Strong Metal-Support Interaction (SMSI) in Au/TiO2 photocatalysts for environmental remediation applications: Effectiveness enhancement and side effects

Strong Metal−Support Interaction (SMSI) is a well-known phenomenon of heterogeneous catalysis that have not been extensively investigated in photocatalytic applications. Moreover, the reactions previously studied for photocatalysts under SMSI state are mainly restricted to energy related uses. The present work seeks to explore the effect of SMSI induced by soft wet-chemistry in a Au/TiO2 photocatalyst with specific focus on photocatalytic environmental remediation. With this aim, the developed photocatalyst has been evaluated considering liquid, gas and solid pollutants in order to represent the wide range of environmental photocatalysis applications. These photooxidation scenarios were methylene blue dissolved in water, gaseous NO, and soot directly deposited on the photocatalyst. The results revealed that the SMSI induction has a generally positive effect on photoactivity promoting the MB and soot removal by 53% and 60%, respectively. However, the SMSI did not provide any additional benefit in the NOx elimination compared to the non-SMSI Au/TiO2 photocatalyst, because the enveloping of AuNPs limits the gold-pollutant interaction

Violence of women againt men, myth or reality?

Artículo revisado por: Marzia Fiorini. Grupo de Investigación: Aprendizaje y Desarrollo en Contextos Educativos. Universidad de Granada; Jory Bolton. Trent UniversityEl sexismo ambivalente afectan de manera inmediata y permanente interfiriendo en la necesidad de cierre cognitivo, generando confusión, ambigüedad e incertidumbre en las personas victimas de la violencia de género. Este estudio explora la visión de que las mujeres puedan ejercer la violencia hacia los hombres. Método: Estudio exploratorio realizado en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de Granada. Cuarenta y nueve mujeres, cumplimentaron el Inventario de Sexismo Ambivalente y la escala de Necesidad de Cierre Cognitivo. Resultados: El análisis estadístico muestra que no existen correlaciones significativas entre los resultados obtenidos. Conclusiones: La violencia de las mujeres hacia los hombres no es reconocida.Sexism affects victims in an immediate and permanent way, interfering with the need for cognitive closure and generating confusion, ambiguity and uncertainty in people victimized by gender-based violence. This study explores the idea that women can exercise violence against men. Method: Exploratory study carried out at the Faculty of Education of the University of Granada. Forty-nine women completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and the Need for Cognitive Closure scale. Results: The statistical analysis shows that there is no significant correlation between the results obtained. Conclusions: Violence by women against men is not recognized.Universidad de Granada. Departamento de Psicología Social. Proyecto de Innovación Docente ReiDoCre

Spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant through Europe in the summer of 2020

[EN] Following its emergence in late 2019, the spread of SARS-CoV-21,2 has been tracked by phylogenetic analysis of viral genome sequences in unprecedented detail3,4,5. Although the virus spread globally in early 2020 before borders closed, intercontinental travel has since been greatly reduced. However, travel within Europe resumed in the summer of 2020. Here we report on a SARS-CoV-2 variant, 20E (EU1), that was identified in Spain in early summer 2020 and subsequently spread across Europe. We find no evidence that this variant has increased transmissibility, but instead demonstrate how rising incidence in Spain, resumption of travel, and lack of effective screening and containment may explain the variant’s success. Despite travel restrictions, we estimate that 20E (EU1) was introduced hundreds of times to European countries by summertime travellers, which is likely to have undermined local efforts to minimize infection with SARS-CoV-2. Our results illustrate how a variant can rapidly become dominant even in the absence of a substantial transmission advantage in favourable epidemiological settings. Genomic surveillance is critical for understanding how travel can affect transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and thus for informing future containment strategies as travel resumes.S

The evolution of the ventilatory ratio is a prognostic factor in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 ARDS patients

Background: Mortality due to COVID-19 is high, especially in patients requiring mechanical ventilation. The purpose of the study is to investigate associations between mortality and variables measured during the first three days of mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19 intubated at ICU admission. Methods: Multicenter, observational, cohort study includes consecutive patients with COVID-19 admitted to 44 Spanish ICUs between February 25 and July 31, 2020, who required intubation at ICU admission and mechanical ventilation for more than three days. We collected demographic and clinical data prior to admission; information about clinical evolution at days 1 and 3 of mechanical ventilation; and outcomes. Results: Of the 2,095 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU, 1,118 (53.3%) were intubated at day 1 and remained under mechanical ventilation at day three. From days 1 to 3, PaO2/FiO2 increased from 115.6 [80.0-171.2] to 180.0 [135.4-227.9] mmHg and the ventilatory ratio from 1.73 [1.33-2.25] to 1.96 [1.61-2.40]. In-hospital mortality was 38.7%. A higher increase between ICU admission and day 3 in the ventilatory ratio (OR 1.04 [CI 1.01-1.07], p = 0.030) and creatinine levels (OR 1.05 [CI 1.01-1.09], p = 0.005) and a lower increase in platelet counts (OR 0.96 [CI 0.93-1.00], p = 0.037) were independently associated with a higher risk of death. No association between mortality and the PaO2/FiO2 variation was observed (OR 0.99 [CI 0.95 to 1.02], p = 0.47). Conclusions: Higher ventilatory ratio and its increase at day 3 is associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19 receiving mechanical ventilation at ICU admission. No association was found in the PaO2/FiO2 variation

Clustering COVID-19 ARDS patients through the first days of ICU admission. An analysis of the CIBERESUCICOVID Cohort

Background Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can be classified into sub-phenotypes according to different inflammatory/clinical status. Prognostic enrichment was achieved by grouping patients into hypoinflammatory or hyperinflammatory sub-phenotypes, even though the time of analysis may change the classification according to treatment response or disease evolution. We aimed to evaluate when patients can be clustered in more than 1 group, and how they may change the clustering of patients using data of baseline or day 3, and the prognosis of patients according to their evolution by changing or not the cluster.Methods Multicenter, observational prospective, and retrospective study of patients admitted due to ARDS related to COVID-19 infection in Spain. Patients were grouped according to a clustering mixed-type data algorithm (k-prototypes) using continuous and categorical readily available variables at baseline and day 3.Results Of 6205 patients, 3743 (60%) were included in the study. According to silhouette analysis, patients were grouped in two clusters. At baseline, 1402 (37%) patients were included in cluster 1 and 2341(63%) in cluster 2. On day 3, 1557(42%) patients were included in cluster 1 and 2086 (57%) in cluster 2. The patients included in cluster 2 were older and more frequently hypertensive and had a higher prevalence of shock, organ dysfunction, inflammatory biomarkers, and worst respiratory indexes at both time points. The 90-day mortality was higher in cluster 2 at both clustering processes (43.8% [n = 1025] versus 27.3% [n = 383] at baseline, and 49% [n = 1023] versus 20.6% [n = 321] on day 3). Four hundred and fifty-eight (33%) patients clustered in the first group were clustered in the second group on day 3. In contrast, 638 (27%) patients clustered in the second group were clustered in the first group on day 3.Conclusions During the first days, patients can be clustered into two groups and the process of clustering patients may change as they continue to evolve. This means that despite a vast majority of patients remaining in the same cluster, a minority reaching 33% of patients analyzed may be re-categorized into different clusters based on their progress. Such changes can significantly impact their prognosis

Violencia de la mujer hacia el hombre, ¿mito o realidad? (Violence of women againt men, myth or reality?)

Resumen El sexismo ambivalente afecta de manera inmediata y permanente interfiriendo en la necesidad de cierre cognitivo, generando confusión, ambigüedad e incertidumbre en las personas victimas de la violencia de género. Este estudio explora la visión de que las mujeres puedan ejercer la violencia hacia los hombres. Método: Estudio exploratorio realizado en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de Granada. Cuarenta y nueve mujeres, cumplimentaron el Inventario de Sexismo Ambivalente y la escala de Necesidad de Cierre Cognitivo. Resultados: El análisis estadístico muestra que no existen correlaciones significativas entre los resultados obtenidos. Conclusiones: La violencia de las mujeres hacia los hombres no es reconocida. Abstract Sexism affects victims in an immediate and permanent way, interfering with the need for cognitive closure and generating confusion, ambiguity and uncertainty in people victimized by gender-based violence. This study explores the idea that women can exercise violence against men. Method: Exploratory study carried out at the Faculty of Education of the University of Granada. Forty-nine women completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and the Need for Cognitive Closure scale. Results: The statistical analysis shows that there is no significant correlation between the results obtained. Conclusions: Violence by women against men is not recognized

Ciencias sociales : desafíos y perspectivas

Es evidente que el modelo actual de difusión de la información científica, que nació en el siglo XVII, debe ser repensado como modelo de gestión o, si el lector lo desea, “como modelo de negocio” si aceptamos el lucro en el “mercado del conocimiento”. A estas alturas del desarrollo de las sociedades en que ya la revolución industrial es cosa del pasado y la sociedad ha avanzado hacia la sociedad de la información, no es posible que información científica que la ciencia genera como sistema sea rehén de pagos y que la información emergida de procesos de investigación, largos y laboriosos, quede prisionera de “proveedores” que fijan elevadas tasas para acceder a sus bases de datos y consecuentemente sólo las instituciones poderosas tienen la posibilidad de pagar esos elevados costos