Nurturing the Citizens of the Future: Milk Stations and Child Nutrition in Puerto Rico, 1929–60

Between the 1930s and 1960s Puerto Rico was transformed from a marginal United States territory into an industrialised ‘showcase of development’. This article investigates the organisation of milk station programmes on the island during this crucial period and how these reflected the circulation of child welfare knowledge, nutrition expertise and public health practices. During the Depression, these perspectives fostered a recast of the eugenic regeneration ideologies motivating medical assessments of and sanitary interventions with Puerto Rico’s rural poor since the nineteenth century. Innovations in nutrition knowledge and an emerging rural hygiene movement highlighted the negative health effects of the island’s monocrops economy. In this context, the nourishment of children’s bodies assumed symbolic and instrumental significance for the reconfiguration of colonial and developmental models promoted by the new Popular Democratic Party (PPD). The experience of public health professionals in relief work during the 1930s contributed to the articulation of food and nutrition as key elements of this party’s populist discourse. Programmes like milk stations became part of strategies to rear and manage the labour force needed in the industrial development model promoted by the PPD. From the perspective of poor Puerto Ricans, however, they were part of the materialisation of its promise of social justice for the poorer classes.     

Extubación ultra fast-track vs. convencional tras cirugía cardiaca en un centro de referencia cardiovascular en Colombia. Estudio longitudinal

Introduction

The fast track / ultra-fast-track protocols are techniques used to optimise the patient care process and a quick recovery after cardiac surgery. They are one of the mainstays of efficient practice. With their use, the length of hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stays are reduced, with a direct impact on costs and the quality of the health service.

Ultrasound-Assist Extrusion Methods for the Fabrication of Polymer Nanocomposites Based on Polypropylene/Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Isotactic polypropylenes (iPP) with different melt flow indexes (MFI) were used to fabricate nanocomposites (NCs) with 10 wt % loadings of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using ultrasound-assisted extrusion methods to determine their effect on the morphology, melt flow, and electrical properties of the NCs. Three different types of iPPs were used with MFIs of 2.5, 34 and 1200 g/10 min. Four different NC fabrication methods based on melt extrusion were used. In the first method melt extrusion fabrication without ultrasound assistance was used. In the second and third methods, an ultrasound probe attached to a hot chamber located at the exit of the die was used to subject the sample to fixed frequency and variable frequency, respectively. The fourth method is similar to the first method, with the difference being that the carbon nanotubes were treated in a fluidized air-bed with an ultrasound probe before being used in the fabrication of the NCs with no ultrasound assistance during extrusion. The samples were characterized by MFI, Optical microscopy (OM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrical surface resistivity, and electric charge. MFI decreases in all cases with addition of MWCNTs with the largest decrease observed for samples with the highest MFI. The surface resistivity, which ranged from 10¹³ to 10⁵ Ω/sq, and electric charge, were observed to depend on the ultrasound-assisted fabrication method as well as on the melt flow index of the iPP. A relationship between agglomerate size and area ratio with electric charge was found. Several trends in the overall data were identified and are discussed in terms of MFI and the different fabrication methods.     

Safety considerations for operating room personnel during hyperthermic intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy perfusion.

The new treatment strategy for Peritoneal Surface Malignancy combines a cytoreductive surgery and perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy. Cytoreduction removes all macroscopic tumor. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy avoids implantation of microscopic residual tumor cells on intra-abdominal surfaces when it is administered intraoperatively and/or early in the postoperative period. Delivering cytotoxic drugs directly into the peritoneal cavity maximizes dose intensity and minimizes systemic toxicity. Hyperthermia is selectively cytotoxic for malignant cells and potentiates the effect of chemotherapy. Implementation of this procedure makes the perioperative personnel to face a risk of exposure to cytotoxic agents. Furthermore, peritonectomies and electro-evaporation of tumor nodules are performed with high voltage electrocautery, generating a large amount of surgical smoke during several hours. Inhalation of these fumes may be also a risk for healthcare workers. In this article, we analyse in depth these new risks of the operating room personnel, we review the literature, and we give guidelines for secure performance of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy, as well as for early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy administration. These new procedures are safe techniques for patients and healthcare workers provided adequate policies are adopted to avoid occupational exposure.     

Quantitative analysis of contrasuppressor T lymphocytes in leprosy; induction of Ia antigens with gamma interferon

Lepromatous leprosy is characterized by immune anergy and abnormal suppressor T-cell function. Contrasuppressor cells are a subset of CD8+, vicia villosa-adherent T lymphocytes. T-contrasuppressor (Tcs) cells act on T-helper cells to cause them to become unresponsive to the action of T-suppressor cells. In 8 lepromatous (LL) and 7 tuberculoid (TT) patients, and 6 healthy contacts we studied the percent of the following lymphocyte subsets: CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, Ia+, vicia villosa+ (VV+), CD8, VV+, VV, Ia+, and Ia, Tac+. This was done in baseline status as well as post-stimulation with recombinant gamma interferon (rIFN-gamma). We found that peripheral blood mononuclear cells from LL and TT patients and controls exhibit a similar number of putative contrasuppressor lymphocytes (CD8, VV+ cells). However, in the contrasuppressor subset from LL patients we found a low percent of Ia+ (p less than 0.05 compared to controls or TT). In the three groups studied, the rIFN-gamma enhanced the percent of Ia+ lymphocytes in the CD8, VV+ cell subpopulation. However, the CD8, VV+ lymphocytes from LL patients, despite the effect of rIFN-gamma, continue to have a low percent of Ia+ cells (p less than 0.05 compared to controls or TT). These findings suggest that LL patients might have abnormalities in the contrasuppressor immune circuit. Future functional studies on the role of Tcs cells in the anergy seen in LL will be required in order to define the apparent dysfunction occurring in this disease.