Microbial and chemical composition of liquid-associated bacteria in goats' rumen and fermenters.

This study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between chemical composition and microbial profile of rumen liquid-associated bacteria (LAB) in vivo (Murciano-Granadina goats) and in a rumen simulation system (single-flow continuous-culture fermenters). To achieve this aim, analyses of purine bases along with some molecular techniques (quantitative PCR to assess abundance and DGGE to identify biodiversity and bacterial profile) were carried out. A control diet (AHC) based on alfalfa hay (AH) and concentrate (C) in a 1:1 ratio and two experimental diets (AHCBI and AHCBII), in which concentrate was partially replaced with multinutrient blocks, were used. Diets AHCBI and AHCBII included multinutrient blocks differing in the relative amount of two-stage olive cake and the source of protein (sunflower meal vs. fava beans). We aimed to investigate the effect of these blocks on rumen microbiota to evaluate their potential as safe substitutes of cereal-based concentrates. Similar patterns of response to diet were found for chemical composition, microbial abundances and diversity in LAB isolated from goat's rumen and fermenters. Whereas bacterial density (log10 gene copies/g FM: 11.6 and 9.4 for bacteria and methanogens, respectively, in rumen) and diversity indexes (Shannon index: 3.6) were not affected by diet, DGGE analyses showed that bacterial community profile was affected. The cluster analysis suggested differences in bacterial profile between LAB pellets isolated from the rumen of goat and fermenters. A relationship between chemical composition and bacterial community composition in LAB pellets seems to exist. Changes in the former were reflected in the bacterial community profile. Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between chemical and microbial composition of ruminal bacterial pellets with diets of different quality.

[Knowledge of AIDS of the medical students from three Mexican universities]. / Conocimientos sobre el SIDA entre los estudiantes de medicina de tres Universidades Mejicanas.

BACKGROUND: The Hegemonic Medical Model is discussed and is articulated with the postulates of the sociology of the professions. The information takes Aids as a specific topic, because it involves the aspects of recent scientific development, of clinical and epidemiological importance and due to the research which is being done for its treatment and the production of immunizations. METHOD: This is a case study of students enrolled in different years of study for medical degrees at the three main universities in México City. A closed-question questionnaire was handed out, checked and corrected, the variables of which were related to three types of knowledge, that is, basic, technical and general. RESULTS: The students were revealed to master this subject to only a minor extent the extensions of the knowledge of the disciplines of the profession however being applied to new cases without the suitable accuracy. A certain degree of dissociation was found to exist among the different types of knowledge which were researched, the professional know-how having been noted to clearly conform within specialized, segmented, curative logic of the Hegemonic Medical Model. CONCLUSIONS: The technical, problem-solving knowledge employed in clinical use prevails over the systematic, abstract knowledge of the general knowledge of medicine. A clear notion of the processes based on the dominant medical pattern is revealed in the single-causal relations of the disease. There is an extension of the basic knowledge a the resolving of clinical problems. The medical students are oriented toward taking in knowledge which will be useful to them in clinical practice.

[Cost-benefit of the pharmacologic treatment of cerebral palsy with spasticity in Mexico]. / Coste-beneficio del tratamiento farmacológico de la parálisis cerebral con espasticidad en México.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy involving spasticity is a highly handicapping illness, especially among children, the treatment of which is limited to reducing the handicaps involved without any full cure. There is a drug treatment which affords the possibility of providing patients with a better quality of life, regarding which a cost effectiveness analysis is made, note being made of the individual achievements and social benefits. METHODS: This analysis is based on nationwide information from Mexico which was obtained from secondary sources. The base data is set out within the framework of trends in the growth of this health problem, and the calculations affording the possibility of sizing up this problem are employed in order to ascertain the benefits thereof based on the following indicators: relative impact of this disease and years of healthy life lost and gained, based on which the social and economic benefit entailed in the drug treatment under analysis is estimated. RESULTS: The data reveals that the drug treatment in question is directly beneficial, because it lowers the relative impact of this disease from 0.92 to 0.40. At the individual level, the greatest benefit takes the form of the improved quality of life among the afflicted children within the 6-12 age range, they having gone from 0.08 years to 0.60 years of life in terms of quality. At the nationwide level, the 595,817 years of healthy life which would be lost without any treatment would be recouped. The monetary value involved in this treatment is that of 2,725.00 Mexican pesos (US $283.00) for administering the drug over a one-year period to each child suffering from this disability. CONCLUSIONS: This is a low-cost treatment, because it is currently impossible to reverse the neurological and physiological processes of cerebral palsy, this treatment therefore improving the quality of life of the children afflicted with this disease is the best possible benefit. The cost effectiveness analysis taking into account these indicators reveals a clear-cut relationship between the monetary values and the health benefits.

[The knowledge on health and the social sciences]. / El conocimiento de la salud y las ciencias sociales.

In this paper the main question is about the health complete interpretation. It is an epistemological discussion. It starts with the obstacles in the comprehension from several sciences (i.e. phisiology, epidemiology, and sociology) about the health as a social and collective problem. The point is how to do the research and the conceptual interpretation. Finally, the authors explain theirs point of view: the most important is the nature and specificity of the objet health. Not view disciplinary. They show a model to understand the analysis of the health from the social sciences perspective.

[Sensitivity analysis in health investment projects]. / Análisis de sensibilidad en los proyectos de inversión en salud.

This paper discusses some of the concepts and methodologies frequently used in sensitivity analyses in the evaluation of investment programs. In addition, a concrete example is presented: a hospital investment in which four indicators were used to design different scenarios and their impact on investment costs. This paper emphasizes the importance of this type of analysis in the field of management of health services, and more specifically in the formulation of investment programs.

[Determinants of the development of professional patterns in medical students]. / Algunas determinantes en la conformación de los patrones profesionales en estudiantes de medicina.

This paper reports the preliminary results of a research work aimed at establishing some determinants of the development of professional patterns in medical students. We present the results of a cohort of medical students in which we explored the type and frequency of general and specialized reading, family and friendship ties within the profession and some educational elements. These three aspects are associated with some aspects of professional patterns. The first statistical estimations show a strong influence of family ties. The presence of a family member or a close friend related with the medical profession strongly influenced the development of traditional beliefs about the medical profession, its practice, and the features of contents and areas of knowledge. Reading of newspapers and specialized journals by the students was used to explore cultural socialization, and this was found not to influence definitely the patterns of the profession. As for the influence of some educational elements, their participation is not clear, and further studies are needed to disclose it. Finally, we point out some questions emerging from this first approach to this information, and future research lines to be addressed.