Improvements in habitability and housing satisfaction after dwelling regeneration in social housing complexes. The RUCAS study.

Housing is a pressing problem worldwide and a key determinant of health and wellbeing. The right to adequate housing, as a pillar of the right to an adequate standard of living, means more than a roof to live under. Adequate means the dwelling must fulfill material functions and psychosocial functions, thus contributing to dwellers health and wellbeing.

["My life will be much better than before": a qualitative study on the relationship between renewal of public housing, quality of life, and health].

The objective was to understand the link between housing, health and quality of life in a context of social housing regeneration, through the experiences and perceptions of its inhabitants, exploring the mechanisms that sustain this link before regeneration, and those elements derived from housing regeneration that result in improvements in quality of life and potentially in health. Between 1980 and the 2000s, Chile faced a massive quantitative housing deficit through a policy that delivered more than 120,000 low-cost social housing apartments. Today, thousands present severe habitability problems, generating negative consequences for their inhabitants, their health and well-being.

[Developing tools to study the health impact of urban transformations in high vulnerability contexts: the RUCAS study].

This article describes the design and characteristics of a questionnaire and an intradomiciliary observation tool developed to assess the housing-neighborhood-health relationship both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in the context of urban transformations carried out in populations of high socio-territorial vulnerability. The instruments were developed for the multi-method longitudinal study RUCAS (Urban Regeneration, Quality of Life and Health), a natural experiment aiming to assess the quality of life and health impact of a comprehensive Urban Regeneration Program in two social housing complexes in Chile. The design of the instruments followed four main stages: (1) narrative review of the literature to define the dimensions of the study, and of existing measurement instruments to identify appropriate items for measuring them; (2) content validation with experts; (3) pre-test; and (4) pilot study.

The Regeneración Urbana, Calidad de Vida y Salud - RUCAS project: a Chilean multi-methods study to evaluate the impact of urban regeneration on resident health and wellbeing.

Background: The available evidence of the health effects of urban regeneration is scarce In Latin America, and there are no studies focused on formal housing that longitudinally evaluate the impact of housing and neighborhood interventions on health. The "Regeneración Urbana, Calidad de Vida y Salud" (Urban Regeneration, Quality of Life, and Health) or RUCAS project is a longitudinal, multi-method study that will evaluate the impact of an intervention focused on dwellings, built environment and community on the health and wellbeing of the population in two social housing neighborhoods in Chile.

Methods: RUCAS consists of a longitudinal study where inhabitants exposed and unexposed to the intervention will be compared over time within the study neighborhoods (cohorts), capitalizing on interventions as a natural experiment.

Biomechanical responses of young adults with unilateral transfemoral amputation using two types of mechanical stance control prosthetic knee joints.

Background: Prosthetic knee joint function is important in the rehabilitation of individuals with transfemoral amputation.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the gait patterns associated with two types of mechanical stance control prosthetic knee joints-weight-activated braking knee and automatic stance-phase lock knee. It was hypothesized that biomechanical differences exist between the two knee types, including a prolonged swing-phase duration and exaggerated pelvic movements for the weight-activated braking knee during gait.

Long-term clinical evaluation of the automatic stance-phase lock-controlled prosthetic knee joint in young adults with unilateral above-knee amputation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clinically evaluate the automatic stance-phase lock (ASPL) knee mechanism against participants' existing weight-activated braking (WAB) prosthetic knee joint.

Method: This prospective crossover study involved 10 young adults with an above-knee amputation. Primary measurements consisted of tests of walking speeds and capacity.

Targeting of astrocytic glucose metabolism by beta-hydroxybutyrate.

The effectiveness of ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting against neurological disorders has brought interest to the effects of ketone bodies on brain cells. These compounds are known to modify the metabolism of neurons, but little is known about their effect on astrocytes, cells that control the supply of glucose to neurons and also modulate neuronal excitability through the glycolytic production of lactate. Here we have used genetically-encoded Förster Resonance Energy Transfer nanosensors for glucose, pyruvate and ATP to characterize astrocytic energy metabolism at cellular resolution.

Single-cell imaging tools for brain energy metabolism: a review.

Neurophotonics comes to light at a time in which advances in microscopy and improved calcium reporters are paving the way toward high-resolution functional mapping of the brain. This review relates to a parallel revolution in metabolism. We argue that metabolism needs to be approached both in vitro and in vivo, and that it does not just exist as a low-level platform but is also a relevant player in information processing.

Channel-mediated lactate release by K⁺-stimulated astrocytes.

Excitatory synaptic transmission is accompanied by a local surge in interstitial lactate that occurs despite adequate oxygen availability, a puzzling phenomenon termed aerobic glycolysis. In addition to its role as an energy substrate, recent studies have shown that lactate modulates neuronal excitability acting through various targets, including NMDA receptors and G-protein-coupled receptors specific for lactate, but little is known about the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the increase in interstitial lactate. Using a panel of genetically encoded fluorescence nanosensors for energy metabolites, we show here that mouse astrocytes in culture, in cortical slices, and in vivo maintain a steady-state reservoir of lactate.

Imaging mitochondrial flux in single cells with a FRET sensor for pyruvate.

Mitochondrial flux is currently accessible at low resolution. Here we introduce a genetically-encoded FRET sensor for pyruvate, and methods for quantitative measurement of pyruvate transport, pyruvate production and mitochondrial pyruvate consumption in intact individual cells at high temporal resolution. In HEK293 cells, neurons and astrocytes, mitochondrial pyruvate uptake was saturated at physiological levels, showing that the metabolic rate is determined by intrinsic properties of the organelle and not by substrate availability.

Small is fast: astrocytic glucose and lactate metabolism at cellular resolution.

Brain tissue is highly dynamic in terms of electrical activity and energy demand. Relevant energy metabolites have turnover times ranging from milliseconds to seconds and are rapidly exchanged between cells and within cells. Until recently these fast metabolic events were inaccessible, because standard isotopic techniques require use of populations of cells and/or involve integration times of tens of minutes.

Fast and reversible stimulation of astrocytic glycolysis by K+ and a delayed and persistent effect of glutamate.

Synaptic activity is followed within seconds by a local surge in lactate concentration, a phenomenon that underlies functional magnetic resonance imaging and whose causal mechanisms are unclear, partly because of the limited spatiotemporal resolution of standard measurement techniques. Using a novel Förster resonance energy transfer-based method that allows real-time measurement of the glycolytic rate in single cells, we have studied mouse astrocytes in search for the mechanisms responsible for the lactate surge. Consistent with previous measurements with isotopic 2-deoxyglucose, glutamate was observed to stimulate glycolysis in cultured astrocytes, but the response appeared only after a lag period of several minutes.

High resolution measurement of the glycolytic rate.

The glycolytic rate is sensitive to physiological activity, hormones, stress, aging, and malignant transformation. Standard techniques to measure the glycolytic rate are based on radioactive isotopes, are not able to resolve single cells and have poor temporal resolution, limitations that hamper the study of energy metabolism in the brain and other organs. A new method is described in this article, which makes use of a recently developed FRET glucose nanosensor to measure the rate of glycolysis in single cells with high temporal resolution.

[Chilean experience with the use of 18F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography].

Background: Clinical oncology is the main application of 18F-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET).

Aim: To evaluate the first 1,000 patients studied with FDG PET in Chile.

Material And Methods: Retrospective analysis of 1,000 patients (aged between 1 and 94 years, 550 females) studied with FDG PET, since 2003.

[Use of positron-emission tomography with F18-fluorodeoxyglucose for the assessment of lung lesions suspicious of malignancy].

Positron-emission tomography (PET) with F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is very helpful in the evaluation and management of lung lesions. It is specially useful for the characterization of solitary nodules, for the staging, evaluation of recurrence and therapeutic response in non-small cell lung cancer, for the evaluation of small cell lung cancer and for the assessment of pulmonary metastases. This article is a literature review on PET with FDG in lung cancer.