Opposite poles: A comparison between two Spanish regions in health-related quality of life, with implications for health policy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although health is one of the main determinants of the welfare of societies, few studies have evaluated health related quality of life in representative samples of the population of a region or a country. Our aim is to describe the health-related quality of life of the inhabitants of two quite different Spanish regions (Canary Islands and Catalonia) and to compare the prevalence of health problems between age-sex groups.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We use data obtained from the 2006 Health Survey of Catalonia and the 2004 Canary Islands Health Survey. With an ordinal composite variable measuring HRQOL we identify the association of characteristics of individuals with self-reported quality of life and test for differences between the regions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of problems in the five EQ-5 D dimensions increases with age and is generally higher for women than for men. The dimension with the highest prevalence of problems is "anxiety/depression", and there is noteworthy the extent of discomfort and pain among Canary Island women. Education, especially among the elderly, has an important effect on health-related quality of life.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There are substantial structural and compositional differences between the two regions. Regional context is a significant factor, independent of the compositional differences, and the effects of context are manifest above all in women. The findings show the importance of disease prevention and the need for improving the educational level of the population in order to reduce health inequalities.</p

Impact of uniaxial strain and doping on oxygen diffusion in CeO2

Doped ceria is an important electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell applications. Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the impact of uniaxial strain along the directions and rare-earth doping (Yb, Er, Ho, Dy, Gd, Sm, Nd, and La) on oxygen diffusion. We introduce a new potential model that is able to describe the thermal expansion and elastic properties of ceria to give excellent agreement with experimental data. We calculate the activation energy of oxygen migration in the temperature range 900-1900K for both unstrained and rare-earth doped ceria systems under tensile strain. Uniaxial strain has a considerable effect in lowering the activation energies of oxygen migration. A more pronounced increase in oxygen diffusivities is predicted at the lower end of the temperature range for all the dopants considered

Burnout and Related Factors among Hospital Nurses

Burnout and Related Factors among Hospital Nurses: Kazuyo HIGASHIGUCHI, et al. Department of Nursing, Kanazawa Medical University—The overall goal of this study is to examine the relationship between burnout in hospital nurses and three parameters: occupational factors, individual attributes, and workplace stressors. Two hundred and sixty-eight female nurses from two public general hospitals were surveyed. Three forms were used: first, a demographic data form to ascertain personal attributes; second, the Japanese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to assess burnout; and third, the Japanese version of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) to assess workplace stressors. The Japanese version of MBI consists of three subscales: Physical Exhaustion (PE), Emotional Exhaustion/ Depersonalization (EE+DP), and Personal Accomplishment (PA). The results were as follows: 1. There was a significant correlation between both PE and EE+DP and years of nursing experience, as well as the age of children. 2. There was a significant correlation between PE and the work schedule or workplace. 3. There was no significant correlation between the Japanese MBI subscales and job rank, marital status, or the number of children. 4. There was a significant correlation between the three subscales of Japanese MBI and the Japanese JCQ scales. These findings are discussed