Management of somatisers in primary care: are family doctors motivated?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to assess the attitudes of Spanish general practitioners towards somatisers and the degree of involvement that family doctors are ready to adopt in the care of these patients. METHOD: A postal questionnaire on attitudes was sent to a representative sample (n = 135) of general practitioners from two health districts of the region of Aragon. Seventy (51.8%) of them returned usable questionnaires. RESULTS: Most of the general practitioners were interested in the treatment of somatisers and considered that they should be treated at primary care level. However, when specific treatment tasks were proposed, they only accepted to act as a filter to specialised care and to care for patients with chronic functional syndromes. Additionally, they refuse to detect presenting somatisers, to prescribe psychotropic drugs or offer any psychological approach, and to avoid reinforcing abnormal illness behaviour in these patients and their families. These findings can be explained because the main emotions somatisers produce in doctors are frustration and anger. CONCLUSIONS: Family doctors need a lot more help, education and support in the management of somatisers, and psychiatrists need to provide it. Any management program for the treatment of somatisers in primary care should include methods to modify general practitioners' attitudes towards these patients.     

文化与文化的融合——漫谈游戏本地化

我有一个秘密：凡是大家认为容易上瘾的东西，我都很容易着迷，比如：可口可乐、巧克力、上网、视频游戏……甚至还有电影!我属于那种一部电影能看上五十遍、对话能从头背到尾的人。在我多次重温的电影里，有一部叫《终结者2：审判日》。有意思的是。西班牙观众迄今仍然记得的一句最有名的台词是：“沙又那拉，宝贝!”这也是我在解释本地化时最爱举的一个例子。     

Comparison of disodium octaborate tetrahydrate‐based and tannin‐boron‐based formulations as fire retardant for wood structures

Boron‐based formulations are used to improve the service life of timber. On the one hand, boron‐treated wood increases resistance to biological attacks (e.g. by fungi and insects), and on the other hand, it renders wood more resistant to burning. In the present study, we analyse the fire behaviour of some water‐borne formulations containing boron. A completely inorganic formulation (disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT)) is compared with new‐generation tannin‐based wood preservatives in which the flavonoid network is used to fix the boron to wood. The study of the fire behaviour was carried out according to four specific fire tests: (i) dripping; (ii) short‐term exposure; (iii) long‐term exposure and (iv) the limiting oxygen index. The Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) specimens treated with DOT have shown a complete efficacy against fire after all tests were completed. It should also be noted that very positive results have also been achieved by the tannin‐based solutions. DOT has to be preferred when high performance is required, but exclusively for interior applications. The use of tannin‐based formulations can be suitable for outdoor fire protection and also for indoor applications when specific aesthetic requirements should be fulfilled. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The problem of the many minds

It is argued that, given certain reasonable premises, an infinite number of qualitatively identical but numerically distinct minds exist per functioning brain. The three main premises are (1) mental properties supervene on brain properties; (2) the universe is composed of particles with nonzero extension; and (3) each particle is composed of continuum many point-sized bits of particle-stuff, and these points of particlestuff persist through time.

Simultaneous surface plasmon resonance and x-ray absorption spectroscopy

We present an experimental setup for the simultaneous measurement of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) on metallic thin films at a synchrotron beamline. The system allows measuring in situ and in real time the effect of x-ray irradiation on the SPR curves to explore the interaction of x-rays with matter. It is also possible to record XAS spectra while exciting SPR in order to study changes in the films induced by the excitation of surface plasmons. Combined experiments recording simultaneously SPR and XAS curves while scanning different parameters can be also carried out. The relative variations in the SPR and XAS spectra that can be detected with this setup range from 10(-3) to 10(-5), depending on the particular experiment.     

Polymer entrapment in polymerized silicate for preparing highly stable capillary coatings for CE and CE-MS

An easy-to-implement capillary coating strategy based on polymer entrapment in the network of polymerized silicate is described. In this manner, cationic polymers are tightly fixed onto the inner wall of the capillary for electroosmotic flow control without necessitating complex surface modification chemistries. The resulting coated capillary exhibited good stability over a wide range of pH, good reproducibility, strong endurance in more than 300 electrophoretic runs, and tolerance of commonly employed organic solvent additives in CE. Applications in CE-MS analysis of biologically important anions as well as sample enrichment are shown. Additionally, it was used as a durable base for attachment of multiple layers of charged polymers on the wall, via electrostatic interaction with the preceding layer. Thus, two novel types of highly stable coated capillaries, one with anodic EOF and the other cathodic, were developed.     

Body area network for wireless patient monitoring

Patient data monitoring is a key issue for health and disease management. The use of wireless sensors within a body area network (BAN) makes this task seamless and easy. A BAN system is presented, which allows the connectivity of a wide range of heterogeneous body sensors to a portable hub device that is connectable to external networks (IEEE 802.11, GPRS). This BAN is based on the use of Zigbee/IEEE 802.15.4 standard technology and off-the-shelf modules. It is currently being used at the European level for the detection and the prediction of the human physiological state in relation to wakefulness, fatigue, and stress applications in which users carrying out daily activities are monitored in an unobtrusive and comfortable way. Characterised by its low power consumption, low cost, and ability to connect a wide range of heterogeneous sensors, this system can substantially improve the performance of different services, especially those that are health related.     

A sol-gel-derived acetylcholinesterase microarray for nanovolume small-molecule screening

A fluorimetric acetylcholinesterase (AChE) assay was developed and characterized both in solution and with the enzyme entrapped in sol-gel-derived silica. The assay is based on a disulfide-thiol interchange reaction between the intramolecularly quenched dimeric dye BODIPY FL l-cystine and thiocholine generated by the AChE-catalyzed hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine (ATCh), which results in a brightly fluorescent monomeric product owing to the cleavage of the disulfide-coupled form of the dye. The new assay was validated by comparison with the Ellman assay performed under parallel conditions and was used in both kinetic and end point assays. The assay was extended to the fabrication of functional AChE microarrays using contact pin-printing of sol-gel-derived silica. A total of 392 sol-gel formulations were screened for gelation times and 192 of these were further evaluated for array fabrication on four different surfaces using a factor analysis approach. Of these, 66 sol-gel/surface combinations produced robust microarrays, while 26 sol-gel/surface combinations were identified that could produce highly active AChE microarrays. The Z' factor for the on-array assay using an optimal sol-gel/surface combination, which considers both signal variability and difference in signals between positive and negative controls, was determined to be 0.60, which is above the minimum level required for applicability to screening. By overprinting nanoliter volumes of solutions containing the dye, ATCh, and potential inhibitors, these microarrays could be used to screen two libraries of small molecules, one composed of newly synthesized alkaloids and another consisting of ～1000 known bioactive compounds, both as discrete compounds and mixtures thereof, for activity against AChE. IC(50) values were obtained on microarrays for compounds showing significant inhibitory activity, demonstrating the utility of arrays for quantitative inhibition assays.