Otitis media aguda (OMA)

Approximately 80% of all children will have a case of acute otitis media (AOM). Even though it is a frequent pathology, there is a considerable percentage of miss diagnosis that leads to incorrect management, presenting a huge impact in the economy. AOM is a self-limited infectious process in most cases, however, it remains one of the most frequent indications for the use of antibioticsAproximadamente 80% de todos los niños va a presentar un caso de otitis media aguda (OMA). Aun siendo una patología frecuente, existe un porcentaje de error diagnóstico nada despreciable que lleva a un manejo impreciso, lo cual tiene un alto impacto económico. La OMA es un proceso infeccioso auto limitado en la mayoría de los casos, sin embargo, sigue siendo una de las indicaciones para el uso de antibioticoterapia más frecuent

A systematic review of mental health in rural Andean populations in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundCOVID-19 has been causing mental health problems around the world, with rural and indigenous peoples likely to be the most affected. This systematic review synthesizes and critically analyzes the existing literature on mental disorders in the rural Andean population in Latin America.MethodsA systematic review with narrative synthesis was carried out following the PRISMA guidelines. We searched nine databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Cochrane, Scielo, LILACS, and Latindex), five public prepublication servers (SocArXiv, medRxiv, bioRxiv, SportRXiv, and Preprints), ALICIA, and Google Scholar for articles that included the analysis of mental health problems using data collected from the rural Andean population in Latin America. These were eligible for inclusion. Articles that included Non-Latin American populations (including European or African migrants) and studies conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (since the declaration of national lockdown) were excluded.ResultsA total of 23,761 articles were retrieved, 14 of which met the inclusion requirements. Most were cross-sectional (n = 12) and related to anxiety (n = 9), depression (n = 8), and stress (n = 5). The mental health analysis of 5,976 rural dwellers from four countries in Latin America also included gray literature studies (n = 7) that allowed the quantification of mental health problems in adults (n = 7) and adolescents/children (n = 4). Only one study was multinational, and the quality of publications varied. Despite the high frequency of anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms among rural Latin American populations during COVID-19, published research is very limited. This review found preliminary evidence that the frequency of anxiety (45%), depression (27.6%), and stress (33.1%) in the rural population was associated with pandemic restrictions across countries. Measures of other psychiatric problems, such as distress or suicidal ideation, cannot be estimated.ConclusionRegional-wide studies investigating changes in the frequency of symptoms of mental health problems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic are warranted to inform culturally adapted prevention strategies. This study is limited to a narrative synthesis and may be subject to publication bias.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=320489

Where Do Medical Students Look for Information? A Study on Scientific Consultation Sources in Peru

"Introduction: Scientific consultation sources is essential in the quality of information during medical training worldwide. The sources of consultation should provide quality information to students who begin with clinical courses; however, it is unknown how and where students seek data in all medical schools in Peru. In this study, we determine the most frequent sources of scientific consultation of medical students at Norbert Wiener University. Materials and methods: We conducted a survey-based observational study in 148 volunteers (mean age 22.1±5.4 years) during 2019. A 21-items questionnaire was divided into three components: demographic data (10 questions), scientific consultation sources (7 questions), and Information search engines (4 questions). Results: Eighty (54.1%) students were between 20-30 years, and 26.8% worked < 20 hours per week. The scientific search sources considered very usefully were scientific articles (75.4%) and specialized books (49.3%), while 33% did not know Medscape. Regarding audiovisual sources, documentaries on the history of medicine and YouTube were considered useful in 41% and 48%, respectively. We found differences in the use of consultation sources (p =0.031), Medscape (p =0.001), documentaries (p=0.009), and YouTube (p=0.022) among medical years. Sixty-three percent considered Wikipedia useful, and 19.3% used PubMed, while Google was the most frequent information search engine, followed of Scielo and Google scholar. We found a correlation between year of students and SciELO (p=0.024) and Google (p=0.024) engine use. Conclusions: Our results suggest that scientific articles, specialized books and audiovisual sources (documentaries and YouTube) were convenient for medical students. In addition, we have found that as students’ progress through the years in medical school, they make less use of rigorous scientific reference sources.

A Comparative Analysis of Pretrained Language Models for Text-to-Speech

State-of-the-art text-to-speech (TTS) systems have utilized pretrained language models (PLMs) to enhance prosody and create more natural-sounding speech. However, while PLMs have been extensively researched for natural language understanding (NLU), their impact on TTS has been overlooked. In this study, we aim to address this gap by conducting a comparative analysis of different PLMs for two TTS tasks: prosody prediction and pause prediction. Firstly, we trained a prosody prediction model using 15 different PLMs. Our findings revealed a logarithmic relationship between model size and quality, as well as significant performance differences between neutral and expressive prosody. Secondly, we employed PLMs for pause prediction and found that the task was less sensitive to small models. We also identified a strong correlation between our empirical results and the GLUE scores obtained for these language models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to investigate the impact of different PLMs on TTS.Comment: Accepted for presentation at the 12th ISCA Speech Synthesis Workshop (SSW) in Grenoble, France, from 26th to 28th August 202

"What is the perception of medical students about eLearning during the COVID-19 pandemic? A multicenter study in Peru"

"Introduction: As face-to-face medical education was restricted during the pandemic; digital tools have been deployed to continue education showing a good educational impact in most countries. However, the perception of medical students in Peru on eLearning has not yet been investigated. This study assessed the perception of 440 medical students from two national universities in Peru on the characteristics and limitations of eLearning during 2021. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using the self-administered survey Encuesta Virtual en Tiempos de COVID-19 (EVI-CV19) on students between the second and sixth medical year of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) and the Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga (UNSLG, n=325). Results: The majority of students were under 30 years of age (93.9% vs. 97.2%, p=0.084), and female (67% vs. 64%, p=0.107). Of the total, 63.9% and 81.5% UNMSM and UNSLG students considered the virtual platform effective in favouring feedback with recorded lectures (85.2% vs. 85.5%) and the organization of documents (61.7% vs. 80.9%), respectively (p>0.05). Seventy per cent and 46.8% of UNMSM and UNSLG students perceived that teachers were nottrained (p=0.063), and 26.1% and17.2% of students perceived thatthe virtual modality affected their academic performance a lot, respectively (p=0.003). About 38% of students from both universities perceived the virtual platforms as very secure. We found differences between UNMSM and UNSLG students on whether the virtual exams were fair (28.7% vs. 52.3%, p<0.001). Conclusions: This study reported a favorable perception of medical eLearning with clear differences in the limitations of the virtual environment.

Cortometraje animado 3D holográfico, La Batalla de Tapi dirigido a niños de la Unidad Educativa Especializada Sordos de Chimborazo.

Se creó un cortometraje animado 3D holográfico como material didáctico para niños y niñas de cuarto año de básica de la Unidad Educativa Especializada Sordos de Chimborazo, con el teme La Batalla de Tapi, para que a través de este, conozcan parte de la historia de Riobamba. Para la realización de este cortometraje se investigó los tipos de sordera existentes y se realizó una entrevista con la autoridad de dicha institución con lo cual obtuvimos mucha información acerca de su aprendizaje y de sus necesidades a la hora de aprender ya que los recursos visuales son los que se adaptan más a sus necesidades, y a su vez aprovecharíamos este sentido que en su caso resulta muy desarrollado. Con la ayuda de un computador, y un paquete gráfico logramos partir desde los bocetos iniciales a lograr la creación y animación en tres dimensiones de los personajes involucrados en nuestra historia, luego, se construyó una pirámide y con la ayuda de un aparato reflector podríamos visualizar nuestro cortometraje y obtener una proyección holográfica. Para validar la utilidad de este trabajo, lo difundimos en los niveles básicos antes mencionados, lo cual resultó muy atractivo por ser dinámico, creativo y funcional. Se concluye que este tipo de material promueve el rescate de la historia e incide en el proceso de aprendizaje de los niño(a)s. Por lo tanto se recomienda la implementación de este tipo de recurso didáctico.An animated 3D holographic short film was created as teaching materials for children from fourth year of Basic Specialized Chimborazo Deaf Education Unit, themed Battle of Tapi, so that through this, know of the history of Riobamba. For the realization of this film the types of hearing loss were investigated and an interview with the authority of that institution with which we obtained a lot of information about their learning and their needs when learning took place as the visual resources are that they are more suited to their needs, and in turn would take advantage of this sense that if it is well developed. With the help of a computer, and a graphic software was achieved starting from initial sketches to achieve the creation and animation in three dimensions of the characters involved in our history, then, a pyramid was built with the help of a reflector device could view our short film and get a holographic projection. To validate the utility of this work, we spread in the above basic levels, which resulted very attractive to be dynamic, creative and functional. It was concluded that this material promotes the rescue of history and affects the learning process of children. Therefore the implementation of this type of teaching resource is recommended

Estado de Ánimo y Autoeficacia en el Personal del Cuerpo de Bomberos

Moods are transitory emotions linked to personality and self-efficacy is the way in which the person perceives him/herself in terms of his/her capabilities. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between self-efficacy and the dimensions of mood (sadness-depression, anxiety, anger-hostility and happiness) in Fire Department personnel, through a quantitative approach, correlational scope, non-experimental, prospective and cross-sectional design. The General Self-Efficacy Scale EAG and the Mood Rating Scale EVEA were applied to 120 participants (80% men and 20% women) selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The results showed a low negative correlation between the dimensions of Sadness-Depression (Rho= -0.234); Anxiety (Rho= -0.252); Anger-Hostility (Rho= -0.277) and Self-efficacy, and a positive correlation with the dimension of Joy (Rho= 0.329). With respect to the mood dimensions, Joy predominated (83.3%) and a high score was identified in Self-efficacy (M=31.1). Regarding the relationship of mood according to sex, both men and women presented a high score in the joy dimension without finding statistically significant differences.El estado de ánimo son emociones transitorias ligadas a la personalidad y la autoeficacia es la forma en cómo la persona se percibe según sus capacidades. El objetivo del estudio fue determinar la relación entre la autoeficacia y las dimensiones del estado de ánimo (tristeza-depresión, ansiedad, ira-hostilidad y alegría) en el Personal del Cuerpo de Bomberos, a través de un enfoque cuantitativo, de alcance correlacional, diseño no experimental, prospectivo y corte transversal. Se aplicó la Escala de Autoeficacia General EAG y la Escala de Valoración del Estado de Ánimo EVEA a 120 participantes, (80% hombres y 20% mujeres) seleccionados mediante un muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia. En los resultados se obtuvo una correlación negativa baja entre las dimensiones de Tristeza-Depresión (Rho= -0.234); Ansiedad (Rho= -0.252); Ira-Hostilidad (Rho= -0.277) y Autoeficacia, y una correlación positiva con la dimensión de Alegría (Rho= 0.329). Con respecto a las dimensiones de estado de ánimo predomino la Alegría (83.3%) y se identificó una puntuación alta en Autoeficacia (M=31.1). En cuanto a la relación del estado de ánimo según el sexo, tanto hombres como mujeres presentaron una elevada puntuación en la dimensión alegría sin encontrarse diferencias estadísticamente significativas

Alterations in the coagulation markers did not showdifferences with the severity of COVID‐19 in Peruvianpatients: A cross‐sectional single‐center study

Background and Aims:COVID‐19 is a pandemic disease that can lead to alteredlung function, systemic inflammatory events, and altered coagulation. During severestages of the disease, changes in coagulation homeostasis increase, leading tothrombosis, and increased risk of death. In this cross‐sectional study, we aimedto assess coagulation markers by COVID‐19 severity in Peruvian adults.Methods:During the second wave of infections, we included 186 adults diagnosedwith COVID‐19 (mean age 53.3 ± 16.3 years). Patients were divided into mild,moderate, and severe stages of COVID‐19, and coagulation markers includedprothrombin time (PT), activated partial prothrombin time (aPTT), fibrinogen,D‐dimer, and platelet count.Results:Of the total, 120 (64.5%) were males and 39 (21%) were in the intensivecare unit. We determine 104 (55.9%), 43 (24.7%), and 36 (19.4%) patients in mild,moderate, and severe stages of COVID‐19, respectively. In the severe stage ofCOVID‐19, patients had an average concentration of PT, aPTT, fibrinogen,D‐dimer,and platelets of 13.2 ± 0.9 s, 28.9 ± 4.3 s, 679.4 ± 185.1 mg/dL, 1.9 ± 3.1 μg/mL, and272.8 ± 88.9 cel/10 mm,3respectively. We found no differences in the concentra-tion of each marker according to severity (p< 0.05). Patients with severe COVID‐19had altered the aPTT, fibrinogen,D‐dimer, and PT in 31 (57.4%), 48 (88.9%), 37(68.5%), and 15 (27.8%) cases, respectively.Conclusions:Our results showed that although there is an alteration in coagulationmarkers, mainly fibrinogen andD‐fiber, there are no differences in concentrationaccording to the severity of COVID‐19

Estudio, factores de riesgo e implementación de un plan de emergencia para el modular de la Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica en la Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo.

Se ha diseñado e implementado un plan de emergencia y evacuación en caso de una emergencia en el modular de la Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica. Con la finalidad de que en caso de producirse una emergencia se pueda precautelar de la mejor manera el bienestar de todas las personas que realicen sus actividades dentro del edifico, así como también los bienes materiales. Para lo cual se estimó la probabilidad de ocurrencia de distintas clases de emergencia dependiendo de su origen y la vulnerabilidad al enfrentar las mismas. Con el resultado del análisis del riesgo se procedió a elaborar las estrategias, acciones y ubicación de elementos de detección y protección necesarios, para ello es obligatorio la utilización de normas como: NFPA 10, NFPA 72, ISO 3864-1, ISO 7010, ISO 16069, ISO 23542, ISO 23601; entre otras, que se convierten en la guía para la toma de decisiones al momento de la implementación del plan. La comunicación y puesta en marcha de este plan es fundamental, de esta manera todos sus actores se encontrarán aptos y totalmente capacitados para hacer frente a una situación de emergencia. Es decir sabrán que hacer, a donde ir y cómo actuar en caso de emergencia disminuyendo en gran medida las posibles consecuencias que pudieran suceder durante una emergencia. Se recomienda la revisión cada dos años de este plan, actualizándolo a la normativa vigente, el seguimiento y ejecución del mantenimiento de todos los elementos de protección y detección de una emergencia; así como también, concientizar a todos los usuarios del modular al cuidado de dichos elementos y de los pictogramas de seguridad.This research is intended to design and implement an emergency and evacuation plan in the Electronic Engineering building in case of an emergency, in order to ensure in the best way the welfare of all people carry out their activities within the building, as well as material goods. For which the probability of occurrence of different types of emergency depending on its origin and face the same vulnerability was considered. From the risk analysis, it is developed the strategies, actions and the necessary location of detection and protection elements, therefore, it is required the use of standards such as: NFPA 10, NFPA 72, ISO 3864-1, ISO 7010, ISO 16069, ISO 23542, and ISO 23601: among others, these standards become the guide for decision-making during the implementation of the plan. It is essential the communication and implementation of this plan, so that all workers will be qualified and fully trained to stand up to an emergency situation. In other words, they know what to do, where to go and how to act in emergency case, while reducing the possible consequences of that may happen during an emergency. As a result, it is recommended an inspection plan every two years, in compliance with the current regulations, monitoring and execution of the maintenance of all protection and detection elements of an emergency: as well as, train and educate building users take care of those elements and safety pictograms