The absence of a comprehensive understanding of potential anaphylactic reactions to local anesthetics (LAs) and management can result in grave consequences. For this reason we aim to assess Latin ...American dentists' knowledge, preparedness, and competency in managing anaphylactic reactions to LAs.
Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to February 2022. Board-certified dentists answered a survey comprising 26 structured questions. Chi-square tests and logistic regression models were performed in Stata 17.0.
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries.
Of 507 respondents, lidocaine was the most frequently used LA (88.1%). While 85.2% could identify dyspnea as a symptom of anaphylaxis, only 50.1% knew the correct route for epinephrine administration, and just 43.5% had epinephrine in their emergency kits. Confidence in managing anaphylactic reactions was low (9.6%). Older age was inversely related to both knowledge of anaphylaxis management and the possession of epinephrine (P = 0.003 and P = 0.0001, respectively).
Our study highlights a concerning discrepancy between the practical readiness of Latin American dentists in handling anaphylaxis.
The study's findings underscore the need for educational interventions to improve the readiness to identify and handle anaphylactic emergencies in dental practice.
Most of the information on clinical factors related to HIV infection is focused on key populations and young people. Therefore, there is little information on clinical factors related to HIV ...infection in older persons (>45 years old). In this study, data on CD4 lymphocyte counts were analyzed on adults who are linked to care and have their first CD4 cell count done from different regions of the Republic of Panama from 2012 to 2017. Samples were grouped according to late presentation status, region of origin in the country, year, gender, and age groups. Factors associated with late presentation to care and advanced HIV were assessed on each group by multivariable logistic regression. Late presentation to care was observed in 71.6% of the evaluated subjects, and advanced HIV in 54.5%. Late presentation was associated with males (adjusted odds ratio AOR = 1.3, 95% confidence interval CI=1.1-1.6, p = 0.03), age greater than 45 years old (AOR = 2.3 CI= 1.8-2.9, p < 0.001), and being from regions where antiretroviral clinics are not well instituted (AOR = 2.1, CI = 1.6-2.7, p < 0.001). Despite an increase in subjects linked to care with a CD4 test performed over the years, late presentation remained constant. Therefore, prevention policies must be reformulated. Promotion of routine HIV testing, accessibility among all population groups, installation of antiretroviral clinics, and implementation of programs as rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy should be rolled out nationally.
Methotrexate (MTX) is an antineoplastic drug, and due to its high toxicity, the therapeutic drug mon- itoring is strictly conducted in the clinical practice. The chemometric optimization and ...validation of a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using core-shell particles is presented for the determination of MTX in plasma during therapeutic monitoring. Experimental design and response surface methodology (RSM) were applied for the optimization of the chromatographic system and the analyte extraction step. A Poroshel1120 EC-C18 (3.0 mm × 75 mm, 2.7 μm) column was used to obtain a fast and efficient separation in a complete run time of 4 min. The optimum conditions for the chroma- tographic system resulted in a mobile phase consisting of acetic acid/sodium acetate buffer solution (85.0 mM, pH =4.00) and 11.2% of acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Selectivity, linearity, accuracy and precision were demonstrated in a range of 0.10-6.0 μM of MTX. The application of the optimized method required only 150μL of patient plasma and a low consumption of solvent to provide rapid re- sults.
Linear electric generators (LEGs) are attractive devices for new efficient and sustainable ways of developing power generating technologies. This research work contributes in determining the increase ...of energy potential of LEGs while using superconductor coils instead of stator and actuator made of heavy and high permeability materials, necessary when conventional conductive material such copper is used to generate electrical energy. The proposed work highlights the technoeconomic aspects of using superconductive materials in the LEG coil. Moreover, the design features of the LEG using superconductors, the electromagnetic analysis performance with finite-element simulations, and the experimentation results are presented. The comparison of the power extracted using copper coil and superconducting material is established, and three times more power is obtained with the superconductor coil.
Objetivo: Analizar la asociación entre los estilos de vida y factores de riesgo para la salud que pueden suponer un abandono prematuro del trabajo, con los años de discapacidad sobrevenida estimados ...(ADSE) en población laboral, y calcular la correlación entre el Índice de Capacidad Laboral (ICL) y el Work Ability Score (WAS), y ambos con los ADSE y su coste económico.
Métodos: Estudio transversal en una muestra de trabajadores a los que se realizó un examen de salud. La información se recogió mediante los cuestionarios ICL y WAS, y la metodología PoRT-9LSQ. Se realizó un análisis de la asociación entre los factores de riesgo analizados y los ADSE mediante regresión lineal y análisis de la varianza (ANOVA). Se analizó la correlación entre ICL y WAS usando el coeficiente de correlación intraclase (CCI), y con los ADSE y su coste económico mediante regresión lineal ajustada.
Resultados: Se incluyeron 590 trabajadores. Los factores que más influyeron en la media de ADSE fueron el sedentarismo, la mala alimentación y el sobrepeso/obesidad, con diferencias estadísticamente significativas según sexo, turno y ocupación (p<0,05). El CCI entre ICL y WAS fue del 93,0% para una valoración excelente/buena. La regresión lineal ajustada entre ICL y los ADSE fue de 7,982-0,136xICL (p<0,05), siendo similar para el WAS.
Conclusiones: El ICL se ha mostrado útil para la predictibilidad de los ADSE en población laboral, lo que facilitará la toma de decisiones del personal sanitario para identificar personas vulnerables favoreciendo cambios en los estilos de vida y el autocuidado.
•An extended anaerobic digestion model for biological methanation considering syngas addition.•Dynamic modeling of biological methanation considering conversion of H2, CO and CO2.•The model is ...adapted for CSTR and BCR via the volumetric mass transfer coefficient.•Simulation of the model with two substrates and operating conditions.
In biological methanation, the methane produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) is upgraded with the addition of syngas. Several mathematical models have been developed to represent the AD process. However, the modeling of biomethanation is still under development. In this work, an extension of the anaerobic digestion model (ADM1_ME) was proposed to describe the dynamics of biomethanation. The model considered the addition of syngas flow rate (H2/CO) and the adaptation of the volumetric mass transfer coefficient for two different reactor configurations: bubble column reactor and continuous stirred tank reactor operating at mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. A sensitivity analysis using the Sobol’ and Morris methods was performed for this model, where 14 parameters were selected for model calibration. Simulation results showed an accurate fit for two experimental operating conditions from literature with a RMSE <5.15. The results showed the feasibility of the ADM1_ME to describe the biomethanation process at different operational conditions and reactor configurations.
Objetivo: Analizar la asociación entre los estilos de vida y factores de riesgo para la salud que pueden suponer un abandono prematuro del trabajo, con los años de discapacidad sobrevenida estimados ...(ADSE) en población laboral, y calcular la correlación entre el Índice de Capacidad Laboral (ICL) y el Work Ability Score (WAS), y ambos con los ADSE y su coste económico. Métodos: Estudio transversal en una muestra de trabajadores a los que se realizó un examen de salud. La información se recogió mediante los cuestionarios ICL y WAS, y la metodología PoRT-9LSQ. Se realizó un análisis de la asociación entre los factores de riesgo analizados y los ADSE mediante regresión lineal y análisis de la varianza (ANOVA). Se analizó la correlación entre ICL y WAS usando el coeficiente de correlación intraclase (CCI), y con los ADSE y su coste económico mediante regresión lineal ajustada. Resultados: Se incluyeron 590 trabajadores. Los factores que más influyeron en la media de ADSE fueron el sedentarismo, la mala alimentación y el sobrepeso/obesidad, con diferencias estadísticamente significativas según sexo, turno y ocupación (p<0,05). El CCI entre ICL y WAS fue del 93,0% para una valoración excelente/buena. La regresión lineal ajustada entre ICL y los ADSE fue de 7,982-0,136xICL (p<0,05), siendo similar para el WAS. Conclusiones: El ICL se ha mostrado útil para la predictibilidad de los ADSE en población laboral, lo que facilitará la toma de decisiones del personal sanitario para identificar personas vulnerables favoreciendo cambios en los estilos de vida y el autocuidado.
BackgroundDespite the growing concerns related to the potential of long-term pulmonary sequelae due to COVID-19, data about intermediate and long-term changes in the respiratory function of patients ...who recover is relatively sparse, particularly in developing countries. ObjectivesTo assess the characteristics and pulmonary function at follow-up in a sample of Ecuadorian patients that recovered from the virus. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study that included 43 patients after symptomatic COVID infection, who were evaluated by spirometry, single breath DLCO, and 6MWT. For statistical analysis we performed point biserial correlations, and chi squared tests. ResultsOverall, 30.3% of patients (n = 13) reported persistent symptoms, with fatigue being the most common (23.3%, n = 10). Around 34.9% (n = 15) of the sample had a restrictive spirometry pattern, 18.6% (n = 8) had an abnormally decreased adjusted DLCO. A restrictive spirometry pattern was associated with an abnormally low adjusted DLCO (χ2(2) = 11,979, p = 0.001). ConclusionWe found that a considerable proportion of patients presented with persistent symptoms and alterations in pulmonary function following COVID-19, mainly a restrictive respiratory pattern and abnormally low DLCO. Further studies are needed to determine which patients may benefit from the follow-up with specific pulmonary function tests.
Recently, bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI) is an attractive semiconductor to use in heterogeneous photocatalysis processes. Unfortunately, BiOI individually shows limited photocatalytic efficiency, ...instability, and a quick recombination of electron/holes. Considering the practical application of this semiconductor, some studies show that synthetic zeolites provide good support for this photocatalyst. This support material permits a better photocatalytic efficiency because it prevents the quick recombination of photogenerated pairs. However, the optimal conditions (time and temperature) to obtain composites (BiOI/ synthetic zeolite) with high photocatalytic efficiency using a coprecipitation-solvothermal growth method have not yet been reported. In this study, a response surface methodology (RSM) based on a central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize the synthesis conditions of BiOI/mordenite composites. For this purpose, eleven BiOI/mordenite composites were synthesized using a combined coprecipitation-solvothermal method under different time and temperature conditions. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized composites were evaluated after 20 min of photocatalytic oxidation of caffeic acid, a typical organic pollutant found in agro-industrial wastewater. Moreover, BiOI/mordenite composites with the highest and lowest photocatalytic activity were physically and chemically characterized using nitrogen adsorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The optimal synthesis conditions prove to be 187 °C and 9 h. In addition, the changes applied to the experimental conditions led to surface property modifications that influenced the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the BiOI/mordenite composite toward caffeic acid photodegradation.