A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world

Photophysical characterization of hydroxy and ethoxy phenalenone derivatives

Phenalenone has been extensively studied due to its photophysical behavior. However, fewer are the articles referring to the phenalenone derivatives as singlet oxygen generators. The incorporation of substituents on the phenalenone ring rearranges the molecular electronic states changing its photophysical behavior. In order to rationalize the effect of the presence of electron-donor substituents on the phenalenone ring, we studied two ethoxy derivatives and their corresponding hydroxyl precursors. All derivatives prepared present smaller singlet oxygen quantum yield values than phenalenone. These lower quantum yields can be rationalized by considering non-radiative decay of singlet excited state absent in unsubstituted phenalenone. The hydroxy and alkoxy derivatives substituted in position 6 of phenalenone have larger fluorescence quantum yields than the ones substituted in position 3. Interestingly, 3-hydroxy-phenalenone shows a low emission quantum yield with two emission bands, which can be related with equilibria between diketo and enol tautomers in the first excited singlet state. Flash photolysis spectra for all derivatives were measured and the extinction coefficients of triplet triplet absorption were evaluated near 500 nm. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fondecyt 1160705 114045

Inflammatory Cytokines as Uremic Toxins: “Ni Son Todos Los Que Estan, Ni Estan Todos Los Que Son”

Chronic kidney disease is among the fastest growing causes of death worldwide. An increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death is thought to depend on the accumulation of uremic toxins when glomerular filtration rate falls. In addition, the circulating levels of several markers of inflammation predict mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease. Indeed, a number of cytokines are listed in databases of uremic toxins and uremic retention solutes. They include inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-18, IL-6, TNFα), chemokines (IL-8), and adipokines (adiponectin, leptin and resistin), as well as anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10). We now critically review the cytokines that may be considered uremic toxins. We discuss the rationale to consider them uremic toxins (mechanisms underlying the increased serum levels and evidence supporting their contribution to CKD manifestations), identify gaps in knowledge, discuss potential therapeutic implications to be tested in clinical trials in order to make this knowledge useful for the practicing physician, and identify additional cytokines, cytokine receptors and chemokines that may fulfill the criteria to be considered uremic toxins, such as sIL-6R, sTNFR1, sTNFR2, IL-2, CXCL12, CX3CL1 and others. In addition, we suggest that IL-10, leptin, adiponectin and resistin should not be considered uremic toxins toxins based on insufficient or contradictory evidence of an association with adverse outcomes in humans or preclinical data not consistent with a causal association

Assessment of activities of daily living in patients post COVID-19: a systematic review

Background Coronavirus disease has provoked much discussion since its first appearance. Despite it being widely studied all over the world, little is known about the impact of the disease on functional ability related to performing activities of daily living (ADL) in patients post COVID-19 infection. Objectives To understand the impact of COVID-19 on ADL performance of adult patients and to describe the common scales used to assess performance of ADL on patients post-COVID-19. Methods A systematic review was conducted. We included studies that applied a physical capacity test in COVID-19 patients, post-infection. Two independent reviewers analyzed the studies, extracted the data, and assessed the quality of the evidence. Results A total of 1,228 studies were included, after removing duplicates, 1,005 abstracts were screened and of those 983 were excluded. A final number of nine studies which met the eligibility criteria were included. The findings revealed worsening of physical function and ADL performance in all patients post COVID-19 infection. Conclusion All included studies found a reduction of ADL beyond the test or scale used, revealing a vital worsening of functional ability in ADL performance and consequently loss of independence in COVID-19 patients after the acute phase of infection. Functional ability status previous to COVID-19 is crucial for predicting the severity of the disease and mortality. Barthel Index and ADL score were the most used assessment tools across subjects with different intrinsic capacity and context levels

Quality of Colonoscopy Is Associated With Adenoma Detection and Postcolonoscopy Colorectal Cancer Prevention in Lynch Syndrome

Background & Aims: Colonoscopy reduces colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality in Lynch syndrome (LS) carriers. However, a high incidence of postcolonoscopy CRC (PCCRC) has been reported. Colonoscopy is highly dependent on endoscopist skill and is subject to quality variability. We aimed to evaluate the impact of key colonoscopy quality indicators on adenoma detection and prevention of PCCRC in LS. Methods: We conducted a multicenter study focused on LS carriers without previous CRC undergoing colonoscopy surveillance (n = 893). Incident colorectal neoplasia during surveillance and quality indicators of all colonoscopies were analyzed. We performed an emulated target trial comparing the results from the first and second surveillance colonoscopies to assess the effect of colonoscopy quality indicators on adenoma detection and PCCRC incidence. Risk analyses were conducted using a multivariable logistic regression model. Results: The 10-year cumulative incidence of adenoma and PCCRC was 60.6% (95% CI, 55.5%–65.2%) and 7.9% (95% CI, 5.2%–10.6%), respectively. Adequate bowel preparation (odds ratio [OR], 2.07; 95% CI, 1.06–4.3), complete colonoscopies (20% vs 0%; P =.01), and pan-chromoendoscopy use (OR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.15–3.95) were associated with significant improvement in adenoma detection. PCCRC risk was significantly lower when colonoscopies were performed during a time interval of less than every 3 years (OR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.14–0.97). We observed a consistent but not significant reduction in PCCRC risk for a previous complete examination (OR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.03–1.28), adequate bowel preparation (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.17–3.24), or previous use of high-definition colonoscopy (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.02–2.33). Conclusions: Complete colonoscopies with adequate bowel preparation and chromoendoscopy use are associated with improved adenoma detection, while surveillance intervals of less than 3 years are associated with a reduction of PCCRC incidence. In LS, high-quality colonoscopy surveillance is of utmost importance for CRC prevention

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Convocatoria proyectos de innovación de Extremadura 2020/2021Se presenta un proyecto que intentaba dar soluciones a la transmisión del virus SARS-CoV-2 en el IES Santiago Apostol de Almendralejo. Ante las evidencias científicas que sostenían su transmisión por el aire se plantea la medición de CO2 y distintas estrategias de ventilación posibles que minimicen el contagio del virus y sean viables económicamente. Además, se pretende concienciar a la comunidad educativa de la importancia de la ventilación en la salud. Otros objetivos del proyecto eran: promover que el alumno sea capaz de aprender por sí mismo; trabajar utilizando las etapas del método científico que se trabajan desde todas las áreas del conocimiento: Microbiología, Química Analítica, Matemáticas, Física y Química, Plástica, Informática, etc.; fomentar y promocionar la investigación; promover el trabajo colaborativo; potenciar las metodologías activas; generar reflexión social con la que poder dar respuestas a los problemas sociales de cada momento, etc.ExtremaduraES