La seguridad del paciente frente a las utilización de vendajes / Patient safety in front of the use of bandages

La seguridad del paciente es uno de los objetivos prioritarios del entorno sanitario. Uno de los productos de uso común son la vendas y su seguridad como producto sanitario depende de varios factores: su calidad, las prestaciones y el proceso de producción al que se someten. Los productos sanitarios deben respetar los requisitos establecidos en el Real Decreto 1591/2009, de 16 de octubre, que describe las diferentes clases y los requisitos que ha de cumplir cada una de las clases de productos sanitarios. Las vendas se clasifican como producto sanitario Clase I y, por lo tanto, no requieren de ningún control microbiológico para su comercialización. Por este motivo, cabe preguntarse si las vendas que se utilizan en el ámbito sanitario garantizan una seguridad plena al paciente (AU)

The safety of the patient is one of the main priorities in healthcare environment. One of the most commonly used products are bandagesand their effectiveness and safety depends on many factors: the quality of the materials used, their manufacturing process and the main purpose of use. All sanitary products need to comply with the Royal Decree 1591/2009, October 16, that describes the characteristics and functions of each type of these products. Bandages are classified as a Sanitary Products Class I and, hence, they do not require any microbiological control in order to sell them. Therefore, it is fair to ask whether the bandages that are used in healthcare are totally safe for patients (AU)

[PATIENT SAFETY IN FRONT OF THE USE OF BANDAGES]. / La seguridad del paciente frente a la utilización de vendajes.

The safety of the patient is one of the main priorities in healthcare environment. One of the most commonly used products are bandages and their effectiveness and safety depends on many factors: the quality of the materials used, their manufacturing process and the main purpose of use. All sanitary products need to comply with the Royal Decree 1591/2009, October 16, that describes the characteristics and functions of each type of these products. Bandages are classified as a Sanitary Products Class l and, hence, they do not require any microbiological control in order to sell them. Therefore, it is fair to ask whether the bandages that are used in healthcare are totally safe for patients.

[Attitudes toward influenza vaccination in an urban population older than 60 years]. / Actitudes hacia la vacuna antigripal en una población urbana mayor de 60 años.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the reasons for undergoing or rejecting influenza vaccination among people older than 60 years. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study through telephone survey among patients over 60 years old living in a health district of Barcelona (Dreta de l'Eixample) was performed. A total of 1,700 medical records of patients aged more than 60 years old were randomly chosen and 291 surveys were conducted. RESULTS: Among the patients who received influenza vaccination, the main source of information about the vaccine was the family physician in 63.63% (119; 95% confidence interval (CI), 57.1-70.1), followed by the primary care nurse in 27.80% (52; 95% CI, 21.8-33.8) and the media in 21.92% (41; 95% CI, 16.9-26.9). The main reasons for receiving the vaccine in 2005 were health protection (148; 79.14%; 95% CI, 73.64-84.64) and physician request (49; 26.20%; 95% CI, 20.25-32.15). Non-vaccinated individuals argued that the vaccine was unnecessary since "they never get a cold" (44; 42.30%; 95% CI, 33.97-52.43) or "never get the flu" (23; 22.15%; 95% CI, 14.41-29.89). CONCLUSIONS: The main reason for receiving the influenza vaccine was to protect health. Concept mistakes were detected among patients who did not receive the vaccine. This finding highlights the need to develop new strategies to increase vaccination rates. Physicians remain the main source of information about influenza vaccination, suggesting that nurses should increase their efforts in spreading their functions.

Effects of lindane on the photosynthetic apparatus of the cyanobacterium Anabaena: fluorescence induction studies and immunolocalization of ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase.

INTENTION, GOAL, SCOPE, BACKGROUND: Cyanobacteria have the natural ability to degrade moderate amounts of organic pollutants. However, when pollutant concentration exceeds the level of tolerance, bleaching of the cells and death occur within 24 hours. Under stress conditions, cyanobacterial response includes the short-term adaptation of the photosynthetic apparatus to light quality, named state transitions. Moreover, prolonged stresses produce changes in the functional organization of phycobilisomes and in the core-complexes of both photosystems, which can result in large changes in the PS II fluorescence yield. The localization of ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase (FNR) at the ends of some peripheral rods of the cyanobacterial phycobilisomes, makes this protein a useful marker to check phycobilisome integrity. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this work is to improve the knowledge of the mechanism of action of a very potent pesticide, lindane (gamma-hexaclorociclohexane), in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp., which can be considered a potential candidate for bioremediation of pesticides. We have studied the effect of lindane on the photosynthetic apparatus of Anabaena using fluorescence induction studies. As ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase plays a key role in the response to oxidative stress in several systems, changes in synthesis, degradation and activity of FNR were analyzed. Immunolocalization of this enzyme was used as a marker of phycobilisome integrity. The knowledge of the changes caused by lindane in the photosynthetic apparatus is essential for rational further design of genetically-modified cyanobacteria with improved biorremediation abilities. METHODS: Polyphasic chlorophyll a fluorescence rise measurements (OJIP) have been used to evaluate the vitality and stress adaptation of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7119 in the presence of increasing concentrations of lindane. Effects of the pesticide on the ultrastructure have been investigated by electron microscopy, and FNR has been used as a marker of phycobilisome integrity. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Cultures of Anabaena sp. treated with moderate amounts of lindane showed a decrease in growth rate followed by a recovery after 72 hours of pesticide treatment. Concentrations of lindane below 5 ppm increased the photosynthetic performance and activity of the cells. Higher amounts of pesticide caused a decrease in these activities which seems to be due to a non-competitive inhibition of PS II. Active PS II units are converted into non-QA reducing, so called heat sink centers. Specific activity and amount of FNR in lindane-treated cells were similar to the values measured in control cultures. Release of FNR from the thylakoid after 48 hours of exposure to 5 ppm of lindane towards the cytoplasm was detected by immunogold labeling and electron microscopy. CONCLUSIONS: From these results, we conclude that the photosynthetic performance and activity of the cells are slightly increased in the presence of lindane up to 5 ppm. Moreover, in those conditions, lindane did not produce significant changes in the synthesis, degradation or activity of FNR. The high capability of Anabaena to tolerate lindane makes this cyanobacterium a good candidate for phytoremediation of polluted areas. RECOMMENDATION AND OUTLOOK: The results of this study show that cultures of Anabaena PCC 7119 tolerate lindane up to 5 ppm, without significant changes in the photosynthetic vitality index of the cells. However, a slight increase in phycobiliprotein synthesis is observed, which is related to total protein content. This change might be due to degradation of proteins less stable than phycobiliproteins. An identification of the proteins with altered expression pattern in the presence of the pesticide remains the subject of further work and will provide valuable information for the preparation of strains which are highly tolerant to lindane.