Intervención cognitivo conductual para la ansiedad generalizada en una madre de una niña con trastorno del espectro autista

El objetivo del estudio fue disminuir la sintomatología de la ansiedad generalizada mediante la aplicación de un programa cognitivo conductual de una madre con una hija con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA). Se realizó un abordaje bajo el diseño de tipo cuasi experimental de caso único AB. El programa se aplicó a una mujer de 38 años de edad quien presenta trastorno de ansiedad generalizada (TAG). Para la evaluación del caso se realizó la entrevista conductual y se aplicaron instrumentos de evaluación como la Escala de Ansiedad de Hamilton (HARS), el Cuestionario de Ansiedad Estado – Rasgo (STAI), el Registro de Opiniones Forma – A, el Inventario Clínico Multiaxial de Millón (MCMI-II) y la Escala de Habilidades Sociales. Se aplicó un programa de terapia cognitivo conductual estructurado en 12 sesiones, con un tiempo de 45 minutos cada sesión una vez a la semana. El programa de tratamiento incluyo técnicas como entrenamiento en respiración diafragmática, entrenamiento de relajación de Jacobson, reestructuración cognitiva, entrenamiento en habilidades sociales, auto control y en resolución de problemas. Los resultados demostraron una disminución significativa en la frecuencia de los síntomas somáticos y pensamientos distorsionados de la ansiedad generalizada. Se concluye que la terapia cognitivo conductual tuvo eficacia en este caso de trastorno de ansiedad generalizada

Environmental status of marine plastic pollution in Spain

The excessive use of plastic in our society is causing a massive accumulation, since it is a non-biodegradable product and with still poor recycling rates. This effect can be observed in the seas, which more and more plastic waste are accumulating. The present work is a critical review, based on all currently available literature, that reports environmental status of marine plastic pollution, especially microplastic pollution, in Spain. The three Spanish water areas with the highest presence of plastics are the Alboran Sea, the Gulf of Alicante and the vicinity of Barcelona probably related to fishing and industrial activities and high population densities. With regard to microplastic contamination on beaches in Spain, annual monitoring by the Spanish government shows contamination along the entire coast of the country, with particularly high concentrations in the Canary Islands (between 800 and 8800 particles/m2 in spring). Between 40 and 50% of the particles analyzed were pellets and the main factors postulated for the distribution of these particles are marine currents and the geomorphological characteristics. With regards to biota, ingestion of microplastics by fish has been intensely confirmed and, important differences were observed between the locations of the sampling, being bogues (Boops boops) one of the fish species more studied in Spain. Finally, the work includes a revision of European and Spanish legislation about plastics and marine pollution and some strategies to reduce this kind of contamination in Spain

La reforma concursal y los grupos de sociedades

La reforma de la Ley Concursal ha ordenado el régimen de los llamados concursos conexos. Uno de los supuestos de este tipo de concursos es el que afecta a las sociedades integradas en un grupo de sociedades. El trabajo analiza los cambios que afectan a ese supuesto. Son modificaciones de naturaleza esencialmente procesal, sin perjuicio de la excepcional regla que se establece en materia de consolidación de inventarios y listas de acreedores.The Insolvency Act reform has arranged the law affecting the so called related insolvencies. One of these cases regards companies pertaining to a corporate group. This paper examines the amendments changes on that issue. There are changes which have a basic procedural nature, without prejudice to the exceptional rules on consolidation of inventories and creditors lists

Relación de los factores socioculturales y clínicos con la situación de la infección en mujeres VIH positivas que acuden a consulta en la clínica de VIH del hospital Dr. Enrique Garcés entre marzo del 2004 y septiembre del 2011

Tomando en cuenta que la situación de la mujer en la sociedad la torna vulnerable en algunos ámbitos de su vida, uno de ellos la salud, como resultado de muchos factores en juego que son de origen personal, social, cultural, demográfico, legal, económico y político, se realizó este estudio con el objetivo de determinar la relación entre los factores socioculturales y clínicos, y la situación de las mujeres VIH positivas que acuden a consulta en la Clínica de VIH del Hospital Dr. Enrique Garcés, en base a su estadío CDC y su manejo del tratamiento. Además se realizó un análisis del estado de las mujeres que se encontraron en estado de gestación para determinar la relación del manejo del embarazo y parto y el estado del recién nacido en cuanto a la infección por el virus

COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) contamination in coastal areas of Granada, Spain

This research was funded by project “RECOMAR” (PYC20 RE 041 UGR), co-financed 80 % by the ERDF, ERDF Operational Program 2014- 2020 and the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowl- edge and Universities, Junta de Andalucía. European Union – European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - “Andalusia moves with Europe”. Authors thank “Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Tropical Coast of Granada” that greatly assisted the sampling campaigns. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUA.The use of disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) as a control measure to avoid transmission against COVID-19 has generated a challenge to the waste management and enhances plastic pollution in the environment. The research aims to monitor the presence of PPE waste and other plastic debris, in a time interval where the use of face mask at specific places was still mandatory, on the coastal areas of Granada (Spain) which belongs to the Mediterranean Sea. Four beaches called La Rijana, La Charca, La Rábita and Calahonda were examined during different periods. The total amount of sampled waste was 17,558 plastic units. The abundance, characteristics and distribution of PPE and other plastic debris were determined. Results showed that the observed amount of total plastic debris were between 2.531·10−2 and 24.487·10−2 units per square meter, and up to 0.136·10−2 for PPE debris, where face masks represented the 92.22 % of the total PPE debris, being these results comparable to previous studies in other coastal areas in the world. On the other hand, total plastic debris densities were in the range from 2.457·10−2 to 92.219·10−2 g/m2 and densities were up to 0.732·10−2 for PPE debris. PPE debris supposed 0.79 % of the weight of total waste and the 0.51 % of total items. Concerning non-PPE plastic waste: cigarettes filters, food containers and styrofoam were the most abundant items (42.95, 10.19 and 16.37 % of total items, respectively). During vacation periods, total plastic debris amount increased 92.19 % compared to non-vacation periods. Regarding type of beaches, the presence of plastic debris was significantly higher on touristic/recreational than in fishing beaches. Data showed no significant differences between accessible and no-accessible beaches, but between periods with restrictive policy about mask face use and periods with non-restrictive policy data suggest significant differences between densities (g/m2) for PPE litter. The amount of PPEs debris is also correlated with the number of cigarettes filters (Person's r = 0.650), food containers (r = 0.782) and other debris (r = 0.63). Finally, although interesting results were provided in this study, further research is required to better understand the consequences of this type of pollution and to provide viable solutions to this problem.Project “RECOMAR” (PYC20 RE 041 UGR), co-financed 80 % by the ERDF, ERDF Operational Program 2014- 2020 and the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowl- edge and Universities, Junta de Andalucía. European Union – European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - “Andalusia moves with Europe”Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBU

Influencia de algunas variables en la biosorción de plomo con residuos agrícolas

En este trabajo se ha estudiado la biosorción de plomo presente en medios acuosos utilizando como sólidos sorbentes hueso de aceituna, alpeorujo y ramón del olivo, analizando la influencia sobre el proceso del pH, concentración de biosorbente, tamaño de partícula y tiempo de contacto. Los resultados muestran que en medios muy ácidos no se produce retirada de plomo con ninguno de los sólidos, aumentando el porcentaje de plomoretirado a medida que se eleva el pH del medio hastaalcanzar un valor máximo a pH 4. Así mismo, un aumentoen la concentración de biosorbente eleva el porcentaje de Pb retirado, siendo especialmente significativo este aumento para el hueso y el alpeorujo. Los resultados obtenidos en el estudio de la influencia del tamaño de partícula muestran que el porcentaje de plomo retirado disminuye a medida que aumenta el tamaño de partícula, aunque esta disminución es poco  importante para el alpeorujo y el ramón. Finalmente, el proceso de biosorción de plomo con hueso, alpeorujo y ramón se produce de forma rápida alcanzándose el equilibrio antes de los 60 minutos de operación

Morpho-structural and thermo-mechanical characterization of recycled polypropylene and polystyrene from mixed post-consumer plastic waste

In this work, a complete sorting and characterization of dirty non-recyclable mixed plastic (plasmix fraction) from municipal solid waste was performed. The procedure comprised a visual inspection and identification of the materials presented in the mixed plastic bales, and subsequent moisture and dirt content determination. Afterwards, both polypropylene and polystyrene fractions obtained from the sorting process were recycled and physico-mechanically and thermally characterized for the assessment of recycled material quality. The dirty nonrecyclable mixed plastic from municipal solid waste was composed of polypropylene (28.89 %), polyethylene terephthalate (22.02 %), polystyrene (9.65 %) and rigid polyethylene (4.68 %). Regarding the moisture and dirt content of the mixed plastic fraction, the results were highly variable, mainly due to the heterogeneity of the material, its origin, atmospheric conditions, etc. The average sum of both parameters (moisture and dirt) was around 15 %. The mechanical properties were within the expected range for each type of polymer, noting that polystyrene recycled materials are more brittle than recycled polypropylene. The recycling of non-food polypropylene wastes yielded a material with higher impact resistance (70 kJ/m2) and Young´s modulus (1934 MPa) as compared to that obtained from the recycling of food packages. Concerning the polystyrene recyclates, it is worth mentioning that recycled materials obtained from foamed residues (expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene showed approximately twice the tensile strength with respect to the recycled materials from high impact polystyrene and general-purpose polystyrene residues. In some cases, infrared and thermal analyses revealed cross-contamination with traces of other polymers

Activated char from the co-pyrolysis of polystyrene and olive stone mixtures for the adsorption of CO2

Yogurt plastic containers made of polystyrene (PS), olive stone, and mixtures of both have been converted into activated carbon materials transforming them firstly into char via pyrolysis and secondly with activation using either KOH or H2SO4. The pyrolysis of the olive stone gave a higher yield of material than the plastic PS. However, the activation of the PS char with KOH was more effective, reaching surface areas of 508 vs 194 m2 g−1 of the corresponding prepared with olive stone. The prepared materials were tested as CO2 adsorbent in thermobalance and fixed-be column assays. The materials activated with H2SO4 slightly enhanced the adsorption ability of the original char but were far from the performance obtained with KOH activation. The CO2 isotherms showed high synergy of CO2 uptake and selectivity when using activated chars prepared with the char from the mixture of raw materials, specially at a 1:1 mass ratio. The isosteric heat of adsorption values were those expected for a physisorption process. Further experiments in a fixed-bed column were also studied at atmospheric pressure at different inlet CO2 concentrations (10–50%). The CO2 retention increased as the partial CO2 pressure rose. Besides, a very similar performance of the material prepared with plastic and olive stones was obtained at 50%, i.e. 220 and 197 mg g−1 respectively. At low CO2 concentrations, the materials enriched with plastic displayed better performance than those prepared with olive stone. Cycles of adsorption-desorption were carried out in the column to assess the stability of the materials. The curves obtained did not display any substantial change, demonstrating the lack of adsorption retention

Laboratory-Scale Optimization of Celestine Concentration Using a Hydrocyclone System

A pilot hydrocyclone plant was used to concentrate medium-grade celestine ore (67% celestine) from the Montevive deposit in Granada (Spain) by using a dense media concentration (DMS) process. To optimize the concentration process, several types of heavy minerals (coarse, fine C40 ferrosilicon and/or magnetite) were used to prepare a dense media with a constant density of 3.0 kg/L. Then, the dense media (loaded with run-of-mine celestine mineral) was fed into the hydrocyclone system. The mineral was then separated into two streams, the first containing the mineral fractions that float (over stream) and the second containing fractions that sink (under stream) in the dense media. Next, the heavy minerals (ferrosilicon and/or magnetite) were recovered from the dense media using magnetic separation. The celestine mineral recovered from each stream was divided into two fractions with particles size above or below 250 m to study the effect of the mineral particle size on the separation process. Their mineral composition was quantified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) using the Rietveld method. The celestine is preferentially concentrated in the under stream in the mineral fraction with particles larger than 250 m (up to 90% celestine). The optimum results (highest % of celestine) were obtained after desliming and using the ferrosilicon C40 medium, which has the smallest particle size (<40 m) of all media used. The results of this study show that medium-grade celestine mineral accumulated in the mine tailings can be efficiently concentrated using a DMS process, which could help in making mine operations more sustainable and eco-friendlier.CNT 5589 (University of Granada)MineTheGap (European Union) CELABDEN PROJEC

Synergistic effect of graphitic-like carbon nitride and sulfur-based thiazole-linked organic polymer heterostructures for boosting the photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceuticals in water

A sulfur-based COF has been combined with graphitic carbon nitride (CN) in microwave-assisted synthesis to build a COF-CN heterostructure with enhanced photocatalytic activity. The prepared COF-CN heterostructures were fully characterized, analyzing the textural (N2 isotherms), structural (XRD and FTIR), chemical (elemental analysis and XPS), morphological (HR-STEM), optical (DRS-UV–Vis and photoluminescence) and electrochemical properties (EIS impedance, transient photocurrent, and flat band potential). Different COF-to-CN ratios (5–25 % of COF, wt.) were explored, defining a proportion (20 %) that led to optimum activity for the photocatalytic oxidation of organic contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) due to an enhanced separation of the photogenerated charges and lower bandgap value, 2.55 vs. 2.35 eV. The performance of the optimum COF-CN was further tested for other CECs, demonstrating its benefits compared to the bare CN. The materials displayed acceptable reusability and stability. The activation mechanism highlights the importance played by superoxide radicals and photogenerated holes