Laboreo de conservación: Efectos a corto y largo plazo sobre la calidad del suelo y el desarrollo de los cultivos

El Laboreo de Conservación es esencial en zonas áridas y semiáridas, donde los contenidos de carbono de los suelos son bajos y el agua es el principal factor limitante para el desarrollo de los cultivos de secano. Esta técnica forma parte de lo que actualmente se denomina Agricultura de Conservación y resulta muy útil para evitar la erosión de los suelos y las pérdidas de agua por evaporación y escorrentía, al dejar cubierta la superficie del suelo con los restos del cultivo anterior. La Agricultura de Conservación contempla además las cubiertas vegetales, la rotación de cultivos e incluso el manejo integrado de nutrientes. Los estudios presentados en esta Tesis Doctoral se han realizado sobre dos tipos de suelo: calcáreo (Typic Xerofluvent) en parcelas experimentales y ácido, fácilmente erosionable (Eutric Leptosol) en una finca agrícola comercial. En las parcelas experimentales se estudiaron dos casos: un experimento de larga duración establecido en el año 1992, en el que se comparó laboreo tradicional (con volteo de suelo) y laboreo de conservación en su modalidad de laboreo reducido; y otro de corta duración, establecido en 2004, donde se comparó el efecto del laboreo tradicional frente a no laboreo. En la finca comercial se aplicó una labor ocasional de vertedera (práctica frecuente para evitar la posible compactación del suelo por el no laboreo continuado) en una parcela bajo no laboreo en los últimos ocho años. En ambos casos, el estudio se centró en el período 2007-2009, bajo una rotación girasol-guisante-trigo en las parcelas experimentales y bajo cultivo de trigo en la finca agrícola comercial. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron que la aplicación de técnicas de laboreo de conservación tuvo efectos positivos sobre la calidad del suelo, sobre todo en superficie, introduciendo mejoras en las propiedades físicas, disminuyendo las emisiones de CO2 a la atmósfera y aumentando los contenidos de diferentes fracciones de carbono, así como de distintos parámetros bioquímicos (carbono de la biomasa microbiana y actividades enzimáticas). Además, las técnicas de laboreo de conservación no afectaron negativamente al rendimiento de los cultivos, obteniéndose cosechas similares bajo las distintas modalidades de laboreo, e incluso ligeramente superiores bajo laboreo de conservación en algunos casos. Según los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo se puede concluir que el laboreo de conservación es una práctica muy recomendable para nuestras condiciones experimentales (agricultura de secano bajo condiciones semi-áridas mediterráneas), atendiendo sobre todo a las mejoras que introduce en la capa superficial (¿la piel de la tierra¿), donde se observaron las diferencias más acusadas entre tratamientos. Además, la pérdida de calidad del suelo que ocasiona el laboreo tradicional no justifica la implantación de esta técnica, ni siquiera ocasionalmente cuando se trata de suelos fácilmente erosionables

Sustitución de turba por compost urbanos en sustratos de vivero: efectos agroambientales

70 páginas.-- 21 figuras.-- 31 tablas.-- 22 referenciasEl presente trabajo se ha centrado en una evaluación de la utilización de compost obtenidos a partir de residuos orgánicos de tres orígenes, como componentes de sustratos para vivero forestal. Los tres tipos de compost utilizados fueron: lodos de depuradora y biomasa vegetal (compost A), fracción orgánica de Residuos Sólidos Urbanos y biomasa vegetal (compost B) y, lodos de depuradora, fracción orgánica de RSU y biomasa vegetal (compost C), que se mezclaron con turba rubia en diferentes proporciones. Además se aplicó corteza de pino a algunas de las mezclas, obteniéndose un total de 13 tratamientos basados en compost, (con y sin corteza de pino), que se compararon con el sustrato habitual de vivero. Estas mezclas se han utilizado para el cultivo de la especie vegetal mediterránea Pistacia lentiscus L., comparando la respuesta de las plantas en los diferentes sustratos y el testigo de turba habitual. Por otro lado se ha analizado la evolución de los sustratos y el proceso de mineralización de nitrógeno, a través de la recogida de las aguas lixiviadas tras el riego. Diez meses después de la plantación el crecimiento vegetal fue mayor en los sustratos a base de compost con respecto al testigo. Las concentraciones de nutrientes en la biomasa vegetal fueron satisfactorias en los tratamientos con compost. Por el contrario, las plantas del sustrato testigo mostraron concentraciones de nutrientes significativamente menores, lo que explicaría el escaso desarrollo de las mismas. La aplicación de corteza de pino, en el caso del compost B, dio lugar a un desarrollo mayor de las plantas, lo que podría relacionarse con su capacidad de conferir a las raíces una buena aireación. En el ensayo de lixiviación se observó que los compost mineralizaron nitrógeno en mucha mayor proporción que el sustrato testigo. Los resultados obtenidos en el proyecto son de gran interés, pues suponen una salida económica y ecológicamente valiosa a uno de los mayores problemas de la sociedad actual: el exceso de residuos. Por otro lado, la aplicación de estos compost en el sector viverista, que resulta favorable como demuestran los resultados de este trabajo, reduciría notablemente la explotación de turba, un producto natural, no renovable y cuya extracción causa graves problemas medioambientales.Este trabajo se ha realizado en el marco del proyecto "Diseño de Sustratos de Vivero Basados en Compost Urbanos" AGRFOR 02633, financiado por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia.N

Medical costs of cancer attributable to work in the Basque Country (Spain) in 2008

AbstractObjetivesUnderreporting of work-related cancer in the Basque Country (Spain) is massive. The aim of our study is to estimate the job-related cancer in the Basque Country in 2008 treated by the Basque Public Health System-Osakidetza, as well as the medical costs derived from its treatment in the same year.MethodsScientific evidence from industrialised countries is used to estimate the number of processes of cancer attributable to work. Medical costs for specialised care (outpatient and hospital admissions) are derived from the National Health System cost accounts. Costs due to primary health care and pharmaceutical benefits are obtained from Spanish secondary sources. Figures were computed according to disease and sex.ResultsWe estimate 1,331 work-attributable cancers hospitalizations and 229 work-attributable cancers specialized ambulatory cases. Medical costs borne by public health care system exceed 10 million euros. Specialized care accounts for 64.2% of the total cost. Bronchus and lung cancer represents the largest percentage of total expenditure (27%), followed by the bladder cancer (12.6%), mesothelioma (8.6%), the colon cancer (7.3%), and stomach (6.7%).ConclusionsThe magnitude of cancer attributable to work in the Basque Country is much higher than reflected in the official Registry of Occupational Diseases. Underreporting of work-related cancers hampers prevention and shifts funding of medical costs from social security to the tax-financed public health system

Health care system sustainability and the contribution of emergency departments

El objetivo del artículo consiste en describir las principales propuestas orientadas a garantizar la sostenibilidad del Sistema Nacional de Salud (SNS), a partir de la revisión de los informes de diagnóstico y recomendaciones más relevantes que han sido publicados desde el comienzo de la crisis. Entre las propuestas más recurrentes aparecen la financiación selectiva de las tecnologías, la reorganización hacia una mayor atención a la cronicidad y una mejor coordinación entre niveles asistenciales y con la red sociosanitaria, y el impulso de la atención primaria. También abundan las relativas a la reforma del gobierno de la sanidad. Asimismo, el artículo examina brevemente las medidas adoptadas hasta el momento con el fin de reforzar la sostenibilidad del sistema, y de qué modo los servicios de urgencia pueden contribuir a este objetivo.The purpose of this paper is to describe the main proposals for ensuring national health service sustainability, in the light of a review of the most relevant diagnostic reports and guidelines published since the onset of the economic crisis. The following proposals are among the most frequently mentioned in the literature: selective financing of technology, reorganization to provide more care for chronic conditions and better coordination between levels of care and the network of social and health care services, and the reinforcement of primary care. Also commonly suggested is the reform of health care governance. Likewise, the authors briefly examine the measures adopted to date to promote the system’s sustainability and discuss how the emergency department can further this aim.Depto. de Economía Aplicada, Pública y PolíticaFac. de Ciencias Económicas y EmpresarialesTRUEpu

Estimating direct effects of parental occupation on Spaniards’ health by birth cohort

Background: Social health inequalities in adult population are partly due to socioeconomic circumstances in childhood. A better understanding of how those circumstances affect health during adulthood may improve the opportunities for reducing health disparities. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of parental socioeconomic status, which is proxied by occupation, on adult Spaniards’ health by birth cohort. The analysis will allow checking not only the direct impact of parental occupation on their offspring’s health, but also whether inherited inequality has been reduced over time. Methods: We use data from the Bank of Spain’s Survey of Household Finances on Spanish households from 2002 to 2008. Sequential models were used to estimate the influence of the father’s and mother’s occupation on their offspring’s health, trying to disentangle direct from indirect effects. With a sample of 26,832 persons we consider effects for four different cohorts by birth periods ranging from 1916 to 1981. Results: The results show that parental occupation has a significant direct impact on individuals’ health (p < 0.01). The effect of father’s occupation exceeds that of mother’s. For those born before 1936, the probability of reporting a good health status ranges from 0.31 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.14–0.48), when fathers were classified as unskilled elementary workers, to 0.98 (95% CI 0.98–0.99) when they were managers or mid-level professionals. For those born during the period 1959–1975, those probabilities are 0.49 (95% CI 0.39–0.59) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.96–0.98), respectively. Therefore, health inequalities linked to parental socioeconomic status have been noticeably reduced, although discrimination against unskilled workers persists over time. Conclusions: Great progress has been made in the health area during the twentieth century, so that the impact of parental socioeconomic status on individuals’ health has been significantly tempered for those at the bottom of the social scale. However, more efforts focused on the improvement of living conditions for most socioeconomically disadvantaged are needed in order to further reduce social inequalities in health

Genome-wide association analysis for maize stem Cell Wall-bound Hydroxycinnamates

Background: The structural reinforcement of cell walls by hydroxycinnamates has a significant role in defense against pests and pathogens, but it also interferes with forage digestibility and biofuel production. Elucidation of maize genetic variations that contribute to variation for stem hydroxycinnamate content could simplify breeding for cell wall strengthening by using markers linked to the most favorable genetic variants in marker-assisted selection or genomic selection approaches. Results: A genome-wide association study was conducted using a subset of 282 inbred lines from a maize diversity panel to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with stem cell wall hydroxycinnamate content. A total of 5, 8, and 2 SNPs were identified as significantly associated to p-coumarate, ferulate, and total diferulate concentrations, respectively in the maize pith. Attending to particular diferulate isomers, 3, 6, 1 and 2 SNPs were related to 8–O–4 diferulate, 5–5 diferulate, 8–5 diferulate and 8–5 linear diferulate contents, respectively. This study has the advantage of being done with direct biochemical determinations instead of using estimates based on Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) predictions. In addition, novel genomic regions involved in hydroxycinnamate content were found, such as those in bins 1.06 (for FA), 4.01 (for PCA and FA), 5.04 (for FA), 8.05 (for PCA), and 10.03 and 3.06 (for DFAT and some dimers). Conclusions: The effect of individual SNPs significantly associated with stem hydroxycinnamate content was low, explaining a low percentage of total phenotypic variability (7 to 10%). Nevertheless, we spotlighted new genomic regions associated with the accumulation of cell-wall-bound hydroxycinnamic acids in the maize stem, and genes involved in cell wall modulation in response to biotic and abiotic stresses have been proposed as candidate genes for those quantitative trait loci (QTL). In addition, we cannot rule out that uncharacterized genes linked to significant SNPs could be implicated in dimer formation and arobinoxylan feruloylation because genes involved in those processes have been poorly characterized. Overall, genomic selection considering markers distributed throughout the whole genome seems to be a more appropriate breeding strategy than marker-assisted selection focused in markers linked to QTL.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431F 2016/014Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018–096776-B-C22Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018–096776-B-C2

Medical costs of asbestos-related diseases in Spain between 2004 and 2011

The objective of this article was to estimate the medical costs derived from malignant ARD treatment in the Spanish National Health System (NHS) between 2004 and 2011. Estimation of direct healthcare costs was based on national primary data on the cost of specialized care for inpatients and outpatients treated at NHS hospitals and on national and regional secondary data on costs of primary healthcare and pharmaceutical prescriptions. A prevalence approach was used to estimate the overall burden of ARDs. Direct medical costs of 37,557 ARDs attended in Spanish NHS facilities in 2004 – 2011 were estimated at 464 million euros; specialist care accounted for 50.9% of total costs, primary healthcare 10.15%, and drug prescription 38.9%. The cost was 27.8-fold higher in males than in females. Bronchopulmonary cancers represented the greatest healthcare cost, 281 million euros. The cost of delivering healthcare to ARDs victims in Spain has a negative economic impact on the NHS due to the gross under-recognition of occupational victims under the Spanish National Insurance System

A low-mass triple system with a wide L/T transition brown dwarf component: NLTT 51469AB/SDSS 2131-0119

We demonstrate that the previously identified L/T transition brown dwarf SDSS J213154.43-011939.3 (SDSS 2131-0119) is a widely separated (82 ''.3, similar to 3830 au) common proper motion companion to the low-mass star NLTT 51469, which we reveal to be a close binary itself, separated by 0 ''.64 +/- 0 ''.01 (similar to 30 au). We find the proper motion of SDSS 2131-0119 of mu(alpha) cos delta = -100 +/- 20 mas yr(-1) and mu(delta) = -230 +/- 20 mas yr(-1) consistent with the proper motion of the primary provided by Gaia DR2: mu(alpha) cos delta = -95.49 +/- 0.96 mas yr(-1) and mu(delta) = -239.38 +/- 0.96 mas yr(-1). Based on optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, we classify the primary NLTT 51469A as an M3 +/- 1 dwarf, estimate photometrically the spectral type of its close companion NLTT 51469B at similar to M6, and confirm the spectral type of the brown dwarf to be L9 +/- 1. Using radial velocity, proper motion, and parallax, we derived the UVW Galactic space velocities of NLTT 51469A, showing that the system does not belong to any known young stellar moving group. The high V, W velocities, lack of a 670.8 nm Li I absorption line, and absence of H alpha emission, detected X-rays, or UV excess, indicate that the system is likely a member of the thin disc population and is older than 1 Gyr. For the parallactic distance of 46.6 +/- 1.6 pc from Gaia DR2, we determined luminosities of -1.50(-0.04)(+0.02) and -4.4 +/- 0.1 dex of the M3 and L9, respectively. Considering the spectrophotometric estimation, which yields a slightly lower distance of 34(-13)(+10) pc, the obtained luminosities are -1.78(-0.04)(+0.02) and -4.7(-0.5)(+0.3) dex. We also estimated their effective temperatures and masses, and obtained 3410(-210)(+140) K and 0.42 +/- 0.02 M-circle dot for the primary, and 1400-1650K and 0.05-0.07 M-circle dot for the wide companion. For the similar to M6 component, we estimated T-eff = 2850 +/- 200 K and m = 0.10(-0.01)(+0.06) M-circle dot.BG acknowledges support from the CONICYT through FONDECYT Postdoctoral Fellowship grant no. 3170513. This work is partly financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project AYA2016-79425-C3-2-P. NL and VJSB acknowledge support from the SpanishMinistry of Economy and Competitivity through the project AYA2015-69350-C3-2-P. AP acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity through the project AYA2015-69350-C3-3-P. Based on observations obtained as part of the VHS, ESO programme, 179.A-2010 (PI: McMahon). Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern hemisphere under ESO programme 092.C-0874(B). Based on observations made with the NOT, operated by the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. This paper includes data obtained using the 6.5 m Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. This publication makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium).Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This research has made use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System. We have made use of the ROSAT Data Archive of the Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) at Garching, Germany. This research has made use of theWashington Double Star Catalog maintained at the U.S. Naval Observatory