Difficult scenarios for primary care professionals caring terminally ill patients

Objetivo. Conocer cuáles son las situaciones que inducen mayor evitación o rechazo en los profesionales de Atención Primaria que atienden enfermos en situación terminal. Método. Estudio cualitativo en que se han valorado las respuestas en redacción abierta de 30 profesionales con experiencia en Atención Primaria sobre las situaciones difíciles con los pacientes en situación terminal y sus familiares y sus propios miedos. Resultados. Se han identificado cuatro grandes categorías de situaciones, tanto virtuales como reales, que provocan evitación en los profesionales: las que derivan de su propia preparación y capacitación, las del ámbito de la comunicación e información al paciente, las que se deben al afrontamiento de situaciones complejas de tipo psicológico y emocional y los problemas en la relación con familiares y cuidadores. Conclusión. Las situaciones más difíciles para los profesionales de Atención Primaria que atienden enfermos en situación terminal hacen referencia a la propia capacitación, al manejo de la información, a los problemas psicoemocionales y a la familia del paciente.Objective. To know the situations that may induce higher rejection in Primary Care professionals caring terminally ill patients. Method. Qualitative study of the responses of wrote responses of 30 experienced Primary Care professionals about the difficult scenarios caring terminally ill patients and their proxies, and their own fears. Results. We identified four relevant categories of virtual and real situations that may induce higher rejection in these professionals: derived of their own ability and capability to treat those patients, related to communication and information, derived of psychological and emotional problems, and those coming from relations with family and proxies. Conclusion. Scenarios that induce more rejection in Primary Care professionals caring terminally ill patients are related to their own competence, to giving information, to psychoemotional problems, and the family of the patient

Do no-till and pig slurry application improve barley yield and water and nitrogen use efficiencies in rainfed Mediterranean conditions?

Tillage and N fertilization strategies including mineral and organic sources need to be studied in combination given their importance on the production cost that farmers face and their potential interaction on crop performance. A four-year (2010–2014) experiment based on barley monocropping was carried out in NE Spain in a typical rainfed Mediterranean area. Two tillage treatments (CT, conventional tillage; NT, no-tillage) and three rates of N fertilization (0; 75 kg N ha−1, applied at top-dressing; 150 kg N ha−1, applied at pre-sowing and at top-dressing at equal rate), with two types of fertilizers (ammonium-based mineral fertilizer and organic fertilizer with pig slurry), were compared in a randomized block design with three replications. Different soil (water and nitrate contents) and crop (above-ground biomass, grain yield, yield components and N concentration in biomass and grain) measurements were performed. Water- and nitrogen use efficiencies (WUE and NUE) as well as other N-related indexes (grain and above-ground biomass N uptake; NHI, nitrogen harvest index; NAR, apparent nitrogen recovery efficiency) were calculated. Barley above-ground biomass and grain yield were highly variable and depended on the rainfall received on each cropping season (ranging between 280 mm and 537 mm). Tillage and N fertilization treatments affected barley grain yields. No-tillage showed 1.0, 1.7 and 6.3 times greater grain yield than CT in three of the four cropping seasons as a result of the greater soil water storage until tillering. Water scarcity during the definition of the number of spikes per m2 under CT would have compromised the compensation mechanism of the other two yield components. Pig slurry application led to the same (3 of 4 years) or higher (1 of 4 years) grain yield than an equivalent rate of mineral N fertilizer. Regardless the N origin, barley yield did not respond to the application of 150 kg N ha−1 split between pre-sowing and top-dressing compared to the 75 kg N ha−1 rate applied as top-dressing. A significant nitrate accumulation in the soil over the experimental period was observed under CT. Greater barley water use efficiency for yield (WUEy), N uptake and grain N content were found under NT than CT in three of the four cropping seasons studied. Moreover, for a given N rate, the use of organic fertilization increased significantly the WUEy as an average of CT and NT. When CT was used, a greater NHI was observed when using pig slurry compared with mineral N as an average of the four years studied. However, the use of different N fertilization treatments (rates or types) under CT or NT did not increase the NUE compared with the control. Our study demonstrates that the use of NT and the application of agronomic rates of N as pig slurry leads to greater barley yield and water- and nitrogen-use efficiencies than the traditional management based on CT and mineral N fertilization.We thank Silvia Martí, Carlos Cortés, Ana Bielsa, Maria José Salvador, Josan Palacio and Héctor Martínez for their technical assistance. Daniel Plaza-Bonilla received a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Grant from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain. This research was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (grants AGL2007-66320-C02-01, AGL2010-22050-C03-01/02 and AGL2013-49062-C4). This paper has been produced within the context of the Red SIRENA network (Ref. AGL2015-68881-REDT) funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain

Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Distressing Hallucination-Like Experiences in a Nonclinical Sample

The presence of psychotic-like experiences in the general population has been amply reported. Nevertheless, the degree of concern or anxiety that such experiences may generate is an aspect that has not received as much appraisal. In this sense, mindfulness is an approach to intervention based on the modification of the individual's relationship with the symptoms, instead of their elimination. The goal of the present study is to compare the effect of mindfulness training on distressing hallucination-like experiences. Eighteen participants were assigned to the experimental group, and they received 8 sessions of mindfulness training; 20 participants were assigned to a control group that viewed 8 sessions of a video forum. The results showed that upon completing the mindfulness training, there was a significant and large effect on the decrease of anxiety caused by hallucination-like experiences. These results were maintained at the 16-week follow-up. The repercussions of these results are underlined

Review of the Ediacaran-Lower Ordovician (pre-Sardic) stratigraphic framework of the Eastern Pyrenees, southwestern Europe

The Ediacaran-Lower Ordovician successions exposed in the Eastern Pyrenees are updated and revised based on recent U-Pb zircon radiometric ages, intertonguing relationships of carbonate-dominated strata, and onlapping patterns marking the top of volcano-sedimentary complexes. A stratigraphic comparison with neighbouring pre-Variscan outcrops from the Montagne Noire (southern French Massif Central) and Sardinia is related to i) the absence of Cadomian deformation close to the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary interval; ii) the presence of an episodic, Cadomian-related, acidic-dominant volcanism related to carbonate production punctuating the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, similar to that recorded in the northern Montagne Noire; and iii) the lack of Guzhangian (Cambrian Epoch 3) regressive shoal complexes present in the Montagne Noire and probably in Sardinia

Late Ordovician (post–Sardic) rifting branches in the North Gondwanan Montagne Noire and Mouthoumet massifs of southern France

Upper Ordovician–Lower Devonian rocks of the Cabrières klippes (southern Montagne Noire) and the Mouthoumet massif in southern France rest paraconformably or with angular discordance on Cambrian–Lower Ordovician strata. Neither Middle–Ordovician volcanism nor associated metamorphism is recorded, and the subsequent Middle Ordovician stratigraphic gap is related to the Sardic phase. Upper Ordovician sedimentation started in the rifting branches of Cabrières and Mouthoumet with deposition of basaltic lava flows and lahar deposits (Roque de Bandies and Villerouge formations) of continental tholeiite signature (CT), indicative of continental fracturing. The infill of both rifting branches followed with the onset of: (1) Katian (Ka1–Ka2) conglomerates and sandstones (Glauzy and Gascagne formations), which have yielded a new brachiopod assemblage representative of the Svobodaina havliceki Community; (2) Katian (Ka2–Ka4) limestones, marlstones and shales with carbonate nodules, reflecting development of bryozoan-echinoderm meadows with elements of the Nicolella Community (Gabian and Montjoi formations); and (3) the Hirnantian Marmairane Formation in the Mouthoumet massif that has yielded a rich and diverse fossil association representative of the pandemic Hirnantia Fauna. The sealing of the subaerial palaeorelief generated during the Sardic phase is related to Silurian and Early Devonian transgressions leading to onlapping patterns and the record of high-angle discordances.Research was funded by projects CGL2010-39417, CGL2012-39471 and CGL2013-48877-P from Spanish MINECO.Peer reviewe

A Hybrid FCC/HZSM-5 Catalyst for the Catalytic Cracking of a VGO/Bio-Oil Blend in FCC Conditions

The performance of a commercial FCC catalyst (designated as CY) and a physically mixed hybrid catalyst (80 wt.% CY and 20 wt.% HZSM-5-based catalyst, designated as CH) have been compared in the catalytic cracking of a vacuum gasoil (VGO)/bio-oil blend (80/20 wt.%) in a simulated riser reactor (C/O, 6gcatgfeed−1; t, 6 s). The effect of cracking temperature has been studied on product distribution (carbon products, water, and coke) and product lumps: CO+CO2, dry gas, liquified petroleum gases (LPG), gasoline, light cycle oil (LCO), heavy cycle oil (HCO), and coke. Using the CH catalyst, the conversion of the bio-oil oxygenates is ca. 3 wt.% higher, while the conversion of the hydrocarbons in the mixture is lower, yielding more carbon products (83.2–84.7 wt.% on a wet basis) and less coke (3.7–4.8 wt.% on a wet basis) than the CY catalyst. The CH catalyst provides lower gasoline yields (30.7–32.0 wt.% on a dry basis) of a less aromatic and more olefinic nature. Due to gasoline overcracking, enhanced LPG yields were also obtained. The results are explained by the high activity of the HZSM-5 zeolite for the cracking of bio-oil oxygenates, the diffusional limitations within its pore structure of bulkier VGO compounds, and its lower activity towards hydrogen transfer reactions.This work has been conducted with the financial support from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government (MINECO) (Project RTI2018-096981-B-I00), co-funded with FEDER funds, the Basque Government (Project IT1218-19), and the European Commission (Horizon 2020-MSCA RISE-2018, Contract No. 823745). Idoia Hita is thankful for her postdoctoral grant awarded by the Department of Education, University and Research of the Basque Government (Grant No. POS_2015_1_0035). Álvaro Ibarra is grateful for his PhD grant from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Authors would also like to acknowledge Ikerlan/IK-4 for providing the raw bio-oil, as well as Petronor S.A. for providing the VGO and the equilibrated FCC catalyst for this study

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon-based nanomaterials as alternative electrodes to graphite for lithium-ion batteries

Graphite is the material most used as an electrode in commercial lithium-ion batteries. On the other hand, it is a material with low energy capacity, and it is considered a raw critical material given its large volume of use. In the current energy context, we must promote the search for alternative materials based on elements that are abundant, sustainable and that have better performance for energy storage. We propose thin materials based on silicon, which has a storage capacity eleven times higher than graphite. Nevertheless, due to the high-volume expansion during lithiation, it tends to crack, limiting the life of the batteries. To solve this problem, hydrogenated amorphous silicon has been researched, in the form of thin film and nanostructures, since, due to its amorphous structure, porosity and high specific surface, it could better absorb changes in volume. These thin films were grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and then the nanowires were obtained by chemical etching. The compositional variations of films deposited at different temperatures and the incorporation of dopants markedly influence the stability and longevity of batteries. With these optimized electrodes, we achieved batteries with an initial capacity of 3800 mAhg−1 and 82% capacity retention after 50 cyclesThis research has been funded by the Spanish of Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under projects SCALED (PID2019-109215RB-C42/ https://scaled-project.com/, accessed on June 2020), NanoCat-Com (PID2021-124667OB-I00, accessed on September 2022) and by the European Project STORIES (LC-GD-9-1-2020-European Research Infrastructures capacities and services to address European Green Deal challenges /https://www.eera-energystorage.eu/stories.html, accessed on November 202

Potential and Limitations of an Improved Method to Produce Dynamometric Wheels

[Abstract:] A new methodology for the estimation of tyre-contact forces is presented. The new procedure is an evolution of a previous method based on harmonic elimination techniques developed with the aim of producing low cost dynamometric wheels. While the original method required stress measurement in many rim radial lines and the fulfillment of some rigid conditions of symmetry, the new methodology described in this article significantly reduces the number of required measurement points and greatly relaxes symmetry constraints. This can be done without compromising the estimation error level. The reduction of the number of measuring radial lines increases the ripple of demodulated signals due to non-eliminated higher order harmonics. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt the calibration procedure to this new scenario. A new calibration procedure that takes into account angular position of the wheel is completely described. This new methodology is tested on a standard commercial five-spoke car wheel. Obtained results are qualitatively compared to those derived from the application of former methodology leading to the conclusion that the new method is both simpler and more robust due to the reduction in the number of measuring points, while contact forces’ estimation error remains at an acceptable level.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; TRA2012-38826-C02-01Madrid (Comunidad Autónoma); S2013-MIT271

Análisis y mejora del proceso de producción de una ventana de aluminio.

Actualmente los procesos de producción de ventanas de aluminio en la mayoría de las empresas son muy manuales. En el trabajo se ha estudiado el proceso actual de una empresa, para así evaluar los problemas que puede tener. Posteriormente se ha buscado una posible mejora en productividad, mediante la implementación de nueva maquinaria, teniendo en cuenta estos problemas, para finalmente analizar estas mejoras, y compararlas con el proceso que había inicialmente.<br /