Etiology of chronic urticaria: the Ecuadorian experience.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify chronic urticaria (CU) etiologies and treatment modalities in Ecuador. We propose that the sample distribution fits the expected one, and that there is an association between the etiology and its treatment. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study involving 112 patients diagnosed with CU using a Checklist for a complete chronic urticaria medical history. Demographic and clinical variables were collected. The etiology of CU was classified using the EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO guideline. Descriptive analyses were performed for demographical and clinical variables. Chi square tests were applied to analyze the fit of distribution and the independence of variables. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: Among all the patients, 76.8% were diagnosed with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), of which 22.3% had a known etiology or possible exacerbating condition. Food allergy was identified as the most common accompanying condition in patients with CSU (10.7%) (p < 0.01).. On the other hand, 23.2% inducible urticarias (CIndU) were indentified; dermographism was the most common (10.7%) (p < 0.01).Regarding treatment regimens, sg-H1-antihistamines alone represented the highest proportion (44.6%). The combination of any H1-antihistamine plus other drug was a close second (42.0%) (p < 0.01). Almost 48% of CSUs of unknown etiology were treated with any antihistamine plus another drug. In patients with known etiology, sg-antihistamines alone (44.0%) was the most common management. In addition, 53.8% of CIndUs were treated with sg-antihistamines alone. Though, these associations were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: CSU is the most frequent subtype of CU. Modern non-sedating antihistamines in licensed doses are the drug of choice. Nevertheless, a great proportion of patients require the addition of another type of medication.

What kind of information and communication technologies do patients with COPD prefer to use? A cross-sectional study in Latin America.

The aim of the present study was to assess the frequency of uses and preferences of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among Latin American chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. We conducted an anonymous cross-sectional survey study on Latin American COPD patients. The adapted version of the Michigan questionnaire was employed in eligible outpatients in different cities of Latin America. We categorized age and educational levels into three groups. The time passed since COPD diagnosis was categorized as ≤5 years and >5 years. χ2 and crude and adjusted logistic regressions were performed. A total of 256 patients were enrolled with a mean age of 68.7 years old. The most recurrently used ICTs were short message service (SMS; 47.1%) and WhatsApp (30.7%) for receiving COPD information. Moreover, SMS (85.8%) and Facebook (36.1%) were rated as useful for asking physicians information about COPD. Regression analysis showed that the best predictor for patients using ICTs, for any purpose, was higher education (undergraduate or graduate school). Understanding the preferences of ICTs among COPD patients could help improve patient's outcomes through developing applications in response to specific requirements of each patient.

La fracción del aceite de oliva (FG-30), disminuye el área de la quemadura con costra hipotrófica, escasa secreción y analgesia en ratas con quemaduras de tercer grado / Olive oil (FG-30), dimenish of area of the burn with hypotroprics scab, in rats with burns of grade thrid

El aceite de oliva ha sido utilizado desde tiempos inmemoriales como agente cicatrizante. La separación química de sus constituyentes nos ha permitido aislar una fracción que hemos denominado FG-30, con potente efecto cicatrizante que en el presente estudio fue comparado con la Sulfadiacina de plata con respecto a la evolución y el porcentaje de disminución del área de quemadura de tercer grado en ratas. Para ello se estudiaron 22 ratas Sprague-Dawley, con pesos entre 225-250 g. con quemaduras de tercer grado, las cuales fueron divididas en tres grupos, uno control, sin tratamiento; uno experimental que recibió tratamiento tópico con FG-30, y otro experimental que recibió tratamiento tópico con Sulfadiacina. A los tres grupos se le midió el área de quemadura los días 1, 10, 20 y 35 luego de iniciado el tratamiento, además se procedió a la observación de los cambios macroscópicos de la lesión y comportamiento de las ratas. El tratamiento con FG-30 y con sulfadiacina produjo una mejoría significativa en el porcentaje de disminución del área de la quemadura a los 20 y 35 días. En cuanto a la observación clínica del grupo FG-30 se apreció poca secreción, costra hipotrófica y uniforme así como analgesia; el grupo Sulfadiacina presentó abundante secreción, costra hipertrófica, deforme, fétida, blanquecina, y dolor durante 35 días, todo esto comparado con el grupo control que no recibió ningún tipo de tratamiento. Las mejorías producidas por el FG-30 con respecto al porcentaje de disminución de la quemadura y la observación macroscópica, lo ubica como una alternativa potencial como cicatrizante en quemadura