Handball training and competition with facemasks in Galicia: the FISICOVID-DXTGALEGO protocols experience

[Abstract]: Objective: COVID-19 caused a complete stop in non-professional sports. The use of face masks for team sports is not a widely used measure in non-professional sports. The study aimed to evaluate the perception about using the mask and the adaptation difficulties related to training and competition in team sports following the FISICOVID-DXTGALEGO protocol. Methods: Seven hundred eighty-seven handball players from the Galician Handball Federation were followed during their return to participation after months of confinement through an electronic questionnaire of perception and experience on the use of a mask. Results: There is an excellent adaptation to the mask in training and competition with medium and high correlations. The 86,41% of players reported an adaptation to the mask in 3 weeks with a three times a week training frequency. The negative opinion on the mask was drastically reduced (-66.86%) after use. The 80,44%of players considered the use of a mask as an essential measure to resume competitions. Conclusions: It is very feasible to adapt to training and compete with amask (hygienic or surgical) in a short period. The use of a mask following these protocols changed previous opinions on the disadvantages of the mask during training and competition

Aplicación de ingeniería de métodos para incrementar la productividad en el proceso de envasado en BELTRÁN E.I.R.L. - Chimbote 2020

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo general aplicar la ingeniería de métodos para incrementar la productividad en el proceso de envasado en BELTRÁN E.I.R.L. El estudio fue de tipo aplicada con un diseño de investigación pre-experimental. La población estuvo representada por la productividad de los procesos productivos para la elaboración del filete de caballa en aceite vegetal, mientras que la muestra por la productividad del proceso de envasado. Los instrumentos empleados fueron el cursograma analítico del operario, el diagrama de recorrido y el diagrama bimanual. Por último, se utilizó un cronómetro y una hoja de análisis de tiempos para determinar el tiempo estándar del proceso. Se obtuvo como resultado que, mediante el muestreo del trabajo se corroboró que el proceso crítico era el envasado. Además, se logró reducir el porcentaje de actividades improductivas de 33.34% con el método actual a 29.42% con el método mejorado, evidenciando una variación de -11.76%. Así mismo, se redujo el tiempo estándar de 18.43 min/bandeja a 15.44 min/bandeja, denotando una variación de -16.22%. Finalmente, la productividad de mano de obra, la productividad del costo de mano de obra y la eficiencia física de materia prima se incrementó en 9.89%, 9.93% y 10.16% respectivamente

Perception of the Sports Social Environment After the Development and Implementation of an Identification Tool for Contagious Risk Situations in Sports During the COVID-19 Pandemic

[Abstract] This study details the methodological process for creating a tool for the identification of COVID-19 potential contagion situations in sports and physical education before, during, and after practice and competition. It is a tool that implies an educational and methodological process with all the agents of the sports system. This tool identifies the large number of interactions occurring through sports action and everything that surrounds it in training, competition, and organization. The aim is to prepare contingency protocols based on an exhaustive analysis, risk detection, and proposal of contingency measures trying to reduce the residual risk to a minimum. In the second part, the results of the implementation of this tool in the sports system of Galicia (Spain) are shown. The technicians have changed their perceptions about the coronavirus transmission in sports. They highlight the problem for returning to sports participation for athletes under 18 years in the pandemic context

Synthesis and biological screening of a library of macamides as TNF-α inhibitors

Thirty-five macamide analogues were synthesised by modifying the initial molecular structure. The resulting structures were confirmed using NMR and MS. Cytotoxicity and the anti-inflammatory activity of these synthetic macamides were evaluated in the THP-1 cell line. Preliminary biological evaluation indicated that most of these synthetic macamides did not present cytotoxicity (MTT assay) in the tested cell line with respect to the control (actinomycin D). Regarding the anti-inflammatory activity, several analogues had a greater potential for inhibition of TNF-α than natural macamides. Synthetic macamide 4a was the most active (IC50 = 0.009 ± 0.001 μM) compared to the C87 (control). Through looking at the link between the chemical structure and the activity, our study proves that changes made to natural macamides at the level of the alkyl chain, the benzyl position, the amide bond, and the addition of two methyl groups to the aromatic ring (meta position) lead us to obtaining new macamides with greater anti-inflammatory activityThis work was supported by the Fundación de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (FUAM

Travertines associated with the Alhama-Jaraba thermal waters (NE, Spain): Genesis and geochemistry

Freshwater carbonates are interesting archives in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. However, more studies of those systems are needed to fully understand past environments. In this work the actively-forming travertines of the Alhama-Jaraba thermal system were studied for the first time in order to evaluate the relationship between the geochemical and mineralogical composition and the environmental conditions during their formation. With that aim, a combination of petrographical, mineralogical, geochemical and stable isotope analyses were carried out. These carbonates provide a natural laboratory for the study of the effect of different variables (natural and anthropogenic) on carbonate precipitation. The results showed that there is a close relationship between the mineralogy of the solid precipitates and the formation temperature, and only the samples formed from overheated waters (40–60 °C) show significant concentrations of aragonite. Aragonite-bearing samples show higher concentrations in Sr, Ba and U while calcitic solids are enriched in Mg. These differences could be attributed to mineralogy, temperature or different precipitation rates. The geochemical evaluation of the chemistry of both the solids and their parental waters suggests that differences in the rate of CO2-degassing and, in some cases, evaporation are the primary environmental controls on isotopic compositions. In addition, the results show that, if strong evaporation and CO2-degassing are involved, calcite precipitation occurs under conditions of isotopic disequilibrium with its parental water. The results of our study are useful to interpret old depositional environments and palaeotemperatures

Identification Tool for Potential Infectious Situations in Sport: FISICOVID-DXTGALEGO (Xunta de Galicia)

[Resumen] Este trabajo detalla la creación, desarrollo e integración de la herramienta FISICOVID-DXTGALEGO. Su principal objetivo es detectar situaciones de potencial contagio de la COVID-19 en el deporte, así como proponer medidas de contingencia intentando reducir el riesgo residual al mínimo. En el presente artículo se describe el funcionamiento de la misma dentro del sistema deportivo de la comunidad autónoma de Galicia, conformado alrededor de 300 especialidades deportivas en 58 federaciones autonómicas colaborando con la Secretaría Xeral para o Deporte. Se trata de una herramienta que lleva implícito un proceso metodológico y educativo con todos los agentes del sistema deportivo para identificar el gran número de interacciones que se dan en la acción deportiva y todo lo que la rodea en el entrenamiento, la competición y su organización.[Abstract] This work details the creation, development and integration of the FISICOVID-DXTGALEGO tool. Its main objective is to detect situations of potential contagion of COVID-19 in sport, as well as to propose contingency measures trying to reduce residual risk to a minimum. This article describes the operation of the tool within the sports system of the autonomous community of Galicia, made up of 300 sports specialties in 58 regional federations collaborating with the regional sports administration (Secretaría Xeral para o Deporte, Xunta de Galicia). It is a tool that implies a methodological and educational process with all the agents of the sports system to identify the large number of interactions that occur in sports action and everything that surrounds it in training, competition and its organization

Comparative epigenomics in distantly related teleost species identifies conserved cis-regulatory nodes active during the vertebrate phylotypic period

This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first six months. After six months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International).The complex relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny has been the subject of attention and controversy since von Baer's formulations in the 19th century. The classic concept that embryogenesis progresses from clade general features to species-specific characters has often been revisited. It has become accepted that embryos from a clade show maximum morphological similarity at the so-called phylotypic period (i.e., during mid-embryogenesis). According to the hourglass model, body plan conservation would depend on constrained molecular mechanisms operating at this period. More recently, comparative transcriptomic analyses have provided conclusive evidence that such molecular constraints exist. Examining cis-regulatory architecture during the phylotypic period is essential to understand the evolutionary source of body plan stability. Here we compare transcriptomes and key epigenetic marks (H3K4me3 and H3K27ac) from medaka (Oryzias latipes) and zebrafish (Danio rerio), two distantly related teleosts separated by an evolutionary distance of 115-200 Myr. We show that comparison of transcriptome profiles correlates with anatomical similarities and heterochronies observed at the phylotypic stage. Through comparative epigenomics, we uncover a pool of conserved regulatory regions (≈700), which are active during the vertebrate phylotypic period in both species. Moreover, we show that their neighboring genes encode mainly transcription factors with fundamental roles in tissue specification. We postulate that these regulatory regions, active in both teleost genomes, represent key constrained nodes of the gene networks that sustain the vertebrate body plan.The Andalusian government (JA) supported A.F-.M. as scientific manager of the Aquatic Vertebrates Platform at CABD. J.W.C. was supported by a studentship from The Institute of Cancer Research. Spanish and Andalusian government grants BFU2010-14839, CSD2007-00008, and P08-CVI-3488 to J.L.G-.S.; and BFU2011-22916 and P11-CVI-7256 to J.R.M-.M. supported this work.Peer Reviewe

Longer intervals between SARS-CoV-2 infection and mRNA-1273 doses improve the neutralization of different variants of concern

The humoral immune response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern elicited by vaccination was evaluated in COVID-19 recovered individuals (Rec) separated 1-3 months (Rec2m) or 4-12 months (Rec9m) postinfection and compared to the response in naïve participants. Antibody-mediated immune responses were assessed in 66 participants by three commercial immunoassays and a SARS-CoV-2 lentiviral-based pseudovirus neutralization assay. Immunoglobulin (Ig) levels against SARS-CoV-2 spike were lower in naïve participants after two doses than in Rec after a single dose (p < 0.05). After two doses in Rec, levels of total Ig to receptor-binding domain were significantly increased in Rec9m compared to Rec2m (p < 0.001). The neutralizing potency observed in Rec9m was consistently higher than in Rec2m against variants of concern (VOCs) Alpha, Beta, Delta, and BA.1 sublineage of Omicron with 2.2-2.8-fold increases. Increasing the interval between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the vaccination with messenger RNA-based vaccines to more than 3 months generates a more efficient heterologous humoral immune response against VOCs by allowing enough time to mount a strong recall memory B cell response.This work is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, a Spanish public body assigned to the Ministry of Science and Innovation that manages and promotes public clinical research related to Public Health, by Grants PI19CIII/00004 (José Alcamí and Francisco Díez‐Fuertes) and PI21CIII/00025 (Javier García‐Pérez and Mayte Pérez‐Olmeda), COVID‐19 Fund (Grants COV20/00679 (Javier García‐Pérez, Mayte Pérez‐Olmeda, José Alcamí, and Francisco Díez‐Fuertes) and COV20/00072 (Javier García‐Pérez, Mayte Pérez‐Olmeda, Almudena Ramírez‐García, María Castillo de la Osa, Rocio Layunta Acero, Laura Vicente‐Izquierdo, Cristina Avendaño‐Solá, and José Alcamí), and CIBERINFEC, co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) “A way to make Europe.”S