Escalas de comportamiento suicida en el trabajo: Desarrollo y validación de las escalas breves de ideación suicida, derrotismo y atrapamiento relacionado con el trabajo

Suicide is a health problem around the world, since suicide rates among Americans aged 45 to 54 is the highest, and most of these individuals were employed at the time of their death. Thus, there is a need to better understand suicidal behavior at work by developing appropriate measurement instruments in order to create prevention and treatment programs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate three brief self-report measures of suicidal behavior at work: defeat, entrapment, and work-related suicidal ideation. A total of 1,829 employed individuals from different organizations in Puerto Rico participated in this cross-sectional research design. We conducted item, exploratory, and confirmatory factor analyses. Also, we tested measurement invariance of the new brief scales of suicidal behavior at work. The final version of the suicidal behavior at work brief scales obtained excellent reliability coefficients using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega techniques. The results of the EFA and CFA support their internal structure. The new scale appears to be invariant among groups. The scores of the new suicidal behavior at work brief scales appear to be reliable, valid, and invariant, which will help to study and to better understand these behaviors in order to create treatments and prevention programs in our workplaces.El suicidio es un problema de salud en todo el mundo, ya que las tasas de suicidio entre los estadounidenses de 45 a 54 años son las más altas, y la mayoría de estas personas estaban empleadas en el momento de su muerte. Por lo tanto, existe la necesidad de comprender mejor el comportamiento suicida en el trabajo desarrollando instrumentos de medición apropiados para así crear programas de prevención y tratamiento. Por lo tanto, el objetivo del presente estudio fue desarrollar y validar tres medidas breves de autoinforme de comportamiento suicida en el trabajo: la percepción de derrotismo, el atrapamiento y la ideación suicida relacionada con el trabajo. Un total de 1,829 personas empleadas de diferentes organizaciones en Puerto Rico participaron en este diseño de investigación transversal. Realizamos análisis de reactivos, factores exploratorios y confirmatorios. Además, probamos la invariancia de medición de las nuevas escalas breves de comportamiento suicida en el trabajo por género, edad, entre otros. La versión final de las escalas breves de conducta suicida en el trabajo obtuvo excelentes coeficientes de confiabilidad mediante las técnicas alfa de Cronbach y omega de McDonald. Los resultados de los análisis de factores exploratorios y confirmatorios respaldan su estructura interna. Las nuevas escalas parecen ser invariantes. Las puntuaciones de las nuevas escalas breves de conducta suicida en el trabajo parecen ser confiables, válidas e invariantes, lo que ayudará a estudiar y comprender mejor estas conductas para crear tratamientos y programas de prevención en los lugares de trabajo

New Adenovirus Groups in Western Palaearctic Bats

In the context of long-term screening for viruses on Western Palaearctic bats, we tested for the presence of adenovirus 1392 oropharyngeal swabs and 325 stool samples taken from 27 bat species. Adenoviruses were detected in 12 species of the Vespertilionidae and the Rhinolophidae families. Fifty positive respiratory and 26 positive stool samples were studied. Phylogenetic analyses of partial hexon protein and partial DNA-dependent DNA polymerase genes indicate that all these bat adenoviruses belong to the genus Mastadenovirus but without constituting a monophyletic cluster. According to genetic identities, the new groups are distinct to the previously described Bat mastadenovirus A and B species and contribute with potentially new members. Our data support that diversity of bat mastadenovirus is host-dependent and increase the knowledge of potentially pathogenic virus from bats. Due to the active role of bats as viral reservoirs, the characterization of these viruses is relevant for Public Health.This project was financially supported by an agreement between the Public Health Department of the Spanish Ministry of Health and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III for the development of "Rabies Surveillance in Spain" and by projects SAF 2006-12784-C02-01, SAF 2006-12784-C02-02, SAF 2009-09172 and SAF2013-47194-P of the General Research Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education

Improving cell penetration of gold nanorods by using an amphipathic arginine rich peptide

Indexación: Scopus.Gold nanorods are highly reactive, have a large surface-to-volume ratio, and can be functionalized with biomolecules. Gold nanorods can absorb infrared electromagnetic radiation, which is subsequently dispersed as local heat. Gold nanoparticles can be used as powerful tools for the diagnosis and therapy of different diseases. To improve the biological barrier permeation of nanoparticles with low cytotoxicity, in this study, we conjugated gold nanorods with cell-penetrating peptides (oligoarginines) and with the amphipathic peptide CLPFFD. Methods: We studied the interaction of the functionalized gold nanorods with biological membrane models (liposomes) by dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and the Langmuir balance. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects on cell viability and permeability with an MTS assay and TEM. Results and Discussion: The interaction study by DLS, the Langmuir balance and cryo-TEM support that GNR-Arg7 CLPFFD enhances the interactions between GNRs and biological membranes. In addition, cells treated with GNR-Arg7 CLPFFD internalized 80% more nanoparticles than cells treated with GNR alone and did not induce cell damage. Conclusion: Our results indicate that incorporation of an amphipathic sequence into oligoarginines for the functionalization of gold nanorods enhances biological membrane nanoparticle interactions and nanoparticle cell permeability with respect to nanorods functionalized with oligoarginine. Overall, functionalized gold nanorods with amphipathic arginine rich peptides might be candidates for improving drug delivery by facilitating biological barrier permeation.https://www.dovepress.com/improving-cell-penetration-of-gold-nanorods-by-using-an-amphipathic-ar-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IJ

The O3N2 and N2 abundance indicators revisited: improved calibrations based on CALIFA and T e-based literature data

Astronomy and Astrophysics 559 (2013): A114 reproduced with permission from Astronomy and AstrophysicsThe use of integral field spectroscopy is since recently allowing to measure the emission line fluxes of an increasingly large number of star-forming galaxies, both locally and at high redshift. Many studies have used these fluxes to derive the gas-phase metallicity of the galaxies by applying the so-called strong-line methods. However, the metallicity indicators that these datasets use were empirically calibrated using few direct abundance data points (Te-based measurements). Furthermore, a precise determination of the prediction intervals of these indicators is commonly lacking in these calibrations. Such limitations might lead to systematic errors in determining the gas-phase metallicity, especially at high redshift, which might have a strong impact on our understanding of the chemical evolution of the Universe. The main goal of this study is to review the most widely used empirical oxygen calibrations, O3N2 and N2, by using newdirect abundance measurements. We pay special attention to (1) the expected uncertainty of these calibrations as a function of the index value or abundance derived and (2) the presence of possible systematic offsets. This is possible thanks to the analysis of the most ambitious compilation of Te-based H ii regions to date. This new dataset compiles the Te-based abundances of 603 H ii regions extracted from the literature but also includes new measurements from the CALIFA survey. Besides providing new and improved empirical calibrations for the gas abundance, we also present a comparison between our revisited calibrations with a total of 3423 additional CALIFA H ii complexes with abundances derived using the ONS calibration from the literature. The combined analysis of T e-based and ONS abundances allows us to derive their most accurate calibration to date for both the O3N2 and N2 single-ratio indicators, in terms of all statistical significance, quality, and coverage of the parameters space. In particular, we infer that these indicators show shallower abundance dependencies and statistically significant offsets compared to others'. The O3N2 and N2 indicators can be empirically applied to derive oxygen abundances calibrations from either direct abundance determinations with random errors of 0.18 and 0.16, respectively, or from indirect ones (but based on a large amount of data), reaching an average precision of 0.08 and 0.09 dex (random) and 0.02 and 0.08 dex (systematic; compared to the direct estimations), respectivelyR.A. Marino is funded by the Spanish program of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI). D. Mast thank the Plan Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo funding programs, AYA2012-31935 of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, for the support given to this project. S.F.S thanks the the Ramón y Cajal project RyC-2011-07590 of the spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, for the support giving to this project. F.F.R.O. acknowledges the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) for financial support under the program Estancias Postdoctorales y Sabáticas al Extranjero para la Consolidación de Grupos de Investigación, 2010-2012. We acknowledge financial support for the ESTALLIDOS collaboration by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under grant AYA2010- 21887-C04-03. BG-L also acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant AYA2012- 39408-C02-02. J.F.-B. acknowledges financial support from the Ramón y Cajal Program and grant AYA2010-21322-C03-02 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as to the DAGAL network from the People’s Program (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement number PITN-GA-2011-289313. CK has been funded by project AYA2010-21887 from the Spanish PNAYA. P.P. acknowledges support by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029170 (Reference FCT PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012), funded by FCT-MEC (PIDDAC) and FEDER (COMPETE). R.M.G.D. and R.G.B. also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant AyA2010-15081. V.S., L.G., and A.M.M. acknowledge financial support from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under program Ciência 2008 and the research grant PTDC/CTE-AST/112582/200

La escritura en el curso de Patología General Veterinaria

La formación universitaria es un camino de incorporación en comunidades especializadas, por lo tanto, es un proceso, donde además de adquirir conocimientos se llega a “ser como” (Feldman, 2013). El ingreso a la universidad implica el ingreso a una nueva cultura que requiere un trayecto de afiliación. La afiliación es el proceso por el cual un ingresante aprende el oficio de ser estudiante, es un tránsito de un estatus social a otro, de una cultura a otra. Este pasaje es complejo dado que la mayoría de las reglas no están explícitas, sino que son implícitas, y deben aprenderse en el “hacer”. A pesar de que el curso de Patología General Veterinaria (PGV) transcurre ya avanzado el segundo año de la carrera, algunas características de los estudiantes hacen pensar que el proceso de afiliación intelectual aún no se ha completado. Como consecuencia, los estudiantes llegan al curso de PGV sin haber completado dicho proceso debido a la adopción de estrategias que les permitieron subsistir en el sistema universitario sin comprender las reglas del trabajo intelectual ni comprometerse con su propio aprendizaje. Es evidente que, como plantea Ortega (1997), han adquirido ciertas habilidades que les permiten acreditar (salvar obstáculos) y avanzar en la carrera, lo cual se evidencia en el bajo rendimiento en las evaluaciones finales, con un elevado porcentaje que sólo alcanza la nota mínima 4(cuatro). Este trabajo refleja la búsqueda de los docentes del curso por diseñar e implementar estrategias de enseñanza que logren favorecer la afiliación intelectual de sus estudiantes. Considerando la transición que representa el ingreso a una nueva cultura, y la responsabilidad que corresponde a los docentes de cada disciplina, de acuerdo a lo que sugiere Paula Carlino (2005), se propuso trabajar en relación a la alfabetización académica.Eje 1: La enseñanza universitaria en el contexto actual: transformaciones y propuestas. Reflexiones y experiencias en la enseñanza de la Medicina Veterinaria y la Agronomía.Secretaría de Asuntos Académico

Academic literacy study at the School of Veterinary Sciences of the National University of La Plata

Cuando nos referimos a alfabetización académica, hacemos referencia a los conocimientos necesarios para aprender en la universidad. Habiéndose realizado una evaluación diagnóstica en el curso de Patología General Veterinaria, se estudió esta problemática en los cursos de segundo año de la carrera de Medicina Veterinaria de la Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias de la UNLP. Los objetivos del estudio incluyeron conocer qué importancia se da en los cursos de segundo año a la lectura y a la escritura, indagar en las ideas de los docentes al respecto, analizar las actividades de lectoescritura propuestas a los estudiantes y conocer las dificultades que éstos enfrentan ante la lectura y escritura de textos académicos. Para ello se analizaron las planificaciones y evaluaciones curriculares de cada curso, relatos de clases y textos escritos por estudiantes. Se realizaron observaciones de clase y se encuestó a docentes y estudiantes de segundo año. Los resultados muestran qué actividades de lectura y escritura están presentes, tanto en el curriculum práctico como en el formal, hallándose las actividades de escritura preponderantemente en la instancia de evaluación. Las encuestas docentes revelan ideas en transición entre la postura que no reconoce responsabilidad de la universidad en la alfabetización académica y la que sí lo hace. Las encuestas a estudiantes revelaron múltiples dificultades en la lectura, mientras que el análisis de sus escritos mostró dificultades en la escritura. El conocimiento de la situación actual permitirá diseñar proyectos de intervención tendientes a mejorarla, facilitando el proceso de incorporación de los estudiantes a la cultura académica.Academic literacy refers to the knowledge required for learning in college. Taken into account a previous diagnostic study in the Veterinary General Pathology course, in the present work we performed an evaluation of the academic literacy in the remaining courses of second year of the Veterinary Medicine Career, School of Veterinary Sciences, UNLP. Our objectives were to know the relevance given in the courses to reading and writing, to inquire into the teacher conceptions about the academic literacy, to analyze the literacy activities proposed, and to know the challenges they should go through during reading and writing academic texts. Here we analyze planning and evaluation of each course, class descriptions and texts written by students. Class observations and surveys directed to teachers and second-year students were made. The results showed that reading and writing activities are present in the practical curriculum as in the formal one. The writing activities are predominantly present in the evaluations. Surveys directed to teachers reveal teachers that recognize responsibility of the university in the academic literacy and teachers who do not. In addition, surveys directed to students revealed many difficulties in reading, while the analysis of writing showed some difficulties. Knowledge of the current situation will allow designing intervention projects aimed to facilitating the process of incorporation of students to the academic culture.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Interventions in health organisations to reduce the impact of adverse events in second and third victims

Background Adverse events (AE) are also the cause of suffering in health professionals involved. This study was designed to identify and analyse organization-level strategies adopted in both primary care and hospitals in Spain to address the impact of serious AE on second and third victims. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in healthcare organizations assessing: safety culture; health organization crisis management plans for serious AE; actions planned to ensure transparency in communication with patients (and relatives) who experience an AE; support for second victims; and protective measures to safeguard the institution’s reputation (the third victim). Results A total of 406 managers and patient safety coordinators replied to the survey. Deficient provision of support for second victims was acknowledged by 71 and 61 % of the participants from hospitals and primary care respectively; these respondents reported there was no support protocol for second victims in place in their organizations. Regarding third victim initiatives, 35 % of hospital and 43 % of primary care professionals indicated no crisis management plan for serious AE existed in their organization, and in the case of primary care, there was no crisis committee in 34 % of cases. The degree of implementation of second and third victim support interventions was perceived to be greater in hospitals (mean 14.1, SD 3.5) than in primary care (mean 11.8, SD 3.1) (p?<?0.001). Conclusions Many Spanish health organizations do not have a second and third victim support or a crisis management plan in place to respond to serious AEs

The aftermath of adverse events in spanish primary care and hospital health professionals

Background Adverse events (AEs) cause harm in patients and disturbance for the professionals involved in the event (second victims). This study assessed the impact of AEs in primary care (PC) and hospitals in Spain on second victims. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted. We carried out a survey based on a random sample of doctors and nurses from PC and hospital settings in Spain. A total of 1087 health professionals responded, 610 from PC and 477 from hospitals. Results A total of 430 health professionals (39.6%) had informed a patient of an error. Reporting to patients was carried out by those with the strongest safety culture (Odds Ratio –OR- 1.1, 95% Confidence Interval –CI- 1.0-1.2), nurses (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.5-2.3), those under 50 years of age (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.6-0.9) and primary care staff (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5-0.9). A total of 381 (62.5%, 95% CI 59-66%) and 346 (72.5%, IC95% 69-77%) primary care and hospital health professionals, respectively, reported having gone through the second-victim experience, either directly or through a colleague, in the previous 5 years. The emotional responses were: feelings of guilt (521, 58.8%), anxiety (426, 49.6%), re-living the event (360, 42.2%), tiredness (341, 39.4%), insomnia (317, 38.0%) and persistent feelings of insecurity (284, 32.8%). In doctors, the most common responses were: feelings of guilt (OR 0.7 IC95% 0.6-0.8), re-living the event (OR 0.7, IC95% o.6-0.8), and anxiety (OR 0.8, IC95% 0.6-0.9), while nurses showed greater solidarity in terms of supporting the second victim, in both PC (p?=?0.019) and hospital (p?=?0.019) settings. Conclusions Adverse events cause guilt, anxiety, and loss of confidence in health professionals. Most are involved in such events as second victims at least once in their careers. They rarely receive any training or education on coping strategies for this phenomenon

Academic literacy study at the School of Veterinary Sciences of the National University of La Plata

Cuando nos referimos a alfabetización académica, hacemos referencia a los conocimientos necesarios para aprender en la universidad. Habiéndose realizado una evaluación diagnóstica en el curso de Patología General Veterinaria, se estudió esta problemática en los cursos de segundo año de la carrera de Medicina Veterinaria de la Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias de la UNLP. Los objetivos del estudio incluyeron conocer qué importancia se da en los cursos de segundo año a la lectura y a la escritura, indagar en las ideas de los docentes al respecto, analizar las actividades de lectoescritura propuestas a los estudiantes y conocer las dificultades que éstos enfrentan ante la lectura y escritura de textos académicos. Para ello se analizaron las planificaciones y evaluaciones curriculares de cada curso, relatos de clases y textos escritos por estudiantes. Se realizaron observaciones de clase y se encuestó a docentes y estudiantes de segundo año. Los resultados muestran qué actividades de lectura y escritura están presentes, tanto en el curriculum práctico como en el formal, hallándose las actividades de escritura preponderantemente en la instancia de evaluación. Las encuestas docentes revelan ideas en transición entre la postura que no reconoce responsabilidad de la universidad en la alfabetización académica y la que sí lo hace. Las encuestas a estudiantes revelaron múltiples dificultades en la lectura, mientras que el análisis de sus escritos mostró dificultades en la escritura. El conocimiento de la situación actual permitirá diseñar proyectos de intervención tendientes a mejorarla, facilitando el proceso de incorporación de los estudiantes a la cultura académica.Academic literacy refers to the knowledge required for learning in college. Taken into account a previous diagnostic study in the Veterinary General Pathology course, in the present work we performed an evaluation of the academic literacy in the remaining courses of second year of the Veterinary Medicine Career, School of Veterinary Sciences, UNLP. Our objectives were to know the relevance given in the courses to reading and writing, to inquire into the teacher conceptions about the academic literacy, to analyze the literacy activities proposed, and to know the challenges they should go through during reading and writing academic texts. Here we analyze planning and evaluation of each course, class descriptions and texts written by students. Class observations and surveys directed to teachers and second-year students were made. The results showed that reading and writing activities are present in the practical curriculum as in the formal one. The writing activities are predominantly present in the evaluations. Surveys directed to teachers reveal teachers that recognize responsibility of the university in the academic literacy and teachers who do not. In addition, surveys directed to students revealed many difficulties in reading, while the analysis of writing showed some difficulties. Knowledge of the current situation will allow designing intervention projects aimed to facilitating the process of incorporation of students to the academic culture.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

The Mice at play in the CALIFA survey: A case study of a gas-rich major merger between first passage and coalescence

We present optical integral field spectroscopy (IFS) observations of the Mice, a major merger between two massive (>10^11Msol) gas-rich spirals NGC4676A and B, observed between first passage and final coalescence. The spectra provide stellar and gas kinematics, ionised gas properties and stellar population diagnostics, over the full optical extent of both galaxies. The Mice provide a perfect case study highlighting the importance of IFS data for improving our understanding of local galaxies. The impact of first passage on the kinematics of the stars and gas has been significant, with strong bars likely induced in both galaxies. The barred spiral NGC4676B exhibits a strong twist in both its stellar and ionised gas disk. On the other hand, the impact of the merger on the stellar populations has been minimal thus far: star formation induced by the recent close passage has not contributed significantly to the global star formation rate or stellar mass of the galaxies. Both galaxies show bicones of high ionisation gas extending along their minor axes. In NGC4676A the high gas velocity dispersion and Seyfert-like line ratios at large scaleheight indicate a powerful outflow. Fast shocks extend to ~6.6kpc above the disk plane. The measured ram pressure and mass outflow rate (~8-20Msol/yr) are similar to superwinds from local ULIRGs, although NGC4676A has only a moderate infrared luminosity of 3x10^10Lsol. Energy beyond that provided by the mechanical energy of the starburst appears to be required to drive the outflow. We compare the observations to mock kinematic and stellar population maps from a merger simulation. The models show little enhancement in star formation during and following first passage, in agreement with the observations. We highlight areas where IFS data could help further constrain the models.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, accepted to A&A. A version with a complete set of high resolution figures is available here: http://www-star.st-and.ac.uk/~vw8/resources/mice_v8_astroph.pd