Tanya Camacho

Background. The personal health behaviours and lifestyle habits of health professionals influence their counselling practices related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). There is limited evidence on the prevalence of modifiable NCD risk factors among medical students in South Africa (SA). Objectives. To determine the prevalence of modifiable behavioural and metabolic NCD risk factors in first-year medical students at a SA university. Methods. This cross-sectional observational study included 256 first-year students. Participants completed five online questionnaires regarding lifestyle behaviours (physical activity, dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption and sleep quality). NCD-related metabolic markers including body composition, blood pressure, total cholesterol and random glucose concentrations, were measured. The prevalence of risk factors was calculated using internationally accepted criteria, and sex differences were reported using one-way ANOVA or χ2 test (p<0.05). Results. The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 79.7%, followed by low-to-moderate diet quality (66.8%), low levels of physical activity (64.1%), overweight/ obesity (26.2%), current/past smoking (13.3%) and harmful use of alcohol (12.5%). Most (88.3%) participants had two or more NCD-related risk factors. The prevalence of multiple NCD risk factors differed significantly between male and female participants, with more male participants having ≥2. Conclusions. This study found that first-year medical students at a South African university have a high prevalence of lifestyle-related risk factors, specifically poor sleep quality, low levels of physical activity and low-to-moderate diet quality. Sleep hygiene, regular activity and good nutrition should be promoted, and interventions focusing on nutrition, smoking cessation and alcohol consumption could be targeted by sex.

En este trabajo se discuten las propiedades ópticas y electrónicas de nanomateriales, se analizan sus características fundamentales y su aplicación en el diseño de dispositivos y técnicas para la detección, imagen y terapia, especialmente en problemas de cáncer. Se discuten algunos resultados recientes obtenidos en nuestro laboratorio donde hemos podido medir concentraciones del orden de 10-22 moles de complejos de interés. Reportamos la detección de residuos en sangre de medicamentos del orden de 10-8 y 10-9 molar (M), lo que abre el camino para el monitoreo de fármacos con un enfoque a la implementación de una medicina personalizada. Discutimos resultados de técnicas de terapia con el uso de nanomateriales que han permitido reducir la viabilidad celular por debajo del 10%. Estos resultados muestran que la nanotecnología está cambiando el paradigma en salud a una medicina preventiva, personalizada y al alcance de todos.

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of fatigue on musculoarticular stiffness (MAS) of the ankle joint across sexes. Methods: Twenty‐seven males and 26 females participated in the study. After baseline assessment of MAS and related variables, localised fatigue was induced in triceps surae using the standing heel‐rise test during which the subjects were instructed to lift and drop the heel at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. When subjects were unable to continue due to exhaustion the test was terminated and another MAS test was performed soon after. Results: Significant higher triceps surae MAS was found in men compared to women (p < .01). MAS decreased (p < .01) between pre‐ and post‐fatigue on average from 18.0 to 17.0 KN m⁻¹ and from 14.5 to 13.9 KN m⁻¹ in men and women, respectively. Percentage changes revealed, however, that in relative terms the changes in all the variables evaluated were similar (p > .01) between sexes, with MAS less than 5%. Conclusion: Despite the sex‐related differences at baseline, fatigue seems to affect biomechanical properties of the ankle joint similarly in men and women.