[Nurses' workload in hemodialysis units].

Background: Knowing nurses' workload in hemodialysis units allows a better organization of human resources.

Aim: To determine nurses' workload according to dependence and risk profiles of patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis.

Material And Methods: One hundred fifty one patients from five hemodialysis units were selected and categorized in terms of dependence and risk using the instrument "Care according to dependence and risk in hemodialysis (CUDYR-DIAL).

[Depression and self-perceived burden of care by hemodialysis patients and their caregivers].

Objective: To determine the depressive symptoms, perceived social support, and self-perceived burden in chronic hemodialysis (CHD) patients; identify depressive symptoms and degree of fatigue in caregivers of CHD patients; evaluate-in patients-the association between self-perceived burden and perceived social support, and between self-perceived burden and depressive symptoms; and evaluate-in caregivers-the relationship between the number of years of care and the degree of fatigue reached.

Methods: A sample of 162 patient-caregiver pairs was selected in which an adapted version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, along with the Self-perceived Burden Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Fatigue Severity Scale were applied. The instruments were administered to patients by trained research assistants and, in the case of the caregivers, were self-administered.

Activity of increased specific and non-specific esterases and glutathione transferases associated with resistance to permethrin in pediculus humanus capitis (phthiraptera: pediculidae) from Argentina.

Enhanced metabolism by oxidative enzymes is a major cause of pyrethroid resistance in insects. In this work, we evaluated the role of specific and non-specific esterases in head louse populations from Buenos Aires with different levels of resistance to permethrin. As esterase activity is substrate-dependent, four different esters were used as unspecific substrates in order to obtain a better characterization of the possible role of these enzymes in the resistance phenomenon.

7-Coumaryl permethrate and its cis- and trans-isomers as new fluorescent substrates for examining pyrethroid- cleaving enzymes.

New esterase substrates were synthesized using cis-, trans- and cis-trans-permethrinic acid chloride and then used to measure pyrethroid-cleaving enzymes in insects. The new substrates, namely cis-, trans- and cis-trans-7-coumaryl permethrates (7-CP), show a structure very similar to permethrin insecticide and yield fluorescent products on hydrolysis. These substrates were hydrolyzed by a commercial porcine preparation that provided esterase-specific activity, and were stable at different pH values (5.

High resistance to pyrethroid insecticides associated with ineffective field treatments in Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from Northern Argentina.

Field populations of Triatoma infestans Klug were collected during 2002 from four villages in northern Argentina (El Chorro, La Toma, El Sauzal, and Salvador Mazza), after application of deltamethrin and other pyrethroids was ineffective. High levels of resistance to the pyrethroid insecticides deltamethrin, beta-cypermethrin, beta-cyfluthrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin were detected in all of the evaluated populations. The resistance ratio to pyrethroids determined by topical application ranged from 50.

Role of enhanced detoxication in a deltamethrin-resistant population of Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) from Argentina.

Deltamethrin and other pyrethroids have been extensively used in Argentina since 1980, for the chemical control of Triatoma infestans Klug (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Recently, resistance to deltamethrin was detected in field populations by the survival of bugs exposed by topical application to the diagnostic dose estimated on the CIPEIN susceptible strain. Results of the current study showed low resistant ratios (RRs) to deltamethrin for the resistant populations (RR ranged from 2.