Quality of Life in Teenagers and Adults With Coeliac Disease: From Newly Spanish Coeliac Disease Questionnaire Validation to Assessment in a Population-Based Study

Background: Coeliac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated systemic disorder elicited by the ingestion of gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. Gluten restriction in CD sufferers leads to numerous limitations in various aspects of daily life and can significantly impact the quality-of-life (QoL). The specific and widely used Coeliac Disease Questionnaire (CDQ) is an excellent tool to evaluate QoL in patients with CD, assessing physical, psychological, and social domains. This questionnaire is unavailable in Spain. Therefore, our study is the first to translate, culturally adapt, validate, and apply the Spanish version of CDQ to a representative sample of Spanish teenagers and adults with CD. Methods: A total of 153 CD participants with biopsy-proven and self-reported gluten-free adherence were included in the cross-sectional study, which included four stages: (1) translation and retranslation of the French CDQ version into Spanish; (2) cultural adaptation and semantic evaluation; (3) CDQ validation through the internal consistency determination and reproducibility of the QoL; and (4) application of the questionnaire to Spanish teenagers and adults with CD and estimation of QoL using EQ-5D. Results: The internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the Spanish CDQ were satisfactory and no ceiling or floor effects were detected. Significant correlations were identified between the CDQ scales, and the instrument for validation covering similar dimensions of the QoL was identified. The mean CDQ total score was 131.03 ± 24.1, and the social domain had the highest rating. There was no correlation between the time spent on a gluten-free diet and QoL. A significantly higher QoL score was reported among males and adolescents in the 15–17 age groups. Conclusion: The newly Spanish CDQ is an appropriate tool to assess the QoL of the teenager and adult patients with CD. This study highlights the importance of identifying the affected scales to address actions to reduce the impact of the gluten-free diet burden of the coeliac patients and maintain public health regulations that support patients with chronic diseases such as CDCentro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial 20/0112Corporación Tecnológica de Andalucía 20/011

Field trips and other teaching resources in natural and social sciences: educational implications from past experiences in Spanish primary schools

[EN] This paper describes the use of Natural and Social Sciences teaching resources in Spanish primary schools during the second half of the 20th century, based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of 250 recollections of retired teachers. Differences were identified between groups of teachers determined by gender, previous teaching context (urban vs rural) and higher education qualifications. Our results show that the academic background had a direct impact on the variety and type of teaching resources used and was a determinant factor to promote experiential learning. The study also highlights the comprehensive use of school field trips in the past as teaching resources to motivate students and develop different inquiry skills. Finally, the importance of mastering different educational resources in the teaching profession is discussed.This study is part of the Project Estudio y análisis de la cultura escolar a través de los testimonios de docentes (REF K117), funded by the University of Salamanca

First Data from the Prehistoric Site Complex of Cueva del Arco (Murcia, Spain)

The southern Iberian Peninsula is a key area for understanding the timing and patterns of the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition. Recently, the excavation and study of new sites have provided new insights on this topic. The aim of this paper is to introduce Cueva del Arco, a site complex featuring distinct caves and rock shelters. Cueva del Arco is located at a short distance from the Almadenes gorge (Cieza, Spain) and preserves both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic deposits and assemblages, as well as rock art. Despite being known since the 1990s for its Palaeolithic rock art, systematic fieldwork was never undertaken at the site until recently. We here report the first results of a research programme that includes the systematic excavation of several cavities belonging to the Cueva del Arco complex, focusing on the location and context of the site, its stratigraphy and chronology, and site formation. Research at the site is still ongoing, but preliminary results suggest that the data from Cueva del Arco will provide new clues to the current debate on the transition from Neanderthals to anatomically modern humans in southern Europe

Soil moisture content determines the effectiveness of the urease inhibitor NBPT on N2O emissions

Among the mitigation strategies to prevent nitrogen (N) losses from ureic fertilizers, urease inhibitors (UIs) have been demonstrated to promote high N use efficiency by reducing ammonia (NH3) volatilization. In the last few years, some field experiments have also shown its effectiveness in reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) losses from fertilized soils under conditions of low soil moisture. An incubation experiment was carried out with the aim of assessing the main biotic mechanisms behind N2O emissions once that the UIs N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamid (NBPT) and phenil phosphorodiamidate (PPDA) were applied with Urea (U) under different soil moisture conditions (40, 60 and 80 % water-filled pore space, WFPS). In the same study we tried to analyze to what extent soil WFPS regulates the effect of these inhibitors on N2O emissions. The use of PPDA in our study allowed us to compare the effect of NBPT with that of another commercially available urease inhibitor, aiming to see if the results were inhibitor-specific or not. Based on the results from this experiment, a WFPS (i.e. 60 %) was chosen for a second study (i.e. mesocosm experiment) aiming to assess the efficiency of the UIs to indirectly affect N2O emissions through influencing the pool of soil mineral N. The N2O emissions at 40 % WFPS were almost negligible, being significantly lower from all fertilized treatments than that produced at 60 and 80 % WFPS. When compared to U alone, NBPT+U reduced the N2O emissions at 60 % WFPS but had no effect at 80 % WFPS. The application of PPDA significantly increased the emissions with respect to U at 80 % WFPS whereas no significant effect was found at 60 %. At 80 % WFPS, denitrification was the main source of N2O emissions for all treatments. In the mesocosm study, the application of NBPT+U was an effective strategy to reduce N2O emissions (75 % reduction compared to U alone), due to a lower soil ammonium (NH4 +) content induced by the inhibitor. These results suggest that adequate management of the UI NBPT could provide, under certain soil conditions, an opportunity for mitigation of N2O emissions from fertilized soils