Scaling laws and the left main coronary artery bifurcation. A combination of geometric and simulation analyses.

The geometry of coronary arteries is believed to play the role as an atherosclerotic risk factor on its own. The full characterization of the normal coronary network has been reported in the literature. Reports on the integration of geometry and functional data for normal coronary vessels started to proliferate more recently. In this work, we analyze and integrate the geometric data retrieved from angiography images of the left main coronary bifurcation in angiographically normal patients and hemodynamic data generated from blood flow models to analyze the role of allometric laws and the connection between flow distribution and wall shear stress loads on the left anterior descending and left circumflex arteries. This in-silico study contributes to the characterization of normal coronary anatomy and its impact on the hemodynamic shear stresses acting over the vessel wall, shedding light on the impact of geometry-based versus simulation-based hypotheses to define boundary conditions for numerical simulations. We discuss the role of the wall shear stress corresponding to scenarios adopted by the scientific community and the ones proposed in this study. For the simulation-based hypothesis, we propose an iterative strategy to define boundary conditions at the main left coronary bifurcation, such that wall shear stresses are matched between the left descending and left circumflex arteries. From this study, we conclude that a one-fits-all power law exponent of 7/3 results in an good trade-off between computational cost and wall shear stress balance between daughter vessels.

Inhibitory capacity assessment in alcohol dependent patients: translation from a modified stop signal task.

INTRODUCTION: Inhibitory control is clearly impaired in alcohol dependent individuals, being associated to the addiction process establishment and abstinence maintenance difficulties. Inhibitory control assessment tasks involving responses to neutral stimuli are available, although a Spanish version task including contextual cues influence on inhibition capacity has not been performed yet. Alcohol related stimuli can modify behavioural inhibition performance. Thus, the purpose of this study was the Spanish translation of a modified stop signal task that assessed inhibitory control, as well as the degree of interference produced by the presence of alcohol related words. METHODOLOGY: A modified stop signal reaction task, based on a fast lexical decision paradigm was employed. Stimuli used were translated from Zack et al.1, according to frequency of use in Spanish, including neutral words, pseudowords and alcohol-related words. Task was applied to 85 alcohol dependent patients, with a minimum of 28 days of abstinence and to 27 healthy participants constituting the control group. RESULTS: Patients showed a poorer performance, with a lower stop signal mean delay comparing to control group, in presence of neutral and alcohol-related words. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol dependent individuals exhibit a lower behavioural inhibition performance, added to a significant influence of contextual cues on the stop signal task, resulting in impulsive behaviour, only in the patients group.

Association between maltreatment and polydrug use among adolescents.

Different studies have related sexual and physical abuse during childhood and adolescence to the development of substance abuse disorders. Nevertheless, we are not aware of the role that other more common maltreatment types, such as neglect, will play among the most risky pattern of consumption: the polydrug use. A clinical sample of 655 adolescents, divided into two groups: polydrug users and non-polydrug users, were assessed on their pattern of drug consumption, history of childhood maltreatment, current psychopathology and their family history of alcoholism. Polydrug users had a greater prevalence of all types of maltreatment, although the most associated to this group were sexual abuse and emotional neglect. Other relevant variables to adolescent consumption were: the diagnosis of depressive disorder, the presence of anxiety traits and the family history of alcohol dependence. Polydrug users have higher risks of having had problems during infancy and adolescence, such as maltreatment and other psychopathological conditions, with the addition of family history of alcoholism. Accordingly, practitioners should take into account that those variables may influence polydrug abuse because it is the most risky pattern for subsequent dependence of substances, and they should always be considered during treatment.

Trauma psíquico y psicosis. Implicaciones en la etiopatogenia, clínica, pronóstico y tratamiento / No disponible

El trauma infantil se ha asociado con enfermedadesmentales en la edad adulta, como trastornos de ansiedad,depresión, trastornos de personalidad, trastorno porestrés postraumático (TEPT), trastornos alimentarios ydependencia a drogas.Hay un interés creciente en el estudio de los factoresambientales en el desarrollo de esquizofrenia y trastornobipolar. Sin embargo no es hasta el 2004 cuandocomiezan a aparecer estudios con alta rigidez metodológicaen los cuales se analiza la relación entre trauma ypsicosis.Estudios previos ya habían detectado que los pacientescon comorbilidad entre trastorno mental grave(TMG) y TEPT, tienen un curso clinico y una peor evolución,más trastornos por abuso de alcohol y otras sustancias,más hospitalizaciones psiquiátricas, más tentativassuicidas y una peor reinseción laboral.Respecto al tratamiento los pacientes con comorbilidadTMG y TEPT existen pocos estudios. Se proponeincluir de forma rutinaria en la anamnesis los antecedentesde sucesos traumáticos(AU)

In many reports, childhood trauma (physic, psychologicaland sexual abuse), has been associated withadulthood’s mental diseases like anxiety disorders,depression, personality disorders, alcohol and otherdrugs abuse, stress posttraumatic disorder (SPTD) andeating disorders.Increassing interest in environmental factors in thedevelopment of bipolar dosorder and schizophreniahave been notes in recent reports. Otherwise untill 2004there are no accurate studies in which the relationshipbetween psychological trauma and severe mental illness(SMI) is analyzed.Previous studies just detected that SMI and SPTDcomorbidity had a worse clinical outcome , a higher frequencyof achohol and drug abuse, more hospital admisions,more suicide temptations and a poorer laboralreinsertion.Very few studies about SMI and SPTD comorbititytreatment have been reported and a prospect in the clinicalreview about a traumatic events is propossed(AU)

Hemobilia traumática. Presentación de un caso / Traumatic hemobilia. Presentation of a case

Se presenta por primera vez en nuestro medio a un paciente con una hemobilia traumática. Se hace una revisión de la literatura. El cuadro de hemobilia se manifestó en nuestro paciente por: dolor en el área hepática, fiebre, hepatomegalia importante, íctero obstructivo y sangramiento digestivo ligero, el cual se comprobó con la prueba de guayacol en heces fecales. Se realizó descompresión de las vías biliares por coledocostomía por sonda en T. Se añade el uso de corticoides en el tratamiento médico de la hemobilia (AU)

[The maternal comparison in Cuba. Benefits and education]. / La madre acompañante en Cuba. Sus beneficios y su educación.

About 300 years ago, admitting children in hospitals started to be done and the complicated problems derived from this fact started as well. Those who followed the school of the psychological and even organic benefit and the evolution of the pathological process of the small patient when he received the family warmth and particularly his mother's, found many opposers. In Cuba, before the Revolution triumph in 1959, due to the great amount of illiteracy, inculture and misery of most of the people, a great deal of our children, when they became ill, were delivered in to hands of babblers or ignorants who gave them decoctions of herbs, and witch treatments, all this accompanied by the lack of medical establishments and staff, especially in the provinces, as well as the low standard of life of most of the people who could not afford the stay in the few existing medical centers which did not offer sanitary education or preventive measures either. After the triumph of the Revolution, a deep change in the social, economical and cultural structures took place in the country giving priority to education and people's health. In this last field, health programs, including food and other material cares, were given to the mother in the hospital during the whole day. The advantages of the mother near the child while he was in the hospital are outlined in the present paper, in addition to the education for health that the Cuban mother receives when she is in the hospital with her child, as well as under other circumstances. Significant achievements reached with this program are equally outlined and thus we find the total eradication of severe diseases for childhood, and among the indicators, the fact of having the lowest children mortality rate in Latin America.