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La fauna silvestre selecciona hábitats antropógenos como consecuencia ecológica del éxodo rural: ejemplos empíricos de España Uno de los principales componentes del cambio global en todo el mundo es el aumento de la urbanización del territorio. Sin embargo, es desconcertante que la fauna silvestre seleccione hábitats antropógenos a pesar de que existan hábitats seminaturales (modificados con menor intensidad) aparentemente de buena calidad. Todavía no existe una explicación definitiva para este proceso. Se ha sugerido con anterioridad que la colonización de los hábitats urbanos se produce en una primera fase a causa de procesos ecológicos que tienen lugar fuera de las zonas urbanas, como consecuencia del éxodo rural del pasado. Para respaldar esta idea, en este estudio presentamos una serie de ejemplos en los que diversas especies de fauna silvestre de España seleccionan varios tipos de hábitats antropogénicos (infraestructuras de transporte, zonas de acceso restringido, zonas urbanas en construcción, ciudades, embalses, canteras y vertederos) por razones asociadas al despoblamiento del rural. La fauna silvestre está saliendo de sus refugios ecológicos y está perdiendo el miedo a los humanos inofensivos de las zonas urbanas. Los mesodepredadores están repuntando debido a la liberación del mesodepredador y al cese de la persecución humana, y la vegetación espontánea está volviendo a colonizar los antiguos hábitats agrícolas. Estos factores obligan a muchas especies a desplazarse a zonas urbanas donde encuentran hábitats abiertos, alimento asociado a estos hábitats y protección contra la depredación. Por consiguiente, el balance de costes y beneficios en el seno de las zonas urbanas, sería en realidad un segundo componente del proceso. Entender mejor los factores iniciales que desencadenan la colonización del medio urbano podría ayudarnos a dar más valor biológico para la fauna silvestre a los hábitats creados por los seres humanos.

Basándonos en las nuevas poblaciones descubiertas del tríclado Pentacoelum hispaniense aportamos nuevos datos ecológicos, reproductivos, cariológicos y anatómicos de la especie, incluyendo la primera descripción de la anatomía externa. Estos animales presentan tres manchas dorsales refringentes de naturaleza y función desconocidas. El complemento cromosómico diploide consta de 14 cromosomas. La especie parece restringida a masas de agua relativamente cálidas de tierras bajas, donde puede ser encontrada en hábitats heterogéneos. Su reproducción es exclusivamente sexual mediante la producción de capullos. El presente estudio recoge la primera cita de un digenio parasitando un tríclado del grupo de las marícolas, en el estadio de metacercaria.

Los proyectos de monitoreo de aves han proporcionado datos valiosos para el desarrollo de indicadores biológicos que evalúan el estado de los hábitats naturales y agrícolas; sin embargo, los avances han sido menores en los ambientes urbanos. En este estudio se utilizaron los datos del monitoreo de aves de dos ciudades climáticamente diferentes (Bruselas y Barcelona; período 2002–2010) para generar dos indicadores urbanos multiespecíficos que valorasen las tendencias temporales en la abundancia del conjunto de las aves urbanas. Para hacer esto, utilizamos dos enfoques conceptuales distintos, uno basado en una lista de especies de amplia distribución en las ciudades europeas (WSEC) y otro basado exclusivamente en especies de amplia distribución a nivel de ciudad (WSC), independientemente de las aves de otras ciudades. Los dos indicadores dieron un patrón general similar, aunque un 3% de diferencia entre ellos en cuanto a los valores de cambio promedio anual se encontró en ambas ciudades. Esto sugiere que los valores producidos por los indicadores urbanos pueden diferir dependiendo de la aproximación conceptual y, por tanto, por la lista de especies utilizada para generarlos. Ambos indicadores pueden tener su propio interés y pueden ser tratados como complementarios.

The present work desctibles the exchange of dissolved mercury at levels below 1 ~/g, including the ionic species Hg+2 and CH3Hg+ on the chelating resin SUMICHELATE g-10R. The expetimental assays by batch and column were programmed to determine the ion-exchange kinetics. interferent effects of other cations and the effectiveness of the desorption solution. The results indicate that the resin has preferential exchange for mercury ions over Ca++ and Mg++ ions, without significant differences between the ionic species Hg+2 or CH3Hg+. The recovery of dissolved mercury by desorption from the resin by the acidified solution of thiourea reached the following values; 93.4% Hg+2 and 96.9% CH3Hg+2 by column, while 94.2% Hg+2 and 95.6% CH3Hg+2 by batch. The preferential selectivity of the resin and the high recovery of thiourea make this approach a viable alternative for the quantitative analysis of mercury dissolved in water at trace levels below 1 ~/g.

Unlabelled: In Spain, the Therapeutic Community (TC) constitutes a common model of treatment in the field of addictions, although there hardly exists any investigation about its efficiency and the persistence of its attainments., Aims: To evaluate the short, half and long term effects of treatment of addiction to alcohol or cocaine in the TC run by "Fundacion Salud y Comunidad" (Foundation Health and Community)., Design: descriptive pilot study, with a sequential design of cohort. 91 users completed a survey specifically designed to know their evolution at different follow-up periods (1, 3, 5 or 10 years after their exit from the TC): socio-demographic, psychoactive substance use, other variables related to the stay at the TC. Changes between before the TC and the present time regarding variables such as academic, labour, drug consumption, health, family and social adaptation and their criminal behaviour are described., Results: the cohorts showed a relatively common previous socio-demographic pattern having received a similar treatment. The users reported to have diminished the frequent consumption of the main drug, having 48.9% never relapsed even through an occasional consumption of the drug/s. Also they perceived to have improved their health and family relations, as well as their aggressive behaviour and legal problems linked with their consumption of drug/s., Conclusions: after their rehabilitation in a TC, the users report a global decrease of the consumption of drugs and perceive an improvement of their health, family relations, violence and other problems linked to their former drug use.

Objective: to present the areas of research in the School of Nursing at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile between 2001 and 2004, as well as presenting a new proposal for increased impulse in nursing research., Methodology: development was carried out in four phases: I. Evaluation of current scientific production through the revision of the organization's annual plans; II. Analysis of information provided by key informants; III Literature review and group work with academics from the organization; IV. Triangulation of information., Results: sixty per cent of the scientific production in the School of Nursing at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile between 2001 and 2004 could not be organized within the determined areas or lines of research for those years. Diverse proposals were elaborated in order to allow academics to incorporate themselves into the new areas of research avoiding dispersion and centralizing common strengths among existing projects. After the triangulation of information, three new areas of research were created: 1. Formation of human resources in health, 2. Nursing Care Management and 3. Strengthening of clinical nursing., Conclusions: it is suggested that researchers from the SON-UC orient their work towards those areas identified, which will contribute to strengthening research and improving both internal and external visibility of the academic entity; attracting new resources for research.

Unlabelled: AIDS infected patients receive care at home; a family member assumes the caregiver role and takes health decisions that affect the person's life. It is important to know the conflicts that the families are confronting in relation to health decision making, in order to plan intervention strategies according with their real needs. This is a descriptive study, in which a sample of 38 family caregivers of AIDS persons receiving ambulatory care at the Clinica Familia, were used for this research. An O'Connor and Jacobsen instrument was used for this study., Conclusions: the family caregivers are women, the majority of them are mothers that live with their sick son or daughter, and who had assumed the role at least for 2 years. The family caregivers have conflicts about to continuing or not caring for the sick person, and of telling others about the disease. The family caregivers are in one of the phases of the changing process. Consequently, they are receptive to helping strategies that must be based in interventions oriented to listening and supporting, more than just providing information.

Introduction: Less than half of all subjects display a normal configuration of the Circle of Willis, according to anatomical studies. Variations of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) such as duplication or accessory MCA are infrequent but nevertheless have important clinical implications. We report the case of two patients with these variations of the MCA and their repercussions in the management of acute stroke are discussed., Case Reports: Case 1: a 53 year old male with a 2 hour history of sensory motor syndrome; a transcranial Doppler (TCD) scan revealed asymmetrical speeds in the MCA. Spontaneous perforation of the MCA was suspected and we therefore decided to perform a magnetic resonance angiography scan before administering fibrinolytics. The magnetic resonance angiography scan showed an accessory MCA lying ipsilateral to the lesion. We interpreted the anomalies in blood flow detected in the TCD recording as being secondary to this anatomical variation and not due to reperfusion. Following the magnetic resonance angiography study, the possibility of fibrinolysis was ruled out. The patient recovered the neurological deficit in a matter of hours. Case 2: a 21 year old female with headaches and transient hemiparesis, who was diagnosed as suffering from migraine with aura. Later, following another stroke, it was shown that the previous clinical symptoms had been secondary to intracranial dissection with embolism in the lenticulostriate arteries and ischemic infarction in that territory. A magnetic resonance angiography scan showed duplication of the ipsilateral MCA., Conclusions: The double vascularisation of the hemisphere in cases of anatomical duplication can give rise to strokes with a better progression and prognosis, despite the occlusion of one of the MCA. The presence of anatomical variations of the MCA can lead to mistaken interpretations of the transcranial Doppler scan and may affect decision making as regards the therapy to be employed in patients with acute stroke.

Introduction: Chloroquine is a drug that is widely used in rheumatology and occasionally prescribed in dermatology. From a neurotoxicological point of view, chloroquine can have effects on the peripheral nerves, muscles, neuromuscular junctions and the central nervous system. In this study we analyse the clinical, neurophysiological and anatomopathological findings in two patients with chloroquine induced neuromyopathy, which took the form of a polyradiculoneuropathy., Case Reports: Case 1: a 75 year old female with rheumatoid arthritis treated with daily doses of 250 mg of chloroquine for four years. The patient visited because of several months history of predominantly proximal progressive tetraparesis with areflexia. Analytical tests and lumbar puncture were normal. Electromyogram (EMG): proximal myopathic and distal neuropathic patterns. Muscular biopsy: vacuolar myopathy with accumulations of phagolysosomes, lipids, lipofuscin, myelinic curvilinear bodies. Case 2: a 74 year old female with arthropathy treated with daily doses of 250 mg of chloroquine for nine months. The patient presented a progressive proximal paraparesis with generalised areflexia. Analytical tests and lumbar puncture were normal. EMG: mixed sensory motor polyneuropathy, myogenic pattern with high frequency discharges in the iliac psoas and a neurogenic pattern in the distal muscles. Muscular biopsy: vacuolar myopathy suggesting a myopathy due to chloroquine. After stopping treatment with this drug the patients progressed favourably., Conclusion: Chloroquine can induce a clinical pattern that suggests a polyradiculoneuropathy. It is important to establish a history of having taken this drug. If this is indeed the case, then an electromyographic study of the most proximal muscles should be performed in order to detect a myogenic pattern and the same exploration should be applied to the distal muscles to reveal a neurogenic pattern. The final diagnosis will be established by muscular biopsy.

Changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) are well established in acute ischemic stroke of arterial origin. However, ADC behaviour and its prognostic significance in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) are not fully understood. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) findings in a 34-year old woman with deep cerebral venous thrombosis are described. Recent literature concerning DWI and cerebral venous thrombosis is also reviewed. A MRI performed within 7 hours from onset revealed hyperintensities in deep grey matter bilaterally (FLAIR/T2), without changes in ADC maps, suggesting vasogenic edema. After anticoagulation a new MRA disclosed complete recanalization of venous thrombosis. Despite her good clinical outcome the MRI showed hemorrhagic lesions suggesting venous infarct. Lesions detected in acute CVT with DWI may have normal ADC values. There is no good correlation between the acute ADC values and clinical and radiological evolution. The prognostic value of ADC in the acute phase of CVT remains unsettled.

Background: Chronic inhalation of glues containing n-hexanes produces neurofilament (NF) accumulation which induces sensory-motor polyneuropathy. In vitro assays have shown this toxic substance causes intermediate filaments (IF) aggregation in non-neuronal cells., Objective: To describe intermediate filament changes in human pathology due to n-hexanes., Patients and Methods: Sural nerve and skin biopsy samples from 2 patients who suffered from a severe sensory-motor polyneuropathy after prolonged inhalation of glue containing n-hexane were examined with electron microscopy and vimentin and phosphorylated NF immunocytochemistry., Results: Abnormal accumulations of NF and NF-immunoreactive products occurred in nerve fibers and increased numbers of fibrils were observed in endoneurial endothelial cells of the sural nerve. In addition, abnormal vimentin-immunoreactive deposition was seen in fibroblasts and capillaries of the skin. The present results suggest that high doses of n-hexane cause a diffuse IF disorder in a similar form as occurs in giant axonal neuropathy., Conclusion: IF aggregation can occur in non-neuronal cells in humans, as has been previously proved in in vitro experiments. The presence of IF accumulations in Schwann cells, as seen in the ultrastructural examination, together with the electrophysiological findings showing an early decrease of sensory and motor nerve conduction velocities, suggests the existence of a primary myelinic disorder associated with axonal damage.

Background: In 1993, WHO and UNICEF recommended the administration of 0.05 ml doses of BCG, instead of 0.1 ml, to newborns. This recommendation was adopted by the Chilean Ministry of Health, using the Mérieux vaccine. Subsequently, different Health Services detected a high percentage of children without BCG scar at the time of their growth and development control., Aim: To assess the efficacy of BCG vaccination in a double blind randomized fashion, using two vaccine types and different doses., Patients and Methods: Newborns of two public hospitals of Santiago were randomly assigned to receive the Tokio or Mérieux BCG strains in doses of 0.05 or 0.1 ml. Ninety five to 125 days after vaccination, vaccine scar was measured and inmunogenicity was assessed using the tuberculin test., Results: Six hundred newborns (150 in each group) were included in the protocol and results were assessed in 408. The percentage of children with a PPD reaction of 0 mm was 9.3, 3.7, 7.8 and 0% with the Mérieux vaccine in doses of 0.1 ml, Tokio vaccines in doses of 0.1 ml, Mérieux vaccine in doses of 0.05 ml and Tokio vaccine in doses of 0.05 ml, respectively. In the same groups the scar diameters were 6.4 +/- 3.4, 7.3 +/- 2.7, 5.6 +/- 2.8 and 7.3 +/- 2.9 mm. The observed differences for each group are significant, depending on the type of strain and dose, but favoring the Tokio type of vaccine., Conclusions: The BCG scar diameters obtained in this study are similar to those obtained in previous works in 1984 and 1986. This scar is the evidence of vaccination that nurses detect in health controls. Therefore the use of 0.1 doses for vaccination, that result in better scars and PPD response, is recommended.

In patients with HIV infection, disease due to CMV depends on reactivation of the virus. Such reactivation usually occurs at an advanced stage of the disease, when there is severe immunodepression and the CD4+ leukocyte count is < 100/ml. CMV infection is seen clinically as three syndromes: 1) encephalitis with or without associated meningitis and/or ventriculitis. 2) polyradiculomyelitis affecting the lumbosacral roots, and 3) multifocal senso-motor neuropathy. Diagnosis depends on showing the virus to be present in the CSF, by detecting the early CMV antigen or by conventional culture. There are marked differences between encephalitis, polyradiculomyelitis and multifocal neuropathy in the rentability of viral culture. Whilst in encephalitis CMV culture is negative in most patients, in polyradiculomyelitis the sensitivity of viral culture may be 50-60% and in multifocal neuropathy 15%. The treatment indicated is with ganciclovir or foscarnet. Results depend on the type of neurological disease, degree of involvement when treatment is started and an history of extracerebral CMV infection previously treated with these drugs.

Three patients who had had epilepsy since the second decade of life were studied with cranial magnetic resonance (MR). Two patients had no antecedents of interest during pregnancy and the perinatal period and neurological examination was normal. The third patient had had dystocia and presented left hemiparesia since then, with normal intellectual development. None of the cases had any family history of neurological disease. Cranial magnetic resonance was performed in the three patients demonstrating polymicrogyria in two and ulegyria in the other, in addition to other lesions. The first patient presented an unilateral area of polymicrogyria related with a porencephalic cyst in the distal territory of the right sylvian artery and ipsilateral heterotopia of periventricular location. The second patient presented bilateral periventricular heterotopia, partial agenesis of the corpus callosum and an enlarged cisterna magna in addition to bilateral frontal-occipital polymicrogyria. Finally, ulegyria was observed in the third patient in the edges and neighboring regions of a right rolandic porencephalic cyst, as well as an enlarged cisterna magna.

A prospective study was conducted to estimate the current magnitude of adherence to short-course tuberculosis treatment, the degree of abandonment, the characteristics of treatment dropouts, and the causes of this abandonment. The study group was made up of tuberculosis patients over the age of 15 who received care at the Western and Southern Health Services of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, between 1 October 1987 and 31 January 1988. The percentage abandoning treatment, calculated by the life table method, was 11.5. The profile of patients who dropped out of treatment was as follows: male, under 45 years of age, single, low level of education, no steady work, homeless, and alcoholic. In addition, an opinion survey on the variables associated with abandonment was conducted and it was concluded that the main ones were alcoholism and intolerance to tuberculosis drugs. Awareness of this profile makes it possible to take measures to prevent patients from abandoning treatment, as well as to educate and even hospitalize at the start of treatment those tuberculous patients exhibiting such a profile.

In the necropsy exam of the brains of 13 patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) cerebrovascular lesions were seen in 5 cases, three of them having AIDS encephalopathy. Hyalinosis was noted in 3 cases, and endarteritis obliterans and fibrinoid necrosis in one case each; both of them had associated perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates. Cerebral infarction was observed in one case, but no hemorrhages were seen. The neuropathological anomalies in four children affected with the AIDS are reported too, being an extensive calcified vasculopathy and changes suggesting active AIDS encephalopathy the main findings.