bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Beliefs about gender violence. Sexism in adolescent relationships
Authors: de la Osa Escudero Zoraida , Andrés Gómez Soledad , Pascual Gómez Isabel
Published: March 2021

This paper explores the relationships in adolescence, examining beliefs about gender violence from a cognitive-developmental perspective. The sample consists of 297 students from 3 different state-subsidized schools, between the ages of 13-18 (2nd and 4th years of Secondary Education and 2nd year of High School). The students’ representations of relationships are analyzed from the point of view of both genders and the degree to which they consider violence to be justified. The study is based upon a transversal design (quasi-experimental) with survey. The instrument used is an adaptation of the Cuestionario de Actitudes hacia la Diversidad y la Violencia (Questionnaire of Attitudes towards Diversity and Violence). The results demonstrate a partial relationship between moral-evolutionary development and the degree of justification applied to different situations in which there is violence. The data shows that the acceptance of sexist beliefs and the justification of violence decrease as students get older. However, from 15-16 years old (4th ESO) is the age at which students most justify gender stereotypes. The study indicates middle- adolescence as the ideal time to carry out psycho-educational interventions, taking into account the values related to equality and respect between genders.
Eating Habits, Health and Gender in the Elderly
Authors: López Giménez Mª Rosario , Montero López Mª Pilar , Mora Urda Ana Isabel , Romero Collazos Juan Francisco
Published: March 2021

The aging process must be understood as a multifactorial process involving interactions between biological, environmental and gender factors. Lifestyle and diet are factors of particular importance in the health situation of elderly. Thus one of the most important goals of aging research is to identify factors that contribute to improving health in this stage of life. A cross-sectional observational study was performed with a sample of 191 women and men aged 65 or more years in rural and urban areas of the Comunidad de Madrid, through interviews with a survey designed ad hoc for the study, which considered different social, cultural, lifestyle and health. The results showed that women perceived their health as fair or poor in a higher percentage of men (61% women vs. 45% men), they were also less satisfied with their life (28.6% women vs. 6% men). Educational level, gender and morbidity were determinants in the perception of health. There was a different pattern of health in both genders, with a significant prevalence of osteo-articular problems in women (62.3%). Eating habits at the time of the study showed no association with better or worse health, either among women or men, while gender issues (education or income level) were associated with health.
Complications of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy in over 65 Years, a Case Report
Authors: Perejón Díaz María de las Nieves , Rodríguez López María Jesús , Ruiz Isabel Moreno , Benítez Rivero Javier
Published: March 2021

Case description: Woman, 79 years old. Medical history: hypertension, Atrial fibrillation (AF) permanent treated with acenocoumarol and mitral insufficiency. Barthel 90, Lowton-Brody. 2. The patient came to the emergency room for rib pain (musculoskeletal) in last two weeks, without other symptoms. We initiated analgesia and the patient was discharged. She came back with new symptoms: epistaxis and dyspnea. Exploration and complementary tests: cardio-pulmonary auscultation arrhythmic tones with sternal border systolic murmur left, crakling sounds in the lungs, with decreased breath sounds. Chest x-ray: right hilar mass with right pleural thickening, and diffuse bilateral infiltration. CBC: hemoglobin 7.9 g/dl (First: 11.6 g/dl), WBC 11.57x10l. Biochemistry: PCR 72.90 mg/l, urea 85 mg/l. Coagulation: INR undetermined, activity prothrombin <12.5%. Diagnosis: bilateral alveolar hemorrhage. Diagnosis Differential: bilateral alveolar hemorrhage, bilateral pneumonia, heart failure congestive (Acute Lung Edema). Conclusion: 0.5% of the population uses oral anticoagulants, between 6.8-11.1% by FA an INR>, increases the risk of bleeding. This is a patient with multimorbidity, moderately dependent, with poor treatment compliance and anticoagulation control. Given these data (anemia, no signs of infection or heart failure), and the test results, we opted for the first possibility alveolar hemorrhage diagnosed.
Analysis of the Situation of Abuse Suffered Outside the Institution Older People in the Context of Residential Care
Authors: Gómez Martínez Carmelo , Carrasco Martínez Elena , Martínez Escámez Inmaculada , Muñoz Pedro Andreo
Published: March 2021

Within the elderly population, the specific circumstances that some of the elderly find themselves due to certain socio-cultural factors make them more likely to be abused while residing in assisted living residences, due to the facts that the abuse is coming from the organisation it is unlikely to be reported, or brought to the attention of others, making it difficult to detect and, as a result, an issue not often discussed. We intend to investigate these possibilities; however, due to lack of information on this subject, we aim to address this issue by investigating the number of elderly people living in nursing homes who have suffered abuse due to agents outside of the organisation, such as the family, other residents and Friends. A brief questionnaire was created on an Excel Spreadsheet for the collection of data for this study, these questionnaires where then passed on the social workers of 4 assisted living residences, in the geographical scope of the Murcia region. The data collected correspond to the time period between January and December 2013. The results lead us to believe that the principal risk factors associated with this type of abuse is being a woman, a widow and with and age of about 80 years. Psychological abuse from family members was the most frequently reported type of abuse in the study.
Predictive Role of Caregiver Type, Dependency Level and Time Caring on the Impact of Caring for a Dependent Relative as a Stressor
Authors: Lanzón Serra Teresa , Díaz Martínez Amelia
Published: March 2021

This work presents the evaluation of the stress symptoms associated to the task of caring for a dependent relative at home. The role played by variables such as type of caregiver (nurse/non-nurse), the relative dependency level, the number of hours per day dedicated to caring and the years the caregiver had been caring for the relative was studied. The sample was made up of 100 caregivers, and the variables associated to stress studied in the present work were intrusion, avoidance and activation. Results showed that non-nurse caregivers caring for a low dependency relative for a period of less than two years were those suffering a higher impact, with more symptoms associated to stress. Hours caring per day worked as a protective variable of stress, in that those caregivers dedicating a lower number of hours to caring had lower risk of suffering stress symptoms. These results clearly show the stressful impact of the first stages of dependency, even at the lowest level of dependency in a relative, on non-professional caregivers and highlight the need to provide strategies, similar to those shown by professional nurses looking after their own relatives, to reduce stress. This kind of intervention would prepare the caregiver for the future stages when the dependency level in the relatives and the effort caring for them would be higher.
Differences Between Elderly Women and Men in Cognitive Functioning and Quality of Life
Authors: Navarro Elena , Calero Mª Dolores , Calero-García Mª José
Published: March 2021

Today, there is still some controversy about the influence of the variable sex on cognitive functioning and quality of life in old age. The main objective of the study presented is to analyze possible differences between older men and women in relation to their cognitive abilities and quality of life. The study sample consists of 264 persons aged between 65 and 95 years from the provinces of Jaen and Granada who were assessed with a cognitive screening test, a verbal fluency test, a task of sustained attention, a task to assess learning potential, a working memory task, and of quality of life questionnaire. The results show that, once the educational level and age of participants is controlled, men show superior performance on cognitive screening tasks, working memory, sustained attention and verbal fluency; while women performance above men in verbal memory tasks and verbal learning. In quality of life, men show better health and greater independence, while women scored higher than men on social integration and use of social services.
Prevalence of insomnia in elderly and drug prescriptions
Authors: Ibañez Consuelo , Dueñas Diego R. , Sánchez-Waisen Mª Rosa
Published: March 2021

Sleep disorders are very frequent in the elderly and it affects health and well-being of older people. Some authors estimate that the prevalence of insomnia in the elderly is very high, close to 60%. Sleep disorders in the elderly are frequent and it causes high demand for care. Some authors think that it will affect a lot in health of older people and those who take care of them. This could bring an increase of institutionalization. With this work we wanted to measure prevalence of insomnia in those chronic and psychogeriatric patients who are in nursing-homes, and which psychotropic drugs are prescribed for control it. In addition, we have studied if there is significant relationship between psychiatric diagnosis, neurologic diagnosis, age or sex, medical comorbidity, and the presence of insomnia.
An intervention to increase the wellbeing of older people
Authors: Ortega Ana Raquel , Ramírez Encarnación , Chamorro Alberto
Published: March 2021

Background. Research has shown that happiness and well-being play a critical role in the health of the elderly. Therefore programs based on positive psychology include any of these variables to improve their quality of life by preventing and reducing the occurrence of emotional disorders. Objectives. Prove if an intervention based on Autobiographical Memory, Forgiveness, Gratitude and Sense of Humor will increase the quality of life in institutionalized elderly. Method. A quasi-experimental design with pre and post intervention measures were used. Participants. Twenty institutionalized people aged 65 years. Instruments. Measures were taken for depression, anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction, autobiographical memory and cognitive impairment by administering questionnaires. Procedure. After obtained informed consent, questionnaires were administered in an individual interview and the purpose of the intervention was explained. The duration of the program was eleven weeks and once completed, were reevaluated participants. Results. The intervention has been effective in producing an increase in the welfare of the elderly. Conclusions. The proposed intervention is revealed as one effective new tool easy to use and inexpensive to allow to improve the quality of life and emotional disorders of the elderly.
Resilience in workers and residents of a Centre for the Elderly institutionalized
Authors: Méndez Inmaculada , García-Sevilla Julia , Martínez Juan P. , Boti Mª Ángeles , Cánovas Ana B. , Clemente Yolanda
Published: March 2021

Resilience is a dynamic and multidimensional construct that refers to the ability of people to cope with or recover successfully from adverse situations. The aim of this study was to analyze resilience in workers and residents of a Centre for the Elderly institutionalized according to sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age and marital status) after the adverse situation caused by an earthquake in Lorca in May 2011. A sociodemographic questionnaire developed ad hoc and the adaptation of the Resilience Scale Connor-Davidson (CD-RISC) were administered. Participants were 20 workers and 34 seniors in a Centre for the Elderly institutionalized in the Region of Murcia (Lorca). The average age of the institutionalized seniors was 81 years with a standard deviation of 7.68 and the average age of professional caregivers was 37.85 years with a standard deviation of 9.60. The study allows to determine resilience capacity in response to sociodemographic characteristics and the existence of significant mean differences between the ability of tenacity-efficacy among workers and residents of the Centre for the Elderly. This will allow to design actions to prevent and/or intervene promptly.
Assessment of aging by cortical functional connectivity estimated through synchronization electroencephalographic measurements
Authors: González Julián J. , González Almudena
Published: March 2021

This work was aimed to study the physiological cerebral aging from the analysis of functional electroencephalographic (EEG) connectivity between different cortical areas in two groups of healthy subjects between 50-65 years and between 66-80 years. With this purpose, digital monopolar EEG recordings were carried out at rest and closed eyes, taking as sampling rate, 256 Hz and as reference, the average of the 16 channels recorded (6-frontals, 4-temporals, 2-centrals, 2-parietal, 2-occipital). The functional cortical connectivity was estimated from the interdependence between channels using the coherence function in the frequency bands delta/theta/alpha/beta, and an index (L) of nonlinear generalized synchronization. The pairwise connectivity between all possible channels and a global connectivity between each channel and all others was computed. The results show that certain local interdependencies measured by the index L and by the delta band coherence, decreased with age; these were especially significant for the temporal-occipital-central connections. Moreover, a significant linear decrease with age of the interdependence indices aforementioned for the pair and local averages was observed. Also global interdependencies, especially those of nonlinear type, for certain central-lateral and posterior areas, decline with age. It is concludes that individual and global measures of EEG functional connectivity between certain brain areas can help to objectively evaluate the neurophysiological aging.
Impairment of visual perception in Aging: Compensatory brain mechanisms
Authors: Rodríguez-Ferrer José M.
Published: March 2021

We have studied the effects of normal aging on visual perception and the existence of possible compensatory brain mechanisms. Were measured in three groups of 30 people with normal vision and average age of 19.6, 42.6 and 65.7 years, the response time to the presentation of stimuli (0.5º in diameter grey circles) sequentially in 24 positions of the visual field, distributed in 8 polar coordinates and 3 eccentricities (2.15, 3.83 and 5.53 degrees of visual field). The stimulus was presented for 100 milliseconds, with low and high contrast (6% and 78%, respectively). The experiments were conducted with and without covert attention to stimuli. With age was observed a progressive increase in the response times from the stimuli of 6% of contrast and those presented in the eccentricity of 5.53º. With covert attention, response times were significantly reduced in the three age groups. However, while the younger and older showed similar reductions in the response times, the adult group obtained minor cuts. These results show that during aging occurs a selective and progressive deterioration in the perception of low contrast and that this deterioration is greater in the peripheral macular areas and that from sixty years the visual attention compensating mechanisms have greater efficiency in the improvement of visual perception.
Alexithymia, resilience and paranormal beliefs in an elderly institutionalized center
Authors: Méndez Inmaculada , García-Sevilla Julia , Martínez Juan P. , Bermúdez Ana Mª , Pérez Pilar , García-Munuera Isabel
Published: March 2021

Alexithymia refers to the difficulty to understand and identify feelings and those of others. The process of adapting a residential facility is one of the stressful situations older people may face. In order to overcome this situation, resilience is critical and even there are people who seek support in religion or paranormal beliefs. In this paper, we studied the relationship between alexithymia, resilience and paranormal beliefs in a group of 35 seniors (21 women) aged between 66 and 95 years old in an institutionalized center. The instruments used were the TAS-20 Scale in order to assess alexithymia, the CD-RISC for evaluating resilience and the Enhanced Paranormal Beliefs Scale. Among main findings, it must be emphasized that subjects with greater difficulty identifying feelings are those with less personal control and less belief about extraordinary life forms; subjects with greater personal control had higher belief about those extraordinary life forms. Professional applications that can be launched in elderly institutionalized centers are discussed.
Cognitive decline, functional dependency and sociodemographic characteristics in elderly patients with bone fractures
Authors: Ortega Ana R. , Calero Mª José
Published: March 2021

The objective of this paper was to study the evolution of cognitive status and of functional dependency in patients over 65 and how these relate to different demographic variables. The sample consisted of 259 elderly people admitted to the Hospital Neurotraumatológico in Jaen (Spain) with a diagnosis of bone fracture. Sociodemographic data was obtained through a semi-structured interview. Furthermore, the following tests were also administered: Barthel Index, Lawton and Brody’s Scale, Phototest, and Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly. According to the results of this study, elderly patients show increased dependency during hospitalization and a mild recovery at discharge, but without regaining their dependency values prior to hospitalization. There is a differential incidence of functional decline as a function of gender, where women have significantly lower functional dependency at home than men and they do not decline as much as men do from their status prior to hospitalization. Also, we have encountered significant inverse relations between the different levels of dependency and cognitive status, and the age of the elderly patient. Moreover, married patients experienced greater functional gain than did the widowed patients, regardless of gender.
Family involvement, adolescent self-concept and academic achievement
Authors: Álvarez Ana , Suárez Natalia , Tuero Ellián , Núñez José C. , Valle Antonio , Regueiro Bibiana
Published: March 2021

The purpose of this work was to analyze the specific relationship between parental involvement, dimensions of student self-concept and achievement. 503 students of Secondary Education (ESO) and the first year of Baccalaureate course participated in the study. Data were collected using two questionnaires (Family Involvement Questionnaire and Self-Concept Scale for Adolescents) and academic achievement scores. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance and paths analysis. The results obtained suggest a significant relationship between the dimensions of perceived family involvement and the dimensions of self-concept (except for parents' praise behaviors). What's more, the relationship between perceived family involvement and achievement is partially mediated by the academic self-concept.
Burnout and empathy among professional caregivers of elderly
Authors: Martínez Juan P. , Méndez Inmaculada , García-Sevilla Julia
Published: March 2021

The aim of this research has been to analyze cognitive and affective empathy among professional workers in an institutionalized center. Empathy is the capacity of taking into account others points of with feelings and emotions as Theory of Mind claims. Depersonalization emerges in caregivers in certain circumstances. This acts as a mechanism of defense and is typical in the professional with high levels of burnout. For this reason, it proceeded to examine this syndrome and its relationship with empathy among 20 professional caregivers. The instruments used were the Cognitive and Affective Empathy Scale (consisted of scales understanding of perspectives, emotional understanding, empathic stress and sympathetic joy), Maslach Burnout Inventory (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and professional accomplishment) and an ad hoc survey for the workforce for the collection of sociodemographic and workplace information. The results show a significant positive correlation, with high effect size, between age and empathic stress and between this one and emotional exhaustion. Positive significance between depersonalization and sympathetic joy has also been found. The conclusions of this research lead a reflection on the configuration and structure of this defense mechanism and its relationship with empathy in the workplace.
Prevention of falls in the elderly: a review of new concepts based on the evidence
Authors: Calero Mª José , López-Cala Guillermo , Ortega Ana R. , Cruz-Lendínez Alfonso J.
Published: March 2021

Who estimates on aging say 2050 will reach 2000 million people over 60 years. It is vital to analyze the attention to this population group and prevent situations that cause increased morbidity and mortality in it. Falls in older people, they have to work in a multidisciplinary way. Clinical impact in falls, social and family factors. Objetive: To analyze the incidence of falls as an etiological factor of bone fractures in patients over 65 years. Establish what other health variables such as comorbidity, polypharmacy, functional dependence, may be related to its etiology. Method: We performed a quasi- experimental design of repeated measures. The final sample consisted of 259 participants. The instruments used were the Barthel Index, the Fototest and MNA. Conclusions: The intervention in the prevention of falls the elderly should be a multidisciplinary work, as it depends on many factors such as health, food, marital status or the conditions of their habitual residence, which must be addressed by various professionals.
Socially prescribed perfectioism and personality
Authors: Vicent María , Inglés Cándido J. , Gonzálvez Carolina , Sanmartín Ricardo , García-Fernández José Manuel
Published: March 2021

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP) and the Big Five personality traits in a sample of 804 Primary School students between 8 and 11 years old (M=9.57; SD=1.12). The SPP subscale of the Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (CAPS) and the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ-N), which evaluate the traits of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, were used. The mean difference analysis showed that students with high levels of SPP scored significantly higher on Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion and Openness, with small effect sizes for all cases. In contrast, no significant differences were observed in Neuroticism. Logistic regression analysis revealed that all personality traits, except neuroticism, whose results didn’t reach the statistical significance, significantly and positively predicted higher scores on PSP, with OR levels ranging from 1.01 (for Conscientiousness and Agreeableness) to 1.03 (for Openness and Extraversion).
Writer profile as a modulating variable of processes involved in written composition in undergraduate students
Authors: Arias-Gundín Olga , Fidalgo Raquel
Published: March 2021

The two most well-defined writer profiles that have been found in writing research are planning and revising. In this study we analyse writing strategies and writing profiles of undergraduate students, and their influence in solving hybrid tasks; in this study took part 142 undergraduate students enrolled in three different university studies. To identify writer profile, students completed a Spanish version of Questionnaire Concerning their Planning and Revising Tendencies. We used two different hybrid tasks: summary and synthesis; we assessed in both tasks reading and writing process, level of underlined or take notes strategies, kind of draft and ideas generation. The results show that over 60% of students have a mixed writer profile with similar scores in both strategies, planning and revising, but they reported a higher level use in revising strategy. Likewise result show that the processes and strategies used by students are more complex depending on the difficulty of the task; while writing strategy that has greater influence is planning.
Relationship between the use of humor and life satisfaction in Secondary School students
Authors: Salavera Carlos , Usán Pablo
Published: March 2021

Secondary school students (N=1304) and 12-17 years old, were evaluated and mood styles and their satisfaction with life were analyzed. The results show a moderately satisfied with their lives teenagers and humor styles are used in this order: affiliative, self-improvement, aggressive and self-destructive. The life satisfaction correlated with positive styles of humor (affiliative and self-improvement) and inversely with the use of aggressive humor. Just a 25.85% of adolescents in the sample, make good use of humor (greater use of positive and less negative styles) and good levels of satisfaction with life. In addition, although men make more use of humor, both positive and negative, being a woman increases life satisfaction by 0.85 points from being male, being gender variable greater weight in predicting the score life satisfaction, self-improvement followed humor, aggressive humor and affiliative humor. In conclusion, stating that the research data provide a profile of moderately satisfied with his life teenagers, with greater use of the styles of positive humor, as well as evidence of the relationship between the use of humor and life satisfaction.
A Lightweight Motional Object Behavior Prediction System Harnessing Deep Learning Technology for Embedded ADAS Applications
Authors: Tsai Wen-Chia , Lai Jhih-Sheng , Chen Kuan-Chou , M.Shivanna Vinay , Guo Jiun-In
Published: March 2021

This paper proposes a lightweight moving object prediction system to detect and recognize pedestrian crossings, vehicles cutting-in, and vehicles ahead applying emergency brakes based on a 3D Convolution network for behavior prediction. The proposed design significantly improves the performance of the conventional 3D convolution network (C3D) adapted to predict the behaviors employing behavior recognition network capable of performing object localization, which is pivotal in detecting the numerous moving objects’ behaviors, combining and verifying the detected objects with the results of the YOLO v3 detection model with that of the proposed C3D model. Since the proposed system is a lightweight CNN model requiring far lesser parameters, it can be efficiently realized on an embedded system for real-time applications. The proposed lightweight C3D model achieves 10 frames per second (FPS) on a NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier and yields over 92.8% accuracy in recognizing pedestrian crossing, over 94.3% accuracy in detecting vehicle cutting-in behavior, and over 95% accuracy for vehicles applying emergency brakes.
Scalable ESPRIT Processor for Direction-of-Arrival Estimation of Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Radar
Authors: Jung Yongchul , Jeon Hohyub , Lee Seongjoo , Jung Yunho
Published: March 2021

The estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT) is an algorithm that uses the shift-invariant properties of the array antenna to estimate the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of signals received in the array antenna. Since the ESPRIT algorithm requires high-complexity operations such as covariance matrix and eigenvalue decomposition, a hardware processor must be implemented such that the DOA is estimated in real time. Additionally, the ESPRIT processor should support a scalable number of antenna configuration for DOA estimation in various applications because the performance of ESPRIT depends on the number of antennas. Therefore, we propose an ESPRIT processor that supports two to eight scalable antenna configuration. In addition, since the proposed ESPRIT processor is based on multiple invariances (MI) algorithm, it can achieve a much better performance than the existing ESPRIT processor. The execution time is reduced by simplifying the Jacobi method, which has the most significant computational complexity for calculating eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) in ESPRIT. Moreover, the ESPRIT processor was designed using hardware description language (HDL), and an FPGA-based verification was performed. The proposed ESPRIT processor was implemented with 10,088 slice registers, 18,207 LUTs, and 80 DSPs, and the slice register, LUT, and DSP were reduced by up to 71.45%, 54.5%, and 68.38%, respectively, compared to the existing structure.
Digital Compensation of a Resistive Voltage Divider for Power Measurement
Authors: Dadić Martin , Mostarac Petar , Malarić Roman , Konjevod Jure
Published: March 2021

The paper presents a method for digital compensation of the ratio and phase angle errors of a resistive voltage divider. The system consists of a separate electrical circuit of a resistive divider, and a digital compensation system based on National Instruments (NI) PCI eXtension for Instrumentation (PXI) PXI-5922 digital acquisition cards (DAQ). A novel approach to the real-time compensation is presented, using digital signal processing. The algorithm is based on Wiener filtering and finite-impulse-response (FIR) filters. The proposed digital compensation, using FIR digital filtration and NI PXI DAQs, gives maximum magnitude error below 400 ppm and the phase angle error below 4500 μrad, in the frequency band 50 Hz–100 kHz. The algorithm allows the fine-tuning of the compensation to adjust to the possible change in the original transfer function due to the aging of the components.
Screening and Molecular Identification of Novel Pectinolytic Bacteria from Forest Soil
Authors: Shrestha Sarita , Khatiwada Janak Raj , Zhang Xiaodong , Chio Chonlong , Kognou Aristide Laurel Mokale , Chen Feifei , Han Sihai , Chen Xuatong , Qin Wensheng
Published: March 2021

Pectinases are a group of enzymes with broad application, including in plant fiber processing, pectic wastewater treatment, paper pulping, fruit juice extraction, and clarification. With an increasing industrial demand for these enzymes, it is useful to isolate organisms that produce large amounts of pectinase and possess wide ranges of stability factors like temperature and pH. In this study, 17 out of 29 bacteria (58.62%) from forest soil samples were pectinolytic. However, only four bacteria (S-5, S-10, S-14, and S-17) showed high pectin hydrolysis zones (ranging from 0.2 cm to 1.7 cm). These four bacteria were identified based on colony morphology, microscopic characterization, biochemical characteristics, and 16S rDNA sequencing. They were designated as Streptomyces sp. (S-5, S-14), Cellulomonas sp. (S-10), and Bacillus sp. (S-17). Interestingly, bacteria showed cellulase and xylanase activity in addition to pectinase. The quantitative assay for pectinase activity of the four isolates provided proof that they are pectinase producers and can be considered potential candidates for industrial uses. The crude enzyme extracts of these bacteria are applicable in oil and juice extraction from sesame seeds and apples, respectively.
The Heterogeneity of Consumer Preferences for Meat Safety Attributes in Traditional Markets
Authors: Nugraha Widya Satya , Yang Shang-Ho , Ujiie Kiyokazu
Published: March 2021

In this study, we focus principally on Taiwan’s traditional markets, as food safety issues in those markets have been increasing recently. Thus, this poses pressures and challenges in traditional markets in terms of attracting consumers. This research aims to investigate whether there is consumer demand for more quality improvement from butchers and additional product information in Taiwan’s traditional markets by surveying consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP). This study determines consumers’ preferences for the important attributes and also investigates the different consumer segmentation in Taiwan’s traditional markets by analyzing the types of Taiwanese consumers who care about food safety and additional product information, including Taiwan Fresh Pork (TFP), QR code (provides product source information), Cold storage, and price. In this study, both Mixed Logit Model and Conditional Logit Model are used to elicit consumers’ WTP, and the Latent Class Model is used to understand the market segmentation in Taiwan’s traditional markets. The results show that the majority of Taiwanese consumers in traditional markets show preferences and WTP for meat products if Cold storage and QR code are available in Taiwan’s traditional markets. This work also provides appropriate strategies for improving the additional product information in Taiwan’s traditional markets, which can influence present and potential customers purchasing decisions.
The Denied Pleasure of Eating: A Qualitative Study with Functionally Diverse People in Spain
Authors: Cipriano-Crespo Carmen , Rivero-Jiménez Borja , Conde-Caballero David , Medina F. Xavier , Mariano-Juárez Lorenzo
Published: March 2021

This qualitative study explores the difficulties in experiencing eating-derived pleasure within a group of functionally diverse people, based on personal interviews and Grounded Theory. Understanding the feelings and subjective experiences of functionally diverse people can help develop new approaches to address their loss of pleasure and motivation regarding food intake. The study included 27 participants, aged between 18 and 75 years, all of whom had a functional deficiency that affected the occupational aspects of the eating process. Interviews were conducted in clinical settings and several centres for differently abled people. Four main themes emerged from the analysis: eating through obligation; fear of eating; the social life of food; and the importance of the taste and visual aesthetics of food. These themes underscore the importance of taking into account the phenomenological experiences of pleasure in the eating process.
Geological Heritage of Syros Island, Cyclades Complex, Greece: An Assessment and Geotourism Perspectives
Authors: Drinia Hara , Tsipra Theodora , Panagiaris George , Patsoules Marios , Papantoniou Christina , Magganas Andreas
Published: March 2021

Syros Island, Cyclades complex, central Aegean Sea, Greece, is a prime locality for the study of processes active in deep levels of orogens and is world famous for its exceptionally well preserved glaucophane schist-to eclogite-facies lithologies. Glaucophane schists and eclogites are witnesses of one of the fundamental tectonic processes operating on planet Earth. Results of geological research on Syros have contributed a lot to our present understanding of why and how these processes work that make oceans disappear, how mountain ranges can start to form, how magma chambers form to feed volcanoes, how subduction mechanisms can trigger earthquakes and lead to tsunamis, and a series of other spectacular or very impressive phenomena which have been observed and studied throughout the earth’s window offered in that particular place of the world. The description, interpretation, and evaluation of the important geological heritage of Syros, in combination with a SWOT analysis, showed the geotourism potential of the region. The results of this paper are intended to constitute a valuable tool for enhancing and raising awareness of the geological heritage of the island of Syros, regarding to the added value activities to be developed on a sustainable basis.
Health Service Activity Standards and Standard Workloads for Primary Healthcare in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Health Professionals
Authors: Asamani James Avoka , Christmals Christmal Dela , Reitsma Gerda Marie
Published: March 2021

The attainment of health system goals is largely hinged on the health workforce availability and performance; hence, health workforce planning is central to the health policy agenda. This study sought to estimate health service activity standards and standard workloads at the primary health care level in Ghana and explore any differences across health facility types. A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 503 health professionals across eight health professions who provided estimates of health service activity standards in Ghana’s Primary Health Care (PHC) settings. Outpatient consultation time was 16 min, translating into an annual standard workload of 6030 consultations per year for General Practitioners. Routine nursing care activities take an average of 40 min (95% CI: 38–42 min) for low acuity patients; and 135 min (95% CI: 127–144 min) for high dependency patients per inpatient day. Availability of tools/equipment correlated with reduced time on clinical procedure. Physician Assistants in health centres spend more time with patients than in district hospitals. Midwives spend 78 min more during vaginal delivery in health centres/polyclinics than in district/primary hospital settings. We identified 18.9% (12 out of 67) of health service activities performed across eight health professional groups to differ between health centres/polyclinics and district/primary hospitals settings. The workload in the health facilities was rated 78.2%, but as the workload increased, and without a commensurate increase in staffing, health professionals reduced the time spent on individual patient care, which could have consequences for the quality of care and patient safety. Availability of tools and equipment at PHC was rated 56.6%, which suggests the need to retool these health facilities. The estimated standard workloads lay a foundation for evidence-based planning for the optimal number of health professionals needed in Ghana’s PHC system and the consequent adjustments necessary in both health professions education and the budgetary allocation for their employment. Finally, given similarity in results with Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) methodology used in Ghana, this study demonstrates that cross-sectional surveys can estimate health service activity standards that is suitable for health workforce planning just as the consensus-based estimates advocated in WISN.
Perioperative Pain Management and Opioid Stewardship: A Practical Guide
Authors: Hyland Sara J. , Brockhaus Kara K. , Vincent William R. , Spence Nicole Z. , Lucki Michelle M. , Howkins Michael J. , Cleary Robert K.
Published: March 2021

Surgical procedures are key drivers of pain development and opioid utilization globally. Various organizations have generated guidance on postoperative pain management, enhanced recovery strategies, multimodal analgesic and anesthetic techniques, and postoperative opioid prescribing. Still, comprehensive integration of these recommendations into standard practice at the institutional level remains elusive, and persistent postoperative pain and opioid use pose significant societal burdens. The multitude of guidance publications, many different healthcare providers involved in executing them, evolution of surgical technique, and complexities of perioperative care transitions all represent challenges to process improvement. This review seeks to summarize and integrate key recommendations into a “roadmap” for institutional adoption of perioperative analgesic and opioid optimization strategies. We present a brief review of applicable statistics and definitions as impetus for prioritizing both analgesia and opioid exposure in surgical quality improvement. We then review recommended modalities at each phase of perioperative care. We showcase the value of interprofessional collaboration in implementing and sustaining perioperative performance measures related to pain management and analgesic exposure, including those from the patient perspective. Surgery centers across the globe should adopt an integrated, collaborative approach to the twin goals of optimal pain management and opioid stewardship across the care continuum.
Predictive Factors for Severe Maternal Morbidity in Brazil: A Case-Control Study
Authors: Magalhães Daniela Mendes dos Santos , Bernardes João Marcos , Ruiz-Frutos Carlos , Gómez-Salgado Juan , Calderon Iracema de Mattos Paranhos , Dias Adriano
Published: March 2021

The maternal mortality or "maternal near miss" ratio in Brazil reflects the socioeconomic indicators as well as the healthcare quality in some areas of this country, pointing out fragile points in the health services. The aim of this study was to estimate the association of diverse variables related to pregnancy and the occurrence of Near Miss in a population of women who were cared in public maternity wards in Brazil. A case-control study was performed. The association between variables and outcomes was verified through a chi-square test. A multiple analysis was carried out, producing odds ratio (OR) estimates with values of p≤0.25 in the univariate model. The results point to the following risk factors for Severe Maternal Morbidity: non-white (<0.001, OR 2.973), family income of up to two minimum wage salaries (<0.001; OR 2.159), not having a partner (<0.001, OR 2.694), obesity (<0.001, OR 20.852), not having received pre-natal care (<0.001, OR 2.843), going to less than six prenatal appointments (<0.001, OR 3.498), undergoing an inter-hospital transfer (<0.001, OR 24.655), and the absence of labor during admission (<0.001, OR 25.205). Although the results vary, the incidence of women with potential life-threatening complications is high in Brazil, which reinforces the need to universalize more complex interventions as well as coverage of primary care. The presence of precarious socio-economic indicators and unqualified obstetric care were risk factors for Severe Maternal Morbidity.
Information Detection for the Process of Typhoon Events in Microblog Text: A Spatio-Temporal Perspective
Authors: Ye Peng , Zhang Xueying , Huai An , Tang Wei
Published: March 2021

Typhoon is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the world. Real-time information on the process of typhoon events serves as important reference for disaster emergency. In the era of big data, microblog text has been gradual applied to the prevention, preparation, response, and recovery of disaster management. However, previous studies mostly focused on the acquisition of different disaster information in microblog text, while ignoring the structural integration of this fragmented information, and thus cannot reflect the dynamic process of typhoon events. In this paper, a typhoon event information model (TEIM) considering the multi-granularity and dynamic characteristics of information is constructed from the spatio-temporal perspective. On the basis of extracting the information elements of typhoon events from microblog text, a process-oriented information aggregation method (TEPIA) is proposed to provide an ordered information resource for detecting the evolution process of typhoon events. Based on the case study of typhoon “Lekima” event using Sina Weibo, the results show that the method proposed in this paper can comprehensively detect the information of different objects on any spatio-temporal node during the process of typhoon events, which is beneficial to mining disaster emergencies in small scale from microblog text.
Dengue-2 and Guadeloupe Mosquito Virus RNA Detected in Aedes (Stegomyia) spp. Collected in a Vehicle Impound Yard in Santo André, SP, Brazil
Authors: Rangel Marina E. O. , Oliveira Luana P. R. , Cabral Aline D. , Gois Katharyna C. , Lima Marcos V. M. , Reis Beatriz C. A. A. , Fonseca Fernando L. A. , Sperança Marcia A. , Gehrke Flavia S. , Laporta Gabriel Z.
Published: March 2021

In 2018–2019, we conducted mosquito collections in a municipal vehicle impound yard, which is 10 km from the Serra do Mar Environmental Protection Area in Santo André, SP, Brazil. Our aim is to study arboviruses in the impound yard, to understand the transmission of arboviruses in an urban environment in Brazil. We captured the mosquitoes using human-landing catches and processed them for arbovirus detection by conventional and quantitative RT-PCR assays. We captured two mosquito species, Aedes aegypti (73 total specimens; 18 females and 55 males) and Ae. albopictus (34 specimens; 27 females and 7 males). The minimum infection rate for DENV-2 was 11.5 per 1000 (CI95%: 1–33.9). The detection of DENV-2 RNA in an Ae. albopictus female suggests that this virus might occur in high infection rates in the sampled mosquito population and is endemic in the urban areas of Santo André. In addition, Guadeloupe mosquito virus RNA was detected in an Ae. aegypti female. To our knowledge, this was the first detection of the Guadeloupe mosquito virus in Brazil.
Integrative Taxonomy of the Spinous Assassin Bug Genus Sclomina (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) Reveals Three Cryptic Species Based on DNA Barcoding and Morphological Evidence
Authors: Zhao Ping , Du Zhenyong , Zhao Qian , Li Donghai , Shao Xiaolan , Li Hu , Cai Wanzhi
Published: March 2021

Sclomina Stål, 1861 (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) is endemic to China and Vietnam, with only two species, Sclomina erinacea Stål, 1861 and Sclomina guangxiensis Ren, 2001, characterized by spinous body and dentate abdominal connexivum. However, due to variable morphological characteristics, Sclomina erinacea, which is widely distributed in South China, is possibly a complex of cryptic species, and Sclomina guangxiensis was suspected to be an extreme group of the S. erinacea cline. In the present study, we conducted species delimitation and phylogenetic analyses based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences of 307 Sclomina specimens collected from 30 sampling localities combined with morphological evidence. The result showed that all samples used in this study were identified as five species: Sclomina guangxiensis is a valid species, and Sclomina erinacea actually includes three cryptic species: Sclomina xingrensis P. Zhao and Cai sp. nov., Sclomina pallens P. Zhao and Cai sp. nov., and Sclomina parva P. Zhao and Cai sp. nov. In this paper, the genus Sclomina is systematically revised, and the morphological characteristics of the five species are compared, described, and photographed in detail. We elucidate the evolutionary history of Sclomina based on results of estimated divergence time. The body shape and coloration (green in nymph and brown in adult) of Sclomina match their environment and mimic the Rubus plants on which they live. The symbiotic relationship between Sclomina and spinous Rubus plants is presented and discussed.
Considerations for and Mechanisms of Adjunct Therapy in COPD
Authors: Mandru Rachana , Zhou Christine Y. , Pauley Rachel , Burkes Robert M.
Published: March 2021

Inhaled bronchodilators and corticosteroids, when indicated, form the backbone of COPD therapy. However, over the last decade there has been an emergence of adjunct therapies in oral or inhaled form that are now part of the therapeutic approach to COPD. While these therapies have shown to be beneficial when used in the appropriate instances, there are particular considerations that need to be minded when using these therapies. This review article discussed the mechanism of roflumilast, macrolide antibiotics, other chronic antibiotic regimens, vitamin D supplementation, oral corticosteroids, n-acetylcysteine, and nebulized hypertonic saline, the clinical data behind each of these therapies, adverse events associated with therapy, and the expert recommendations for their utilization. Our goal is to provide a brief but informative and clinically useful review of commonly encountered therapies used in advanced COPD.