Persistencia de los efectos cognitivos de la estimulación temprana evaluados a través de un modelo animal / Persistence of cognitive effects of an early stimulation evaluated through an animal model

Human and animal studies have clearly demonstrated the advantageous effects of sensorially enriched rearing environments. Nevertheless, little work has been done concerning the long-lasting persistence of all these behavioral modifications. To undertake this question, a very early enrichment animal model was used. From days 10 to 24 after birth, 28 male albino rats were exposed to a multisensory stimulated environment, while other 28 littermates constituted the control group. At 3 and 6 months old two cognitive abilities were analyzed: the spatial working memory (short term memory) and the latent learning capacity (long term memory). The results evidenced an improved working memory in both 3 and 6 months old rats exposed to the early enriched environment. Moreover, the adult early stimulated group performed as well as younger subjects both on error scores and speed to solve this test. Only in adult group of rats a superior latent learning capacity of stimulated subjects was evidenced. To conclude, the early enriched environment induced: a) persistent cognitive benefits in the adult rat and b) a more relevant influence on the subsequeny behavior of older rather than younger subjects

Prevalencia del consumo de cigarrilos en pacientes psiquiatricos / Prevalence of cigarette smoking in psychiatric patients

Para la OMS el SIDA y el tabaquismo constituyen las dos grandes epidemias en la actualidad y el hábito de fumar es el principal riesgo de salud evitable. El tabaquismo - según estudios epidemiológicos - respresenta un factor de riesgo importante en diversos cánceres, patología respiratoria, cardiovascular y materno-infantil. En Chile un 7% de las muertes pueden atribuirse al tabaquismo. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar la prevalencia del hábito de fumar en pacientes psiquiátricos hospitalizados, ya que representan el subgrupo de pacientes de mayor gravedad clínica. Se efectuó un análisis retrospectivo de las historias clínicas de los pacientes egresados de la Clínica Psiquiátrica Universitaria (1983-1985). De un total de 297 pacientes fuma el 66,7%, sin que exista diferencia estadísticamente significativa para el sexo. Esta prevalencia es comparativamente mayor que la encontrada en la población general (41%) y en pacientes somáticos hopitalizados (42%). Se asocia el consumo de cigarrillos al antecente de abuso de alcohol en 78,9% y al abuso de otras drogas en 89,7% alcanzando ambos valores significación estadística