Trace elements in farmland soils and crops, and probabilistic health risk assessment in areas influenced by mining activity in Ecuador.

Consumption of food grown in contaminated soils may be a significant human exposure pathway to pollutants, including toxic elements. This study aimed to investigate the pollution level of trace elements in farmland soil and crops collected in orchards from Ponce Enriquez, one of the Ecuador's most important gold mining areas. The concentration of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chrome (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) was analyzed in soil and crop samples (celery, chives, corn, herbs, lettuce, turnips, green beans, cassava, and carrots). In addition, a probabilistic human health risk assessment, in terms of hazard quotients (HQ) and cancer risk (CR), was conducted to assess the potential risk related to local crop ingestion. The contents of As, Cr, Cu, and Ni in soils exceeded the Ecuadorian quality guidelines for agricultural soils. The trace elements concentration in local crops was higher than the maximum permissible levels set by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The HQ and CR of local crop ingestion were several orders higher than the safe exposure threshold, mainly for lettuce, chives, and turnips. Our results revealed that inhabitants of the study area are exposed to developing carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects due to long-term food consumption with high trace elements. This study sheds light on the need to assess further the quality of agricultural soils and crops grown in mining areas with signs of contamination to guarantee consumer food safety.

A Telementoring Intervention Leads to Improvements in Self-Reported Measures of Health Care Access and Quality among Patients with Complex Diabetes.

Individuals living with complex diabetes experience limited access to endocrine care due to a nationwide shortage of endocrinologists. Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an innovative, scalable model of health care that extends specialty care to medically underserved areas through ongoing telementorship of community primary care providers. We evaluated the effects of an endocrine-focused ECHO program (Endo ECHO) on patients with type 1 and complex type 2 diabetes, and report here on changes in patient-reported measures of health care access and quality from baseline to one year aft er program enrollment. Patients were eligible for Endo ECHO if they were 18 years or older with complex diabetes. Aft er participating in Endo ECHO, access to health care and diabetes-related quality of care improved dramatically. Our results suggest that Endo ECHO may be a suitable intervention for extending best practices in diabetes care to medically underserved patients.

Percepción del paciente con diabetes mellitus tipo II sobre su calidad de vida. Programa de Diabetes del Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, 2013 / Perception of the patient with diabetes mellitus type II about their quality of life. Program of Diabetes of the National Hospital Dos de Mayo, 2013

La Diabetes Mellitus (DM) es una alteración metabólica caracterizada por hiperglicemia y complicaciones micro y cardiovasculares que aumentan de forma manifiesta la mortalidad y morbilidad asociadas a la enfermedad, tendiendo a producir estragos en la calidad de vida del paciente, evidenciando alteraciones en la percepción que el individuo percibe de esta. La presente investigación titulada: "Percepción del paciente con Diabetes Mellitus tipo II sobre su Calidad vida en el programa de diabetes del Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo en el año 2013”; tuvo como objetivo determinar la Percepción del paciente con Diabetes Mellitus tipo II sobre su Calidad vida en el programa de diabetes. El enfoque del estudio es cuantitativo, nivel aplicativo, método descriptivo simple de corte transversal. La población estuvo constituida por 83 pacientes. Respecto a la Percepción del paciente con Diabetes Mellitus tipo II sobre su Calidad de Vida en el Programa de Diabetes del HNDM, de un 100 por ciento el 59 por ciento presentan una percepción medianamente favorable, el 22 por ciento una percepción favorable y el 19 por ciento percepción desfavorable. En su Dimensión Física, 70 por ciento presentan una percepción medianamente favorable, seguida de 16 por ciento favorable y 12 por ciento desfavorable. En su Dimensión Psicológica, 68 por ciento presentan una percepción medianamente favorable, seguida de 12 por ciento favorable y 20 por ciento desfavorable. Llegando a la siguiente conclusión: La mayoría de pacientes con Diabetes Mellitus tipo II presentan una percepción medianamente favorable sobre su Calidad de vida en las diferentes dimensiones, lo que indica que aspectos como el insomnio, la depresión, el déficit de memoria y situación económica inestable afectan la percepción del individuo sobre su propia calidad de vida haciendo que este a futuro deje de considerarla buena. Lo cual puede repercutir en el futuro provocando el rápido deterioro físico, psicológico y social de los...

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia and cardiovascular complications micro and manifestly increased mortality and morbidity associated with the disease, tending to cause havoc on the quality of life of patients, demonstrating that alterations in perception the individual perceives this. The present study titled "Perceptions of patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus on their life quality diabetes program of the National Hospital Dos de Mayo in 2013"; I aimed to determine the perception of patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus on their quality of life in the diabetes program. The focus of the study is quantitative, application level, simple descriptive cross-sectional method. The population consisted of 83 patients. Regarding the perception of patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus on their Quality of life Diabetes Program HNDM, from 100 per cent to 59 per cent have a fairly favorable perception, 22 per cent had a favorable view and 19 per cent unfavorable perception. In its physical dimension, 70 per cent have a fairly favorable perception, followed by 16 per cent in favor and 12 per cent unfavorable. In his Psychological Dimension, 68 per cent have a favorable perception medium, followed by 12 per cent favorable, 20 per cent unfavorable. Arriving at the following conclusion: The majority of patients with Diabetes Mellitus type II has moderately favorable perception of their quality of life in different dimensions, indicating that aspects such as insomnia, depression, memory deficits and unstable economic situation affect individuals' perception of their own quality of life, making this a good stop considering future. This may affect the future causing rapid physical, psychological and social deterioration in patients with type II Diabetes Mellitus.

Inhibition of neuronal apoptosis by the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor GW8510: identification of 3' substituted indolones as a scaffold for the development of neuroprotective drugs.

Increasing evidence suggests that neuronal apoptosis is triggered by the inappropriate activation of cyclin-dependent kinases leading to an abortive re-entry of neurons into the cell cycle. Pharmacological inhibitors of cell-cycle progression may therefore have value in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases in humans. GW8510 is a 3' substituted indolone that was developed recently as an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2). We found that GW8510 inhibits the death of cerebellar granule neurons caused by switching them from high potassium (HK) medium to low potassium (LK) medium. Although GW8510 inhibits CDK2 and other CDKs when tested in in vitro biochemical assays, when used on cultured neurons it only inhibits CDK5, a cytoplasmic CDK that is not associated with cell-cycle progression. Treatment of cultured HEK293T cells with GW8510 does not inhibit cell-cycle progression, consistent with its inability to inhibit mitotic CDKs in intact cells. Neuroprotection by GW8510 is independent of Akt and MEK-ERK signaling. Furthermore, GW8510 does not block the LK-induced activation of Gsk3beta and, while inhibiting c-jun phosphorylation, does not inhibit the increase in c-jun expression observed in apoptotic neurons. We also examined the effectiveness of other 3' substituted indolone compounds to protect against neuronal apoptosis. We found that like GW8510, the VEGF Receptor 2 Kinase Inhibitors [3-(1H-pyrrol-2-ylmethylene)-1,3-dihydroindol-2-one], {(Z)-3-[2,4-Dimethyl-3-(ethoxycarbonyl)pyrrol-5-yl)methylidenyl]indol-2-one} and [(Z)-5-Bromo-3-(4,5,6,6-tetrahydro-1H-indol-2-ylmethylene)-1,3-dihydroindol-2-one], the Src family kinase inhibitor SU6656 and a commercially available inactive structural analog of an RNA-dependent protein kinase inhibitor 5-Chloro-3-(3,5-dichloro-4-hydroxybenzylidene)-1,3-dihydro-indol-2-one, are all neuroprotective when tested on LK-treated neurons. Along with our recent identification of the c-Raf inhibitor GW5074 (also a 3' substituted indolone) as a neuroprotective compound, our findings identify the 3' substituted indolone as a core structure for the designing of neuroprotective drugs that may be used to treat neurodegenerative diseases in humans.