What do Spanish 5-7 year-olds say about some Environmental issues? An Exploratory Study to Detect and Analyse their Ideas

Basic qualitative research is presented in order to value and compare preschool (5-6yearold) and first-year primary level(6-7yearold) children's ideas in a Spanish school about several topics: waste, biodegradability, recycling, water pollution and water saving. To obtain this information, complementary instruments were used, although here the obtained results of the first instrument are reported. The results led to identifying the children's main responses on the topic as well as establishing some differences between the two educational stages. It was possible to establish progressive levels of categories for some of the ideas studied. Some teaching suggestions are made: it is ineffective to focus on what types of materials are deposited in each type of rubbish container when they cannot yet differentiate between the types of materials and their properties. Instead, a simplified approach should be developed perhaps by way of stories. A proposal could be developed on the biodegradability of materials as a visually distinguishable property, with some hands-on activities. We would also suggest providing specific examples as specific types of contamination, such as water pollution, on the living conditions of specific forms of life

A randomized, double-blind study on the efficacy of oral domperidone versus placebo for reducing SARS-CoV-2 viral load in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients in primary health care

15 p.-3 fig.-3 tab.Introduction:The clinical effect of domperidone against COVID-19 has been investigated in a double-blind phase III clinical trial (EudraCT number 2021-001228-17). Domperidone has shown in vitro antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and potential immudolatory properties through the stimulation of prolactin secretion.Patients and methods:The efficacy of oral domperidone plus standard of care (SOC; n = 87) versus placebo plus SOC (n = 86) was evaluated in a 28-day randomized double-blind multicentre study in primary health care centres. A total of 173 outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were included. Three daily doses of 10 mg (30 mg/day) of domperidone or placebo were administered for 7 days. Reduction of viral load on day 4 was the primary efficay endpoint. It was estimated in saliva samples by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), as the cycle thresholds detected ORF1ab, N Protein and S Protein genes.Results:A significant reduction in the viral load was observed (p < 0.001) from baseline to days 4, 7 and 14 of the three genes studied with non-significant differences between domperidone and placebo groups. Twenty-three patients (13.3%) experienced adverse events, 14 patients in the domperidone group (16.1%) and 9 patients in the placebo group (10.5%). No patients needed to be hospitalized.Conclusion: Results do not prove the use of domperidone as antiviral in patients with COVID-19.This research was funded by CSIC (grant no. PIE 201980E024) and by the European Commission: NextGeneration EU (Regulation EU 2020/2094) through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global). The study sponsor was Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, M.P. (CSIC), Madrid, Spain. The sponsor was involved in the design, data interpretation, manuscript review and the decision to submit the article for publication.Peer reviewe