Field-captured Aedes vexans (Meigen, 1830) is a competent vector for Rift Valley fever phlebovirus in Europe

BACKGROUND: Aedes vexans (Meigen) is considered a nuisance species in central Europe and the Mediterranean region. It is an anthropophilic and mammalophilic floodwater mosquito involved in the transmission of several arboviruses. Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a relevant mosquito-borne zoonosis, affecting mainly humans and ruminants, that causes severe impact in public health and economic loses. Due to globalization and climate change, the European continent is threatened by its introduction. The main purpose of the present study was to evaluate the vector competence of a European field-collected Ae. vexans population. METHODS: Aedes vexans field-collected larvae were reared in the laboratory under field-simulated conditions. To assess the vector competence for Rift Valley fever phlebovirus (RVFV) transmission, adult F0 females were exposed to infectious blood meals containing the 56/74 RVFV strain. Additionally, intrathoracic inoculations with the same virus strain were performed to evaluate the relevance of the salivary gland barriers. Natural circulation of alphavirus, flavivirus and phlebovirus was also tested. RESULTS: To our knowledge, an autochthonous Ae. vexans population was experimentally confirmed as a competent vector for RVFV for the first time. This virus was capable of infecting and disseminating within the studied Ae. vexans mosquitoes. Moreover, infectious virus was isolated from the saliva of disseminated specimens, showing their capacity to transmit the virus. Additionally, a natural infection with a circulating Mosquito flavivirus was detected. The co-infection with the Mosquito flavivirus seemed to modulate RVFV infection susceptibility in field-collected Ae. vexans, but further studies are needed to confirm its potential interference in RVFV transmission. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that field-collected European Ae. vexans would be able to transmit RVFV in case of introduction into the continent. This should be taken into consideration in the design of surveillance and control programmes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing Face Validity of the HexCom Model for Capturing Complexity in Clinical Practice : a Delphi study

Funding: This research was funded by INSTITUT CATALÀ DE LA SALUT, grant number 7Z19/008.Capturing complexity is both a conceptual and a practical challenge in palliative care. The HexCom model has proved to be an instrument with strong reliability and to be valid for describing the needs and strengths of patients in home care. In order to explore whether it is also perceived to be helpful in enhancing coordinated and patient-centred care at a practical level, a methodological study was carried out to assess the face validity of the model. In particular, a Delphi method involving a group of 14 experts representing the full spectrum of healthcare professionals involved in palliative care was carried out. The results show that there is a high level of agreement, with a content validity index-item greater than 0.92 both with regard to the complexity model and the HexCom-Red, HexCom-Basic, and the HexCom-Clin instruments, and higher than 0.85 regarding the HexCom-Figure and the HexCom-Patient instruments. This consensus confirms that the HexCom model and the different instruments that are derived from it are valued as useful tools for a broad range of healthcare professional in coordinately capturing complexity in healthcare practice

Sense accents? Les contradiccions de l'estàndard oral en els doblatges catalans de pel·lícules d'animació

En aquest treball hem analitzat l'explotació de la diversitat geolectal, sociolectal i etnolectal en un petit nombre de pel·lícules d'animació nord-americanes, i la manera com aquesta diversitat s'ha traslladat a les versions catalanes i castellanes disponibles. A partir de la nostra anàlisi és possible constatar com aquesta mena de pel·lícules utilitza amb força habilitat les connotacions socioculturals dels dialectes i els accents en la societat nord-americana per tal de caracteritzar millor uns personatges de ficció, transgredint fins i tot quan convé les normes de correcció lingüística acadèmica en favor de la versemblança. En canvi, les versions doblades catalanes només reflecteixen pàl·lidament l'explotació de la diversitat en l'original. La feble explotació de la diversitat dialectal pròpia té més transcendència del que pot semblar a priori per al cas del català. Tot i que es tracti d'un idioma amb una variació dialectal poc pronunciada, el tractament de la diversitat geolectal i sociolectal del català en l'àmbit audiovisual és sovint una font de problemes, ja que aquest és un tema en què s'encreuen tensions i tendències contraposades. D'una banda, les mancances històriques del sistema educatiu i sociocultural fan que els principals mitjans en català accentuïn el seu paper pedagògic i estandarditzador; de l'altra, la inexistència d'un mitjà audiovisual general que abracés tot el domini lingüístic ha provocat que mai no s'hagi generat una norma oral compartida. Com a resultat, ara com ara s'estan consolidant diverses varietats regionals de l'estàndard que en comptes d'afavorir l'enriquiment de l'idioma comú estan afermant les fronteres entre parlars i entrebanquen l'intercanvi de productes culturals amunt i avall del domini lingüístic. Al nostre treball suggerim que el camp del doblatge, i en especial el del cinema d'animació, podria ser un bon terreny d'experimentació per al desenvolupament d'un nou model d'estandardització oral del català. Un model tal vegada més coral que ajudi a superar les cotilles regionals en què ha caigut la llengua catalana i col·labori a potenciar la imprescindible circulació de la producció cultural pròpia o doblada entre tots els mitjans del domini lingüístic

El parlar salat: descripció, àmbit geogràfic i ús

[cat] La tesi s'ha centrat en l'estudi del parlar salat, un subdialecte del català central que es caracteritza per una sola isoglossa morfològica: l'ús de l'article derivat del demostratiu llatí IPSE (es, sa). Aquesta varietat ha estat poc estudiada i no té un abast gaire definit. En aquesta recerca, s'ha fixat l'abast actual de l'article salat i se n'ha ofert una visió actualitzada. Tradicionalment, el parlar salat s'ha situat en una estreta franja del litoral de Girona, entre Blanes i Begur, i, després, aïlladament, a Cadaqués, on es manté amb més vigència. Els estudis que hi ha hagut fins ara no han establert els límits geogràfics del fenomen de manera precisa. En aquest treball s'han estudiat les trenta-dues localitats del nord-est de Catalunya on Antoni Maria Alcover va constatar-hi l'ús de l'article salat fa uns cent anys per comprovar-ne la seva situació actual. Alcover és l'estudiós que ha fet una llista més exhaustiva de poblacions que han salat, tant pobles de costa com d'interior. Actualment, es tenen indicis que el tret que defineix i dóna nom a la varietat es troba en un procés de recessió acusat i de pèrdua, ja que només l'utilitzen persones ancianes i, en general, de l'àmbit de la pesca. La tesi, doncs, se centra en l'estudi d'un procés de desdialectalització. La tesi concreta l'estat actual del parlar salat a la Costa Brava. També fixa la cronologia del canvi de l'article derivat d'IPSE al nord-est de Catalunya (és a dir, en quin moment s'ha substituït per l'article literari: el, la) i descriu els factors que han propiciat aquesta substitució (els canvis socials per la irrupció del turisme, la manca de prestigi, etc.). En aquest treball es verifica que el tret que caracteritza i defineix el parlar salat va començar a caure en desús en els anys cinquanta del segle passat i que, avui dia, pràcticament ja s'ha extingit. L'article salat només es manté en parlants de Cadaqués, encara que en aquesta localitat actualment també s'ha deixat de transmetre generacionalment, de manera que els més joves ja no l'usen. En definitiva, en la tesi, es replanteja l'actual divisió dialectal de la llengua catalana ja que es verifica que el subdialecte estudiat no existeix. El tret que permetia definir la varietat del parlar salat ja no es manté. A més, s'ha demostrat que, sense l'article salat, no hi ha cap altra característica local que permeti diferenciar el parlar estudiat de les varietats limítrofes. Secundàriament, en aquest treball, també es descriu l'estat actual d'ús de l'article salat a les localitats valencianes de Tàrbena i la Vall de Gallinera, on tradicionalmente s'ha emprat aquesta forma, ja que van ser llocs repoblats per mallorquins el segle XVII. A més, s'analitza la distribució entre l'article derivat d'IPSE i el derivat d'ILLE en el balear, que és el dialecte que manté amb més vitalitat el primer element. S'hipotetiza que hi comença a haver un canvi a favor de l'article salat i es fa un sondeig d'aquest procés.[eng] This thesis focuses on the study of "parlar salat", which is a subdialect of the oriental Catalan. It is described by an only isogloss: the "article salat" (es, sa), which is from the derivative element of the Latin demonstrative IPSE. This variety, which has been little studied, has a little clear-cut reach. Different authors say it appears on the coast of Girona, between Blanes and Begur, and, isolatedly, in Cadaqués, the only village with speakers of different ages who use it (Veny 2003: 173). Although the studies do not establish the geographical limits of the phenomenon exactly, it is obvious that the feature that describes and gives noun the variety is in an accused process of recession and loss, because the only speakers in most places (apart from Cadaqués) are old people (in general, fishermen). This thesis specifies the current state of "parlar salat". It also fixes the chronology of the change of the "article salat" (the moment it is substituted by the literary article: el, la) and it describes the factors that have propitiated this situation (migration, tourism, standard language, etc.). "Parlar salat" is an example of death of dialect in Catalan, because the feature that characterizes started to disappear in the fifties of the last century and, nowadays, practically, it is extinguished (only there are some speakers in Cadaqués; however, all of them were born after 1983). Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the current dialectal division of Catalan

Implementation of Assisted Dying in Catalonia : Impact on Professionals and Development of Good Practices. Protocol for a Qualitative Study

The approval of the Spanish Law for the Regulation of Euthanasia in March 2021 entails a profound social change that has direct implications for professional practice at all levels of care. There is no information available about the experiences of the professionals participating in the process of implementing the law in our country, nor any guide as to what might represent good practices in euthanasia in the context of the Mediterranean countries. Due to the complexity of the concepts often associated with assisted dying processes (such as suffering, dignity and moral compass), it is essential that systematic and detailed research be conducted on how professionals understand their experiences of euthanasia, and that it be conducted during the initial stages. We intend to carry out a qualitative study with a constructionist orientation to gain insight to the social constructs underlying professionals' initial experiences. It consists of a series of in-depth interviews conducted in two phases: the first being exploratory and the second phenomenological. Sampling will be purposive and substantiated and have the following variation criteria: profession, age, and gender. Participants will be recruited through the Guarantee and Review Commission of Catalonia, and the scope of the study is all of Catalonia. We expect the participation of 31 professionals. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team with the direct participation of researchers from different levels of healthcare, university research centers and civil society through all phases of the study. The expected results are: (a) A detailed description of the experiences of the professionals involved in the implementation of the law; and (b) The identification of the foundations for a guide to good practices in euthanasia in the Mediterranean setting

Screening and routine diagnosis of mental disorders among migrants in primary care: A cross-sectional study

Background: Migrants in host countries are at risk for the development of mental health conditions. The two aims of the study were to describe routine diagnoses of mental disorders among migrant patients at primary healthcare level and the associated risk factors, and to test the utility of an innovative migrant mental health assessment by evaluating whether the health professionals followed the recommendations proposed by the clinical decision support system (CDSS) tool. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in eight primary care centres (PCCs) in four non-randomly selected health regions of Catalonia, Spain from March to December 2018. Routine health data and mental health diagnoses based on the International Classification of Diseases (10th edition), including mental, behavioural and neuro developmental disorders (F01-F99), symptoms and signs involving emotional state (R45), and sleep disorders (G47), were extracted from the electronic health records. The proportion of mental health conditions was estimated and logistic regression models were used to assess any possible association with mental health disorders. The utility of the mental health assessment was assessed with the proportion of questionnaires performed by health professionals for migrants fulfilling the mental health screening criterion (country of origin with an active conflict in 2017) and the diagnoses given to the screened patients. Results: Of 14,130 migrants that visited any of the PCCs during the study period, 7,358 (52.1 %) were women with a median age of 38.0 years-old. There were 520/14,130 (3.7 %) migrant patients diagnosed with a mental disorder, being more frequent among women (342/7,358; 4.7 %, p-value < 0.001), migrants from Latin-America (177/3,483; 5.1 %, p < 0.001) and those who recently arrived in Spain (170/3,672; 4.6 %, p < 0.001). A lower proportion of mental disorders were reported in migrants coming from conflicted countries in 2017 (116/3,669, 3.2 %, p = 0.053).Out of the 547 mental health diagnoses reported in 520 patients, 69/14,130 (0.5 %) were mood disorders, 346/14,130 (2.5 %) anxiety disorders and 127/14,130 (0.9 %) sleeping disorders. Mood disorders were more common in migrants from Eastern Europe (25/2,971; 0.8 %, p < 0.001) and anxiety disorders in migrants from Latin-America (126/3,483; 3.6 %, p < 0.001), while both type of disorders were more often reported in women (p < 0.001).In the adjusted model, women (aOR: 1.5, [95 % CI 1.2–1.8, p < 0.001]), migrants with more than one visit to the health center during the study period (aOR: 4.4, [95 %CI 2.8–6.8, p < 0.001]) and who presented an infectious disease (aOR: 2.1, [95 %CI 1.5–3.1, p < 0.001]) had higher odds of having a mental disorder.Lastly, out of the 1,840 migrants coming from a conflicted country in 2017 who were attended in centres where the CDSS tool was implemented, 29 (1.6 %) had a mental health assessment performed and the tool correctly identified one individual. Conclusions: Mental health is a condition that may be overlooked in migrants at primary healthcare. Interventions at this level of care must be reinforced and adapted to the needs and circumstances of migrants to ensure equity in health services