Content analysis of the effects of palliative care learning on the perception by nursing students of dying and dignified death

Background: Providing care for dying people and the death of patients are stressing situations faced by nursing students during their clinical practice. Learning about palliative care improves the management of emotions and the ability to cope when caring for patients in end-of-life processes. However, there is little knowledge on the effect of this learning on the students' perceptions of their own death. Objectives: To determine the effect of a palliative care course on the thoughts of nursing students about their own death. Design: A qualitative, descriptive, and comparative study was conducted based on content analysis, administering an open-ended questionnaire on dying and death at the start and end of a palliative care course. Participants: The study included 85 volunteers studying Palliative Care in the second year of their Nursing Degree at the University of Granada (Spain). Results: Students described their perceptions in more detail after the course, with more numerous code citations, and their post-course responses evidenced a reduction in anxiety about their own death and an increased recognition of the need to respect the decisions of patients for a dignified death. Conclusions: Palliative care learning modifies the perception by nursing students of their own death and their understanding of a dignified death, which may enhance the care they deliver to patients at the end of life

Adaptation and validation of a measurement instrument for interaction in b-learning

En este artículo se presenta una adaptación para el b-learning de una escala de interacción propuesta por Berridi Ramírez et al. (2015) para contextos virtuales de aprendizaje. La validación del instrumento de medida es realizada mediante técnicas estadísticas de ecuaciones estructurales sobre una muestra de un curso del Ciclo Básico a Distancia de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina). Los resultados demuestran consistencia interna de la escala y las estimaciones del modelo de medida resultan satisfactorias reportando aceptables índices de bondad de ajuste. Esto evidencia que el instrumento propuesto es confiable y útil para obtener indicadores de interacción en cursos similares y para ser aplicado en investigaciones que busquen identificar el impacto de este constructo sobre otras variables.https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/vesc/issue/view/1449/showTocpublishedVersionFil: Moneta Pizarro, Adrián M. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Montero, Laura. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Depetris, Josefina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Juárez, María Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Fagnola, Bruno. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina.Estadística y Probabilida

Geographic Variation in Sexual Attraction of Spodoptera frugiperda Corn- and Rice-Strain Males to Pheromone Lures

The corn- and rice-strains of Spodoptera frugiperda exhibit several genetic and behavioral differences and appear to be undergoing ecological speciation in sympatry. Previous studies reported conflicting results when investigating male attraction to pheromone lures in different regions, but this could have been due to inter-strain and/or geographic differences. Therefore, we investigated whether corn- and rice-strain males differed in their response to different synthetic pheromone blends in different regions in North America, the Caribbean and South America. All trapped males were strain typed by two strain-specific mitochondrial DNA markers. In the first experiment, we found a nearly similar response of corn and rice-strain males to two different 4-component blends, resembling the corn- and rice-strain female blend we previously described from females in Florida. This response showed some geographic variation in fields in Canada, North Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, and South America (Peru, Argentina). In dose-response experiments with the critical secondary sex pheromone component (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate (Z7-12:OAc), we found some strain-specific differences in male attraction. While the response to Z7-12:OAc varied geographically in the corn-strain, rice-strain males showed almost no variation. We also found that the minor compound (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16:OAc) did not increase attraction of both strains in Florida and of corn-strain males in Peru. In a fourth experiment, where we added the stereo-isomer of the critical sex pheromone component, (E)-7-dodecenyl acetate, to the major pheromone component (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-14:OAc), we found that this compound was attractive to males in North Carolina, but not to males in Peru. Overall, our results suggest that both strains show rather geographic than strain-specific differences in their response to pheromone lures, and that regional sexual communication differences might cause geographic differentiation between populations.Fil: Unbehend, Melanie. Instituto Max Planck Institut Fur Chemische Okologie; AlemaniaFil: Hänniger, Sabine. Instituto Max Planck Institut Fur Chemische Okologie; AlemaniaFil: Vasquez, Gissella M.. University Of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Juárez, María Laura. Gobierno de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tucumán; ArgentinaFil: Reisig, Dominic. University Of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Mcneil, Jeremy N.. University of Western Ontario. Department of Biology; CanadáFil: Meagher, Robert L.. United States Department Of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Jenkins, David A.. United States Department of Agriculture; ArgentinaFil: Heckel, David G.. Instituto Max Planck Institut Fur Chemische Okologie; AlemaniaFil: Groot, Astrid T.. University Of Amsterdam; Países Bajos. Instituto Max Planck Institut Fur Chemische Okologie; Alemani

Competencias digitales para la educación superior a distancia. Adaptación y aplicación del cuestionario ACUTIC al caso de la FCE-UNC

La Facultad de Ciencias Económicas (FCE) de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC) ofrece desde 2002 un Ciclo Básico a Distancia (CBD) para sus carreras de grado. Esta propuesta consiste en disponer, para cada asignatura del CBD, de una comisión cuyo cursado se realiza a distancia con el apoyo de una plataforma virtual. El objetivo de este CBD es reforzar estrategias encaminadas a disminuir problemas y dificultades con el acceso, la deserción, el retraso y el fracaso académico en los primeros años de cursado (Moneta Pizarro et al., 2017). Sin embargo, estudios exploratorios previos muestran que menos del 40% de los alumnos que optan por esta modalidad logran la regularidad y que entre las posibles causas de este fenómeno se encontrarían problemas relacionados con la preparación, uso y actitud de los estudiantes para las tecnologías de la información y comunicación (Blanch et al., 2013 octubre).De acuerdo a la literatura, el dominio tecnológico y las competencias digitales de los alumnos son fundamentales para el éxito de la educación a distancia (Moore y Kearsley, 2011). Resulta entonces importante contar con escalas de medición de los constructos correspondientes y que éstas sean válidas para identificar la asociación con el desempeño académico de los estudiantes en esta modalidad.El objetivo de este trabajo es adaptar el cuestionario de actitud, conocimiento y uso de tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (ACUTIC) en Educación Superior propuesto por Mirete Ruiz, García-Sánchez y Hernández Pina (2015) y validarlo estadísticamente sobre una muestra del curso de Microeconomía I del CBD de la FCE-UNC mediante técnicas de análisis factorial y modelación de ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados demuestran consistencia interna de la escala total adaptada (α=0.9474) y de cada una de las sub-escalas (α actitud=0.9393, α conocimiento=0.9045 y α uso=0.8868). Las estimaciones del modelo de medida resultaron satisfactorias reportando mayoría de índices con bondad de ajuste aceptable (RMSEA=0.069; CFI= 0.931; SRMR=0.079). Esto evidencia que el instrumento propuesto es confiable y útil para obtener indicadores de actitud, conocimiento y uso de tecnologías de la información y la comunicación en cursos similares del CBD de la FCE-UNC y para ser aplicado en investigaciones que busquen identificar el impacto de estos constructos sobre otras variables relevantes.Fil: Moneta Pizarro, Adrián M. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Montero, Laura. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Juárez, María Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Laspina, Mariana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Depetris, Josefina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Fagnola, Bruno. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Soffietti, Fabrizio. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Otras Ciencias de la Educació

La muerte ante uno mismo. Respuestas de jóvenes estudiantes ante el pensamiento de la propia muerte.

Narratives produced by thinking and reflecting about death and dying may be themselves a source of new knowledge in the study of anxiety and attitudes toward death.  A qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the features of thoughts, emotions and feelings about young people's own death, (nursing students) was conducted. 85 students voluntarily answered a self-administered questionnaire with open questions based on Mortality Salience, used in the Terror Management Theory. Content analysis using Atlas.ti software was performed. When reflecting upon their own death, participants reported substantive emotions such as fear, pain, distress, sadness or loneliness. The fear of their own death was specified as the inability to achieve goals in life, to leave the family and the dying process itself. When reflecting upon been physically dead, attributes of the decomposition of the body, spiritual attributes, beliefs, denial and preferences were identified. Cultural worldview, values and beliefs of each person were remarkably present when thinking about their own death.Las narraciones sobre lo que evoca pensar en la propia muerte y describir los pensamientos y sentimientos sobre el morir,  pueden ser  por sí mismas una fuente de conocimiento nuevo  en el estudio de la ansiedad y las actitudes ante la muerte. Se llevó a cabo un estudio cualitativo descriptivo con el objetivo de explorar las características de los pensamientos, las emociones y sentimientos sobre la propia muerte de jóvenes, estudiantes de enfermería. 85 estudiantes respondieron voluntariamente un cuestionario autoadministrado de preguntas abiertas basadas en la Mortality Salience empleada en la Teoría de la Gestión del Terror. El análisis se realizó mediante la estrategia de análisis de contenido con el programa Atlas ti. Ante el pensamiento sobre la propia muerte respondieron con los sustantivos miedo, dolor, angustia, tristeza o soledad. El miedo a la propia muerte se concretó como la imposibilidad de lograr las metas en la vida, dejar a la familia y el proceso de muerte en sí mismo. Ante las creencias sobre estar físicamente muerto señalaron atributos de la descomposición del cuerpo, atributos espirituales, creencias, negación  y preferencias. La visión cultural, los valores y creencias de cada persona, se encuentran muy presentes cuando piensan en su propia muerte

Collagen XIX Alpha 1 improves prognosis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The identification of more reliable diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers in age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), is urgently needed. The objective in this study was to identify more reliable prognostic biomarkers of ALS mirroring neurodegeneration that could be of help in clinical trials. A total of 268 participants from three cohorts were included in this study. The muscle and blood cohorts were analyzed in two cross-sectional studies, while the serial blood cohort was analyzed in a longitudinal study at 6-monthly intervals. Fifteen target genes and fourteen proteins involved in muscle physiology and differentiation, metabolic processes and neuromuscular junction dismantlement were studied in the three cohorts. In the muscle biopsy cohort, the risk for a higher mortality in an ALS patient that showed high Collagen type XIX, alpha 1 (COL19A1) protein levels and a fast progression of the disease was 70.5% (P < 0.05), while in the blood cohort, this risk was 20% (P < 0.01). In the serial blood cohort, the linear mixed model analysis showed a significant association between increasing COL19A1 gene levels along disease progression and a faster progression during the follow-up period of 24 months (P < 0.05). Additionally, higher COL19A1 levels and a faster progression increased 17.9% the mortality risk (P < 0.01). We provide new evidence that COL19A1 can be considered a prognostic biomarker that could help the selection of homogeneous groups of patients for upcoming clinical trial and may be pointed out as a promising therapeutic target in ALS

Acquisition of uropygial gland microbiome by hoopoe nestlings

Mutualistic symbioses between animals and bacteria depend on acquisition of appropriate symbionts while avoiding exploitation by non-beneficial microbes. The mode of acquisition of symbionts would determine, not only the probability of encountering but also evolutionary outcomes of mutualistic counterparts. The microbiome inhabiting the uropygial gland of the European hoopoe (Upupa epops) includes a variety of bacterial strains, some of them providing antimicrobial benefits. Here, the mode of acquisition and stability of this microbiome is analyzed by means of Automated rRNA Intergenic Spacer Analysis and two different experiments. The first experiment impeded mothers’ access to their glands, thus avoiding direct transmission of microorganisms from female to offspring secretions. The second experiment explored the stability of the microbiomes by inoculating glands with secretions from alien nests. The first experiment provoked a reduction in similarity of microbiomes of mother and nestlings. Interestingly, some bacterial strains were more often detected when females had not access to their glands, suggesting antagonistic effects among bacteria from different sources. The second experiment caused an increase in richness of the microbiome of receivers in terms of prevalence of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) that reduced differences in microbiomes of donors and receivers. That occurred because OTUs that were present in donors but not in receivers incorporated to the microbiome of the latter, which provoked that cross-inoculated nestlings got similar final microbiomes that included the most prevalent OTUs. The results are therefore consistent with a central role of vertical transmission in bacterial acquisition by nestling hoopoes and support the idea that the typical composition of the hoopoe gland microbiome is reached by the incorporation of some bacteria during the nestling period. This scenario suggests the existence of a coevolved core microbiome composed by a mix of specialized vertically transmitted strains and facultative symbionts able to coexist with them. The implications of this mixed mode of transmission for the evolution of the mutualism are discussedMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)Junta de Andalucí

An Experimental DUAL Model of Advanced Liver Damage

Individuals exhibiting an intermediate alcohol drinking pattern in conjunction with signs of metabolic risk present clinical features of both alcohol-associated and metabolic-associated fatty liver diseases. However, such combination remains an unexplored area of great interest, given the increasing number of patients affected. In the present study, we aimed to develop a preclinical DUAL (alcohol-associated liver disease plus metabolic-associated fatty liver disease) model in mice. C57BL/6 mice received 10% vol/vol alcohol in sweetened drinking water in combination with a Western diet for 10, 23, and 52 weeks (DUAL model). Animals fed with DUAL diet elicited a significant increase in body mass index accompanied by a pronounced hypertrophy of adipocytes, hypercholesterolemia, and hyperglycemia. Significant liver damage was characterized by elevated plasma alanine aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase levels, extensive hepatomegaly, hepatocyte enlargement, ballooning, steatosis, hepatic cell death, and compensatory proliferation. Notably, DUAL animals developed lobular inflammation and advanced hepatic fibrosis. Sequentially, bridging cirrhotic changes were frequently observed after 12 months. Bulk RNA-sequencing analysis indicated that dysregulated molecular pathways in DUAL mice were similar to those of patients with steatohepatitis. Conclusion: Our DUAL model is characterized by obesity, glucose intolerance, liver damage, prominent steatohepatitis and fibrosis, as well as inflammation and fibrosis in white adipose tissue. Altogether, the DUAL model mimics all histological, metabolic, and transcriptomic gene signatures of human advanced steatohepatitis, and therefore serves as a preclinical tool for the development of therapeutic targets.Supported by EXOHEP-CM (S2017/BMD-3727), Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2014-15242 and RYC-2015-17438), NanoLiver-CM (Y2018/NMT-4949), COST Action (CA17112), AMMF (2018/117), ERAB (EA 18/14), MINECO Retos (SAF2016-78711 and SAF2017-87919-R), and German Research Foundation (DFG NE 2128/2-1, SFB 1382-403224013/A02, and SFB/TRR57/P04). FJC is a Gilead Research Liver Scholar. The research group belongs to the validated Research group Ref. 970935 “Liver Pathophysiology”, 920631 “Lymphocyte immunology”, 920361 “Immunogenética e inmunología de las mucosas” and IBL-6 (imas12-associated). FG and KZ are Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) fellows. O.E.-V is supported by Beca FPI (associated to MINECO SAF2017-87919R) and R.B.-U. by Contratos predoctorales de personal investigador en formación UCM-Banco Santander (CT63/19)

Complications of Peripherally Inserted Central Venous Catheters: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background and Aim The use of venous catheters is a widespread practice, especially in oncological and oncohematological units. The objective of this study was to evaluate the complications associated with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in a cohort of patients. Materials and Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we included all patient carrying PICCs (n = 603) inserted at our institute between October 2010 and December 2013. The main variables collected were medical diagnosis, catheter care, location, duration of catheterization, reasons for catheter removal, complications, and nursing care. Complications were classified as infection, thrombosis, phlebitis, migration, edema, and/or ecchymosis. Results All patients were treated according to the same “nursing care” protocol. The incidence rate of complications was two cases per 1000 days of catheter duration. The most relevant complications were infection and thrombosis, both with an incidence of 0.17 cases per 1000 days of the total catheterization period. The total average duration of catheterization was 170 days [SD 6.06]. Additionally to “end of treatment” (48.42%) and “exitus”, (22.53%) the most frequent cause of removal was migration (displacement towards the exterior) of the catheter (5.80%). Conclusions PICCs are safe devices that allow the administration of long-term treatment and preserve the integrity of the venous system of the patient. Proper care of the catheter is very important to improve the quality life of patients with oncologic and hematologic conditions. Therefore, correct training of professionals and patients as well as following the latest scientific recommendations are particularly relevant