[Alarming signals: Worsening obesity, physical inactivity and high perception of stress in first-year medical and dental students in Chile].

Background: The high prevalence of obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity in Chile despite government-sponsored measures and campaigns, along with others in the last 30 years, suggests additional reinforcement of these efforts at the primary care level.

Objectives: To determine if lifestyles and modifiable health risk factors in first-year students from the University of Chile Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry, potential future promoters of healthy lifestyles, show changes throughout their first academic year.

Methods: In a randomized stratified sample of 388 students according to sex and chosen career weight, height, waist circumference, waist circumference-weight ratio, food consumption, smoking prevalence and dependence, alcohol use, perceived stress level, and physical activity were measured at the first week, 3 and 6 months after their admission.

Clinical, Socioeconomic, and Psychosocial Factors Associated with Blood Pressure Control and Adherence: Results from a Multidisciplinary Cardiovascular National Program Providing Universal Coverage in a Developing Country.

Background: Limited information exists on blood pressure (BP) control factors and adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy (Rx) in developing countries.

Methods: Cross-sectional study in randomly selected 992 hypertensive patients under a Chilean national comprehensive Cardiovascular Health Program (CVHP). Association of education, income, diabetes, obesity, physical activity, psychosocial characteristics, smoking, and alcohol abuse with BP control and adherence were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression.

Sex Differences in Acute Myocardial Infarction Hospital Management and Outcomes: Update From Facilities With Comparable Standards of Quality Care.

Background: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) sex disparities in management and outcomes have long been attributed to multiple factors, although questions regarding their relevance have not been fully addressed.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify current factors associated with sex-related AMI management and outcomes disparities in hospitals with comparable quality care standards.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 299 women and 540 men with AMI discharged in 2013 from 3 southern California hospitals with tertiary cardiac care.

Update on quality of care in Hispanics and other racial-ethnic groups in the United States discharged with the diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction in 2013.

Background: Disparities in Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) care and outcomes have been frequently reported in racial-ethnic minorities in the U.S. Some studies have attributed disparities in Hispanics and other minorities to lower quality of services at hospitals where they seek care.

Spin crossover in iron(II) complexes with ferrocene-bearing triazole-pyridine ligands.

In the search for new multifunctional spin crossover molecular materials, here we describe the synthesis, crystal structures and magnetic and photomagnetic properties of the complexes trans-[Fe(Fc-tzpy)2(NCX)2]·CHCl3 where Fc-tzpy is the ferrocene-appended ligand 4-(2-pyridyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-ylferrocene, X = S (1) and X = Se (2). Both complexes display thermal- and light-induced (LIESST) spin crossover properties characterised by T1/2 = 85 and 168 K, ΔS = 55 and 66 J K(-1) mol(-1), ΔH = 4.7 and 11.

[Influence of psychosocial factors on adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy: results from a Cardiovascular Health Program cohort followed in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile].

Background: Inadequate blood pressure control in hypertensive patients remains a persistent health problem in Chile and worldwide. Poor adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy is one of the frequently cited factors.

Objectives: To determine the influence of psychosocial factors in the adherence to drug therapy in hypertensive patients followed through a Cardiovascular Health Program (CHP) that provides free access to primary care centers located in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile.

Do gender and race/ethnicity influence acute myocardial infarction quality of care in a hospital with a large Hispanic patient and provider representation?

Background. Disparities in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care for women and minorities have been extensively reported in United States but with limited information on Hispanics. Methods.

Changing trends in the prevalence and disparities of obesity and other cardiovascular disease risk factors in three racial/ethnic groups of USA adults.

Objectives. To examine trends in the prevalence and disparities of traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among the major race/ethnic groups in the USA: non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs), and Mexican Americans (MAs). Methods.

Overcoming barriers in the management of hypertension: the experience of the cardiovascular health program in chilean primary health care centers.

Objective. To assess the blood pressure control and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) in a population of hypertensive patients with access to care under a government-financed program, the Cardiovascular Health Program (CHP). Design.

Does the epidemiologic paradox hold in the presence of risk factors for low birth weight infants among Mexican-born women in Colorado?

Objectives: To test whether foreign-born status confers a protective effect against low birth weight (LBW) outcomes among Mexican-origin women in Colorado.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study utilizing Colorado birth records from 1989-2004 for multivariate logistic regression analysis. The study population was 66,422 U.

Synthesis, structural charaterization, and electrochemical and optical properties of ferrocene-triazole-pyridine triads.

The synthesis and electrochemical, optical, and cation-sensing properties of the ferrocene-triazole-pyridine triads 3 and 5 are presented. Azidoferrocene 1 and 1,1'-diazidoferrocene 4 underwent the "click" reaction with 2-ethynylpyridine to give the triads 3 and 5 in 81% and 68% yield, respectively. Electrochemical studies carried out in CH(3)CN in the presence of increasing amounts of Zn(2+), Ni(2+), Cd(2+), Hg(2+), and Pb(2+) metal cations, showed that the wave corresponding to the ferrocene/ferrocenium redox couple is anodically shifted by 70-130 mV for triad 3 and 167-214 mV for triad 5.

Stagnant in cardiovascular prevention: alarming trends and persistent socioeconomic obstacles.

Recently it has been suggested that the decline in cardiovascular mortality observed over the last 50 years may be coming to an end. This alarming trend, which has been noted mainly in younger adults from lower socioeconomic strata, may be linked to other changes, namely the increasing prevalence of modifiable risk factors, the most important of which is obesity. In contrast, our ability to predict cardiovascular risk continues to improve steadily, although it is unclear which will be its ability in designing more effective global preventive measures.

Early life and adult socioeconomic influences on mortality risk: preliminary report of a 'pauper rich' paradox in a Chilean adult cohort.

Purpose: The inverse relationship between early life and adult socioeconomic measures and mortality risk has been well established in developed countries, but remains practically unexplored in Latin American societies. The setting was Chile; the study included 11,600 adults living in the urban center of San Francisco de Mostazal. This was a prospective cohort study of a weighted random sample of 795 subjects followed up during 8 years.

[Modifiable cardiovascular risk factors: which ones are we really modifying?].

While efforts to identify the underlying mechanisms that lead to endovascular atherogenesis continue, the clinical management of the modifiable cardiovascular risk factors should depend on the most advantageous risk-benefit and cost-effective therapies. However these efforts probably will not have a significant impact in the population at risk unless an improvement in the socioeconomic factors of cardiovascular risk occurs. The ongoing global obesity epidemic reinforces the need for these changes.

Psychometric testing of the Immigrant Barriers to Health Care Scale: Hispanic Version.

Barriers to care contribute to health inequities for immigrant populations. Although inadequate health insurance is a known barrier, other factors impact the issue. Few instruments exist to specifically measure these other barriers.

A click-generated triazole tethered ferrocene-pyrene dyad for dual-mode recognition of the pyrophosphate anion.

The ferrocene-pyrene dyad 3 is able to selectively sense the pyrophosphate anion. The anion recognition was evaluated using electrochemistry, (1)H NMR, as well as fluorescence spectroscopy. The binding event can be inferred from either the redox-shift (DeltaE(1/2) = -100 mV) or the emission intensity ratio of the pyrene monomer to the excimer emission bands in both the neutral and oxidized forms of the receptor upon complexation.

A multiresponsive two-arm ferrocene-based chemosensor molecule for selective detection of mercury.

The preparation, electrochemical, electronic, and cation sensing properties of an indole-ferrocene-indole triad, are presented. A salient feature of this new structural motif is that the redox-active organometallic fragment is linked to the indole rings by unsaturated nitrogen functionalities. Triad behaves as a highly selective dual-redox and chromogenic chemosensor molecule for Hg(2+) cations: the oxidation redox peak is anodically shifted (DeltaE(1/2) = 210 mV), and the low energy band of the absorption spectrum is red-shifted (Deltalambda = 120 mm), upon complexation with this metal cation.

MRI analysis of the size and shape of the oropharynx in chronic whiplash.

Objectives: To quantify differences in the size/shape of the oropharynx between female subjects with whiplash and controls.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Methods: A total of 113 subjects (79 whiplash, 34 controls) were included.

[Socioeconomic and educational inequities as independent predictors for mortality in a developing country: A cohort study in San Francisco, Chile].

Background: The socioeconomic position (SEP) and educational level of individuals have an inverse correlation with mortality in developed societies.

Aim: To assess in a society undergoing a socioeconomic transition, the mortality risk associated to a low SEP (combination of education and income, scale 0-25 points, reference > 10 points) and low education (education years, reference > 8 years), adjusting for other known risk factors.

Material And Methods: In this prospective cohort study, a random sample of 920 subjects, living in San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile, aged more than 20 years (395 males) was examined for the first time in 1997-1999 and re-examined in 2005-2006.

Objective firmness, average pressure and subjective perception in mattresses for the elderly.

For elderly people, the desirable situation of living independently means facing everyday tasks and risks alone [Monk et al., 2006. Towards a practical framework for managing the risks of selecting technology to support independent living.

Popperian epidemiology and the logic of bi-conditional modus tollens arguments for refutational analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Popperian epidemiology is a biomedical science tool based on the hypothesis-deductive method and the falsifiability of scientific hypotheses. This article explores the applicability of the refutationist logic tools in the analysis of a randomised controlled trial (RCT), the randomised Aldactone evaluation study (RALES). This was carried out by using bi-conditional modus-tollens arguments of the type (i) P-then-Q(n) and (ii) Q(n)-If-X(P), X(P) being a set of potential falsifiers of Q(n) as part of the explicit falsity-content of P.

Randomized controlled trial of telephone case management in Hispanics of Mexican origin with heart failure.

Background: Disease management is effective in the general population, but it has not been tested prospectively in a sample of solely Hispanics with heart failure (HF). We tested the effectiveness of telephone case management in decreasing hospitalizations and improving health-related quality of life (HRQL) and depression in Hispanics of Mexican origin with HF.

Methods And Results: Hospitalized Hispanics with chronic HF (n = 134) were enrolled and randomized to intervention (n = 69) or usual care (n = 65).

Changes over 6-months in health-related quality of life in a matched sample of Hispanics and non-Hispanics with heart failure.

Hispanics are a growing ethnic minority in the United States and one at significant risk for heart failure. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is poor in individuals with heart failure, especially during and immediately following hospitalization. No prior research into the HRQL of Hispanics with heart failure was located.