The Lead Content of Teeth

? Teeth were collected from populations differing in their degree of industrialization and from prehistoric populations. Lead analysis of dentine revealed that in contemporary teeth the lead level was related to the degree of industrialization and that in prehistoric teeth very low concentrations of lead were present. Because tooth lead reflects the body burden of lead this result suggested that the prehistoric populations and modern nonindustrial populations were exposed to environments low in lead. Teeth from a contemporary population of nonindustrialized Indians of the Lacandon forest in Mexico contain lead in concentrations comparable with those of the prehistoric populations. Comparison of the Indian teeth with teeth from a modern industrial population reveals a 45-fold difference in median tooth lead level. This finding lends support to the hypothesis that high levels of urban lead pollution result in elevated body burdens of lead.     

Inhibition of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl–Coenzyme A Reductase and Application of Statins as a Novel Effective Therapeutic Approach against Acanthamoeba Infections

Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic pathogen in humans, whose infections most commonly manifest as Acanthamoeba keratitis or, more rarely, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. Although there are many therapeutic options for the treatment of Acanthamoeba, they are generally lengthy and/or have limited efficacy. Therefore, there is a requirement for the identification, validation, and development of novel therapeutic targets against these pathogens. Recently, RNA interference (RNAi) has been widely used for these validation purposes and has proven to be a powerful tool for Acanthamoeba therapeutics. Ergosterol is one of the major sterols in the membrane of Acanthamoeba. 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl–coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonate, one of the precursors for the production of cholesterol in humans and ergosterol in plants, fungi, and protozoa. Statins are compounds which inhibit this enzyme and so are promising as chemotherapeutics. In order to validate whether this enzyme could be an interesting therapeutic target in Acanthamoeba, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against HMG-CoA were developed and used to evaluate the effects induced by the inhibition of Acanthamoeba HMG-CoA. It was found that HMG-CoA is a potential drug target in these pathogenic free-living amoebae, and various statins were evaluated in vitro against three clinical strains of Acanthamoeba by using a colorimetric assay, showing important activities against the tested strains. We conclude that the targeting of HMG-CoA and Acanthamoeba treatment using statins is a novel powerful treatment option against Acanthamoeba species in human disease.     

Calidad de vida en personas con depresión y comorbilidad física desde una perspectiva de género

ObjetivoEl objetivo del estudio es describir la percepción de la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud de personas con depresión y comorbilidad física bajo una perspectiva de género. Se incluyeron 380 individuos mayores de 49 años con, al menos, una patología de las siguientes: diabetes, enfermedad obstructiva pulmonar crónica y cardiopatía isquémica, reclutadas en 31 equipos de atención primaria de Cataluña. La calidad de vida se midió con la escala EuroQol (EQ-5D). Además, se recogieron variables sociodemográficas, gravedad de depresión, índice de privación económica y ámbito de residencia. Se evaluó la relación ajustada entre el sexo y las dimensiones de calidad de vida, mediante una regresión logística multivariante.ResultadosEl 81,3% fueron mujeres; la media de edad fue de 68,4 años (DE: 8,8), La media de la escala visual analógica fue de 57,8 (DE: 17,4) en hombres y 55,8 (DE: 18,6) en mujeres. La media del EQ-Health Index fue de 0,74 (DE: 0,17) en hombres y 0,65 (DE: 0,21) en mujeres (p = 0,001). La probabilidad de presentar problemas en las dimensiones del EQ-5D mostró el sexo como factor de más peso (mujer = 1/hombre = 0) en: autocuidado OR: 2,29 (IC 95% 1,04 a 5,07) y actividades cotidianas OR: 3,09 (IC 95% 1,67 a 5,71). La movilidad se asoció con la edad OR: 1,87 (IC 95% 1,22 a 2,86), el ámbito de residencia con el dolor OR: 2,51 (IC 95% 1,18 a 5,34) y el Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) con la ansiedad/depresión OR: 4,77 (IC 95% 1,77 a 12,88).ConclusiónLa percepción en la calidad de vida de las mujeres con depresión y comorbilidad física es inferior a la de los hombres, siendo en ambos casos inferior a la de población general.Palabras clave: Calidad de vida, Depresión, Comorbilidad física, Género, Atención Primaria     

Digital thoracic drainage: a new system to monitor air leaks in pediatric population

Introduction

New digital thoracic drainage systems allow an objective measurement of air leakage. They have proven their usefulness in the postoperative thoracic surgery in adults, but there is little experience with its use in the pediatric population. The objective of our study is to analyze their safety and effectiveness in the postoperative period of the pediatric patients.