Extra BCR/ABL fusion mosaicism in 18p in a CML Ph-positive patient with erythroblastic transformation.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Alicia Rodríguez.
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The number of elderly people is increasing in less-developed countries. Although nutritional deficiencies and infectious diseases are generally more prevalent in resource-poor countries, the health and nutritional status of the elderly in South America in general, and in Ecuador, in particular, remains largely unstudied. The objective of the present study was to assess the nutritional, immunological and health status of elderly Ecuadorians. A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate a sample of elderly Ecuadorians with 24 h dietary recalls, biochemical and anthropometric measurements, delayed type hypersensitivity skin response and a health questionnaire. The 145 elders who enrolled had a mean age of 74.3 (SD 6.9) years. Of the subjects, 52 % exhibited BMI >or=25 kg/m(2), whereas 9.1 % had BMI <or=20 kg/m(2). Means of dietary intakes were below recommendations for most nutrients; exceptions were carbohydrate, fat, Fe and Se. Serum nutrient levels indicated that 50, 44, 43, 19 and 18 % of participants had deficiencies of Zn, Fe, vitamins B12 and D, and folate, respectively. The mean number of positive responses to seven recall antigens was 2.1 (SD 1.7) with an induration diameter of 9.9 (SD 7) mm, which are substantially lower than those reported for elders in developed countries. During the previous 6 months, 54 and 21 % of subjects reported at least one episode of respiratory infection or diarrhoea, respectively. Of these, 47 % sought care at a hospital or from a physician and 96 % from a relative or friend. In conclusion, while few elderly Ecuadorians were underweight, obesity was common. Micronutrient deficiencies were prevalent and may contribute to reduced immunological responses in this population.
BACKGROUND: Randomized controlled trials have shown inconsistent responses of childhood pneumonia to the use of vitamin A as an adjunct to the standard treatment of pneumonia. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effect of a moderate dose of vitamin A as an adjunct to standard antimicrobial treatment on the duration of respiratory signs in children with pneumonia. DESIGN: Children, aged 2-59 mo, with pneumonia and weight-for-age <50th percentile who had been admitted to the Baca Ortíz Children's Hospital in Quito, Ecuador, were randomly assigned to receive 50,000 IU (aged 2-12 mo) or 100,000 IU (aged >12-59 mo) vitamin A or a placebo. RESULTS: Of the 287 children enrolled, 145 received vitamin A and 142 received placebo. No overall differences were observed between the 2 groups in the duration of signs of pneumonia. Multiple linear regression showed a significant interaction between basal serum retinol concentration and vitamin A group for the time (in h) to remission of respiratory signs (beta = -3.57, SE = 1.09, P = 0.001). Duration of clinical signs was less in children with basal serum retinol concentrations >200 microg/L who received vitamin A supplements than in children with similar concentrations who received placebo (69.9 +/- 49.9 h compared with 131.3 +/- 143.9 h; P = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, we found no effect of a moderate dose of vitamin A supplementation on the duration of uncomplicated pneumonia in underweight or normal-weight children aged <5 y. However, a beneficial effect was seen in children with high basal serum retinol concentrations.
The main finding of these experiments was a positive contrast effect in one-way avoidance learning. Experiment 1 showed that increasing safety time during one-way avoidance training led to improved performance, surpassing that of a control group that had received the high reward (safe time) from the beginning of training. Experiment 2 showed that a similar positive contrast effect occurred when the time spent in the danger compartment before the onset of the warning signal was shortened. These results suggest that time spent in a safe context acts as a reinforcer of the avoidance response; however, its incentive value depends not only on its duration, but also on the length of the time spent in the danger compartment before the onset of the signal. Overall, results also suggest that the avoidance response is a mixture of flight (motivated by fear) and approach (to a safe place) behaviour. The specific weight of the flight or approach component may be a function of the time and the amount of activation of each emotional state (fear or relief) due to opponent homeostatic compensatory processes that occur in the danger and safe compartments during one-way avoidance learning.