Risk of ischaemic heart disease and acute myocardial infarction in a Spanish population: observational prospective study in a primary-care setting

BACKGROUND: Ischaemic heart disease is a global priority of health-care policy, because of its social repercussions and its impact on the health-care system. Yet there is little information on coronary morbidity in Spain and on the effect of the principal risk factors on risk of coronary heart disease. The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiology of coronary disease (incidence, mortality and its association with cardiovascular risk factors) using the information gathered by primary care practitioners on cardiovascular health of their population. METHODS: A prospective study was designed. Eight primary-care centres participated, each contributing to the constitution of the cohort with the entire population covered by the centre. A total of 6124 men and women aged over 25 years and free of cardiovascular disease agreed to participate and were thus enrolled and followed-up, with all fatal and non-fatal coronary disease episodes being registered during a 5-year period. Repeated measurements were collected on smoking, blood pressure, weight and height, serum total cholesterol, high-density and low-density lipoproteins and fasting glucose. Rates were calculated for acute myocardial infarction and ischaemic heart disease. Associations between cardiovascular risk factors and coronary disease-free survival were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Mean age at recruitment was 51.6 ± 15, with 24% of patients being over 65. At baseline, 74% of patients were overweight, serum cholesterol over 240 was present in 35% of patients, arterial hypertension in 37%, and basal glucose over 126 in 11%. Thirty-four percent of men and 13% of women were current smokers. During follow-up, 155 first episodes of coronary disease were detected, which yielded age-adjusted rates of 362 and 191 per 100,000 person-years in men and women respectively. Disease-free survival was associated with all risk factors in univariate analyses. After multivariate adjustments, age, male gender, smoking, high total cholesterol, high HDL/LDL ratio, diabetes and overweight remained strongly associated with risk. Relative risks for hypertension in women and for diabetes in men did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Despite high prevalence of vascular risk factors, incidence rates were lower than those reported for other countries and other periods, but similar to those reported in the few population-based studies in Spain. Effect measures of vascular risk factors were mainly as reported worldwide and support the hypothesis that protective factors not considered in this study must exist as to explain low rates. This study shows the feasibility of conducting epidemiological cohort studies in primary-care settings

239PU, 240PU, and 241AM Determination in Hot Particles by Low Level Gamma-Spectrometry

A nondestructive method based on low-energy, highresolution photon spectrometry is presented which allows accurate determination of 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Am (as a daughter of 241Pu) activities in radioactive particles containing relatively high levels of plutonium isotopes. The proposed method requires only one measurement for the establishment of an absolute efficiency curve. Since the density and composition of the radioactive particles of interest may vary, a self-absorption correction is required for the accurate determination of isotopic activities and ratios. This correction is carried out for each individual particle using the convenient gamma-ray emissions of 241 Am

O paternalismo e o juramento hipocrático Paternalism and the hippocratic oath

É dito e comumente aceito que tradição do paternalismo médico remonta ao juramento hipocrático. Esse paternalismo é tido como uma das manifestações de uma relação assimétrica entre médico e paciente. Ao estudar alguns dos escritos Hipocráticos, obtiveram-se referências relativas ao respeito do enfermo pelo médico que incluía o diálogo e a sua educação como elementos necessários a tal relação e a equilibrar beneficência e autonomia. Tais evidências se enraízam na noção pré-socrática de natureza (phýsis) enquanto representação da divindade na regulação de todos os movimentos universais. O Juramento preconiza a abstenção de toda a injustiça e a administração do regime de vida conforme o juízo do médico. È possível concluir que a assistência médica ao enfermo foi concebida no contexto da incapacidade do autoconhecimento do doente e da impossibilidade do mesmo se esclarecer sem auxílio do médico e que este aperfeiçoava a natureza (phýsis) em seus movimentos ignorantes e azarosos, saneando-os através de uma razão suficiente (logismós). O paternalismo da natureza (phýsis) era moderado e refletiu-se na arte médica hipocrática.<br>It is said and commonly accepted that the tradition of paternalism in medicine goes back to the Hippocratic oath. This paternalism is held to be one of the manifestations of an asymmetrical relation between doctor and patient. Some of Hippocrates's writings reveal the respect of the doctor for the patient and include dialogue and patient education as necessary elements for the development of this relationship and the balancing of beneficence and independence. This is rooted in the pre-Socratic idea of nature (physis) as the representation of the divinity in the regulation of all the movements of the universe. The oath is a promise to forgo any kind of injustice and to administer life in accordance with the physician's good judgment. It can be concluded that the medical care of the sick was conceived in the context of the incapacity of the sick person to attain self-knowledge and the impossibility of the patient enlightening him or herself without the assistance of the physician and that this helped to perfect the ignorant and random movements of nature (physis), sanitizing it with sufficient reason (logismos). The paternalismo f nature (physis) was moderated and this is reflected in the medical art of Hippocrates