Spanish validation of the Stigma of Occupational Stress Scale for Doctors (SOSS-D) and factors associated with physician burnout.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Stigma of Occupational Stress Scale for Doctors (SOSS-D) and the factors associated with Physician Burnout in Paraguay. METHODS: Participants included 747 Paraguayan healthcare workers, aged 24-77 years old, of both sexes. SOSS-D was translated into Spanish and validated through an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Participants were also scored with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), the CAGE questionnaire, and the stigma subscale of the Perceived Barriers to Psychological Treatment (PBPT) measure. RESULTS: Three factors had a raw eigenvalue greater than 1, and explained 61.7% of total variance. The confirmatory analysis confirmed that the scale is three-dimensional. The model adjustment was good, according to all fit indices. OLBI results indicate clinically significant disengagement in 85.9% and clinically significant exhaustion in 91.6% of participants. Of the 747 participants, 57.6% reported alcoholic beverage consumption and among those, 19.3% had problematic alcohol consumption according to the CAGE questionnaire. The correlation between SOSS-D and the stigma subscale of the PBPT was statistically significant (r = 0.245, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the SOSS-D was found to have good psychometric properties and adequately reproduces the three-dimensional model of the original English version.

Characterization of the Clogging Transition in Vibrated Granular Media.

The existence of a transition from a clogged to an unclogged state has been recently proposed for the flow of macroscopic particles through bottlenecks in systems as diverse as colloidal suspensions, granular matter, or live beings. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that, for vibrated granular media, such a transition genuinely exists, and we characterize it as a function of the outlet size and vibration intensity. We confirm the suitability of the "flowing parameter" as the order parameter, and we find out that the rescaled maximum acceleration of the system should be replaced as the control parameter by a dimensionless velocity that can be seen as the square root of the ratio between kinetic and potential energy. In all the investigated scenarios, we observe that, for a critical value of this control parameter S_{c}, there seems to be a continuous transition to an unclogged state. The data can be rescaled with this critical value, which, as expected, decreases with the orifice size D. This leads to a phase diagram in the S-D plane in which clogging appears as a concave surface.

Basal (18)F-FDG PET/CT as a predictive biomarker of tumor response for neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer.

PURPOSE: To explore the relation between tumor kinetic assessed by (18)F-FDG PET and final neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) response within a molecular phenotype perspective. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospective study included 144 women with breast cancer. All patients underwent a dual-time point (18)F-FDG PET/CT previous to NC. The retention index (RI), between SUV-1 and SUV-2 was calculated. Molecular subtypes were re-grouped in low, intermediate and high-risk biological phenotypes. After NC, all residual primary tumor specimens were histopathologically classified in tumor regression grades (TRG) and response groups. The relation between SUV-1, SUV-2 and RI with the TRG and response groups was evaluated in all molecular subtypes and in accordance with the risk categories. RESULTS: Responder's lesions showed significant greater SUVmax compared to non-responders. The RI value did not show any significant relation with response. Attending to molecular phenotypes, statistical differences were observed with greater SUV for responders having high-risk molecular subtypes. CONCLUSION: Glycolytic tumor characteristics showed a significant correlation with NC response and dependence of risk phenotype.

Chronic fluoxetine treatment induces structural plasticity and selective changes in glutamate receptor subunits in the rat cerebral cortex.

It has been postulated that chronic administration of antidepressant drugs induces delayed structural and molecular adaptations at glutamatergic forebrain synapses that might underlie mood improvement. To gain further insight into these changes in the cerebral cortex, rats were treated with fluoxetine (flx) for 4 weeks. These animals showed decreased anxiety and learned helplessness. N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA) receptor subunit levels (NR1, NR2A, NR2B, GluR1 and GluR2) were analysed in the forebrain by both western blot of homogenates and immunohistochemistry. Both methods demonstrated an upregulation of NR2A, GluR1 and GluR2 that was especially significant in the retrosplenial granular b cortex (RSGb). However, when analysing subunit content in postsynaptic densities and synaptic membranes, we found increases of NR2A and GluR2 but not GluR1. Instead, GluR1 was augmented in a microsomal fraction containing intracellular membranes. NR1 and GluR2 were co-immunoprecipitated from postsynaptic densities and synaptic membranes. In the immunoprecipitates, NR2A was increased while GluR1 was decreased supporting a change in receptor stoichiometry. The changes of subunit levels were associated with an upregulation of dendritic spine density and of large, mushroom-type spines. These molecular and structural adaptations might be involved in neuronal network stabilization following long-term flx treatment.

First Report of Orange Rust of Sugarcane Caused by Puccinia kuehnii in Mexico, El Salvador, and Panama.

Symptoms of sugarcane orange rust were observed on July 17, 2008 on sugarcane cvs. Mex 57-1285, Mex 61-230, and Co 301 (a clone received in Mexico in 1953) at the Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Caña de Azúcar en Tuxtla Chico, Chiapas, Mexico. In El Salvador, from August 2008 through January 2009, rust symptoms were observed on cv. CP 72-2086 (previously resistant to brown rust caused by Puccinia melanocephala Syd. & P. Syd.) in 117 dispersed sugarcane-production fields in various localities of El Salvador. Likewise, rust symptoms were first observed on sugarcane cv. SP 74-8355 (more than 25% severity and considered resistant to brown rust) at Natá, Coclé Province in Panama from January to February 2008. Dried herbarium leaf samples of sugarcane rust-infected leaves collected in El Salvador and Mexico were sent to the ARS, USDA Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory in Beltsville MD for identification. Panamanian samples were collected similarly and analyzed at the CALESA Biotechnology Laboratory. Morphological features of uredinial lesions and urediniospores were distinct from those of P. melanocephala and consistent with P. kuehnii E. J. Butler observed previously on specimens from Florida, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua (1-3). Analysis of the ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2 and 28S large subunit rDNA sequences of the rust on infected cvs. Mex 57-1285, Mex 61-230, and Co 301 (BPI 878930, 879139, and 879140; GenBank Accession Nos. GO283006, GO283004, and GO283005, respectively) from Mexico and cv. CP 72-2086 from three locations in El Salvador (BPI 879135, 879136, and 879137; GenBank Accession Nos. GO283009, GO283007, and GO283008, respectively) all confirmed the identification of P. kuehnii. Similar analysis of the ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2 rDNA sequence for the rust infecting cv. SP 74-8355 (GenBank Accession No. GO281584) confirmed the identification of P. kuehnii in Panama. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. kuehnii causing orange rust disease of sugarcane in El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama. These findings also confirm the wider distribution of orange rust in the Western Hemisphere. References: (1) E. Chavarria et al. Plant Dis. 93:425, 2009. (2) J. C. Comstock et al. Plant Dis. 92:175, 2008. (3) W. Ovalle et al. Plant Dis. 92:973, 2008.

Anxiety in ethnic minority youth. Methodological and conceptual issues and review of the literature.

Although current research has documented a relatively high prevalence of anxiety disorders in American youth, this research has been conducted mainly with nonminority samples. Fair treatment and increasing numbers of ethnic minority persons in the United States require that more should be known about minority youth. However, research with majority youth cannot be safely generalized to minority youth for several reasons, such as potential differences in the manifestation of anxiety, differences in style of response to assessment devices, and different life circumstances. This review is presented in two major sections. First, the authors address definition of terms and fully examine the significance of studying anxiety in ethnic minority youth. Also considered are methodological issues such as sampling and participation biases. Second, the authors review anxiety in ethnic minority children and adolescents in the United States including studies addressing fears, worries, trait anxiety, test anxiety, and anxiety disorders.

A trial to increase mammography utilization among Los Angeles Hispanic women.

The objective of this program was to increase mammography screening rates among Hispanic women through a series of targeted community-wide interventions. A diverse array of outreach efforts was offered by the program to increase awareness and use of screening mammography. Before the program, 12 percent of the Hispanic women surveyed in the intervention community had been screened, compared with 27 percent after the program. There was no change in screening among Hispanic women in the control community (23 percent before and 24 percent after the program). The program demonstrated that the awareness and behavior of "hard-to-reach" underscreened Hispanic women can be changed through intensive targeted outreach and that a church-based cancer control program can play an effective role in the process. This finding has national health policy implications.

[Aggression and group dependence in asthmatic children and a control group]. / Agresión y dependencia en un grupo de niños asmáticos y un grupo testigo.

We studied a group of 60 boys and girls, 30 were asthmatics and 30 were controls in order to know more about factors that influenced the psychodynamics of the asthmatic and non asthmatic child. Both groups received the child's Thematic Aperception Test. Human version (CAT-H) and its supplement (CAT-S). No significant statistical differences were observed in relation to aggression but there was a significant difference in dependence (p.05). There results suggest us that the asthmatic child has lack of self confidence and has to look for support in other people.

[The cardiovascular manifestations of Marfan's syndrome. A case report and review of the management]. / Manifestaciones cardiovasculares en el síndrome de Marfán. Presentación de un caso y revisión del manejo.

The authors present the clinical history of a patient with Marfan's syndrome (MS) and aortic insufficiency, who expired at 22 years of age, in order to illustrate the clinical evolution and review the management of this problem. It is known that patients with MS and heart failure due to dilatation of the aortic annulus have an early mortality of almost 100%. The authors conclude that echocardiographic follow up of these patients is vital in their medical and surgical management and that the use of beta blockers is the best medical therapy, and that prophylactic surgery with composite graft (aortic valve and ascending aorta) gives the best survival rate.

Manifestaciones cardiovasculares en el síndrome de Marfán: presentación de un caso y revisión del manejo / The cardiovascular manifestations of Marfan's syndrome: a case report and review of the management

The authors present the clinical history of a patient with Marfan's syndrome (MS) and aortic insufficiency, who expired at 22 years of age, in order to illustrate the clinical evolution and review the management of this problem. It is known that patients with MS and heart failure due to dilatation of the aortic annulus have an early mortality of almost 100%. The authors conclude that echocardiographic follow up of these patients is vital in their medical and surgical management and that the use of beta blockers is the best medical therapy, and that prophylactic surgery with composite graft (aortic valve and ascending aorta) gives the best survival rate