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Psychometric Properties of the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) Scale in Post-Stroke Patients—Spanish Population
Get PDFThe validation of measuring instruments in the field of health is a requirement before they
can be used safely and reliably. The action research arm test (ARAT) tool is an instrument validated
in numerous countries and languages and for different populations, and its use is widespread.
The objective of this research was to determine the psychometric properties of ARAT for a sample
composed of post-stroke patients. To achieve this, a psychometric analysis was performed, where
internal consistency tests were carried out using Cronbach’s alpha, correlations between items and
item-total and half-level tests to verify their reliability. Regarding validity, criteria validity tests were
performed, taking the motor function dimension of the Fugl–Meyer scale as gold standard, and
convergent validity tests were performed by correlation with the FIM–FAM, ECVI-38 and Lawton
and Brody scales. The results showed very good internal consistency as well as good criterion and
convergent validity. In conclusion, the ARAT can be considered a valid and reliable instrument for
the evaluation of upper limb function in post-stroke patients
Inflammation in COVID-19 and the Effects of Non-Pharmacological Interventions during the Pandemic: A Review
Get PDFSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that hit the health systems worldwide hard, causing a collapse of
healthcare systems. One of the main problems of this new virus is the high inflammatory response
it provokes, which is the cause of much of the symptoms. Different pharmacological approaches
tried to stop the advance of the pandemic, but it seems that only vaccines are the solution. In this
line, different nonpharmacological approaches have been made in order to improve symptomatology,
contagion, and spread of COVID-19, the principal factors being the physical activity, nutrition,
physiotherapy, psychology, and life patterns. The SARS-CoV-2 virus produces a disproportionate
inflammatory response in the organism of the guest and causes complications in this that can end
the life of the patient. It has been possible to see how different nonpharmacological interventions
based on physical activity, nutritional, psychological, and physical therapy, and lifestyle changes
can be functional tools to treat this inflammation. Thus, in the present review, we aim to provide
an overview of the role of inflammation in COVID-19 and the nonpharmacological interventions
related to it.P.R. contribution was funded by the European Union—NextGeneration EU through the Grant for the Requalification of the Spanish University System for 2021–2023 at the Public University of Navarre (Resolution 1402/2021)
Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Professionals in Spain
Get PDFIn December 2019, a new virus called SARS-CoV-2 appeared, and the disease it produced
was named COVID-19. After the pandemic situation was declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020, an increasing worsening of the mental health of the population, especially
healthcare professionals, became apparent. To determine the psychosocial impact of the pandemic
on healthcare professionals in Spain, a longitudinal study was conducted at two time points separated by 5 weeks (n time 1 = 169; n time 2 = 65). Participants completed an online questionnaire
assessing depression, anxiety, and stress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, DASS-21), burnout
(Maslach Burnout Inventory—MBI), resilience (Brief Resilience Scale—BRS), and health-related
quality of life (SF-36 Health Questionnaire). The results showed high levels of depression, anxiety,
stress, and burnout, as well as moderate levels of resilience and low levels of quality of life at the
first assessment. Resilience was negatively related to negative experiences, and positively related
to the quality of life, also at the first assessment. Overall, there was an improvement in the mental
health of healthcare professionals when comparing the two assessments. In this improvement,
having COVID-19 in the first assessment had a positive effect on perceived mental health in the
second assessment
Causes of Stress among Healthcare Professionals and Successful Hospital Management Approaches to Mitigate It during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study
Get PDFThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic posed an immediate challenge to the management
of hospitals in Germany and elsewhere. The risk of stress for front-line healthcare professionals
forced occupational health and safety units to adopt a variety of protective measures, not all of
which have been thoroughly validated. The main objective of the present analysis is to assess
what the most important sources of stress were and which of the protective measures applied to
counteract stress among healthcare staff had the greatest impact. A better understanding of these
factors will improve hospital management and worker safety in a future health crisis situation and
may also prove to be beneficial in non-crisis situations. For this purpose, in 2020, an exploratory,
cross-sectional and quantitative study using a questionnaire created for this purpose was carried
out on a total of 198 professionals—133 nurses and 65 physicians—at the Klinikum Mittelbaden
Balg hospital in Baden-Baden, Germany, during the first wave of the pandemic. Statistical analyses
showed that nurses suffer more stress than physicians and that stress is higher among professionals
in critical care and emergency units than in units that are less exposed to infected patients. It was
also found that measures such as salary incentives, encouragement of work in well-integrated teams,
and perceived support from hospital management mitigate stress. These findings highlight the
importance of support measures from management and superiors. Knowing the actual effectiveness
of the measures applied by management and the factors mentioned above could help to protect
healthcare professionals in the event of another pandemic or similar situations and may still be of
value in dealing with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic
Adaptation and Testing of the Factorial Structure of the Physical Education Grit Scale for Use in Secondary Education in Spain
Get PDFThe challenges faced by students during Physical Education classes embrace both physical and academic aspects. Therefore, each individual possesses a series of internal psychological
mechanisms, such as Grit, which allow them to adapt and overcome the vicissitudes. However,
there are no scales that assess Grit in Span. Thus, the aim of the present study is to test the factor
structure of the Physical Education Grit Scale in Span of Physical Education classes. For this purpose,
857 secondary school students took part in the present study. In order to test the factor structure, a
confirmatory factor analysis, an exploratory factor analysis, an analysis of the reliability of the questionnaire and an analysis of temporal stability were carried out. The results showed that the factor
structure consisted of two factors and four sub-factors (χ
2/df = 2.17 (p = 0.001); CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.96;
IFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.051; SRMR = 0.037). In addition, the reliability and temporal stability analyses
showed acceptable indices. Based on these results, evidence of reliability and validity of the Physical
Education Grit Scale in Span of Physical Education is provided
Estudio de recuperación de ácido galacturónico de residuos de piel de cebolla mediante un proceso combinado de extracción con agua subcrítica y diafiltración
No full textIn this work the feasibility of a diafiltration process using tubular ceramic membranes for the recovery of galacturonic acid, extracted from onion skin wastes, has been studied.
In the first stage of the work, galacturonic acid (which is the main component of pectin) was extracted from onion skin wastes (OSW) using subcritical water. In each experiment, 15 g of OSW were mixed with 0,35 L of water in a high-pressure extractor and heated up to 145ºC and 40 bar for 45 min. The liquid extract was characterized in terms of composition by HPLC, in order to quantify the amount of galacturonic acid extracted (either in monomeric or oligomeric form) and the impurities co-extracted: free sugars (monosaccharides), organic acids (mainly formic and acetic) and other degradation products such as furfural and HMF formed from the degradation of the sugars present in the raw material.
In the second stage of this work the aim was to study the separation of the oligomeric galacturonic acid from these impurities. For that purpose, multichannel ceramic membranes (Tami Industries) with an active layer of TiO2 and 132 cm2
of effective area were used. The molecular weight cut off (MWCO) of the selected membranes were 1, 5 and 50 kDa. Feed flowrate was set at 15 L/h and transmembrane pressure (TMP, in the range from 0.2 to 1.25 bar) was adjusted to the desired values by using a valve placed after the membrane module. Permeate fluxes (Jp) were determined volumetrically under different operating conditions. The retention of galacturonic acid (either in monomeric or oligomeric form were calculated), as well as that of the impurities was calculated. All the experiments were carried out at 25 ºC and in total recirculation mode.
It was found that the higher the MWCO, the higher the permeate flow rate, leading to a final flux of permeate constant due to the high degree of fouling observed on the membrane. It was also observed a dramatic decrease in the permeate flux when using the subcritical water extract (< 90 %) compared to that obtained when distilled water was used. This fact indicated an important membrane fouling due to the presence of colloidal matter. This fouling resulted to be reversible, since after chemical cleaning, the membrane recovered the full filtration capacity, evaluated in terms of permeate flux using water. All in all, a retention of oligomeric galacturonic acid higher than 70% was obtained when the MWCO was1 kDa, which was reduced to 50 % when either the 5 or 50 kDa membranes were used.
Then, in order to complete the separation of the oligomeric galacturonic acid and the low molecular weight purities a diafiltration process using the 50 kDa membrane was carried out. After 480 min of experiment the complete removal of the impurities was obtained, leading to a retentate rich in oligomeric galacturonic acid.En este trabajo se ha estudiado la viabilidad de la ultrafiltración con membranas cerámicas tubulares para el fraccionamiento y purificación de oligómeros de ácido galacturónico obtenidos por extracción con agua subcrítica a partir de residuos industriales de piel de cebolla. En la primera fase del estudio, el extracto de agua subcrítica se caracterizó en términos de composición y ultrafiltró en modo recirculación total a 25 ºC. Se estudió el efecto del tamaño de poro de la membrana (1-50 kDa) y de la presión transmembrana (0,2 -1,25 bar) en la retención y en el flujo de permeado. Los resultados mostraron que la retención del ácido galacturónico oligomérico aumentó al disminuir el tamaño de poro de la membrana, sin embargo, tuvo escasa repercusión en la retención de otros compuestos presentes en el extracto tales como ácido galacturónico libre, monosacáridos, ácidos orgánicos, HMF y furfural. En la segunda parte del trabajo, se llevó a cabo la ultrafiltración del extracto en modo diafiltración utilizando la membrana de mayor tamaño de poro (50 kDa). La eliminación de los compuestos de bajo peso molecular (monosacáridos, ácido galacturónico libre, ácidos carboxílicos, HMF y furfural) fue lenta, alcanzándose valores de purificación de aproximadamente el 80% con tiempos de proceso largos (5 horas). Después de 8 horas de diafiltración, se obtuvo un retenido con un 35% en peso de los oligómeros del extracto inicial y con un grado de purificación superior al 95%.El trabajo presentado en esta memoria de TFG ha sido desarrollado en el seno del
Grupo de Investigación Biotecnología Industrial y Medioambiental, reconocido por la
UBU (GIR-UBU BIOIND) y por la Junta de Castilla y León como Unidad de Investigación
Consolidada UIC-128, en el marco de los siguientes proyectos de investigación:
PID2019-104950RB-I00 - Valorización de subproductos marinos mediante tecnologías
de fluidos sub- y supercríticos para la obtención de biocompuestos valiosos, financiado
por la Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
BU050P20 - Valorización de la fracción proteica de subproductos de la industria
agroalimentaria de Castilla y León mediante tecnologías de fluidos presurizados,
financiado por la Junta de Castilla y León y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional
(FEDER).
PID2020-116716RJ-I00 - Tecnologías de fluidos presurizados para la valorización de
subproductos de la industria agroalimentaria: recuperación de pectina y otros
compuestos bioactivos de alto valor, financiado por la Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Villae and Farms: Early Imperial Rural Settlement in the Adaja-Eresma Basin (Central Roman Spain)
No full textThe information gathered, on the one hand, from the excavations carried
out at the Roman villa of Almenara de Adaja-Puras and the archaeological analyses
of various samples of sediment, starch and charcoal and, on the other, from the surveys carried out in the surrounding area, in a sector of the interfluve of the Rivers
Adaja and Eresma of approximately fifteen km2
, provide new data on the rural occupation model of this particular sector of the territory in the civitas of Cauca. The characteristics of the archaeological finds associated with the deposits demonstrate that
the occupation and exploitation of these lands was well established in the second
half of the 1st c. AD, although it is very likely that it would have been initiated earlier,
judging from the discovery at Almenara-Puras of some early structures and imported
pottery, including Italic terra sigillata
Comparing the Impact of Low-Cost 360° Cultural Heritage Videos Displayed in 2D Screens Versus Virtual Reality Headsets
No full textThe continuous price reduction of head mounted displays (HMDs)
raises the following question in the field of cultural heritage: Is it possible to
adapt desktop passive virtual reality (VR) 360° experiences for HMDs? This work
presents a comparison of low-cost 360° videos of cultural heritage displayed across
two devices: a desktop display and an HMD. The study case is the virtual reconstruction of Burgos (Spain) in 1921. The key factors of these videos are short
duration, virtual reconstruction based on 3D modelling and photo editing and the
inclusion of real actors performing out looping micro stories. The comparison of
both displays devices has been carried out by a group of 32 students from the
University of Burgos. The validation includes user satisfaction, knowledge acquisition and visual identification. The results are the following: 1) better knowledge
acquisition and immersion in the HMD group, 2) better user satisfaction for the
desktop group and 3) more fault identification related to the characters for the
HMD group. Looking at these results, the most important elements to improve are
the integration of characters and increase the length of the videos.This work was partially supported by the ACIS project (Reference Number INVESTUN/21/BU/0002) of the Consejeria de Empleo e Industria of the Junta de Castilla y León (Spain) and the Erasmus+ RISKREAL Project (Reference Number 2020–1-ES01-KA204– 081847) of the European Commission
Fraud and Corruption in EU Funding. The Problematic Use of European Funds and Solutions
No full textThis book provides systematic comparative research of antifraud laws and context at EU countries using a Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to predict illegal activities in ERDF and CF. It also details a map of corruption risk with the goal of reducing corruption and fraud in the management of European Regional Development Funds and Cohesion Funds through the incorporation of adequate measures and strategies derived from the resulting of EUMODFRAUD EU Project. The authors analyse the specific situations, observe the risks and finally, propose an innovative method that allows predicting fraudulent acts, which will be of interest to both academics, researchers, and policy makers in financial services, public finance, and financial crime