May the inclusion of a legume crop change weed composition in cereal fields? Example of sainfoin in Aragon (Spain)

Onobrychis viciifolia (Scop.) (sainfoin) is promoted in the Spanish Aragón region through the Agro-Environmental Schemes (AES) since 2007 with the aim of enhancing biodiversity. Also, in other countries, the interest in this legume crop is growing due to its rusticity and beneficial effects on the soil and livestock. However, the effect of the crop on weed flora in the subsequent cereal crops has hardly been investigated yet. With this aim, weed flora has been characterised in 2011–2014 in sainfoin fields in the second and third year of establishment (S2 and S3), in cereal monocrop (CM), in cereal after sainfoin (CS) and in organic cereal fields (OC). Additionally, the soil seedbank was determined in two years in CM and S3 fields. Weed species richness of emerged flora and of the soil seedbank was highest for sainfoin and lowest for CM, being intermediate for OC and CS regardless of the sampling year. The most feared weed species in winter cereal did not increase by growing sainfoin or in CS compared to CM. Curiously, summer annuals dominated in the soil seedbank. Sainfoin fields cause thus a shift in the weed flora, which does not seem to damage subsequent cereal crops provided fields are mouldboard ploughed after sainfoin

Guidance on Dravet Syndrome from Infant to Adult Care: Road Map for Treatment Planning in Europe

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a severe, rare and complex developmental and epileptic encephalopathy affecting 1 in 16'000 live births and characterized by a drug resistant epilepsy, cognitive, psychomotor and language impairment, as well as behavioral disorders. Evidence suggests that optimal treatment of seizures in DS may improve outcomes, even though neurodevelopmental impairments are the likely result of both the underlying genetic variant and the epilepsy. We present an updated guideline for DS diagnosis and treatment, taking into consideration care of the adult patient and non-pharmaceutical therapeutic options for this disease. This up-to-date guideline, which is based on an extensive review of the literature and culminates with a new treatment algorithm for DS, is a European consensus developed through a survey involving 29 European clinical experts in DS. Theis guideline will serve professionals in their clinical practice and, as a consequence, will benefit DS patients and their families

Factors associated with compliance with physical activity recommendations among adolescents in Huesca.

BACKGROUND: Schools have been identified as environments of choice for physical activity promotion. This study examines factors associated with compliance with objectively assessed physical activity recommendations for early adolescents taking part in “Sigue la Huella”, a school-based intervention guided by a social ecological framework and Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002). METHODS: A total of 200 students (108 boys) aged 12-13 years (M = 12.16; SD = ± 0.51), wore accelerometers during a 7-day period and completed a questionnaire. Participants were considered compliant to the recommendations if their moderate to vigorous physical activity, averaged over 7 days, was =60 minutes a day. RESULTS: 57.4% of boys and 9.9% of girls met recommendations. In a mixed logistic regression model, compliance was higher among boys and students attending private schools, and lower for obese students. Compliance was also associated with higher perceptions of physical competence, higher perceptions of autonomy in physical education, greater importance attached to physical education and less sedentary behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Assessed objectively, gender differences in compliance with physical activity recommendations were greater than expected. Self-Determination Theory emerged as a useful framework to identify motivational factors that can be addressed in school-based physical activity interventions and programs for early adolescents

Efectos del género en la percepción de apoyo de las necesidades psicológicas básicas en educación física

El rol que ejerce el maestro de Educación Física en el desarrollo óptimo de los procesos motivacionales y en la promoción de la práctica de actividad física de niños y adolescentes es una temática de interés creciente en los últimos años. En este sentido, la adopción de estilos más activos y saludables en el tiempo de ocio constituye uno de los principales objetivos que rigen el curriculum ordinario. Así, siguiendo la Teoría de la Autodeterminación (Ryan & Deci, 2002) el objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar la percepción del apoyo de las necesidades psicológicas básicas (autonomía, competencia y relaciones sociales) de los discentes en las clases de Educación Física, en función del género. En el estudio participaron 158 alumnos de 10 a 12 años (M edad = 10.81, DT = 0.62), 76 chicos y 82 chicas y sus 6 maestros (3 varones y 3 mujeres) de Educación Física (M edad = 39.75; DT = 0.48). Para ello, se midió este antecedente social a través del Cuestionario de Apoyo a las Necesidades Psicológicas Básicas (Sánchez-Oliva, Leo, Sánchez-Miguel, Amado & García-Calvo, 2013). Los resultados señalan que los chicos presentan valores significativamente superiores que las chicas en la percepción de apoyo a la competencia y apoyo a la autonomía. Por tanto, se proponen como implicaciones prácticas que los docentes traten de apoyar los mediadores psicológicos mediante diferentes estrategias de intervención, haciendo hincapié en el género femenino. Para ello, la formación en teorías y estrategias motivacionales parece una de las líneas educativas prioritarias en los planes de formación docente

How long does it take to establish a field boundary with a small proportion of weeds? An example in semi-arid conditions

Field boundary (FB) establishment and conservation have been promoted to enhance biodiversity in agroecosystems. However, weeds can colonize these areas during the revegetation process, which might be a problem for adjacent fields. Data is necessary to facilitate acceptance of these structures by farmers.Publishe

Dissemination, implementation, and evaluation of an effective school-based intervention to promote physical activity in adolescents: a study protocol

Adolescents around the world do not engage in sufficient physical activity and the Spanish context is no exception. Understanding the educational context as a complex system, school-based multi-level and multi-component interventions seem to be an effective strategy to reverse this trend. Moreover, a co-creational approach seems to facilitate the mobilization of community partnerships and the engagement of stakeholders in the intervention process. This study aims to describe the dissemination, implementation, and evaluation process of an effective school-based intervention program in another setting using the replicating effective programs framework and a co-participatory approach. This study will be conducted in two Spanish secondary schools located in the region of Aragon (experimental vs. control school) in a sample of adolescents in the second grade (13–14 years old). To evaluate the effectiveness, different health behaviors such as physical activity, sleep, sedentary time with screens, nutrition, and psychosocial variables will be quantitatively measured at baseline and after the implementation of the intervention. Qualitative methods will also be used to better understand the implementation process and the co-creation approach, as well as to provide insights into the sustainability of the intervention program. The current study has the potential to provide strong information about the dissemination, implementation, and evaluation process of school-based programs to promote healthy behaviors among adolescents

A Spanish-language patient safety questionnaire to measure medical and nursing students' attitudes and knowledge

Objective. To design and validate a questionnaire for assessing attitudes and knowledge about patient safety using a sample of medical and nursing students undergoing clinical training in Spain and four countries in Latin America. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, a literature review was carried out and total of 786 medical and nursing students were surveyed at eight universities from five countries (Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Spain) to develop and refine a Spanish-language questionnaire on knowledge and attitudes about patient safety. The scope of the questionnaire was based on five dimensions (factors) presented in studies related to patient safety culture found in PubMed and Scopus. Based on the five factors, 25 reactive items were developed. Composite reliability indexes and Cronbach''s alpha statistics were estimated for each factor, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess validity. After a pilot test, the questionnaire was refined using confirmatory models, maximum-likelihood estimation, and the variance-covariance matrix (as input). Multiple linear regression models were used to confirm external validity, considering variables related to patient safety culture as dependent variables and the five factors as independent variables. Results. The final instrument was a structured five-point Likert self-administered survey (the "Latino Student Patient Safety Questionnaire") consisting of 21 items grouped into five factors. Compound reliability indexes (Cronbach''s alpha statistic) calculated for the five factors were about 0.7 or higher. The results of the multiple linear regression analyses indicated good model fit (goodness-of-fit index: 0.9). Item-total correlations were higher than 0.3 in all cases. The convergent-discriminant validity was adequate. Conclusions. The questionnaire designed and validated in this study assesses nursing and medical students'' attitudes and knowledge about patient safety. This instrument could be used to indirectly evaluate whether or not students in health disciplines are acquiring and thus likely to put into practice the professional skills currently considered most appropriate for patient safety

Genome-wide profiling of methylation identifies novel targets with aberrant hyper-methylation and reduced expression in low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes

Gene expression profiling signatures may be used to classify the subtypes of Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. However, there are few reports on the global methylation status in MDS. The integration of genome-wide epigenetic regulatory marks with gene expression levels would provide additional information regarding the biological differences between MDS and healthy controls. Gene expression and methylation status were measured using high-density microarrays. A total of 552 differentially methylated CpG loci were identified as being present in low-risk MDS; hypermethylated genes were more frequent than hypomethylated genes. In addition, mRNA expression profiling identified 1005 genes that significantly differed between low-risk MDS and the control group. Integrative analysis of the epigenetic and expression profiles revealed that 66.7% of the hypermethylated genes were underexpressed in low-risk MDS cases. Gene network analysis revealed molecular mechanisms associated with the low-risk MDS group, including altered apoptosis pathways. The two key apoptotic genes BCL2 and ETS1 were identified as silenced genes. In addition, the immune response and micro RNA biogenesis were affected by the hypermethylation and underexpression of IL27RA and DICER1. Our integrative analysis revealed that aberrant epigenetic regulation is a hallmark of low-risk MDS patients and could have a central role in these diseases. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved

Comparing vegetation in new and old field boundaries: how important are weeds?

This work has been financed by Ministry of Science and Technology, AGL2010-22084-C02-02 and by the AGROALNEXT programme supported by MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1)

Prevention of infections related to health care in primary care. Lessons from the pandemic

El sistema sanitario fall? a la hora de garantizar la seguridad tanto de los profesionales como de las personas que acudieron a los centros al inicio de la pandemia. La falta de materiales y directrices para la prevenci?n de infecciones provoc? en Espa?a la peor cat?strofe de la historia de la seguridad del paciente y de la salud laboral en el ?mbito sanitario. Sucedi? tambi?n en otros pa?ses, pero Espa?a tuvo las mayores tasas de sanitarios infectados del mundo. Fue una cat?strofe, en buena parte, evitable. Revisamos qu? medidas se han tomado para la prevenci?n de infecciones en los centros de atenci?n primaria, como la higiene de manos, las mascarillas y el material de protecci?n personal o el mantenimiento de la distancia interpersonal, entre otras. Actualizamos las recomendaciones y planteamos las perspectivas en una situaci?n que exige flexibilidad y capacidad de adaptaci?n para mantener una atenci?n de calidad y segura.The health system failed to guarantee the safety of both professionals and citizens who came to the centers at the beginning of the pandemic. The lack of materials and guidelines for the prevention of infections caused in Spain the worst catastrophe in the history of patient safety and occupational health in healthcare. It also happened in other countries but Spain had the highest rates of infected health workers in the world. It was a largely avoidable event. We review what measures have been taken to prevent infections in primary care centers, such as hand hygiene, masks and personal protection material or the maintenance of social distance, among others. We update the recommendations and raise the perspectives in a situation that requires flexibility and adaptability to maintain quality and safe care