Family Factors and Communicative Skills in Children with Autism Without Intellectual Disability.

The primary objective of this study was to identify the profiles of families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID) based on several risk indicators: sociodemographic and emotional indicators, parental stress, confidant social support, and coping strategies. A second aim was to determine the differences in communicative skills between children of family subtypes empirically established according to the aforementioned risk factors. Participants were 52 Spanish mothers and their children with ASD. Through cluster analysis, three subtypes of families were identified, classifying them as "high risk, moderate risk, and little risk". The "little risk" profile showed significantly less stress and greater use of coping strategies and confidant social support. Furthermore, the children's communication exhibited better development, compared to children from the other family environments.

Panel de indicadores en cuidados paliativos / Quality measurement palliative care

En Argentina hay coincidencia sobre la necesidad de mejorar la calidad de vidade los pacientes con cáncer y otras enfermedades amenazantes para la vida,pero no se ha desarrollado todavía un sistema de monitoreo y medición de lacalidad de los servicios de cuidados paliativos (CP), basado en un consensosobre estándares de calidad.ObjetivosDesarrollar un panel de indicadores para evaluar los niveles de desempeño delos servicios de CP.MétodosSe realizó una búsqueda sistemática de bibliografía sobre indicadores yestándares de calidad en CP y se seleccionó un panel de 23 indicadores deestructura, proceso y resultado. El panel fue aplicado en una prueba pilotoen tres servicios de CP: Hospital General de Agudos Bouquet Roldán (HBR)de la provincia de Neuquén, Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas AlfredoLanari (IDIM) de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires y Hospital NacionalDr. Baldomero Sommer (HNBS) de General Rodríguez, Provincia de BuenosAires, para conocer el comportamiento de estos indicadores en contextosespecíficos, disímiles tanto por su ubicación geográfica como por su estructuraorganizacional y modelos de atención. Se analizaron 120 historias clínicas.ResultadosLas disidencias en la interpretación y alcance de unos pocos indicadores fueronsuperadas. Tras la redefinición, quedaron incluidos en el panel definitivo 23indicadores de estructura, proceso y resultado.ConclusionesDado el carácter progresivo que requiere la construcción de un panel deindicadores adecuado al contexto local, se hizo mayor hincapié en las etapas deprocesos y estructuras para que, una vez aplicados y validados estos indicadores,se puedan consensuar indicadores de resultado. El estudio demostró lafactibilidad de aplicación del panel para medir la calidad de atención en losdiferentes servicios de CP participantes y se constituyó en un sólido punto departida de cara a la ampliación de la experiencia a nivel nacional.

Adrenomedullin, an autocrine/paracrine factor induced by androgen withdrawal, stimulates 'neuroendocrine phenotype' in LNCaP prostate tumor cells.

Neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation in prostate cancer (CaP) has been reported to be an early marker associated with the development of androgen independence. The mechanisms by which CaP acquires NE properties are poorly understood. In this study, a putative role of adrenomedullin (AM) in the NE differentiation was investigated. The expression of AM and AM receptors (calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CRLR)/receptor activity modifying protein-2 and -3 (RAMP2 and RAMP3) was evaluated after experimental manipulation of androgen status. Levels of AM mRNA and immunoreactive AM (ir-AM) increased four- to sevenfold in androgen-sensitive LNCaP cells after androgen withdrawal in vitro and in LNCaP xenografts in animals after castration. Treatment of LNCaP cells with androgen analogue (dihydrotestosterone; 10(-9) M) prevented the increase in AM mRNA and ir-AM levels. Interestingly, the expression of CRLR, RAMP2 and RAMP3 is not regulated by androgen status. We demonstrate that in the presence of serum, AM is able to induce an NE phenotype in LNCaP cells via CRLR/RAMP2 and RAMP3, which includes extension of neuritic processes and expression of the neuron-specific enolase (NSE), producing cGMP in a dose-dependent manner, which is mediated by a pertussis toxin-sensitive GTP-binding protein. 8-Bromo-cGMP mimicked the effects of AM on cell differentiation. We demonstrate that AM induces a G-kinase Ialpha translocation to the nucleus. The protein kinase G inhibitor KT-5823 inhibited the neurite outgrowth induced by both AM and 8-bromo-cGMP. In noncastrated animals, administration of AM enhanced expression of NSE and chromogranin A in LNCaP xenografts with a significant increase of NSE levels in serum and no changes in tumor growth. In castrated animals, intraperitoneal injection of AM resulted in a 240+/-18% (P<0.001) increase in tumor volume 36 days after treatment, indicating that the nature of effect of AM in CaP depends on the presence or absence of endogenous androgen. Together, these results demonstrate that AM may function as a mediator of NE-like differentiation in culture as well as in vivo and indicate that its production may be important for tumor resurgence following androgen ablation.

Plant aquaporins: new perspectives on water and nutrient uptake in saline environment.

The mechanisms of salt stress and tolerance have been targets for genetic engineering, focusing on ion transport and compartmentation, synthesis of compatible solutes (osmolytes and osmoprotectants) and oxidative protection. In this review, we consider the integrated response to salinity with respect to water uptake, involving aquaporin functionality. Therefore, we have concentrated on how salinity can be alleviated, in part, if a perfect knowledge of water uptake and transport for each particular crop and set of conditions is available.

Chemical and biological characterisation of nutraceutical compounds of broccoli.

People's diet offers a greater and more diverse group of plant bioactives than do drugs, and they often do not realise that many drugs are derived from the compounds originally discovered in plant foods. Numerous epidemiological studies indicate that Brassica vegetables in general, and broccoli in particular, protect humans against cancer since they are rich sources of glucosinolates as well as possessing a high content of flavonoids, vitamins and mineral nutrients. One unusual phytotherapeutic role of broccoli is for skin diseases--the juice of the leaves is used to treat warts. However, the main use of broccoli stems from its health-promoting properties. Some criteria have been proposed to evaluate the possibilities of developing new "functional foods" to reduce the risk of specific cancers; largely in broccoli, which is associated with cancer protection. Processing conditions, transport, domestic cooking, etc., affect the health-promoting properties of broccoli and these have been widely studied. This review makes an in-depth study of the chemical and biological characterization of the phytochemicals of broccoli and the effects on the bioactive composition of broccoli.

Estudio de los cambios que se producen en la constitución y rendimiento energético en deportistas de gran fondo con la ingesta diaria de 100 mg de coenzima Q10 / Study of the changes that take place in the constitution and energy efficiency in athletes of long distance runner and cyclists with the daily ingestion of 100 mg of coenzyme Q10

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Single-use optical sensor for the determination of iron in water and white wines.

A new method, based on the use of a disposable sensor, for the determination of Fe(II) in waters and wines is proposed. The sensor is formed by an inert rectangular strip of polyester (Mylar) and a circular film (6 mm in diameter) adhered on its surface. This film, which contains the required reagents for the fixation of the analyte by means of a complexation reaction, forms the sensing zone of the sensor. When the sensor is introduced in an acidified (pH 2.5) sample solution containing between 4.0 and 300.0 micrograms/L of Fe(II), a violet-red colour develops in the initially colourless sensing zone. The linear range of the method depends on the equilibration time of the sensor with the sample solution. Thus, when the equilibration time was 5 min, the linear range was 41.0-300.0 micrograms/L, while for 60 min the range was 4.0-50.0 micrograms/L. Detection and quantification limits were 12.0 and 41.0 micrograms/L, respectively, for an equilibration time of 5 min. The precision of the method, expressed as relative standard deviation of ten samples of 100.0 micrograms/L of Fe(II), was 4.9%. Interferences produced by other species usually present in waters or wines have been studied. Cu(II) and Co(II) interfered seriously at concentration levels higher than 100.0 and 150.0 micrograms/L, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of Fe(II) in different types of waters and wines, using atomic absorption spectrometry as a reference method.