Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Introduction: The history of breastfeeding is as old as the history of mankind. Breast milk has been the only food that the newborn and the small infant could receive to survive during all the existence of the human being.  It was observed that 33,2% of the infants younger than 6 months received exclusive breastfeeding in Cuba, in 2014. Objective: To characterize exclusive breastfeeding behavior according to biosocial factors in "Aleyda Fernández Chardiet" Teaching Polyclinic, La Lisa Municipality, in the year 2015. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was conducted. The universe of study was composed of 182 mothers of children who were born in the health area during the study period.  Distribution of frequencies, and percentage calculations were carried out. Results: 49,5% of mothers maintained exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months.  Only 34,2% of mothers with secondary school education maintained exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. Conclusions:Almost half the mothers maintained exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months.  The following biosocial factors predominate in those mothers in whom exclusive breastfeeding lasted less than 6 months: younger than 20 years of age, secondary school education, students, primiparas, single, and mothers from severe dysfunctional families. Insufficient milk availability in the breasts was the most frequent cause of breastfeeding suppression.  Keywords:  exclusive breastfeeding, infant, biosocial factors, feeding, reason for abandonment, weaning.

Introduction: It is estimated that there will be a prevalence of 366 million people suffering from diabetes worldwide by the year 2030.  In Cuba, the prevalence of diabetic population is 56.7 per 1 000 inhabitants. The analysis of the real implications of diabetes is not limited to its existence alone, since it is an entity which is frequently associated with other health problems. Objective:To approach the mechanisms that underlie the comorbidity of a patient with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Material and methods:  A bibliographic review was carried out using Google Scholar search engine, authors´ libraries, and Scielo database from the Virtual Health Library. Development:Comorbidity, and Type 2 Diabetes mellitus increase with age. The underlying mechanisms may have either a pathogenic basis or not. Their study is important because of the effects in the diagnostic process, the self-care, and the success of the treatment.  Hence, the normative documents should consider this phenomenon. The instruments to do research on this topic can be both specific or general. Conclusions:Comorbidity is a frequent clinical phenomenon to be considered in the diabetic patient because diabetes is a systemic disease.Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, comorbidity, research, pluripathology, scale, physiopathology.

Introduction: Suicide is considered a serious public health problem, which claims an important number of lives all over the world. Objective: To characterize suicide in adolescents living in the Quindio Department of Colombia, from 1989 to 2013. Material and methods: An observational descriptive research was conducted, using data from death certificates compiled by the National Administrative Department of Statistics commonly referred to as DANE in the Republic of Colombia. Proportions were calculated for person, time and place variables. Population projections for DANE were used to establish mortality rates.  Results: 158 suicides in adolescents occurred during the time period from 1989-2013 in the Quindio Department.  The 67, 7% of the persons that committed suicide were male, 82,9 of them were single, the 39,9% of them used  hanging as the method of suicide, and the 13,3% of the cases occurred in December.  The suicide rate was 6,7 for every 100,000 inhabitants (9,0 for men, and  4,3 for women).  1999-2003 was the five year’s time that registered the highest rates with 10,0 suicides for every 100,000 adolescents. In municipalities, he highest risk was registered in Quimbaya and Pijao with 30,8 and  23,4 suicides for every 100,000 adolescents, respectively. Conclusions:The highest prevalence of suicide was found in single men from the urban area, at home, in December, and hanging was the most common method used for suicide. In five year times, the highest rates were registered from 1999-2003, period in which an earthquake occurred in the zone.  At a municipal level, the highest rates were found in Quimbaya and Pijao, which suggests the need of a greater intervention and investigation.Keywords:adolescent, Colombia, risk factors, mortality, suicide.

Introduction: The adolescence is one of the most important moments in the human life, as all period of transition it is subject to a series of decisive and external factors able to modify the state of health. Objective: To determine the social factors that influence in the lifestyles of the teenagers in the Clinic 9, belonging to the "Luis de la Puente Uceda" policlinic. Material and Methods: It was carried out a study of transverse court among the months of May from 2014 to February of 2015. Results: the low consumption of fruits, vegetables and the slight physical activity without complementary exercises prevails. The teenagers that live in homes that have many households increase the percentage of "good lifestyles" from 14, 5% to 23, 1% and it diminishes the percentage of "bad or very bad lifestyles" from 27, 6% to 7,7%. In the homes with a smaller number of households, if the family is nuclear, the percentage of "bad and very bad lifestyles", decreases from 38, 0% to 13,3%. If the family is extensive or enlarged the percentage of "bad and very bad lifestyles" is increased from 38,0% to 48,6%. Conclusions: The social factors have an influence on the presence of non-healthy lifestyles in the teenagers. The social factors that have the bigger influences are the biggest holding of households, as marker of good economic condition, and teenagers that live in nuclear families.  Keywords: teenagers, social factors, lifestyles, family, primary attention of health.

Introduction: Dengue is an acute viral infection, caused by a virus of flaviviridae family that is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito sting. Ocular manifestations associated to this illness have been described such as maculopathy, retinal hemorrhages, optic neuritis, retinitis and vasculitis, although they are not frequent. Objective: To present a case that is not frequently reported in own context. Case presentation: 58-year-old male patient that suffered from dengue and 1 month after that he began having blurred vision in both eyes. In the ophthalmic examination, it was detected that he had macular hemorrhages and exudates in some quadrants of both eyes. He was treated with systemic antiinflammatories for 2 months. There was an improvement of his initial symptoms and the clinical features of the ocular fundus with this treatment. Conclusions:  Dengue is an illness that has not only a systemic impact but also causes ophthalmic damage that we should consider. The clinical manifestations, the retinophoto and the optical coherence tomography (OCT) were considerably useful for the follow-up of the retinal alterations found post-dengue. Steroids were used successfully for the treatment of this case.   Keywords: Dengue, post-dengue maculopathy, post-dengue retinal hemorrhages, optic neuritis.

This study focuses on the assessment of learning, that is one of the fundamental aspects of higher education, in order to understand the way in which professors and students perceive the evaluation practices and to what extent predominantly summational practices persist based on the application of exams, without leveraging the educational potential or, whether alternative practices and methods of evaluation arise. Based on a review of the specialized literature, work presents the new developments of learning evaluation in higher education, particularly the changes introduced after the implementation of the Bologne Process, which presumes a more educational assessment and a greater diversity of evaluation tools. At a later stage, we proceed to the analysis of data from a research piece performed by means of a questionnaire applied to students (n = 4972) and teachers (n = 1013) from the Universities of Coímbra, Évora, Lisbon and Minho, in the framework of the AVENA project,1 in trying to know more about the position of professors and students concerning the evaluation of learning in Higher Education.  [1] The Project called "Avaliação, Ensino e Aprendizagens no Ensino Superior em Portugal e no Brasil: Realidades e Perspectivas" (Evaluation, teaching and learning in Portuguese and Brazilian higher education: realities and perspectives") (PTDC / CPE-CED / 114318/2009) was sponsored by the Fundação para Ciência ea Tecnologia (FCT - Science and Technology Fundation). Thus, four Portuguese universities (University of Lisbon, University of Coimbra, University of Minho and University of Evora) and three Brazilian (University of Sao Paolo, Para State University and University of Amazonia) collaborated in this project.

In the high standards national graduate programs by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología in Mexico (CONACYT National Council of Science and Technology), the research professors' function is to enhance the training of students using, inter alia, institutional infrastructure resources and technological equipment. The study aimed to explore the perceptions of educators around the experience gained in the processes of appropriation and application of these resources in their academic practices. A qualitative methodological approach was applied under the paradigm of the Grounded Theory by Strauss and Corbin. Thus interviews with researchers showed a lack of information and communications technology and the absence of a comprehensive policy by the universities under study, to train the academic community in the efficient use of technological networks.

The article attempts to make a description of the impact of educational research in Argentina, from the analysis of two state agencies, the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCYT- National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion) and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET- National Council of Scientific and Technical Research). The study period covers from 2000 to 2015, and some public policy guidelines on science and technology and their impact on educational research are analyzed, considering the basis of professional researchers and scholars, as well as projects funded. To this end, regulations have been consulted from both agencies, databases, management reports and other official statistical indicators. Significant changes are observed in the legal frameworks governing both institutions, in addition to a significant increase in funding various research, as well as in the number of researchers and scholars. However, the impact on educational research in particular, presents conflictive results regarding scientific production levels and consolidation and expansion of a base of specialists in this area. 

Knowing the competencies which university teachers have to improve their practice and virtual environments, while meeting their training needs, is essential. To this end, a self- assessment questionnaire (20 competencies, 114 indicators) that covers four university functions (teaching, research, links with the environment and management) was designed. This article explains the process of development and validation of this questionnaire. We proceeded to the validation of content from experts' judgment; the analysis of reliability, from Alpha Cronbach values which gave values us 0.88 and 0.99 in the pilot test, and in the final application, values of 0.92 and 0.97 in a population of 424 university professors from a Latin American institution. Internal consistency was assessed with the Split-Half Test and moderate and strong partnerships were obtained. These results give confidence to the instrument to self-assess generic and specific competencies by university professors.

This work analyzes and meditates on the importance of personal branding and reputation of teachers in higher education. The characteristics of digital culture are described, emphasizing the importance of using Web 2.0 in the professional field and, more specifically, Science 2.0, as the basic tool for teachers to spread their work to both the scientific community and society in general. The methodology applied was the Documentary Research method. In general, the literature reports that although there are scientific social networks, the teacher usually uses more general platforms such as Facebook to present content.