Biomedical Department

The question of how to quantify insufficient coping behavior under chronic stress is of major clinical relevance. In fact, chronic stress increasingly dominates modern work conditions and can affect nearly every system of the human body, as suggested by physical, cognitive, affective and behavioral symptoms. Since freshmen students experience constantly high levels of stress due to tight schedules and frequent examinations, we carried out a 3-center study of 1,303 students from Italy, Spain and Argentina in order to develop socioculturally independent means for quantifying coping behavior. The data analysis relied on 2 self-report questionnaires: the Coping Strategies Inventory (COPE) for the assessment of coping behavior and the Zurich Health Questionnaire which assesses consumption behavior and general health dimensions. A neural network approach was used to determine the structural properties inherent in the COPE instrument. Our analyses revealed 2 highly stable, socioculturally independent scales that reflected basic coping behavior in terms of the personality traits activity-passivity and defeatismresilience. This replicated previous results based on Swiss and US-American data. The percentage of students exhibiting insufficient coping behavior was very similar across the study sites (11.5-18.0%). Given their stability and validity, the newly developed scales enable the quantification of basic coping behavior in a cost-efficient and reliable way, thus clearing the way for the early detection of subjects with insufficient coping skills under chronic stress who may be at risk of physical or mental health problems.

A partir de 2 casos de sospecha de Síndrome de Delirium Agitado (SDA), con intervenciones claramente diferenciadas, se realizan una revisión y puesta al día de los conceptos relativos a la muerte en privados de la libertad y el diagnóstico, la fisiopatología y la prevención del SDA, haciendo hincapié en la hiperdopaminergia, la muerte súbita, la hipertermia, la rabdomiólisis así como los métodos de reducción aplicados a las víctimas en la jurisdicción donde se realiza el trabajo. Como resultado de la investigación se propone la capacitación de las fuerzas policiales con el fin de detectar en la medida de lo posible, la presencia del síndrome, estableciendo la premisa que se está frente a una víctima del uso de drogas o trastorno maníaco, requiriendo urgente atención médica. Palabras clave: Síndrome Delirium Agitado, muerte en custodia-muerte en privados de la Libertad, cocaína, drogas, asfixia de restricción, asfixia de posición , muerte súbita, hipertermia, rabdomiólisis, Hog-tied Abstract: From 2 cases of suspicion of Excited Delirium Syndrome (SDA in spanish), with clearly differentiated interventions, a review and update of concepts related to death in deprived of freedom and diagnosis, pathophysiology and prevention are made of SDA, emphasizing hyperdopaminergy, sudden death, hyperthermia, rhabdomyolysis as well as reduction methods applied to victims in the jurisdiction where the work is performed. As a result of the investigation, the training of the police forces is proposed in order to detect, as far as possible, the presence of the syndrome, establishing the premise that is facing a victim of drug use or maniac disorder, requiring urgent medical care.

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Function Simple-Problem-Solving-Agent(percept) return an action Input : percept //a percept Static : seq //an action sequence, initially empty state //some description of the current world state goal //a goal, initially null problem //a problem formulation State  Update-State(state, percept) If seq is empty then do goal  Formulate-Goal(state) problem  Formulate-Problem(state,goal) seq  Search(Problem) Action  First(seq) Seq  Rest(seq) Return action