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Background: During the years 2008 and 2009, 1,191 biomedical articles authored by Chilean investigators working in Chile were indexed in PubMed., Aims: To evaluate the potential visibility of those articles, according to scientometric indexes of the journals where they were published., Methods: Those journals where the articles had been published were identified and each journal’s Impact Factor (JIF), 5-year JIF, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), SCImago Quartiles (Q) for 2010 and the Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) for 2008-2009 were identified., Results: Three hundred and twelve articles (26,2%) were dedicated to experimental studies in animals, tissues or cells and they were classified as “Biomedicine”, while 879 (73,8%) were classified as “Clinical Medicine”; in both areas the main type of articles were original reports (90% and 73.6%, respectively). Revista Médica de Chile and Revista Chilena de Infectología concentrated the greater number of publications. Articles classified in Biomedicine were published more frequently in English and in journals with higher scientometric indexes than those classified in Clinical Medicine., Conclusions: Biomedical articles dealing with clinical topics, particularly case reports, were published mostly in national journals or in foreign journals with low scientometric indexes. It can be partly attributable to the authors’ interest in reaching local readers. The evaluation of research productivity should combine several scientometric indexes, selected according to the field of research, the institution's and investigators’ interests, with a qualitative and multifactorial assessment.

Background: International collaboration is increasingly used in biomedical research., Aim: To describe the characteristics of scientific production in Latin America and the main international collaboration networks for the period 2000 to 2009., Material and Methods: Search for papers generated in Latin American countries in the Clinical Medicine database of ISI Web of Knowledge v.4.10 - Current Contents Connect. The country of origin of the corresponding author was considered the producing country of the paper. International collaboration was analyzed calculating the number of countries that contributed to the generation of a particular paper. Collaboration networks were graphed to determine the centrality of each network., Results: Twelve Latin American countries participated in the production of 253,362 papers. The corresponding author was South American in 79% of these papers. Sixteen percent of papers were on clinical medicine and 36% of these were carried out in collaboration. Brazil had the highest production (22,442 papers) and the lower percentage of international collaboration (31%). North America accounts for 63% of collaborating countries. Only 8% of collaboration is between South American countries. Brazil has the highest tendency to collaborate with other South American countries., Conclusions: Brazil is the South American country with the highest scientific production and indicators of centrality in South America. The most common collaboration networks are with North American countries.

The Editors of the Rev Clin Esp inform herein on their editorial activity in the last year (November 2009 to October 2010) according to three different sections: (a) Objectives and achievements during 2010, (b) editorial activity, and (c) objectives for 2011. During 2010, we have updated the editorial algorithm (manuscript time lag). We have developed the "E-case reports" section and we have linked the abstracts of the Annual Congress of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) to a journal supplement (electronically available). Since 2010, the subscribers have been able to receive all of the contents of the Rev Clin Esp on-line and to perform self-evaluations in order to obtain 1.7 credits per each journal issue (continuing education). In 2010 we handled 402 manuscripts (7.2% more than in 2009), 35% of which were accepted for publication. We asked 186 reviewers for their expert opinion, 75% of whom sent their reports in less than two weeks. The mean time needed to reach an editorial decision concerning original manuscripts ("accepted / rejected") was 44.5 days and for papers not sent to external reviewers 19.5 days. Collaboration with the work groups produced good results (2.4 published manuscripts per issue), but this could be improved if all the groups collaborated in all the journal sections. Our objectives for 2011 are to complete the renewal of the Rev Clin Esp scientific committee, in accordance with the SEMI Council, and to continue to proceed with the actions initiated to increase the journal impact factor. Rev Clim Esp is an open forum for all internal medicine specialists. Responsibility falls on all of us to collaborate in order to make our journal a little better day by day., (Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Espana.)

In the first part of the present paper the basis and importance of translational medicine (TM) on the current status of quality of health care is discussed. This is exemplified by the application and benefit of translational oncology and personalized oncology in cancer patients as a model of TM. The second part of this article discusses the processes that have allowed the expansion of TM in developed countries and, likewise, the global conditions that have disabled the installation and expansion of TM in Mexico. The author suggests the establishment of translational research (TR) units in third-level hospitals, which will allow the formal initiation of TM in Mexico. The author concludes that the policy of TR in regard to national public health care is currently necessary. This policy requires the participation of government, national medical academies and societies, health sector medical centers, medical and research educators, centers of investigation, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, medical and biomedical physicians, and any other persons or entities who participate in the implicit improvement of the level of medical care. The installation of TR units located in hospitals represents a common benefit for the entire society and, specifically, for patients through the generation of a health care system with a higher scientific level, as well as higher quality of care.

The paper presents a critical analysis of current society making emphasis on the human needs to generate domain among equals, as well as the sense of competition and division that this creates. It addresses the process of dehumanization that the same civilization has generated focusing on laboral paradigm of our days and the weak social justice that unequal wealth distribution has generated. It has been seen that health professionals involved in such context, have not escaped socio-cultural pressure and postmodern neo-liberal position. The paper discusses about the humanizing role health professionals have in society, and the relevance of the philosophical exercise in their acts above human frailty. Finally, it is suggested an alternative for repositioning to himself and society.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a young and promising German who at age 29 decided to undertake the profession of Medical Doctor at the University of Strassburg after finishing a career in musical studies in Paris (1899) and obtaining in Berlin a doctoral degree in Philosophy and Theology. Surprisingly, Albert Schweitzer, despite his comfortable life in Europe, decided in 1913 to practice his medical career in a remote and small Equatorial African country. He devoted nearly 50 years of his life caring for the Black population at Lamaberene, where he built a hospital. In this paper, we attempt to develop some theoretical aspects related with interculturality in the medical practice of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. We begin by considering certain sociocultural variables in hospitals that give care to patients with cultural characteristics that are substantially different from those of the health care personnel who organize, administer, and execute medical functions.

Background: Journals that are not published solely in English have the titles of papers translated into English, the international language of medicine. The aim of this paper is to analyse the accuracy and quality of such translations in Medicina Clínica and to assess the influence of the morphology and syntax of Spanish on the English versions of the titles., Methods: Two professional medical translators, one Spanish and the other English, each with a knowledge of both languages, compared the original Spanish and the English translations of the titles of the 292 papers and communications published in the 20 issues of volume 100 of Medicina Clínica. The discrepancies or "errors" were classified in five groups of increasing seriousness., Results: Of the titles studied, 77% contained some sort of error (458 errors were detected). In 100 titles (34%) there were differences in meaning between the original Spanish and the English translations. Another 72 titles contained serious orthographical, lexical or grammatical mistakes, though the basic meaning was not distorted. Approximately a third of the lexical and grammatical errors were attributable to the direct influence of Spanish., Conclusions: The English translations of titles in Medicina Clínica contain numerous orthographical, lexical and gammatical mistakes. Serious errors of meaning in a number of translated titles could result in misinterpretation by readers who do not know Spanish. We recommend that the authors should play a part in the translation of the titles, as this should provide a simple and effective mean of improving the accuracy of the translations. Our comparison yielded much worse results than had been expected, which suggests that similar studies with other medical journals in Spanish and other languages would be justified.

En este artículo analizo la construcción del riesgo en la medicina clínica del Sida a partir del estudio de las argumentaciones y las formas retóricas puestas en juego en la presentación de la etiología de la enfermedad, la trasmisión viral y la relación entre procesos orgánicos y procesos sociales por parte de un conjunto de profesionales comprometidos en la atención de personas viviendo con VIH (PVVIH) y entrevistados en dos momentos de la epidemia (1993-1994 y 1998-2000). En la reconstrucción de la trama narrativa que pone en relación hallazgos científicos, evidencias epidemiológicas, síntomas y signos relevados en la atención de los pacientes, clasificaciones diagnósticas, presentaciones patogénicas, etc., destaco un conjunto de desplazamientos de sentido mediante procesos de tipo metonímico que vinculan vías de trasmisión, comportamientos sociales, causa y riesgo. A partir de allí desarrollo la cuestión de la individualización del riesgo en la atención de las PVVIH especificando qué componentes o aspectos de la vida sexual, las relaciones de género, el consumo de drogas y los modos de vida de los afectados juegan roles significativos en el accionar clínico y permiten establecer criterios o indicadores para definir la posibilidad individual de contraer y/o desarrollar la enfermedad y de adoptar comportamientos de cuidado en especial en la implementación de los tratamientos antirretrovirales.In this article, the construction of risk in AIDS related clinical Medicine is analyzed. The arguments and rhetoric in the presentation of the etiology of the illness, viral transmission and the relationship between organic and social processes by a group of medical professionals engaged in the care of persons living with HIV and interviewed during two moments of the epidemic (1993-1994 and 1998-2000) are studied. The paper reconstructs the narrative plot that relates scientific findings, epidemiological evidence, signs and symptons identified in patient care, diagnostic classifications, pathogenic presentations, and so on. It further identifies metonymies that link trasmission routes, social behaviors, cause and risk. The question of risk individualization in medical attention is addressed through the identification of aspects of sexual lives, gender relationships, drug consumption and ways of living of the affected persons that play significant roles in clinical work and contribute to the establishment of the individual possibility of contracting and/or developing AIDS and of adopting care behaviors, especially regarding the application of antiretroviral therapies.