The effectiveness of minimum income benefits in poverty reduction in Spain

One of the greatest peculiarities of the Spanish system of minimum income benefits is its complex organisation. There is a wide variety of specific means‐tested benefits whose management and financing depend on the central government. They are designed to protect different contingencies, providing very different levels of protection. On the other hand, the general risk of poverty is covered by regional governments without any coordination and financing from the central government. In this article, we provide a picture of the possibilities and limits of the current set of welfare benefits, focusing especially on its effectiveness in terms of reducing poverty. Our findings show that most benefits are clearly insufficient to cover the risk of poverty in terms of both incidence and intensity. The results show the need for the redesign of the system to better articulate existing benefits in order to prevent new forms of poverty and to respond to emergency situations

Aplicación de herramientas de gestión de la calidad al diseño de una bicicleta

El proyecto es un estudio de una bicicleta antigua a la cual se le aplican una serie de herramientas de gestión de la calidad para el diseño. A modo de ejemplo específico, pero se podría aplicar a cualquier producto

Factores asociados a la ansiedad durante el aislamiento social por COVID-19 en estudiantes universitarios, Cusco-Perú

Adapting to a different routine has a psychological cost with alterations in response capacity, predisposing people to develop pathologies related to anxiety. Objectives: To determine the association between the factors of the media, psychosomatic, health history, socioeconomic, coping, behaviors towards isolation and anxiety during quarantine by COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) in university students. Material and Methods: Analytical observational study, using a “Snowball” strategy; 436 responses were collected through an online survey. The instrument used was a questionnaire containing sociodemographic data, epidemiological data referring to the disease (Covid-19) and DASS-21. Anxiety was considered as a dependent variable, and as variables independent the media, health history, socioeconomic status, coping, and finally, isolation behaviors. Results: It consisted of 436 participants, where 58.5% presented anxiety. Conclusions: We found higher levels than the national average prior to the pandemic and higher in comparison to other studies and reviews on anxiety.Adaptarse a la pérdida de la rutina habitual conlleva, muchas veces, un costo psicológico que, según las circunstancias personales, se manifiesta en alteraciones en la capacidad de respuesta, predisponiendo a las personas a desarrollar patologías relacionadas a la ansiedad. Objetivo: Determinar la asociación entre los factores de medios de información, psicosomáticos, antecedentes en salud, socioeconómicos, estilos de afrontamiento, conductas frente al aislamiento y la ansiedad durante la cuarentena por la COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) en estudiantes universitarios. Método y materiales: Estudio observacional analítico, realizado a través de la estrategia de «bola de nieve»; serecolectaron 436 respuestas mediante una encuesta en línea. El instrumento usado fue un cuestionario que recogió datos sociodemográficos y datos epidemiológicos referentes a la COVID-19, al COPE-28 y al DASS-21. Se consideró como variable dependiente a la ansiedad; y como variables independientes a los medios de información, antecedentes en salud, socioeconómicos, estilos de afrontamiento y conductas frente al aislamiento. Resultados: De los 436 participantes, el 58,5 % tenía ansiedad. Obtuvieron correlaciones significativas con la ansiedad los siguientes: los medios de información, los factores psicosomáticos, los antecedentes de salud, las conductas frente alaislamiento. Conclusiones: Encontramos niveles superiores al promedio nacional previo a la pandemia, y mayores en comparación con otros estudios y revisiones sobre la ansiedad

Dietary fatty acid metabolism: New insights into the similarities of lipid metabolism in humans and hamsters

[EN] Hamsters have been long accepted as animal models to study the lipid metabolism in humans. However, very few scientific works described in detail the fatty acid (FA) composition of plasma and erythrocytes in hamsters in relation to their dietary intake, and none work was found comparing them with that described in humans. Therefore, a study was carried out to compare the effect of ingesting olive oil or dairy fat, as part of an equilibrated diet in healthy subjects, on plasma and erythrocytes FA composition. More than 40 FA were detected in samples of both species. It was demonstrated that plasma total FA (TFA) concentration and FA profiles are similar in humans and hamsters. In both species linoleic, oleic and palmitic acids are the main FA and accounted for the 70% of TFA. Differences found between species can be explained by differences in the dietary intake and differences in the proportion of triglycerides, cholesteryl esters and phospholipid fractions in plasma of both species. Changes in dietary FA intake causes similar changes in FA concentration in the plasma of both species and can be explained by the same metabolic processes. The erythrocyte FA profile differs more between the two species. Moreover, unlike humans, the FA profile of hamster erythrocytes is more sensitive to changes in dietary FA than that of plasma

Normal-Fat vs. High-Fat Diets and Olive Oil vs. CLA-Rich Dairy Fat: A Comparative Study of Their Effects on Atherosclerosis in Male Golden Syrian Hamsters

The relationship between milk fat intake (because of its high saturated fatty acid content) and the risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases remains controversial. Thus, Golden Syrian hamsters were fed two types of fat—sheep milk fat that was rich in rumenic (cis9,trans11-18:2) and vaccenic (trans11-18:1) acids and olive oil—and two doses (a high- or normal-fat diet) for 14 weeks, and markers of lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis evolution were analyzed. The results revealed that the type and percentage of fat affected most plasma biochemical parameters related to lipid metabolism, while only the expression of five (CD36, SR-B1, ACAT, LDLR, and HMG-CoAR) of the studied lipid-metabolism-related genes was affected by these factors. According to aortic histology, when ingested in excess, both fats caused a similar increase in the thickness of fatty streaks, but the high-milk-fat-based diet caused a more atherogenic plasma profile. The compositions of the fats that were used, the results that were obtained, and the scientific literature indicated that the rumenic acid present in milk fat would regulate the expression of genes involved in ROS generation and, thus, protect against LDL oxidation, causing an effect similar to that of olive oil.This research was funded by the Basque Government (Grant to Research Groups IT944-16). A.B. and G.S.-G. received a research grant from the University of the Basque Country (calls 2009 and 2019, respectively)

The Belle II vertex detector integration

Belle II DEPFET, PXD, and SVD Collaborations: et al.The Belle II experiment comes with a substantial upgrade of the Belle detector and will operate at the SuperKEKB energy-asymmetric ee collider with energies tuned to ϒ(4S) resonance s=10.588 GeV. The accelerator has successfully completed the first phase of commissioning in 2016 and the first electron–positron collisions in Belle II took place in April 2018. Belle II features a newly designed silicon vertex detector based on DEPFET pixel and double-sided strip layers. Currently, a subset of the vertex detector is installed (Phase 2 of the experiment). Installation of the full detector (Phase 3) will be completed by the end of 2018. This paper describes the Phase 2 arrangement of the Belle II silicon vertex detector, with focus on the interconnection of detectors and their integration with the software framework of Belle II. Alignment issues are discussed based on detector simulations and first acquired data.This work is supported by MSCA-RISE, European Union project JENNIFER (EU grant n. 644294), MEXT, Japan, WPI, and JSPS (Japan); ARC (Australia); BMWFW (Austria); MSMT, Czech Republic, GAUK 404316 (Czech Republic); AIDA-2020 (Germany); DAE, India and DST (India); INFN (Italy); NRF-2016K1A3A7A09005605 and RSRI (Korea); MNiSW (Poland); Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, Germany); and MINECO, Spain grant FPA2015-71292-C2-1-P (Spain)

The Sum of Plasma Fatty Acids iso16:0, iso17:0, trans11-18:1, cis9, trans11-CLA, and cis6-18:1 as Biomarker of Dairy Intake Established in an Intervention Study and Validated in the EPIC Cohort of Gipuzkoa

The questioned reliability of 15:0, 17:0, and trans9-16:1 acids as biomarkers of dairy fat intake also questions the relationship between the intake of these products and their health effects. Two studies were conducted in the same geographical region. In an intervention study, volunteers followed a diet rich in dairy products followed by a diet without dairy products. Plasma and erythrocyte fatty acids (FA) were analyzed, and their correlations with dairy product intakes were tested. The FA biomarkers selected were validated in the Gipuzkoa cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) observational study. The correlation coefficients between plasma concentrations of iso16:0, iso17:0, trans11-18:1, cis9, trans11-18:2, and cis6-18:1 and the dairy fat ingested are similar in both studies, indicating that their concentration increases by 0.8 µmol/L per gram of dairy fat ingested. The biomarkers are positively related to plasma triglycerides (r = 0.324 and 0.204 in the intervention and observational studies, respectively) and total cholesterol (r = 0.459 and 0.382), but no correlation was found between the biomarkers and atherogenicity indexes. In conclusion, the sum of the plasma concentration of the selected FAs can be used as biomarkers of dairy product consumption. A linear relationship exists between their plasma concentrations and ruminant product intake. These biomarkers allow for obtaining consistent relationships between dairy intake and plasma biochemical parameters.This research was funded by Basque Government (grant to Research Groups IT944-16). A.B. received a research grant from the University of the Basque Country, call 2009

Encapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum in casein-chitosan microparticles facilitates the arrival to the colon and develops an immunomodulatory effect

The current work describes the capability of casein-chitosan microparticles to encapsulate Lactobacillus plantarum (CECT 220 and WCFS1 strains) and evaluates their ability to target the distal areas of the gut and to stimulate the immune system. Microparticles were prepared by complex coacervation, between sodium caseinate and chitosan in an aqueous suspension of the bacteria, and dried by spray-drying. In order to increase the survival rate of the loaded bacteria, microparticles were cross-linked with one of the following cross-linkers: tripolyphosphate, calcium salts or vanillin. Overall, microparticles displayed a mean size of about 7.5 μm with a bacteria loading of about 11 Log CFU/g, when cross-linked with vanillin (MP-LP-V). For conventional microparticles, the payload was 10.12 Log CFU/g. The storage stability study at 25 ◦C/60% RH, MP-LP-V offered the highest degree of protection without signif- icant modification of the payload in 260 days. Compared with control (aqueous suspension of bacteria), MP-LP-V also displayed a significantly higher degree of protection against probiotic inactivation in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. In vivo results evidenced that microparticles, orally administered to rats, were able to reach the distal ileum and colon in about 4 h post-administration. Additionally, the effect of the daily administration of 107 CFU/mouse of MP-LP-V, for 3 weeks, induced an immunomodulatory effect characterized by an important enhancement of Th1 and Th17 responses. In conclusion, these microparticles seem to be a promising strategy for increasing survival and efficacy of probiotics, allowing the formulation of cost-effective and more stable and effective probiotic-based nutraceuticals