Benefits of homemade chocolate consumption on human health

Objective: To describe the benefits of homemade chocolate consumption on human health in La Chontalpa, Tabasco, Mexico. Design/Methodology/Approach: We interviewed 49 persons in La Chontalpa, along with 30 contacts from social networks; additionally, a participatory workshop was held with 15 persons trained in making homemade chocolate. A traditional specialist doctor who uses cacao as a medicinal base was interviewed and we were observers during cacao ceremonies. The information was analyzed using opinion analysis and the Chi-square test. Results: Ninety-seven-point nine percent of the interviewees agreed that consuming homemade chocolate is beneficial for health, while 89.8% mentioned that consuming chocolate makes them feel good. Fifty-five percent of the consumers consider that chocolate provides them energy; 51.1% say that it helps them to control hunger and thirst; and 36.7% feel that consuming it takes away sadness and laziness. The benefits of chocolate consumption reported in the ceremonies, workshops, and interviews were that it controls depression, promotes concentration, and causes joy; it also cures diarrhea, anemia, headaches, and stomach ache. Study Limitations/Implications: The sanitary restrictions derived from the COVID-19 pandemic limited face-to-face interviews in 2021, which were instead carried out using social networks. It is forbidden to record and take photos and videos of cacao ceremonies; therefore, we were unable to document them. Findings/Conclusions: In La Chontalpa, Tabasco, the population consumes homemade chocolate because they believe that chocolate provides mental and physical health benefits

Environmental Volunteering Programme for Seagrass Monitoring

Las praderas de fanerógamas marinas sufren actualmente un declive global como consecuencia de la presión humana ejercida sobre las áreas costeras y estuáricas. Frente a esta situación, la comunidad científica ha respondido creando redes de seguimiento de las praderas basadas en la participación ciudadana a través del voluntariado. Mediante la cooperación entre la Oficina Verde y el área de Ecología de la Universidad de Cádiz (UCA) se ha creado el Voluntariado Ambiental de Fanerógamas Marinas (FAMAR) en el Parque Natural Bahía de Cádiz. Este programa pretende implicar activamente a la sociedad, transmitir la necesidad de conservación de estos valiosos ecosistemas e inculcar un sentimiento de responsabilidad sobre el entorno natural en general. Tras un año de funcionamiento y con 80 voluntarios registrados, FAMAR ha cubierto con creces las expectativas de participación y han podido plantearse futuras líneas de trabajo tanto a corto como a medio y largo plazo.Seagrass meadows are currently declining worldwide, mainly as a consequence of human activities on coastal and estuarine zones. Scientists have acted against this situation by setting up seagrass monitoring networks. These networks are based on a public participation through volunteer work. Aware of this global threat on seagrasses, the Ecology research group of the University of Cadiz (UCA) together with the Green Office of this University have developed the "Environmental Volunteering Programme for Seagrass Monitoring at Cadiz Bay (FAMAR)”. The main objectives of this programme are to involve the society in seagrass conservation and to transmit a feeling of environmental responsibility. After one year of FAMAR launching, the participation level of volunteers has surpassed by far our initial expectations. FAMAR has recorded 80 volunteers, mainly UCA undergraduate students. After such a success, it has been planned new volunteering projects at the short, middle and long term.Dept. Biología, Área Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Ambientales, Universidad de Cádiz. Oficina Verde, Universidad de Cádiz

Effectiveness, safety/tolerability of OBV/PTV/r ± DSV in patients with HCV genotype 1 or 4 with/without HIV-1 co-infection, chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage IIIb/V and dialysis in Spanish clinical practice – preliminary data Vie-KinD study

Poster presentatio

Some cultural consequences in Spain of the Spanish Invasion of Morocco 1859-60

This article argues is a contribution to the study of interrelationships between colonialism, art, and literature in the nineteenth century. The article argues that the Spanish invasion of Morocco in 1859 led to contradictions and tensions within liberal nationalism, not least because of concerns about the tensions between the need for military reassertion of Spain and the respect for the independence of nations. This led to some reconfiguration of Spanish intellectuals' already complex relationship with North Africa and Islam. A major, perhaps surprising consequence of this reconfiguration, was some equation of Moroccan identity with a monotonous surface that was resistant to the gaze. In consequence, the Catalan painter Fortuny's crucial experience of Morocco led him to value near blank surfaces, and thus to make a major contribution to the origins of modern art

Revista de Vertebrados de la Estación Biológica de Doñana

Catálogo descriptivo de los anfibios y reptiles de CubaEvolución estacional de la comunidad de aves en un robledal de Sierra NevadaComposición de la comunidad de aves en pinares del Parque Nacional de Doñana (suroeste de España).Alimentación de la pagaza piconegra (Gelochelidon nilotica) en las marismas del GuadalquivirContaminación xenobiótica del Parque Nacional de Doñana. III. Residuos de insecticidas organoclorados, bifenilos policlorados y metales pesados en ciconiformesAlimentación de la lechuza común Tyto alba en la cuenca del Duero, EspañaEstudio de una población rural de (Mus musculus L.) I. La probabilidad de captura y la estima numéricLa reproducción en Gazella dorcasIncidencia del Nemátodo parásito Skrjabingylus Leuckart, 1842 sobre el Mustela en España.Desplazamientos de ungulados silvestres a través de una zona de ecotono en Doñana.Etograma de la cabra montés (Capra pyrenaica) y comparación con otras especies.Sobre comportamiento agresivo de Triturus marmoratus en época de celoEmbarrancamiento masivo de ejemplares de tortuga lad (Dermochelys coriacea L.) en las costas de Ceuta (España, norte de África)Sobre un ejemplar melánico de Podarcis hispanica (Steindachner, 1870)Nuevos datos sobre la distribución de cuatro especies de reptiles en la provincia de Cádiz.Algunos datos sobre la nidificación de Ciconia nigra L. en sierra Morena (S. España)Observación del halcón de Eleonor (Falco eleonorae) en el centro de EspañaNueva localidad de cría del pájaro moscón (Remiz pendulinus) en la Península IbéricaRegistro de aves en el sur de BoliviaNidificación del paiño de Madeira Oceanodroma castro (Harcourt, 1851) en las Islas Canarias.Observación primaveral de Phalaropus fulicarius L. en el SO de EspañaNuevos datos sobre la presencia del nóctulo gigante Nyctalus lasiopterus (Chiroptera, vespertilionidae) en EspañaNote sur l'alimentation de Martes martes a Menorca (Baleares).Peer reviewe

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array: Joint Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015)

We have conducted three searches for correlations between ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Telescope Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory, and high-energy neutrino candidate events from IceCube. Two cross-correlation analyses with UHECRs are done: one with 39 cascades from the IceCube `high-energy starting events' sample and the other with 16 high-energy `track events'. The angular separation between the arrival directions of neutrinos and UHECRs is scanned over. The same events are also used in a separate search using a maximum likelihood approach, after the neutrino arrival directions are stacked. To estimate the significance we assume UHECR magnetic deflections to be inversely proportional to their energy, with values $3^\circ$, $6^\circ$ and $9^\circ$ at 100 EeV to allow for the uncertainties on the magnetic field strength and UHECR charge. A similar analysis is performed on stacked UHECR arrival directions and the IceCube sample of through-going muon track events which were optimized for neutrino point-source searches.Comment: one proceeding, the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July - 6 August 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands; will appear in PoS(ICRC2015

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array:Joint Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015)

We have conducted three searches for correlations between ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Telescope Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory, and high-energy neutrino candidate events from IceCube. Two cross-correlation analyses with UHECRs are done: one with 39 cascades from the IceCube `high-energy starting events' sample and the other with 16 high-energy `track events'. The angular separation between the arrival directions of neutrinos and UHECRs is scanned over. The same events are also used in a separate search using a maximum likelihood approach, after the neutrino arrival directions are stacked. To estimate the significance we assume UHECR magnetic deflections to be inversely proportional to their energy, with values $3^\circ$, $6^\circ$ and $9^\circ$ at 100 EeV to allow for the uncertainties on the magnetic field strength and UHECR charge. A similar analysis is performed on stacked UHECR arrival directions and the IceCube sample of through-going muon track events which were optimized for neutrino point-source searches