Blended transdiagnostic group CBT for emotional disorders: A feasibility trial protocol

Introduction: Emotional disorders (anxiety and depressive disorders) are a relevant public health concern associated with high prevalence, high costs, and important disability. Therefore, research priorities include designing and testing cost-effective interventions to reach everyone in need. Internet-delivered interventions for emotional disorders are effective and can help to disseminate and implement evidence-based treatments. However, although these treatments are generally effective, not all patients benefit from this treatment format equally. Blended treatments are a new form of intervention that combines the strengths of face-to-face and Internet approaches. Nevertheless, research on blended interventions has focused primarily on individual therapy, and less attention has been paid to the potential of using this format in group psychotherapy. This study aims to analyze the feasibility of blended transdiagnostic group CBT for emotional disorders. The current article describes the study protocol for this trial. Method and analysis: A one-armed pilot trial will be conducted. Participants will be 30 adults suffering from DSM-5 anxiety and/or depressive disorders. The treatment consists of a blended transdiagnostic group intervention delivered during a period of 24 weeks. Groups of 6 to 10 patients will attend a total of eight 2-hour, face-to-face sessions, alternated with the use of an online platform where they will find the contents of the treatment protocol. The intervention has four core components: present-focused awareness, cognitive flexibility, identification and modification of behavioral and cognitive patterns of emotional avoidance, and interoceptive and situational exposure. These components are delivered in 16 modules. Assessments will be performed at baseline, during the treatment, at post-treatment, and at 3-month follow-up. Clinical and treatment acceptability outcomes will be included. Quantitative and qualitative data (participants’ views about blended group psychotherapy) will be analyzed. Ethics and dissemination: The trial has received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of Universitat Jaume I (September 2019) and will be conducted in accordance with the study protocol, the Declaration of Helsinki, and good clinical practice. The results of this study will be disseminated by presentation at conferences and will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04008576. Registered 05 July 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0400857

New models involving quantum chemical parameters for assessing the chromatographic retention process

.Knowledge about the theoretical relationship between the analyte properties and the critical chromatographic parameters is mandatory for a better interpretation of the separation mechanism and a more leisurely development of quantitative studies. In a preliminary stage of this work, we introduce the Gumbel distribution, the extreme value distribution type-I widely used in other fields, as a novel tool for modelling the chromatographic peak shape. Further, we develop mathematical models to evaluate the effect of the experimental variables and various quantum parameters on the chromatographic indices, such as the retention time, capacity factor, asymmetry factor, tailing factor and number of theoretical plates. Finally, we propose a mechanistic behaviour for the chromatographic separation process based on the structure-retention relationship of fifteen selected drugs involving several molecular quantum parametersS

Negative and positive affect regulation in a transdiagnostic internet-based protocol for emotional disorders: Randomized controlled trial

Background: Emotional disorders (EDs) are among the most prevalent mental disorders. Existing evidence-based psychological treatments are not sufficient to reduce the disease burden of mental disorders. It is therefore essential to implement innovative solutions to achieve a successful dissemination of psychological treatment protocols, and in this regard, the use of information and communication technologies such as the internet can be very useful. Furthermore, the literature suggests that not everyone with an ED receives the appropriate treatment. This situation has led to the development of new intervention proposals based on the transdiagnostic perspective, which attempts to address the underlying processes common to EDs. Most of these transdiagnostic interventions focus primarily on downregulating negative affectivity (NA), and less attention has been paid to strengths and the upregulation of positive affectivity, despite its importance for well-being and mental health. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a transdiagnostic internet-based treatment for EDs in a community sample. Methods: A 3-armed randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 216 participants were randomly assigned to a transdiagnostic internet-based protocol (TIBP), a TIBP+ positive affect (PA) component, or a waiting list (WL) control group. The treatment protocol contained core components mainly addressed to downregulate NA (ie, present-focused emotional awareness and acceptance, cognitive flexibility, behavioral and emotional avoidance patterns, and interoceptive and situational exposure) as well as a PA regulation component to promote psychological strengths and enhance well-being. Data on depression, anxiety, quality of life, neuroticism and extraversion, and PA/NA before and after treatment were analyzed. Expectations and opinions of treatment were also analyzed. Results: Within-group comparisons indicated significant pre-post reductions in the two experimental conditions. In the TIBP+PA condition, the effect sizes were large for all primary outcomes (d=1.42, Beck Depression Inventory [BDI-II]; d=0.91, Beck Anxiety Inventory [BAI]; d=1.27, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Positive [PANAS-P]; d=1.26, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Negative [PANAS-N]), whereas the TIBP condition yielded large effect sizes for BDI-II (d=1.19) and PANAS-N (d=1.28) and medium effect sizes for BAI (d=0.63) and PANAS-P (d=0.69). Between-group comparisons revealed that participants who received one of the two active treatments scored better at posttreatment than WL participants. Although there were no statistically significant differences between the two intervention groups on the PA measure, effect sizes were consistently larger in the TIBP+PA condition than in the standard transdiagnostic protocol. Conclusions: Overall, the findings indicate that EDs can be effectively treated with a transdiagnostic intervention via the internet, as significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and quality of life measures were observed. Regarding PA measures, promising effects were found, but more research is needed to study the role of PA as a therapeutic component

Analysis of the mechanical properties of wood attacked by Xylotrechus arvicola (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) larvae, and its influence on the structural properties of the plant

Xylotrechus arvicola is an invasive insect on Vitis vinifera in the main wine-producing regions of the Iberian Peninsula. X. arvicola larvae bore into the grapevine wood and make galleries, which cause structural damages to the plant. The aim of this study was to investigate how grapevine wood infested by larvae affects the mechanical properties of the plant in comparation with those of uninfested wood. Samples of grapevine wood uninfested and infested by larvae were collected from vineyards. Compression and flexural strengths as well as simulated structures of grapevine wood in field, in relation to harvest weight by variety, were used to quantify the wood mechanical properties. Infested wood endured a lower strength and normal tension, and exhibited a reduction in the structural capacities in the simulation of harvest weight of 'Cabernet-Sauvignon' variety (up to 62.0 %). 'Tempranillo' (despite its high mechanical slenderness values) and 'Cabernet-Sauvignon', were the varieties that showed a higher resistance on trunks and branches, respectively. A lower bending moment was observed on the infested branches of all varieties. Changes in the mechanical properties of infested wood suggest a decrease in mechanical resistance of wood attacked by larvae that could contribute to the rupture of the infested grapevine over time. Grapevine wood attacked by X. arvicola larvae could be more sensitive to mechanical external factors in vineyards such as strong winds, harvest weight and vibration exerted by harvesting machines

Hypoalbuminemia in the outcome of patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding

AbstractIntroduction and aimThe role of serum albumin level in patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NVUGB) has not been extensively studied. Our aim was to evaluate the role of serum albumin on admission in terms of in-hospital mortality in patients with NVUGB.Materials and methodsPatients admitted with NVUGB during a 4-year period were prospectively included. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. ROC curve analysis was used to determine the cutoff value for serum albumin on admission that made a distinction between deceased patients and survivors with respect to serum albumin on admission, as well as its overall performance compared with the Rockall score.Results185 patients with NVUGB were evaluated. Men predominated (56.7%) and a mean age of 59.1±19.9 years was found. Mean serum albumin on admission was 2.9±0.9g/dl with hypoalbuminemia (< 3.5g/dl) detected on admission in 71.4% of cases. The ROC curve found that the best value for predicting hospital mortality was an albumin level of 3.1g/dl (AUROC 0.738). Mortality in patients with albumin ≥ 3.2g/dl was 1.2% compared with 11.2% in patients with albumin<3.2g/dl (P=.009; OR 9.7, 95%CI 1.2-76.5). There was no difference in overall performance between the albumin level (AUORC 0.738) and the Rockall score (AUROC 0.715) for identifying mortality.ConclusionsPatients with hypoalbuminemia presenting with NVUGB have a greater in-hospital mortality rate. The serum albumin level and the Rockall score perform equally in regard to identifying the mortality rate

El botulismo: una de las causas de mortalidad bovina en los Llanos Orientales de Colombia.

Ilustra al ganadero sobre el conocimiento del botulismo bovino, su identificación, métodos para prevenirlo y controlarlo, y recomendaciones prácticas para evitarlo y diferenciarlo de otras enfermedades que también ocasionan mortalidad bovinaGanadería bovin

An educational environment based on digital image processing to support the learning process of biomaterials degradation in stem cells

[Abstract] The Poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) copolymers (PDLGA) have designed and performed as biomaterials, taking into account their biodegradability and biocompatibility properties. These materials have a wide range of application in medicine such as orthopedic implants, general surgical implants (suture materials), osteosynthesis, bone cement, among many others. For these reasons, in this paper, we present an intelligent educational environment that can be used for both, researchers and students interested in the analysis of the biomaterial behavior under certain conditions. Our platform includes a Learning Objects (LOs) for MOODLE, and in the same way, implements several digital image processing techniques as well as a decision support module based on a random forest algorithm and statistical modeling. With the aim of determining the real feasibility of this proposal, we have presented the system to 34 Ecuadorian engineering students. After testing the platform, the students answered a survey aimed at determining their perception of the system. The results provide several guidelines to continue with the developing of the platform

High-throughput functional annotation and data mining with the Blast2GO suite

Functional genomics technologies have been widely adopted in the biological research of both model and non-model species. An efficient functional annotation of DNA or protein sequences is a major requirement for the successful application of these approaches as functional information on gene products is often the key to the interpretation of experimental results. Therefore, there is an increasing need for bioinformatics resources which are able to cope with large amount of sequence data, produce valuable annotation results and are easily accessible to laboratories where functional genomics projects are being undertaken. We present the Blast2GO suite as an integrated and biologist-oriented solution for the high-throughput and automatic functional annotation of DNA or protein sequences based on the Gene Ontology vocabulary. The most outstanding Blast2GO features are: (i) the combination of various annotation strategies and tools controlling type and intensity of annotation, (ii) the numerous graphical features such as the interactive GO-graph visualization for gene-set function profiling or descriptive charts, (iii) the general sequence management features and (iv) high-throughput capabilities. We used the Blast2GO framework to carry out a detailed analysis of annotation behaviour through homology transfer and its impact in functional genomics research. Our aim is to offer biologists useful information to take into account when addressing the task of functionally characterizing their sequence data

Eficacia y eficiencia de Leader 11 en Andalucía. Aproximación a un índice-resultado en materia de turismo rural

The evaluation has turned into a strategic element of differentiation, into the measurement into that allows to demonstrate his own beneficiaries, that the application of the public or private resources, it is as suitable as possible. To evaluate is necessary a system of indicators, which answer to five big types of which we will centre on two: efficiency (the effort inverted in terms of plysical, human or financial resources and the obtained results) and effectiveness (the impacts or results of the program with regard to his aims). In this article we try to put of manifest as the evaluation of the measurement B.3 (tourist activities) it allows across the analysis of the efficiency (projects) and the effectiveness (investment) in LEADER 11, one approximation in the construction of a proved index.La evaluaci&oacute;n se ha convertido en un elemento estrat&eacute;gico de diferenciaci&oacute;n, en la medida en que permite demostrar a sus propios beneficiarios, que la aplicaci&oacute;n de los recursos p&uacute;blicos o privados, es la m&aacute;s adecuada posible. Para evaluar los programas de desarrollo rural es necesario un sistema de indicadores, que responden a cinco grandes tipos de los que nos centraremos en dos: eficiencia (el esfuerzo invertido en t&eacute;rminos de recursos f&iacute;sicos, humanos o financieros y los resultados obtenidos) y eficacia (los impactos o resultados del programa respecto a sus objetivos). En este articulo tratamos de poner de manifiesto como la evaluaci&oacute;n de la medida B.3 (actividades tur&iacute;sticas) permite, a trav&eacute;s del an&aacute;lisis de la eficacia (proyectos) y la eficiencia (inversi&oacute;n) en LEADER 11, una primera aproximaci&oacute;n en la construcci&oacute;n de un &iacute;ndice resultado