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The adult population in Chile has a high prevalence of dental caries and non-functional dentition. Fifteen years after the Health Reform, aimed to reduce health inequalities, it is necessary to analyse changes in social inequalities in oral health in Chilean adults., Methods: A secondary analysis of data from 2003 and 2016-2017 National Health Surveys (NHS) in Chile was performed on seven oral health outcomes in adults: prevalence of untreated caries, prevalence of severe untreated caries, number of teeth with untreated caries, prevalence of functional dentition, prevalence of edentulism, number of remaining natural teeth and utilization of dental services. Inequalities were measured with the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and the Relative Index of Inequality (RII) by education level., Results: A decrease of caries inequalities measured with SII was observed from 2003 to 2016-17 NHS but an increase of remaining teeth inequalities was measured. The SII of the remaining teeth increased from 6.6 [95% CI = 5.0, 8.2] in 2003 to 8.8 [95% CI = 7.3, 10.3] in 2016-17. The SII of functional dentition by education increased from 29.0 [95% CI = 22.0, 36.0] in 2003 to 38.8 [95% CI = 32.6, 45.0]) in 2016-17. The utilization of dental services ≤1 year was the only outcome that showed a decrease in absolute and relative inequality, the SII was 33.9 [95% CI = 23.3, 45.6] in 2003 and 26.2 [95% CI = 16.6, 35.8] in 2016-17 and the RII decreased from 2.5 [95% CI = 1.7, 3.3] in 2003 to RII = 1.8 [95% CI = 1.4, 2.3] in 2016-17., Conclusion: The increase of tooth loss inequalities in contrast to the decrease of inequalities in dental services utilization show the need to re-evaluate the current dental programmes for adults in Chile. This may include establishing a stronger oral health promotion strategy and greater dental treatment coverage focusing on avoiding tooth extractions in vulnerable social groups., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

About 4% to 7% of the non-small-cell lung cancer patients have anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements, and specific targeted therapies improve patients' outcomes significantly. ALK gene fusions are detected by immunohistochemistry or fluorescent in situ hybridization as gold standards in South America. Next-generation sequencing-based assays are a reliable alternative, able to perform simultaneous detection of multiple events from a single sample. We analyzed 4240 non-small-cell lung cancer samples collected in 37 hospitals from Chile, Brazil, and Peru, where ALK rearrangements were determined as part of their standard of care (SofC) using either immunohistochemistry or fluorescent in situ hybridization. A subset of 1450 samples was sequenced with the Oncomine Focus Assay (OFA), and the concordance with the SofC tests was measured. An orthogonal analysis was performed using a real-time quantitative PCR echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-ALK fusion detection kit. ALK fusion prevalence is similar for Chile (3.67%; N = 2142), Brazil (4.05%; N = 1013), and Peru (4.59%; N = 675). Although a comparison between OFA and SofC assays showed similar sensitivity, OFA had significantly higher specificity and higher positive predictive value, which opens new opportunities for a more specific determination of ALK gene rearrangements., (Copyright © 2021 Association for Molecular Pathology and American Society for Investigative Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Climate change is having drastic consequences in Chile. The lack of water in various regions is causing environmental impacts on ecosystems, including the decrease in the productive activities of rural economies and the deterioration in the quality of life of the inhabitants that occupy the affected physical spaces. In this paper, we propose a sustainable, low-cost treatment of wastewater and its reuse as an adaptation and mitigation policy, patented in 2019, that consists of a wastewater disinfection system based on solar energy. This system can work in both continuous and discontinuous modes. The water passes through a canal of reflective material in the continuous regime, and in the batch regime, the water remains in the canal. The panels are located parallel to the lateral faces of the canal. These panels concentrate the radiation in the canal through reflection. The trapezoidal geometry of the disinfectant canal deflects the radiation and reflects in the direction of the front walls of the canal, radiating what is returned and vice versa. The fraction of the radiation reflected outside the canal reaches the reflective side panels that return the radiation to the canal. The synergy of these three considerations increases the radiation in the canal area, augmenting the elimination of the bacterial load. In the trapezoidal reflective canal without panels, only 5% of the measured radiation exceeded the atmospheric radiation, eliminating 83% of the coliforms. The incorporation of panels surpassed the atmospheric radiation over 36% of the measured radiations, and the removal of coliforms exceeded 99.7%.