How to establish and maintain dietary habits focusing on good health over time?

Objetivo: El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido ver el grado de correspondencia de los hábitos alimentarios de un grupo de estudiantes de Enfermería con los conocimientos adquiridos de nutrición y dietética. Método: Se utilizó un cuestionario semicuantitativo de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos, on line y autocumplimentable, que llegó a los estudiantes por mail con una carta de presentación, explicando los motivos de la encuesta alimentaria y garantizando el anonimato. El análisis del cuestionario fue realizado comparando los datos obtenidos con las raciones diarias recomendadas para la población española. Se utilizó el programa SPSS 12.0 para Windows (2003). Resultados: El consumo semanal de alimentos era inferior a lo recomendado excepto en el caso de los embutidos y snakcs, que se ingieren regularmente. Lo mismo ocurre con los alimentos de consumo diario, cuya ingestión era inferior a las recomendaciones nutricionales. Discusión y conclusiones: Los hábitos alimentarios de los jóvenes estudiados pueden considerarse aceptables, en un contexto en el que la dieta mediterránea ha sido ligeramente modificada para adaptarse a los nuevos estilos de vida. Si bien, se detectan errores como tomar semanalmente productos de consumo ocasional; fallos que no deberían producirse ya que el estudio se realiza sobre una muestra de individuos con conocimientos en nutrición. Esto sugiere que la adquisición de conocimientos no determina la adopción de ciertos hábitos saludables, y por ello la educación nutricional y en general de la salud, tendría que centrarse en otros métodos que no incluyan como única técnica el aporte de informaciónObjective: The objective of this project has been to analyze the degree of correspondence between the eating habits of nursing students and the knowledge of nutrition and dietetics. Methods: A semicuantitative, on-line and self-completion survey of food frequency consumption was sentto the students by email with a presentation letter, explaining the reasons of the food survey and guaranteeing the anonymity. The analysis of the survey was performed comparing these data with the daily recommended food portions for the Spanish population. For this purpose, the program SPSS 12.0 for Windows (2003) was used. Results: The weekly intake of food was lower than the recommended servings, except for the snacks and cold meat which are eaten more frequently. In the same manner, the consume of daily intake food was lower than the nutritional recommendations. Discussion and conclusion: In a context where the Mediterranean diet has been slightly modified to adapt to new lifestyles, eating habits of young students could be considered acceptable. Despite the fact that the study was carried out with a sample consisting of people with nutritional knowledge, diet mistakes were detected like the weekly consume of products of occasional intake. This suggests that the acquisition of nutritional knowledge does not determine the adoption of certain healthy habits, therefore nutritional education and health related education in general should concentrate in different methods that don't include the intake of information as the only theor

Effective interactions for the SM fermion mass hierarchy and their possible UV realization

We built an extended 2HDM theory with a spontaneously broken $U(1) _{X}$ global symmetry, where the tree level Universal Seesaw Mechanism generates the mass hierarchy of the Standard Model charged fermions and the Zee-Babu mechanism produces tiny active neutrino masses. The third family of SM charged fermions gets tree level masses from Yukawa interactions involving the Higgs doublets $H_1$ (for the top quark) and $H_2$ (for the bottom quark and tau lepton). The model under consideration is consistent with SM fermion masses and mixings, with the muon and electron $g-2$ anomalies and successfully accommodates the constraints arising from charged lepton flavor violation and meson oscillations. The proposed model predicts rates for charged lepton flavor violating decays within the reach of forthcoming experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 6 captioned figure

EM Parametric Study of Length Matching Elements Exploiting an ANSYS HFSS Matlab-Python Driver

This work presents a Python-based driver for ANSYS HFSS for length matching elements (LME) implemented in Matlab. The driver allows full-wave EM parametric simulation of length matching elements, whose S-parameters are inserted in other circuit simulators, such as ADS, for a complete interconnect validation. Three different LME (i.e., trapezoidal, triangular, and rectangular) are analyzed using the driver in a common high-speed routing scenario. The driver proposed in this work allows verifying that the three LME considered have a similar performance up to 5 GHz, indicating that these LME can be used as mismatch (phase skew) compensation structures in some interfaces within this frequency band, such as USB 3.0, PCIe Gen3 or 1 GBASE Ethernet. On the other hand, the trapezoidal LME shows the best performance for frequencies higher than 5 GHz, with a low impact in the electromagnetic interference (EMI), making it the most recommended for high-speed interfaces with operating frequencies higher than 5 GHz

Partition Quantitative Assessment (PQA): A quantitative methodology to assess the embedded noise in clustered omics and systems biology data

Identifying groups that share common features among datasets through clustering analysis is a typical problem in many fields of science, particularly in post-omics and systems biology research. In respect of this, quantifying how a measure can cluster or organize intrinsic groups is important since currently there is no statistical evaluation of how ordered is, or how much noise is embedded in the resulting clustered vector. Many of the literature focuses on how well the clustering algorithm orders the data, with several measures regarding external and internal statistical measures; but none measure has been developed to statistically quantify the noise in an arranged vector posterior a clustering algorithm, i.e., how much of the clustering is due to randomness. Here, we present a quantitative methodology, based on autocorrelation, to assess this problem.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Fractionation and precipitation of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) phytochemicals by supercritical antisolvent (SAS) technique

Supercritical anti-solvent precipitation (SAS) using carbon dioxide is a novel technique that can be used to produce powdered ingredients in small size particles, facilitating their incorporation into food matrices. In this work, the SAS precipitation of a licorice root ethanolic extract was studied. SAS assays were carried out at 15–20 MPa, 308.15 and 313.15 K, and two different concentrations (9.6 and 14.2 mg/ml) of the ethanolic licorice extract. In the range of conditions investigated, SAS pressure and temperature did not affect significantly the precipitation yield, but phytochemicals recovery was higher with the lower licorice extract concentration. Moreover, the fractionation of licorice bioactives (liquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, glabridin and glycyrrhizic acid) was assessed, together with the content of total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the powders and oleoresin by-products obtained. In this respect, precipitates and oleoresins presented significant differences in the concentration of some licorice bioactives, and higher antioxidant activity was observed in precipitates. Additionally, significant effect of pressure, temperature and licorice extract concentration on the morphology and particle size of precipitates was observed, recovering smaller and more regular particles at 15–20 MPa, 313.15 K and 9.6 mg/ml licorice extract concentration, attaining satisfactory yield and antioxidant activityThe authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (Projects AGL2017-89055-R and AGL2016-76736-C3-1-R). Somaris E. Quintana is grateful for the funding provided by Gobernación de Bolivar and Fundación Ceiba, Colombia, in the project “Bolívar Gana con Ciencia

Compassion-based meditation quality practice and its impact on the positive attitudes toward others

Objectives: The authors report on the initial development and validation of the Compassion Practice Quality Scale (CPQS), a measure to assess the quality of compassion-based meditation (CBM). It is conceptualized and operationalized via two factors measuring mental imagery and somatic perception/response. Methods: The total sample was composed of 205 university students who underwent a CBM and completed pre-test/post-test assessment of compassion and related constructs. Results from a series of preliminary psychometric analyses of the CPQS were examined, including factor analysis, internal consistency, and convergent/discriminant validity. Results: The data supported a 12-item and 10-item (without reference to gestures and self-instructions) CPQS of which imagery and somatic perception emerged as two significant reliable subscales, with Cronbach’s alpha values of.90 and.88 respectively. Practice quality factors assessed by the CPQS correlated in expected ways with fear of compassion, imagery variables, and self-criticism, as well as predicted compassion outcome (i.e., feeling positive attitudes toward others). Conclusions: Our findings contribute to identifying two key components of high-quality meditation in CBM (i.e., mental imagery and somatic perception/response) for use in pedagogical development and further research and to offer a reliable self-report measure to assess them for the first time. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Changes in the Semantic Construction of Compassion after the Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT®) in Women Breast Cancer Survivors

The growing body of research on compassion has demonstrated its benefits for healthcare and wellbeing. However, there is no clear agreement about a definition for compassion, given the novelty of the research on this construct and its religious roots. The aim of this study is to analyze the mental semantic construction of compassion in Spanish-speaking women breast cancer survivors, and the effects of the Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT®) on the modification of this definition, compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU), at baseline, post-intervention, and six-month follow-up. Participants were 56 women breast cancer survivors from a randomized clinical trial. The Osgood''s Semantic Differential categories (evaluative, potency, and activity scales) were adapted to assess the semantic construction of compassion. At baseline, participants had an undefined idea about compassion. The CBCT influenced subjects'' semantic construction of what it means to be compassionate. Findings could lead to future investigations and compassion programs that adapt to a specific culture or population. © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2021

A Novel High-Performance Length Matching Element for High-Speed Interconnect Differential Channels

Length matching elements (LME) are used for intra-pair length matching and inter-pair skew reduction to get high data rates in high-speed differential channels. Although these structures are widely used in printed circuit boards (PCB), the effectiveness of the structure depends on its geometry and dimensions, allowing different design alternatives. In this work, a novel LME for PCB designs is proposed. It is formed by three sub-structures, such that the insertion and impedance profile can be parametrically controlled by the geometry of the proposed LME without affecting the length matching. Mixed-mode parameters, extracted from simulation data, shows that the proposed LME presents lower insertion loss and less electromagnetic interference (EMI), than trapezoidal LME. In addition, time domain reflected analysis (TDR) shows better impedance profile for the proposed LME than for the trapezoidal shape. Both frequency- and time-domain results indicate that the proposed LME can be a good alternative for length matching compensation in high-speed channels

Targeted-release organic acids and essential oils improve performance and digestive function in broilers under a necrotic enteritis challenge

An experiment was performed to evaluate the effect of four different microencapsulated blends of organic acids (OA) and nature-identical aromatic compounds (AC) on growth performance and gut health of broilers challenged with a recycled NE litter. A total of 600 one-day-old male Ross 308 broilers were randomly assigned to five treatments consisting of a basal diet (as negative control) supplemented with each of the tested microencapsulated blends: OA1 (malic and fumaric acid) + AC; 2.5 g/kg; OA2 (calcium butyrate+fumaric acid) + AC; 1.7 g/kg; MCFA (capric-caprylic; caproic and lauric acid) + AC; 2 g/kg; and MCFA + OA3(calcium butyrate + fumaric and citric acid) + AC; 1.5 g/kg. The AC used was the same for all treatments; including cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, and thymol (8:1:1), as major compounds. Three tested blends enhanced growth performance by improving intestinal histomorphology (p < 0.001). The tested blends enhanced the abundance of some beneficial families such as Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae; while reducing that of harmful ones such as Enterobacteriaceae and Helicobacteraceae. A further dose-response experiment showed that 0.5 g/kg of the blend 2 and 2 g/kg of the blend 4 improved growth performance and intestinal histomorphology of chickens on d 42 and decreased fecal Enterobacteriaceae and C. perfringens counts. Similar effects to the previous experiment were observed for cecum microbiota

DIGESTIVE ENZYMES PROFILE IN OCTOPUS VULGARIS PARALARVAE FED WITH ARTEMIA ENRICHED WITH MARINE PHOSPHOLIPIDS

The common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) is an excellent candidate for aquaculture production, however the development of its culture needs to overcome the high paralarvae mortality which points out to zootechnical and nutritional problems. Enhancing the knowledge on paralarvae digestive physiology could increase the possibilities to optimize the diet in order to improve the paralarval growth and survival. In the present study, the effect of fed with Artemia enriched with marine phospholipids on digestive enzyme activity of octopus paralarvae from hatchling and 12 days old paralarvae have been studied