[Virtual reality and dementia]. / Realidad virtual y demencia.

INTRODUCTION: Virtual reality technology was first used in the treatment of psychological disorders in 1994. Since then, its application has aroused the interest of clinicians and researchers, and it has become a potential tool for use in psychological evaluation and neurorehabilitation. AIM: To review the different studies that have been published on the treatment of dementias in which virtual reality has been used, with the aim of evaluating its efficacy. DEVELOPMENT: A search was conducted over the last 10 years (2007-2017) in different databases (PubMed, PsycINFO and Dialnet), as well as in Google Scholar. Few studies were found and, judging by the results that were obtained, they cannot be said to be conclusive, although they do offer certain evidence suggesting that virtual reality is a promising field for intervention in persons with dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual reality is a growing and very promising area for psychological intervention in general, and more particularly for the treatment of dementia. It seems to enjoy a very favourable acceptance among persons suffering from dementia. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the new technologies as a tool rather than as a substitute for the therapist. Likewise, there is a need for more rigorous and systematic research that determines the efficacy of this kind of intervention.

TITLE: Realidad virtual y demencia.Introduccion. La utilizacion de la tecnologia de realidad virtual para el tratamiento de trastornos psicologicos se llevo a cabo por primera vez en 1994. Desde entonces, su uso ha despertado el interes de clinicos e investigadores y se ha convertido en una potencial herramienta destinada a la evaluacion y neurorrehabilitacion psicologicas. Objetivo. Revisar las diferentes investigaciones existentes para el tratamiento de las demencias en las que se ha utilizado realidad virtual, con la finalidad de evaluar su eficacia. Desarrollo. Se ha realizado una busqueda de los ultimos 10 años (2007-2017) en diferentes bases de datos (PubMed, PsycINFO y Dialnet), y tambien en Google Scholar. Las investigaciones encontradas son escasas y, por los resultados obtenidos, no puede decirse que sean concluyentes, si bien aportan ciertas evidencias que sugieren que la realidad virtual es un campo prometedor para la intervencion en las personas con demencia. Conclusiones. La realidad virtual es un area en crecimiento y muy prometedora para la intervencion psicologica en general, y para el tratamiento de la demencia en particular. Su acogida parece muy favorable entre las personas que padecen demencia. No obstante, es importante entender las nuevas tecnologias como una herramienta mas que no sustituye al terapeuta. Asimismo, se advierte de la necesidad de mas investigaciones rigurosas y sistematicas que determinen la eficacia de este tipo de intervenciones.

Importance of mammalian sperm metalloendoprotease activity during the acrosome reaction to subsequent sperm-egg fusion: inhibitor studies with human sperm and zona-free hamster eggs.

We have previously shown that each of the metalloendoprotease (MEP) inhibitors phosphoramidon, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, and carbobenzoxy-L-phenylalanine, when present only during the human sperm acrosome reaction (AR), will not inhibit the AR or sperm motility but will decrease the number of sperm that penetrate zona-free hamster eggs. The present study was designed to investigate whether this inhibition of penetration is due to an effect on sperm binding to the egg plasma membrane and/or to an effect on the actual membrane fusion event. In these studies we used ionomycin to initiate the AR and assayed binding in a Ca(2+)-free medium and fusion in Ca(2+)-containing medium in the same experiment. Eggs were loaded with the fluorescent dye Hoechst 33342, and the appearance of fluorescence in a sperm head indicated that fusion had occurred. The three MEP inhibitors reduced binding only slightly but inhibited the actual fusion step by 50-60% (determined with an equation that corrected for any inhibition of fusion due to inhibition of binding). MEP inhibitors present only during gamete interactions had little or no effect on fusion. We also found that phosphoramidon-inhibitable MEP activity was released during the ionomycin-initiated AR. Incubation of AR supernatant containing MEP activity with previously acrosome-reacted, phosphoramidon-treated sperm resulted in a large reversal of the phosphoramidon-inhibitory effect on sperm-egg fusion. These results support the hypothesis that the acrosomal phosphoramidon-inhibitable MEP released during the AR acts directly or indirectly during that event to increase the fusibility of the sperm plasma membrane region required for subsequent sperm-egg fusion.

Evidence suggesting a role for sperm metalloendoprotease activity in penetration of zona-free hamster eggs by human sperm.

It has been reported that metalloendoprotease (MEP) activity is involved in somatic cell membrane fusion events and in the sea urchin sperm acrosome reaction (AR). MEP activity also has been demonstrated in human and other mammalian sperm. The present study was concerned with investigating whether a human sperm MEP is important in membrane events necessary for sperm egg fusion. Ejaculated human sperm were washed, capacitated in vitro, and preincubated with the competitive MEP inhibitors phosphoramidon (50 microM) or CBZ-L-phenylalanine (1 mM), with 100 microM diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), a heavy metal chelator, or as controls, with the appropriate solvents. The AR was initiated in vitro with preovulatory human follicular fluid and the sperm washed to dilute inhibitors and then coincubated with zona-free golden hamster eggs (zonae and cumuli removed with trypsin and hyaluronidase, respectively). Eggs were washed after 0.5 h, and the number of sperm remaining bound was counted. After 2.5 h further incubation, the eggs were stained with acetolacmoid or acetoorcein and penetration was assayed by counting the number of decondensed sperm heads per egg (penetration index) and the percent of penetrated eggs. The inhibitor treatments did not decrease the percentage of penetrated eggs (range 80-90%), but a significant reduction in the penetration index was observed. Phosphoramidon reduced the penetration index by 45%, CBZ-L-phenylalanine by 57%, and DTPA by 56%. None of the inhibitors decreased the penetration index or the percentage of penetrated eggs when added directly to suspensions of acrosome-reacted sperm and zona-free eggs at the diluted levels that would have been present after washing inhibitor-treated sperm.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Correlación endoscópica radiológica de la úlcera gastroduodenal. Análisis de los resultados del año 1978 / Endoscopic and radiologic correlation in gastroduodenal ulcer. Analysis of results obtained during 1978

Se toman los resultados endoscópicos gastroduodenales de la sección de endoscopía del servicio de gastroenterología del hospital "Dr. Salvador Allende", durante el años 1978 (1 215 endoscopias). Se seleccionan 530 que coinciden con estudios radiológicos convencionales realizados en el mismo hospital. De esta correlación se obtienen que es de mayor positividad el estudio endoscópico que el radiológico en el estómago, en las enfermedades estudiadas, úlceras y gastritis, así como resulta de mayor positividad diagnóstica la radiología que la endoscopia en el duodeno(AU)