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[Comparison of the effectiveness and cost of treatment with humid environment as compared to traditional cure. Clinical trial on primary care patients with venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers].

INTRODUCTION: The discovery of moist environment dressings as alternatives to the traditional treatments based on exposing wounds to air, opened new expectations for the care and treatment of chronic wounds. Over the years, these expectations have led to the availability of new moist environment dressings which have made it possible to improve the care provided to patients suffering this kind of wounds, as well as providing important reasons to weigh in terms of cost-benefit-effectiveness at the time of selecting which type of treatment should be employed. The lack of comparative analysis among traditional treatments and moist environment treatments for chronic wounds among patients receiving primary health care led the authors to perform an analysis comparing these aforementioned options of treatment on patients suffering venous leg ulcers or pressure ulcers. PATIENTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors designed a Randomized Clinical Trial involving patients receiving ambulatory care in order to compare the effectiveness and cost-benefit of traditional versus moist environment dressing during the treatment of patients suffering stage II or III pressure ulcers or venous leg ulcers. In this trial, variables related to effectiveness of both treatments, as well as their costs were analyzed. MAIN RESULTS: 70 wounds were included in this Randomized Clinical Trial, 41 were venous leg ulcers of which 21 received a moist environment treatment while 20 received traditional cure, the other 29 wounds were pressure ulcers of which 15 received moist environment dressings treatment and 14 received traditional dressings. No statistically significant differences were found among the defining variables for these lesions in either group under treatment. In the venous leg ulcer study group, the authors conclusions were an average of 18.13 days, 16.33 treatment sessions and a cost of 10,616 pesetas to heal one square centimeter of the initial surface area of a wound on patients treated with traditional treatment compared to an average of 18.22 days, 4.54 treatment sessions and a cost of 2409 pesetas to heal one square centimeter of the initial surface area of a wound on patients treated with moist environment dressings. In the pressure ulcers study group, the authors conclusions were an average of 12.18 days, 12.1 treatment sessions and a cost of 15,490 pesetas to heal one square centimeter of the initial surface area of a wound on patients treated with traditional treatment compared to an average of 7.12 days, 1.86 treatment sessions and a cost of 2610 pesetas to heal one square centimeter of the initial surface area of a wound on patients treated with moist environment dressings. COMMENTS: The results of this randomized clinical trial demosntrated that the moist environment treatment group was more effective and had a better cost-benefit ratio than the traditional treatment group in the treatment of pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers on patients cared for by nursing personnel in primary health care centers all of which agrees with publications consulted by authors.

Chronic Disease↗

[Dynamics of rodent community and populations in Kalmyk semideserts under decreasing pasture load and increasing humidity].

Today, pastural ecosystems of the Kalmyk Republic demonstrate progressive regrowth dynamics, which is explained by a sharp decrease in grazing load and the onset of a new humidification cycle in the Caspian Lowland. By the mid-1990s, the sparse and poor desert vegetation with a significant proportion of ephemerals, characteristic of these ecosystems in the 1980s, had been substituted by highly productive tall-grass communities typical of steppes. Under such conditions, corresponding changes in the distribution and abundance of rodents could be expected. These parameters were assessed in different types of habitats in Chernye Zemli (the Kalmyk Black Lands) from 1980 to 1983 and from 1993 to 1997. Rodents were captured in live traps distributed over permanent test plots and in crush traps arranged in lines. The results showed that the population of midday gerbils did not change significantly during this period, although their favorite open habitats considerably decreased in area. The abundance and range of tamarisk gerbils noticeably increased, whereas those of little sousliks continued to decrease, contrary to our expectations. Thus, a rapid progressive succession in plant communities did not cause the corresponding change (of similar rate and extent) in the structure of rodent community. The difference between the observed and expected results provides evidence that rodent populations are somewhat "inert" in their response to changes in environmental conditions, and their development is relatively independent of these changes, but is contingent upon the state of populations in the past (i.e., the history of colonies).

Animals↗

[Effect of environmental humidity on the epistaxis of patients with acute thrombocytopenia].

The effect of humidification of the environment was studied on the frequency and severeness of spistaxes in a group of 16 children. A control group was composed of 18 children with the idea that they were similar, but the hematologic conditions of the latter group were more unfavorable. A decrease of epistaxis was not found; there was a minimal prolongation of the days between one and the next nosebleeding picture. A definite decrease in the severeness of bleeding was found in the second group as judged by a lesser necessity of transfusions.

Acute Disease↗

[Gap formation features of humid evergreen broad-leaved forest in central subtropical Wawushan Mountain, Sichuan Province, China].

The primary and secondary subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests at an altitude of 1720-1750 m in Mt. Wawushan National Forest Park, southwestern China investigated to analyze their canopy gap formation characteristics. The sampling method and canopy formation causes were also discussed. In secondary evergreen broad-leaved forest, the gap density was surprisingly only 9 per hm2 and the size of all gaps was, no more than 10 m2. Almost every gap had only one gap maker, and the gap makers often died standing by suppression. Accordingly successful natural regeneration is difficult in small gap, due to the rapidly lateral growth of canopy trees. In primary evergreen broad-leaved forest, the gap density was 15 per hm2, and 56% of the gaps had an area of no more than 40 m2. The largest gap had an area of 256 m2. The canopy gap accounted for 11.1% and expended gap occupied 19.8% of land area in the forest. Median area of canopy gaps and expended gaps was 59 and 105 m2, respectively. Most gaps had more than one gap maker, and gap makers died falling and were often from mortality events separated in time. Most gaps aged over 10 yr and a few were formed recently and the estimated gap formation rate was 0.01 per year. According to falling direction of trees and the relations with growth process, slope aspect and wind, we deduced gap-maker death resulted from integrated influence among topography, climate particular in wind, tree growth characteristics, and interactions of population under competition. Adapting method of plot sampling and projection drawing used in the paper can improve investigation accuracy and help improving comparison of results in different investigation area.

Altitude↗

[Dynamics of malaria transmission in Kafiné, a rice growing village in a humid savannah area of Côte d'Ivoire].

A study on malaria transmission based on samples of mosquitoes caught on human subjects was conducted from February to August 1995 in the rice growing area of Kafine, a village located in the Niakaramandougou district of northern Côte d'Ivoire. The village is surrounded by 117,500 acres of rice fields. Irrigation is sub-permanent in the rice field and harvests number two a year. During the 6 months of the study, 12.353 mosquitoes were caught. The average biting rate was 118.8 bites per man per night (b/m/n). Mansonia, Culex and Aedes represented only 17.5% of the total number of mosquitoes caught. Anopheles accounted for 82.5% of the number of anthropophilic mosquitoes. Anopheles gambiae s.s. represented 83.7% of the total Anopheles species. As a whole, the average biting rate recorded for the Anopheles was 98 b/m/n. The average biting rate of An. gambiae was 90.4 b/m/n. The highest rate (121.5 b/m/n) was recorded in April. During the dry and rainy season, the indoor biting cycle per hour of An. gambiae s.s. was studied from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. In both seasons, a marked biting activity was noticed between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The average annual parity rate reached 40.2% but it ranged from 59.8% (n = 82) in February to 19% (n = 63) in May. The mean sporozoitic index of An. gambiae throughout the study period was 1.1% (14 positive salivary glands/1.251 dissected). The index ranged from 0 in April, May and June to 6.2 (n = 192) in July. The rate did not vary with rainfall but with the different stages of rice growing. The non-synchronisation of agricultural practises for each growing cycle seemed to be a conclusive factor in the transmission of malaria in this locality. Malaria transmission at Kafine can be characterised by 3 main elements: transmission is intensive with an estimated inoculation rate of 1 ib/m/n; transmission is more related to double phase rice cultivation (regardless of synchronisation on plots) than to rainfall; transmission shows particular variations linked to rice cultivation cycles with an increase during periods of ripeness and harvest. The nuisance caused by higher mosquito density has brought people to comply with use of pyrethroid impregnated bed nets advocated for wide use by the National Malaria Control Program.

Aedes↗