacientes.Non-compliance with therapeutic guidelines represents a potential public health risk, given that it contributes to bacterial resistance. One of the strategies used to improve compliance to such guidelines is to provide the patient with better information in written form. The objectives of the present investigation were the following; To evaluate the influence that written information, provided by the community pharmacist, has on compliance with antibiotic therapy, to verify the consequences of degree of compliance on patient health, and to discover other factors influencing patient compliance. The experimental study was carried on patients that attend a community pharmacy for antibiotic prescriptions. Members of the control group were given information in verbal form only, while members of the experimental group were given the same information in both verbal and written form. The degree of compliance was determined through telephone interviews, carried out the day after having finished treatment. 214 patients completed the study. A 14% increase in compliance among members of the experimental group was achieved. Patients that had completed treatment, had a better perception of their own health than those that had not. Another factor found to have a significant influence on compliance was the number of daily dosages. In conclusion, the written information provided by the pharmacist improves therapeutic compliance. Therapeutic compliance improves patients’ perception of their state of health. The number of daily dosages also have an influence to bear, but contradict appropriate antibiotic administration policies

Integration of Transcriptomics and Metabolomics to Reveal the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Rhodium Nanoparticles-Based Photodynamic Cancer Therapy

Rhodium nanoparticles have recently been described as promising photosensitizers due to their low toxicity in the absence of near-infrared irradiation, but their high cytotoxicity when irradiated. Irradiation is usually carried out with a laser source, which allows the treatment to be localized in a specific area, thus avoiding undesirable side effects on healthy tissues. In this study, a multi-omics approach based on the combination of microarray-based transcriptomics and mass spectrometry-based untargeted and targeted metabolomics has provided a global picture of the molecular mechanisms underlying the anti-tumoral effect of rhodium nanoparticle-based photodynamic therapy. The results have shown the ability of these nanoparticles to promote apoptosis by suppressing or promoting anti- and pro-apoptotic factors, respectively, and by affecting the energy machinery of tumor cells, mainly blocking the β-oxidation, which is reflected in the accumulation of free fatty acids and in the decrease in ATP, ADP and NAD+ levels.Depto. de Química AnalíticaFac. de Ciencias QuímicasTRUEMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovaciónpu

Toward reliable hybrid WDM/TDM passive optical networks

Individual users and enterprises are increasingly relying on the access to internet services and cannot accept long interruption time as easily as before. Moreover, the main characteristics of next generation optical access (NGOA) networks, such as long reach and a large number of users per feeder line, turn the network reliability to an important design parameter to offer uninterrupted service delivery. In this regard, protection mechanisms become one of the crucial aspects that need to be considered in the design process of access networks. On the other hand, it should be noted that not all users can afford to pay a high extra cost for protection; hence, it is important to provide resilience in a cost-efficient way. A PON combining WDM and TDM technologies, referred to as hybrid WDM/TDM PON or HPON, is one of the most promising candidates for NGOA networks due to its ability to serve a large number of subscribers and offer high capacity per user. For these reasons, in this article, we propose HPON architecture offering different degrees of resilience depending on the user profiles (i.e., partial and full protection for residential and business access, respectively). Also, the investment cost of providing resilience for the proposed schemes is investigated considering various protection upgrade road maps. Our results confirm that protecting the shared part of network with a large number of users is required in order to keep the failure impact at an acceptable level, with less than 5 percent increase of investment cost compared to the unprotected case. Meanwhile, the proposed end-to-end protection for business users considerably reduces the risk of service interruption for this type of demanding user without a need to duplicate the deployment cost of an unprotected connection. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the impact of changes in business user percentage and protection upgrade time on the deployment cost. The results may be used as advice on cost-efficient deployment of reliable fiber access networks

Metabolomic Heterogeneity of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

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Precarious environmental balance of high-altitude arid wetlands in Chile

La información obtenida en más de 3 décadas de trabajo en tres Humedales áridos de altura (HAA) (salar de Surire, salar de Atacama y laguna Santa Rosa) se utiliza para realizar una relación de ecología y economía. La primera entrega evidencia sobre aspectos físicos químicos, hídricos y de ciertas comunidades biológicas tales como flamencos y fitobentos, mientras que, en la segunda se explica como la explotación de los recursos naturales no renovables en el mismo territorio, determinan riesgo ambiental para estos humedales. Exploramos el funcionamiento de este sistema socio-ecológico del altiplano, con procesos de distinta índole como problemáticas, acciones socioeconómicas que impactan en el paisaje fluvial y al conjunto de hábitats integrados en los HAA son integrantes. Conocer este funcionamiento tiene por objetivo evidenciar el riesgo (por la variabilidad del territorio) en sus seres vivos, típicos de sistemas abiertos, incluyendo en ellos a los humanos. Afirmamos que los HAA son ecológicamente sistemas frágiles y abiertos a los intercambios de energía de origen antrópico, normalmente tratados como sistemas cerrados. Relacionamos la disminución del recurso hídrico como fuente de impacto cuantitativo en el sistema, utilizando bioindicadores para ello: géneros de microflora y poblaciones de flamencos (tres especies). Proponemos un modelo para los HAA, donde el biomonitoreo y la vigilancia ambiental pueden contribuir a su conservación.Information obtained in more than 3 decades of work in three arid high-altitude wetlands (HAA) (Salar de Surire, Salar de Atacama and Laguna Santa Rosa) is used to make a relationship of ecology and economy. First provides evidence on physical, chemical, water and certain biological communities such as flamingos and phytobenthos, second explains how exploitation of non-renewable natural resources in same territory determines environmental risk for these wetlands. We explore the functioning of this socio-ecological system of the highlands, with processes of different kinds such as problems, socio-economic actions that impact the river landscape and the set of habitats integrated in the HAA are integral. Through this, we propose a way to considerate enviromental risk (due to the variability of the territory) in their living beings, typical of open systems, including humans, since HAA are ecologically fragile systems, open to energy exchanges normally treated as closed systems. Water decrease is our key issue on resources as a source of quantitative impact on the system, using bioindicators for this: microflora genera and flamingo populations (three species). We propose a model for HAA, where biomonitoring and environmental surveillance can contribute to their conservation

Filtration–UV irradiation as an option for mitigating the risk of microbiologically influenced corrosion of subsea construction alloys in seawater

The effect of filtration-UV irradiation of seawater on the biofilm activity on several offshore structural alloys was evaluated in a continuous flow system over 90 days. Biofilms ennobled the electrode potential by +400–500 mV within a few days of exposure to raw untreated seawater. Filtration-UV irradiation of the seawater delayed the ennoblement of the steels for up to 40 days and lowered localized corrosion rates in susceptible alloys. Ennobling biofilms were composed of microbial cells, diatoms and extracellular polymeric substances and the bacterial community in biofilms was affected by both the alloy composition and seawater treatment

Boundary Layer of Photon Absorption Applied to Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Solar Flat Plate Reactor Design

This study provides information to design heterogeneous photocatalytic solar reactors with flat plate geometry used in treatment of effluents and conversion of biomass to hydrogen. The concept of boundary layer of photon absorption taking into account the efficient absorption of radiant energy was introduced; this concept can be understood as the reactor thickness measured from the irradiated surface where 99% of total energy is absorbed. Its thickness and the volumetric rate of photons absorption (VRPA) were used as design parameters to determine (i) reactor thickness, (ii) maximum absorbed radiant energy, and (iii) the optimal catalyst concentration. Six different commercial brands of titanium dioxide were studied: Evonik-Degussa P-25, Aldrich, Merck, Hombikat, Fluka, and Fisher. The local volumetric rate of photon absorption (LVRPA) inside the reactor was described using six-flux absorption-scattering model (SFM) applied to solar radiation. The radiation field and the boundary layer thickness of photon absorption were simulated with absorption and dispersion effects of catalysts in water at different catalyst loadings. The relationship between catalyst loading and reactor thickness that maximizes the absorption of radiant energy was obtained for each catalyst by apparent optical thickness. The optimum concentration of photocatalyst Degussa P-25 was 0.2 g/l in 0.86 cm of thickness, and for photocatalyst Aldrich it was 0.3 g/l in 0.80 cm of thickness

Multisynchronization of Chaotic Oscillators via Nonlinear Observer Approach

The goal of this work is to synchronize a class of chaotic oscillators in a master-slave scheme, under different initial conditions, considering several slaves systems. The Chen oscillator is employed as a benchmark model and a nonlinear observer is proposed to reach synchronicity between the master and the slaves’ oscillators. The proposed observer contains a proportional and integral form of a bounded function of the synchronization error in order to provide asymptotic synchronization with a satisfactory performance. Numerical experiments were carried out to show the operation of the considered methodology