Perfil psicosocial del viudo y huérfano afectados por la muerte materna familiar / Psychosocial profile of the widower and orphans affected by maternal death family

Objetivo: Describir el perfil psicosocial del viudo y huérfanos afectados por la muerte materna familiar en el departamento de Alta Verapaz durante el año 2009. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo en el cual se entrevistó a miembros, viudos y huérfanos, de 64 de 72 (89%) familias afectadas por muerte materna que ocurrieron en 2009. Resultados: Las familias estudiadas estaban conformadas por 62 viudos (en dos casos la fallecida no tenía pareja) y 286 huérfanos...

Morbilidad materna aguda y severa en Guatemala / Severe acute maternal morbidity in Guatemala

Objetivo: determinar el estado de conciencia materno en la morbilidad severa y aguda durante el embarazo, parto, aborto y puerperio relacionándolo con el pronóstico y evolución al ingresar a un centro hospitalario. Diseño: estudio de seguimiento prospectivo, de base poblacional, con lugar definido geográficamente. Lugar: dos hospitales públicos y tres hospitales de la seguridad social del departamento de Guatemala. Población: 39,361 partos hospitalarios en un período de 12 meses. Método: análisis univariado, bivariado y multivariado, así como pruebas de regresión logística comparando los casos de morbilidad severa y aguda clasificadas concientes e inconscientes.

Deletion of the DQ52 element within the Ig heavy chain locus leads to a selective reduction in VDJ recombination and altered D gene usage.

The process of V(D)J recombination that leads to the assembly of Ig gene segments is tightly controlled during B cell differentiation. Two germline transcripts, one of which (mu(0)) originates from the promoter region of DQ52, may control the accessibility of the heavy chain locus. Here, we present the analysis of a mouse line in which the DQ52 gene together with its regulatory sequences is deleted by a Cre/loxP-based strategy. In F(1) (DQ52(+/-)) mice, the use of the JH3 and JH4 elements in DJ or VDJ junctions of the DQ52(-) allele was strongly reduced in both the bone marrow pre-B and spleen cells, while the JH1 and JH2 elements were used with normal frequencies. In addition, IgM(+) B cells of bone marrow and spleen used the DQ52(-) allele less frequently. On DJ joints of the DQ52(-) allele, there was 2 times less processing of JH3 ends, which resulted in clearly increased addition of P nucleotides. Although the use of D elements in DJ joints was quite similar, an altered D repertoire was found in VDJ joints of the DQ52(-) allele. In splenic B cells of the DQ52(-/-) mouse the amino acid distribution of the CDR3 was skewed, probably to compensate for the altered processing of JH3 ends. Thus, we have shown an interesting selective effect of the DQ52 region on controlling accessibility to 3' JH elements on the Ig locus, which also seems to influence the processing of DJ joints. We propose a model in which the DQ52 promoter region enhances the induction of secondary DJ rearrangements.

cis requirements for the efficient production of recombinant DNA vectors based on autonomous parvoviruses.

The replication of viral genomes and the production of recombinant viral vectors from infectious molecular clones of parvoviruses MVMp and H1 were greatly improved by the introduction of a consensus NS-1 nick site at the junction between the left-hand viral terminus and the plasmid DNA. Progressive deletions of up to 1600 bp in the region encoding the structural genes as well as insertions of foreign DNA in replacement of those sequences did not appreciably affect the replication ability of the recombinant H1 virus genomes. In contrast, the incorporation of these genomes into recombinant particles appeared to depend on in cis-provided structural gene sequences. Indeed, the production of H1 viral vectors by cotransfection of recombinant clones and helper plasmids providing the structural proteins (VPs) in trans, drastically decreased when more than 800 bp was removed from the VP transcription unit. Furthermore, titers of viral vectors, in which most of the VP-coding region was replaced by an equivalent-length sequence consisting of reporter cDNA and stuffer DNA, were reduced more than 50 times in comparison with recombinant vectors in which stuffer DNA was not substituted for the residual VP sequence. In addition, viral vector production was restricted by the overall size of the genome, with a mere 6% increase in DNA length leading to an approximately 10 times lower encapsidation yield. Under conditions fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements for efficient packaging, titers of virus vectors from improved recombinant molecular DNA clones amounted to 5 x 10(7) infectious units per milliliter of crude extract. These titers should allow the assessment of the therapeutic effect of recombinant parvoviruses expressing small transgenes in laboratory animals.

Análisis de métodos usados en Guatemala para estimar la edad gestacional por la altura uterina / Analysis of used methods in Guatemala for estimation of gestational age by uterine height

Sesenta y cuatro mujeres embarazadas normales que acudían a control prenatal a la consulta externa del Hospital de Gineco-Obstetricía del Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social fueron estudiadas a lo largo del embarazo desde las 20 semanas de gestación, efectuando un total de 404 mediciones de altura uterina. Con cada medida obtenida se calculó la edad gestacional usando los diversos métodos comunes en nuestro medio. Se hizo análisis de regresión y correlación para comparar esos cálculos con la edad gestacional basada en la última regla. El método más preciso resultó ser el sumar 4 ó 7 cm a la altura uterina, dependiendo de si el embarazo es menor o mayor de 28 semanas, respectivamente. Los demás métodos sobreestiman o subestiman la edad gestacional en forma consistente en alguna etapa del embarazo