Behaviour of aerosols and their role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2; a scoping review.

Covid-19 has triggered an unprecedented global health crisis. The highly contagious nature and airborne transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 virus requires extraordinary measures for its containment. It is necessary to know the behaviour of aerosols carrying the virus to avoid this contagion. This paper describes the behaviour of aerosols and their role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 according to published models using a scoping review based on the PubMed, Scopus, and WOS databases. From an initial 530 references, 9 papers were selected after applying defined inclusion criteria. The results reinforce the airborne transmission route as a means of contagion of the virus and recommend the use of face masks, extending social distance to more than 2 metres, and natural ventilation of enclosed spaces as preventive measures. These results contribute to a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and help design effective strategies to prevent its spread.

Social media and smartphone app use predicts maintenance of physical activity during Covid-19 enforced isolation in psychiatric outpatients.

There is growing concern that the social and physical distancing measures implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic may negatively impact health in other areas, via both decreased physical activity and increased social isolation. Here, we investigated whether increased engagement with digital social tools may help mitigate effects of enforced isolation on physical activity and mood, in a naturalistic study of at-risk individuals. Passively sensed smartphone app use and actigraphy data were collected from a group of psychiatric outpatients before and during imposition of strict Covid-19 lockdown measures. Data were analysed using Gaussian graphical models: a form of network analysis which gives insight into the predictive relationships between measures across timepoints. Within-individuals, we found evidence of a positive predictive path between digital social engagement, general smartphone use, and physical activity-selectively under lockdown conditions (N = 127 individual users, M = 6201 daily observations). Further, we observed a positive relationship between social media use and total daily steps across individuals during (but not prior to) lockdown. Although there are important limitations on the validity of drawing causal conclusions from observational data, a plausible explanation for our findings is that, during lockdown, individuals use their smartphones to access social support, which may help guard against negative effects of in-person social deprivation and other pandemic-related stress. Importantly, passive monitoring of smartphone app usage is low burden and non-intrusive. Given appropriate consent, this could help identify people who are failing to engage in usual patterns of digital social interaction, providing a route to early intervention.

PRDM15 Is Associated with Risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in a Rural Population in Chile.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have accelerated our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, GWAS populations have typically consisted of European descent, with ∼1% of Latin American ancestry. OBJECTIVE: To overcome this limitation, we conducted a GWAS in a rural Chilean population with increased COPD risk to investigate genetic variation of COPD risk in this understudied minority population. METHOD: We carried out a case-control study of 214 COPD patients (defined by the GOLD criteria) and 193 healthy controls in Talca, Chile. DNA was extracted from venous blood and genotyped on the Illumina Global Screening Array (n = 754,159 markers). After exclusion based on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p ≤ 0.001), call rates (<95%), and minor allele frequencies (<0.5%) in controls, 455,564 markers were available for logistic regression. RESULTS: PRDM15 rs1054761 C allele (p = 2.22 × 10-7) was associated with decreased COPD risk. Three PRDM15 SNPs located on chromosome 21 were significantly associated with COPD risk (p < 10-6). Two of these SNPs, rs1054761 and rs4075967, were located on a noncoding transcript variant region of the gene. CONCLUSION: PRDM15 overexpression may play a role in the B-cell dysregulation in COPD pathogenesis. To the best of our knowledge, the association between PRDM15 and COPD risk was not previously found in GWAS studies in largely European populations, highlighting the importance of investigating novel variants associated with COPD risk among ethnically diverse populations.

Systemic inflammatory impact of periodontitis on cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVES: The role in dementia of systemic inflammation derived from periodontal disease is not fully elucidated. The objective of our study was to examine the impact of inflammation on the relationship between periodontitis and cognitive impairment. METHODS: We have designed a case (n = 171) and control (n = 131) study to determine the periodontal health status, grade of cognitive impairment/dementia and systemic inflammation level, the last being measured by analysis of 29 inflammatory biomarkers using multiplex techniques. RESULTS: At the time of sampling, 11 of the 29 inflammatory biomarkers were associated with cognitive impairment in patients with more severe periodontitis. However, the inflammatory response to severe periodontitis was more reduced (lower biomarker concentrations) in cases (with cognitive impairment or dementia) than in (cognitively healthy) controls, an unexpected finding. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, we cannot confirm that systemic inflammation derived from periodontal disease plays a relevant role in the aetiology of cognitive impairment.

Depression and geriatric assessment in older people admitted for hip fracture.

BACKGROUND: Depression is common among older people with hip fracture. AIM: To assess depression scores and other mental and physical health variables in older people with and without depression, admitted to a traumatology ward for a hip fracture. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross sectional study of older patients admitted for surgical treatment of hip fracture. Demographic, clinical and laboratory variables were recorded. Twelve surveys were applied to assess general wellbeing, mental health, fall risk, nutritional status, basic and instrumental activities of daily living, social resources and depression (using Yesavage Depression Scale). RESULTS: We assessed 310 patients aged 78 (72-83) years, 72% women. Overall depression prevalence was 46% and its frequency was significantly higher in women, people over 81 years of age, diabetics and subjects with anxiety. The Yesavage score in patients with and without depression was 6.5 and 3, respectively. The median number of medications used by patients with and without depression was 3 and 2 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There is a high frequency of depression in these patients, especially in women and subjects older than 81 years of age. Routine geriatric assessments should be performed in hospitalized older patients with hip fracture.

Síndrome metabólico y otros factores asociados a gonartrosis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether an association exists between gonarthrosis and metabolic syndrome X (MS) as well as other potential risk factors. METHOD: Comparative cross-sectional study of 310 patients evaluated by pathology of knee grouped in patients with gonarthrosis and without it. Sociodemographic, anthropometric and laboratory data was obtained. Gonarthrosis was defined as a ≥ 2 score in Kellgren-Lawrence radiological scale, and MS was assessed using the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Odds ratio and logistic regression were used for bivariate and multivariate analysis respectively. RESULTS: The prevalence of MS in patients who had gonarthrosis was 79.9%, statistically higher than in patients without gonarthrosis (p = 0.001). Other factors that had a statistically higher frequency in this group included diabetes mellitus (p = 0.02) and hypertension (p = 0.02). Multivariate analysis revealed MS had an association with a higher prevalence of gonarthrosis (p = 0.003), while high density lipoproteins (p = 0.02) was associated with a lower prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: MS and its related alterations are associated to gonarthrosis; their adequate control could prevent patients from developing the disease.

[Cellular effectors of the inflammatory response in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)]. / Efectores celulares de la respuesta inflamatoria en la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica.

Approximately 3 million people in the world die every year as a consequence of COPD, which is associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lung to noxious particles and gases. This inflammatory pattern causes pathological changes leading to a narrowing of small airways and destruction of lung parenchyma, also known as emphysema. Classically, these changes were associated to macrophages and neutrophils, although T CD8+ lymphocytes were latter added to the equation to explain the origin of emphysematous lesions. However, in recent years, multiple evidences have arisen indicating that inflammatory response in COPD is much more complex. These findings point to a key role for mast cells, dendritic cells, T CD4+ and B cells. The aim of this article is to review such evidence and report what is known so far about those cells involved in the inflammatory response in COPD.

Continuous Assessment of Function and Disability via Mobile Sensing: Real-World Data-Driven Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND: Functional limitations are associated with poor clinical outcomes, higher mortality, and disability rates, especially in older adults. Continuous assessment of patients' functionality is important for clinical practice; however, traditional questionnaire-based assessment methods are very time-consuming and infrequently used. Mobile sensing offers a great range of sources that can assess function and disability daily. OBJECTIVE: This work aims to prove the feasibility of an interpretable machine learning pipeline for predicting function and disability based on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0 outcomes of clinical outpatients, using passively collected digital biomarkers. METHODS: One-month-long behavioral time-series data consisting of physical and digital activity descriptor variables were summarized using statistical measures (minimum, maximum, mean, median, SD, and IQR), creating 64 features that were used for prediction. We then applied a sequential feature selection to each WHODAS 2.0 domain (cognition, mobility, self-care, getting along, life activities, and participation) in order to find the most descriptive features for each domain. Finally, we predicted the WHODAS 2.0 functional domain scores using linear regression using the best feature subsets. We reported the mean absolute errors and the mean absolute percentage errors over 4 folds as goodness-of-fit statistics to evaluate the model and allow for between-domain performance comparison. RESULTS: Our machine learning-based models for predicting patients' WHODAS functionality scores per domain achieved an average (across the 6 domains) mean absolute percentage error of 19.5%, varying between 14.86% (self-care domain) and 27.21% (life activities domain). We found that 5-19 features were sufficient for each domain, and the most relevant being the distance traveled, time spent at home, time spent walking, exercise time, and vehicle time. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show the feasibility of using machine learning-based methods to assess functional health solely from passively sensed mobile data. The feature selection step provides a set of interpretable features for each domain, ensuring better explainability to the models' decisions-an important aspect in clinical practice.

Neonatal oropharyngeal infection by HPV in our area.

INTRODUCTION: Although infection by human papillomavirus (HPV) is mainly considered a sexually transmitted disease, newborns exposed to the virus in the perinatal period can also be infected through mechanisms that are not yet fully understood. The aim of our study was to increase our understanding of neonatal oropharyngeal infection by HPV, trying to establish its frequency, mechanisms of infection and persistence through age 2 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective, observational and descriptive study in a cohort of neonates born vaginally whose mothers carried HPV in the lower genital tract at the time of delivery. Tests for detection of HPV in amniotic fluid, venous cord blood and oropharyngeal secretions were performed in every neonate, and we conducted microbiological follow-up of infants colonized by HPV up to age 2 years. RESULTS: The prevalence of oropharyngeal colonization at birth was 58.24%. In the 24-month follow-up, the proportions of clearance and persistence of HPV in the oropharynx were 94.34% and 5.66%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this case series suggest that neonatal oropharyngeal colonization by HPV, while frequent in the postpartum period, is usually a self-limited process, and the main mechanism of infection transvaginal intrapartum vertical transmission. Although colonization in most neonates is transient and asymptomatic, the clinical significance of persistent carriage remains unknown.

[Prevalence of maternal intrapartum colonization due to the Group-B Streptococus: epidemiological analysis in the province of Jaén (Spain).] / Prevalencia de la colonización materna intraparto por Estreptococo del Grupo B: análisis epidemiológico en la provincia de Jaén.

OBJECTIVE: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection remains to datey, without peripartum prophylaxis, the most common cause of vertically transmitted perinatal bacterial infection in the Western world. It is estimated that the prevalence of asymptomatic pregnant women with GBS in our country ranges between 10 and 20.5%, but there are few studies in this regard. With this research, we tried to establish the rate of pregnant women colonized by GBS at the recto-vaginal level at the time of delivery and to evaluate the validity of our strategy for the identification of pregnant women with GBS. METHODS: A 290 women sample representative of pregnant population from the province of Jaén was randomly selected and the presence or absence of GBS in the recto-vaginal microbiota was determined on the day of delivery. Subsequently, a retrospective analysis was made, case by case, in order to establish whether the screening techniques applied during pregnancy had been able to correctly identify the state of GBS colonization at the time of delivery. Statistical techniques were applied to perform a descriptive sample analysis, which was complemented with a case-by-case concordance analysis for the two GBS determinations made over time for each subject (repeated observations over time on individuals from the same cohort). RESULTS: The rate of pregnant women carrying GBS at the recto-vaginal level at the time of delivery was 23.10. CONCLUSIONS: In our province, the rate of pregnant women with GBS at the time of delivery is higher than previously reported in the literature. Furthermore, our screening strategy during pregnancy could misclassify one of each eight women, causing one in sixteen GBS carriers to not be adequately identified.

OBJETIVO: La infección por Estreptococo del Grupo B (EGB) sigue siendo a día de hoy, sin profilaxis periparto, la causa más frecuente de infección bacteriana perinatal de transmisión vertical en el mundo occidental. Se estima que la prevalencia de embarazadas portadoras asintomáticas de EGB en nuestro país oscila entre el 10% y el 20,5%, pero son escasos los estudios realizados al respecto. Con la presente investigación tratamos de establecer la tasa de embarazadas colonizadas por EGB a nivel recto-vaginal en el momento del parto y evaluar la validez de nuestra estrategia para la identificación de embarazadas portadoras de EGB. METODOS: Se seleccionó aleatoriamente una muestra de 290 gestantes, representativa de la población embarazada de la provincia de Jaén. En ella se analizó la presencia o ausencia de EGB en la microbiota recto-vaginal materna el día del parto. Posteriormente se hizo un análisis retrospectivo, caso a caso, con la finalidad de establecer si las técnicas de cribado aplicadas durante la gestación habían sido capaces de identificar correctamente el estado de colonización por EGB en el momento del parto. Se aplicaron técnicas estadísticas para realizar un análisis descriptivo muestral, que se complementó con un análisis de concordancia caso por caso para las dos determinaciones de EGB realizadas en el tiempo a cada sujeto (observaciones repetidas en el tiempo a los individuos de una misma cohorte). RESULTADOS: La tasa de embarazadas portadoras de EGB a nivel recto-vaginal en el momento del parto fue del 23,10%. CONCLUSIONES: En nuestro medio la tasa de embarazadas portadoras de EGB en el momento del parto es superior a lo previamente comunicado en la bibliografía. Además, nuestra estrategia de cribado durante la gestación podría catalogar erróneamente a una de cada ocho mujeres, haciendo que una de cada dieciséis portadoras de EGB no sea adecuadamente identificada.

Combining the mechanical ball milling of the carbohydrate and the use of low solvent reaction media for the synthesis of fructose fatty acid esters by immobilized lipases.

Synthesis of carbohydrate fatty acid esters catalyzed by immobilized lipases is a pathway to obtain specific isomers from renewable feedstock, compared to unselective chemical esterification. While the use of low-solvent reaction media (≤ 10 %) offers advantages, the interactive effects of these media with biocatalysts and substrates should be modulated towards high catalytic efficiency and substrate availability. Among the investigated co-solvents, tert-butanol and DMSO in a mixture of lauric acid substrate/co-solvent (90/10; v/v) resulted in high bioconversion yields using either Novozym® 435 or Lipozyme® RM IM, as biocatalysts. Increased hydrophobicity of the Novozym® 435 immobilization support favored bioconversion, while polar substrate surface area enlargement by ball-milling improved productivity through enhancement of fructose availability. A compromise between bioconversion yield (19.7 %) and productivity (9.45 µmol/L min) was obtained in the reactions catalyzed by Novozym® 435 using ball-milled fructose at a concentration of 0.2 mol/L. Combining mechanical ball-milling of the substrates with low-solvent reaction media is expected to enhance and expand enzymatic synthesis of carbohydrate fatty acid esters.

Pre-Treatment of Fish By-Products to Optimize Feeding of Tenebrio molitor L. Larvae.

Fish discards are organic waste with high and good-quality protein levels, as well as a fatty acid profile rich in n-3 LCPUFAs, mainly eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. These discards can be used as food for Tenebrio molitor (Linnaeus, 1758) larvae, thus increasing the nutritional value of this insect. This study focused on increasing larval acceptance of fish through different pre-treatments of the diets provided, as well as increasing the accumulation of EPA and DHA in fish-fed larvae. Four different diets were prepared: control (broiler feed), DGF50: 50% dried ground fish (Pagellus bogaraveo, Brünnich, 1768) + 50% broiler feed, for different periods, FGF100: 100% fresh ground P. bogaraveo and DUF100: 100% dried whole unground P. bogaraveo. Growth, mortality, proximate composition, fatty acid profile and lipid nutritional indices were determined. Larvae fed with FGF100 displayed better results among treatments, doubling the initial weight, as well as increasing their protein level and decreasing fat levels. Regarding fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were only detected in larvae fed with a fish-based diet for a period longer than 5 days. These results show that pre-treatment of fish-based diets causes changes in the growth and compositional parameters of T. molitor larvae.

Caring behaviours demonstrated to nursing students in the interpersonal relation with the faculty: A cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students need to experience caring in their educational environment in order to learn how to care for the patients. OBJECTIVE: The present study describes the caring model demonstrated by the faculty to the nursing students through their behaviours, from the perspective of both students and faculty members. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study was conducted. PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 286 students and faculty members. METHODS: The Nursing Students' Perceptions of Instructor Caring assessing tool was used to gather the data. RESULTS: After analysing 676 questionnaires, it was revealed a moderately high level of caring perceived by the students. The most appreciated dimension was control versus flexibility, reporting a mean value of 82.29 and a confidence interval from 81.14 to 83.44, and the least valued was appreciation of life's meanings, reporting a mean value of 63.90 and a confidence interval from 62.20 to 65.60. The students' perception of the care demonstrated by the faculty was significantly lower than the care that the latter believed to transmit in all dimensions (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The caring perceived by the student was expressed through behaviours that inspired confidence in them, promoted a climate of learning and support, helped them to recognise the meaning of life, showed them flexibility and fostered their professional autonomy. The findings of this study can help to improve nursing education by providing a view of the interpersonal relations that the students established during their training with the faculty.

Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment for the Measurement of the Performance Status and Health-Related Quality of Life in Cancer Patients Under Systemic Anticancer Therapies: Development and Acceptability of a Mobile App.

Background: We have defined a project to develop a mobile app that continually records smartphone parameters which may help define the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG-PS) and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL), without interaction with patients or professionals. This project is divided into 3 phases. Here we describe phase 1. The objective of this phase was to develop the app and assess its usability concerning patient characteristics, acceptability, and satisfaction. Methods: The app eB2-ECOG was developed and installed in the smartphone of cancer patients who will be followed for six months. Criteria inclusion were: age over 18-year-old; diagnosed with unresectable or metastatic lung cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, sarcoma, or head and neck cancer; under systemic anticancer therapies; and possession of a Smartphone. The app will collect passive and active data from the patients while healthcare professionals will evaluate the ECOG-PS and HRQoL through conventional tools. Acceptability was assessed during the follow-up. Patients answered a satisfaction survey in the app between 3-6 months from their inclusion. Results: The app developed provides a system for continuously collecting, merging, and processing data related to patient's health and physical activity. It provides a transparent capture service based on all the available data of a patient. Currently, 106 patients have been recruited. A total of 36 patients were excluded, most of them (21/36) due to technological reasons. We assessed 69 patients (53 lung cancer, 8 gastrointestinal stromal tumors, 5 sarcomas, and 3 head and neck cancer). Concerning app satisfaction, 70.4% (20/27) of patients found the app intuitive and easy to use, and 51.9% (17/27) of them said that the app helped them to improve and handle their problems better. Overall, 17 out of 27 patients [62.9%] were satisfied with the app, and 14 of them [51.8%] would recommend the app to other patients. Conclusions: We observed that the app's acceptability and satisfaction were good, which is essential for the continuity of the project. In the subsequent phases, we will develop predictive models based on the collected information during this phase. We will validate the method and analyze the sensitivity of the automated results.

Shift in Social Media App Usage During COVID-19 Lockdown and Clinical Anxiety Symptoms: Machine Learning-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety symptoms during public health crises are associated with adverse psychiatric outcomes and impaired health decision-making. The interaction between real-time social media use patterns and clinical anxiety during infectious disease outbreaks is underexplored. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the usage pattern of 2 types of social media apps (communication and social networking) among patients in outpatient psychiatric treatment during the COVID-19 surge and lockdown in Madrid, Spain and their short-term anxiety symptoms (7-item General Anxiety Disorder scale) at clinical follow-up. METHODS: The individual-level shifts in median social media usage behavior from February 1 through May 3, 2020 were summarized using repeated measures analysis of variance that accounted for the fixed effects of the lockdown (prelockdown versus postlockdown), group (clinical anxiety group versus nonclinical anxiety group), the interaction of lockdown and group, and random effects of users. A machine learning-based approach that combined a hidden Markov model and logistic regression was applied to predict clinical anxiety (n=44) and nonclinical anxiety (n=51), based on longitudinal time-series data that comprised communication and social networking app usage (in seconds) as well as anxiety-associated clinical survey variables, including the presence of an essential worker in the household, worries about life instability, changes in social interaction frequency during the lockdown, cohabitation status, and health status. RESULTS: Individual-level analysis of daily social media usage showed that the increase in communication app usage from prelockdown to lockdown period was significantly smaller in the clinical anxiety group than that in the nonclinical anxiety group (F1,72=3.84, P=.05). The machine learning model achieved a mean accuracy of 62.30% (SD 16%) and area under the receiver operating curve 0.70 (SD 0.19) in 10-fold cross-validation in identifying the clinical anxiety group. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who reported severe anxiety symptoms were less active in communication apps after the mandated lockdown and more engaged in social networking apps in the overall period, which suggested that there was a different pattern of digital social behavior for adapting to the crisis. Predictive modeling using digital biomarkers-passive-sensing of shifts in category-based social media app usage during the lockdown-can identify individuals at risk for psychiatric sequelae.

Nickel Porous Compacts Obtained by Medium-Frequency Electrical Resistance Sintering.

A commercially pure (c.p.) nickel powder was consolidated by Medium-Frequency Electrical Resistance Sintering (MF-ERS). In this consolidation technique, a pressure and the heat released by a high-intensity and low-voltage electrical current are concurrently applied to a metal powder mass. A nickel powder with a high tap porosity (86%) and a low applied pressure (only 100 MPa) is chosen in order to be able to obtain compacts with different levels of porosity, to facilitate the study of the porosity influence on the compact properties. The influence of current intensity and heating time on the global porosity values, the porosity and microhardness distribution, and the electrical conductivity of the sintered compacts is studied. The properties of the compacts consolidated by MF-ERS are compared with the results obtained by the conventional powder metallurgy route, consisting of cold pressing and furnace sintering. A universal equation to describe the porosity influence on all the analyzed properties of powder aggregates and sintered compacts is proposed and validated.

Ecological Momentary Assessment for Monitoring Risk of Suicide Behavior.

In recent years the involvement of technology in psychiatric treatment and its usefulness is increasing. The main advantages of its use lie in the possibility of collecting passively data with greater temporal granularity from each patient individually, since these devices are in direct contact almost every minute of the day with them. The variety of data collected by the all the smartphone sensors allows for a better understanding of the patient behavior through what is called the digital phenotype. So the use of a continuous monitoring system for patients at risk of suicide becomes a very useful tool for improving the quality of life of patients and for the early detection of suicide attempts.

Obesity, depression and factors associated to the quality of life in total knee arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis can be accompanied by depression and obesity, which could affect the quality of life (QOL) and function after a total knee arthroplasty (TKA). OBJECTIVE: To compare the QOL in subjects with depression and obesity 5 years after TKA. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of prospectively collected data, with two and three groups based on depression and obesity status. Sociodemographic variables, QOL and pain were compared. Depression was evaluated with a screening geriatric depression questionnaire used in the Mexican Health and Age Study (CENASEM). QOL was evaluated with the health survey SF-36. RESULTS: 378 participants were reviewed, 266 were included. Depression was detected in 24.1%, female (p < 0.001), with comorbidity (p = 0.04) and anxiety (p < 0.001), and the QOL score in subjects with depression was lower (p < 0.001). Obese subjects had greater pain (analogous visual scale 3 vs. 2; p = 0.002) and affection of the vitality domain in the QOL (75 vs. 80; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Evaluating depression and QOL with questionnaires such as CENASEM and SF-36 in elderly subjects who undergo ATR should be indispensable, since detecting and treating depression could increase QOL and function. Obese elderly with TKA may present greater pain.

ANTECEDENTES: La gonartrosis puede acompañarse de depresión y obesidad, afectando la calidad de vida (CV) y la funcionalidad después de una artroplastia total de rodilla (ATR). OBJETIVO: Comparar la CV en sujetos con depresión y obesidad 5 años después de una ATR. MÉTODO: Estudio transversal prolectivo, con dos y tres grupos basados en el estatus de depresión y la obesidad. Se obtuvieron variables sociodemográficas, clinimétricas, antropométricas y de CV. La depresión se evaluó con el cuestionario de tamizaje del Estudio Nacional sobre Salud y Envejecimiento de México (CENASEM). La CV se evaluó con la encuesta de salud SF-36. RESULTADOS: Se revisaron 378 participantes, para incluir 266. Se detectó depresión en el 24.1%, mujeres (p < 0.001), con comorbilidad (p = 0.04) y ansiedad (p < 0.001). El puntaje en la CV en sujetos con depresión fue menor (p < 0.001). Las personas obesas tuvieron mayor dolor (escala visual análoga 3 vs. 2; p = 0.002) y afección del dominio de vitalidad en la CV (75 vs. 80; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONES: Es indispensable evaluar la depresión y la CV con cuestionarios como el CENASEM y el SF-36 en ancianos que se sometan a ATR, ya que detectar y tratar la depresión podría aumentar la CV y la función. Las personas ancianas obesas con ATR pueden presentar mayor dolor.

Work, sport activities and factors associated with medial meniscal tears in nonathletic subjects.

BACKGROUND: It is known that late surgical reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is associated with a medial meniscal (MM) tears. However, the association between factors relating to sports and work activities and joint instability, has not been examined in non-athletic subjects. OBJECTIVE: To compare sports and work activities and other factors associated with MM tears, in subjects with ACL rupture. METHOD: A case-control design study, of patients with ACL injury, 140 cases and 140 controls with and without a rupture of MM respectively, were included. Sociodemographic factors, sports and work activities were compared. RESULTS: The independent factors associated with MM ruptures were continuing sports activities after injury (odds ratio [OR]: 3.6; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.7-7.9), joint instability (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.8-2.6), time between injury and surgical intervention (time of evolution) (OR: 1.003; 95% CI: 1.0-1.01) and age (OR: 1.1; 95% CI: 1.03-1.1). CONCLUSIONS: Intense activities of daily life such as continuing sports activities, after an ACL injury in non-athletic factory workers subjects, without previous training, as well as, age, joint instability and surgical delay are risk factors for rupture of MM.

ANTECEDENTES: Se sabe que la reconstrucción tardía del ligamento cruzado anterior (LCA) se asocia a rotura del menisco medial (MM). Sin embargo, la asociación entre factores referentes a las actividades deportivas, laborales e inestabilidad articular no se ha examinado en sujetos no deportistas. OBJETIVO: Comparar las actividades laborales, deportivas y otros factores asociados a rotura del MM en sujetos con rotura del LCA. MÉTODO: Diseño de casos y controles, de sujetos con rotura del LCA; 140 casos y 140 controles con y sin rotura de MM, respectivamente. Se compararon factores sociodemográficos, actividades deportivas y laborales. RESULTADOS: Los factores independientes asociados a roturas del MM fueron el continuar con actividades deportivas después de la lesión (razón de momios [RM]: 3.6; intervalo de confianza del 95% [IC 95%]: 1.7-7.9), la inestabilidad articular (RM: 2.2; IC 95%: 1.8-2.6), el tiempo de evolución entre la lesión y la reconstrucción (RM: 1.003; IC 95%: 1.0-1.01) y la edad (RM: 1.1; IC 95%: 1.03-1.1). CONCLUSIONES: Actividades intensas de la vida diaria, como continuar con deportes, después de una lesión del LCA en sujetos obreros, no deportistas, sin entrenamiento previo, así como la edad, el retraso en la reconstrucción y la inestabilidad articular, son factores de riesgo para rotura del MM.

Novel throughput phenotyping platforms in plant genetic studies.

Unraveling the genetic basis of complex traits in plants is limited by the lack of appropriate phenotyping platforms that enable high-throughput screening of many genotypes in multilocation field trials. Near-infrared spectroscopy on agricultural harvesters and spectral reflectance of plant canopies have recently been reported as promising components of novel phenotyping platforms. Understanding the genetic basis of complex traits is now within reach with the use of these new techniques.