Estrés y desempeño ocupacional en estudiantes de terapia ocupacional / Stress and occupational performance in occupational therapy students

Se trata de una investigación en la cual se estudió el estrés académico y el desempeño ocupacional en los estudiantes de la carrera de Terapia Ocupacional, de Universidad Central de Venezuela. El objetivo fue determinar la relación existente entre el estrés académico y el desempeño ocupacional en los estudiantes de Terapia Ocupacional. Se combinaron técnicas de la metodología cuantitativa y cualitativa; para evaluar el estrés académico se utilizó la “Escala de Situaciones de Estrés Académico” (De Pablo, 2002 y adaptado por Feldman y col. 2008) y se diseñó una entrevista a profundidad basada en la medida canadiense de “Rendimiento Ocupacional”. Participaron 101 estudiantes (73 mujeres y 28 hombres). Los estudiantes reportaron niveles moderados de estrés académico (X= 77,63) siendo la dimensión con mayor reporte el estrés en los exámenes (X= 30,91), seguido por el estrés general (X= 20,97). Aquellos estudiantes que reflejaron niveles altos de estrés, en la entrevista reportaron que su ejecución en algunas áreas del desempeño ocupacional como el autocuidado, accesibilidad, escolaridad y socialización, resultaron ser insatisfactoria debido a la inadecuada alimentación, arreglo personal, actividades recreativas restringidas, todo ello por falta de tiempo, difícil acceso a la sede de la universidad y medios de transporte deficientes. Estos resultados permiten señalar que podría existir una relación entre estrés académico y el desempeño ocupacional del estudiante, ya que afectan de manera no satisfactoria la ejecución de las áreas de desempeño, roles y su participación activa en los diferentes contextos, rompiendo así el equilibrio vital.

This in an investigation in which was studied the academic stress and the occupational performance in students of the career Occupational Therapy, Central University of Venezuela. The objective was to determine the existing relation between academic stress and the occupational performance in the students of Occupational Therapy. Techniques of the quantitative and qualitative methodology were combined; in order to evaluate academic stress it was used the “scale of Situations of Stress Academic” (Of Pablo, 2002 and adapted by Feldman and col. 2008) and an interview to depth based on the Canadian measurement of occupational yield was designed”. 101 students participated (73 women and 28 men). The students reported moderate levels of academic stress (X= 77.63) being the dimension with greater report stress in the examinations (X= 30.91), followed by general stress (X= 20.97). Those students who reflected high levels of stress, in the interview reported that their execution in some areas of the occupational performance like the self care, accessibility, schooling and socialization, turned out to be unsatisfactory; due to the inadequate feeding, personal adjustment, restricted recreational activities, all it by lack of time, difficult access to the university location and poor transportation. These results allow to indicate that a relation between academic stress could exist and the occupational performance of the student, since they affect of non satisfactory way the execution of the performance areas, rolls and their active participation in the different contexts, breaking therefore the vital balance.

Isolation of bothrasperin, a disintegrin with potent platelet aggregation inhibitory activity, from the venom of the snake Bothrops asper

The venom of Bothrops asper induces severe coagulation disturbances in accidentally envenomed humans. However, only few studies have been conducted to identify components that interact with the hemostatic system in this venom. In the present work, we fractionated B. asper venom in order to investigate the possible presence of inhibitors of platelet aggregation. Using a combination of gel filtration, anion-exchange chromatography, and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, we isolated an acidic protein which shows a single chain composition, with a molecular mass of approximately 8 kDa, estimated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Its N-terminal sequence has high similarity to disintegrins isolated from different snake venoms, which are known to bind to cellular integrins such as the GPIIb/IIIa fibrinogen receptor on platelets. The purified protein exerted potent aggregation inhibitory activity on ADP-stimulated human platelets in vitro, with an estimated IC50 of 50 nM. This biological activity, together with the biochemical characteristics observed, demonstrate that the protein isolated from B. asper venom is a disintegrin, hereby named bothrasperin. This is the first disintegrin isolated from Central American viperid snake species.