Diferencias psicopatológicas en mujeres con Dependencia Emocional con y sin uso de sustancias ilegales comórbido

En este artículo se presenta un análisis clínico de las diferencias psicopatológicas entre dos grupos de pacientes, mujeres, con problemas de Dependencia Emocional con y sin consumo de sustancias ilegales comórbido. Las pacientes fueron evaluadas mediante los cuestionarios TDS100, SCL-90-R, BIS-11 y una entrevista semiestructurada adaptada de la entrevista SCID-I. Los grupos se formaron en función de si existía consumo de drogas o no en el momento de la evaluación. A través de los resultados hallados, se puede concluir que el grupo de mujeres con un consumo ocasional de drogas presenta una mayor gravedad en la escala de Acomodación medida a través del TDS-100, así como puntuaciones más altas en psicopatología comórbida (Sensibilidad Interpersonal, Ansiedad, Hostilidad, Ideación paranoide, Psicoticismo y GSI) medida por el SCL-90-R. Finalmente, el grupo con uso de drogas obtuvo puntuaciones significativamente más altas en la subescala Impulsividad Motora medida por el BIS-11. English abstract: In this article we present a clinical analysis of the psychopathological differences between women patients with Affective Dependence problems with and without comorbid substance use. The patients were assessed trough the TDS-100, SCL-90-R, BIS-11 questionnaires and a semi-structured interview adapted from the SCID-I interview. The groups were created based on the substance use at the moment of the assessment. The results reveal that the group of women with occasional use of drugs shows higher severity in the Accommodation scale measured trough the TDS-100 and in the comorbid psychopathology measured by the SCL-90R (Interpersonal Sensitivity, Anxiety, Hostility, Paranoid ideation, Psychoticism y GSI). Finally, the group with drug use obtained significantly higher scores in the Motor Impulsiveness subscale measured by the BIS-11

Surgical Options for the Refractive Correction of Keratoconus: Myth or Reality

Keratoconus provides a decrease of quality of life to the patients who suffer from it. The treatment used as well as the method to correct the refractive error of these patients may influence on the impact of the disease on their quality of life. The purpose of this review is to describe the evidence about the conservative surgical treatment for keratoconus aiming to therapeutic and refractive effect. The visual rehabilitation for keratoconic corneas requires addressing three concerns: halting the ectatic process, improving corneal shape, and minimizing the residual refractive error. Cross-linking can halt the disease progression, intrastromal corneal ring segments can improve the corneal shape and hence the visual quality and reduce the refractive error, PRK can correct mild-moderate refractive error, and intraocular lenses can correct from low to high refractive error associated with keratoconus. Any of these surgical options can be performed alone or combined with the other techniques depending on what the case requires. Although it could be considered that the surgical option for the refracto-therapeutic treatment of the keratoconus is a reality, controlled, randomized studies with larger cohorts and longer follow-up periods are needed to determine which refractive procedure and/or sequence are most suitable for each case

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

The goal of ecosystem-based marine spatial management is to maintain marine ecosystems in a healthy, productive and resilient condition; hence, they can sustainably provide the needed goods and services for human welfare. However, the increasing pressures upon the marine realm threaten marine ecosystems, especially seabed biotopes, and thus a well-planned approach of managing use of marine space is essential to achieve sustainability. The relative value of seabed biotopes, evaluated on the basis of goods and services, is an important starting point for the spatial management of marine areas. Herein, 56 types of European seabed biotopes and their related goods, services, sensitivity issues, and conservation status were compiled, the latter referring to management and protection tools which currently apply for these biotopes at European or international level. Fishing activities, especially by benthic trawls, and marine pollution are the main threats to European seabed biotopes. Increased seawater turbidity, dredged sediment disposal, coastal constructions, biological invasions, mining, extraction of raw materials, shipping-related activities, tourism, hydrocarbon exploration, and even some practices of scientific research, also exert substantial pressure. Although some first steps have been taken to protect the European sea beds through international agreements and European and national legislation, a finer scale of classification and assessment of marine biotopes is considered crucial in shaping sound priorities and management guidelines towards the effective conservation and sustainability of European marine resources

An effective method to probe local magnetostatic properties in a nanometric FePd antidot array

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)A simple method to quantitatively characterize the local magnetic behaviour of a patterned nanostructure, like a ferromagnetic thin film of antidot arrays, is proposed. The first-order reversal curve (FORC) analysis, coupled with simulations using physically meaningful hysterons, allows us to obtain a quantitative and physically related description of the interaction field and each magnetization reversal process. The hysterons system is built from previously known hypotheses on the magnetic behaviour of the sample. This method was successfully applied to a highly hexagonal ordered FePd antidot array with nanometric dimensions. We achieved a complete characterization of the two different magnetization reversal mechanisms in function of the in-plane applied field angle. For a narrow range of high fields, the magnetization initiates rotating reversibly around the pores, while at lower fields, domain walls are nucleated and propagated. This in-plane magnetization reversal mechanism, partly reversible and partly irreversible, is the only angularly dependent one. While going away from the easy axis, its reversible proportion increases, as well as its switching field distribution. Finally, the results indicate that the high surface roughness between adjacent holes of the antidot thin film induces a parallel interaction field. The proposed method demonstrates its ability also to be applied to characterizing patterned nanostructures with rather complex magnetization reversal processes.13Fonds Quebecois de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT), CanadaFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Spanish Government MICINNEU [MAT2009-13108-C02-01, MAT2010-20798-C05-04]FICYT [FC-09-IB09-131]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)John Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)EU [MAT2009-13108-C02-01, MAT2010-20798-C05-04]FICYT [FC-09-IB09-131

Preliminary definitions for the sonographic features of synovitis in children

Objectives Musculoskeletal ultrasonography (US) has the potential to be an important tool in the assessment of disease activity in childhood arthritides. To assess pathology, clear definitions for synovitis need to be developed first. The aim of this study was to develop and validate these definitions through an international consensus process. Methods The decision on which US techniques to use, the components to be included in the definitions as well as the final wording were developed by 31 ultrasound experts in a consensus process. A Likert scale of 1-5 with 1 indicating complete disagreement and 5 complete agreement was used. A minimum of 80% of the experts scoring 4 or 5 was required for final approval. The definitions were then validated on 120 standardized US images of the wrist, MCP and tibiotalar joints displaying various degrees of synovitis at various ages. Results B-Mode and Doppler should be used for assessing synovitis in children. A US definition of the various components (i.e. synovial hypertrophy, effusion and Doppler signal within the synovium) was developed. The definition was validated on still images with a median of 89% (range 80-100) of participants scoring it as 4 or 5 on a Likert scale. Conclusions US definitions of synovitis and its elementary components covering the entire pediatric age range were successfully developed through a Delphi process and validated in a web-based still images exercise. These results provide the basis for the standardized US assessment of synovitis in clinical practice and research

Alleviating the non-ultralocality of coset sigma models through a generalized Faddeev-Reshetikhin procedure

The Faddeev-Reshetikhin procedure corresponds to a removal of the non-ultralocality of the classical SU(2) principal chiral model. It is realized by defining another field theory, which has the same Lax pair and equations of motion but a different Poisson structure and Hamiltonian. Following earlier work of M. Semenov-Tian-Shansky and A. Sevostyanov, we show how it is possible to alleviate in a similar way the non-ultralocality of symmetric space sigma models. The equivalence of the equations of motion holds only at the level of the Pohlmeyer reduction of these models, which corresponds to symmetric space sine-Gordon models. This work therefore shows indirectly that symmetric space sine-Gordon models, defined by a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten action with an integrable potential, have a mild non-ultralocality. The first step needed to construct an integrable discretization of these models is performed by determining the discrete analogue of the Poisson algebra of their Lax matrices.Comment: 31 pages; v2: minor change

Terrestrial Implications of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Burst Models

The observation by the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are distributed isotropically around the Earth but nonuniformly in distance has led to the widespread conclusion that GRBs are most likely to be at cosmological distances, making them the most luminous sources known in the Universe. If bursts arise from events that occur in normal galaxies, such as neutron star binary inspirals, then they will also occur in our Galaxy about every hundred thousand to million years. The gamma-ray flux at the Earth due to a Galactic GRB would far exceed that from even the largest solar flares. The absorption of this radiation in the atmosphere would substantially increase the stratospheric nitric oxide concentration through photodissociation of N$_2$, greatly reducing the ozone concentration for several years through NO$_x$ catalysis, with important biospheric effects due to increased solar ultraviolet flux. A nearby GRB may also leave traces in anomalous radionuclide abundances.Comment: uuencoded, gzip-ed postscript; 6 pages; submitted to ApJ Letter

Clinical and ultrasound thyroid nodule characteristics and their association with cytological and histopathological outcomes: A retrospective multicenter study in high-resolution thyroid nodule clinics

Introduction: Thyroid nodules are a common finding. A high-resolution thyroid nodule clinic (HR-TNC) condenses all tests required for the evaluation of thyroid nodules into a single appointment. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes at HR-TNCs. Design and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional multicenter study including data from four HR-TNCs in Spain. We evaluated fine-needle aspiration (FNA) indications and the association between clinical and ultrasound characteristics with cytological and histopathological outcomes. Results: A total of 2809 thyroid nodules were included; FNA was performed in 82.1%. Thyroid nodules that underwent FNA were more likely larger, isoechoic, with microcalcifications, and in younger subjects. The rate of nondiagnostic FNA was 4.3%. A solid component, irregular margins or microcalcifications, significantly increased the odds of Bethesda IV-V-VI (vs. Bethesda II). Irregular margins and a solid component were independently associated with increased odds of malignancy. Thyroid nodules <20 mm and ≥20–<40 mm had a 6.5-fold and 3.3-fold increased risk for malignancy respectively in comparison with those ≥40 mm. Conclusion: In this large multicenter study, we found that the presence of a solid component and irregular margins are factors independently related to malignancy in thyroid nodules. Since nodule size ≥40 mm was associated with the lowest odds of malignancy, this cut-off should not be a factor leading to indicate thyroid surgery. HR-TNCs were associated with a low rate of nondiagnostic FNA