Search

Background: Risky alcohol consumption (RAC) can lead to alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). Liver cirrhosis caused by ALD continues to increase as alcohol consumption continues unabated. In turn, the elderly are more sensitive to alcohol. Population ageing calls for preventive activities to improve their health. Brief interventions have proven to be cost-effective in addressing risk behaviours. Aim: We aimed to analyse the prevalence of RAC in people > 64 years and to assess the effect of a brief intervention in the subgroup of risky consumers. Methods: population-based study in two phases: (1) Phase I: Cross-sectional, descriptive multicentre study of prevalence of RAC in people > 64 years. (2) Phase II: Cluster randomized, controlled, single-blind, community-based clinical trial with two comparison groups of subjects with RAC, to assess the effectiveness of a brief intervention compared to standard practice in reducing alcohol consumption in primary care. Results: Out of the 932 subjects, 455 (49%) (268 men (64%) and 187 women (36%)) had an alcohol consumption that was considered to be risky. Overall, the brief intervention was effective in reducing alcohol consumption showing 1.8 OR (p = 0.030). That effect was caused by women whose group showed 3.3 OR (p = 0.009). There was no effect on men (p = 0.468). Conclusions: RAC in the elderly is very high, far more in men than in women. A brief intervention was successful in reducing alcohol consumption but not below risk levels. Further research is needed to determine which types of interventions are most effective in this population subgroup.

The term affordance has been inconsistently applied both in robotics and communication. While the robotics perspective is mostly object-based, the communication science view is commonly user-based. In an attempt to bring the two perspectives together, this theoretical paper argues that social robots present new social communicative affordances emerging from a two-way relational process. I first explicate conceptual approaches of affordance in robotics and communication. Second, a model of enacted communicative affordance in the context of Human-Machine Communication (HMC) is presented. Third and last, I explain how a pivotal social robot characteristic—embodiment—plays a key role in the process of social communicative affordances in HMC, which may entail behavioral, emotional, and cognitive effects. The paper ends by presenting considerations for future affordance research in HMC.

The diagnosis of the post-COVID condition is usually achieved by excluding other diseases; however, cognitive changes are often found in the post-COVID disorder. Therefore, monitoring and treating the recovery from the post-COVID condition is necessary to establish biomarkers to guide the diagnosis of symptoms, including cognitive impairment. Our study employs a prospected cohort and nested case–control design with mixed methods, including statistical analyses, interviews, and focus groups. Our main aim is to identify biomarkers (functional and structural neural changes, inflammatory and immune status, vascular and vestibular signs and symptoms) easily applied in primary care to detect cognitive changes in post-COVID cases. The results will open up a new line of research to inform diagnostic and therapeutic decisions with special considerations for cognitive impairment in the post-COVID condition.

Diarrheic diseases account for the annual death of approximately 1.9 million children under the age of 5 years, and it is a major cause of work absenteeism in developed countries. As diarrheagenic bacteria, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) attach to cells in the small intestine, causing local disappearance of microvilli and inducing the formation of actin-rich pedestals that disrupt the intestinal barrier and help EPEC adhere to and infect intestinal cells. Antibiotics and other bioactive compounds can often be found by analyzing traditional medicines. Here a crude aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa, which typically grows in subtropical and tropical areas and is a popular medicinal tisane in many countries, was analyzed for antibacterial activity against EPEC. In standard microdilution assays, the extract showed a minimum inhibitory concentration of 6.5 mg/ml against EPEC growth. Time-kill kinetics assays demonstrated significant 24 h bactericidal activity at 25 mg/ml. The extract is able to impede pedestal induction. Not only did the extract inhibit preformed pedestals but it prevented pedestal induction as well. Remarkably, it also promoted the formation of EPEC filaments, as observed with other antibiotics. Our results in vitro support the potential of Hibiscus sabdariffa as an antimicrobial agent against EPEC.

Unexplained infertility occurs when common causes for a couple’s inability to conceive have been excluded. Although origins of idiopathic infertility are still unclear, factors, such as an altered oxidative balance, are believed to be involved. Melatonin is an outstanding antioxidant reportedly present in the follicular fluid (FF), which has been suggested as a useful tool in the management of human fertility. Herein, we observed that intrafollicular concentrations of melatonin were blunted in women with unexplained infertility (UI), which was associated with a marked oxidative imbalance in UI patients’ FF. Based on these findings, this randomized pilot study was aimed at assessing whether exogenous melatonin ameliorated oxidative stress and improved in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates in UI. Thus, 3 mg/day or 6 mg/day of melatonin were given to UI patients for a period spanning from the first appointment to control ovarian stimulation until the day of follicular puncture. Our results indicate that melatonin supplementation, irrespective of the two doses tested, ameliorated intrafollicular oxidative balance and oocyte quality in UI patients, and that this translated into a slight increase in the rate of pregnancies/live births. Therefore, although the indoleamine has shown therapeutic potential in this clinical setting, larger clinical trials in populations with different backgrounds are encouraged to corroborate the usefulness of melatonin.

Amphotericin B is a low soluble broad-spectrum antifungal agent. Cyclodextrins can be added to amphotericin formulations to enhance both their solubility and antifungal properties. Semisolid amphotericin formulations containing gamma cyclodextrin (AGCD) were prepared and compared with two reference formulations—one of them without any solubility enhancer (A) and the other with DMSO (ADMSO). Rheological, the permeability through hairless mouse skin and antifungal characteristics of the different formulations were evaluated. All three semisolid formulations show low thixotropy characteristics. ADMSO was the formulation with the least consistency, lowest viscosity, and greatest extensibility. The AGCD formulation had the opposite behavior and had both the greatest consistency and viscosity and the lowest extensibility. The lowest permeability was obtained with the reference A formulation while both AGCD and ADMSO had a similar permeability enhancement. According to the antimicrobial in vitro efficacy trials, the AGCD formulation showed 45⁻60% more activity than the reference A formulation. It can be concluded that γ-cyclodextrin is a useful excipient to improve the solubility, permeability, and antifungal activity of amphotericin B in semisolid topical formulations.

AbstractInfiltrations with synthetic substances are effective strategies for repairing facial lipoatrophy. However, few data are available on long-term safety. We describe the safety of polyacrylamide hydrogel in 145 patients who received facial infiltrations with Aquamid from September 2002 to April 2004. Epidemiological, clinical (mainly complications), and psychological data (patient satisfaction) were collected. We also recorded all patients who presented with a local infection at any time after receiving an infiltration. Sixty-two percent of patients presented with severe facial lipoatrophy before infiltration. The cumulative volume of Aquamid injected was 5.5 ml (4–18) per patient. During a mean (SD) of 50.2 (4.3) months after infiltration, only one patient presented with a local infection. Small palpable, nonvisible nodules or indurations were the most frequent complications (19.3% and 6.2%, respectively). If we include the remaining patients from our center (n= 294) who also received Aquamid (although less than 4 years ago), a further three patients presented with a local infection (incidence of 0.9%). Most patients (88.9%) were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the results; patients with mild to moderate baseline facial lipoatrophy were more satisfied than those with severe lipoatrophy (“very satisfied”: 92.7% versus 86.5%, respectively). Only 17.4% reported mild impairment of lipoatrophy and only 9.2% required new infiltrations; however, 76% would have preferred more infiltrations. The high patient satisfaction and the low number of severe complications after at least 4 years of facial infiltrations with Aquamid reflect the long-term safety of this product for the repair of facial lipoatrophy. However, prolonged follow-up of these patients is recommended to detect unexpected long-term adverse reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]