BackgroundAnti-viral treatment has been used to treat severe or progressive illness due to pandemic H1N1 2009. A main cause of severe illness in pandemic H1N1 2009 is viral pneumonia; however, it is unclear how effective antiviral treatment is against pneumonia when administered >48 hours after symptom onset. Therefore, we aimed to determine how time from symptom onset to antiviral administration affected the effectiveness of antiviral treatment against pneumonia due to pandemic (H1N1) 2009.Methods/Principal FindingsA retrospective medical chart review of 442 patients was conducted in a hospital in Mexico. Subjects had tested positive for pandemic H1N1 2009 virus by real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction and were administered oseltamivir. Median time from symptom onset to oseltamivir administration was 5.0 days (range, 0–43). 442 subjects, 71 (16.1%) had severe pneumonia which required mechanical ventilation, 191 (43.2%) had mild to moderate pneumonia, and 180 (40%) did not have pneumonia. Subjects were divided into four groups based on time to oseltamivir administration: ≤2, 3–7, 8–14, and >14 days. Severity of respiratory features was associated with time to treatment, and multivariate analysis indicated that time to oseltamivir administration was associated with severity of respiratory features. A proportional odds model indicated that 50% probability for occurrence of pneumonia of any severity and that of severe pneumonia in patients who would develop pneumonia reached at approximately 3.4 and 21 days, respectively, after symptom onset. Patients with a shorter time to oseltamivir administration were discharged earlier from the hospital.ConclusionsEarlier initiation of oseltamivir administration after symptom onset significantly reduced occurrence and severity of pneumonia and shortened hospitalization due to pandemic H1N1 2009. Even when administered >48 hours after symptom onset, oseltamivir showed considerable potential for reducing pneumonia. Application of these results would benefit patients affected by future influenza pandemics.

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Three organic mulches were evaluated: pine sawdust, sugar cane dry-bagasse, rice chaff, along with two plastic coverings: Black plastic, gray plastic and a relative control. Trifluralin was applied in pre-sowing. Hilling was applied 15 days-after treatment and weeds were controlled manually 50 days-after treatment. Seedings from Peto 98 were obtained from a greenhouse. A completely randomized block design with four repetitions was used. The higher incidence of weeds was found when using organic mulches this affected the yields of fruits. The higher return was obtained with the plastic coverings.

Introduction: Compassionate Mindfulness (APC, according to the term in Spanish) is defined as the awareness that arises through paying attention to the present moment, without judging experiences and generating actions motivated by the aspiration to free oneself and others from suffering. Currently the effectiveness of this type of treatment has gained relevance in the context of nicotine addiction treatment. Objective: to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention based on APC as a treatment for smoking cessation in the Mexican population. Method: a randomized clinical trial was implemented involving 62 people recruited from a specialized smoking cessation clinic in Mexico City. These people were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: the control group received the treatment provided regularly at the clinic, while the experimental group received an APC-based treatment. Results: at the end of the treatment, participants who received the APC-based treatment were more likely to quit smoking (OR = 4.33, p .025, IC 95% 1.2-15) and they also displayed greater benefits to their mental health in some of the variables evaluated. Discussion and conclusion: APC is an effective intervention for smoking cessation in Mexican patients, since it has important benefits to the patient’s general mental health, and it is important to continue exploring its effects on both the maintenance of abstinence and relapse of tobacco consumption.

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The present study evaluated the effectiveness of Behavioral Activation (BA) on women smokers with depression and anxiety symptoms who received multi-component treatment for smoking cessation. Forty-nine women were randomly assigned to two groups. 1) experimental: BA and varenicline and 2) control, cognitive behavioral therapy for smoking cessation and varenicline. Both treatments were applied in 10 twice-weekly. The Beck Depression Inventory II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Fasgeström Test, Smokerlyzer® piCO monitor for carbon monoxide breath tests, and the Behavioral Activation Scale for Depression were used. Project-by-Project Analysis (PPA) was carried out with bivariate logistic regression, including only those who had completed the treatment and follow-ups. In the second, Intention-to-Treat Analysis (ITA) used the Kaplan-Meier non-parametric method and the Log Rank Test for all those initially randomized. The results showed that the abstinence rate with the BA treatment was higher than for the cognitive behavioral treatment for smoking cessation. Furthermore, BA loss was lower than with the standard treatment. We therefore conclude that BA + varenicline was effective from the end of the smoking cessation treatment to the six-month follow-up.