Self-Assembled Teicoplanin Micelles as Amphotericin B Nanocarrier.

Teicoplanin (Teico) is an antimicrobial agent that spontaneously forms micelles in aqueous media. In this work, we characterized the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles formed by the interaction of Teico with Amphotericin B (AmB). Teico-AmB micelles structure spontaneously in aqueous media, with a particle size of 70-100 nm and a zeta potential of -28 mV. Although the characterization of these nanostructures yielded satisfactory results, in vitro cytotoxicity tests showed high toxicity. Based on this, adding cholesterol to the formulation was evaluated to try to reduce the toxicity of the drug. These Teico-AmB-Chol nanostructures have a larger size, close to 160 nm, but a lower polydispersity index. They also showed strongly negative surface charge and were more stable than Teico-AmB, remaining stable for at least 20 days at 4 °C and 25 °C and against centrifugation, dilution, freezing, lyophilization and re-suspension processes with a recovery percentage of AmB greater than 95%, maintaining their initial size and zeta potential. These Teico-AmB-Chol micelles show lower cytotoxic effect and higher biological activity than Teico-AmB, even than Amfostat® and Ambisome® formulations. These two new nanoparticles, with and without Chol, are discussed as potential formulations able to improve the antifungal therapeutic efficiency of AmB.

Sufrimiento psíquico: experiencia de cuidado desde el Modelo de la Marea / Psychological suffering: Experience of Care with the Tidal Model

Caso clínico inspirado en el Modelo de la Marea de un hombre de 45 años de edad con sufrimiento psíquico severo en seguimiento por los servicios de Salud Mental desde los 25 por brote psicótico. Se identificaron diagnósticos de Enfermería, Resultados esperados e Intervenciones específicas, enunciados mediante la nomenclatura NANDA-NOC-NIC, y clasificados según los dominios que expone el modelo (del yo, del mundo y de los otros), así como según los tres momentos de cuidado que plantean los autores del mismo (inmediatos, de transición y desarrollo). Tras la planificación y ejecución de los cuidados se evaluaron obteniendo la puntuación diana acordada en la mayoría de ellos. Son necesarias intervenciones en personas con sufrimiento psíquico para mejorar su calidad de vida, fortalecer su autonomía y disminuir su aislamiento. Esto supone un desafío para los profesionales de Enfermería para desarrollar y aplicar herramientas de cuidado accesible culturalmente, como el Modelo de la Marea

Case report inspired by the Tidal Model regarding a 45-year-old man with severe psychological suffering on follow-up by Mental Health Services since he was 25 due to a psychotic break. Nursing diagnoses were identified, as well as Expected Outcomes and Specific Interventions, articulated by the NANDA-NOC-NIC terminology, and classified according to the domains stated by the model (self, world, others), as well as according to the three stages of care stated by its authors (immediate, transition and development). After planning and conducting care, there was an assessment and the target score agreed upon was obtained in most of them. Interventions in persons with psychological suffering are necessary in order to improve their quality of life, strengthen their personal autonomy and reduce their isolation. This represents a challenge for Nursing professionals, in order to develop and apply tools of care culturally accessible, such as the Tidal Model

[Psychological evaluations of operation of patients with mental disorders].

UNLABELLED: The severe and chronic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia are associated with very complex problems that are not confined to the symptoms but also affect psychosocial functioning and community integration. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability (in terms of internal consistency) of the WHODAS 2.0 for analyzing the psychosocial functioning of people with schizophrenia living in the community and using mental health services, and report the WHODAS 2.0 results from the same sample. METHODS: The sample comprised 100 users diagnosed with schizophrenia (F20 to F29 of ICD 10) living in the community and in contact with mental health services in Córdoba, Buenos Aires and San Luis in Argentina. Interviewers were trained in the use of the WHODAS 2.0. RESULTS: For the overall internal consistency of the WHODAS 2.0: Cronbach's alpha = 0.78. WHODAS 2.0 results for these service users were: Domain 1, 57% none, 19.4% mild, 20.4% moderate, 3.2% severe. Domain 2, 60.2% none, 18.3% mild, 17.2% moderate, 3.2% severe. Domain 3, 54.9% none, 23.7% mild, 19.4% moderate, 2.2% severe. Domain 4, 74.2% none, 18.3% mild, 6.5% moderate, 1.1% severe. Domain 5, 82.8% none, 1.8% mild, 4.3% moderate, 1.1% severe. Domain 6, 81.7% none, 15.1% mild, 3.2% moderate. CONCLUSIONS: WHODAS 2.0 showed high internal consistency in this population. Most of the service users had no disability or mild disability in all 6 domains. A substantial minority had moderate disability in some domains (D1, D3). In all domains, <5% had severe disability.

Hospitalización por trastornos mentales y consumo de sustancias en adolescentes: 2005-2006 / Hospitalization due to mental disorders and substance consumption in argentine adolescents: 2005-2006

Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de trastornos mentalesy del comportamiento como causadehospitalización en lapoblación adolescente de 10 a 19 años en Argentina en elperíodo 2005 -2006.Metodología: estudio observacional, analítico ytransversal, se utilizaron las Bases de Datos delosInformesEstadísticos de Egresos Hospitalarios (IEH) de la DireccióndeEstadística e Información de Salud del Ministerio deSalud de la Nación, años 2005-2006. Los datos fueronanalizados según sexo, edad y causa de egreso hospitalario. Elprocesamiento estadístico de los datos consistió en test dechi–cuadrado, Mantel Haenzel o test de Fisher,p<0,05.Resultados: el 2% de los egresos hospitalarios fueron porTrastornos Mentales y del Comportamiento (TMyC).LosTMyC de mayor frecuencia para el grupo de 10-14 años fueron:trastornos neuróticos (29,89%), consumo de sustancias(23,49%) (p<0,001) y trastornos del comportamiento deinicio en la infancia (15,40%) y para el grupo de 15-19años fueron: consumo de sustancias (30,94%) (p<0,001),alcohol la más frecuente, trastornos neuróticos (21,04%) yesquizofrenia (17,34%) (p<0,001). La distribución por sexosy edad mostró al consumo de sustancias (p< 0,0001) comolapatología más frecuente en varones y trastornos neuróticos(p< 0,0001) en mujeres de ambos grupos de edad.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of behavioral and mental disorders as the causeof hospitalization in adolescent population from age 10 to 19 in Argentina in the period2005-2006.Method: Observational, analytical and transversal study. The databases of StatisticalRecords of Hospital Discharge from the Department of Health Statistics and Information ofthe National Ministry of Health, years 2005-2006, were used. Data were analyzed accordingto sex, age and cause of hospital discharge. The statistical processing of data was done withthe chi-squared test, Mantel Haenzel or Fisher’s test,p<0.05.Results: 2% of hospital discharges were for Behavioral and Mental Disorders. The mostfrequent of these disorders for the age group 10-14 were: neurotic disorders (29.89%),substance consumption (23.49%) (p<0.001), and behavioral diseases starting in childhood(15.40%). For the age group 15-19 the most frequent were: substance consumption(30.94%) (p<0,001) -alcohol the most frequent-, neurotic disorders (21.04%) andschizophrenia (17.34%) (p<0.001). Distribution according to sex and age showed drugconsumption (p< 0.0001) as the most frequent pathology among boys and neuroticdisorders (p< 0.0001) among girls of both age groups.

Hospitalización por trastornos mentales y consumo de sustancias en adolescentes: 2005-2006 / Hospitalization due to mental disorders and substance consumption in argentine adolescents: 2005-2006

Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de trastornos mentalesy del comportamiento como causadehospitalización en lapoblación adolescente de 10 a 19 años en Argentina en elperíodo 2005 -2006.Metodología: estudio observacional, analítico ytransversal, se utilizaron las Bases de Datos delosInformesEstadísticos de Egresos Hospitalarios (IEH) de la DireccióndeEstadística e Información de Salud del Ministerio deSalud de la Nación, años 2005-2006. Los datos fueronanalizados según sexo, edad y causa de egreso hospitalario. Elprocesamiento estadístico de los datos consistió en test dechiûcuadrado, Mantel Haenzel o test de Fisher,p<0,05.Resultados: el 2% de los egresos hospitalarios fueron porTrastornos Mentales y del Comportamiento (TMyC).LosTMyC de mayor frecuencia para el grupo de 10-14 años fueron:trastornos neuróticos (29,89%), consumo de sustancias(23,49%) (p<0,001) y trastornos del comportamiento deinicio en la infancia (15,40%) y para el grupo de 15-19años fueron: consumo de sustancias (30,94%) (p<0,001),alcohol la más frecuente, trastornos neuróticos (21,04%) yesquizofrenia (17,34%) (p<0,001). La distribución por sexosy edad mostró al consumo de sustancias (p< 0,0001) comolapatología más frecuente en varones y trastornos neuróticos(p< 0,0001) en mujeres de ambos grupos de edad.(AU)

Objective: To determine the prevalence of behavioral and mental disorders as the causeof hospitalization in adolescent population from age 10 to 19 in Argentina in the period2005-2006.Method: Observational, analytical and transversal study. The databases of StatisticalRecords of Hospital Discharge from the Department of Health Statistics and Information ofthe National Ministry of Health, years 2005-2006, were used. Data were analyzed accordingto sex, age and cause of hospital discharge. The statistical processing of data was done withthe chi-squared test, Mantel Haenzel or FisherÆs test,p<0.05.Results: 2% of hospital discharges were for Behavioral and Mental Disorders. The mostfrequent of these disorders for the age group 10-14 were: neurotic disorders (29.89%),substance consumption (23.49%) (p<0.001), and behavioral diseases starting in childhood(15.40%). For the age group 15-19 the most frequent were: substance consumption(30.94%) (p<0,001) -alcohol the most frequent-, neurotic disorders (21.04%) andschizophrenia (17.34%) (p<0.001). Distribution according to sex and age showed drugconsumption (p< 0.0001) as the most frequent pathology among boys and neuroticdisorders (p< 0.0001) among girls of both age groups.(AU)

Activation analysis of concrete and graphite in the experimental reactor RUS.

The decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear installations after their service life involves the necessary disassembling, handling and disposing of a large amount of radioactive equipment and structures. In particular, the concrete that has been used as a biological reactor shield and graphite that has been used as a moderator-reflector represent the majority of waste, requiring geological disposal. To reduce this undesirable volume to the minimum and to successfully plan the dismantling and disposal of radioactive materials to storage facilities, the activations of the structures should be accurately evaluated. In the framework of the decommissioning and the dismantling of the experimental reactor of the University of Strasbourg, detailed activation estimates have been conducted to characterise the graphite and the structural materials present in the reactor environment. For this purpose, the chemical compositions of fresh graphite samples and different types of concrete have been determined by activation analysis in the research reactors OSIRIS and ORPHEE of CEA Saclay (France). Then, the activations of graphite, concrete and other materials have been calculated in the whole reactor, as a function of the three main nuclear data libraries, i.e. ENDF, JEF and JENDL. In parallel, the activations of representative graphite and concrete samples have been measured experimentally. The comparison of theoretical predictions with experimental values validates the approach and the methodology used in the present study and tests the consistency and the reliability of the nuclear data used for activation analysis. We believe that a similar approach could also be used for the decommissioning of industrial nuclear reactors.

Non-destructive method of characterisation of radioactive waste containers using gamma spectroscopy and Monte Carlo techniques.

During the decommissioning of the SATURNE accelerator at CEA Saclay (France), a number of concrete containers with radioactive materials of low or very low activity had to be characterised before their final storage. In this paper, a non-destructive approach combining gamma ray spectroscopy and Monte Carlo simulations is used in order to characterise massive concrete blocks containing some radioactive waste. The limits and uncertainties of the proposed method are quantified for the source term activity estimates using 137Cs as a tracer element. A series of activity measurements with a few representative waste containers were performed before and after destruction. It has been found that neither was the distribution of radioactive materials homogeneous nor was its density unique, and this became the major source of systematic errors in this study. Nevertheless, we conclude that by combining gamma ray spectroscopy and full scale Monte Carlo simulations one can estimate the source term activity for some tracer elements such as 134Cs, 137Cs, 60Co, etc. The uncertainty of this estimation should not be bigger than a factor of 2-3.

Illegitimate transcription. Application to the analysis of truncated transcripts of the dystrophin gene in nonmuscle cultured cells from Duchenne and Becker patients.

We have previously demonstrated that there is a low level of transcription of tissue-specific genes in every cell type. In this study, we have taken advantage of this phenomenon, called illegitimate transcription, to analyze the muscle-type dystrophin mRNA in easily accessible cells such as lymphoid cells, fibroblasts, and peripheral blood cells from Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies with known internal gene deletion. The results showed that, in the studied regions surrounding the deletions, processing of truncated transcripts is identical in specific (muscle tissue) and in nonspecific cells (lymphoid cells). In Becker cases with out-of-frame deletions, the already described alternatively spliced species found in muscle samples were also found in nonspecific cells. These results demonstrate that illegitimate transcripts are a bona fide version of tissue-specific mRNA, and that they represent a useful material to investigate the qualitative consequences of gene defects at the mRNA level.