Introduction: Medical students represent a new generation of medical thought, and if they have a favourable attitude towards organ donation this will greatly encourage its promotion.
Objective: To ...analyse the attitude of medical students in Spanish universities towards the donation of their own organs and to determine the factors affecting this attitude.
Material and Methods: Type of study: A sociological, interdisciplinary, multicentre, and observational study in Spain. Study population: Students studying a degree in medicine enrolled in Spain (n = 34,000). Sample size: A sample of 9598 students (confidence of 99% and precision of ±1%), stratified by geographical area and academic year. Instrument of measurement: A validated questionnaire of attitude towards organ donation and transplantation (PCID-DTO RIOS) was self-administered and completed anonymously.
Results: The questionnaire completion rate was 95.7% (n = 9.275). 80% were in favour of donation, 2% against and 18% were undecided. The following main variables were related to a favourable attitude: being of the female sex (Odds Ratio = 1.739); being in the sixth year of the degree (OR = 2.506); knowing a donor (OR = 1.346); having spoken about the subject with one's family (OR = 2.132) and friends (OR = 1.333); having a family circle that is in favour, more specifically, having a father (OR = 1.841), mother (OR = 2.538) or partner in favour (OR = 2.192); being a blood donor (OR = 2.824); acceptance of the mutilation of the body if it were necessary (OR = 2.958); and being an atheist or an agnostic (OR = 1.766).
Conclusions: Spanish medical students generally have a favourable attitude towards organ donation, although 20% are not in favour.
A
bstract
The
Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC
(NEXT) searches for the neutrinoless double-beta (0
νββ
) decay of
136
Xe using high-pressure xenon gas TPCs with electroluminescent amplification. ...A scaled-up version of this technology with about 1 tonne of enriched xenon could reach in less than 5 years of operation a sensitivity to the half-life of 0
νββ
decay better than 10
27
years, improving the current limits by at least one order of magnitude. This prediction is based on a well-understood background model dominated by radiogenic sources. The detector concept presented here represents a first step on a compelling path towards sensitivity to the parameter space defined by the inverted ordering of neutrino masses, and beyond.
We present 81 near-infrared (NIR) spectra of 30 Type II supernovae (SNe II) from the Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II), the largest such data set published to date. We identify a number of NIR ...features and characterize their evolution over time. The NIR spectroscopic properties of SNe II fall into two distinct groups. This classification is first based on the strength of the He i λ1.083 m absorption during the plateau phase; SNe II are either significantly above (spectroscopically strong) or below 50 (spectroscopically weak) in pseudo equivalent width. However, between the two groups other properties, such as the timing of CO formation and the presence of Sr ii, are also observed. Most surprisingly, the distinct weak and strong NIR spectroscopic classes correspond to SNe II with slow and fast declining light curves, respectively. These two photometric groups match the modern nomenclature of SNe IIP, which show a long duration plateau, and IIL, which have a linear declining light curve. Including NIR spectra previously published, 18 out of 19 SNe II follow this slow declining-spectroscopically weak and fast declining-spectroscopically strong correspondence. This is in apparent contradiction to the recent findings in the optical that slow and fast decliners show a continuous distribution of properties. The weak SNe II show a high-velocity component of helium that may be caused by a thermal excitation from a reverse shock created by the outer ejecta interacting with the red supergiant wind, but the origin of the observed dichotomy is not understood. Further studies are crucial in determining whether the apparent differences in the NIR are due to distinct physical processes or a gap in the current data set.
Long-term in vivo studies in murine models have shown that DMSA-coated nanoparticles accumulate in spleen, liver and lung tissues during extended periods of time (at least up to 3 months) without any ...significant signs of toxicity detected. During that time, nanoparticles undergo a process of biotransformation either by reducing the size or the particle aggregation or both. Using a rat model, we have evaluated the transformations of magnetic nanoparticles injected at low doses. Particles with two different coatings, dimercaptosuccinic acid (NP-DMSA) and polyethylene glycol (NP-PEG-(NH2)2) have been administered to animals, to evaluate the role of coating in the degradation of the particles. We have found that low doses of magnetic nanoparticles are quickly metabolized by the animals. In fact, using a nanoparticle dose four times lower than in previous experiments, NP-DMSA were not observed 24 h after the administration either in the liver or in the lungs. Interestingly, an increased amount of ferritin, the iron storage protein, was observed in liver tissues from rats that were treated with the low dose of NP-DMSA in comparison with the control ones, suggesting a rapid metabolization of the particles into ferritin iron. On the other side we have found that, NP-PEG-(NH2)2 are still detectable in several organs 24 h after their administration at low doses. Probably, due to the longer circulation times of the NP-PEG-(NH2)2, there is a delay in the arrival of the particles to the tissue and this is the reason why we are able to see the particles 24 h post-administration. PEG coating could also be protecting the nanoparticles from rapid degradation of the reticuloendothelial system. Knowledge on the biodistribution, circulation time and degradation processes is required to gain a better understanding of the safety evaluation of this kind of nanomaterial for biomedical applications.
•There are few data in the literature regarding sepsis or septic shock due to extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) strains.•The INCREMENT project is the largest international cohort study on ESBL ...infections.•Septic shock due to ESBL strains is associated with high 30-day mortality.•Escalation of antibiotic therapy is an important determinant of mortality.•Carbapenems should be used only in strains with resistance to ß-lactam/ß-lactamase inhibitors.
There are few data in the literature regarding sepsis or septic shock due to extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae (E). The aim of this study was to assess predictors of outcome in septic patients with bloodstream infection (BSI) caused by ESBL-E.
Patients with severe sepsis or septic shock and BSI due to ESBL-E were selected from the INCREMENT database. The primary endpoint of the study was the evaluation of predictors of outcome after 30 days from development of severe sepsis or septic shock due to ESBL-E infection. Three cohorts were created for analysis: global, empirical-therapy and targeted-therapy cohorts.
367 septic patients were analysed. Overall mortality was 43.9% at 30 days. Escherichia coli (62.4%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (27.2%) were the most frequent isolates. β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor (BLBLI) combinations were the most empirically used drug (43.6%), followed by carbapenems (29.4%). Empirical therapy was active in vitro in 249 (67.8%) patients, and escalation of antibiotic therapy was reported in 287 (78.2%) patients. Cox regression analysis showed that age, Charlson Comorbidity Index, McCabe classification, Pitt bacteremia score, abdominal source of infection and escalation of antibiotic therapy were independently associated with 30-day mortality. No differences in survival were reported in patients treated with BLBLI combinations or carbapenems in empirical or definitive therapy.
BSI due to ESBL-E in patients who developed severe sepsis or septic shock was associated with high 30-day mortality. Comorbidities, severity scores, source of infection and antibiotic therapy escalation were important determinants of unfavorable outcome.
On electron loss lowering at hematite photoelectrode interfaces Bedin, Karen C.; Rodríguez‐Gutiérrez, Ingrid; Peregrino, Lizandra R. P. ...
Journal of the American Ceramic Society,
January 2023, 2023-01-00, 20230101, Letnik:
106, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Photoelectrodes nanoscale interface design has become a key factor to enhancing their photoelectrochemical performance for water splitting by reducing the photogenerated charge recombination, thus ...ensuring their efficient separation, transport, and collection. In this work, hematite (α‐Fe2O3) photoanodes were prepared from a simple and scalable methodology capable of synergistically mitigating the charge loss and recombination at all interfaces (i.e., fluorine‐doped tin oxide/hematite, hematite/hematite, and hematite/electrolyte) and achieving overall efficiency of ∼50% for the water oxidation reaction compared to pristine photoelectrodes. The external quantum efficiency at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode of pristine hematite was enhanced 6.7 times with the modifications of the three interfaces (Al2O3/NbH/NiFeOx). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and intensity‐modulated photocurrent spectroscopies were applied to probe and monitor the photogenerated charge carrier dynamics revealing a substantial improvement in charge separation and collection at the back‐contact interface as well as a partial mitigation of the surface states at the hematite–electrolyte interface.
A
bstract
Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are widely used state-of-the-art computer vision tools that are becoming increasingly popular in high-energy physics. In this paper, we attempt to ...understand the potential of CNNs for event classification in the NEXT experiment, which will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in
136
Xe. To do so, we demonstrate the usage of CNNs for the identification of electron-positron pair production events, which exhibit a topology similar to that of a neutrinoless double-beta decay event. These events were produced in the NEXT-White high-pressure xenon TPC using 2.6 MeV gamma rays from a
228
Th calibration source. We train a network on Monte Carlo-simulated events and show that, by applying on-the-fly data augmentation, the network can be made robust against differences between simulation and data. The use of CNNs offers significant improvement in signal efficiency and background rejection when compared to previous non-CNN-based analyses.
We present an exquisite 30 minute cadence Kepler (K2) light curve of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2018oh (ASASSN-18bt), starting weeks before explosion, covering the moment of explosion and the ...subsequent rise, and continuing past peak brightness. These data are supplemented by multi-color Panoramic Survey Telescope (Pan-STARRS1) and Rapid Response System 1 and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m Dark Energy Camera (CTIO 4-m DECam) observations obtained within hours of explosion. The K2 light curve has an unusual two-component shape, where the flux rises with a steep linear gradient for the first few days, followed by a quadratic rise as seen for typical supernovae (SNe) Ia. This "flux excess" relative to canonical SN Ia behavior is confirmed in our i-band light curve, and furthermore, SN 2018oh is especially blue during the early epochs. The flux excess peaks 2.14 0.04 days after explosion, has a FWHM of 3.12 0.04 days, a blackbody temperature of K, a peak luminosity of , and a total integrated energy of . We compare SN 2018oh to several models that may provide additional heating at early times, including collision with a companion and a shallow concentration of radioactive nickel. While all of these models generally reproduce the early K2 light curve shape, we slightly favor a companion interaction, at a distance of ∼ based on our early color measurements, although the exact distance depends on the uncertain viewing angle. Additional confirmation of a companion interaction in future modeling and observations of SN 2018oh would provide strong support for a single-degenerate progenitor system.
The aim of this work was to achieve a preliminary characterization of the profile of the phenolic fraction of virgin olive oils (VOOs) from Maipú (Mendoza, Argentina). Thus, 25 commercial VOO ...samples from Arauco, Arbequina, Picual, Frantoio, Changlot, Empeltre, Nevadillo, Manzanilla, and Coratina (both monovarietals and blends) were analyzed using LC-ESI-QTOF MS and LC-ESI-IT MS for identification and quantification purposes, respectively. A rapid LC method (15 min) accomplished quantitative information about a total of 40 phenolic compounds, including secoiridoid derivatives, which have not been evaluated before in samples coming from the subregion so-called Maipú (Mendoza province, Argentina). The results make evident that olive oils coming from Mendoza can be considered as important sources of phenolic bioactive compounds, exhibiting similar phenolic compound levels to those shown by oils from other typical world production regions. Moreover, some distinctive features of the Arauco variety (Argentinean autochthonous variety) were pointed out; indeed, a correlation between flavonoids content and botanical variety was established herewith.
ABSTRACT
The GALANTE optical photometric survey is observing the northern Galactic plane and some adjacent regions using seven narrow- and intermediate-filters, covering a total of 1618 deg2. The ...survey has been designed with multiple exposure times and at least two different air masses per field to maximize its photometric dynamic range, comparable to that of Gaia, and ensure the accuracy of its photometric calibration. The goal is to reach at least 1 per cent accuracy and precision in the seven bands for all stars brighter than AB magnitude 17 while detecting fainter stars with lower values of the signal-to-noise ratio. The main purposes of GALANTE are the identification and study of extinguished O+B+WR stars, the derivation of their extinction characteristics, and the cataloguing of F and G stars in the solar neighbourhood. Its data will be also used for a variety of other stellar studies and to generate a high-resolution continuum-free map of the Hα emission in the Galactic plane. We describe the techniques and the pipeline that are being used to process the data, including the basis of an innovative calibration system based on Gaia DR2 and 2MASS photometry.
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