Conflictos entre profesionales sanitarios y pacientes: ¿Una cuestión de percepciones estereotipadas o de insatisfacción laboral?

Según los datos del Instituto Nacional de Estadística, durante los años 2012-2017, el número total de la población inmigrante residente en nuestro país fue 4.424.409 habitantes. Con la crisis económica, la inmigración ha aparecido como uno de los problemas que más preocupan a los españoles, generando actitudes de rechazo, especialmente al uso de la sanidad pública (Cea D’Ancona y Vallés, 2008, 2009). Estas percepciones negativas y estereotipadas también se encuentran dentro de las organizaciones sanitarias, siendo el colectivo marroquí el más damnificado, con los estereotipos de poco higiénicos, intolerantes, machistas y fanáticos (Plaza-del Pino y Soriano, 2011). En este contexto estresante, cada vez son más frecuentes los conflictos que surgen entre pacientes sanitarios y pacientes de otras nacionalidades. Sin embargo, son pocos los estudios que han analizado los factores psicosociales que anteceden a estos conflictos. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio ha sido explorar la relación entre las actitudes de los profesionales sanitarios (actitud hacia los inmigrantes y actitud hacia el trabajo) y la percepción de conflictos con pacientes inmigrantes. Para ello, hemos administrado los respectivos cuestionarios a 100 trabajadores de varios hospitales. Los principales resultados indican que: (a) Tanto el pensamiento como la intención de conducta estereotipada se relacionan de manera positiva con la percepción de conflictos con pacientes inmigrantes (β = .48, p = .01; β = .37, p = .01); (b) La satisfacción laboral juega un papel modelador en la relación entre el pensamiento estereotipado y la percepción de conflictos con pacientes inmigrantes. De manera que, aunque los profesionales tengan un pensamiento estereotipado, los conflictos no se incrementan si están satisfechos en el trabajo.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Sharp-Interface Limit of a Fluctuating Phase-Field Model

We present a derivation of the sharp-interface limit of a generic fluctuating phase-field model for solidification. As a main result, we obtain a sharp-interface projection which presents noise terms in both the diffusion equation and in the moving boundary conditions. The presented procedure does not rely on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and can therefore be applied to account for both internal and external fluctuations in either variational or non-variational phase-field formulations. In particular, it can be used to introduce thermodynamical fluctuations in non-variational formulations of the phase-field model, which permit to reach better computational efficiency and provide more flexibility for describing some features of specific physical situations. This opens the possibility of performing quantitative phase-field simulations in crystal growth while accounting for the proper fluctuations of the system.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Inmunotoxicidad inducida por cianotoxinas: microcistinas y cilindrospermopsina

Las cianobacterias son bacterias Gram negativas fotosintéticas capaces de producir floraciones a nivel mundial. Estas cianobacterias pueden producir también cianotoxinas perjudiciales para la salud de humanos, animales y plantas, y pueden actuar como hepatotoxinas, citotoxinas, neurotoxinas o dermatotoxinas. Las cianotoxinas de mayor in terés son las microcistinas (MC) y la cilindrospermopsina (CYN) por su extensa distribución y toxicidad. Aunque se conoce que principalmente las MC son hepatotóxica s y la CYN citotóxica , se ha observado que pueden producir alteraciones en otros órganos y s istemas, de los cuales el sistema inmune está aún escasamente estudiado. La presente revisión tiene, por tanto, como objetivo poner de manifiesto en modelos experimentales tanto in vitro como in vivo las alteraciones que se producen en el sistema inmune tr as la exposición a estas cianotoxinas y la importancia que ello tiene en la respuesta inmunitaria. Tras la realización de una búsqueda bibliográfica se seleccionaron veintitrés y siete artículos relacionados con la inmunotoxicidad de MC y CYN, respectivame nte. En ellos se evidencia el efecto de las MC sobre la proliferación de los linfocitos y la expresión de múltiples citoquinas, entre otros. Así mismo, se ha observado el efecto de la CYN sobre la viabilidad y capacidad de los linfocitos a pesar de que los estudios de inmunotoxicidad sobre ésta sean escasos. Por tanto, ambas cianotoxinas presentan potencial inmunotóxico que debería ser estudiado en mayor profundidad, especialmente en el caso de la CYN.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Farmaci

Scalable Inference of Gene Regulatory Networks with the Spark Distributed Computing Platform Cristo

Inference of Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) remains an important open challenge in computational biology. The goal of bio-model inference is to, based on time-series of gene expression data, obtain the sparse topological structure and the parameters that quantitatively understand and reproduce the dynamics of biological system. Nevertheless, the inference of a GRN is a complex optimization problem that involve processing S-System models, which include large amount of gene expression data from hundreds (even thousands) of genes in multiple time-series (essays). This complexity, along with the amount of data managed, make the inference of GRNs to be a computationally expensive task. Therefore, the genera- tion of parallel algorithmic proposals that operate efficiently on distributed processing platforms is a must in current reconstruction of GRNs. In this paper, a parallel multi-objective approach is proposed for the optimal inference of GRNs, since min- imizing the Mean Squared Error using S-System model and Topology Regularization value. A flexible and robust multi-objective cellular evolutionary algorithm is adapted to deploy parallel tasks, in form of Spark jobs. The proposed approach has been developed using the framework jMetal, so in order to perform parallel computation, we use Spark on a cluster of distributed nodes to evaluate candidate solutions modeling the interactions of genes in biological networks.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Low-Coherence Interferometry Using Microwave Photonics for Multilayered Samples

[EN] A photonic structure is proposed by exploiting the advantages of the Microwave Photonics technology over conventional low coherence interferometry. The proposed scheme is based in the analysis of the interference pattern of an incoherent optical signal which is amplitude modulated and transmitted through a dispersive element. The strategic allocation of an interferometric structure combined with balanced photodetection are used to improve the system performance compared to the previous proposals. To the best of our knowledge, an exhaustive theoretical analysis and an experimental demonstration of the structure for multilayered samples are provided in this paper.This work was supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia under Project TEC2014-60378 and in part by the Generalitat Valenciana under the regional Project PROMETEO 2017/103 TECNOLOGIAS Y APLICACIONES FUTURAS DE LA FOTONICA DE MICROONDAS.Benítez-González, J.; Mora Almerich, J. (2018). Low-Coherence Interferometry Using Microwave Photonics for Multilayered Samples. Journal of Lightwave Technology. 36(19):4611-4617. https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2018.282709846114617361

Psychological aspects in unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) witnesses

In this study, we surveyed a total of 245 people about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), 93 who directly witnessed UAP. Paying special attention to the psychological impact of UAP, our study survey covered different aspects, including opinions on official UAP releases, the scientific approach to the phenomena and the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. This study found that UAP had a clear psychological impact on witnesses, with a transformative effect, and a benign form of a non-pathological obsessive-like interest in the topic we defined as the UAP deep psychological engagement triad. This deep psychological engagement triad is characterized by UAP topic being present in a witness's mind daily, with a self-recognized interest and appreciation for the topic and a need to talk about UAP topic, not necessarily the event they experienced. UAP appear to have a very specific impact focused on extra-terrestrial aspects and the phenomena itself, which is experienced as a life-changing event by direct witnesses. These psychological aspects are quantitatively and qualitatively objectifiable, and further research is needed in this direction since all research efforts appear currently focused on the physical aspects of these phenomena. Copyright7 página

Advanced RF Interferometry Structure for Improving Operation Range

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permissíon from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertisíng or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] In this letter, a novel structure combining low coherence interferometry (LCI) and microwave photonics (MWP) is proposed. In this case, the electro-optic modulator is strategically placed inside the interferometric structure in order to modify the behavior of the whole MWP-LCI system. Specifically, limiting effects which are inherently generated as the DC term, the self-reflection term and the carrier suppression effect are avoided. This fact enables the improvement of the MWP-LCI operating range in comparison to previous proposals. Moreover, a detailed description of the MWP-LCI structure is addressed in this letter to support the corresponding experimental demonstration and theoretical development. In addition, typical LCI capabilities such as penetration depth, resolution, and sensitivity are also measured. For the MWP-LCI structure proposed here, a 1 cm penetration depth with a resolution of 120 mu m and a sensitivity beyond 50 dB are achieved.This work was supported in part by the National Project TEC2014-60378 through the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia and in part by the Regional Project PROMETEO FASE II/2013/012 through the Generalitat Valenciana. (Corresponding author: J. Mora.)Benítez-González, J.; Mora Almerich, J. (2018). Advanced RF Interferometry Structure for Improving Operation Range. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters. 30(18):1637-1640. https://doi.org/10.1109/LPT.2018.2865005S16371640301

Evaluation of Anticancer Activity of 76 Plant Species Collected in Andalusia (Spain) against Lung Cancer Cells

Every year, cancer kills millions of people around the world. Finding more selective anticancer agents is essential to improve the low survival rates of patients with metastatic cancers. Since the research of natural products is a valuable approach to the discovery of new compounds and the Iberian flora offers a rich source of unstudied plants, we have carried out a random screening of 76 plant species from 43 families collected in Andalusia (South of Spain). Using nonmalignant cells (HaCaT) and lung cancer cells (A549), we found that the extract from Arum italicum Mill. subsp. italicum (Araceae), Mandragora autumnalis Bertol. (Solanaceae), Rhamnus alaternus L. (Rhamnaceae), and Lomelosia simplex (Desf.) Raf. subsp. dentata (Jord. & Fourr.) Greuter & Burdet (Dipsacaceae) showed selective cytotoxicity against lung cancer cells. Extracts of plant species belonging to the Iridaceae family showed high selective activity against cancer cells, highlighting that the Xiphion xiphium (L.) M.B. Crespo, Mart.-Azorín & Mavrodiev flower extract was more selective against lung cancer cells than the standard anticancer drugs, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil. This extract also showed modest selective cytotoxicity against bladder carcinoma cells (T24). The number of cells in the G1 phase increased after treatment with the extract from Xiphion xiphium. Our research indicates that various plants are potential sources for the isolation and development of new anticancer drugs.Junta de Andalucía (grant numbers 2017/CTS-657; 2019/CTS-657; and 2021/CTS-657)University of Seville through the “VI Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia” (grant numbers VIPPIT-2019-I.5, VIPPIT-2020-I.5, and VIPPIT-2021-I