Ageism and nursing students, past or reality?: a systematic review

Objective: This systematic review aimed to summarise and update existing knowledge about ageism among nursing students through the following research question: what is the perception and attitudes of ageism among student nurses? Design: A systematic review of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of ageism in nursing students was carried out. Data sources: The literature search was conducted in the scientific databases Pubmed and Scopus in February 2021. Review methods: After the screening process, 22 studies meeting the selection criteria were selected; 8 more were identified after manually searching the selected paper' reference lists. A total of 30 studies were included in the review. The JBI Critical Appraisal Checklists for Analytical Cross-Sectional studies and for Cohort Studies were used to appraise the articles' quality. Results: There was large variability in the manifestation of ageism among student nurses, as well as in the instruments used for assessment. Most of the articles analysed attitudes towards old age, the majority of which were positive. Being a female student, being on the final year of study and having regular contact or cohabitation with an older adult were three of the main determinants in the expression of positive attitudes towards the elderly. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that student nurses generally have positive attitudes towards old age, although ageist beliefs and discriminatory behaviours were identified and should be studied in greater depth. Training programs for future care professionals have a responsibility to educate from a non-stereotypical perspective based on current societal needs

Importance of the spectral emissivity measurements at working temperature to determine the efficiency of a solar selective coating

The total emissivity of the absorbing surfaces is a critical parameter in the calculation of the radiative thermal losses in solar thermal collectors. This is because the radiative heat losses have a significant economic impact on the final cost of the electricity produced in a solar thermal plant. This paper demonstrates the need to calculate the total emissivity from spectral emissivity measurements at the working temperature of the solar thermal collector, instead of using extrapolated values from spectral emissivities measured at room temperature. Usual uncertainties produced by the estimation of the total emissivity, in which its temperature dependence is only introduced by the Planck function, are analyzed

Importance of the spectral emissivity measurements at working temperature to determine the efficiency of a solar selective coating

The total emissivity of the absorbing surfaces is a critical parameter in the calculation of the radiative thermal losses in solar thermal collectors. This is because the radiative heat losses have a significant economic impact on the final cost of the electricity produced in a solar thermal plant. This paper demonstrates the need to calculate the total emissivity from spectral emissivity measurements at the working temperature of the solar thermal collector, instead of using extrapolated values from spectral emissivities measured at room temperature. Usual uncertainties produced by the estimation of the total emissivity, in which its temperature dependence is only introduced by the Planck function, are analyzed.This work has been carried out with the financial support of the ETORTEK and SAIOTEK 2013 program (Project numbers S-PC08UN07 and S-PE13UN123 respectively) of the Basque Government in collaboration with CIC-Energigune. T. Echániz acknowledges the Basque Government their support through a Ph.D. fellowship

Effect of environmental food enrichment on the behaviour of sheep kept in permanent housing

La creciente preocupación por el bienestar de los animales en sistemas de producción intensivos ha llevado al desarrollo de diferentes programas de enriquecimiento ambiental, para mejorar el grado de diversidad comportamental de los animales de granja y mejorar su bienestar. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar los efectos de un enriquecimiento ambiental alimenticio sobre la respuesta comportamental de ovejas gestantes, lactantes con corderos y secas. A partir del rebaño de la Facultad de Veterinaria de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 36 ovejas de la raza Castellana se distribuyeron aleatoriamente en 9 lotes de 4 ovejas, 3 grupos por estado fisiológico. El enriquecimiento nutricional consistió en proporcionar el 25 % de la ración de volumen, heno de alfalfa, en una malla suspendida del techo y una plataforma para facilitar el acceso, administrando también heno en el comedero habitual. Se grabaron las frecuencias y el tiempo que las ovejas dedicaron a la expresión de los distintos comportamientos. Las ovejas lactantes usaron de inmediato el enriquecimiento, mientras que las gestantes aprendieron, porque no fueron a comer a la malla el día 1, pero sí los días sucesivos. Al cuarto día la frecuencia y el tiempo que el conjunto de ovejas dedicó a comer en los diferentes sitios era mayor, así como las interacciones sociales en gestantes y secas, siendo menor el comportamiento de pie observando. Se ha conseguido que las ovejas se mantengan activas y distraídas, expresando durante más tiempo un repertorio de comportamientos naturales y, en consecuencia, mejorando su bienestar.The growing concern for the animal welfare in intensive production systems has led to the development of different environmental enrichment programmes, with the aim of optimizing the degree of behavioral diversity of farm animals to improve their welfare. The objective of this work was to assess the effect of an environmental enrichment on the behavior profile of housed sheep. Pregnant, lactating, and non-pregnant adult ewes from the experimental farm of the Veterinary Faculty of the Complutense University of Madrid were randomly distributed in 9 experimental groups of 4 ewes, 3 groups per physiological state. Nutritional environmental enrichment consisted in providing 25 % of the ration volume, alfalfa hay, in a mesh suspended from the ceiling with platform to facilitate access to the mesh, also administering hay in the usual feeder. The frequencies and the time that the sheep dedicated to the expression of the different behaviors were recorded for 1h over the 4 test days. Lactating ewes made immediate use of the enrichment, while pregnant ewes learned to eat from the mesh, because they did not eat from the mesh the first day, but they did the following days. At the end of the four days the frequency and time that ewes spent eating in the different sites was higher than the first day, as well as the social interactions in pregnant and dry ewes, being lower the frequency and time they spent standing. The provided environmental enrichment has kept ewes occupied and distracted, expressing for a longer time a repertoire of natural behaviors, and consequently, improving their welfare.Depto. de Producción AnimalSección Deptal. de Fisiología (Veterinaria)Fac. de VeterinariaTRUEpu

Round Robin Test for the comparison of spectral emittance measurement apparatuses

International audienceCSP (Concentrated Solar Power) plants technologies use the concentration of solar energy on a receiver to produce heat and then electricity by a thermodynamical process. A solar absorber material is used to convert the energy carried by light into heat. This type of material works at high temperatures (up to 1000 °C) under a highly concentrated solar flux (up to x1000 or more). Optical properties determine the performance of absorbers and it is thus necessary to measure their spectral absorptance and emittance. Solar absorptance is directly linked to the capacity of the absorber material to convert the solar flux into heat. Emittance drives the radiative thermal losses for the heated absorber and depends on the absorber temperature. The characterization of a material in operational conditions at high temperatures requires advanced apparatuses, and different measurement methods exist for the characterization of these two quantities of relevance regarding an absorber. A Round Robin Test (RRT) was conducted with the objective of comparing different new optical apparatuses and methods for measuring the emittance or luminance of various solar absorbers in air. Measurements were carried out directly at temperatures up to 560 °C while heating the samples, and also indirectly by hemispherical reflectance measurements at room temperature. In this paper, the Round Robin Test procedure to compare apparatuses is described, as well as the corresponding reflectance and emittance results on four types of materials. In addition, a discussion of some factors of influence over high temperature measurements in air and of the observed discrepancies among results from the evaluators is presented. The reliability of reflectance/emittance measurements is also demonstrated and statistics of deviations from the mean value are analysed. These allow us to infer information about measurement reproducibility. The reflectance spectra of all samples after high temperature measurements in air (up to 500 °C) do not show any significant changes

Evolution of an International External Quality Assurance Model To Support Laboratory Investigation of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Developed for the SIREVA Project in Latin America, from 1993 to 2005▿

In 1993 the Pan American Health Organization initiated a laboratory-based surveillance system, called the SIREVA project, to learn about Streptococcus pneumoniae invasive disease in Latin American children. In 1994, National Laboratories in six countries were trained to perform serotyping and antibiotic susceptibility testing using broth microdilution to determine the MIC for specified antibiotics. An international External Quality Assurance (EQA) program was developed to monitor and support ongoing laboratory performance. The EQA program was coordinated by the National Centre for Streptococcus (NCS), Edmonton, Canada, and included external proficiency testing (EPT) and a validation process requiring regular submission of a sample of isolates from each laboratory to the NCS for verification of the serotype and MIC. In 1999, the EQA program was decentralized to use three of the original laboratories as regional quality control centers to address operational concerns and to accommodate the growth of the laboratory network to more than 20 countries including the Caribbean region. The overall EPT serotyping accuracies for phase I (1993 to 1998) and phase II (1999 to 2005) were 88.0 and 93.8%, respectively; the MIC correlations within ±1 log2 dilution of the expected result were 83.0 and 91.0% and the interpretive category agreements were 89.1 and 95.3%. Overall, the validation process serotyping accuracies for phases I and II were 81.9 and 88.1%, respectively, 80.4 and 90.5% for MIC agreement, and 85.8 and 94.3% for category agreement. These results indicate a high level of testing accuracy in participating National Laboratories and a sustained increase in EQA participation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Evolution of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes and penicillin susceptibility in Latin America, Sireva-Vigía Group, 1993 to 1999. PAHO Sireva-Vigía Study Group. Pan American Health Organization

Fil: Di Fabio, José Luis. Pan American Health Organization. Division of Vaccines and Immunization; Estados Unidos.Fil: Castañeda, Elizabeth. Instituto Nacional de Salud; Colombia.Fil: Agudelo, Clara Inés. Instituto Nacional de Salud; Colombia.Fil: De La Hoz, Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Salud Pública. Instituto de Salud Pública; Colombia.Fil: Hortal, María. Departamento de Laboratorios de Salud Pública; Uruguay.Fil: Camou, Teresa. Departamento de Laboratorios de Salud Pública; Uruguay.Fil: Echániz-Avilés, Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública; México.Fil: Barajas, María Noemi Carnalla. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública; México.Fil: Heitmann, Ingrid. Instituto de Salud Pública, Chile.Fil: Hormazabal, Juan Carlos. Instituto de Salud Pública, Chile.Fil: Brandileone, María Cristina C. Instituto Adolfo Lutz; Brasil.Fil: Dias Vieira, Vera Simonsen. Instituto Adolfo Lutz; Brasil.Fil: Regueira, Mabel. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: Ruvinski, Raúl. Hospital Municipal M. Durand; Argentina.Fil: Corso, Alejandra. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: Lovgren, Marguerite. National Centre for Streptococcus; Canadá.Fil: Talbot, James A. National Centre for Streptococcus; Canadá.Fil: De Quadros, Ciro. Pan American Health Organization. Division of Vaccines and Immunization; Estados Unidos.Background: Since 1993 the Pan American Health Organization has coordinated a surveillance network with the National Reference Laboratories of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay aimed at monitoring capsular types and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive disease in children <6 years of age. Methods: The surveillance system included children 6 years of age and younger with invasive disease caused by S. pneumoniae. The identification, capsular typing and susceptibility to penicillin of the isolates were conducted using a common protocol, based on standard methodologies. Results: By June, 1999, 4,105 invasive pneumococcal isolates had been collected mainly from pneumonia (44.1%) and meningitis (41.1%) cases. Thirteen capsular types accounting for 86.1% of the isolates (14, 6A/6B, 5, 1, 23F, 19F, 18C, 19A, 9V, 7F, 3, 9N and 4) remained the most common types during the surveillance period. Diminished susceptibility to penicillin was detected in 28.6% of the isolates, 17.3% with intermediate and 11.3% with high level resistance. Resistance varied among countries and increased during this period in Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay. Serotypes 14 and 23F accounted for 66.6% of the resistance. Conclusion: These surveillance data clearly demonstrate the potential impact of the introduction of a conjugate vaccine on pneumococcal disease and the need for more judicious use of antibiotics to slow or reverse the development of antimicrobial resistance

Nomenclature of Major Antimicrobial-Resistant Clones of Streptococcus pneumoniae Defined by the Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network

The emergence of disease caused by penicillin-resistant and multidrug-resistant pneumococci has become a global concern, necessitating the identification of the epidemiological spread of such strains. The Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network was established in 1997 under the auspices of the International Union of Microbiological Societies with the aim of characterizing, standardizing, naming, and classifying antimicrobial agent-resistant pneumococcal clones. Here we describe the nomenclature for 16 pneumococcal clones that have contributed to the increase in antimicrobial resistance worldwide. Guidelines for the recognition of these clones using molecular typing procedures (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, BOX-PCR, and multilocus sequence typing) are presented, as are the penicillin-binding profiles and macrolide resistance determinants for the 16 clones. This network can serve as a prototype for the collaboration of scientists in identifying clones of important human pathogens and as a model for the development of other networks