Resumen Antecedentes: El teléfono móvil y cualquier forma de comunicación moderna como la Internet y las aplicaciones de mensajería instantánea se han convertido en herramientas para mejorar la tasa de asistencia a citas médicas. Objetivos: Evaluar la eficacia de los recordatorios para mejorar la adherencia a citas médicas. Métodos: Análisis de revisiones sistemáticas de estudios que comparan la efectividad y las tasas de asistencia a las citas entre los pacientes que reciben o no reciben recordatorios. Además, se realizó un metaanálisis para calcular el efecto global de la asistencia a citas en función de la edad de los pacientes. Resultados: Se identificaron siete revisiones que muestran que los mensajes de texto corto mejoraron la adherencia a las citas médicas. En el metaanálisis, agrupado por edad, se encontró un Odds Ratio de 1,09 (IC 95 %: 1,03 -1,11) en personas entre 24 - 40 años y de 1,09 (IC 95 %: 1,05 - 1,14) para las personas 50 a 63 años, respecto a la asistencia a citas mediante mensajes de texto corto. Conclusiones: El uso de los recordatorios vía mensajes de texto corto presenta un impacto positivo frente a la asistencia de las citas médicas. Sin embargo, al revisar el impacto por grupos de edad no encontramos diferencias.

Abstract Background: Mobile phones and all other forms of modern communication such as the Internet and instant messaging applications have become tools to improve attendance rates for medical appointments. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of reminders to improve adherence to medical appointments. Methods: An overview of studies comparing the effectiveness and attendance rates for medical appointments between patients that did and did not receive reminders. Also, a meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the overall effect of keeping appointments depending on the age of the patients. Results: Seven reviews were identified which show that Short Message Service (SMS) improves adherence to medicai appointments. However, the meta-analysis showed a relative risk of 1,09 (CI 95%: 1,03 -1,11) for people with ages between 24 - 40 and 1,09 (CI 95% 1,05 - 1,14) for people with ages between 50 - 63, with regard to appointment assistance via SMS. Conclusions: The use of SMS reminders has a positive impact on medical appointment attendance. However, while reviewing the impact by age groups no differences were found.

Objetivo Investigar os achados clínico-patológicos de mulheres diagnosticadas com câncer de mama e estudar o impacto do estresse psicológico crônico nas características patológicas desses tumores.Métodos Investigamos uma coorte composta por mulheres diagnosticadas com câncer de mama divididas em dois grupos. O primeiro foi classificado pela apresentação de estresse psicológico crônico (por meio do Self-Reporting Questionnaire− SRQ-20). Outro grupo de mulheres com câncer de mama, mas sem história prévia de estresse psicológico crônico, foi denominado Grupo Controle. Os dados clínicos e patológicos foram avaliados.Resultados As mulheres com histórico de estresse crônico apresentaram-se significativamente acima do peso quando comparadas com o Grupo Controle. Além disso, verificou-se que estas mulheres estressadas apresentaram um porcentual significativo de um subtipo de câncer de mama agressivo, o HER2, o que poderia estar associado à possível perda da imunovigilância.Conclusão Nossos resultados sugeriram uma ligação entre o estresse psicológico crônico, o excesso de peso e o desenvolvimento de tumores de mama com maior agressividade.

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological findings of women diagnosed with breast cancer and study the impact of chronic psychological stress on the pathological characteristics of these tumors.Methods We investigated a cohort composed of women diagnosed with breast cancer and divided into two groups. One group was categorized as presenting with chronic psychological stress (by using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire − SRQ-20). Another group of women with breast cancer, but with no previous history of chronic psychological stress, comprised the Control Group. Clinical and pathological data were assessed.Results Women presenting with a history of chronic distress were significantly overweight when compared to the Control Group. Furthermore, it was observed that these stressed women also had a significant percentage of aggressive breast cancer subtype, the HER2 amplified tumor, which could be putatively associated with the loss of immunosurveillance.Conclusion Our findings suggested an interaction among chronic psychological stress, overweight, and the development of more aggressive breast tumors.

The objective of this study was to evaluate lactose and milk urea nitrogen (MUN) in milk from Holstein cows and their relationship with days in milk (DIM), milk yield, milk fat, milk protein, and somatic cell count (SCC). A total of 1,034 records corresponding to morning and afternoon milkings of 148 Holstein cows were used. Records were taken from 16 herds located in the Northern and Eastern dairy regions of Antioquia (Colombia). The curves were fitted using a generalized additive mixed model with smoothed estimates to find the best smoothing intensity factors involved in MUN and lactose concentration. Regarding MUN, the contemporary group effect was highly significant, but the parity effect was not significant. The DIM, lactose and milk fat smoothed covariates were highly significant, while milk yield and fat and SCC showed no statistical difference. Regarding lactose content, the contemporary group effect was highly significant, while the parity effect was not significant. Days in milk, MUN, milk fat, milk protein, and afternoon-milking SCC smoothed covariates were highly significant, while milk yield and morning-milking SCC were not significant. Lactose and milk urea nitrogen concentrations are affected by various factors throughout lactation, mainly by days in milk.

Torque Teno Virus (TTV) presence was investigated in peripheral blood of 117 brazilian women by nested polymerase chain reaction. TTV DNA was observed in 18.6% of healthy donors and in 24.32% Human Papillomavirus (HPV) patients. TTV presence was also investigated in the HPV positive group for comparison between the cervical cancer and noncancerous patients. TTV DNA prevalence was significantly higher among the HPV positive patients with cervical cancer (57.14%) than in HPV noncancerous patients (16.67%). Thus, the presence of TTV infection could be a risk factor for cancer development in the patients presenting HPV-TTV coinfection. Further studies are required to clarify the TTV influence in HPV pathogenesis.