ABSTRACT
Background: Creativity is a highly valued quality in different fields. Despite this, it is rarely included in the curricula of medical careers. Aim: To assess creative thinking among undergraduate medical students. Material and Methods: Sixty-seven students aged 18 to 31 years (45% women) from the first (16), third (26) and seventh year (25) of medical school answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Results: Median creativity index according to age was in percentile 52 (range 2-99). Percentiles for fluency, originality, elaboration, abstraction of titles and resistance for premature closure were 31, 32, 79, 53 and 17 respectively. There were no significant differences between students of different levels (p = 0.73). Conclusions: In this group of students, there is a high performance in elaboration and a low score in Resistance to premature closure.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adolescent , Adult , Young Adult , Students, Medical , Creativity , Cross-Sectional Studies , Surveys and Questionnaires , Education, MedicalABSTRACT
Las infecciones gastrointestinales mundialmente consideradas entre las enfermedades más frecuentes, son producidas por una variedad de agentes virales, parásitos, hongos, bacterias y constituyen la principal causa de muerte en la primera infancia.Entre las infecciones intestinales más frecuentes y sintomáticas se encuentran las producidas por protozoos, en especial Giardia inestinalis, parásito de amplia distribución mundial y de indudable acción patógena que puede causar diarreas disenteriformes, duodenitis, yeyunitis y puede colonizar la vesícula biliar, aunque no ha sido involucrada directamente en los cuadros de colecistitis (1,2). Su mayor prevalencia se encuentra en zonas tropicales y subtropicales, donde afecta hasta el 30% de los adultos. Es más frecuente en niños, personas internadas en orfanatos o cárceles, homosexuales y viajeros. Es la parasitosis intestinal más frecuente en EEUU (3,4). En México las cifras de infección por este parásito son muy variables, desde 1 hasta 60% de la población estudiada; la incidencia guarda estrecha relación con las condiciones sanitarias, vivienda, higiene personal y nivel educativa (5,6).
Subject(s)
Giardia lamblia , Metronidazole , PediatricsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) severity assessment is crucial. AIM: To develop a practical clinical severity assessment model for stratifying immunocompetent adult patients hospitalized with CAP into different management groups. PATIENTS AND METHODS: During a 24 months period, 455 adult patients (250 male, mean age 69 +/- 19 years old) were evaluated. All the relevant clinical information recorded and they were followed during hospital stay until discharge or death. Mortality until 30 days after admission was determined. RESULTS: The mean hospital length of stay was 9.9 +/- 9.4 days and 76% had an underlying disease. In hospital mortality was 7.6% and 10.1% at 30 days follow up. Admission prognostic factors associated with high mortality at 30 days follow up were: advanced age, presence of comorbidity, suspicion of aspiration, duration of symptoms < or = 2 days, altered mental status, absence of cough, fever and cbills, low blood pressure, tachypnea, hypoxemia and multilobar radiographic pulmonary infiltrates. A clinical prognostic index derived from a logistic regression analysis including five independent variables associated with mortality (confuson, comorbidity, low systolic blood pressure, temperature < 37.5 degrees C and respiratory rate > 20/min), enabled patients to be stratified according to increasing risk of mortality: class 1: 0.9%, class 2: 4.9%, class 3: 14.2%, and class 4: 35.6%. CONCLUSION: A simple clinical severity assessment tool based on confusion, comorbidity, blood pressure, temperature and respiratory rate could be used to stratify patients with CAP into different risk class categories and management groups.
Subject(s)
Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Ambulatory Care , Hospitalization , Pneumonia, Bacterial/classification , Severity of Illness Index , Patient Admission , Comorbidity , Community-Acquired Infections/classification , Community-Acquired Infections/mortality , Epidemiologic Methods , Pneumonia, Bacterial/mortality , Prognosis , Length of StayABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Micronutrient deficiencies, specially iron, render pregnant women as one of the most vulnerable groups to have anemia. AIM: To report the prevalence of anemia during pregnancy and its associated features in women attending public clinics in the Puente Alto County. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 1683 pregnant women aged 18 years old or more. Hemoglobin concentration was determined using the cianmetahemoglobin method. Anemia was defined using the 5th percentile cut-off for each week of gestational age as proposed by R Yip from the Centers of Disease Control, 1989. The influence of maternal age, parity, nutritional status classified using weight/height, diseases and smoking habits on hemoglobin concentration were analyzed using logistic regression with a stepwise procedure. RESULTS: Thirteen percent of the study population was anemic. The single factor significantly associated with anemia was nutritional status. Twenty one percent of women with a low weight for height were anemic. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the concept that pregnant women with a low weight for height have the greatest risk for anemia and should be specially benefited with preventive or treatment programs to avoid this problem.
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Pregnancy , Adolescent , Adult , Anemia/epidemiology , Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic/epidemiology , Nutritional Status , Anemia/diagnosis , Anemia/etiology , Regression Analysis , Chile/epidemiology , Risk Factors , Hemoglobins/analysis , Hypertension/etiology , Maternal Age , Body Mass Index , Body Weight , Prevalence , Pre-Eclampsia/etiologyABSTRACT
El fibroma es una neoplasia mesenquimática benigna que aparece con mucha frecuencia en la cavidad bucal. El fibroma traumático surge como respuesta del tejido conjuntivo a una agresión o injuria constante. El siguiente reporte trata de dos casos de fibromas traumáticos de considerable tamaño en la cavidad bucal originados por un traumatismo local. Se exponen además de los casos, una revisión de la literatura sobre la entidad
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Middle Aged , Fibroma , Hyperplasia , Age Distribution , Alveolar Process , Biopsy , Diagnosis, Differential , Sex Distribution , TongueABSTRACT
Con el objeto de determinar el tipo de virus respiratorios causantes de síndromes tipo influenza en niños, demostrar la circulación de virus influenza y evaluar la compatibilidad con la cepa de las vacunas recomendadas para 1995 y 1996, se realizó un estudio epidemiológico en el Hospital Pediátrico "Elías Toro", (HPET) de Caracas, entre junio de 1995 y diciembre de 1996. Usando hisopos tipo VIROCULT, se recolectaron 70 muestras de secreción nasal en 1995 y 56 en 1996, provenientes de niños entre los 2 meses y los 13 años de edad, llevados al HPET con síndrome tipo influenza. Las muestras se analizaron en Francia, en el Centro Nacional de Referencia de la OMS en Lyon. Los resultados fueron: En 1995 se detectaron 22/70 virus respiratorios (31,4 por ciento), de los cuales el 21 por ciento (15) correspondieron a VSR, 7 por ciento (5) a influenza A, 1,4 por ciento (1) a parainfluenza y 1,4 por ciento (1) a ADV tipo 2. En 1996 se detectaron 11/56 (19,6 por ciento), de los cuales 10,7 por ciento (6) correspondieron a influenza A, 3,5 por ciento (2) a VSR y 1,7 por ciento (1) tanto para ADV tipo 1, ECHO tipo 1 y Coxsackie respectivamente. Los virus influenza aislados estuvieron relacionados con las cepas de las vacunas correspondientes al año de aislamiento. Se confirma la circulación de virus influenza en 1995 y 1996 en Venezuela. Las cepas de la vacuna para 1995 y 1996 se adaptaron a la epidemiología local. Se propone mejorar la toma de muestras, reactivar la vigilancia de virus respiratorios a nivel local, promover la importancia y necesidad de la vigilancia de virus causantes de infecciones respiratorias agudas y continuar chequeando la compatibilidad entre los virus influeza circulantes y las cepas contenidas anualmente en la vacuna