A Multilevel Model of Teachers’ Job Performance: Understanding the Effects of Trait Emotional Intelligence, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Trust

Research on the role of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI; Petrides, 2001) relating to teaching performance has emerged as an important topic. The present study proposes a multilevel model of teachers’ trait EI in relation to their job performance, which simultaneously addresses the mediating role of job satisfaction and the influences of school-level factors (i.e., organizational trust and principals’ trait EI). Results from a sample of 881 teachers and 37 principals in Chinese primary schools showed that job satisfaction partially mediated the positive relationship between teachers’ trait EI and their job performance. In addition, the findings demonstrated a cross-level moderated mediating effect, with the indirect effect of teachers’ trait EI on job performance (via job satisfaction) becoming stronger for teachers working in schools with lower levels of organizational trust. The hypothesized role of principals’ trait EI on teachers’ job performance was not supported. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

There is more to the picture than meets the eye: adaptation for crypsis blurs phylogeographical structure in a lizard

Aim: We examined dorsal coloration in and genetic relationships among Iberian populations of the lizard Psammodromus algirus to determine the extent to which the current distribution of phenotypic variation is correlated with phylogeographical history or local environmental conditions. Location: Iberian Peninsula, western Palaearctic.Methods: We sequenced mitochondrial DNA (ND4 and adjacent tRNAs genes) in 36 populations, and seven microsatellite loci in eight representative populations. In 23 populations, lizards were classified according to the presence and intensity of a dorsal striped pattern, the heritability of which was estimated by means of mother–offspring regressions. To determine whether colour pattern is an adaptation for crypsis, we compared the time taken by humans to detect striped and unstriped lizards in different environments.Results: The analysis of mtDNA revealed an ancient split between a western clade, subdivided into south- and north-western haplogroups, and an eastern clade with central, south-eastern and eastern haplogroups. In contrast, nuclear markers showed a post-glacial admixture of central and western haplogroups, with the central haplogroup apparently isolated from the rest of its clade. This was consistent with variation in the dorsal striped pattern, a heritable phenotypic trait: central and western lizards were unstriped, whereas eastern lizards were striped. We then suggest that dorsal coloration promotes crypsis: in eastern locations detection times were longer for striped than for unstriped lizards, whereas the opposite was true in western and central locations.Main conclusions: Our results indicate that natural selection for crypsis may promote not only divergence within clades, as suggested by the apparent isolation between unstriped central lizards and striped members of eastern haplogroups, but also admixture between them. We conclude that ecologically driven selection is crucial for understanding the phylogeographical background of phenotypic variation, because recent adaptation to the environment can blur the effects of ancestral isolation.This study is a contribution to projects CGL2010-17928/BOS and CGL2013-41642-P, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and SciencePeer reviewe

Invariance of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Construct Across Clinical Populations and Sociodemographic Variables

Recent research has shown that cultural, linguistic, and sociodemographic peculiarities influence the measurement of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI). Assessing trait EI in different populations fosters cross-cultural research and expands the construct's nomological network. In mental health, the trait EI of clinical populations has been scarcely researched. Accordingly, the present study examined the relationship between trait EI and key sociodemographic variables on Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-SF) datasets with mental healthcare patients from three different Spanish-speaking countries. Collectively, these datasets comprised 528 participants, 23% from Chile (120), 28% from Peru (150), and 49% from Spain (258). The sociodemographic variables we used for trait EI comparisons were gender, age, educational level, civil status, and occupational status. Analyses involved Multigroup Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (to test measurement invariance) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Our results revealed significant between-country differences in trait EI across the studied sociodemographic variables and interactions between these variables. Measurement invariance across the datasets was attained up to the scalar level regarding gender and education (i.e., strong invariance), although analyses on age, civil status, and occupation displayed non-invariance. The resultant psychometric evidence supports the suitability of the TEIQue-SF for the accurate cross-cultural assessment of trait EI in mental health settings. It also highlights the importance of incorporating trait EI into extant psychotherapeutic frameworks to enhance non-pharmacological treatment efficacy

Soil greenhouse gas emissions and crop production with implementation of alley cropping in a Mediterranean citrus orchard

The implementation of alley cropping in orchards has been suggested as a sustainable strategy to increase farmer revenues by crop diversification, enhance soil organic matter (SOM) and fertility, water retention, overall biodiversity, and contribute to climate change mitigation. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess if alley cropping with annual crops can contribute to i) mitigate soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ii) enhance C sequestration in a semiarid Mediterranean irrigated citrus orchard, and iii) increase land productivity. For this, two different treatments were established: i) conventional mandarin monoculture (MC) with no alley cropping; and ii) mandarin diversified with alley cropping of barley/vetch and fava bean (DIV). Measurements of soil CO2 and N2O emissions were periodically performed (every 7–20 days) during two years. Soil CO2 emission rates followed the soil moisture trend, and showed no significant differences between treatments. As an average, soil CO2 emission rates were 147 mg m-2 h-1 in MC and 196 mg m-2 h-1 in DIV. Soil N2O emission rates were not correlated to soil moisture nor temperature, and showed average values of 0.026 mg m-2 h-1 in MC and − 0.002 mg m-2 h-1 in DIV. Alley cropping did not contribute to significantly increase soil organic C and total nitrogen in two years’ time. With regard to production, mandarin yield showed no significant differences between treatments, but alley crops contributed to complementary commodities to the main cash crop, increasing overall land productivity. Thus, alley cropping in irrigated Mediterranean orchards has no significant effect on soil C sequestration and GHG emissions at short-term, with increased land productivity owing to new commodities grown in the alleys. These results confirm that under semiarid Mediterranean climate, long periods are needed to efficiently assess soil C sequestration potential of sustainable practices in orchards.This work was supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 Project Diverfarming [Grant agreement 728003]. Raúl Zornoza acknowledges the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the “Ramón y Cajal” Program [RYC-2015-18758]

Brazilian version of Positive Oral Health and Well-Being: cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric analysis

Specific measures to evaluate positive oral health have been in a nascent stage in Dentistry, especially in developing countries. The present study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of Positive Oral Health and Well-Being (B-POHW). After forward-backwards translation to Brazilian Portuguese language, the cross-cultural adaptation of B-POHW was pretested, followed by the main study to perform psychometric analysis. We tested the model fit by Confirmatory Factor Analysis with categorical factor indicators in bifactor and simple structure models on a sample of 209 participants (mean age: 39.36 ± 12.26. Questionnaires about sociodemographic status, self-reported oral health-related outcomes, and general well-being were administered and used as external validation measures. Moreover, dental caries experience was clinically diagnosed. For test-retest reliability, 53 participants completed the B-POHW a fortnight later. The following results were found: a) the bifactor model presented the best model fit; b) the B-POHW demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω > 0.8); c) the intraclass correlation coefficient suggested good reliability for the Global Factor of B-POHW in the test-retest (ICC = 0.84); d) evidence based on other variables and construct representation was in line with the positive oral health framework. The B-POHW is psychometrically sound to be used in a Brazilian context, and evidence of its internal structure confirmed its theoretical framework for measuring positive oral health. These findings advance in holistic approaches, enabling to assess positive oral health in Dental practice in Brazil

A plasma fatty acid profile associated to type 2 diabetes development: from the CORDIOPREV study

Purpose: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing worldwide. For this reason, it is essential to identify biomarkers for the early detection of T2DM risk and/or for a better prognosis of T2DM. We aimed to identify a plasma fatty acid (FA) profile associated with T2DM development. Methods: We included 462 coronary heart disease patients from the CORDIOPREV study without T2DM at baseline. Of these, 107 patients developed T2DM according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) diagnosis criteria after a median follow-up of 60 months. We performed a random classification of patients in a training set, used to build a FA Score, and a Validation set, in which we tested the FA Score. Results: FA selection with the highest prediction power was performed by random survival forest in the Training set, which yielded 4 out of the 24 FA: myristic, petroselinic, α-linolenic and arachidonic acids. We built a FA Score with the selected FA and observed that patients with a higher score presented a greater risk of T2DM development, with an HR of 3.15 (95% CI 2.04–3.37) in the Training set, and an HR of 2.14 (95% CI 1.50–2.84) in the Validation set, per standard deviation (SD) increase. Moreover, patients with a higher FA Score presented lower insulin sensitivity and higher hepatic insulin resistance (p < 0.05). Conclusión: Our results suggest that a detrimental FA plasma profile precedes the development of T2DM in patients with coronary heart disease, and that this FA profile can, therefore, be used as a predictive biomarker

Executive summary of the Consensus Document of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) and of the Spanish Association of Surgeons (AEC) in antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery

[ES] La profilaxis antibiótica en cirugía es una de las medidas más eficaces para la prevención de la infección de localización quirúrgica, aunque su uso es con frecuencia inadecuado, pudiendo incrementar el riesgo de infección, toxicidades y resistencias bacterianas. Debido al avance en las técnicas quirúrgicas y la emergencia de microorganismos multirresistentes las actuales pautas de profilaxis precisan ser revisadas. La Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas (SEIMC), conjuntamente con la Asociación Española de Cirujanos (AEC) ha revisado y actualizado las recomendaciones de profilaxis antimicrobiana para adaptarlas a cada tipo de intervención quirúrgica y a la epidemiología actual. En este documento se recogen las recomendaciones de los antimicrobianos utilizados en profilaxis en los diferentes procedimientos, las dosis, la duración, la profilaxis en huéspedes especiales, y en situación epidemiológica de multirresistencia, de tal forma que permitan un manejo estandarizado, un uso racional, seguro y efectivo de los mismos en la cirugía electiva.[EN] Antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery is one of the most effective measures for preventing surgical site infection, although its use is frequently inadequate and may even increase the risk of infection, toxicities and antimicrobial resistance. As a result of advances in surgical techniques and the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms, the current guidelines for prophylaxis need to be revised. The Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas (Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology) (SEIMC) together with the Asociación Española de Cirujanos (Spanish Association of Surgeons) (AEC) have revised and updated the recommendations for antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery to adapt them to any type of surgical intervention and to current epidemiology. This document gathers together the recommendations on antimicrobial prophylaxis in the various procedures, with doses, duration, prophylaxis in special patient groups, and in epidemiological settings of multidrug resistance to facilitate standardized management and the safe, effective and rational use of antibiotics in elective surgery

Beta cell functionality and hepatic insulin resistance are major contributors to type 2 diabetes remission and starting pharmacological therapy: from CORDIOPREV randomized controlled trial

In order to assess whether previous hepatic IR (Hepatic-IR fasting) and beta-cell functionality could modulate type 2 diabetes remission and the need for starting glucose- lowering treatment, newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes participants who had never received glucose-lowering treatment (190 out of 1002) from the CORonary Diet Intervention with Olive oil and cardiovascular PREVention study (a prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trial), were randomized to consume a Mediterranean or a low-fat diet. Type 2 diabetes remission was defined according to the American Diabetes Association recommendation for levels of HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose and 2h plasma glucose after oral glucose tolerance test, and having maintained them for at least 2 consecutive years. Patients were classified according to the median of Hepatic-IR fasting and beta-cell functionality, measured as the disposition index (DI) at baseline. Cox proportional hazards regression determined the potential for Hepatic-IR fasting and DI indexes as predictors of diabetes remission and the probability of starting pharmacological treatment after a 5-year follow-up. Low-Hepatic-IR fasting or high-DI patients had a higher probability of diabetes remission than high-Hepatic-IR fasting or low-DI subjects (HR:1.79; 95% CI 1.06_3.05; and HR:2.66; 95% CI 1.60_4.43, respectively) after a dietary intervention with no pharmacological treatment and no weight loss. The combination of low- Hepatic-IR fasting and high-DI presented the highest probability of remission (HR:4.63; 95% CI 2.00_10.70). Among patients maintaining diabetes, those with high- Hepatic-IR fasting and low-DI showed the highest risk of starting glucose-lowerin

Association of breast and gut microbiota dysbiosis and the risk of breast cancer: a case-control clinical study

We would like to thank M Luisa Puertas-Martin and Isabel Manzano-Jimenez, nurses at the Unit of Mammary Pathology, General Surgery Service, San Cecilio University Hospital (Granada), without whose enthusiasm the enrolment of participants in Granada would still be stalled. We are indebted to all the women taking part in the study.The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03885648, 03/25/2019. Retrospectively registered.Background Breast cancer ranks first in women, and is the second cause of death in this gender. In addition to genetics, the environment contributes to the development of the disease, although the factors involved are not well known. Among the latter is the influence of microorganisms and, therefore, attention is recently being paid to the mammary microbiota. We hypothesize that the risk of breast cancer could be associated with the composition and functionality of the mammary/gut microbiota, and that exposure to environmental contaminants (endocrine disruptors, EDCs) might contribute to alter these microbiota. Methods We describe a case-control clinical study that will be performed in women between 25 and 70 years of age. Cases will be women diagnosed and surgically intervened of breast cancer (stages I and II). Women with antecedents of cancer or advanced tumor stage (metastasis), or who have received antibiotic treatment within a period of 3 months prior to recruitment, or any neoadjuvant therapy, will be excluded. Controls will be women surgically intervened of breast augmentation or reduction. Women with oncological, gynecological or endocrine history, and those who have received antibiotic treatment within a period of 3 months prior to recruitment will also be excluded. Blood, urine, breast tissue and stool samples will be collected. Data regarding anthropometric, sociodemographic, reproductive history, tumor features and dietary habits will be gathered. Metabolomic studies will be carried out in stool and breast tissue samples. Metagenomic studies will also be performed in stool and breast tissue samples to ascertain the viral, fungal, bacterial and archaea populations of the microbiota. Quantitation of estrogens, estrogen metabolites and EDCs in samples of serum, urine and breast tissue will also be performed. Discussion: This is the first time that the contribution of bacteria, archaea, viruses and fungi together with their alteration by environmental contaminants to the risk of breast cancer will be evaluated in the same study. Results obtained could contribute to elucidate risk factors, improve the prognosis, as well as to propose novel intervention studies in this disease.This work is funded by grants PI-0538-2017 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain, to LF) and Biomedical Research Networking Center-CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP) of the Institute of Health Carlos III -supported by European Regional Development Fund/FEDER (FIS-PI16/01812) (to MFF)