Pruebas toxicológicas preocupacionales para el consumo de drogas en empresas catalogadas como de alto riesgo

Introduction: Consumption of alcohol and drugs in work environments suppose a risk for the employees, for third parties and for the productivity. World’s ILO recommends previous medic evaluation of employees’ health. The objective of this work was to estimate the prevalence of marihuana consumption and cocaine in urine samples for candidates to high-risk jobs and to analyze the associated factors. Method: We took 2.197 urine samples to detect any consumption of marihuana or cocaine. The source was secondary. Toxicological analysis was made with a technique of chromatographic immune-essay of lateral flux. Measures for absolute and relative frequency were calculated, as well as chi-squared tests for the analysis of the associated factors. Results: Prevalence of marihuana was of 7.3% and cocaine of 3.6%. There was a statistical association between the positive result of marihuana and the sex, age, education and type of company. For cocaine, the same variables were associated, except the age. Conclusions: Using drug tests for urine as medical pre-occupational examinations is the first step to prevent drug consumption in high-risk work environments. There is evidence that candidates for a job who consume drugs have bigger chances to assume risks in the work environment.Introducción: El consumo de alcohol y de drogas en ambientes laborales constituye un riesgo para el mismo trabajador, para terceros y compromete la productividad. La OIT recomienda la evaluación médica previa de la salud de los trabajadores. El objetivo de este trabajo fue estimar la prevalencia de consumo de marihuana y cocaína en muestras de orina para aspirantes a empleos de alto riesgo y analizar algunos factores asociados. Métodos: Se tomaron 2.197 muestras de orina para detectar consumo de marihuana y cocaína. La fuente fue secundaria. El análisis toxicológico se realizó con la técnica de inmunoensayo cromatográfico de flujo lateral. Se calcularon medidas de frecuencia absoluta y relativa, y se aplicó la prueba de chi cuadrado de Pearson para el análisis de factores asociados. Resultados: La prevalencia de marihuana fue de 7,3 % y de cocaína de 3,6 %. Hubo asociación estadística entre el resultado positivo de marihuana y sexo, edad, escolaridad y tipo de empresa. Para cocaína se encontró asociación con las mismas variables, excepto en edad. Conclusiones: El uso de pruebas de drogas en orina como exámenes médicos preocupacionales es el primer paso para la prevención del consumo de drogas en ambientes laborales de alto riesgo. Hay evidencia acerca de que los aspirantes a un trabajo que consumen drogas tienen más probabilidad de asumir riesgos en el ambiente laboral

Primeros datos polínicos de la secuencia "fuentillejo-1" de la laguna del Maar de Fuentillejo (Campo de Calatrava, Ciudad Real)

XV lnternational A.P.L.E. Symposium of Palynolog

Scavenger guild and consumption patterns of an invasive alien fish species in a Mediterranean wetland

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) alter ecosystems, disrupting ecological processes and driving the loss of ecosystem services. The common carp Cyprinus carpio is a hazardous and widespread IAS, becoming the most abundant species in many aquatic ecosystems. This species transforms ecosystems by accumulating biomass to the detriment of other species, thus altering food webs. However, some terrestrial species, such as vertebrate scavengers, may benefit from dead carps, by incorporating part of the carp biomass into the terrestrial environment. This study describes the terrestrial vertebrate scavenger assemblage that benefits from carp carcasses in a Mediterranean wetland. We also evaluate the seasonal differences in the scavenger assemblage composition and carrion consumption patterns. Eighty carp carcasses (20 per season) were placed in El Hondo Natural Park, a seminatural mesohaline wetland in south-eastern Spain, and we monitored their consumption using camera traps. We recorded 14 scavenger species (10 birds and four mammals) consuming carp carcasses, including globally threatened species. Vertebrates consumed 73% of the carrion biomass and appeared consuming at 82% of the carcasses. Of these carcasses consumed, 75% were completely consumed and the mean consumption time of carcasses completely consumed by vertebrates was 44.4 h (SD = 42.1 h). We recorded differences in species richness, abundance, and assemblage composition among seasons, but we did not find seasonal differences in consumption patterns throughout the year. Our study recorded a rich and efficient terrestrial vertebrate scavenger assemblage benefitting from carp carcasses. We detected a seasonal replacement on the scavenger species, but a maintenance of the ecological function of carrion removal, as the most efficient carrion consumers were present throughout the year. The results highlight the importance of vertebrate scavengers in wetlands, removing possible infectious focus, and moving nutrients between aquatic and terrestrial environments.JMPG was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities contracts (IJC-2019-038968). ESG received the grants PID 2021-124744NA-I00 and RYC2019-027216-I funded by MCIN/AEI/ https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF Investing in your future

Using Process Mining to Analyze Time-Distribution of Self-Assessment and Formative Assessment Exercises on an Online Learning Tool

The study of the relationships between self-regulated learning and formative assessment is an active line of research in the educational community. A recent review of the literature highlights that the study of these connections has been mainly unidirectional, focusing on how formative assessment helps students to self-regulate their learning, being much less explored the effect of self-regulated learning strategies on formative assessment. In this context, analyzing automatically captured students’ activities within online learning tools can provide us further insights on the interactions between these two topics. More specifically, this article examines the activity traces of 382 students who used an online tool to learn a programming language. The tool incorporates review exercises for promoting self-assessment (an important self-regulated learning strategy). Furthermore, the tool is used in supervised laboratories where students receive formative assessment. This study uses process mining techniques to analyze the temporal component of student behavior in both types of activities, their interaction, and how self-assessment relates to formative assessment. Some key lessons are learned: activities promoting self-assessment significantly improved students’ involvement in formative assessment activities; increasing selfassessment cannot compensate for a lack of effort in formative assessment. We also underline that, to the best of our knowledge, to date no research has used process mining to consider the time component in the analysis of the relationships between formative assessment and self-assessment

Telomere length in patients with gestational Diabetes Mellitus and normoglycemic pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing telomere length in blood leukocytes or mononuclear cells in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and normoglycemic pregnant women (NPW) and their infants. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022300950). Searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase, LILACS, CNKI, and Wang Fang, from inception through November 2022. The primary outcomes were maternal and offspring telomere length. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of included studies. Random-effect meta-analyses were applied to estimate standardized mean differences (SMDs) and their 95% confidence interval (CI). The meta-analysis of four studies showed no significant maternal telomere length difference (SMD = −0.80, 95% CI: −1.66, 0.05) in women with GDM compared to NPW. In the sensibility analysis omitting one study with a small sample of women, the telomere length becomes significantly reduced in women with GDM (SMD = −1.10, 95% CI: −2.18, −0.02). GDM patients had increased glucose (SMD = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.46) and glycosylated hemoglobin than NPW (SMD = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.23, 1.01) while total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides did not display differences between women with and without GDM. There was no significant difference in cord blood telomere length in offspring from women with GDM and NPW (SMD = 0.11, 95% CI: −0.52, 0.30). Cord blood insulin levels (SMD = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.85) and birthweight (SMD = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.79) were higher in offspring from pregnant women with GDM than in those from NPW. There were no significant differences in maternal and offspring telomere length between pregnancies with and without GDM

Fludarabine inhibits KV1.3 currents in human B lymphocytes

Fludarabine (F-ara-A) is a purine analog commonly used in the treatment of indolent B cell malignancies that interferes with different aspects of DNA and RNA synthesis. KV1.3 K+ channels are membrane proteins involved in the maintenance of K+ homeostasis and the resting potential of the cell, thus controlling signaling events, proliferation and apoptosis in lymphocytes. Here we show that F-ara-A inhibits KV currents in human B lymphocytes. Our data indicate that KV1.3 is expressed in both BL2 and Dana B cell lines, although total KV1.3 levels were higher in BL2 than in Dana cells. However, KV currents in the plasma membrane were similar in both cell lines and were abrogated by the specific KV1.3 channel inhibitor PAP-1, indicating that KV1.3 accounts for most of the KV currents in these cell lines. F-ara-A, at a concentration (3.5 μM) similar to that achieved in the plasma of fludarabine phosphate-treated patients (3 μM), inhibited KV1.3 currents by 61 ± 6.3% and 52.3 ± 6.3% in BL2 and Dana B cells, respectively. The inhibitory effect of F-ara-A was concentration-dependent and showed an IC50 value of 0.36 ± 0.04 μM and a nH value of 1.07 ± 0.15 in BL2 cells and 0.34 ± 0.13 μM (IC50) and 0.77 ± 0.11 (nH) in Dana cells. F-ara-A inhibition of plasma membrane KV1.3 was observed irrespective of its cytotoxic effect on the cells, BL2 cells being sensitive and Dana cells resistant to F-ara-A cytotoxicity. Interestingly, PAP-1, at concentrations as high as 10 μM, did not affect the viability of BL2 and Dana cells, indicating that blockage of KV1.3 in these cells is not toxic. Finally, F-ara-A had no effect on ectopically expressed KV1.3 channels, suggesting an indirect mechanism of current inhibition. In summary, our results describe the inhibitory effect of F-ara-A on the activity of KV1.3 channel. Although KV1.3 inhibition is not sufficient to induce cell death, further research is needed to determine whether it might still contribute to F-ara-A cytotoxicity in sensitive cells or be accountable for some of the clinical side effects of the drug.This study was supported by MINECO (SAF2013-45800-R, SAF2016-75021-R, RD12/0042/0019, CB/11/00222) and ISCIII (PI12/01135 and PI16/00895). The cost of this publication was paid in part by funds from the European Fund for Economic and Regional Development (FEDER). TG is supported by the Ramón y Cajal Program.Peer reviewedPeer Reviewe

Unravelling the vertebrate scavenger assemblage in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Despite the essential role that vertebrate scavengers play in ecosystems, most studies have been conducted in Europe and North America, and there is a lack of information on vertebrate scavengers in vast regions of the world. Our aim was to describe the functioning and composition of the unknown vertebrate scavenger assemblage in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, and determine how carcass size and habitat type affect species composition and carrion use. We monitored carcasses with camera traps and we also conducted observation points to survey the raptor community and identify the proportion of raptor species making use of the carcasses. We recorded eight vertebrate scavenger species (five birds and three mammals) by camera trap and seven raptors at observation points. Over half of the raptor species recorded at the observation points were also found feeding on carrion. The two most threatened species were only recorded in the mountain habitat. Furthermore, scavenger abundance and consumption rates were higher at large carcasses. This study highlights the importance of scavenging by raptors and other vertebrate scavengers for carrion elimination in ecosystems with extreme climatic conditions.AOT, JMPG, ZMR, LNA and ESG were supported by Generalitat Valenciana (SEJI/2018/024), ZMR and LNA also by contracts co-funded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund (APOSTD/2019/016 and ACIF/2019/056, respectively), and JASZ by funds from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the European Regional Development Fund (RTI 2018-099609-B-C21)

Optimising models for prediction of tropospheric scintillation on satellite links

A phenomenon that also causes impairment in the received signal strength of the RF signal in satellite links operating at frequencies above 10 GHz, especially in those systems that operate at higher frequencies with small fade margins, is the tropospheric scintillation that occurs in the lower layer of the troposphere. In order to estimate the intensity, i.e. the variance between the scintillation amplitude fluctuations, there are several models in the literature, whose accuracy depends on the locality in which the models are implemented. In this Letter, new models are developed for the prediction of tropospheric scintillation that adjusts to localities in Spain, specifically Madrid city, based on measurements of the aforementioned phenomenon reported from Spain and the bios-inspired technique Cuckoo Search (CS). The results obtained, evaluated in terms of the root mean square error, were totally satisfactory, being the most outstanding cases the improved versions of the Ortgies-T, Statistical Temperature and Humidity 2 and Statistical Temperature and Refractivity 2 models