Autobiographical Memory, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Sense of Humor: An Intervention in Older Adults

Research has shown that happiness and well-being play a fundamental role in the health of older adults. For this reason, programs based on Positive Psychology seek to improve quality of life, preventing and reducing the appearance of emotional disorders. The objective of this study was to verify whether an intervention based on Autobiographical Memory, Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Sense of humor would increase quality of life in institutionalized older adults. We used a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-intervention measures and follow-on measures at 3, 6, and 12 months. A total of 111 institutionalized older adults participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: experimental (n = 36), placebo (n = 39), and control (n = 36). Measurements were taken of depression, subjective happiness, satisfaction with life, psychological well-being, and specific memories. Program duration was 11 weeks, followed by refresher sessions of the activities that had been conducted. The results showed that the intervention was effective, producing lasting increase in the participating adults’ well-being, maintained for the following 12 months, in contrast to the other two groups. In conclusion, the proposed intervention proved to be a novel tool that was effective, easily applied, and able to improve quality of life and emotional disorders in older adults

Simulation and design of a three-stage metal hydride hydrogen compressor based on experimental thermodynamic data

Los investigadores de la UAM pertenecen al MIRE-GroupA semi-empirical method was developed to design a three stage Metal Hydride Hydrogen Compressor (MHHC) through the determination of thermodynamic properties of several hydrides. As a first step, three AB2-type alloys that satisfy operation conditions were selected from published thermodynamic data entailing over 200 single plateau hydrides. These alloys were synthetized by arc melting and characterized by X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersion X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Absorption and desorption Pressure-composition-Isotherms (P-c-I) were determined between 23 and 80 C to characterize their thermodynamic properties. Subsequently, an algorithm that uses these experimental data and a real equation of state for gaseous H2 was implemented to simulate the volume, alloy mass, pressure and temperature of operation for each compressor stage, while optimizing the compression ratio and total number of compressed H2 moles. Optimal desorption temperatures for the three stages were identified within the range of 110e132 C. A system compression ratio (CR) of 92 was achieved. The number of H2 moles compressed, the alloy mass and volume of each stage depend linearly on the volume of the external tank in which the hydrogen is delivere

Numerical Simulation of the Stiffness Evolution With Curing of Pavement Sections Rehabilitated Using Cold In-Place Recycling Technology

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] Cold in-place recycling (CIR) technologies are becoming one of the main bets in the road sector to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This technique also contributes to the circular economy, reusing 100% of the RAP from worn roads. In this research, numerical simulations of CIR sections are presented. The nonlinear behaviour of the CIR-base material is modelled using three predictive models based on triaxial test results. Variations in the performance depending on the type of subbase, the curing of the CIR-base material and its thickness, and the effect of the wearing-course were analysed. The response of the sections with unbound granular subbase proved to be very sensitive to variations in the parameters studied, and the increase in CIR base thickness was beneficial, while the opposite occurred with a cement-treated subbase.The authors would like to acknowledge funding for the project BIA2016-80317-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), with an associated pre-doctoral scholarship for the training of research workers (FPI) BES-2017-079633. An special acknowledgement to the Universidade da Coruña/ CISUG for funding Elsevier’s open access charg

A dual function of Drosophila capping protein on DE-cadherin maintains epithelial integrity and prevents JNK-mediated apoptosis

E-cadherin plays a pivotal role in epithelial cell polarity, cell signalling and tumour suppression. However, how E-cadherin dysfunction promotes tumour progression is poorly understood. Here we show that the actin-capping protein heterodimer, which regulates actin filament polymerization, has a dual function on DE-cadherin in restricted Drosophila epithelia. Knocking down capping protein in the distal wing disc epithelium disrupts DE-cadherin and Armadillo localization at adherens junctions and upregulates DE-cadherin transcription. In turn, DE-cadherin provides an active signal, which prevents Wingless signalling and promotes JNK-mediated apoptosis. However, when cells are kept alive with the Caspase inhibitor P35, the activity of the JNK pathway and of the Yorkie oncogene trigger massive proliferation of cells that fail to stably retain associations with their neighbours. Moreover, loss of capping protein cooperates with the Ras oncogene to induce massive tissue overgrowth. Taken together, our findings argue that in some epithelia, the dual effect of capping protein loss on DE-cadherin triggers the elimination of mutant cells, preventing them from proliferating. However, the appearance of a second mutation that blocks cell death may allow for the development of some epithelial tumour

Optimization of microwave-assisted fish oil extraction from Patin (Pangasius micronemus) using Response Surface Methodology-Box Behnken Design (RSM-BBD)

Patin (Pangasius micronemus) fish oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as α-linolenic acid and eicosapentaenoic. To obtain the benefits of omega-3, it is necessary to develop an efficient extraction method for patin oil (PO). This study aimed to develop the microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method for fish oil from patin. Three independent variables with three levels were priorly evaluated using Box–Behnken design, including temperature (30, 60, 90°C), solvent composition (30, 60, 90% of ethyl acetate in methanol), and solvent to sample ratio (10:1, 15:1, 20:1). The significant variables were then optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). A second-order quadratic model of RSM suggested an extraction at 60°C with 56% ethyl acetate in methanol as an extraction solvent and a solvent-to-sample ratio of 20:1. A kinetics study under the optimum MAE conditions approved the complete recovery (38.84%) starting at 15 min of extraction time. The high precision of the MAE process was confirmed by the coefficient of variation less than 3%. Additionally, the microwave-produced fish oil was characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to contain α-linolenic acid and eicosapentaenoic as omega-3. Henceforth, it has been demonstrated that microwave-assisted fish oil extraction developed in this study is efficient for high-quality PO production

Facile synthesis of C60-nano materials and their application in High-Performance Water Splitting Electrocatalysis

Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of crystalline C60 nanomaterials and their applications as bifunctional water splitting catalysts. The shapes of the resulting materials were tuned via a solvent engineering approach to form rhombic-shaped nanosheets and nanotubes with hexagonal close packed-crystal structures. The as-synthesized materials exhibited suitable properties as bifunctional catalysts for HER and ORR reactions surpassing by far the electrocatalytic activity of commercially available amorphous C60. The C60 nanotubes displayed the most efficient catalytic performance with a small onset potential of −0.13 V vs. RHE and ultrahigh electrochemical stability properties towards the generation of molecular hydrogen. Additionally, the rotating-disk electrode measurements revealed that the oxygen reduction mechanism at the nanotube electrochemical surfaces followed an effective four-electron pathway. The improved catalytic activity was attributed to the enhanced local electric fields at the high curvature surfaces

A setup for integral measurements of multiple scattering angular distributions by 10- to 100-keV electrons

A dedicated setup has been developed to study the angular distributions of electrons traversing thin films employing the low-energy beam available from the gun of the São Paulo Microtron. In this first stage, only integral measurements are possible using the fraction of the electron beam current collected in a Faraday cup and in a ring surrounding the entrance of the former. The overall normalisation is provided by measuring the beam current collected by the scattering chamber as well, thus covering the full solid angle. In this work, important construction specifications are presented. The experience gained by operating this system is also discussed regarding its critical aspects like: avoiding cross talk between the cup and the ring both at the physical and electronic levels, measurements of small charges deposited on large objects (the chamber in particular), and conditioning of the various surfaces involved. Finally, some selected results are compared to the well-known theory by Goudsmit and Saunderson with good agreement

Design and characterization of hybrid III–V concentrator photovoltaic–thermoelectric receivers under primary and secondary optical elements

Lattice-matched monolithic triple-junction Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) cells (InGa(0.495)P/GaIn(0.012)As/Ge) were electrically and thermally interfaced to two Thermoelectric (TE) Peltier module designs. An electrical and thermal model of the hybrid receivers was modelled in COMSOL Multiphysics software v5.3 to improve CPV cell cooling whilst increasing photon energy conversion efficiency. The receivers were measured for current-voltage characteristics with the CPV cell only (with sylguard encapsulant), under single secondary optical element (SOE) at x2.5 optical concentration, and under Fresnel lens primary optical element (POE) concentration between x313 and x480. Measurements were taken in solar simulators at Cardiff and Jaén Universities, and on-sun with dual-axis tracking at Jaén University. The hybrid receivers were electrically, thermally and theoretically investigated. The electrical performance data for the cells under variable irradiance and cell temperature conditions were measured using the integrated thermoelectric module as both a temperature sensor and as a solid-state heat pump. The performance of six SOE-CPV-TE hybrid devices were evaluated within two 3-receiver strings under primary optical concentration with measured acceptance angles of 1.00o and 0.89o, similar to commercially sourced CPV modules. A six-parameter one-diode equivalent electrical model was developed for the multi-junction CPV cells with SOE and POE. This was applied to extract six model parameters with the experimental I-V curves of type A receiver at 1, 3 and 500 concentration ratios. Standard test conditions (1000W/m2, 25oC and AM1.5G spectrum) were assumed based on trust-region-reflective least squares algorithm in MATLAB. The model fitted the experimental I-V curves satisfactorily with a mean error of 4.44%, and the optical intensity gain coefficient of SOE and POE is as high as 0.91, in comparison with 0.50-0.86 for crossed compound parabolic concentrators (CCPC). The determined values of diode reverse saturation current, combined series resistance and shunt resistance were similar to those of monocrystalline PV cell/modules in our previous publications. The model may be applicable to performance prediction of multi-junction CPV cells in the future

Sistema de Vigilancia en Chagas facilitado por tecnologías de información y comunicación

La aplicación de las tecnologías de información y comunicación para los sistemas de vigilancia especializados en enfermedades prioritarias en América Latina como la enfermedad de Chagas, constituye un nuevo y valioso aporte para el control de la enfermedad que representa un grave problema de salud pública. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue evaluar un sistema de vigilancia epidemiológica y atención médica con el apoyo de tecnologías de información y comunicación (TICs), con la finalidad de detectar e introducir precozmente al sistema de salud a los individuos seropositivos para Chagas en un área endémica del interior de Argentina. Para ello se planificaron las acciones en función de dos Flujogramas de Atención, incorporando dos poblaciones objetivos (menores de 15 años y mujeres embarazadas), de tres Departamentos del interior de Córdoba y las acciones desarrolladas fueron: desarrollo del software del Sistema de Vigilancia para Chagas facilitado por TICs, acuerdos con autoridades gubernamentales y educativas, capacitación de agentes de terreno y equipo de salud de las zonas que efectuaron el tamizaje y posterior incorporación de datos y seguimiento de pacientes a partir del SVC-TICs. Los registros pre y post intervención fueron analizados estadísticamente. El número de población total incluida para este análisis fue de 11.585 menores de 15 años (Grupo TICs n= 5719 y Grupo Control n= 5866, obtenido de fuente de datos secundarios correspondiente a los registros del Ministerio de Salud de la Provincia).En el Grupo TICs se obtuvieron mayores frecuencias de registros, y en el 50% de las variables consideradas el Grupo Control no contenían información. El SVC-TICs, fue incorporado a los Sistemas de Vigilancia de los Ministerios de Salud de las zonas involucradas en el estudio, con un fuerte compromiso del equipo de salud a niveles locales y gubernamentales