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Background:Vitamin D deficiency is common worldwide. No homogenous reference values have yet been established and no studies of values have been conducted in Spain involving a large number of participants.Objective:To study the population concentrations of vitamin D in a representative sample of the Spanish population.Subjects/Methods:The study involved two cohorts from Spain, the Asturias study and the Pizarra study, which are two prospective, population-based studies involving 2260 participants. In 1262 subjects (age: 20-83 years) we studied 25-hydroxyvitamin D, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), calcium, phosphorus and creatinine.Results:The median population values of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and iPTH were 22.46 ng/ml and 42.29 pg/ml, respectively. The values of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were significantly higher in summer and correlated with age (β=−0.05±0.01, P<0.0001), creatinine (β=6.42±1.17, P<0.0001) and iPTH (−0.07±0.01, P<0.0001), but not with calcium, phosphorus or sex. The increase in iPTH with age was seen whatever the values of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and was greater in the older persons. The concentration of iPTH rose continuously with effect from 25-hydroxyvitamin D values below ≈30 ng/ml. Values above ≈35 ng/ml were associated with a significantly lower concentration of iPTH.Conclusions:One-third (33.9%) of the Spanish population may be at risk for Vitamin D deficiency. The 25-hydroxyvitamin D values above 30 ng/ml can safely discard 'hyper PTH'. The increase in iPTH concentration is greater in older persons for similar values of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the effects of hormone therapy on cardiovascular risk factors and bone metabolism have been studied, data are lacking on the gonadotropin profile after gonadectomy in the sex reassignment process (SRP). Accordingly, whether measurement of the gonadotropin profile is useful in order to adjust the postsurgical dose of gonadal hormones is unknown. We studied the evolution of LH, FSH, prolactin, testosterone, and estradiol in 50 transsexual persons, 41 male-to-female transsexuals (MtF) and 9 female-to-male transsexuals (FtM), following a protocolized regimen of hormone therapy for 12-24 months before and after genitoplasty. The increase in gonadotropins after surgery was greater in the FtM than in the MtF (66% vs. 50%), with the increase continuing more than one year after surgery. No variable was significantly associated with this different level of gonadotropins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is extensive concern about older people's care in institutions, especially recently in the past years. One of the reasons is linked to the cases of elder abuse, not only shown by academic and scientific sources, but also by social and mass media and their impact on public perception of the institutional setting. What is more, current COVID-19 pandemic consequences on older people have provoked alarm and worry especially about what is happening in institutions., Methods: The sample for this study consists of 286 staff working in nursing homes in Spain. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Professional Good Care Scale in Nursing Homes (GCS-NH)., Results: Results of parallel analyses and exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) showed a four-factor model for the 32-item scale: humanization (9 items), non-infantilization (10 items), respect (7 items) and empowerment (6 items). Then, psychometric properties were tested analysing internal consistency (reliability) and convergent, divergent and criterion validity. High internal consistency (reliability) and different validity evidence were obtained for the total scores of the GCS-NH and its subscales. GCS-NH scores were also capable of detecting risk of probable institutional elder abuse., Conclusions: Results show that this scale is an appropriate, valid, and reliable multidimensional instrument to evaluate good care in older institutionalized people by staff. Good care is an outcome of a complex construct in which a wide range of factors converge (staff, older people, and environmental characteristics). The GCS-NH has potential to be used as a multidimensional tool to assess good care.

The COVID-19 outbreak could be considered as an uncontrollable stressful life event. Lockdown measures have provoked a disruption of daily life with a great impact over older adults' health and well-being. Nevertheless, eudaimonic well-being plays a protective role in confronting adverse circumstances, such as the COVID-19 situation. This study aims to assess the association between age and psychological well-being (personal growth and purpose in life). Young-old (60-70 years) and old-old (71-80 years) community-dwelling Spaniards (N = 878) completed a survey and reported on their sociodemographic characteristics and their levels of health, COVID-19 stress-related, appraisal, and personal resources. Old-old did not evidence poorer psychological well-being than young-old. Age has only a negative impact on personal growth. The results also suggest that the nature of the COVID-19 impact (except for the loss of a loved one) may not be as relevant for the older adults' well-being as their appraisals and personal resources for managing COVID-related problems. In addition, these results suggest that some sociodemographic and health-related variables have an impact on older adults' well-being. Thus, perceived-health, family functioning, resilience, gratitude, and acceptance had significant associations with both personal growth and purpose in life. Efforts to address older adults' psychological well-being focusing on older adults' personal resources should be considered.

Objective: Current studies have shown that older people's quality of life (QoL) is more associated to individual's sense of happiness and subjective life satisfaction than to objective problems. CASP scale conceptualizes QoL based on a psycho-sociological perspective. Originally, CASP consisted of 19 items (four factors: Control, Autonomy, Self-realization and Pleasure). Later, it was proposed a shorter version (12 items and three factors). The aim of this study was to assess the structure of the CASP-12 SHARE version using confirmatory factor analysis., Method: The CASP structures traditionally proposed were checked and tested in a sample of 1108 people aged 60 years and over., Results: The three factor model (1) pleasure, (2) self-realization and (3) autonomy and control showed a good overall fit (CFI = .932; TLI = .912; RMSEA = .067). An adequate internal consistency was also obtained., Conclusion: This is the first study that explored the psychometric properties and validated the well-fitting three factor structure for the CASP-12 in a large population sample of older people from Spain. The results support a multidimensional model for the CASP-12 composed by three factors. It has potential to be used as a multidimensional tool to assess QoL in older people.

Objectives: To investigate the association between IL18RAP and body mass index (BMI) and obesity and to verify the effect of a polymorphism in the microRNA136 (MIR136) IL18RAP binding region., Design: We analysed samples from two Spanish cross-sectional studies, VALCAR (Spanish Mediterranean coast) and Hortega (Spanish centre). These studies aimed at analysing cardiovascular risk and development of cardiovascular disease in the general population. Both populations correspond to regions with different characteristics., Setting: Five IL18RAP single nucleotide polymorphisms were selected using the SYSNPs web tool and analysed by oligonucleotide ligation assay (SNPlex). For the MIR136 functional study, cells were transfected with plasmids containing different rs7559479 polymorphism alleles and analysed by luciferase reporter assays., Participants: 1970 individuals (Caucasian, both genders): VALCAR (468) and Hortega (1502)., Results: rs2293225, rs2272127 and rs7559479 showed the following associations: rs7559479 G allele correlated with a higher obesity risk (P=0.01; OR=1.82; 95% CI 1.15 to 2.87 for the VALCAR group; P=0.033; OR=1.35; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.79 for the Hortega population) and higher body mass index (BMI) values (P=0.0045; P=0.1 for VALCAR and Hortega, respectively); a significant association with obesity (P=0.0024, OR=1.44, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.82) and increased BMI values (P=0.008) was found when considering both populations together. rs2293225 T allele was associated with lower obesity risk (P=0.036; OR=0.60; 95% CI 0.35 to 0.96) and lower BMI values (P=0.0038; OR=1.41) while the rs2272127 G allele was associated with lower obesity risk (P=0.028; OR=0.66; 95% CI 0.44 to 0.97) only in the VALCAR population. A reporter assay showed that the presence of the A allele in rs7559479 was associated with increased MIR136 binding to IL18RAP ., Conclusions: Our results suggest that polymorphisms in IL18RAP influence susceptibility to obesity. We demonstrated that the A allele in rs7559479 increases MIR136 binding, which regulates IL-18 system activity., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Background/objectives: Obesity has been linked to morbidity and mortality through increased risk for many chronic diseases. Endothelin (EDN) system has been related to endothelial function but it can be involved in lipid metabolism regulation: Receptor type A (EDNRA) activates lipolysis in adipocytes, the two endothelin receptors mediate arsenic-stimulated adipocyte dysfunction, and endothelin system can regulate adiposity by modulating adiponectin activity in different situations and, therefore, influence obesity development. The aim of the present study was to analyze if single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the EDN system could be associated with human obesity., Subjects/methods: We analyzed two samples of general-population-based studies from two different regions of Spain: the VALCAR Study, 468 subjects from the area of Valencia, and the Hortega Study, 1502 subjects from the area of Valladolid. Eighteen SNPs throughout five genes were analyzed using SNPlex., Results: We found associations for two polymorphisms of the EDNRB gene which codifies for EDN receptor type B. Genotypes AG and AA of the rs5351 were associated with a lower risk for obesity in the VALCAR sample (p=0.048, OR=0.63) and in the Hortega sample (p=0.001, OR=0.62). Moreover, in the rs3759475 polymorphism, genotypes CT and TT were also associated with lower risk for obesity in the Hortega sample (p=0.0037, OR=0.66) and in the VALCAR sample we found the same tendency (p=0.12, OR=0.70). Furthermore, upon studying the pooled population, we found a stronger association with obesity (p=0.0001, OR=0.61 and p=0.0008, OR=0.66 for rs5351 and rs3759475, respectively). Regarding plasma arsenic levels, we have found a positive association for the two SNPs studied with obesity risk in individuals with higher arsenic levels in plasma: rs5351 (p=0.0054, OR=0.51) and rs3759475 (p=0.009, OR=0.53)., Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that polymorphisms of the EDNRB gene may influence the susceptibility to obesity and can interact with plasma arsenic levels.

Detection of elder abuse risk is a critical issue because a lot of cases remain hidden. Screening tools can be used to detect elder abuse. However, few tools have been developed for use with caregivers. The purpose was to develop a translation and adaptation of a Spanish version of the Caregiver Abuse Screen (CASE) and to assess its validity and reliability. The CASE was then used with 211 primary caregivers. Validity and reliability were evaluated, as well as the factorial structure of the instrument. This version showed good psychometric properties. It was found to have strong internal consistency and split-half reliability as well as allowing for a good replication of the original factorial structure. Additionally, several variables related to elder abuse were linked to the CASE such as depression, burden, frequency, and reactions to problem behaviors. The version developed showed sufficient validity and reliability and could be considered as a suitable instrument to assess risks of elder abuse in a Spanish-speaking context., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

Background and Objective: Although elder abuse is not a new phenomenon, it remains hidden. There have been carried out various preliminary studies about the prevalence of elder abuse in different countries. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of suspicion of elder abuse in old persons without cognitive impairment, dwelling in community, who were attended in Primary Health Care or Social Services Centres., Patients and Method: We carried out a transverse study in which 340 elders participated., Results: We found a 12.1% prevalence of suspicion of elder abuse. Psychological abuse suspicion was the most frequent type and it was very common the simultaneous presence of different types of abuse (psychological and physical and sexual). The suspicion of elder abuse was more frequent in women and spouses were responsible in a high great frequency., Conclusions: The information obtained allows advancing in the knowledge of elder abuse in Spain, where the research about this issue is poor. However, the prevalence found neither has to be considered as a social alarm nor as a social slackness., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)

We analyzed the discriminative capacity of several risk factors for elder abuse and neglect, in order to identify what characteristics distinguish between caregivers with a high or low risk of abuse and neglect. Forty-five caregivers of relatives with dementia participated. The combination of caregiving impact, frequency of aggressive behaviors by care-recipients, stress related to provocative and aggressive behaviors, the frequency of provocative behaviors, interpersonal burden, autoefficiency expectations, quantity of help received and depression classify correctly as risk factors in 90.9% of the cases. This study permits us to identify what characteristics distinguish between caregivers with a high or low risk of abuse and neglect and caregivers.

Due to the difficulties in recruiting elderly people for psychological studies, a wide range of recruitment methods has been used. The underlying assumption that the recruitment method does not seriously affect the results has to be tested. Results in different worry measures are compared between three samples which were recruited with different strategies: (i) randomization sampling from the census of an urban area (random sample; n=97); (ii) people involved in leisure activities in senior centers (convenience sample; n=142); and (iii) people from the close environment of psychology students (snowball sample; n=60). People from those samples, aged 65 and more, completed the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (trait-worry), and the Worry Scale (contents of worry). Differences were found for several demographic characteristics. There were marked differences between samples in the percentage of individuals endorsing cut-score criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), with a very high percentage for the snowball sample. For all of the worry measures, analyzes of variance revealed significantly higher total scores for the non-randomly selected samples (p<0.01). Comparing the latter samples, higher trait worry (p<0.01) and more worrying about health and personal competencies (p<0.01) was found in the snowball sample. These results suggest that the sample recruitment method can specifically and seriously affect the outcomes of studies with elderly people, thus limiting the generalization of their results.

The present article describes the results of the application of the project <> in Spain. This project is a collaboration between the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology and the Institute of the Elderly and Social Services with the World Health Organization and the University of Geneva.

A serosurvey for neutralizing antibodies against West Nile virus (WNV) in common coots (Fulica atra) was conducted in Doñana, Spain. Antibody prevalence was highest in 2003, intermediate in 2004, and lowest in 2005. Some birds seroreverted <1 year after first capture. Seroconversion of birds suggests local circulation of the virus.

The rapid expansion of West Nile virus (WNV) throughout the New World has raised interest in understanding the population dynamics and patterns of dispersal of emerging infectious diseases by wildlife. WNV affects humans, although its main reservoirs are various species of birds. Here we analyse the prevalence of WNV-neutralizing antibodies in nearly full-grown chicks belonging to seven different species of colonial waterbirds at three localities in southern Spain. Chicks with neutralizing antibodies against WNV were detected in three species and at all three localities. However, the low antibody titres suggest the presence of antibodies is probably due to maternal transfer of antibody, presumably from exposure of the adult birds to WNV or a similar flavivirus at some stage of their lives. The analyses of the movements of tagged birds confirmed that all species with antibody visit regions that have had reports of WNV infection over the past decade.