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Although the Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for breast cancer screening has been adapted and validated in different populations worldwide, a Spanish version for the Latin American population is still not available. The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the Spanish version of the Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for mammograms for use with Mexican women and determine the sociodemographic, clinical, and health belief model variables which influence undergoing a mammogram. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was designed. Participants included 612 women aged 40 years and above who attended a public tertiary hospital. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, from which six factors with adequate loadings were obtained. In addition, Cronbach's alpha was used to obtain a reliability coefficient of 0.68-0.94. To obtain criterion validity, a binary logistic regression analysis was conducted, with the mammogram being the dependent variable and sociodemographic, clinical, and health belief model dimensions being the predictors; perceived benefits was the variable that most influenced the obtaining of mammography. This Spanish version of the Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for breast cancer screening for Mexican women was found to be valid and reliable, which means it could be a useful tool in identifying beliefs surrounding breast cancer screening.

In the work reported in this article, were determined the shielding capabilities of three artisanal bricks used massively in the construction industry in Mexico. The linear attenuation coefficients for photons between 1 keV and 100 GeV are reported; and the half-value layers for energies used in the medical field, show that the three typical artisanal bricks have good shielding capabilities for photons below 50 keV. We compared the effective atomic numbers of one of our bricks against two widely used materials in the construction industry, and our results suggest that the greater the effective atomic number, the less material attenuation capacity. A comparison of the half-value layer of one of our bricks against the half-value layers of two clay bricks with different percentages of fly ash particles published in the literature, suggests that in the region between 0.001 and 2.8 MeV, all the three bricks have practically the same attenuation capacity and that from 2.8 MeV to 100 GeV the clay bricks with different percentages of fly ash particles, need less material to show the same attenuation capacity than our artisanal bricks. Energy Dispersed X-Ray Fluorescence suggests that regardless of the number of constituent elements in a sample, a critical mass per atom is required to have a positive impact on density; and as a consequence, in the capacity of attenuation of the materials. Normalized half-value layers suggest on the other hand, that the uncooked bricks have better shielding capabilities than cooked., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Laparoscopy has become the gold standard technique for appendectomy and cholecystectomy. With the emergence of newer laparoscopic instruments which are roticulating and provide 7 degrees of freedom it is now possible to perform these operations through a single umbilical incision rather than the standard 3-4 incisions and thus lead to more desirable cosmetic results and less postoperative pain. The newer reticulating telescopes provide excellent exposure of the operating field and allow the operations to proceed routinely. Recently, ports [Triports (Olympus surgery)/SILS ports] especially designed for single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) have been developed. We herein describe our experience with laparoscopic single port appendectomies and cholecystectomies in children using the Triport. This is a retrospective cohort study of children who underwent single incision laparoscopic surgery between May 2009 and August 2010 at Texas Children's Hospital and Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston Texas by a single surgeon. Charts were reviewed for demographics, type of procedure, operative time, early or late complications, outcome and cosmetic results. Fifty-four patients underwent SILS. A total of 50 appendectomies (early or perforated) and 4 cholecystectomies were performed using this new minimally invasive approach. The average operative time for SILS/LESS appendectomy was 54 min with a range between 25 and 205 min, while operative time for SILS cholecystectomy was 156 min with a range of 75-196 min. Only small percentage (4%) of appendectomies (mostly complicated) were converted to standard laparoscopy, but none were converted to open procedure. All patients were followed up in the clinic after 3-4 weeks. No complications were noted and all patients had excellent cosmetic results. Parents were extremely satisfied with the cosmetic results. SILS/LESS is a safe, minimally invasive approach for appendectomy and cholecystectomy in children. This new approach is performed in an acceptable operative time with good outcomes and great cosmetic result.