Pros y contras percibidos de la actividad física realizada por adultos mayores / Perceived pros and cons of physical activity by older adults

INTRODUCCION: La práctica de actividad física regular es una de las prioridades en salud pública para incrementar el bienestar y la calidad de vida especialmente en la tercera edad. Esta práctica depende de varios factores entre otros las experiencias previas de la conducta y la valoración de las ventajas y desventajas que tiene su realización. Propósito: Conocer los pros (ventajas) y Contras (desventajas) percibidos del ejercicio físico en adultos mayores. METODOLOGÍA: En este estudio se utilizó el balance decisional (Prochaska y Di Clemente1997). Se aplicó la aproximación cualitativa con muestreo teórico y análisis de contenido en una muestra de 15 participantes. Resultados: Estos mostraron tres categorías: Pros de la actividad física construida a partir de las subcategorías: mejorar la salud física y emocional e incrementar las relaciones interpersonales. La segunda categoría: Contras se construyó a partir de las subcategorías ambientales ocupaciones enfermedades y ser cuidadores de otras personas y una tercer categoría identificada se construyó con las razones para realizar la actividad física. CONCLUSIONES: Los pros y contras señalados por los participantes pueden ser la clave para el diseño de estrategias de programas de salud encaminados a incluir la actividad física en el adulto mayor.

Introduction: The practice of regular physical activity is one of the priorities in public Health to increase the well-being and the quality of life especially in the third age. This practice depends on several factors, among others the previous experiences of the conduct and evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages upon achievement. Purpose: Acknowledge pros and cons detected on physical exercise on older adults. Methodology: In this study the decisional balance (Prochaska and Di Clemente,1997) was used. The qualitive approach was applied by theoretical sampling and analysis of content sampling 15 participants. Results: They showed this categories: Pros of the physi cal activity, built from the subcategories: To improve the physical and emotional health and to increase the interpersonal relations. The second category, cons was formed from environmental Subcategories: Occupations, diseases and to carers of others persons and a third Identified category was the reasons of physical activity. Conclusions: The pros and cons distinguished by the participants can be the key for the strategic health programs design aimed to include physical activity on major adults.

Association of loss of heterozygosity with cytogenetic abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome

Deletions on chromosomes 5 and 7 are frequently seen in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). It is assumed that these deletions indicate loss of tumor suppressor genes on these chromosomes and until these tumor suppressor genes are identified, the functional consequences of these deletions and the molecular basis of these myeloid disorders cannot be completely understood. We evaluated loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in 44 patients (18 MDS and 26 AML, diagnosed according to WHO classification criteria) at diagnosis, using a four-microsatellite marker panel: an intragenic marker on the 7th intron of gene IRF-1 of the 5q31.1 region and three markers located inside the 7q31.1 region and correlated the LOH with karyotype abnormalities. The microsatellites chosen corresponded to chromosome regions frequently deleted in MDS/AML. The samples with Q (peak area) less than or equal to 0.50 were indicative of LOH. The percent of informative samples (i.e., heterozygous) for the intragenic microsatellite in gene IRF-1 and in loci D7S486, D7S515 and D7S522 were 66.6, 73.7, 75.5, and 48.8 percent, respectively. Cytogenetic abnormalities by G-banding were found in 36 percent (16/44) of the patients (2 of 18 MDS and 14 of 26 AML patients). We found a significantly positive association of the occurrence of LOH with abnormal karyotype (P < 0.05; chi-square test) and there were cases with LOH but the karyotype was normal (by G-banding). These data indicate that LOH in different microsatellite markers is possibly an event previous to chromosomal abnormalities in these myeloid neoplasias.

Minimization of transcriptional temporal noise and scale invariance in the yeast genome

The analysis of transcriptional temporal noise could be an interesting means to study gene expression dynamics and stochasticity in eukaryotes. To study the statistical distributions of temporal noise in the eukaryotic model system Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we analyzed microarray data corresponding to one cell cycle for 6200 genes. We found that the temporal noise follows a lognormal distribution with scale invariance at the genome, chromosomal and sub-chromosomal levels. Correlation of temporal noise with the codon adaptation index suggests that at least 70% of all protein-coding genes are a noise minimization core of the genome. Accordingly, a mathematical model of individual gene expression dynamics was proposed, using an operator theoretical approach, which reveals strict conditions for noise variability and a possible global noise minimization/optimization strategy at the genome level. Our model and data show that minimal noise does not correspond to genes obeying a strictly deterministic dynamics. The natural strategy of minimization consists in equating the mean of the absolute value of the relative variation of the expression level (alpha) with noise (eta). We hypothesize that the temporal noise pattern is an emergent property of the genome and shows how the dynamics of gene expression could be related to chromosomal organization.

The Candida albicans AAA ATPase homologue of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rix7p (YLL034c) is essential for proper morphology, biofilm formation and activity of secreted aspartyl proteinases

Proper morphology is essential for the ability of Candida albicans to switch between yeast and hyphae and thereby sustain its virulence. Here we identified, by differential screening, a novel C. albicans AAA ATPase encoding gene, CaYLL34 (RIX7), with enhanced expression in hyphae. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that CaYLL34 belongs to a [quot ]VCP-like[quot ] subgroup of AAA ATPases essential for yeast viability and contains a bipartite nuclear localization signal. Inactivation of one copy of CaYLL34, by the URA-Blaster method, generated the heterozygous mutant strain M61. This strain has severe phenotypic alterations, such as a highly increased vacuole, abnormal cell shape and reduced growth in different conditions. Also, major pathogenicity factors are affected in M61, for instance, a significant decrease of hypha formation (>90%), surface biofilm adhesion (86%) and secreted aspartyl proteinase activity (76.5%). Our results show that the partial impairment of CaYll34p cellular levels is sufficient to affect the proper cellular morphology and pathogenicity factors and suggest that this protein is required for biogenesis of ribosomal subunits. Accordingly, we propose that the product of CaYLL34 could be tested as a novel target for antifungal drugs.