Advertising regulation in the new consumer statute. Implications from the contract theory standpoint

En la contratación masiva contemporánea, el acercamiento entre los productores y/o proveedores de bienes y servicios y los consumidores se hace mayoritariamente a través de la publicidad. Dicha publicidad contiene elementos de información dirigidos al público, que pretenden modificar sus decisiones de consumo, por lo que se permite la inclusión de “elogios subjetivos del anunciante”. Frente a esta situación se plantean dos interrogantes: ¿lo que se dice en la publicidad vincula al anunciante? Y en caso de que la publicidad sea engañosa ¿qué consecuencias jurídicas se derivan de ello? Las respuestas a estos dos interrogantes varían según la naturaleza de la relación jurídica que exista entre las partes, la cual puede ser civil, mercantil o de consumo.In the contemporary mass hiring, the rapprochement between producers and/or suppliers of goods and services and the consumers is achieved mainly through advertising. This advertising has information elements aimed at the audience that intend to modify their consumption decisions, that is why the inclusion of “subjective compliments by the advertiser” is allowed. Two questions arise from this situation: does what is said in the advertisements bind the advertiser? And in the case the advertisements are actually misleading, what juridical consequences branch out from that? The answers to these two questions vary according to the nature of the juridical relation existing between the parties, which can be civil, commercial or of consumption

Concordancia entre ecoscopia realizada por médicos no cardiológos y ecocardiografía convencional

Introduction: Focused cardiac ultrasound has been proposed as a useful approach for improving clinical decision making, as well as to be able to rapidly identify the ultrasound signs of a specific list of potential diagnoses. Objective: To evaluate a training program for physicians with no experience in cardiac ultrasound with the aim performing focused cardiac ultrasound using a portable device (echoscopy). Materials and methods: The results obtained from echoscopy performed by the physicians that received training were compared with those obtained with conventional cardiac ultrasound carried out by expert cardiologists. A total of 5 non-cardiologist doctors, including 1 medical student, 2 Internal Medicine residents, and 2 from Intensive Medicine, took part in a four-week training course given by a Level III Cardiology specialist. The course included: First week: Theory and basis of cardiac ultrasound (3 hours daily) Second week: Theory of acquiring images. Normal and abnormal findings (50 studies). Third week: handling of the echoscope (50 studies). Fourth week: Data collection. The study included patients scheduled for conventional cardiac ultrasound in the Non-Invasive Methods Laboratory. Two examinations were carried out on each patient. The first consisted of an echoscopy performed by a doctor that had received the training, and the second consisted of a cardiac ultrasound carried out by an expert cardiologist. The ultrasound parameters evaluated were: left ventricular ejection fraction, right ventricular dysfunction, left atrial enlargement, pulmonary hypertension, cardiac valve disease, and pericardial effusion. The results found in echoscopy versus cardiac ultrasound were compared using concordance analysis (Kappa Index). Results: The following results were obtained on the 221 studies performed: moderate agreement in left ventricular ejection fraction (? = 0.541, p less than .000), right ventricular function (? = 0.403, p less than .001), left atrial enlargement (? = 0.413, p less than .001), mitral valve and tricuspid valve disease (? = 0.437, p less than .001 and (? = 0.466, P less than .001, respectively). There was weak agreement with aortic valve disease. Pericardiac effusion and the presence of pulmonary hypertension had a poor and week agreement, respectively. Conclusions: With a limited training period, the participants with no previous experience in ultrasound techniques and using echoscopy achieved a moderate agreement in the majority of measurements when compared with conventional cardiac ultrasound performed by experts in the technique. A study with a larger number of participants is required in order to determine the ideal training period to obtain results comparable with cardiac ultrasound. © 201

La regulación de la publicidad en el nuevo estatuto del consumidor. Implicaciones desde la teoría del contrato

In the contemporary mass hiring, the rapprochement between producers and/or suppliers of goods and services and the consumers is achieved mainly through advertising. This advertising has information elements aimed at the audience that intend to modify their consumption decisions, that is why the inclusion of “subjective compliments by the advertiser” is allowed. Two questions arise from this situation: does what is said in the advertisements bind the advertiser? And in the case the advertisements are actually misleading, what juridical consequences branch out from that? The answers to these two questions vary according to the nature of the juridical relation existing between the parties, which can be civil, commercial or of consumption.En la contratación masiva contemporánea, el acercamiento entre los productores y/o proveedores de bienes y servicios y los consumidores se hace mayoritariamente a través de la publicidad. Dicha publicidad contiene elementos de información dirigidos al público, que pretenden modificar sus decisiones de consumo, por lo que se permite la inclusión de “elogios subjetivos del anunciante”. Frente a esta situación se plantean dos interrogantes: ¿lo que se dice en la publicidad vincula al anunciante? Y en caso de que la publicidad sea engañosa ¿qué consecuencias jurídicas se derivan de ello? Las respuestas a estos dos interrogantes varían según la naturaleza de la relación jurídica que exista entre las partes, la cual puede ser civil, mercantil o de consumo

Filling pressures and collagen metabolism in hypertensive patients with heart failure and normal ejection fraction

This study was designed to evaluate the association between circulating biomarkers of collagen metabolism and elevated left-sided filling pressures (FPs), as assessed from elevated estimated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (ePCWP), in hypertensive patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction. Echocardiography was performed and ePCWP was calculated from the formula ePCWP=1.90+1.24(maximum early transmitral flow velocity in diastole:tissue Doppler early mitral annulus velocity). The biomarkers of collagen synthesis (carboxy-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I) and degradation (matrix metalloproteinase [MMP] 1 and tissue inhibitor of MMP-1 [TIMP-1]) were analyzed by ELISA methods. Seventy-eight patients with normal FPs (ePCWP 15 mm Hg) were included. Compared with controls, the levels of the 3 biomarkers were increased in the 2 groups of patients. The MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio, an index of MMP-1 activity, was increased in patients with normal FPs and unchanged in patients with elevated FPs. Patients with elevated FPs exhibited higher TIMP-1 levels and a lower MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio than patients with normal FPs. ePCWP was independently associated with TIMP-1 (r=0.349; P<0.001) and the MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio (r=-0.240; P<0.01) in all of the patients. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that a cutoff value of TIMP-1 of 1557 ng/mL provided 64% sensitivity and 67% specificity for predicting elevated FPs with a relative risk of 3.71 (95% CI: 1.91 to 7.22). These findings suggest that, in hypertensive patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction and elevated FPs, collagen synthesis predominates over degradation because of a relative excess of TIMP-1. This imbalance can facilitate myocardial fibrosis, which, in turn, may contribute to the elevation of FPs in these patients

Zoogeografía de los gastrópodos terrestres del sur de Nuevo León, México

The terrestrial gastropods of the southern region of the state of Nuevo León were surveyed (december, 2001 – december, 2004). Samples were obtained from 35 localities, in differents vegetational types. The primary zoogeographical relationships are characterized by the presence of the endemics (34 species or subspecies: 40.48%, high value in northeastern México), those of neotropical and neartic affinities (27 species: 32.14%) and those exhibiting panamerican distributions (13 species: 15.48%). The three families with the largest number of endemic species (or subspecies) are the Spiraxidae and Urocoptidae (both with eight species), and the Humboldtianidae (five species). The vegetational types with the greatest biogeographical values are the gallery forest and pine forest. The highest values of malacofaunal similarities are between the submountain shrubs and savannah cultivation and also between the oak-pine forest and gallery forest.Se estudiaron (diciembre de 2001 a diciembre de 2004) los gastrópodos terrestres de la región sur del estado Nuevo León. Las muestras fueron obtenidas en 35 localidades, en diferentes tipos de vegetación. Las principales afinidades zoogeográficas son el endemismo de 34 especies o subespecies (40.48% de la malacofauna, valor alto en el noreste de México), la neotropical principalmente y neártica de 27 especies (32.14%) y la distribución panamericana de 13 especies (15.48%). Las familias con mayor número de especies o subespecies endémicas son Spiraxidae y Urocoptidae, ambas con ocho, y Humboldtianidae con cinco. Los mayores valores biogeográficos de la malacofauna terrestre se presentaron en la vegetación de galería y en el bosque de pino. Las mayores similitudes malacofaunísticas se observan entre el matorral submontano y el pastizal cultivado y entre el bosque de pino-encino y la vegetación de galería

Optimización de la hemoglobina preoperatoria en cirugía ortopédica mayor utilizando hierro intravenoso con o sin eritropoyetina. Estudio epidemiológico

Objetivo: Evaluar la efectividad del tratamiento con hierro intravenoso, solo o asociado a eritropoyetina (rHuEPO), mediante el incremento de hemoglobina (Hb). Como objetivo secundario se analizó la relación del incremento de Hb con los parámetros utilizados para evaluar la anemia. Material y método: Estudio observacional retrospectivo realizado en 2 centros entre enero de 2005 y diciembre de 2009. Se incluyeron pacientes sometidos a cirugía ortopédica electiva con déficit de hierro y que fueron tratados con hierro sacarosa intravenosos solo o asociado a rHuEPO. Se analizó la efectividad del tratamiento mediante la diferencia entre la Hb basal y la Hb previa a la cirugía y se valoró la relación entre los parámetros hematimétricos y del metabolismo del hierro con la efectividad del tratamiento. Resultados: Se incluyeron 412 pacientes que recibieron una mediana de 800mg de hierro sacarosa. A 125 pacientes (30,4%) se les asoció 2,4 viales de rHuEPO. El incremento de Hb fue de 0,8 (1,1) g/dL en los pacientes tratados con hierro intravenoso y de 1,5 (1,3) g/dL en los que se asoció rHuEPO (p<0,01). El incremento de Hb en los pacientes tratados con hierro se correlacionó con el porcentaje de hematíes hipocromos (r=0,52) y el valor del receptor soluble de la transferrina (r=0,59). Conclusiones: La efectividad del tratamiento con hierro sacarosa en pacientes con déficit de hierro para la optimización de la Hb preoperatoria fue moderada, siendo mayor con la administración adyuvante de eritropoyetina. La determinación de los parámetros funcionales del estado del hierro nos podría guiar para mejorar la efectividad del tratamiento