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In Spain, the issue of unemployment or precarious employment worsen with globalization, leading to an expansion of the so-called working poor in the labour market. According to previous literature, the economic poverty that is characteristic of this group may accompany poverty competency. In particular, the working poor resort to informal and poorly developed job-search strategies. This study addresses the job search methods used by people at risk of poverty and social exclusion. It provides evidence on the subject and serves as a basis for the adaptation of socio-labour intermediation programmes to this group. The hypothesis of this study is that people at high risk will predominantly use informal strategies that require a low level of job-search skills. A survey-based correlational study is conducted using a questionnaire completed by 279 people participating in socio-labour intermediation programmes developed by the Action against Hunger Foundation (AaHF) in Spain. Information on poverty indicators and on job-search strategies is collected. Data are analysed through cluster analysis, which distinguish two groups of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion (high risk and low risk), followed by a comparison of means (t-test) with a subsequent calculation of effect size using Cohen's d. Results show statistically significant differences with a medium effect size (between 0.45 and 0.50) for the typology of job-search strategies used, confirming the initial hypothesis. These results offer relevant information that should be considered when developing programmes aimed at improving social and labour issues for people at risk of poverty and social exclusion., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The study of cross-reactivity in allergy is key to both understanding. the allergic response of many patients and providing them with a rational treatment In the present study, protein microarrays and a co-sensitization graph approach were used in conjunction with an allergen microarray immunoassay. This enabled us to include a wide number of proteins and a large number of patients, and to study sensitization profiles among members of the LTP family. Fourteen LTPs from the most frequent plant food-induced allergies in the geographical area studied were printed into a microarray specifically designed for this research. 212 patients with fruit allergy and 117 food-tolerant pollen allergic subjects were recruited from seven regions of Spain with different pollen profiles, and their sera were tested with allergen microarray. This approach has proven itself to be a good tool to study cross-reactivity between members of LTP family, and could become a useful strategy to analyze other families of allergens.

Doñana National Park (DNP) in southern Spain is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve where commercial hunting and wildlife artificial feeding do not take place and traditional cattle husbandry still exists. Herein, we hypothesized that Mycobacterium bovis infection prevalence in wild ungulates will depend on host ecology and that variation in prevalence will reflect variation in the interaction between hosts and environmental risk factors. Cattle bTB reactor rates increased in DNP despite compulsory testing and culling of infected animals. In this study, 124 European wild boar, 95 red deer, and 97 fallow deer were sampled from April 2006 to April 2007 and analyzed for M. bovis infection. Modelling and GIS were used to identify risk factors and intra and inter-species relationships. Infection with M. bovis was confirmed in 65 (52.4%) wild boar, 26 (27.4%) red deer and 18 (18.5%) fallow deer. In the absence of cattle, wild boar M. bovis prevalence reached 92.3% in the northern third of DNP. Wild boar showed more than twice prevalence than that in deer (p<0.001). Modelling revealed that M. bovis prevalence decreased from North to South in wild boar (p<0.001) and red deer (p<0.01), whereas no spatial pattern was evidenced for fallow deer. Infection risk in wild boar was dependent on wild boar M. bovis prevalence in the buffer area containing interacting individuals (p<0.01). The prevalence recorded in this study is among the highest reported in wildlife. Remarkably, this high prevalence occurs in the absence of wildlife artificial feeding, suggesting that a feeding ban alone would have a limited effect on wildlife M. bovis prevalence. In DNP, M. bovis transmission may occur predominantly at the intra-species level due to ecological, behavioural and epidemiological factors. The results of this study allow inferring conclusions on epidemiological bTB risk factors in Mediterranean habitats that are not managed for hunting purposes. Our results support the need to consider wildlife species for the control of bTB in cattle and strongly suggest that bTB may affect animal welfare and conservation.