Inteligencia emocional percibida y desgaste laboral en médicos internos de pregrado / Perceived emotional intelligence and burnout in undergraduate medicine interns

Objetivo. Analizar la relación entre los niveles de inteligencia emocional percibida y desgaste laboral en médicos internos de pregrado. Sujetos y métodos. Para ello se utilizó la Trait Meta-Mood Scale, que evalúa la inteligencia emocional percibida, y el inventario de burnout de Maslach, en 44 médicos internos de pregrado de tres hospitales de los Servicios de Salud de Sonora. Resultados. El factor de atención emocional se relaciona negativamente con agotamiento. Claridad correlaciona de manera positiva con reparación emocional y realización personal, y de forma negativa con agotamiento y despersonalización. Reparación de las emociones correlaciona de forma negativa con agotamiento y despersonalización, y de manera positiva con realización personal. Los análisis de regresión revelaron que el desgaste laboral del médico de pregrado se explicaba por una baja atención emocional y falta de claridad en sus emociones. Conclusión. Estos hallazgos evidencian que ciertos factores emocionales deben tenerse en cuenta para explicar el desgaste laboral en el médico interno de pregrado (AU)

Aim. To analyze the relationship between the levels of perceived emotional intelligence and burnout in undergraduate medicine interns. Subjects and methods. For this, we used the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, which evaluates perceived emotional intelligence, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, in 44 undergraduate interns from three hospitals of Sonora Health Services. Results. The factor of emotional attention is related negatively with exhaustion. Clarity correlates in a positive way with emotional repair and self-fulfillment; and negatively with exhaustion and depersonalization. Emotional repair correlates in a negative way with exhaustion and depersonalization, and positively to self-fulfillment. Regression analyses showed that burnout in undergraduate interns was explained by a low emotional attention and a lack of clarity in their emotions. Conclusion. Those findings prove that certain emotional factors should be taken into account to explain the burnout in undergraduate medicine interns (AU)

Improved alkaline stabilization of municipal wastewater sludge.

In Mexico, physicochemical sludge contains high levels of pathogens; and alkaline stabilization is an alternative for their control. However, the odours caused mainly by ammonia generation represent a disadvantage. On the other hand, the ammonia is known as an effective disinfectant. The aim of this study was to evaluate the disinfectant properties of ammonia in sludge, and use it in a closed alkaline stabilization system, which, not only copes with odours but also increases the efficiency of the process. Raw sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant using a physicochemical process was used. Ammonia was applied in doses from 10 to 50% w/w; also, doses from 5 to 40% of CaO were applied in open and closed systems and raw and treated sludge quality was evaluated. Results showed that ammonia removed 6 and 5 logs of faecal coliforms and Salmonella spp., respectively and up to 94% of viable helminth ova. The closed system was more efficient than the open system when applying doses from 5 to 20% of CaO. Finally, the results indicate that the ammonia represents an alternative to disinfecting wastewater sludge and it can be used to enhance alkaline stabilization processes.

In vitro effects of natural killer cells against Paracoccidioides brasiliensis yeast phase.

Recently, data have been reported suggesting natural killer (NK) cells may function in natural resistance against a fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans. The primary objective of this study was to examine the reactivity of murine splenic cells against another fungus, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. Levels of NK activity in effector cell pools were varied by: (i) removing nylon wool-adherent cells, (ii) fractionating splenic cells on Percoll discontinuous gradients, (iii) using old and young effector cell donor mice, (iv) using donors from different strains, and (v) pretreating donors with NK-augmenting and -depressing agents. The various effector cell pools were simultaneously used in the 4-h 51Cr release assay with YAC-1 targets to determine the NK reactivity and in the in vitro growth inhibition assay against P. brasiliensis yeast phase targets. In each case, the level of NK reactivity correlated with the ability of the effector cells to inhibit the in vitro growth of P. brasiliensis. NK activity and P. brasiliensis growth-inhibiting ability could be augmented by fractionation of splenic cells through nylon wool or Percoll gradients. The effector cells responsible for the NK activity and P. brasiliensis growth inhibition were characterized as being nylon wool nonadherent, being found in the low-density fractions from Percoll discontinuous gradients, and having no detectable Thy-1 antigen or immunoglobulin but having asialo GM1 on their surface. These data support the contention that NK or NK-like cells are responsible for limiting the in vitro growth of P. brasiliensis.

Survival of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis yeast cells under microaerophilic conditions.

The ability of P. brasiliensis yeast cells to withstand microaerophilic conditions was investigated in a liquid medium distributed in tall columns in screw-capped tubes. Young cells of three isolates were inoculated on top of the medium, and the tubes were incubated aerobically and anaerobically at 36 degrees C for 28 days. The viability of cells that had sedimented to the bottoms of the tubes was studied by fluorescent microscopy and by their capacity to resume growth when transferred to fresh medium under continuous agitation. The proportion of viable cells in the sediments diminished with time of incubation. However, after 28 days, 27% of the cells were still viable and fully capable of active growth when placed under adequate aeration. On the other hand, drastic reduction of oxygen access elicited an accelerated death rate, with no survival after 7 days of incubation.

Growth of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis yeast phase in a chemically defined culture medium.

A slight modification of the chemically defined medium of McVeigh and Morton resulted in an excellent substratum for the cultivation of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis yeast phase.