Socio-Economic Determinants Of Abortion Rates

Abortion rates are increasing all around the world, especially for young women. Our proposals for public policies to reduce unwanted pregnancies are based on an analysis of the socio-economic determinants of abortion rates. Special attention is paid to regional levels of alcohol consumption, living conditions, and public spending on health and education. We carry out estimations using data on regions in Spain from 1999 to 2004. There is empirical evidence that socioeconomic conditions, lifestyles and regional characteristics determine regional abortion rates. Our results suggest that it is important to design public policies to reduce alcohol abuse, improve citizens’ working conditions and promote gender equality through government subsidized childcare.abortion rates; unplanned pregnancy; public policies.

Trabajo de titulación previo a la obtención del Título de Psicóloga General

La presente investigación se enfocó en estudiar la relación entre la adaptación al divorcio y el nivel de habilidades sociales que presentan los estudiantes que son hijos de padres divorciados, en la Unidad Educativa Particular San José La Salle-Latacunga. Se planteó una investigación con enfoque cuantitativo y un diseño correlacional, de campo y no experimental, con una muestra de 64 participantes, de los cuales la mitad son padres divorciadoso en situación de divorcio y la mitad son sus hijos.Para la recopilación de datos se emplearon dos instrumentos psicológicos: Cuestionario de Adaptación al Divorcio-Separación (CAD-S) y la Escala de Habilidades Sociales (EHS). Los resultados presentaron un bajo nivel de adaptación al divorcio y un bajo nivel de habilidades sociales en los estudiantes. Se observó una relación estadísticamente significativa entre estas, por lo que se concluye que la adaptación al divorcio influye en las habilidades sociales de los hijos de padres divorciados. En consecuencia,se diseñó una propuesta de entrenamiento en habilidades sociales para los estudiantes que formaron parte de la investigación

A Study on the Psychological Wound of COVID-19 in University Students

Publication of this manuscript was supported by Regional Goverment of Galicia, Programa de Axudas para a Consolidación e Estruturación de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas e outras Accións de Fomento, Refs. ED431C 2018/2 and ED431B 2019/20An increasing number of studies have addressed the psychological impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the general population. Nevertheless, far less is known about the impact on specific populations such as university students, whose psychological vulnerability has been shown in previous research. This study sought to examine different indicators of mental health in university students during the Spanish lockdown; we also analyzed the main sources of stress perceived by students in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and the coping strategies adopted when faced with the situation. Data was collected from 932 students (704 women) through a web-based platform. Measures of anxiety (i.e., GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), irritability, and self-perceived change in mental health were administered, as well as ad hoc measures of stressors and coping strategies. Results indicated that students experienced considerable psychological problems during the confinement, with higher rates of emotional difficulties in women and undergraduate students than in men and postgraduates, respectively. Psychological distress was mainly related to several specific domains of stressors, as perceived by the participants: academic future, task overload, worsening of interpersonal conflicts, and restrictions in pleasant social contact; and far less related to the spread of the disease and its consequences for physical health. As regards coping strategies, both reframing skills and daily routines were shown to be the most effective. A path-analysis model integrating stressors, coping, and mental health revealed that coping strategies partially mediated the effect of stressors on psychological health. In general, results suggest that students’ psychological health was substantially affected by the COVID-19 situation and that the academic and relational changes were the most notable sources of stress. This study reinforces the need to monitor and promote mental health in university students to boost resilience in times of crisis. Our results on effective coping strategies may inform preventive programs aimed at helping students to deal with challenges like the COVID-19 pandemicS

So far but yet so near: examining the buffering effect of perceived social support on the psychological impact of Spanish lockdown

The main objective of this study was to examine the moderating or buffering effect of social support (SS) perceived by university students on the psychological impact of lockdown on mental health. Specifically, a total of 826 participants (622 women) completed an online survey that included standardized measures of anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and irritability (Brief Irritability Test), as well as measures of stressors, perceived SS, and self-perceived change in mental health. The results of hierarchical regression analyses suggest that SS contributes toward attenuating the negative impact of academic stressors, general overload, and interpersonal conflict on the indicators of psychological well-being; however, moderation analysis only confirms the buffering effect for symptoms of anxiety. In conclusion, it is suggested that SS networks need to be strengthened as a basic means of protecting health and well-being during unexpected disastersPublication of this manuscript was supported by Regional Government of Galicia, Programa de Axudas para aConsolidación e Estruturación de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas e outras Accións de Fomento, Refs.ED431C 2018/2 and ED431B 2019/20S

A machine learning approach to find the determinants of Peruvian coca illegal crops

The current study analyzed the determinants of the Peruvian coca illegal plantations in the period 2003-2019. Hence, the DEVIDA database variables were gathered at first. Then, a machine learning-based technique is employed to select the most relevant variables for the study. That technique, Lasso, selected as accurate variables eradication of coca plantations and pasta base. Both OLS and VAR are employed to analyze the relevance of the selected variables. OLS finds that eradication was negatively related to the dependent variable. Nonetheless, pb confiscation had a positive relationship with illegal coca crops. Furthermore, VAR encounters that only pb confiscation affected the dependent variable. Supplementary tests are carried to ensure the accuracy of the results. In consequence, it is concluded that eradication policies by themselves were not enough to discourage the coca plantations. Farmers should get instruction about alternative crops and financial help. Furthermore, it has been claimed that pb confiscation generates scarcity of the drug, which elevates its price. Thus, coca farmers are more motivated to plant coca because of the higher prices. Therefore, as long as the international demand, which is disposed to pay high prices, the coca illegal crops and its illicit products will exist

Influencia del ambiente alfabetizador familiar en la fluidez en lectura oral en el primer curso de Educación Primaria.

El objetivo principal de esta investigación trata de analizar si las características socioeconómicas de los progenitores, en términos de nivel de ingresos y nivel educativo, así como las prácticas de alfabetización familiar influyen sobre el rendimiento en fluidez lectora. El estudio fue desarrollado en dos centros educativos, participando de manera voluntaria un total 22 estudiantes de 1º de Educación Primaria y sus familias. Se utilizaron dos instrumentos. El primero evalúa la fluidez en lectura oral y fue aplicado al alumnado; el segundo, profundiza en las prácticas de alfabetización temprana en el hogar y fue cumplimentado por los progenitores. La muestra fue dividida en dos grupos en función de los resultados obtenidos en fluidez en lectura oral: “con dificultades” y “sin dificultades”. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio no mostraron relaciones significativas entre las variables evaluadas y el rendimiento en lectura. Además, ambos grupos mostraron resultados similares en el nivel educativo, el nivel de ingresos, así como en el tipo y la frecuencia de las prácticas de alfabetización en el hogar, lo que indica que las características familiares no explican las diferencias observadas en fluidez lectora. Teniendo en cuenta las altas puntuaciones medias obtenidas por ambos grupos en cuanto a las prácticas de alfabetización en el hogar, los resultados encontrados sugieren que otras variables podrían estar explicando las diferencias de rendimiento en lectura.The principal aim of this investigation attempts to analyse whether parents´ socioeconomic status, in terms of income and educational level and the practice of family literacy influence the outcome of fluent reading. The study was presented to two schools, and 22 primary school pupils and their families volunteer to participate. Two measures were used. The first focuses on assessing students´ reading fluency, which was applied to the pupils; and the second, on home literacy practices, which students´ parents filled out, Students were divided into two groups based on the oral reading fluency measure results: at-risk and non-at-risk. The results obtained in this study did not show significant relations between the evaluated variables and the performance in reading. Furthermore, both groups showed similar results for the educational level, family income, and the type and frequency of the home literacy 2 practices, meaning that family characteristics do not explain the differences observed in reading fluency. Considering the high means scored for both groups in family literacy practice, the results found in this study suggest that other variables might explain oral reading fluency performance difference

The Director's Pedagogical Leadership and its incidence in Teaching Performance

The objective of this research was to establish the relationship between the pedagogical leadership of the director and the teaching performance in Educational Institution N ° 7062 in San Juan de Miraflores 2017. The non-experimental research design is transectional: causal correlational descriptive, the method used was the hypothetical deductive, the approach used was the quantitative since it only used data collection to test hypotheses, assigning numerical values to the statements to establish patterns of behavior, the instruments were two questionnaires, the technique used was the survey. The general results of the Chi-square agreement of the table indicate that the data of the variable are not independent, implying the dependence of the variable on the other. The results indicate that the behavior of the teaching performance depends on 56.5% of the pedagogical leadership; that is to say, teachers who perceive that the director has good pedagogical leadership influence their performance to be good, according to the Nagelkerke coefficient (0.565)

Surface Micro-Patterned Biofunctionalized Hydrogel for Direct Nucleic Acid Hybridization Detection

[EN] The present research is focused on the development of a biofunctionalized hydrogel with a surface diffractive micropattern as a label-free biosensing platform. The biosensors described in this paper were fabricated with a holographic recording of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) surface micro-structures, which were then transferred into a hydrogel material. Acrylamide-based hydrogels were obtained with free radical polymerization, and propargyl acrylate was added as a comonomer, which allowed for covalent immobilization of thiolated oligonucleotide probes into the hydrogel network, via thiol-yne photoclick chemistry. The comonomer was shown to significantly contribute to the immobilization of the probes based on fluorescence imaging. Two different immobilization approaches were demonstrated: during or after hydrogel synthesis. The second approach showed better loading capacity of the bioreceptor groups. Diffraction efficiency measurements of hydrogel gratings at 532 nm showed a selective response reaching a limit of detection in the complementary DNA strand of 2.47 mu M. The label-free biosensor as designed could significantly contribute to direct and accurate analysis in medical diagnosis as it is cheap, easy to fabricate, and works without the need for further reagents.This work was financially supported by the E.U. FEDER, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ADBIHOL-PID2019-110713RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2020/094). M. I. Lucío acknowledges her Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación grant (IJC 2018-035355-I) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. P. Zezza acknowledges Generalitat Valenciana for her Grisolia fellowship grant.Zezza, P.; Lucío, MI.; Fernández, E.; Maquieira Catala, A.; Bañuls Polo, M. (2023). Surface Micro-Patterned Biofunctionalized Hydrogel for Direct Nucleic Acid Hybridization Detection. Biosensors. 13(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/bios1303031213