Use of waterpipes and other substances in adolescents: prevalence and potential associations with mental and behavioral well-being, a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION This study assess the prevalence and potential determinants (attitudes, behavioral and emotional conditions) associated with waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) and cigarette smoking in adolescents in public compulsory secondary schools. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted in October 2017 in three secondary schools from Seville, Spain, among adolescents aged 12–18 years. We administered an ad hoc questionnaire to explore the demographic and clinical characteristics of students; in addition, it included questions on consumption of tobacco (waterpipe and/or cigarette), alcohol (usual consumption and/or drunkenness) and/or cannabis, and attitudes towards waterpipe tobacco smoking. We also administered a validated version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which is used to screen children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems. An established usage of a substance was defined as weekly or daily use. A multivariate analysis was performed using binary logistic regression methods to determine the probability of established usage. RESULTS Of the 1135 adolescents, 72.1% lived with at least one smoker; the established usage was 13.4% for waterpipe; 9.2% for cigarettes and 3.2% for dual use. Of those with established usage of waterpipe, 38.2% had established alcohol usage, 12.7% were drunk weekly or daily, and 27.4% used cannabis. Students consolidating the consumption of waterpipes were three times more likely to have established cigarette use than those not having an established usage (OR=3.7; p=0.0005). The overall SDQ score increased the likelihood of established usage of both waterpipes and cigarettes (p=0.0005). CONCLUSIONS The probability of established usage of cigarettes (multivariate analysis) is associated with increasing age (course), cohabitation with smokers, established usage of waterpipe, established use of alcohol and a borderline score in the behavioral dimension (SDQ). Addiction to waterpipes among teens is significantly associated with their behavioral and emotional difficulties

Health promotion in senior care centers in the face of coronavirus through the use of puppet

El confinamiento como medida preventiva ante la COVID19 ha supuesto un alto coste emocional y psicológico a la población en general y especialmente a las personas mayores. Resulta relevante la promoción de factores asociados a la resiliencia, con objeto de impulsar una gestión emocional y un afrontamiento positivo ante la situación presentada, que permitan generar condiciones afectivas y conductuales favorables para escenarios de futuro entre los miembros de la comunidad que constituyen los centros de mayores.Los recursos expresivos y las técnicas artísticas ofrecen procesos y resultados que fortalecen los factores resilientes. Ofrecemos la experiencia de trabajo con títeres empleados como objeto intermediario orientados a la promoción de la resiliencia y del clima relacional existente en los centros de mayores por motivo del confinamiento.Se toma en consideración la importancia del proceso de elaboración, los resultados obtenidos y la difusión de ambos aspectos en ámbitos externos a los centros de mayores. Se trataba de poner en valor el desarrollo de la actividad y el uso del títere como una herramienta de comunicación tanto a nivel interno (mayor-mayor y mayor-cuidador) como a nivel externo, en la relación establecida con colectivos y agentes externos a los centros de mayores.Confinement as a preventive measure against COVID19 has entailed a high emotional and psychological cost to the general population and especially to the elderly. The promotion of factors associated with resilience is relevant, in order to promote emotional management and positive coping in the face of the situation presented, which allow generating favorable affective and behavioral conditions for future scenarios among the members of the community that constitute the elderly centers.Expressive resources and artistic techniques offer processes and results that strengthen resilient factors. We offer the experience of working with puppets used as an intermediary object aimed at promoting resilience and the relational climate that exists in centers for the elderly due to confinement.The importance of the elaboration process, the results obtained, as well as the dissemination of both aspects in areas outside the centers for the elderly are taken into consideration, both in what speaks of the enhancement of the elderly in the development of the activity undertaken, such as with regard to the use of the puppet as a communication tool already internally between the elderly and their caregivers, as in the relationship established with groups and agents external to the elderly centers

Promoción de salud en centros de personas mayores ante el coronavirus mediante el uso de títeres

El confinamiento como medida preventiva ante la COVID19 ha supuesto un alto coste emocional y psicológico a la población en general y especialmente a las personas mayores. Resulta relevante la promoción de factores asociados a la resiliencia, con objeto de impulsar una gestión emocional y un afrontamiento positivo ante la situación presentada, que permitan generar condiciones afectivas y conductuales favorables para escenarios de futuro entre los miembros de la comunidad que constituyen los centros de mayores.Los recursos expresivos y las técnicas artísticas ofrecen procesos y resultados que fortalecen los factores resilientes. Ofrecemos la experiencia de trabajo con títeres empleados como objeto intermediario orientados a la promoción de la resiliencia y del clima relacional existente en los centros de mayores por motivo del confinamiento.Se toma en consideración la importancia del proceso de elaboración, los resultados obtenidos y la difusión de ambos aspectos en ámbitos externos a los centros de mayores. Se trataba de poner en valor el desarrollo de la actividad y el uso del títere como una herramienta de comunicación tanto a nivel interno (mayor-mayor y mayor-cuidador) como a nivel externo, en la relación establecida con colectivos y agentes externos a los centros de mayores.Confinement as a preventive measure against COVID19 has entailed a high emotional and psychological cost to the general population and especially to the elderly. The promotion of factors associated with resilience is relevant, in order to promote emotional management and positive coping in the face of the situation presented, which allow generating favorable affective and behavioral conditions for future scenarios among the members of the community that constitute the elderly centers.Expressive resources and artistic techniques offer processes and results that strengthen resilient factors. We offer the experience of working with puppets used as an intermediary object aimed at promoting resilience and the relational climate that exists in centers for the elderly due to confinement.The importance of the elaboration process, the results obtained, as well as the dissemination of both aspects in areas outside the centers for the elderly are taken into consideration, both in what speaks of the enhancement of the elderly in the development of the activity undertaken, such as with regard to the use of the puppet as a communication tool already internally between the elderly and their caregivers, as in the relationship established with groups and agents external to the elderly center

Mejora de la calidad de vida en cuidadores informales de personas dependientes mediante talleres educacionales

Introduction: The ageing of the population is associated with an increase in the number of dependent people, with an estimate of 15% living with a disability. The provision of care to family members entails an added responsibility associated with care-related problems, which can have a negative impact on caregivers. Therefore, we propose to design and evaluate a caregiving programme based on caregiver education, measuring knowledge, pain perception, emotional burden and health-related quality of life. Objective: The main objective is to improve the quality of life of informal caregivers through training interventions, in order to decrease the disability caused by caregiving tasks.Method: 99 caregivers belonging to the Aljarafe-Northern Seville Primary Care Health District participated, divided into control and intervention groups. We designed two educational workshops on care programmes for informal caregivers. They completed a knowledge questionnaire, and different validated scales related to pain, health states and quality of life.Results: Most of the caregivers presented back problems, for which they received pharmaceutical treatment. The implemented intervention was associated with a decrease in pain during basic activities of daily living, care and rest, as well as a reduction in strain index in both groups.Conclusions: Intervention programmes for informal carers of dependent patients are effective in improving the state of health and quality of life of this group, and their implementation should therefore be encouraged in primary care.Introducción: El envejecimiento de la población está asociado a un incremento de personas dependientes, estimándose que el 15% vive con alguna discapacidad. La prestación de cuidados a familiares supone una responsabilidad añadida asociada a problemas relacionados con el cuidado, que pueden repercutir negativamente en los cuidadores. Por ello, planteamos diseñar y evaluar un programa de cuidados, basado en la educación de los cuidadores, midiendo los conocimientos, la percepción del dolor, la carga emocional y la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud. Objetivo: El objetivo principal es mejorar la calidad de vida de los cuidadores informales mediante intervenciones formativas, con el fin de disminuir la incapacidad causada por las tareas del cuidado.Método: Participaron 99 cuidadores pertenecientes al Distrito Sanitario Aljarafe-Sevilla Norte de Atención Primaria, divididos en grupo control e intervención. Diseñamos dos talleres educacionales sobre programas de atención a cuidadores informales. Cumplimentaron un cuestionario de conocimientos, y diferentes escalas validadas relacionadas con el dolor, los estados de salud y la calidad de vida.Resultados: La mayor parte de los cuidadores presentaban problemas de espalda tomando medicación para ello. La intervención implementada se asoció a un descenso del dolor durante actividades básicas de la vida diaria, los cuidados y el descanso, y disminución del índice de esfuerzo en ambos grupos.Conclusiones: Los programas de intervención en cuidadores informales de pacientes dependientes resultan eficaces para mejorar el estado de salud y la calidad de vida de este colectivo por lo que se debe fomentar su realización desde la Atención Primaria

Assessment of pre and postoperative anxiety in patients undergoing ambulatory oral surgery in primary care

To analyze the pre- and postoperative anxiety level in patients undergoing ambulatory oral surgery (AOS) in a primary healthcare center (PHC). Prospective and descriptive clinical study on 45 patients who underwent AOS procedures in the dental clinic of a public PHC of Spain between April and September 2015. Anxiety analysis was carried out with pre- and postoperative anxiety-state (STAI-S), anxiety-trait (STAI-T) and dental anxiety (MDAS) questionnaires. A descriptive, inferential and binary logistic regression analysis were performed for the variables age, sex, educational level, previous experience of oral treatment, type of oral surgery, degree of third molar impaction, surgical time, intraoperative complications, postoperative complications, and pain score with a visual analogue scale (VAS). The majority were female (57.8%) with a mean age of 33.5+9.6 years. The most frequent procedure was the lower third molar removal (82.2%). The mean pain score on the VAS was 1.6+1.8. The incidence of complications was low (7.8%). There was a statistically significant association between post- and preoperative anxiety (r=0.56, p<0.001) and a correlation between pain score and postoperative anxiety (Rho= -0.35, p=0.02). The likelihood of postoperative anxiety was related to preoperative anxiety (OR=1.3, p=0.03). AOS in a HPC is safe and should be more encouraged in the public primary care. The emotional impact on users was relatively low, highlighting that the preoperative anxiety levels were higher than the postoperative ones. Psychological factors related to pre- and postoperative anxiety should be considered in the AOS carried out in PC

Psychological Impact during Confinement by COVID-19 on Health Sciences University Students—A Prospective, Longitudinal, and Comparative Study

The objective was to analyze the factors that influence reactions to confinement situations, such as personality, humor, coping with stressors, and resilience, and to compare this population with a normal situation of exposure to an intense academic stressor such as a partial test, and with the confinement situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A longitudinal study was performed involving 116 health sciences students from Spain. Three situations were evaluated: a basal situation of normality at the beginning of the course, situation facing an academic stressor (partial test), and confinement situation due to COVID-19. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE), Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, and NEO-FFI scale were used. Results: Significant differences were observed in the increase in negative humor and decrease in positive one, as well as decrease in “Focus on and Venting of Emotions”. Personality factors that better predict humor at confinement were “conscientiousness” for having positive humor and low “extraversion” for negative humor. Conclusions: The confinement situation due to COVID-19 has caused changes in predominant humor, as well as in coping strategies. Personality factors positively or negatively influence the situation

Expansion of Signal Transduction Pathways in Fungi by Extensive Genome Duplication

Plants and fungi use light and other signals to regulate development, growth, and metabolism. The fruiting bodies of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus are single cells that react to environmental cues, including light, but the mechanisms are largely unknown [1]. The related fungus Mucor circinelloides is an opportunistic human pathogen that changes its mode of growth upon receipt of signals from the environment to facilitate pathogenesis [2]. Understanding how these organisms respond to environmental cues should provide insights into the mechanisms of sensory perception and signal transduction by a single eukaryotic cell, and their role in pathogenesis. We sequenced the genomes of P. blakesleeanus and M. circinelloides and show that they have been shaped by an extensive genome duplication or, most likely, a whole-genome duplication (WGD), which is rarely observed in fungi [3–6]. We show that the genome duplication has expanded gene families, including those involved in signal transduction, and that duplicated genes have specialized, as evidenced by differences in their regulation by light. The transcriptional response to light varies with the developmental stage and is still observed in a photoreceptor mutant of P. blakesleeanus. A phototropic mutant of P. blakesleeanus with a heterozygous mutation in the photoreceptor gene madA demonstrates that photosensor dosage is important for the magnitude of signal transduction. We conclude that the genome duplication provided the means to improve signal transduction for enhanced perception of environmental signals. Our results will help to understand the role of genome dynamics in the evolution of sensory perception in eukaryotes.Office of Science (USA) DE-AC02-05CH11231Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2005-25029-E , BIO2015-67148-RJunta de Andalucía P06-CVI-0165

A Relationship between Carotenoid Accumulation and the Distribution of Species of the Fungus Neurospora in Spain

The ascomycete fungus Neurospora is present in many parts of the world, in particular in tropical and subtropical areas, where it is found growing on recently burned vegetation. We have sampled the Neurospora population across Spain. The sampling sites were located in the region of Galicia (northwestern corner of the Iberian peninsula), the province of Cáceres, the city of Seville, and the two major islands of the Canary Islands archipelago (Tenerife and Gran Canaria, west coast of Africa). The sites covered a latitude interval between 27.88° and 42.74°. We have identified wild-type strains of N. discreta, N. tetrasperma, N. crassa, and N. sitophila and the frequency of each species varied from site to site. It has been shown that after exposure to light Neurospora accumulates the orange carotenoid neurosporaxanthin, presumably for protection from UV radiation. We have found that each Neurospora species accumulates a different amount of carotenoids after exposure to light, but these differences did not correlate with the expression of the carotenogenic genes al-1 or al-2. The accumulation of carotenoids in Neurospora shows a correlation with latitude, as Neurospora strains isolated from lower latitudes accumulate more carotenoids than strains isolated from higher latitudes. Since regions of low latitude receive high UV irradiation we propose that the increased carotenoid accumulation may protect Neurospora from high UV exposure. In support of this hypothesis, we have found that N. crassa, the species that accumulates more carotenoids, is more resistant to UV radiation than N. discreta or N. tetrasperma. The photoprotection provided by carotenoids and the capability to accumulate different amounts of carotenoids may be responsible, at least in part, for the distribution of Neurospora species that we have observed across a range of latitudes

Expansion of Signal Transduction Pathways in Fungi by Extensive Genome Duplication

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