Detección semiautomática de contornos en imágenes de eco cardiografía modo m.

Este artículo está enfocado en la extracción de contornos miocárdicos (septum, endocardio y epicardio) en imágenes de ecocardiografía modo M. El método propuesto combina dos algoritmos, cada uno desarrollado especialmente para la detección de ciertos contornos. La extracción del epicardio es hecha por medio del algoritmo básico de máxima búsqueda [8]. Para la extracción del endocardio y de la pared izquierda del septum interventricular, se usó un detector de discontinuidades de dos etapas [6]. En la primera etapa se calcula el promedio local de la imagen, y en la segunda etapa se usa la varianza local. La imagen de salida de este detector representa las discontinuidades en la imagen ecocardiográfica modo-M. Adicionalmente, el método permite la corrección manual de los errores en la detección. Ejemplos experimentales son presentados para mostrar el desempeño de la metodología

A Spectroscopic Study of the Near-IR [SIII] Lines in a Sample of HII Galaxies: chemical abundances

A detailed spectroscopic study, from lambda 3700 A to 1 um, was performed for a sample of 34 HII galaxies in order to derive fundamental parameters for their HII regions and ionizing sources, as well as gaseous metal abundances. All the spectra included the nebular [SIII]9069,9532 A lines, given their importance in the derivation of the S/H abundance and relevant ionization diagnostics. A systematic method was followed to correct the near-IR [SIII] line fluxes for the effects of the atmospheric transmission.A comparative analysis of the predictions of the empirical abundance indicators R23 and S23 has been performed. The relative hardness of their ionizing sources was studied using the eta parameter, and exploring the role played by metallicity. For 22 galaxies of the sample a direct value of te[SIII] was derived, along with their ionic and total S/H abundances. Their ionic and total O/H abundances were derived using direct determinations of te[OIII].For the rest of the objects, the total S/H abundance was derived using S23. The abundance range covered by our sample goes from 1/20 solar up to solar metallicity. The mean S/O ratio derived is log (S/O)=-1.68+/-0.20 dex, 1 sigma below the solar S/O value. The S/O abundance ratio shows no significant trend with O/H over the range of abundance covered in this work, in agreement with previous findings.There is a trend for HII galaxies with lower gaseous metallicity to present harder ionizing spectra. We compared the distribution of the ionic ratios O+/O++ vs. S+/S++ derived for our sample with the predictions of a grid of photoionization models performed for different stellar effective temperatures. This analysis indicates that a large fraction of galaxies in our sample seem to be ionized by extremely hard spectra.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in the A&A, minor gramatical corrections include

Prevalence of mental disorders in a population requesting health services at a primary health care center and its association with suicidal ideation and perceived disability

ABSTRACT: This study’s goal was to determine the most prevalent mental disorders and the impact on the perception of disability and suicidal ideation among the population from a primary health care center in the city of Cali. Methodology: a cross sectional study was conducted on 254 patients who were screened with the prime-md instrument. Descriptive statistics was used in the analysis to determine the most frequent disorders. Similarly, a multiple analysis with logistic and Poisson regressions using robust variance was conducted to determine the influence of mental disorders on disability and suicidal ideation. Results: most patients were female, young, and mature adults. Depression was present in 66.8% of all cases, followed by somatization disorder and anxiety. Half of the patients had had suicidal ideations at some point in their lives, and three out of four patients claimed to suffer from some kind of disability. Upon adjusting for the covariables, depression and anxiety disorders had a strong association with suicidal ideation and perceived disability that was overestimated by the logistic regression. Conclusion: depression and anxiety were the most common disorders and showed a strong association with suicidal ideation and disability. This is why it is necessary to screen for those disorders among adults using primary health care services. Likewise, we suggest considering Poisson regression with robust variance in cross-sectional studies in health services.RESUMEN: Conocer los trastornos mentales más frecuentes y el impacto en la percepción de discapacidad e ideación suicida en una Institución prestadora de servicios de salud de baja complejidad en Cali. Metodología: se realizó un estudio transversal con 254 pacientes a los que se les aplicó el instrumento prime-md. En el análisis se utilizó estadística descriptiva para determinar los trastornos más frecuentes y un análisis múltiple por regresiones logística y de Poisson con varianza robusta para determinar la influencia de los trastornos mentales en la discapacidad e ideación suicida. Resultados: la mayoría de los pacientes eran del sexo femenino, adultos jóvenes y maduros. La depresión estuvo presente en 66.8% de los casos, seguido del trastorno de somatización y la ansiedad. Casi la mitad de los pacientes habían tenido ideas suicidas alguna vez en la vida y 3 de cada 4 refirieron algún tipo de discapacidad. Después de ajustar por covariables, los trastornos ansiosos-depresivos mostraron una alta asociación con la ideación suicida y la discapacidad percibida, que es sobrestimada por la regresión logística. Conclusión: la depresión y la ansiedad son los trastornos mas frecuentes y tienen una alta asociación con la ideación suicida y la discapacidad y es por esto necesario realizar tamizaciones en la atención del adulto en servicios de baja complejidad. Se recomienda considerar el uso de la regresión de Poisson con varianza robusta en los estudios transversales en los servicios de salud

Cortisol y estrés-recuperación durante un periodo competitivo enjugadores de balonman

with the perception of recovery-stress balance in handball players during a training and competition period. Fourteen handball playerstook part in the study during a major competition. Data were collected from six blood samples in order to measure cortisol, and from four applicationsof the RESTQ-Sport for stress-recovery balance assessment. Compared to pre-competition (243.81 ± 36.46 ng/mL), a significative decrease (p< .01) incortisol levels was observed in post-competition (162.22 ± 69.83 ng/mL). The RESTQ-Sport subscales general stress, emotional stress, fatigue, physicalrecovery, sleep quality, and disturbed breaks showed significant changes between pre and post-competition. Cortisol levels were found to have positive correlation with success subscale (rho= .53; p< .05), whilst negative with fitness/injury subscale (rho= -.57; p< .05). Our findings support the idea ofan anticipatory cortisol response to competition. Moreover, they provide further evidence on the influence of training over recovery-stress perception,emphasizing the importance of the psychophysiological and hormonal monitoring in order to achieve optimal athletic performance

Estudio de inmunogenicidad para dos vacunas recombinantes contra hepatitis B

This study compares the immunogenicity (seroconversion, seroprotection and hiperesponse) produced by two hepatitis B recombinant vaccines (Engerix- B Belge and Cuban). For this purpose two sketches were used (012 and 016 months). The anti-HBs quantification was performed by using Abbott and Organon methods in order to compare its results. In the study 257 volunteers were distributed in four groups to the hapazard (two vaccines and two sketches). Results: the Abbott and Organon methods did not show any statistically significant difference. The Cuban vaccine shows greater immunogenous response for two doses and 012 sketch. There are no differences between sketch 012 and 016 with the Cuban vaccine. The scheme 016 did not show statistically significant difference for the Engerix-B Belge vaccine. The last mentioned vaccine showed to be better with the 016 scheme.Este estudio compara la inmunogenicidad (seroconversión, seroprotección e Hiperrespuesta), producida por dos vacunas recombinantes contra la hepatitis B (Engerix-B de Bélgica y Cubana), en dos esquemas (012 y 016 meses), empleando los métodos de cuantificación para Anti-HBsAg (Abbott y Organón), los cuales fueron también comparados. En el estudio participaron 257 voluntarios,  divididos al azar en 4 grupos (dos vacunas, dos esquemas). Resultados: los dos métodos de Abbon y Organon, no presentan diferencias estadísticas significativas. La vacuna cubana muestra una mayor respuesta inmunogénica para dos dosis de vacuna y para el esquema 012. No hay diferencia entre los esquemas 012 y 016 y en el esquema 016 no se ven diferencias estadísticamente significativas con la vacuna Engerix-B. En esta Última el esquema 016 muestra mejores resultados que el 012

Parasitosis intestinal

Las parasitosis intestinales son en la actualidad uno de los principales problemas médico social en el mundo entero, principalmente en los países en vía de desarrollo, donde las servicios básicos sanitarios, la educación y cultura higiénica son inadecuadas, favoreciendo su permanencia en estas regiones. Estas enfermedades se presentan sin distinción de edad, raza, sexo, estado económico o situación geográfica, incluso su frecuencia puede variar de una región a otra, haciéndolas difíciles de controlar, no sólo por su gran difusión sino por los diversos factores que intervienen en su propagación como ambientales, culturales inmunológicos y genéticos

COVID-19 : Age, Interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and lymphocytes as key clues from a multicentre retrospective study

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 infection has widely spread to become the greatest public health challenge to date, the COVID-19 pandemic. Different fatality rates among countries are probably due to non-standardized records being carried out by local health authorities. The Spanish case-fatality rate is 11.22%, far higher than those reported in Asia or by other European countries. A multicentre retrospective study of demographic, clinical, laboratory and immunological features of 584 Spanish COVID-19 hospitalized patients and their outcomes was performed. The use of renin-angiotensin system blockers was also analysed as a risk factor. Results: In this study, 27.4% of cases presented a mild course, 42.1% a moderate one and for 30.5% of cases, the course was severe. Ages ranged from 18 to 98 (average 63). Almost 60 % (59.8%) of patients were male. Interleukin 6 was higher as severity increased. On the other hand, CD8 lymphocyte count was significantly lower as severity grew and subpopulations CD4, CD8, CD19, and NK showed concordant lowering trends. Severity-related natural killer percent descents were evidenced just within aged cases. A significant severity-related decrease of CD4 lymphocytes was found in males. The use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors was associated with a better prognosis. The angiotensin II receptor blocker use was associated with a more severe course. Conclusions: Age and age-related comorbidities, such as dyslipidaemia, hypertension or diabetes, determined more frequent severe forms of the disease in this study than in previous literature cohorts. Our cases are older than those so far reported and the clinical course of the disease is found to be impaired by age. Immunosenescence might be therefore a suitable explanation for the hampering of immune system effectors. The adaptive immunity would become exhausted and a strong but ineffective and almost deleterious innate response would account for COVID-19 severity. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors used by hypertensive patients have a protective effect in regards to COVID-19 severity in our series. Conversely, patients on angiotensin II receptor blockers showed a severer disease

Mast cell lineage diversion of T lineage precursors by the essential T cell transcription factor GATA-3

GATA-3 is essential for T cell development from the earliest stages. However, abundant GATA-3 can drive T lineage precursors to a non–T cell fate, depending on Notch signaling and developmental stage. Here, overexpression of GATA-3 blocked the survival of pro–T cells when Notch-Delta signals were present but enhanced viability in their absence. In fetal thymocytes at the double-negative 1 (DN1) stage and DN2 stage but not those at the DN3 stage, overexpression of GATA-3 rapidly induced respecification to the mast cell lineage with high frequency by direct transcriptional 'reprogramming'. Normal DN2 thymocytes also showed mast cell potential when interleukin 3 and stem cell factor were added in the absence of Notch signaling. Our results suggest a close relationship between the pro–T cell and mast cell programs and a previously unknown function for Notch in T lineage fidelity