Oxidative stress status in an institutionalised elderly group after the intake of a phenolic-rich dessert

The present study was supported by a grant from Hero España S.A. M. C. R.-T. and J. L. Q. are recipients of a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ contract from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the University of Granada, Spain. We also thank the Fundacio´n Se´neca of the C.A.R.M. (Murcia, Spain) for the fellowship of J. G.-A.The elderly population undergoes a series of physiological and sociological changes common to old age with a high probability of suffering degenerative illness and malnutrition. A dessert rich in phenolic compounds has been designed by using concentrated juices of grape, cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant and raspberry with the aim of it being used as a complementary food in adulthood. In the present study, we investigated the effect of the intake of this dessert (a jar of 200 g daily for a period of 2 weeks), with an antioxidant activity equivalent to ten servings of fruits and vegetables, on several markers of oxidative and antioxidant status in DNA and plasma in a group of elderly individuals. Non-smoking institutionalised elderly subjects were recruited from a pool of volunteers in an old-age home in Murcia (Spain). Twenty-two subjects (six men and sixteen women) participated in the study. The study was designed as a randomised intervention trial with a period of 2 weeks. At days 1 and 15, blood samples were collected to analyse total antioxidant capacity, biochemical parameters, antioxidant vitamins, LDL peroxidation, and DNA damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes. The conclusion of the present study is that a 2-week intervention with our dessert enriched with natural polyphenol compounds in elderly individuals does not give enough time to find changes in the antioxidant and oxidative status. Also, the view that the marked antioxidant ability of polyphenols in vitro does not translate to analogous effects in vivo was confirmed. Moreover, a highly oxidative stress status during ageing was confirmed, together with the need to perform follow-up nutritional studies to improve this situation

A Stretch of Negatively Charged Amino Acids of Linker for Activation of T-Cell Adaptor Has a Dual Role in T-Cell Antigen Receptor Intracellular Signaling

The adaptor protein linker for activation of T cells (LAT) has an essential role transducing activatory intracellular signals coming from the TCR/CD3 complex. Previous reports have shown that upon T-cell activation, LAT interacts with the tyrosine kinase Lck, leading to the inhibition of its kinase activity. LAT-Lck interaction seemed to depend on a stretch of negatively charged amino acids in LAT. Here, we have substituted this segment of LAT between amino acids 113 and 126 with a non-charged segment and expressed the mutant LAT (LAT-NIL) in J.CaM2 cells in order to analyze TCR signaling. Substitution of this segment in LAT prevented the activation-induced interaction with Lck. Moreover, cells expressing this mutant form of LAT showed a statistically significant increase of proximal intracellular signals such as phosphorylation of LAT in tyrosine residues 171 and 191, and also enhanced ZAP70 phosphorylation approaching borderline statistical significance (p = 0.051). Nevertheless, downstream signals such as Ca2+ influx or MAPK pathways were partially inhibited. Overall, our data reveal that LAT-Lck interaction constitutes a key element regulating proximal intracellular signals coming from the TCR/CD3 complex.Consejería de Salud de Andalucía, Junta de Andalucía (grants PI-0365-2013 and PI-0055-2017); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant PI16-00784 from the “Plan Estatal de I+D+I 2013–2016/FEDER”

Incidence, hospitalization, mortality and risk factors of COVID-19 in long-term care residential homes for patients with chronic mental illness

Long-term care residential homes (LTCRH) for patients with chronic mental illness have suffered the enormous impact of COVID-19. This study aimed to estimate incidence, hospitalization, mortality, and risk factors of COVID-19 to prevent future epidemics. From March 2020 to January 2021 and before vaccination anti-SARS-CoV-2 begins, cumulate incidence rate (CIR), hospitalization rate (HR), mortality rate (MR), and risk factors of COVID-19 in the 11 LTCRH of two Health Departments of Castellon (Spain) were studied by epidemiological surveillance and an ecological design. Laboratory tests confirmed COVID-19 cases, and multilevel Poisson regression models were employed. All LTCRH participated and comprised 346 residents and 482 staff. Residents had a mean age of 47 years, 40% women, and suffered 75 cases of COVID-19 (CIR = 21.7%), five hospitalizations (HR = 1.4%), and two deaths (MR = 0.6%) with 2.5% fatality-case. Staff suffered 74 cases of the disease (CIR = 15.4%), one hospitalization (HR = 0.2%), and no deaths were reported. Risk factors associated with COVID-19 incidence in residents were private ownership, severe disability, residents be younger, CIR in municipalities where LTCRH was located, CIR in staff, and older age of the facilities. Conclusion: COVID-19 incidence could be prevented by improving infection control in residents and staff and modernizing facilities with increased public ownership

Service Learning: to learn from experience and reflection

El proyecto desarrolla y consolida el trabajo en red entre el aula universitaria y colectivos sociales de Córdoba mediante la realización de proyectos de Aprendizaje-Servicio en los Grados de Educación Infantil, Primaria, Social y el Máster en Cultura de Paz, Conflictos, Educación y Derechos Humanos. Además, profundiza en la reflexión sobre la propia práctica del grupo de docentes. Con esta metodología se busca la interactuación con colectivos y organizaciones sociales, promoviendo la transferencia y el compromiso social y cívico de la comunidad universitaria. Ese posicionamiento ha sido fruto del proceso reflexivo y coordinado del profesorado desde el curso 2014/15, el apoyo de la Unidad de Voluntariado y la colaboración de distintos colectivos que se implican con el alumnado en el desarrollo de tareas de aprendizaje. La metodología es experiencial, investigadora y dialógica. Los resultados alcanzados han favorecido la formación de los y las estudiantes mediante la incorporación de una perspectiva global-local y la adquisición de pautas para la interpretación y toma de decisiones en contextos educativos. Se espera, además, haber aumentado el compromiso cívico y promovido la responsabilidad social de la Universidad. El profesorado ha visto favorecida la coordinación y de desarrollo profesional al compartir dilemas didácticos y propósitos formativos.The project develops and consolidates the network between the university classroom and social groups of Córdoba through the realization of Service-Learning projects in the Primary Education, Early Childhood Education and Social Education degrees and the Master in Culture of Peace, Conflicts, Education and Humans Rights. In addition, it deepens in the reflection on the own practice of the group of teachers. With this methodology, interaction with social groups and organizations is sought, promoting the transfer and the social and civic engagement of the university community. This methodology has been the fruit of the reflective and coordinated process of the teaching staff since 2014/15, the support of the Volunteering Unit and the collaboration of different groups that are involved with the students in the development of learning tasks. The methodology is experiential, researcher and dialogical. The results achieved have favored the students training through the incorporation of a global-local perspective and the acquisition of guidelines for interpretation and decision-making in educational contexts. It is expected, in addition, to have increased the civic commitment and promoted the social responsibility of the University. The teaching staff has had the opportunity of coordination and professional development to share dilemmas and training purposes

Ingeniería ambiental basada en la naturaleza

Nuestro grupo ha trabajado en muchos entornos y países, Cuba en Sancti Spiritus en una calle seca, Tarija en Bolivia una fosa anaerobia de alta velocidad y un canal de piedras, Managua en Nicaragua una depuradora de lecho de piedra más calle seca más saneamiento de las viviendas de la calle. El Chaco, Córdoba, Argentina, en tratamiento de aguas de consumo humano, San Bartolomé de las Casas en Chiapas, México, un canal de aguas residuales, el pozo de infiltración desarrollado por nuestros alumnos de Guatemala en Chimaltenango y, por fin, en Kimpese (R. D. del Congo) donde hemos realizado todo un compendio de trabajos ambientales, gestión de basuras y tratamiento de aguas, calles secas y canales de desagüe, y después en producción alimentaria, piscihuerta, y repoblación forestal, venta in situ y venta on line (vía WhatsApp) y en una escuela ambiental, en Honduras diseñamos la naturalización del rio Choluteca para un proyecto de la AECID y desarrollamos un saneamiento para tuberías aisladas urbanas que afectan a la salud ciudadana. Nuestro esfuerzo en estos años ha sido generar un conocimiento posible para la autoconstrucción de las soluciones propuestas por los propios interesados y de abrirlo sin límite alguno a un uso libre, accesible y compartido como en este documento. Esto lo hemos ido desarrollando a la vez que trabajamos en cada entorno y sobre todo en ensayos piloto realizados en Sevilla en la Planta experimental de Carrión de los Céspedes en Sevilla, de la Junta de Andalucía, en el Centro educativo provincial de Blanco White de la Diputación de Sevilla, donde aprendimos muchas de las técnicas que luego fuimos aplicando en las experiencias reales posteriores y en la piscihuerta piloto de Torreblanca (Sevilla). Cuando empezamos el camino solitario de hacer una ingeniería inclusiva para todos los habitantes del planeta, nos volvimos a la naturaleza como única salida a nuestra ignorancia, a una ingeniería que habíamos aprendido que no tiene respuestas posibles para estas situaciones. Fuimos viendo que desde antaño algunas comunidades han sabido manejar sus aguas negras de forma que protegían a su población de las enfermedades hídricas. De alguna manera, fue cuando se abrió una brecha en el conocimiento de los pueblos que se pierden estos conocimientos y como consecuencia, se pierde la salud, la calidad de vida, hasta la misma vida de los ciudadanos. Por ello, es urgente difundir este conocimiento antes de que se arrincone efinitivamente todo el conocimiento robado por el “progreso”. Reaprender de la naturaleza lo que sabían nuestros antepasados, proteger nuestra tierra con el respeto a todos sus habitantes para encontrar ese equilibrio destruido por la avaricia del mercado, supuestamente libre, que destruye todo lo que toca, pero que no parará de hacerlo si no es naturalizando actitudes y mentalidades. En el grupo Tar trabajamos en la aplicación de la ingeniería ambiental posible, aprendiendo de la Naturaleza que nos regala la energía solar cada día y aprovechar su experiencia de años en la autoconstrucción, o construcción local, de los sistemas que necesitan los propios ciudadanos interesados, para trabajar con los materiales accesibles del entorno cercano

Sleep patterns, sleep disorders and mammographic density in spanish women: The DDM-Spain/Var-DDM study

[EN] We explored the relationship between sleep patterns and sleep disorders and mammographic density (MD), a marker of breast cancer risk. Participants in the DDM-Spain/var-DDM study, which included 2878 middle-aged Spanish women, were interviewed via telephone and asked questions on sleep characteristics. Two radiologists assessed MD in their left craneo-caudal mammogram, assisted by a validated semiautomatic-computer tool (DM-scan). We used log-transformed percentage MD as the dependent variable and fitted mixed linear regression models, including known confounding variables. Our results showed that neither sleeping patterns nor sleep disorders were associated with MD. However, women with frequent changes in their bedtime due to anxiety or depression had higher MD (e¿:1.53;95%CI:1.04¿2.26).This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness - Carlos III Institute of Health (ISCIII) (FI14CIII/00013, FIS PI060386 & PS09/0790), from the Spanish Federation of Breast Cancer Patients (FECMA 485 EPY 1170-10), Gent per Gent Fund (EDEMAC Project), the EPY1306/06 collaboration agreement between Astra-Zeneca and the ISCIII and partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)Pedraza-Flechas, AM.; Lope, V.; Moreo, P.; Ascunce, N.; Miranda-García, J.; Vidal, C.; Sánchez-Contador, C.... (2017). Sleep patterns, sleep disorders and mammographic density in spanish women: The DDM-Spain/Var-DDM study. Maturitas. 99:105-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.02.015S1051089

Evaluation of mammographic density patterns: reproducibility and concordance among scales

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increased mammographic breast density is a moderate risk factor for breast cancer. Different scales have been proposed for classifying mammographic density. This study sought to assess intra-rater agreement for the most widely used scales (Wolfe, Tabár, BI-RADS and Boyd) and compare them in terms of classifying mammograms as high- or low-density.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study covered 3572 mammograms drawn from women included in the DDM-Spain study, carried-out in seven Spanish Autonomous Regions. Each mammogram was read by an expert radiologist and classified using the Wolfe, Tabár, BI-RADS and Boyd scales. In addition, 375 mammograms randomly selected were read a second time to estimate intra-rater agreement for each scale using the kappa statistic. Owing to the ordinal nature of the scales, weighted kappa was computed. The entire set of mammograms (3572) was used to calculate agreement among the different scales in classifying high/low-density patterns, with the kappa statistic being computed on a pair-wise basis. High density was defined as follows: percentage of dense tissue greater than 50% for the Boyd, "heterogeneously dense and extremely dense" categories for the BI-RADS, categories P2 and DY for the Wolfe, and categories IV and V for the Tabár scales.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was good agreement between the first and second reading, with weighted kappa values of 0.84 for Wolfe, 0.71 for Tabár, 0.90 for BI-RADS, and 0.92 for Boyd scale. Furthermore, there was substantial agreement among the different scales in classifying high- versus low-density patterns. Agreement was almost perfect between the quantitative scales, Boyd and BI-RADS, and good for those based on the observed pattern, i.e., Tabár and Wolfe (kappa 0.81). Agreement was lower when comparing a pattern-based (Wolfe or Tabár) versus a quantitative-based (BI-RADS or Boyd) scale. Moreover, the Wolfe and Tabár scales classified more mammograms in the high-risk group, 46.61 and 37.32% respectively, while this percentage was lower for the quantitative scales (21.89% for BI-RADS and 21.86% for Boyd).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Visual scales of mammographic density show a high reproducibility when appropriate training is provided. Their ability to distinguish between high and low risk render them useful for routine use by breast cancer screening programs. Quantitative-based scales are more specific than pattern-based scales in classifying populations in the high-risk group.</p

Healthcare-associated pneumonia: a prospective study in Spain

Objective: The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiological characteristics and factors related to outcome in Streptococcus pneumoniae and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP). Methods: A 3-year prospective observational epidemiological case study of HCAP was conducted in seven Spanish hospitals. Microbiological and patient characteristics and outcomes were collected and classified by causative pathogen into 4 categories: "S. pneumoniae", "MRSA", "Others" and "Unknown". Patients were followed up 30 days after discharge. Results: A total of 258 (84.6%) patients were enrolled (170 were men [65.9%]). Mean age was 72.4 years ± 15 years (95% CI [70.54-74.25]). The etiology of pneumonia was identified in 73 cases (28.3%): S. pneumoniae in 35 patients (13.6%), MRSA in 8 (3.1%), and other microorganisms in 30 patients (11.6%). Significant differences in rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p < 0.05), previous antibiotic treatment (p<0.05), other chronic respiratory diseases, inhaled corticosteroids (p <0.01), and lymphoma (p < 0.05) were observed among the four groups. Patients with MRSA pneumonia had received more previous antibiotic treatment (87.5%). Thirty-three (12.8%) patients died during hospitalisation; death in 27 (81.2%) was related to pneumonia. Conclusions: The etiology of HCAP was identified in only one quarter of patients, with S. pneumoniae being the most prevalent microorganism. Patients with chronic respiratory diseases more frequently presented HCAP due to MRSA than to S. pneumoniae. Death at hospital discharge was related in most cases to pneumonia.Objetivo: Describir las características epidemiológicas y factores relacionados con la neumonía asociada a cuidados sanitarios (NACS) causada por Streptococcus pneumoniae y Staphylococcus aureus resistente a meticilina (SARM). Pacientes y métodos: Estudio epidemiológico observacional prospectivo de casos a 3 años en siete hospitales españoles. Se recogieron las características microbiológicas y de los pacientes y sus resultados y se clasificaron en función del patógeno causante en 4 categorías: ?S. pneumoniae?, ?SARM?, ?Otros? y ?Desconocido?. Al alta, se realizó un seguimiento de 30 días. Resultados: Se incluyeron 258 (84,6%) pacientes (170 hombres [65.9%]; edad media 72,4 años ± 15 años (95% IC [70,54-74,25]). La etiología de la neumonía se identificó en 73 casos (28,3%):S. pneumoniae en 35 pacientes (13,6%), SARM en 8 (3,1%) y otros microorganismos en 30 pacientes (11,6%). Hubo diferencias significativas en tasas de enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (p < 0,05), tratamiento antibiótico previo (p < 0,05), otras enfermedades respiratorias crónicas, corticoides inhalados (p < 0,01) y linfoma (p < 0,05) entre los cuatro grupos. Los pacientes con NACS causada por SARM recibieron tratamiento antibiótico previo en mayor medida (87,5%). Treinta y tres (12,8%) pacientes murieron durante la hospitalización; en 27 (81,2%) debido a la neumonía. Conclusiones: Se identificó la etiología de la NACS en solo un cuarto de los pacientes, siendo S. pneumoniae el patógeno más frecuente. En los pacientes con enfermedades respiratorias crónicas fue más frecuente la NACS causada por SARM. La muerte tras el alta hospitalaria se relacionó con la neumonía en la mayoría de los casos

Differences in breast cancer-risk factors between screen-detected and non-screen-detected cases (MCC-Spain study)

Purpose: The variation in breast cancer (BC)-risk factor associations between screen-detected (SD) and non-screen-detected (NSD) tumors has been poorly studied, despite the interest of this aspect in risk assessment and prevention. This study analyzes the differences in breast cancer-risk factor associations according to detection method and tumor phenotype in Spanish women aged between 50 and 69. Methods: We examined 900 BC cases and 896 controls aged between 50 and 69, recruited in the multicase-control MCC-Spain study. With regard to the cases, 460 were detected by screening mammography, whereas 144 were diagnosed by other means. By tumor phenotype, 591 were HR+, 153 were HER2+, and 58 were TN. Lifestyle, reproductive factors, family history of BC, and tumor characteristics were analyzed. Logistic regression models were used to compare cases vs. controls and SD vs. NSD cases. Multinomial regression models (controls used as a reference) were adjusted for case analysis according to phenotype and detection method. Results: TN was associated with a lower risk of SD BC (OR 0.30 IC 0.10-0.89), as were intermediate (OR 0.18 IC 0.07-0.44) and advanced stages at diagnosis (OR 0.11 IC 0.03-0.34). Nulliparity in postmenopausal women and age at menopause were related to an increased risk of SD BC (OR 1.60 IC 1.08-2.36; OR 1.48 IC 1.09-2.00, respectively). Nulliparity in postmenopausal women was associated with a higher risk of HR+ (OR 1.66 IC 1.15-2.40). Age at menopause was related to a greater risk of HR+ (OR 1.60 IC 1.22-2.11) and HER2+ (OR 1.59 IC 1.03-2.45) tumors. Conclusion: Reproductive risk factors are associated with SD BC, as are HR+ tumors. Differences in BC-risk factor associations according to detection method may be related to prevailing phenotypes among categories