Reference intervals of biochemical parameters in Chilean adults.

Background: Establishing reference intervals (RIs) in clinical laboratories is essential, as these can vary due to inter-individual variability as well as the analytical methods used. The purpose of this study was to determine RIs for markers and ratios biochemical in apparently healthy Chilean adults.

Methods: A sample of 1,143 data was selected from the Universidad Católica de Temuco, Clinical Laboratory database, La Araucanía Region, Chile, which were analysed by sex.

Prison officers in Latin America: quality of life, working conditions and main difficulties.

Although the number of empirical studies on prison inmates in Latin America has increased in recent years, an aspect that still remains little studied is the situation of prison workers. This article analyzes the labor situation of prison officers in Latin America, and considers their working conditions, quality of life and the problems that affect them, in a region marked by precarious, overcrowded and violent prison systems. To do so, a systematic review of articles published in Spanish or Portuguese on the Scielo platform between 2000-2021 was carried out.

Inmate-on-Inmate Prison Violence in Chile: The Importance of the Institutional Context and Proper Supervision.

In this article, using a quantitative approach, we analyze interpersonal, inmate-on-inmate physical violence in Chilean prisons, using administrative records on collective violence, provided by the Prison Service for the period 2014 to 2017. Violence behind bars is problematic as it threatens inmates' fundamental rights such as personal safety but also because it undermines efforts to maintain an environment prone to inmates' social reintegration. Our data showed a sharp increase in the number of collective fights, from 808 in 2014 to more than 4,000 in 2017.

Associations of maternal and adolescent religiosity and spirituality with adolescent alcohol use in Chile: Implications for social work practice among Chilean social workers.

To inform social work practice with adolescents who may consume alcohol, we examined if alcohol use among Chilean adolescents varied as a function of their mothers' and their own religiosity and spirituality. Data were from 787 Chilean adolescents and their mothers. Adolescent spirituality was a protective factor against more deleterious alcohol use.

Ecological factors and adolescent marijuana use: results of a prospective study in Santiago, Chile.

Purpose: Despite the growing evidence that ecological factors contribute to substance use, the relationship of ecological factors and illicit drugs such as marijuana use is not well understood, particularly among adolescents in Latin America. Guided by social disorganization and social stress theories, we prospectively examined the association of disaggregated neighborhood characteristics with marijuana use among adolescents in Santiago, Chile, and tested if these relationships varied by sex.

Methods: Data for this study are from 725 community-dwelling adolescents participating in the Santiago Longitudinal Study, a study of substance using behaviors among urban adolescents in Santiago, Chile.

Alcohol consumption among Chilean adolescents: Examining individual, peer, parenting and environmental factors.

Aims: This study examined whether adolescents from Santiago, Chile who had never drunk alcohol differed from those who had drunk alcohol but who had never experienced an alcohol-related problem, as well as from those who had drunk and who had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem on a number of variables from four domains - individual, peers, parenting, and environmental.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Community based sample.

The association of recreational space with youth smoking in low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile.

Objectives: This study examines the relationship of neighborhood recreational space with youth smoking in mid- to low-income areas in the capital of Chile, Santiago.

Methods: A unique data set of adolescents (n = 779, mean age = 14, 51 % male) provided home addresses of study participants which were geocoded and mapped. Satellite maps of neighborhoods were used to identify open spaces for recreational use (e.

[Neighborhood Systematic Social Observation; The Case of Chile and its Perspectives for Social Work.].

The study of neighborhood characteristics and their effects on individuals has become an area of increasing attention by scholars from various disciplines in developed countries. Although there are various methods to study neighborhoods and their impact on human populations, one of the most used is the Systematic Social Observation -Observación Sistemática de Vecindarios (OSV), in Spanish-because it allows the collection of information about various features of the physical, social, environmental and economic characteristics of neighborhoods. The purpose of this article is to (i) briefly present some research on neighborhood effects influential in the U.