A B S T R AC TThis paper analyses the evaluation of residential care from the perspective of the adolescents in care. Twelve discussion groups were carried out in 12 different centres in Catalonia (Spain). A total of 66 adolescents aged between 16 and 18 years of age participated. The data contributed by the discussion groups were analysed and categorized using descriptive analysis matrices. Most notable from the results is that the majority of those interviewed call for increased emotional involvement from the social workers, more contact with their families and re-educational intervention within their families, which renders the return to these possible within a shorter period of time. Data provided by the adolescents lead us to reconsider the concept of optimum professional distance and to suggest replacing it with optimum professional proximity; this would be based on emotional involvement and not on emotional distance, although not on emotional dependence either.

Special properties of laser light have led to its usefulness in many applications in therapy. Excitation of endogenous chromophores in biotissues and generation of free radicals could be involved in its biological effects. DNA lesions induced by free radicals are repaired by base excision repair pathway. In this work, we evaluated the expression of APE1 and OGG1 genes related to repair of DNA lesions induced by free radicals. Skin and muscle tissues of Wistar rats were exposed to low-intensity infrared laser at different fluences and frequencies. After laser exposition of 1 and 24 h, tissue samples were withdrawn for total RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and evaluation of APE1 and OGG1 gene expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Data obtained show that laser radiation alters the expression of APE1 and OGG1 mRNA differently in skin and muscle tissues of Wistar rats depending of the fluence, frequency, and time after exposure. Our study suggests that low-intensity infrared laser affects expression of genes involved in repair of DNA lesions by base excision repair pathway.

A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted in screening for breast cancer. The use of conventional mammography, digital and magnetic resonance imaging were compared with natural disease history as a baseline. A Markov model projected breast cancer in a group of 100,000 women for a 30 year period, with screening every two years. Four distinct scenarios were modeled: (1) the natural history of breast cancer, as a baseline, (2) conventional film mammography, (3) digital mammography and (4) magnetic resonance imaging. The costs of the scenarios modeled ranged from R$ 194.216,68 for natural history, to R$ 48.614.338,31, for screening with magnetic resonance imaging. The difference in effectiveness between the interventions ranged from 300 to 78.000 years of life gained in the cohort. The ratio of incremental cost-effectiveness in terms of cost per life-year gains, conventional mammographic screening has produced an extra year for R$ 13.573,07. The ICER of magnetic resonance imaging was R$ 2.904.328,88, compared to no screening. In conclusion, it is more cost-effective to perform the screening with conventional mammography than other technological interventions.

Civil construction's workers are one of the most risk groups to the occupational cancer. The purpose was to identify these workers knowledge about skin cancer and describe protection/prevention measures adopted by them. This is a descriptive and qualitative nature research, developed with 50 workers of a great load building site firm at municipal district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Data was collected through a form. From descriptive and statistical analysis, the results showed that the protection measures adopted by workers to avoid skin cancer are insufficient; moreover, they are not used in an aligned way with the literature. The most important necessary change relates to ife styles and access to information and knowledge about skin cancer. Thus, nursing's interventions along the Worker's Health stuff can contribute to the implementation of preventive measures against occupational cancer.

The biostimulative effect of low-intensity lasers is the basis for treatment of diseases in soft tissues. However, data about the influence of biostimulative lasers on gene expression are still scarce. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of low-intensity infrared lasers on the expression of actin mRNA in skin and muscle tissue. Skin and muscle tissue of Wistar rats was exposed to low-intensity infrared laser radiation at different fluences and frequencies. One and 24 hours after laser exposure, tissue samples were withdrawn for total RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis and evaluation of actin gene expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The data obtained show that laser radiation alters the expression of actin mRNA differently in skin and muscle tissue of Wistar rats depending of the fluence, frequency and time after exposure. The results could be useful for laser dosimetry, as well as to justify the therapeutic protocols for treatment of diseases of skin and muscle tissues based on low-intensity infrared laser radiation.

IntroductionThe prevalence of common mental disorders among medical students is globally high. However, medical students tend to seek less professional help to treat their mental health issues. Hence, ways have been devised to reduce emotional stress in this population.ObjectiveThe current study uses positive psychology techniques to increase subjective well-being (SWB) in order to reduce symptons of common mental disorders (CMD) in medical students (MS).MethodsThe study comprised two groups: intervention group (n = 37) and control group (n = 32). Throughout seven weeks, the intervention group had meetings focused on emotions, mental health of medical students, gratitude, appreciation, optimism, resilience, qualities and virtues. The control group attended conventional medical psychology classes (psychosomatic aspects in clinical illness, for example).ResultsThe intervention group presented average increase by 2.85 points in the positive emotions scale; average increase by 2.53 points in the satisfaction-with-life scale; and average decrease by 1.79 points in the SRQ-20 scale, when it was compared to the control group. The intervention effect size was moderate.ConclusionUse of techniques to increase SWB may reduce CMD in MS, even if these techniques do not diminish negative emotions.

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Irradiated rat hearts show simultaneous elevations in renin-angiotensin system components AT1 and ACE and cardiac remodeling markers proc-I and TGF-ß1.