Más de 400 instalaciones de cobre antimicrobiano en todo el mundo

¿Sabías que…

v … las superficies de cobre antimicrobiano eliminan los gérmenes que causan enfermedades como la gripe o la gastroenteritis?

v … hay estudios que demuestran que el uso de superficies de cobre antimicrobiano reduce en un 58% el riesgo de adquirir una infección durante una estancia hospitalaria?

v … en estos momentos, hay más de 400 instalaciones de cobre antimicrobiano en todo el mundo, en lugares con un gran tránsito de personas, como hospitales, aeropuertos, estaciones de tren y metro, centros de enseñanza, oficinas o zonas comunes de edificios residenciales?

Scientists discover response to anxiety linked to movement control areas in brain

Researchers have discovered that the response to anxiety in teenagers may include not only the parts of the brain which deal with emotions (the limbic system), as has been long understood, but also movement control centres in the brain, which may be associated with movement inhibition when stressed (“freezing”). This is a small longitudinal study, presented at the ECNP conference in Vienna.

A group of Italian and Canadian researchers have followed a selection of socially anxious and control group children from childhood to adolescence.  The researchers tested 150 children at the ages of 8/9, for signs of social inhibition. Some of these were shown to have early signs of social anxiety, and showed an increased tendency to withdraw from social situations. They also had more difficulty in recognising emotions, and particularly angry faces.

The anxious children, plus controls, were then followed into adolescence. At the ages of 14-15 they were tested again to see if signs of social anxiety had developed. The researchers also used fMRI brain scans to test how the teenage brains responded to angry facial expressions.

As lead researcher, Laura Muzzarelli said:

“We found that when presented with an angry face the brain of socially anxious adolescents showed increased activity in the amygdala, which is the brain area concerned with emotions, memory and how we respond to threats. Surprisingly, we also found this produced inhibition of some motor areas of the brain, the premotor cortex. This is an area which ‘prepares the body for action’, and for specific movements. This is the first hard proof that strong emotions produce a response in brain areas concerned with movement. Adolescents who don’t show social anxiety tend not to show the inhibition in the movement centres. We don’t yet know how this inhibition feeds into movement – it may be that this has something to do with why we sometimes ‘freeze’ when we are frightened or under strong emotional stress, this still has to be tested. What it does give us is a possible explanation for some motor inhibition associated with emotional stress.

We need to acknowledge that there are some limitations to this work. We started this 6-year study with 150 children, but by the time we reached adolescence we had narrowed down the field to just 5 children with social anxiety, and 5 with less severe (subthreshold) social anxiety, so it’s a small sample”.

Social Anxiety is a mental health condition characterised by excessive fear and avoidance of the judgement of others. It is the most common anxiety disorder, affecting around 6% to 8% people during their life*, meaning around 50m** Europeans are affected by the condition. It can occur at any age, but most commonly the onset is in adolescence, with early signs already visible during infancy. In early stages, social anxiety can be mistaken for shyness. 

Study measures changes in psychosocial attitudes after beer drinking

What does drinking beer really do? A new study has shown that drinking beer affects the way we see specific emotions and allows us to see happy faces faster. It also has surprising effects on sexual perception. These results* are presented at the ECNP Conference in Vienna, with simultaneous publication in the peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology.

Although the vast majority of adults have direct experience of drinking alcohol, there is surprisingly little scientific data on the effects of alcohol on the processing of emotional social information or on sexual arousal, and no data on the effects of alcohol on empathy. Now researchers from the University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, have attempted to answer some of the questions around the way alcohol alters the way we relate to others, and how alcohol affects sexual arousal.

In a double-blind, random-order, cross-over study, researchers enlisted  60 healthy participants (30 men, 30 women)  aged between 18 and 50.They then gave 30 of them a glass of alcoholic beer (0.5L depending on body weight and sex). This raised their blood alcohol content to around 0.4 g/L Thirty control subjects were given non-alcoholic beer.

The subjects then underwent a range of tasks, including a face recognition test, empathy test, and sexual arousal test. At the end of the tests, the subjects and controls were switched and the process repeated. The main results they found were:

·         Drinking beer helps people see happy faces faster.

·         It also increased the tendency to want to be with others in a happy social situation

·         These effects were greater in women than in men, but were also greater in those who had previously shown some social inhibition

·         It made it easier for people (especially women) to view explicit sexual images, but it didn’t seem to lead to greater sexual arousal

The researchers also found that ‘before and after’ levels of the hormone oxytocin did not change. (oxytocin is thought to mediate aspects of social cognition and is involved in bonding).

Lead researcher, Professor Matthias Liechti (University Hospital, Basel) said:

“The effect of many medications and substances of abuse have been tested on various tests of emotion processing and social cognition. However, although, many people drink beer and know its effects through personal experience there is surprisingly little scientific data on its effects on the processing of emotional social information. We found that drinking a glass of beer helps people see happy faces faster, and enhances concern for positive emotional situations. Alcohol also facilitates the viewing of sexual images, consistent with disinhibition, but it does not actually enhance sexual arousal. These effects of alcohol on social cognition likely enhance sociability”.

Commenting, Professor Wim van den Brink (Amsterdam), past Chair of the ECNP Scientific Programme Committee, said:

“This is an interesting study confirming conventional wisdom that alcohol is a social lubricant and that moderate use of alcohol makes people happier, more social and less inhibited when it comes to sexual engagement. The sex differences in the findings can either be explained by differences in blood alcohol concentration between males and females with the same alcohol intake, differences in tolerance due to differences in previous levels of alcohol consumption or by socio-cultural factors. It should also be recognized that different effects of alcohol can be seen according to whether your blood alcohol is increasing or decreasing, and of course how much alcohol you have taken.  Finally, as Shakespeare noted**, alcohol-related emotions and cognitions as studied are not always consistent with actual behaviors”.

* See notes for editors for full conference abstract and publication information

** “It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.” (Macbeth Act 2. Scene 3) [4].

Research funded By the University Hospital Basel.

  

Las búsquedas en Internet permiten detectar pandemias y predecir el número de casos de gripe en tiempo real

·      Un informe de la VIU sostiene que el Big Data (Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, entre otras), es capaz de adelantarse dos semanas de media a los datos de organismos públicos

·       

·      Plataformas como Wikipedia han permitido predecir con precisión el número de casos de gripe con una diferencia de apenas 0,27% con respecto a los datos oficiales

·      Los riesgos naturales afectan a más de 40 millones de europeos y a más de 276 millones de personas en Latinoamérica

Hormone EPO shown to improve brain sharpness in patients with depression and bipolar disorder

A study has found that EPO (erythropoietin) – best known as a performance-enhancing drug in sport – may improve cognitive functioning in patients suffering from bipolar disorder or depression. This raises hope for the first long-term treatment for this problem, which affects hundreds of millions of patients throughout the world. The work is presented today at the ECNP conference in Vienna*.

The hormone EPO, mostly produced by the kidney, is essential for the production of red blood cells. EPO gives the blood a greater capacity to carry oxygen, and it is this characteristic which makes it attractive as a performance-enhancing drug (the cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted to using EPO to improve physical performance). Medically, recombinant EPO is used for the treatment of anaemia.

Most people think of disorders such as bipolar disorder and depression as conditions which affect mood, but in reality they also affect cognitive function - how quickly and how well a brain functions. This slow-down in thinking can have serious effects on sufferers, making it more difficult to retain a job, pass an exam, or maintain a relationship. Now a group of Danish Scientists have discovered that EPO can help restore cognitive function in patients suffering from these mental disorders.

In two randomized controlled trials, the researchers assessed cognitive function in 79 patients suffering from depression or bipolar disorder. They assigned 40 of the patients to be given EPO for 9 weeks, with the remaining 39 being given a placebo. They found that EPO had beneficial effects on patients’ completion of a range of cognitive tests, including tests on verbal memory, attention span, and planning ability. Tests showed that this improvement was maintained for at least 6 weeks after treatment finished (the longest follow-up time in the trials). 

Lead researcher, Dr Kamilla Miskowiak said:

“EPO treated patients showed a five times greater cognitive improvement from their individual baseline levels compared with placebo treated patients. EPO-treated patients showed 11% improvement while placebo treated patients improved only by 2%. This effect of EPO on cognition was maintained six weeks after patients had completed their treatment”.

In an interesting twist, it was found that patients who performed poorly in neuropsychological tests showed remarkably greater cognitive benefits when given EPO. Dr Miskowiak, commented:

“This is interesting, as it means that we may be able to target patients for EPO treatment –and perhaps other future cognition treatments - based on how they do on neuropsychological tests”.

She continued

“We need bigger studies to confirm that the effects we have seen can be replicated, to confirm dosage, frequency of use and so on. EPO is already used medically, so we know quite a lot about safety. Although EPO is generally safe if patients’ red blood cell levels are controlled regularly, there are certain groups for whom the risk of blot clots is too high – for example people who smoke or who have previously had blood clots. So although these results hold out great promise, EPO treatment is not ready to be rolled out as a treatment just yet and may not be for everyone”.

The WHO estimates that around 350 million people suffer from depression, with a further 60 million suffering from bipolar disorder**, but the drugs normally used to treat depression and bipolar disorders don’t have any major effect on cognition. Up to 70% of patients in remission from bipolar disorder, and up to 40% in remission from depression continue to have cognitive problems. Currently there is no available effective treatment to target cognitive problems in these patients.

Commenting, Professor Eduard Vieta (Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Barcelona Hospital Clinic and treasurer of the ECNP) said:

“The results of this study, albeit preliminary, give hope to people suffering from mood disorders and associated neurocognitive symptoms. Those symptoms are now recognized as a core part of affective disorders and are not appropriately tackled by the currently available pharmacological armamentarium, despite their close association with relevant clinical outcomes such as the ability to return to work”.

La mayoría de las infecciones transmitidas por vía sexual son prevenibles

Las Infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) continúan siendo a nivel nacional e internacional un importante motivo de preocupación en el ámbito de la salud pública. Esta preocupación se basa en la existencia hoy día de más de 30 agentes patógenos bacterianos, víricos y parasitarios, de éstas,  “ocho se han vinculado a la máxima incidencia de enfermedades de transmisión sexual. De esas 8 infecciones 4 son actualmente curables, a saber, la sífilis, la gonorrea, la clamidiasis y la tricomoniasis. Las otras 4 –hepatitis B, virus del herpes simple (HSV o herpes), VIH y virus del papiloma humano (VPH)– son infecciones virales incurables, aunque existen tratamientos capaces de atenuar o modificar los síntomas o la enfermedad”, según reconoce la OMS.

Transmisión y magnitud

Las ITS se propagan predominantemente por contacto sexual, incluidos el sexo vaginal, anal y oral. Pero además, pueden pasar de madre a hijo durante el embarazo o el parto, así como a través de productos sanguíneos o transferencia de tejidos.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud afirma que cada día más de 1 millón de personas contraen una ITS en el mundo. La educación y el asesoramiento suponen el primer escalafón en el abordaje de las ITS. “Pero además, es preciso realizar un diagnóstico y tratamiento precoz para conseguir que las ITS no sean un problema de salud pública tan importante, tanto por su morbilidad como por sus complicaciones y secuelas que suponen, tales como la enfermedad inflamatoria pélvica, infertilidad, embarazo ectópico, cáncer de cerviz,  entre otras”, reconocen los dermatólogos José de la Torre y Laura Padilla que coordinan esta consulta.

Consulta monográfica

Por ello, el equipo de Dermatología del Hospital Nisa Sevilla-Aljarafe, dirigido por la doctora Gracia del Río Piñero, considera útil la puesta en marcha de una consulta monográfica destinada al diagnóstico, tratamiento y pevención de infecciones de transmisión sexual que se manifiestan a nivel genital y peri/endoanal como las úlceras, donde se tiene en cuenta un diagnostico e instauración precoz de un tratamiento adecuado; Sífilis; Herpes simple; Exudado, con un cribado de los principales agentes infecciosos tales como C. Trachomatis, N. Gonorrhoeae, U. Urealyticum o M. Genitalium; Uretritis; Proctitis; Cervicitis; Vulvaginitis, donde se trata de  ve el prurito y exudado a nivel vaginal y vulvar de difícil control y tratamiento; Y la afectación anogenital por infección por el Virus del Papiloma Humano.

El equipo de Dermatología compartirá sesiones clínicas con las áreas de Ginecología Medicina Interna, Urgencias, Cirugía General y Urología.

El mercado farmacéutico crece un 6,1% en agosto

 Los datos de agosto arrojan un buen balance para el mercado farmacéutico, según se desprende de las cifras del informe de hmR España, que recogen un crecimiento del 6,1% en comparación con el mismo mes del año anterior, resultante de un incremento en todos los segmentos: genéricos (5,2%), Consumer Health (4%) y marca (7,4%), así como en el mercado de prescripción, que registra una subida de 6,9%.

Si se tiene en consideración el acumulado de los últimos 12 meses, el total del mercado farmacéutico crece un 3,2%.  Por su parte, si se considera el acumulado de los últimos doce meses, este análisis también destaca crecimientos generalizados tanto en prescripción (3,1%), con los genéricos a la cabeza (5,5%) y en medicamentos de marca (2,5%), como en Consumer Health (3%). 

Por comunidades autónomas, solo el segmento de genéricos se queda en negativo en Cantabria, Extremadura y Castilla y León, que registra también un ligero descenso en el mercado de prescripción. El resto del mapa luce valores en positivo en el que solo cabe destacar como excepción un descenso del 2,6% del Consumer Health en Madrid que, sin embargo, ha experimentado un notable crecimiento en Murcia y Cantabria, con un 13,9% y un 11%, respectivamente.

Un análisis provincial de los datos acumulados desde enero permite afirmar que hay siete provincias en las que el mercado de genéricos supone más de un 20% del mercado total, algo que ocurre en Jaén, Huelva, Zamora, Ávila, Palencia, Segovia y Soria, mientras que en Consumer Health ya supone más de un 30% en Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Málaga, Granada, Baleares, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Almería, Girona, Córdoba, Tarragona, Guipúzcoa y Navarra.

  

GSK lidera la cuota de mercado en España con un 5,3% de las ventas en agosto, seguida por Cinfa (3,6%), Sanofi (3,4%), Pfizer (3,1%) y Boehringer Ingelheim (2,8%).