Effectiveness of Gaming in Creating Cultural Awareness

Despite the emphasis on cultural competency education in the United States for the past three decades, inequities and disparities in healthcare continue to persist, particularly among minority populations. With the current growing gap in provider and patient cultural congruence, how effectively we train students to work with diverse populations in healthcare settings warrants attention. This article presents the results of a qualitative study on the effectiveness of experiential learning, in the form of the game BaFa’ BaFa,’ in raising cultural awareness among students of health professions. Using thematic analysis, the authors analyzed written reflections from student participants. The findings support earlier studies, conducted mainly outside of healthcare, on the effectiveness of gaming in nurturing cultural awareness

Evidence of Hydronium Formation in Water-Chabazite Zeolite Using Inelastic Neutron Scattering Experiments and ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations

[EN] A combined study of inelastic neutron scattering and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations has been performed in order to study the water-acid site interaction in zeolite chabazite with a ratio Si/Al = 16 that corresponds to 2 protons/uc with two different water coverages with the number of water molecules being lower and higher than that of proton sites. These results have provided a clear picture of the water-acid site interaction, and it has been demonstrated that there are two regimens of water adsorption, which depend on the water loading. (i) At low water coverage (water/acid site similar to 0.5), the main interactions between water and the zeolitic acid sites are established through hydrogen bond and there is no proton transference to water. (ii) At relatively high water loading (water/acid site similar to 3), the clustering of water molecules and hydronioum cations formed by the complete transference of the zeolitic proton to the water molecules has been observed. The formation of water-hydronium clusters interacting with oxygen atoms of the zeolite framework provides the stabilization energy needed for the protonation of water molecules confined in the cavities of chabazite. These results are the experimental evidence obtained from INS of proton transfer from the zeolitic acid site and the hydronium formation and are in agreement with a previous computational study (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2009, 11, 1702-1712) and very recent solid state NMR spectroscopy studies (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 3444-3455). The inspection of the low energy bands (translational and optic modes) and librational bands of the experimental results allows obtaining information about the Hbond network of the hydronium-water clusterWe thank MICINN of Spain for funding through Projects RTI2018-101784-B-I00 and SEV-2016-0683. The authors thank the ILL for neutron beam-time allocation (experiment 7-05-456) and the ILL C-Lab for support. A. Moraleda is acknowledged for the synthesis of CHA-16. G.S. and T.L. thank the ILL for the provision of Contract SRH/GRI/AS-15/222 and a Ph.D. contract.Jiménez-Ruiz, M.; Gahle, DS.; Lemishko, T.; Valencia Valencia, S.; Sastre Navarro, GI.; Rey Garcia, F. (2020). Evidence of Hydronium Formation in Water-Chabazite Zeolite Using Inelastic Neutron Scattering Experiments and ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 124(9):5436-5443. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b11081S54365443124

The Galactic centre mini-spiral in the mm-regime

The mini-spiral is a feature of the interstellar medium in the central ~2 pc of the Galactic center. It is composed of several streamers of dust and ionised and atomic gas with temperatures between a few 100 K to 10^4 K. There is evidence that these streamers are related to the so-called circumnuclear disk of molecular gas and are ionized by photons from massive, hot stars in the central parsec. We attempt to constrain the emission mechanisms and physical properties of the ionized gas and dust of the mini-spiral region with the help of our multiwavelength data sets. Our observations were carried out at 1.3 mm and 3 mm with the mm interferometric array CARMA in California in March and April 2009, with the MIR instrument VISIR at ESO's VLT in June 2006, and the NIR Br-gamma with VLT NACO in August 2009. We present high resolution maps of the mini-spiral, and obtain a spectral index of 0.5 for Sgr A*, indicating an inverted synchrotron spectrum. We find electron densities within the range 0.8-1.5x10^4 cm-3 for the mini-spiral from the radio continuum maps, along with a dust mass contribution of ~0.25 solar masses from the MIR dust continuum, and extinctions ranging from 1.8-3 at 2.16 micron in the Br-gamma line. We observe a mixture of negative and positive spectral indices in our 1.3 mm and 3 mm observations of the extended emission of the mini-spiral, which we interpret as evidence that there are a range of contributions to the thermal free-free emission by the ionized gas emission and by dust at 1.3 mm.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted to A&

Assessment of the stability of LTA zeolites under natural gas drying TSA conditions

[EN] The main features in cationic LTA zeolites that are likely to impact its potential hydrothermal stability are interconnected. The Al content and the compensating cation play an important role in the water adsorption but their influence on the zeolite performance in thermal cycles is yet to be understood. In this study, four LTA zeolite samples were synthetized with distinct Si/Al ratios in sodium and potassium forms. They underwent a Premature Aging Protocol (PAP) that took into account the operating conditions typically found in temperature swing adsorption processes. The Si/Al ratio per se did not impact in the crystallinity upon aging, but the presence of a high amount of potassium cations (Si/Al = 1) led to the amorphization of the zeolite structure. The results from XPS and NMR techniques indicate the Al migration from the outer surface to the inner cages occurs upon aging. Chemical analysis by XRF and ICP-OES associated with 27Al NMR analysis reveal that the presence of EFAl is particularly significant in the sample with the largest Si/Al ratio (5) and is correlated to a much larger C deposition upon aging. TG/DTG and TPD-NH3 experiments suggest that acid sites in the zeolite structures act as a double-edged sword, by enhancing water adsorption while also leading to carbon accumulation. CO2 isotherms at 0 oC reveal the reduction of the microporosity after aging, whereas the Al content is proportional to the water adsorption uptake, particularly at low pressures (below 10 mbar). The material with an intermediate Si/Al ratio and in Na-form (LTAc-SiAl2-Na) combines excellent hydrothermal stability with a high-water affinity and uptake.The authors acknowledge financial support from Petrobras (Brazil) project 2018/00130-5, CAPES (Brazil), particularly in the frame of project CAPES/Print 88887.311867/2018-00 and Servicios Centrales de Apoyo a la Investigacion - SCAI. S.V. and F. R. acknowledge financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CEX2021-001230-S grant funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and TED2021-130191B-C41 and TED2021-130756B-C31 grants funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by "ERDF A way of making Europe" by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR). Authors thank also the financial support by the Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo 2021/077). This study forms part of the Advanced Materials programme and was supported by MCIN with partial funding from European Union Next Generation EU (PRTR-C17. I1) and by Generalitat Valenciana (MFA/2022/047 and MFA/2022/012).Moura, P.; Ferracine, E.; Rodríguez-Aguado, E.; Maia, D.; Melo, DC.; Valencia Valencia, S.; Cardoso, D.... (2024). Assessment of the stability of LTA zeolites under natural gas drying TSA conditions. Catalysis Today. 427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2023.11441042

Transcriptional dissection of pancreatic tumors engrafted in mice.

BACKGROUND: Engraftment of primary pancreas ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) in mice to generate patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models is a promising platform for biological and therapeutic studies in this disease. However, these models are still incompletely characterized. Here, we measured the impact of the murine tumor environment on the gene expression of the engrafted human tumoral cells. METHODS: We have analyzed gene expression profiles from 35 new PDX models and compared them with previously published microarray data of 18 PDX models, 53 primary tumors and 41 cell lines from PDAC. The results obtained in the PDAC system were further compared with public available microarray data from 42 PDX models, 108 primary tumors and 32 cell lines from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We developed a robust analysis protocol to explore the gene expression space. In addition, we completed the analysis with a functional characterization of PDX models, including if changes were caused by murine environment or by serial passing. RESULTS: Our results showed that PDX models derived from PDAC, or HCC, were clearly different to the cell lines derived from the same cancer tissues. Indeed, PDAC- and HCC-derived cell lines are indistinguishable from each other based on their gene expression profiles. In contrast, the transcriptomes of PDAC and HCC PDX models can be separated into two different groups that share some partial similarity with their corresponding original primary tumors. Our results point to the lack of human stromal involvement in PDXs as a major factor contributing to their differences from the original primary tumors. The main functional differences between pancreatic PDX models and human PDAC are the lower expression of genes involved in pathways related to extracellular matrix and hemostasis and the up- regulation of cell cycle genes. Importantly, most of these differences are detected in the first passages after the tumor engraftment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that PDX models of PDAC and HCC retain, to some extent, a gene expression memory of the original primary tumors, while this pattern is not detected in conventional cancer cell lines. Expression changes in PDXs are mainly related to pathways reflecting the lack of human infiltrating cells and the adaptation to a new environment. We also provide evidence of the stability of gene expression patterns over subsequent passages, indicating early phases of the adaptation process

Experimental Indicators of Accretion Processes in Active Galactic Nuclei

Bright Active Galactic Nuclei are powered by accretion of mass onto the super massive black holes at the centers of the host galaxies. For fainter objects star formation may significantly contribute to the luminosity. We summarize experimental indicators of the accretion processes in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), i.e., observable activity indicators that allow us to conclude on the nature of accretion. The Galactic Center is the closest galactic nucleus that can be studied with unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity. Therefore, here we also include the presentation of recent observational results on Sagittarius A* and the conditions for star formation in the central stellar cluster. We cover results across the electromagnetic spectrum and find that the Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) system is well ordered with respect to its geometrical orientation and its emission processes of which we assume to reflect the accretion process onto the super massive black hole.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, conference proceeding: Accretion Processes in Cosmic Sources - APCS2016 - 5-10 September 2016, Saint Petersburg, Russi

Primary Angioplasty in a Catastrophic Presentation: Acute Left Main Coronary Total Occlusion—The ATOLMA Registry

Objectives. To determine the outcome predictors of in-hospital mortality in acute total occlusion of the left main coronary artery (ATOLMA) patients referred to emergent angioplasty and to describe the clinical presentation and the long-term outcome of these patients.Background. ATOLMA is an uncommon angiographic finding that usually leads to a catastrophic presentation. Limited and inconsistent data have been previously reported regarding true ATOLMA, yet comprehensive knowledge remains scarce.Methods. This is a multicenter retrospective cohort that includes patients presenting with myocardial infarction due to a confirmed ATOLMA who underwent emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Results. In the period of the study, 7930 emergent PCI were performed in the five participating centers, and 46 of them had a true ATOLMA (0.58%). At admission, cardiogenic shock was present in 89% of patients, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was required in 67.4%. All the patients had right dominance. Angiographic success was achieved in 80.4% of the procedures, 13 patients (28.2%) died during the catheterization, and the in-hospital mortality rate was 58.6% (27/46). At one-year and at the final follow-up, 18 patients (39%) were alive, including four cases successfully transplanted. Multivariate analysis showed that postprocedural TIMI flow was the only independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (OR 0.23, (95% CI 0.1-0.36),p<0.001).Conclusions. Our study confirms that the clinical presentation of ATOLMA is catastrophic, presenting a high in-hospital mortality rate; nevertheless, primary angioplasty in this setting is feasible. Postprocedural TIMI flow resulted as the only independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. In-hospital survivors presented an encouraging outcome. ATOLMA and left dominance could be incompatible with life