Spermiogram and sperm head morphometry assessed by multivariate cluster analysis results during adolescence (12-18 years) and the effect of varicocele

Artículo científicoThis work evaluates sperm head morphometric characteristics in adolescents from 12 to 18 years of age, and the effect of varicocele. Volunteers between 150 and 224 months of age (mean 191, n = 87), who had reached oigarche by 12 years old, were recruited in the area of Barranquilla, Colombia. Morphometric analysis of sperm heads was performed with principal component (PC) and discriminant analysis. Combining seminal fluid and sperm parameters provided five PCs: two related to sperm morphometry, one to sperm motility, and two to seminal fluid components. Discriminant analysis on the morphometric results of varicocele and nonvaricocele groups did not provide a useful classification matrix. Of the semen-related PCs, the most explanatory (40%) was related to sperm motility. Two PCs, including sperm head elongation and size, were sufficient to evaluate sperm morphometric characteristics. Most of the morphometric variables were correlated with age, with an increase in size and decrease in the elongation of the sperm head. For head size, the entire sperm population could be divided into two morphometric subpopulations, SP1 and SP2, which did not change during adolescence. In general, for varicocele individuals, SP1 had larger and more elongated sperm heads than SP2, which had smaller and more elongated heads than in nonvaricocele men. In summary, sperm head morphometry assessed by CASA-Morph and multivariate cluster analysis provides a better comprehension of the ejaculate structure and possibly sperm function. Morphometric analysis provides much more information than data obtained from conventional semen analysis

Morphometric comparison by the ISAS® CASA-DNAf system of two techniques for the evaluation of DNA fragmentation in human spermatozoa

Artículo científicoDNA fragmentation has been shown to be one of the causes of male infertility, particularly related to repeated abortions, and different methods have been developed to analyze it. In the present study, two commercial kits based on the SCD technique (Halosperm ® and SDFA) were evaluated by the use of the DNA fragmentation module of the ISAS ® v1 CASA system. Seven semen samples from volunteers were analyzed. To compare the results between techniques, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. Data were used for calculation of Principal Components (two PCs were obtained), and subsequent subpopulations were identified using the Halo, Halo/Core Ratio, and PC data. Results from both kits were significantly different (P < 0.001). In each case, four subpopulations were obtained, independently of the classification method used. The distribution of subpopulations differed depending on the kit used. From the PC data, a discriminant analysis matrix was obtained and a good a posteriori classification was obtained (97.1% for Halosperm and 96.6% for SDFA). The present results are the first approach on morphometric evaluation of DNA fragmentation from the SCD technique. This approach could be used for the future definition of a classification matrix surpassing the current subjective evaluation of this important sperm factor

Time of the day of exercise impact on cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: To compare the effect of a single bout of morning vs. evening exercise on cardiovascular risk factors in adults. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A systematic search of studies was conducted using PubMed andWeb of Science from inception to June 2022. Selected studies accomplished the following criteria: crossover design, acute effect of exercise, blood pressure, blood glucose, and/or blood lipids as the study's endpoint, awashout period of at least 24 h, and adults.Meta-analysis was performed by analyzing: 1) separated effect of morning and evening exercise (pre vs. post); and 2) comparison between morning and evening exercise. Results: A total of 11 studies were included for systolic and diastolic blood pressure and 10 studies for blood glucose. Meta-analysis revealed no significant difference between morning vs. evening exercise for systolic blood pressure (g Δ=0.02), diastolic blood pressure (g Δ=0.01), or blood glucose (g Δ=0.15). Analysis of moderator variables (age, BMI, sex, health status, intensity and duration of exercise, and hour within the morning or evening) showed no significant morning vs. evening effect. Conclusions: Overall, we found no influence of the time of the day on the acute effect of exercise on blood pressure neither on blood glucose.Spanish Government FPU19/0374

Estereotipos y emociones hacia el exogrupo: diferencias entre inmigrantes y extranjeros

Introducción: El Modelo del Contenido de los Estereotipos [MCE] (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick y Xu, 2002) postula que las creencias estereotipadas de un grupo hacia otro se fundamentan en las relaciones estructurales sociales que éstos mantienen entre sí. Estas relaciones están determinadas por si los grupos compiten en recursos o si son de alto o bajo estatus. Según el modelo, las creencias se agrupan en torno a dos dimensiones: competencia y calidez. Posteriormente algunos autores (Brambilla, Rusconi, Sacchi y Cherubini, 2011) han considerado que esta última dimensión engloba en realidad dos factores diferentes: sociabilidad y moralidad. La combinación de las tres dimensiones determina las creencias asociadas a los miembros del exogrupo y evocan respuestas emocionales diferentes ya que emoción y cognición interactúan entre sí (Mackie y Hamilton, 1993). El propósito de este trabajo es determinar si existen diferencias respecto a los estereotipos y emociones respecto a dos exogrupos: inmigrantes (marroquíes) y extranjeros (ingleses). Método: Participantes y procedimiento: Los datos fueron recogidos a través de la administración de un cuestionario con un total de 387 personas. Este se rellenó de manera presencial, anónima y voluntaria. Instrumentos: Se utilizó la escala adaptada López-Rodríguez, Cuadrado y Navas (2013) tomada del estudio de Leach et al. (2007). Tres ítems evaluaban la dimensión de sociabilidad (personas amistosas, cálidas y agradables), tres moralidad (honestas, sinceras y de fiar) y otros tres competencia (inteligentes, hábiles y competentes). Las emociones se midieron partiendo del trabajo Fiske et al. (2002). Se preguntaba en qué medida sentían las siguientes emociones respecto a marroquíes e ingleses: admiración, desprecio compasión y envidia. Ambas escalas tenían un rango de respuesta de 1 (nada) a 5 (mucho). Análisis estadístico: se midieron los niveles de las dimensiones del contenido de los estereotipos y las emociones para cada grupo. Posteriormente se aplicó la prueba t-Sudent para determinar las diferencias entre colectivos. Resultados: Los resultados señalan que existen diferencias significativas en las tres dimensiones de los estereotipos: sociabilidad [t (381) = 2.86 p = .005, d = .05] y moralidad [t (379) = 4.45, p = .000, d = .06] y competencia [t (380) = 8.27 p = .000, d = .06], siendo mayores los niveles en ingleses que en marroquíes. Las diferencias también son significativas en las emociones consideradas excepto para la admiración, con niveles superiores para marroquíes en desprecio [t (378) = 2.39, p = .018, d = .04] y compasión desprecio [t (380) = 8.32, p = .000, d = .06]. Los ingleses obtienen niveles superiores en envidia [t (379) = 2.575, p = .000, d = .05]. Conclusiones: Este estudio pone de manifiesto que los estereotipos y emociones son diferentes en cada caso respecto a las personas categorizadas como inmigrantes y extranjeras. Según el MCE, y a tenor de los resultados, se produce unos estereotipos más positivos en ingleses que en marroquíes, pero las emociones son ambivalentes. Mientras los primeros despiertan sentimientos de envidia, los segundos lo hace en desprecio y compasión simultáneamente.Aparece en comentarios por exceder los caracteres permitidos.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Clinical aspects of usher syndrome and the USH2A gene in a cohort of 433 patients

IMPORTANCE A new statistical approach is needed to describe the clinical differences between type I and type II Usher syndrome and between the 2 most frequent mutations in the USH2A gene. OBJECTIVES To describe the primary phenotypic characteristics and differences between type I and type II Usher syndrome and to establish a phenotype-genotype correlation for the 2 most frequent mutations in the USH2A gene. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional study at a genetics department, in which clinical evaluations were performed for 433 patients (297 unrelated families) who were classified as having type I, II, III, atypical, or unclassified Usher syndrome according to their clinical history, pedigree data, results from ophthalmological studies, and audiological, neurophysiological, and vestibular test results. Molecular studies were performed for 304 patients (256 unrelated families). The Mann-Whitney U test or the χ2 test was used for calculating the differences between mean values for the analyzed parameters. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Age at diagnosis; age at onset of night blindness, visual field loss, visual acuity loss, and cataracts; and severity and age at diagnosis of hearing loss. RESULTS The comparison between patients with type I Usher syndrome and those with type II Usher syndrome revealed P < .001 for most items analyzed. The most frequent mutations in the USH2A gene were the p.Glu767Serfs*21 and p.Cys759Phe mutations, with an allelic frequency of 23.2%(63 of 272 alleles) and 8.1% (22 of 272 alleles), respectively. The phenotypic analysis for patients carrying p.Cys759Phe showed P < .001 for most items analyzed when compared with patients carrying p.Glu767Serfs*21 and when compared with patients carrying other mutations in the USH2A gene. None of the p.Cys759Phe patients exhibited a severe hearing loss phenotype, and more than 60%had only mild hearing loss. Most patients carrying the p.Glu767Serfs*21 mutation (72.1%) were moderately deaf. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Our study presents the clinical differences between type I and type II Usher syndrome and between the 2 most frequent mutations in the USH2A gene. Detailed genotype-phenotype correlations, as presented in our study, allow for a better correlation of clinical signs with a known genotype and can improve the clinical management, genetic counseling, and risk assessment of patients with Usher syndrome because an estimated prognosis of their disease can be madeThis work was supported by grant PI13/00226 (to Servicio de Genética, Instituto de Investigación–Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain), by grant PI13/00638 (to Unidad de Genética y Diagnóstico Prenatal, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain), and by grant 06/07/0036 (to Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras, Madrid, Spain) from Fundaluce and Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españole

Stress compensation by gap monolayers for stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dots solar cells

In this work we report the stacking of 10 and 50 InAs quantum dots layers using 2 monolayers of GaP for stress compensation and a stack period of 18 nm on GaAs (001) substrates. Very good structural and optical quality is found in both samples. Vertical alignment of the dots is observed by transmission electron microscopy suggesting the existence of residual stress around them. Photocurrent measurements show light absorption up to 1.2 μm in the nanostructures together with a reduction in the blue response of the device. As a result of the phosphorus incorporation in the barriers, a very high thermal activation energy (431 meV) has also been obtained for the quantum dot emission

Anchoring of 10-phenylphenothiazine to mesoporous silica materials: A water compatible organic photocatalyst for the degradation of pollutants

The application of organic photocatalysts towards the oxidation of pollutants in water is hampered by different limitations such as their insolubility in the media. Herein, we report that the grafting of a photo-organocatalyst into mesoporous silica materials is an ideal approach to obtain effective catalysts. Thereby, the photocatalyst 10-phenylphenothiazine (PTH) was easily anchored into three different mesoporous silica-based materials (MSN, MSU-2 and SBA-15) with different particle sizes and pore sizes through an amide bond formation. The materials were characterized using IR analysis, solid-state X-ray diffraction, porosity and microscopy (SEM and TEM) techniques, showing that PTH is immobilized inside the pores of the materials and its optical properties are maintained after the anchoring. Although homogeneous PTH was inactive in water media, the three photocatalytic materials were active for the degradation of pollutants. SBA-15-AP-PTH exhibited the highest catalytic performance towards the degradation of acetaminophen and diclofenac under solar irradiation, finding in this manner a new strategy for the decontamination of pollutantsThis work was financially supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG, No. 647550), Spanish Government (No. RTI2018- 095038-B-I00), and Spanish State Research Agency (No. PID2019-106186RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033

Multidisciplinary Prehabilitation and Postoperative Rehabilitation for Avoiding Complications in Patients Undergoing Resection of Colon Cancer: Rationale, Design, and Methodology of the ONCOFIT Study

Funding: This study was funded by the University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016- Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES). P.C. was supported by the Margarita Salas postdoctoral grant, convened by de University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), funded by the Ministry of Universities of Spain and the European Union-Next Generation EU.ONCOFIT is a randomized clinical trial with a two-arm parallel design aimed at determining the influence of a multidisciplinary Prehabilitation and Postoperative Program (PPP) on post-surgery complications in patients undergoing resection of colon cancer. This intervention will include supervised physical exercise, dietary behavior change, and psychological support comparing its influence to the standard care. Primary and secondary endpoints will be assessed at baseline, at preoperative conditions, at the end of the PPP intervention (after 12 weeks) and 1-year post-surgery, and will include: post-surgery complications (primary endpoint); prolonged hospital length of stay; readmissions and emergency department call within 1-year after surgery; functional capacity; patient reported outcome measures targeted; anthropometry and body composition; clinical/tumor parameters; physical activity levels and sedentariness; dietary habits; other unhealthy habits; sleep quality; and fecal microbiota diversity and composition. Considering the feasibility of the present intervention in a real-life scenario, ONCOFIT will contribute to the standardization of a cost-effective strategy for preventing and improving health-related consequences in patients undergoing resection of colon cancer with an important clinical and economic impact, not only in the scientific community, but also in clinical practice.University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016- Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)Margarita Salas postdoctoral grant, convened by de University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), funded by the Ministry of Universities of Spain and the European Union-Next Generation E

Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on out-of-hospital health professionals: A living systematic review

Producción CientíficaHealth professionals (HPs), especially those working in the front line, have been one of the groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study is to identify the best available scientific evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of out-of-hospital HPs in terms of stress, anxiety, depression, and self-efficacy. A living systematic review of the literature was designed, consulting the electronic online versions of the CINHAL, Cochrane Library, Cuiden, IBECS, JBI, LILACS, Medline PyscoDoc, PsycoINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases in November 2021. Original research was selected, published in either English, Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese. In total, 2082 publications were identified, of which 16 were included in this review. The mental health of out-of-hospital HPs was affected. Being a woman or having direct contact with patients showing suspicious signs of COVID-19 or confirmed cases were the factors related to a greater risk of developing high levels of stress and anxiety; in the case of depressive symptoms, it was having a clinical history of illnesses that could weaken their defenses against infection. Stopping unpleasant emotions and thoughts was the coping strategy most frequently used by these HPs

Influence of previous mental state on psychological outcomes of Spanish out-of-hospital professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Producción CientíficaThis study aimed to describe factors relating to the psychological distress of healthcare workers (HCWs) in Spanish out-of-hospital emergency medical services (EMS), according to the previous or non-use of psychotropic drugs or psychotherapy. A multicentre, cross-sectional descriptive study was designed. The study population were all physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) working in any Spanish out-of-hospital EMS between February and April 2021. The main outcomes were the levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and self-efficacy, assessed by DASS-21 and G-SES. Differences in levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and self-efficacy, according to sex, age, previous use of psychotropic drug or psychotherapy, work experience, professional category, type of work, and modification of working conditions were measured using the Student’s t-test for independent samples, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation, or 2-factor analysis of covariance. A total of 1636 HCWs were included, of whom one in three had severe mental disorders because of the pandemic. The interaction of the previous or non-use of psychotropic drugs or psychotherapy with the rest of the factors considered did not modify the levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and self-efficacy. However, HCWs with a history of psychotropic drug or psychotherapy use had a more intense negative emotional response and lower self-efficacy, regardless of their sex, professional category, type of work, or change in the working conditions. These HCWs are considered particularly vulnerable to the development or recurrence of new disorders or other comorbidities; therefore, the implementation of monitoring and follow-up strategies should be a priority