La auriculopuntura disminuye los niveles de ansiedad en adultos chilenos con malnutrición por exceso / Auriculopuncture decreases anxiety levels in Chilean adults with malnutrition by excess

Resumen Introducción: A pesar del incremento en el uso de la medicina tradicional china para el tratamiento de la obesidad son pocos los estudios que evalúan su efecto. Objetivo: Determinar el efecto de la auriculopuntura sobre la ansiedad, ingesta nutricional y medidas antropométricas en chilenos con malnutrición por exceso. Materiales y métodos: estudio cuasi-experimental, con muestra probabilística conformada por 21 sujetos, divididos en dos grupos, intervenido GI (n=11) y control GC (n=10). La intervención consistió en realizar auriculopuntura durante siete semanas al GI y administrar un placebo al GC. En ambos grupos se determinó antropometría, ingesta nutricional y niveles de ansiedad. Todos los participantes firmaron consentimiento informado. Para comparar medias entre grupos e intra grupos, se utilizó la prueba t-Student para muestras pareadas. La significancia estadística se estableció a un (α<0,05). Resultados: Se encontró en el GI una disminución de la ansiedad (p=0,036) y de la ingesta de sodio (p=0,035). No se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en las variables de ingesta calórica-nutricional y antropométrica en ningún grupo. Conclusiones: Es necesario incrementar el tiempo de intervención para evaluar el efecto en el largo plazo y de esta forma, establecer asociaciones causales.

Abstract Introduction: Despite the increase in the use of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of obesity, there are few studies which evaluate its effect. Objective: To determine the effect of auriculopuncture on anxiety, nutritional intake and anthropometric measures in Chilean adults with malnutrition by excess. Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a probabilistic sample conformed by 21 subjects, divided into two groups: intervened GI (n=11) and control GC (n=10). The intervention consisted in performing auriculopuncture for seven weeks to GI and administering a placebo to GC. In both groups anthropometry, nutritional intake and anxiety levels were determined. All participants signed informed consent. To compare averages between groups and intra groups, the T-student test was used for paired samples. Statistical significance was set to one (α < 0.05). Results: A decrease in anxiety (p=0.036) and sodium intake (p=0.035) was found in the GI. No statistically significant differences were found in the variables of caloric-nutritional and anthropometric intake in any group. Conclusions: It is necessary to increase the intervention time to evaluate the long-term effect and thus establish causal associations.

Pepper necrotic spot virus, a new tospovirus infecting solanaceous crops in Peru.

Two virus isolates, T1 and T2, causing necrotic spots on leaves and stems of pepper and tomato, respectively, were isolated in the La Joya valley, Arequipa, Peru, in 2010. These two isolates were inoculated to differential hosts for tospoviruses and showed differential fitness: T1 induced necrotic local lesions in Vigna unguiculata, whereas T2 produced only chlorotic spots. The complete nucleotide sequence of the small (S) RNA from T2 and 1863 bp of the S RNA from T1 were determined. The deduced N protein sequence showed high amino acid identity (97%) between the isolates, indicating that the T1 and T2 are isolates of the same virus. Sequence comparisons indicated that the amino acid sequence of the N protein shared 53.49-87.98% identity with known American tospoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis of both the NSs and N proteins revealed that this new tospovirus belongs to the American group. We conclude that this tospovirus should be considered a member of a new species. The name Pepper necrotic spot virus (PNSV) is proposed.

Transcriptional organization of the region encoding the synthesis of the flagellar filament in Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 is motile by means of type b flagella. Analysis of the region encoding the synthesis of the flagellar filament has shown a transcriptional organization different from that of type a flagella. Additionally to the promoters driving fliC, fliD, and fleQ expression, we have found promoters upstream of the flaG gene and the fliST operon. These promoters were functional in vivo. Both promoters have been mapped and appear to be dependent on the vegetative sigma factor and independent of FleQ, the master regulator of flagellum synthesis.