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Understanding the individual qualities sustaining students with and without specific learning disabilities (SLDs) is key to supporting their academic achievement and well-being. In this study, we investigated the differences between students with and without SLDs in terms of intraindividual factors (soft skills and study-related factors), academic and nonacademic outcomes (achievement, academic and life satisfaction), and the relationships between such intraindividual factors and the three outcomes. A total of 318 students (79 males; M[subscript age] = 22.7; SD = 3.56; age range = 19-45 years; 147 with SLDs) completed self-reported questionnaires and a measure of fluid intelligence. The results showed that students with SLDs reported higher creativity but lower academic self-efficacy, study resilience, and academic achievement, with small-to-medium effect sizes. In both groups, achievement significantly positively related to academic self-efficacy and negatively to creativity. Life satisfaction was positively related to study resilience; and academic satisfaction was related to critical thinking, curiosity, and academic self-efficacy. Nurturing such intraindividual factors can benefit students with and without SLDs.

Space-based laser altimetry has revolutionized our capacity to characterize terrestrial ecosystems through the direct observation of vegetation structure and the terrain beneath it. Data from NASA's ICESat-2 mission provide the first comprehensive look at canopy structure for boreal forests from space-based lidar. The objective of this research was to create ICESat-2 aboveground biomass density (AGBD) models for the global entirety of boreal forests at a 30 m spatial resolution and apply those models to ICESat-2 data from the 2019–2021 period. Although limited in dense canopy, ICESat-2 is the only space-based laser altimeter capable of mapping vegetation in northern latitudes. Along each ICESat-2 orbit track, ground and vegetation height is captured with additional modeling required to characterize biomass. By implementing a similar methodology of estimating AGBD as GEDI, ICESat-2 AGBD estimates can complement GEDI's estimates for a full global accounting of aboveground carbon. Using a suite of field measurements with contemporaneous airborne lidar data over boreal forests, ICESat-2 photons were simulated over many field sites and the impact of two methods of computing relative height (RH) metrics on AGBD at a 30 m along-track spatial resolution were tested; with and without ground photons. AGBD models were developed specifically for ICESat-2 segments having land cover as either Evergreen Needleleaf or Deciduous Broadleaf Trees, whereas a generalized boreal-wide AGBD model was developed for ICESat-2 segments whose land cover was neither. Applying our AGBD models to a set of over 19 million ICESat-2 observations yielded a 30 m along-track AGBD product for the pan-boreal. The ability demonstrated herein to calculate ICESat-2 biomass estimates at a 30 m spatial resolution provides the scientific underpinning for a full, spatially explicit, global accounting of aboveground biomass.

Effective stomatal control is fundamental to successful plant responses to water deficit stress. Control of stomatal conductance (Gs) can be exerted through modification of stomatal morphology (size and density) in newly developing leaves, or physiological adjustment of stomatal pore aperture. We investigated the potential coordination of stomatal morphological and physiological responses to water deficit in three varieties of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) grown under field conditions. The three hemp varieties had contrasting leaf areas under well-watered irrigation (control): Earlina 8FC < Fedora 17 < Fibror 79. Stomatal size, density and the speed of physiological adjustment of Gs were not significantly different under full irrigation. Under water deficit conditions the leaf areas of the two varieties with the largest leaves decreased to match those of Earlina 8FC. This reduction in leaf area, alongside an increase in stomatal initiation, resulted in higher densities of smaller stomata. This effect was most evident in Fibror 79 that showed the largest reduction in leaf area, increase in stomatal density and decrease in stomatal size. This corresponded to the most rapid physiological adjustment of Gs to fluctuations in photosynthetic photon flux density of the hemp varieties occurring in Fibror 79 when subject to water deficit. The coincidence of the fastest velocity of Gs adjustment with the highest densities of small stomata may support interpretations of a functional advantage of high densities of small stomata in the physiological regulation of Gs to fluctuating conditions. The larger leaf area of Fibror 79 appeared to be associated with higher capacity to respond to water deficit through modification of stomatal morphology and physiological behaviour. This result indicates that phenotyping of crop species and genotypes to identify traits conducive to water deficit tolerance through effective stomatal control should consider the foliar plasticity of genotypes to water deficit, and the potential implications for stomatal morphological and physiological control of transpirative water loss and photosynthetic CO2-uptake.

In recent years, an increasing number of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) have enrolled in universities. The present exploratory study examined the frequency of use and appreciation of universal (open to every student) and specific services (offered to students with SLDs) and their relation to age, academic achievement, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies. Participants were 147 Italian university students with SLD diagnoses (42 males; mean age: 22.49, SD = 3.29). Results showed that, overall, the frequency of use and appreciation of specific services were positively related to academic satisfaction, self-efficacy, and SRL strategies. Furthermore, frequency of use of compensatory tools and dispensatory measures was positively associated with academic achievement. These findings suggest that universities play an important role in supporting students with SLDs during their academic years by providing them with useful services and accommodations.

El artículo plantea una reflexión sobre prácticas marcadas por las culturas de los sistemas de educación superior en algunas instituciones de países de Latinoamérica y Caribe (LATAM), desde el proyecto ECALFOR, financiado por la Unión Europea. Estas crearon unidades de calidad en sus instituciones, como un instrumento que podría evaluar las competencias básicas del profesorado en formación, como garantía de mejora de esa formación del profesorado, para la calidad educativa de la región. El estudio de tipo cualitativo hace un análisis documental para explicar la creación de esas unidades de calidad en las instancias donde se forma el profesorado inicial, como una práctica que pudiera respaldar la calidad de los títulos emitidos para enseñantes en sus países. Se hace un recorrido por distintas acciones que estas instituciones de educación superior (IES) han llevado adelante para el aseguramiento de esa calidad y se plantea como un modelo que puede ser replicado en otras acciones de la gestión universitaria. El recorrido invita a indagar sobre los procesos de la gestión que estas IES siguen para garantizar sus perfiles de salida y responder a un mercado laboral docente emergente, que exige competencias todavía más complejas en el enseñante y que deben, por tanto, respaldar las acciones institucionales que se llevan adelante.

[Background] Complementing the development of evidence-based psychological therapies, practice-based evidence has developed from patient samples collected in routine care, addressing questions relevant to patients and practitioners, and thereby expanding our knowledge of psychological therapies and their impact. Implementation of assessments in routine care allows for timely clinical decision support and the collection of multiple practice-based data sets by addressing the needs of patients and clinicians (e.g., routine outcome monitoring) and the needs of researchers (e.g., identifying the impact of therapist variables on outcomes). [Method] In this article we describe an initiative developed in Europe, through the European Chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, aimed at creating a consortium that has the potential for collecting data on tens of thousands of patients per year. [Results] A survey identified one of the main problems in the development of a common data set to be the heterogeneity of measures used by members (e.g., 87 different pre-post outcomes). We report on the results of the survey and the initial stage of identifying a single-item – the Emotional and Psychological Outcome (EPO-1) – measure and the process of its translation into multiple European languages. [Conclusions] We conclude this first stage of the overall project by discussing the future potential of the Consortium in relation to the development of procedures that allow crosswalks of outcome measures and the creation of a task force that may be consulted when new data sets are collected, aiming for new common measures to be implemented and shared.

Obesity, influenced by environmental pollutants, can lead to complex metabolic disruptions. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the molecular mechanisms underlying metabolically abnormal obesity caused by exposure to a high-fat diet (HFD) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Following the PRISMA guidelines, articles from 2019 to 2024 were gathered from Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed, and a random-effects meta-analysis was performed, along with subgroup analyses and pathway enrichment analyses. This study was registered in the Open Science Framework. Thirty-three articles, mainly case–control studies and murine models, were reviewed, and they revealed that combined exposure to HFD and PM2.5 resulted in the greatest weight gain (82.835 g, p = 0.048), alongside increases in high-density lipoproteins, insulin, and the superoxide dismutase. HFD enriched pathways linked to adipocytokine signaling in brown adipose tissue, while PM2.5 impacted genes associated with fat formation. Both exposures downregulated protein metabolism pathways in white adipose tissue and activated stress-response pathways in cardiac tissue. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor and AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathways in the liver were enriched, influencing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. These findings highlight that combined exposure to HFD and PM2.5 amplifies body weight gain, oxidative stress, and metabolic dysfunction, suggesting a synergistic interaction with significant implications for metabolic health.

Objetivo: Identificar los agentes patógenos aislados en pacientes con catéter de diálisis peritoneal en el Hospital Docente Francisco E. Moscoso Puello in Santo Domingo, junio 2017 – junio 2019. Método: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo, de corte transversal con una proyección retrospectiva, y consta de una muestra de 32 registros de pacientes. Los datos obtenidos fueron analizados con el software Epi-info 7.0. Resultados: Los agentes patógenos más frecuentes aislados fueron el Staphylococcus aureus representando un 50%15 de los cultivos positivos, seguidos por Escherichia Coli y Pseudomona aeruginosa, ambos formando 12.5%4 de los cultivos positivos cada uno. En cuanto a los grupos de edad más afectados observamos que los que presentan una mayor frecuencia de casos son de 60-69 años de edad. Conclusión: La investigación identificó varios agentes patógenos asociados al catéter de diálisis peritoneal, entre los que destacan Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli y Pseudomona aeruginosa. Staphylococcus aureus fue el más común en ambos sexos y el más frecuente en pacientes de 1 a 3 años. Este mismo agente, junto con Escherichia coli y otros, fueron responsables de las recurrencias. Se encontró que todos los pacientes utilizaban diálisis peritoneal continua ambulatoria y todos los agentes patógenos identificados fueron aislados en esta terapia.

Objetivo: Determinar el gen RAS como factor pronóstico y predictivo en cáncer colorrectal metastásico. Método: Es un estudio descriptivo y retrospectivo donde se examinaron 67 expedientes de pacientes con cáncer colorrectal metastásico, centrándose en la determinación del gen RAS como factor pronóstico y predictivo. Resultados: Se halló que el 56.7% de los pacientes tenían tumores Wild-type y el 43.3% mostraba tumores con mutaciones KRAS, sin detectarse mutaciones en el gen NRAS. Tanto en el colon derecho como en el izquierdo, los tumores Wild-type fueron algo más comunes que los tumores con mutaciones KRAS. El codón 12 fue el más afectado en un 75.9% de los casos de tumores KRAS mutados. El adenocarcinoma fue el tipo histológico predominante (82%), seguido del adenocarcinoma mucinoso (16.5%). La mayoría de los pacientes (56.7%) se hallaban en estadio IV al diagnóstico. Los tumores KRAS mutados mostraron una mayor tendencia a la recurrencia y metástasis múltiples en comparación con los tumores Wild-type, siendo el hígado y el pulmón los sitios más comunes de metástasis. También se observaron diferencias en la supervivencia libre de progresión y la supervivencia global según el estado mutacional del gen RAS, con una mayor progresión en pacientes con tumores KRAS mutados. Conclusión: Estos hallazgos sugieren que las mutaciones en el gen KRAS podrían asociarse con peor pronóstico en términos de progresión de la enfermedad y supervivencia. La determinación del estado del gen KRAS podría tener implicaciones clínicas significativas en la estratificación del riesgo y la planificación del tratamiento para pacientes con cáncer colorrectal metastásico.

ABSTRACT Objective To verify the rate of COVID-19 infection among healthcare personnel at high and low risk of COVID-19 infection and identify the underlying risk factors. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted between December 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. Associations were verified between the levels of risk (high or low) of occupational COVID-19 infection and participant characteristics using the World Health Organization risk assessment questionnaire and adjusted using logistic regression models in single and multiple approaches. Results Of the 486 participants, 57.4% were classified as having a high occupational risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection, with a diagnosis rate of 12.1%. The factors identified in the multivariate analysis for high occupational risk were age up to 29 years (odds ratio [OR] = 2.7, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 1.63-4.47), monthly family income greater than eight times the basic salary (OR= 1.8, 95%CI= 1.07-3.16), and healthcare personnel who did not participate in initial training to work in the area of patients with COVID-19 infection (OR= 2.39, 95%CI= 1.53-3.75). Conclusion Encouraging training for occupational infection prevention is very important to reduce the impact of infectious diseases on healthcare personnel, especially young health professionals.

Objectives To evaluate the external validity of the FINDRISC, DESIR and ADA risk scores for the prediction of diabetes in a Spanish population aged >45 years and to test the possible improvement of FINDRISC by adding a new variable of high risk of depression when Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) questionnaire score ≥10 (FINDRISC-MOOD).Design Prospective population-based cohort study.Setting 10 primary healthcare centres in the north of the city of Madrid (Spain).Participants A total of 1242 participants without a history of diabetes and with 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) plasma glucose

Wildfire is the dominant stand-replacing disturbance regime in Canadian boreal forests. An accurate quantification of postfire changes in forest structure and aboveground biomass density (AGBD) provides a means to understand the magnitudes of ecosystem changes through wildfires and related linkages with global climate. While multispectral remote sensing has been extensively utilized for burn severity assessment, its capacity for postfire forest structure and AGBD change monitoring has been more limited to date. This study evaluates the interactions among burn severity, forest structure, and fire-return intervals for two representative sites in the western Canadian boreal forest. We adopted burn severity measurements from Landsat to characterize the heterogeneity of wildfire effects, while vertical forest structure information from Lidar was utilized to inform on realized forest changes and carbon fluxes associated with fire. Dominant trees in biomass-rich stands showed higher tolerance to low- and moderate-severity wildfires, while understory vegetation in these same stands showed a severity-invariant response to wildfires indicated by high vegetation mortality regardless of burn severity levels. Compared to a site without previous burn, canopy height and AGBD experienced lower magnitudes of change after subsequent wildfires, explained by a negative feedback between high frequency wildfires and biomass loss ($\overline {\Delta \mathbf{Canopy}\ \mathbf{Height}} $single wildfire = 3.03 m; $\overline {\Delta \mathbf{Canopy}\ \mathbf{Height}} $successive wildfire = 2.47 m; $\overline {\Delta \mathbf{AGBD}} $single wildfire = 8.40 Mg/ha; $\overline {\Delta \mathbf{AGBD}} $successive wildfire = 6.69 Mg/ha). This study provides new insights into forest recovery dynamics following fire disturbance, which is particularly relevant given increased fire frequency and intensity in boreal ecosystems resulting from climate change.

Scientific analysis of Earth's land surface change benefits from well-characterized multispectral remotely sensed data for which models estimate and remove the effects of the atmosphere and sun-sensor geometry. Top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance in commercial very high resolution (

Perceived stress in Italian coaches and sport mental health were investigated during the rebooting of sport activities following the first COVID-19 lockdown period. A sample of 237 coaches from various sports were asked to answer the Italian version of the Perceived Stress Scale and the Sport Mental Health Continuum, together with reporting of demographic information. Coaches’ perceived stress levels were compared with data collected during the lockdown period. Women showed a significant decrease in their perceived stress levels compared to the lockdown period, whereas this was not true for men. Hierarchical regression indicated that, during the rebooting phase, increased age of coaches and their psychological well-being experienced in sporting contexts (a sport mental health dimension) were predictive of decreased perceived stress levels. Practical implications for practitioners working in this field are discussed in the conclusions.

Abstract Alteration of basaltic glass and in situ mineral growth are fundamental processes that influence the chemical and material properties of Earth’s oceanic crust. These processes have evolved at the basaltic island of Surtsey (SW Iceland) since eruptions terminated in 1967. Here, subaerial and submarine lapilli tuff samples from a 192 m-deep borehole drilled in 2017 (SE-02b) are characterized through petrographic studies, X-ray powder diffraction analyses, and SEM–EDS imaging and chemical analyses. The integrated results reveal (i) multi-stage palagonitization processes in basaltic glass and precipitation of secondary minerals from matrix pore fluids, (ii) multi-stage crystallization of secondary phillipsite, analcime and Al-tobermorite in the vesicles of basaltic pyroclasts and (iii) variations in palagonitization processes as a function of thermal and hydrological domains. Although temperature appears to be an important factor in controlling rates of secondary mineralization, the chemistry of original basaltic components and interstitial fluids also influences reaction pathways in the young pyroclastic deposits. The integration of systematic mineralogical analyses of the 50-year-old tuff from one of the most carefully monitored volcanic sites on Earth, together with temperature monitoring in boreholes since 1980, provide a reference framework for evaluating mineralogical evolution in other Surtseyan-type volcanoes worldwide.

MIGLIORARE LA COMPRENSIONE DEL TESTO E LE CAPACITÀ DI SINTESI NELLA SCUOLA PRIMARIA: UNO STUDIO QUASI-SPERIMENTALE Abstract The paper reports the results of the evaluation of a programme aimed at improving reading comprehension and summarising skills of fourth graders through a quasi-experimental study conducted with 671 students (421 in the experimental group and 250 in the control group) in Italian schools. Students assigned to the experimental group received three months of the intervention while students in the control group continued with regular teacher practice. Results showed a statistically significant difference between the two conditions on reading comprehension and summarising skills. Students included in the experimental group outperformed students in the control group in both the measures used (dppc2 = 0.32 in the Summarising Test and dppc2 = 0.54 in the Summary Qualitative Assessment). No differences were found between students with different proficiency vocabulary levels in the experimental group. The implications for research practice and limitations of the study are discussed.

Dual therapies (DT) combining integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) with second-generation non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (2nd-Gen-NNRTIs) offer new possibilities for HIV treatment to improve adherence. However, drug resistance associated mutations (RAMs) to prior antiretrovirals may jeopardize the efficacy of DT. We herein describe the predicted efficacy of DT combining INSTIs + 2nd-Gen-NNRTI following treatment failure among Cameroonian patients. We genotyped the HIV-1 pol gene using Sanger sequencing and assessed acquired RAMs to NNRTIs and INSTIs in patients failing treatment from March 2019 to December 2023. Drug susceptibility was interpreted using Stanford HIVdb v9.5, and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS v22. Of 130 successfully genotyped participants (median age (IQR): 38 (27–46) years; 59.2% female), 92.3% had RAMs to NNRTIs and 1.5% to INSTIs. Prevailing RAMs were Y181C (32.3%) among NNRTIs and R263K (0.7%) among INSTIs. Among 2nd-Gen-NNRTIs, etravirine, doravirine and rilpivirine had 43.85%, 41.54% and 38.46% genotypic sensitivity, respectively. Among INSTIs, we found 97.69% efficacy for dolutegravir/bictegravir, 96.15% for cabotegravir and 92.31% for elvitegravir/raltegravir. The overall predictive efficacy of DT was lower among participants who failed 1st-Gen-NNRTI (p < 0.001); with etravirine + dolutegravir/bictegravir combination showing the highest score (43.8%). Conclusively, DT combining INSTIs + 2nd-Gen-NNRTIs might be suboptimal in the context of previous ART failure, especially with NNRTI-based treatment in low- and middle-income countries. The general data clearly indicate that without resistance testing, it is nearly impossible to use long-acting dual therapies in previously failing patients.