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The Erich Werdermann collection ‘Plantae Chilenses’ held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh constitutes an important set of herbarium specimens from the Chilean flora, and represents over 10% of preserved specimens from Chile in the herbarium. Duplicate sets of specimens were distributed from the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem to a further 15 major international herbaria. Here we provide a description of this collection, highlighting aspects of Werdermann’s journey in Chile. Included are his itinerary and maps showing where the specimens were collected. An important aspect of the paper is to clarify ambiguities concerning label data in order to provide more accurate detail for researchers using Werdermann’s specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Outcomes-based education is a trend in medical education and its assessment is one of the main challenges. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is one of the tools used to assess clinical competencies. Although Chilean medical schools have used OSCEs for 18 years, there is a vast variability in the way these examinations are administered., Aim: To design and implement an integrated OSCE to assess clinical competencies at the end of the medical program in Chilean medical schools, aiming to reduce variability between these schools., Material and Methods: Seven medical schools, supported by experts from the National Board of Medical Examiners, designed a 12 station OSCE to measure clinical outcomes at the end of the seventh year of medical training. Unlike traditional OSCEs, this new examination incorporated the assessment of clinical reasoning and communication skills, evaluated from patients' perspective., Results: One hundred twenty-five volunteers took the same exam at five different venues. The internal consistency was 0.62. Following a compensatory approach, 85% of students passed the exam. Communication assessment showed poorer results than those reported in the literature., Conclusions: Among Chilean medical students, the assessment of clinical outcomes in a collaborative way, through a valid and reliable exam, is feasible. A consensus on how to teach and assess clinical reasoning across the medical curriculum is required. The assessment of students' communication skills requires further development.

Background: It is currently unknown which is the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers in Chile, but this group has been described as at higher risk of developing active tuberculosis than general population., Objectives: To determine the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in a sample of healthcare workers from at risk areas., Methodology: A cross-sectional, descriptive study, conducted in health care workers from clinical laboratories or respiratory care areas in four hospitals in Santiago. Latent tuberculosis infection detection was determined by Quantiferon® TB Gold In Tube testing (QFT)., Results: QFT resulted positive in 20 of 76 (26.3%) of the individuals tested. Test positivity reached 62.5% among the personnel that reported history of past TB contact in the community, 50% among the personnel who belonged to the national tuberculosis control program and 38% among those doing induced sputum, acid fast smear or mycobacterial cultures. The proportion of individuals with positive QFT was significantly lower in those personnel who had no such risk factors (15.7%, p = 0.03). The proportion of latent tuberculosis infection also increased in direct relation to the age of the subject., Conclusion: Latent tuberculosis infection as detected by QFT testing was highly prevalent in healthcare workers included in the present study. Further exploring the limitations and possible scenarios for this new diagnostic tool is needed, with emphasis on health personnel at higher-risk and younger individuals.

The diagnosis and treatment of sore throat in pediatric patients attending one of two facilities at a university hospital: pediatric ambulatory facility (PAF) and emergency unit (EU) in a period of 14 months are described. There were 421 patients at the PAF and 289 at the EU, of whom 65% and 76% were studied for Streptococcus pyogenes respectively. Streptococcus were detected in both centers in 37% of cases, with a peak detection of 50% at ages 6 to 10 years. There were 217 patients without any bacteriological study, of whom 162 (75%) received antibiotics. The importance of bacteriological confirmation prior to antibiotic prescription in this disease is emphasized.

A total of 107 Mapuche Indians living in western Argentina were studied with respect to 16 genetic systems. For HLA, there were a few differences in relation to previous studies; and considering the averages observed in 15 other South American tribes, Mapuche Indians showed low values for A2, A9 and C3, but high ones for A28 and B16. This is the first report of the presence (in low frequencies, 1-6%) of alleles C2, C6 and C7, as well as of DR antigens (most frequent alleles DR4 and DR2) in South American Indians. Some peculiar reactions shown by products of locus B suggest the presence of antigens that are characteristic of the Mapuche. As for the other systems, the frequencies of R1 (Rh) and PGM1(1) were lower but those for r (Rh), GLO1 and Hp1 were higher than the averages obtained considering previous studies of this ethnic group. Other salient findings were the variability observed in the PGM2 and C3 systems, and the low prevalence of Bfs.