Dancing with physio: a mobile game with physiologically aware virtual humans

This study presents an evaluation of a mobile game with physiologically aware virtual humans as an approach to modulate the participant's affective and physiological state. We developed a mobile version of a virtual reality scenario where the participants were able to interact with virtual human characters through their psychophysiological activity. Music was played in the background of the scenario and, depending on the experimental condition, the virtual humans were initially either barely dancing or dancing very euphorically. The task of the participants was to encourage the apathetic virtual humans to dance or to calm down the frenetically dancing characters, through the modulation of their own mood and physiological activity. Results from our study show that by using this mobile game with the physiologically aware and affective virtual humans the participants were able to emotionally arouse themselves in the Activation condition and were able to relax themselves in the Relaxation condition, during the same session with only a brief break between conditions. The self-reported affective data was also corroborated by the physiological data (heart rate, respiration and skin conductance) which significantly differed between the Activation and Relaxation conditions

Influence of Music on Anxiety Induced by Fear of Heights in Virtual Reality

Music is a potent mood regulator that can induce relaxation and reduce anxiety in different situations. While several studies demonstrate that certain types of music have a subjective anxiolytic effect, the reported results from physiological responses are less conclusive. Virtual reality allows us to study diverse scenarios of real life under strict experimental control while preserving high ecological validity. We aimed to study the modulating effect of music on the anxiety responses triggered by an immersive virtual reality scenario designed to induce fear of heights. Subjects experienced a virtual scenario depicting an exterior elevator platform ascending and descending the total height of its 350 meters tall supporting structure. Participants were allocated to either a group that experienced the elevator ride with background music or without, in a between-groups design. Furthermore, each group included participants with different degrees of fear of heights, ranging from low to high fear. Recordings of heart rate, galvanic skin response, body balance, and head movements were obtained during the experiments. Subjective anxiety was measured by means of three questionnaires. The scenario produced significant changes in subjective and physiological measures, confirming its efficacy as a stressor. A significant increase in state anxiety was found between pre and post-assessment in the silence group, but not in the music group, indicating that post-stress recovery was faster in the musical group. Results suggest that music can ameliorate the subjective anxiety produced by fear of heights

Using music as a signal for biofeedback

Studies on the potential benefits of conveying biofeedback stimulus using a musical signal have appeared in recent years with the intent of harnessing the strong effects that music listening may have on subjects. While results are encouraging, the fundamental question has yet to be addressed, of how combined music and biofeedback compares to the already established use of either of these elements separately. This experiment, involving young adults (N = 24), compared the effectiveness at modulating participants' states of physiological arousal of each of the following conditions: A) listening to pre-recorded music, B) sonification biofeedback of the heart rate, and C) an algorithmically modulated musical feedback signal conveying the subject's heart rate. Our hypothesis was that each of the conditions (A), (B) and (C) would differ from the other two in the extent to which it enables participants to increase and decrease their state of physiological arousal, with (C) being more effective than (B), and both more than (A). Several physiological measures and qualitative responses were recorded and analyzed. Results show that using musical biofeedback allowed participants to modulate their state of physiological arousal at least equally well as sonification biofeedback, and much better than just listening to music, as reflected in their heart rate measurements, controlling for respiration-rate. Our findings indicate that the known effects of music in modulating arousal can therefore be beneficially harnessed when designing a biofeedback protocol

Arte contemporáneo, inclusión y transformación social.

Actividad CePIAbierto (RHCD FA Nº 103/2018). El eje central del proyecto es una exposición de los procesos realizados en los talleres de artes del Centro Vida Nueva (San Juan) y el Centro Educativo Terapéutico Lihue Vidas (Córdoba), junto a una selección de sus producciones visuales. Tanto éstas producciones como su montaje se propone desde un planteo contemporáneo y ampliado de las artes visuales, donde diversas disciplinas (como pintura, fotografía, video, registro de experiencias, textos e instalaciones) y diversos campos no artísticos (como pedagógico, social, psicológico, etc) se entrecruzan y construyen de manera colaborativa la experiencia propuesta, rescatando y revalorizando sobre todo el proceso de trabajo y no sólo el resultado final. Se realizó también una charla-debate con lxs artistas que pone en cuestión ideas ejes que atraviesan el trabajo artístico de las personas con discapacidad, la valoración positiva de la diferencia, la importancia y necesidad de poner en práctica concreta la inclusión en los diferentes ámbitos educativos-artísticos-culturales. Por último, se pintó colectivamente un mural como modo de compartir una experiencia de creación colectiva, junto a lxs artistas expositorxs.Actividad CePIAbierto (RHCD FA Nº 103/2018). Una experiencia artística expositiva que propone pensar la discapacidad no como un problema, sino como una pregunta que nos despierta. Pinturas, dibujos, charlas y un mural colectivo, dan cuenta de un proceso de trabajo artístico y de encuentro entre diversas personas que comparten un mismo hacer y placer: pintar, dibujar (¡y bailar!).Fil: Tamagni, Julia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Centro Educativo Terapéutico Lihue Vidas; Argentina.Fil: Bula, Nadia. Centro Vida Nueva, Institución Aleluya-ARID.Fil: Maggio, Natalia. Universidad Católica de Cuyo. Centro Vida Nueva, Institución Aleluya-ARID.Fil: Scheidegger, Emiliano. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Artes; Argentina.Fil: Walter, Florencia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Artes; Argentina.Fil: Belkys Scolamieri, Delia Lozano. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Educación. Apukay; Argentina

CARB-ES-19 Multicenter Study of Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli From All Spanish Provinces Reveals Interregional Spread of High-Risk Clones Such as ST307/OXA-48 and ST512/KPC-3

ObjectivesCARB-ES-19 is a comprehensive, multicenter, nationwide study integrating whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in the surveillance of carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (CP-Kpn) and E. coli (CP-Eco) to determine their incidence, geographical distribution, phylogeny, and resistance mechanisms in Spain.MethodsIn total, 71 hospitals, representing all 50 Spanish provinces, collected the first 10 isolates per hospital (February to May 2019); CPE isolates were first identified according to EUCAST (meropenem MIC > 0.12 mg/L with immunochromatography, colorimetric tests, carbapenem inactivation, or carbapenem hydrolysis with MALDI-TOF). Prevalence and incidence were calculated according to population denominators. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the microdilution method (EUCAST). All 403 isolates collected were sequenced for high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing, core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST), and resistome analysis.ResultsIn total, 377 (93.5%) CP-Kpn and 26 (6.5%) CP-Eco isolates were collected from 62 (87.3%) hospitals in 46 (92%) provinces. CP-Kpn was more prevalent in the blood (5.8%, 50/853) than in the urine (1.4%, 201/14,464). The cumulative incidence for both CP-Kpn and CP-Eco was 0.05 per 100 admitted patients. The main carbapenemase genes identified in CP-Kpn were blaOXA–48 (263/377), blaKPC–3 (62/377), blaVIM–1 (28/377), and blaNDM–1 (12/377). All isolates were susceptible to at least two antibiotics. Interregional dissemination of eight high-risk CP-Kpn clones was detected, mainly ST307/OXA-48 (16.4%), ST11/OXA-48 (16.4%), and ST512-ST258/KPC (13.8%). ST512/KPC and ST15/OXA-48 were the most frequent bacteremia-causative clones. The average number of acquired resistance genes was higher in CP-Kpn (7.9) than in CP-Eco (5.5).ConclusionThis study serves as a first step toward WGS integration in the surveillance of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in Spain. We detected important epidemiological changes, including increased CP-Kpn and CP-Eco prevalence and incidence compared to previous studies, wide interregional dissemination, and increased dissemination of high-risk clones, such as ST307/OXA-48 and ST512/KPC-3

Adelante / Endavant

Séptimo desafío por la erradicación de la violencia contra las mujeres del Institut Universitari d’Estudis Feministes i de Gènere "Purificación Escribano" de la Universitat Jaume

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries