The Effects of 6 Weeks of Tribulus terrestris L. Supplementation on Body Composition, Hormonal Response, Perceived Exertion, and CrossFit® Performance: A Randomized, Single-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

[EN] Tribulus terrestris L. (TT) supplementation have been shown to enhance sports performance in many but not all studies. Moreover, data regarding the potential impact of TT supplementation on CrossFit® endurance is limited. This study aimed to determine whether TT supplementation improve body composition, hormonal response, and performance among CrossFit® athletes. In a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial, a total of 30 healthy CrossFit®-trained males were randomly allocated to receive either 770 mg of TT supplementation or a placebo daily for 6 weeks. Body mass, fat mass, fat composition, testosterone and cortisol levels, and CrossFit® performance (5 common Workouts of the Day: back squat, bench press, dead lift, Grace, and CrossFit® Total) were assessed before and after intervention. There were no significant group x time interactions for the outcomes of the study except for testosterone levels and bench press performance (p < 0.05). TT supplementation did not impact enhance performance or body composition in CrossFit® male athletes. However, TT supplementation may act as a testosterone booster helping the recovery after physical loads and mitigating fatigueS

The effects of 6 weeks of Tribulus terrestris L. supplementation on body composition, hormonal response, perceived exertion, and CrossFit® performance: A randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled study

Producción CientíficaTribulus terrestris L. (TT) supplementation have been shown to enhance sports performance in many but not all studies. Moreover, data regarding the potential impact of TT supplementation on CrossFit® endurance is limited. This study aimed to determine whether TT supplementation improve body composition, hormonal response, and performance among CrossFit® athletes. In a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial, a total of 30 healthy CrossFit®-trained males were randomly allocated to receive either 770 mg of TT supplementation or a placebo daily for 6 weeks. Body mass, fat mass, fat composition, testosterone and cortisol levels, and CrossFit® performance (5 common Workouts of the Day: back squat, bench press, dead lift, Grace, and CrossFit® Total) were assessed before and after intervention. There were no significant group x time interactions for the outcomes of the study except for testosterone levels and bench press performance (p < 0.05). TT supplementation did not impact enhance performance or body composition in CrossFit® male athletes. However, TT supplementation may act as a testosterone booster helping the recovery after physical loads and mitigating fatigue

Diagnosis features of pediatric Gaucher disease patients in the era of enzymatic therapy, a national-base study from the Spanish Registry of Gaucher Disease

Background: The enzymatic replacement therapy (ERT) availability for Gaucher disease (GD) has changed the landscape of the disease, several countries have screening programs. These actions have promoted the early diagnosis and avoided many complications in pediatric patients. In Spain ERT has been available since 1993 and 386 patients have been included in the Spanish Registry of Gaucher Disease (SpRGD). The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of ERT on the characteristics at time of diagnosis and initial complications in pediatric Gaucher disease patients. Aim: To analyze the impact of ERT on the characteristics at time of diagnosis and initial complications in pediatric Gaucher disease patients. Methods: A review of data in SpRGD from patients'' diagnosed before 18 years old was performed. The cohort was split according the year of diagnosis (=1994, cohort A; =1995, cohort B). Results: A total of 98 pediatric patients were included, GD1: 80, GD3: 18; mean age: 7.2 (0.17-16.5) years, 58 (59.2%) males and 40 (40.8%) females. Forty-five were diagnosed = 1994 and 53 = 1995. Genotype: N370S/N370S: 2 (2.0%), N370S/L444P: 27 (27.5%), N370S/other: 47 (48%), L444P/L444P: 7 (7.1%), L444P/D409H: 2 (2.0%), L444P/other: 3 (6.2%), other/other: 10 (10.2%). The mean age at diagnosis was earlier in patients diagnosed after 1995 (p < 0.001) and different between the subtypes, GD1: 8.2 (0.2-16.5) years and GD3: 2.8 (0.17-10.2) years (p < 0.001). There were more severe patients in the group diagnosed before 1994 (p = 0.045) carrying L444P (2), D409H (2), G377S (1), G195W (1) or the recombinant mutation. The patients'' diagnosed =1994 showed worse cytopenias, higher chance of bone vascular complications at diagnosis and previous spleen removal. The patients started ERT at a median time after diagnosis of 5.2 years [cohort A] and 1.6 years [cohort B] (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The early diagnosis of Gaucher disease in the era of ERT availability has permitted to reduce the incidence of severe and irreversible initial complication in pediatric patients, and this has permitted better development of these patients. This is the largest pediatric cohort from a national registry

MRCP compared to diagnostic ERCP for diagnosis when biliary obstruction is suspected: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is an alternative to diagnostic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for investigating biliary obstruction. The use of MRCP, a non-invasive procedure, may prevent the use of unnecessary invasive procedures. The aim of the study was to compare the findings of MRCP with those of ERCP by the computation of accuracy statistics. METHODS: Thirteen electronic bibliographic databases, covering biomedical, science, health economics and grey literature were searched. A systematic review of studies comparing MRCP to diagnostic ERCP in patients with suspected biliary obstruction was conducted. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, acceptability and adverse events were reported. RESULTS: 25 studies were identified reporting several conditions including choledocholithiasis (18 studies), malignancy (four studies), obstruction (three studies), stricture (two studies) and dilatation (five studies). Three of the 18 studies reporting choledocholithiasis were excluded from the analysis due to lack of data, or differences in study design. The sensitivity for the 15 studies of choledocholithiasis ranged from 0.50 to 1.00 while specificity ranged from 0.83 to 1.00. The positive likelihood ratio ranged: from 5.44–47.72 and the negative likelihood ratio for the 15 studies ranged from 0.00–0.51. Significant heterogeneity was found across the 15 studies so the sensitivities and specificities were summarised by a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. For malignancy, sensitivity ranged from 0.81 to 0.94 and specificity from 0.92 to 1.00. Positive likelihood ratios ranged from 10.12 to 43 and negative likelihood ratios ranged from 0.15 to 0.21, although these estimates were less reliable. CONCLUSION: MRCP is a comparable diagnostic investigation in comparison to ERCP for diagnosing biliary obstruction

Exploring Health Science Students’ Notions on Organ Donation and Transplantation: A Multicenter Study

The knowledge acquired during university education about organ donation and transplantation (ODT) decisively influences the information future health professionals transmit. This is important in ODT where the participation of the general public is essential to obtain organs. Objective: To determine notions of Spanish medicine and nursing students on ODT and its relationship with attitude toward ODT. Methods and Design: and design. We conducted a sociologic, multicenter, and observational study. The population for our study consisted of medical and nursing students in Spanish universities. Our database was the Collaborative International Donor Project, stratified by geographic area and academic course. A validated questionnaire (PCID-DTO-RIOS) was self-administered and completed anonymously. Our sample consisted of 9598 medical and 10, 566 nursing students (99% confidence interval; precision of ±1%), stratified by geographic area and year of study. Results: The completion rate for our study was 90%. Only 20% (n=3640) of students thought their notions on ODT were good; 41% (n=7531) thought their notions were normal; 36% (n=6550) thought their notions were scarce. Comparing groups, there were differences between those who believed that their notions on ODT were good (44% nursing vs 56% medical students; P < .000), and those who believed it scarce (54% nursing vs 46% medical students; P < .000). Notions on ODT were related with attitude toward the donation of one''s own organs: those who considered their notions were good were more in favor then those who considered it scarce (88% vs 72%; P < .000). Conclusion: Only 20% of Spanish medical and nursing students thought their notions on ODT were good. Having good knowledge is related to a favorable attitude towards ODT. Receiving specific information on the subject could improve their knowledge about ODT during their training

Sexual Relationships in Hispanic Countries: a Literature Review

This is a pre-print of an article published in Current Sexual Health Reports. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-020-00272-6Purpose of Review: Sexuality is a complex dimension for which culture seems to play an important role, particularly in countries that are more traditional. This review summarizes the knowledge about sexual relationships in Hispanic countries, considering sexual debut, attitudes, behaviors, and satisfaction. Recent Findings: In line with the literature reviewed, the sexual double standard seems to be continuing to influence sexual relationships. Some countries show more open expressions of sexuality based on the level of gender inequality or sexualized context, and within countries, variables such as religious commitment, family characteristics, and access to resources may play important roles in sexuality. Summary: Future research, policies, and interventions should consider these specific characteristics, including these forms of expression of sexuality, in the adjustment of cross-cultural and cross-national strategies

Factors related to the development of health-promoting community activities in Spanish primary healthcare: two case-control studies.

Objective Spanish primary healthcare teams have the responsibility of performing health-promoting community activities (CAs), although such activities are not widespread. Our aim was to identify the factors related to participation in those activities. Design Two case–control studies. setting Performed in primary care of ve Spanish regions. subjects In the rst study, cases were teams that performed health-promoting CAs and controls were those that did not. In the second study (on case teams from the rst study), cases were professionals who developed these activities and controls were those who did not. Main outcome measures Team, professional and community characteristics collected through questionnaires (team managers/professionals) and from secondary sources. results The rst study examined 203 teams (103 cases, 100 controls). Adjusted factors associated with performing CAs were percentage of nurses (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.14), community socioeconomic status (higher vs lower OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.18 to 3.95) and performing undergraduate training (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.93). In the second study, 597 professionals responded (254 cases, 343 controls). Adjusted factors were professional classi cation (physicians do fewer activities than nurses and social workers do more), training in CAs (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1), team support (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5 to 5.7), seniority (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.09), nursing tutor (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.5), motivation (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.8 to 7.5), collaboration with non-governmental organisations (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1) and participation in neighbourhood activities (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.9 to 5.1). Conclusions Professional personal characteristics, such as social sensitivity, profession, to feel team support or motivation, have in uence in performing health-promoting CAs. In contrast to the opinion expressed by many professionals, workload is not related to performance of health-promoting CAs

Autophagy-linked plasma and lysosomal membrane protein PLAC8 is a key host factor for SARS-CoV-2 entry into human cells

Better understanding on interactions between SARS-CoV-2andhost cells should help to identify host factors that may be tar-getable to combat infection and COVID-19pathology. To this end,we have conducted a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9-based loss-of-function screen in human lung cancer cells infected with SARS-CoV-2-pseudotyped lentiviruses. Our results recapitulate manyfindings from previous screens that used full SARS-CoV-2viruses,but also unveil two novel critical host factors: the lysosomal effluxtransporter SPNS1and the plasma and lysosomal membrane pro-tein PLAC8. Functional experiments with full SARS-CoV-2virusesconfirm that loss-of-function of these genes impairs viral entry.We find that PLAC8is a key limiting host factor, whose overexpres-sion boosts viral infection in eight different human lung cancer celllines. Using single-cell RNA-Seq data analyses, we demonstratethat PLAC8is highly expressed in ciliated and secretory cells of therespiratory tract, as well as in gut enterocytes, cell types that arehighly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2infection. Proteomics and cellbiology studies suggest that PLAC8and SPNS1regulate theautophagolysosomal compartment and affect the intracellular fateof endocytosed virions.This work was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III(COV20/00652, MS19/00100,  PI20/01267, COV20/00571 and PT17/0019/0003), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) (PDI2020-118394RB-100, SAF2017-87655-R, PID2021-127534OB-100, and PGC2018-097019-B-I00), “laCaixa” Banking Foundation (HR17-00247) and Consejería de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidad del Gobierno del Principado de Asturias (AYUD/2021/57167). D.R.V and D.M are supported by PhD fellowships from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación(Spain).Peer reviewe

Essential Medicines at the National Level : The Global Asthma Network's Essential Asthma Medicines Survey 2014

Patients with asthma need uninterrupted supplies of affordable, quality-assured essential medicines. However, access in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is limited. The World Health Organization (WHO) Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Global Action Plan 2013-2020 sets an 80% target for essential NCD medicines' availability. Poor access is partly due to medicines not being included on the national Essential Medicines Lists (EML) and/or National Reimbursement Lists (NRL) which guide the provision of free/subsidised medicines. We aimed to determine how many countries have essential asthma medicines on their EML and NRL, which essential asthma medicines, and whether surveys might monitor progress. A cross-sectional survey in 2013-2015 of Global Asthma Network principal investigators generated 111/120 (93%) responses41 high-income countries and territories (HICs); 70 LMICs. Patients in HICs with NRL are best served (91% HICs included ICS (inhaled corticosteroids) and salbutamol). Patients in the 24 (34%) LMICs with no NRL and the 14 (30%) LMICs with an NRL, however no ICS are likely to have very poor access to affordable, quality-assured ICS. Many LMICs do not have essential asthma medicines on their EML or NRL. Technical guidance and advocacy for policy change is required. Improving access to these medicines will improve the health system's capacity to address NCDs.Peer reviewe

Dependence of atmospheric muon flux on seawater depth measured with the first KM3NeT detection units: The KM3NeT Collaboration

KM3NeT is a research infrastructure located in the Mediterranean Sea, that will consist of two deep-sea Cherenkov neutrino detectors. With one detector (ARCA), the KM3NeT Collaboration aims at identifying and studying TeV–PeV astrophysical neutrino sources. With the other detector (ORCA), the neutrino mass ordering will be determined by studying GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The first KM3NeT detection units were deployed at the Italian and French sites between 2015 and 2017. In this paper, a description of the detector is presented, together with a summary of the procedures used to calibrate the detector in-situ. Finally, the measurement of the atmospheric muon flux between 2232–3386 m seawater depth is obtained