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Skilled adult readers are those who read fluently, but multilingual learners do not always exhibit the same reading proficiency in the different languages they know. Among the variables that influence learners’ silent reading fluency, a research trend points to musical aptitude as an individual ability that affects language learners’ reading competency. Common auditory features of reading and musical skills have been observed in studies with children and adolescents, but studies involving multilingual adults learning an additional language are scarce. This study aims to observe the potential relationship of multilingual learners’ musical aptitude and their silent reading fluency in all the languages the learners know and in Spanish, an additional language they are learning as adults. 157 Flemish university students were tested in Dutch, French, English, and Spanish. Learners’ sociocultural data , their musical aptitude and their silent contextual word reading fluency in all languages were tested. In addition, a reading comprehension test in L4 (Spanish) was administered. The statistical results indicate a significant correlation between their musical aptitude and their L1, L2, L3 silent reading fluency, but not with L4 (Spanish).

Background: In forensic autopsies, examining the wounds is one of the most critical aspects to clarify the causal relationship between the cause of death and the wounds observed on the corpse. However, on many occasions, it is difficult to differentiate antemortem injuries from post-mortem injuries, mainly when they occur very close to the moment of death. At present, various studies try to find biomarkers and clarify the molecular mechanisms involved in a wound due to the high variability of conditions in which they occur, thus being one of the most challenging problems in forensic pathology. This review aimed to study the omics data to determine the main lines of investigation emerging in the diagnosis of vital injuries, time of appearance, estimation of the age and vitality of the wound, and its possible contributions to the forensic field.Methods: A systematic review of the human wound concerning forensic science was carried out by following PRISMA guidelines.Results: This study sheds light on the role of omics research during the process of wounding, identifying different cytokines and other inflammatory mediators, as well as cells involved in the specific stage of the wound healing process, show great use in estimating the age of a wound. On the other hand, the expression levels of skin enzymes, proteins, metal ions, and other biomarkers play an essential role in differentiating vital and post-mortem wounds. More recent studies have begun to analyze and quantify mRNA from different genes that encode proteins that participate in the inflammation phase of a wound and miRNAs related to various cellular processes.Conclusions: This study sheds light on the role of research in the molecular characterization of vital wounds, heralding a promising future for molecular characterization of wounds in the field of forensic pathology, opening up an important new area of research.Systematic Review Registration: URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/#myprospero, Identifier: CRD42021286623.

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB Altres ajuts: Severo Ochoa Program for Centers of Excellence in R&D/CEX2019-000915-S We investigate convergence properties of Bregman distances induced by convex representations of maximally monotone operators. We also introduce and study the projection mappings associated with such distances.

IUCN Red List assessments for fish species can quickly become out of date. In recent years molecular techniques have added new ways of obtaining information about species distribution or populations. In this work, we propose the Iberian Peninsula as an example of reassessment needs in its endangered freshwater fish fauna. We compiled the list of freshwater fish species occurring in continental Spain and Portugal and examined their conservation status in global and national Red Lists. We retrieved records for these species in the Iberian Peninsula and calculated several biological indexes (richness and vulnerability indexes). Our results showed a patchy data coverage of fish records in the Iberian Peninsula. Threat levels reported within national Red Lists are higher than their global counterparts, reinforcing the necessity of improving and maintaining up to date national Red Lists. Iberian watersheds have moderate levels of threat and high levels of out of date assessments. The nearly fully completed genetic databases for Iberian fish species, along with the limited distribution of many endangered species and the necessity of update their assessments constitute an excellent opportunity to use data obtained from eDNA to improve species monitoring practices and their conservation status.

RESUMEN: Antecedentes y estado actual del tema. A pesar de esta larguísima tradición de la plata en el tratamiento de heridas, su evidencia científica ha sido criticada en algunas revisiones sistemáticas. Ante esta situación, un grupo internacional de expertos se reunió en diciembre de 2011 para establecer las directrices para el adecuado uso de los apósitos de plata. Exponen que los antisépticos a base de plata desempeñan un papel importante en el control de la carga microbiana en las heridas, limitando al mismo tiempo la exposición a los antibióticos y reduciendo el riesgo de aparición de resistencias adicionales a estos medicamentos. Objetivo. Determinar el grado de conocimiento de los equipos de enfermería de atención primaria sobre la utilización de los apósitos que contienen plata para la curación de heridas. Metodología. Se trata de un estudio observacional descriptivo de tipo transversal y multicéntrico. El estudio va dirigido a los enfermeros que trabajan en los centros de salud del área 6 del Servicio Murciano de Salud, con el fin de saber los conocimientos que poseen los profesionales de enfermería sobre el tratamiento con apósitos de plata de heridas. Se pasará un cuestionario con 33 preguntas cerradas, con dos bloques. El primero de carácter sociodemográfico y el segundo será un bloque de conocimientos. Se realizará una prueba piloto entre 17 profesionales del Centro de Salud Jesús Marín/Molina Sur con el fin de reducir errores, comprobar la calidad del cuestionario y así asegurar la validez del mismo. Para el análisis estadístico utilizaremos el IBM SPSS Statistics v. 27. En las variables cualitativas se estudiará la distribución de frecuencias y los porcentajes y para las cuantitativas la media y la desviación típica. Para la correlación entre variables se empleará la Chi2. La comparación de medias se hará con la t de Student. Se estimarán las diferencias significativas para p

Global biodiversitytargets require us to identify species at risk of extinction and quantify status and trends of biodiversity. The Red List Index (RLI) tracks trends in the conservation status of entire species groups over time by monitoring changes in categories assigned to species. Here, we calculate this index for the world's fishes in 2010, using a sampled approach to the RLI based on a randomly selected sample of 1,500 species, and also present RLI splits for freshwater and marine systems separately. We further compare specific traits of a worldwide fish list to our sample to assess its representativeness. Overall, 15.1% of species in the sample were estimated to be threatened with extinction, resulting in a sampled RLI of 0.914 for all species, 0.968 in marine and 0.862 in freshwater ecosystems. Our sample showed fishing as the principal threat for marine species, and pollution by agricultural and forestry effluents for freshwater fishes. The sampled list provides a robust representation for tracking trends in the conservation status of the world's fishes, including disaggregated sampled indices for marine and freshwater fish. Reassessment and backcasting of this index is urgent to check the achievement of the commitments proposed in global biodiversity targets.

En la Región de Murcia existen numerosas industrias dedicadas a la actividad industrial del procesado de frutas y vegetales. Como consecuencia de esta actividad, en el procesado de frutas y vegetales se generan diferentes tipos de fracciones de las cuales, algunas de ellas hasta la fecha no son valorizables/reutilizables. Esto supone un problema, por lo que existe un interés y una preocupación por lograr un mejor aprovechamiento de los mismos, así como de los productos y subproductos que contienen, con el fin de obtener un mayor rendimiento económico y minimizar los gastos que suponen la gestión de estos residuos. A través de la utilización de las tecnologías emergentes, o procesos tecnológicos, como elementos innovadores del proyecto, se ha intentado buscar una explotación nutricional para estos subproductos, dado que poseen compuestos de alto valor añadido, como aceites, agentes antioxidantes donde encontramos más de treinta polifenoles rentabilizando así su valor económico. El objetivo global de este proyecto es la búsqueda de soluciones tecnológicas encaminadas a realizar un máximo aprovechamiento de las diferentes fracciones que se generan en el procesado de la fruta y de los compuestos vegetales. Estas fracciones presentan un potencial biotecnológico importante ya que una vez caracterizadas, e identificadas, pueden ser el punto de partida para la formulación y preparación de nuevos productos. La metodología a seguir conlleva la identificación de cada una de las diferentes fracciones que son susceptibles de ser valorizadas como son los extractos concentrados clarificados del zumo de fruta que poseen un alto o un bajo contenido en azúcares y extractos ricos en agentes antioxidantes, donde los procesos convencionales de clarificación, tienen por objeto eliminar los sólidos insolubles y destruir las sustancias pécticas degradando la pectina y el almidón con enzimas específicas, floculando la nubosidad con agentes clarificantes (bentonita, gelatina y / o silicasol), siendo las pectinas las principales causantes de la turbidez presente. Con la filtración mediante membranas se asegura un permeado de excelente calidad con un aumento de la claridad y por consiguiente una notable eliminación del color. Una vez identificadas y caracterizadas tanto de forma fisicoquímica, como de forma microbiológica, se evaluará su estabilidad y se realizará un estudio de la vida útil en diferentes condiciones de almacenamiento. Durante este proceso se determinará la posibilidad de comercializar de forma directa estos nuevos productos, o su aplicación en diferentes desarrollos (zumos, smoothies, compound de frutas, bebidas refrescantes, etc.). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la tecnología de membranas es capaz de clarificar perfectamente los subproductos procedentes de las cortezas de los cítricos estudiados teniendo una vida útil de al menos un año. Además, con la aplicación de membranas de nanofiltración se puede separar los azúcares monosacáridos de los disacáridos eliminando la totalidad de pectinas, turbidez y color. Por todo ello, la Tesis Doctoral queda perfectamente justificada, al contemplar el desarrollo de nuevos procesos tecnológicos que puedan dar solución a las diferentes fracciones residuales que contienen (pulpa, azúcares, agentes antioxidantes y aceites vegetales, entre otros), valorizando dichos compuestos al darle una salida en nuevas formulaciones y preparados, ya que si no fuera así tendrían que ser eliminados como un residuo. La valorización de las diferentes fracciones no sólo repercute en mejorar la rentabilidad de las industrias procesadoras de frutas y vegetales, sino que, además, este tipo de acciones basadas en el aprovechamiento íntegro de las frutas y vegetales ayuda a reducir la contaminación ambiental, mediante la minimización de los diferentes residuos. Esta acción pretende proporcionar una visión más amplia sobre las posibilidades tecnológicas para el aprovechamiento de estos residuos y su posible transformación en productos de alto valor añadido. In the Region of Murcia there are numerous industries dedicated to the industrial activity of fruit and vegetable processing. As a consequence of this activity, different types of fractions are generated in the processing of fruits and vegetables, some of which to date are not recoverable/reusable. This is a problem, so there is an interest and concern to achieve a better use of them, as well as the products and by-products they contain, in order to obtain greater economic performance and minimize the costs involved in the management of these residues. Through the use of emerging technologies, or technologies, as innovative elements of the project, a nutritional exploitation has been attempted for these by-products, given that they have high value-added compounds, such as oils, antioxidant agents where we find more than thirty polyphenols making profitable thus its economic value. The global objective of this project is the search for technological solutions aimed at making maximum use of the different fractions that are generated in the processing of fruit and vegetable compounds. These fractions have significant biotechnological potential since once characterized and identified, they can be the starting point for the formulation and preparation of new products. The methodology to be followed entails the identification of each of the different fractions that are likely to be valued, such as concentrated clarified extracts of fruit juice that have a high or low content of sugars and extracts rich in antioxidant agents, where the processes Conventional clarification, aim to eliminate insoluble solids and destroy pectic substances by degrading pectin and starch with specific enzymes, flocculating cloudiness with clarifying agents (bentonite, gelatin and / or silicasol), pectins being the main cause of the turbidity present. Membrane filtration ensures an excellent quality permeate with increased clarity and therefore significant color removal. Once identified and characterized both physicochemically and microbiologically, their stability will be evaluated and a study of shelf life under different storage conditions will be carried out. During this process, the possibility of directly marketing these new products, or their application in different developments (juices, smoothies, fruit compounds, soft drinks, etc.) will be determined. The results obtained show that the membrane technology is capable of perfectly clarifying the by-products from the rinds of the citrus fruits studied, having a useful life of at least one year. In addition, with the application of nanofiltration membranes, monosaccharide sugars can be separated from disaccharides, eliminating all pectin, turbidity and color. For all these reasons, the Doctoral Thesis is perfectly justified, as it contemplates the development of new technological processes that can provide a solution to the different residual fractions that they contain (pulp, sugars, antioxidant agents and vegetable oils, among others), valuing those compounds by giving them an outlet in new formulations and preparations, since otherwise they would have to be disposed of as waste. The valuation of the different fractions not only has repercussions in improving the profitability of the fruit and vegetable processing industries, but also, this type of action based on the full use of fruits and vegetables helps to reduce environmental pollution, through the minimization of the different residues. This action aims to provide a broader vision of the technological possibilities for the use of this waste and its possible transformation into high value-added products.

La pandemia de SARS-CoV-2 ha impuesto impactos negativos generalizados (económicos, psicológicos, neurológicos y sociales) y ha cambiado los comportamientos diarios a escala global. Dichos impactos son más significativos y generalizados en países con niveles más altos de desigualdad y capacidad y capacidad de respuesta gubernamentales reducidas, como los del Sur Global (por ejemplo, Colombia). Las diferencias en las habilidades cognitivas sociales y morales pueden afectar significativamente las actitudes y respuestas individuales a la pandemia. Aquí, nuestro objetivo fue evaluar hasta qué punto los factores asociados con la prosocialidad (incluida la empatía, la teoría de la mente (ToM) y los juicios morales) predicen la percepción de los impactos y las respuestas del SARS-CoV-2. Los participantes (N = 413) de Colombia respondieron factores asociados con medidas de prosocialidad y juicios sobre el riesgo, el impacto y la aceptación de las pautas de cuarentena del SARS-CoV-2. Los resultados revelaron que la empatía afectiva (angustia personal y preocupación empática) y las tendencias morales (tendencias deontológicas) predijeron una mayor aceptación de la cuarentena pero a su vez produjeron una mayor percepción de riesgos e impactos individuales del SARS-CoV-2. Además, la edad (mayores) y el género (mujeres) también aumentaron la percepción del riesgo y la estimación del impacto. Estos resultados subrayan el papel de las predisposiciones prosociales que informan las respuestas individuales a la pandemia y brindan la oportunidad de explotar este conocimiento para informar intervenciones exitosas que favorezcan el cambio de comportamiento. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has imposed widespread negative impacts (economically, psychologically, neurologically, and societally), and has changed daily behaviors on a global scale. Such impacts are more significant and pervasive in countries with higher levels of inequality and reduced Government capacity and responsiveness, such as those in the Global South (e.g., Colombia). Differences in social and moral cognitive skills may significantly impact individual attitudes and responses to the pandemic. Here, we aimed to assess the extent to which factors associated with prosociality (including empathy, theory of mind (ToM), and moral judgments) predict the perception of SARS-CoV-2 impacts and responses. Participants (N = 413) from Colombia answered factors associated with prosociality measures and judgments about SARS-CoV-2 risk, impact, and acceptance of quarantine guidelines. Results revealed that affective empathy (personal distress and empathic concern) and moral tendencies (deontological trends) predicted greater acceptance of quarantine but in turn yielded an increased perception of risks and individual impacts of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, age (older) and gender (female) also increased the risk perception and impact estimation. These results underscore the role of prosocial-related predispositions informing individual responses to the pandemic and provide an opportunity to exploit this knowledge to inform successful interventions favoring behavioral change.

Background: sleep is a physiological process that is critical for physical and mental health in children. Childhood encompasses diverse developmental stages that may affect the impact of physical activity on sleep quality, which may also be influenced by sex. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediation effect of sex and, as well as maturational stage on the association between physical activity and sleep quality, among primary school children. Methods: this was a cross-sectional study of 954 Spanish primary school students (437 early childhood and 517 middle childhood) with a mean age of 10.5 ± 1.2 years. Participants reported their sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and their physical activity levels using the Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: our study found that physical activity is associated with improved sleep quality in children, particularly during middle childhood. Higher physical activity was linked to better sleep quality and reduced sleep latency (p = 0.044). Sleep quality was generally better in males than in females (p = 0.002) and was also better in early than middle childhood (p = 0.000). Conclusions: especially in middle childhood, physical activity promotes children’s sleep quality. Thus, educational institutions should promote or improve the implementation of physical activity in the school context in order to benefit children’s sleep quality and, hence, improve their quality of life and wellbeing.

Aim: The study aimed to identify and compare aspects of the different Spanish regulations on the minimum conditions that nursing homes must meet and to compare whether these requirements significantly affect the price of a nursing home place in each region. Methods: We analyzed and compared the 17 regional regulations that must be met by nursing homes in terms of equipment and social and healthcare staff and combined this information with regional information concerning the price and coverage of public and subsidized places in nursing homes. Results: The study revealed significant regional inequality in physical facilities and human resources. However, the number of regulatory measures referring to the mandatory availability of physical space or specific material resources was not positively correlated with an increase in the price of a place in a public or subsidized nursing home. Conclusions: No unified regulations throughout Spain regulate the aspects that residential centers must comply with. There is a need to move towards a person-centered approach, providing an environment as close to home as possible. The regulation of minimum standards to be met by all nursing homes at the national level should not significantly impact prices.

The process and evolution of an organ transplant procedure has evolved in terms of the prevention of immunological rejection with the improvement in the determination of immune response genes. These techniques include considering more important genes, more polymorphism detection, more refinement of the response motifs, as well as the analysis of epitopes and eplets, its capacity to fix complement, the PIRCHE algorithm and post-transplant monitoring with promising new biomarkers that surpass the classic serum markers such as creatine and other similar parameters of renal function. Among these new biomarkers, we analyze new serological, urine, cellular, genomic and transcriptomic biomarkers and computational prediction, with particular attention to the analysis of donor free circulating DNA as an optimal marker of kidney damage.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is enveloped RNA virus, encoding for a polyprotein that is processed by cellular proteases. The virus is responsible for liver cirrhosis, allograft rejection, and human hepatocellular carcinoma. Based on studies including compositional analysis, odds ratio analysis, parity analysis, skew analysis, relative synonymous codon usage, codon bias, and protein properties, it was evident that codon usage bias in HCV is dependent upon the nucleotide composition. Codon context analysis revealed CTC-CTG as a preferred codon pair. While CGA and CGT codons were rare, none of the codons were rare in HCV-like viruses envisaged in the present study. Many of the preferred codon pairs were valine amino acid-initiated, which possibly infers viral infectivity; hence the role of selection forces appears to act on the HCV genome, which was further validated by neutrality analysis where selection accounted for 87.28%, while mutation accounted for 12.72% force shaping codon usage. Furthermore, codon usage was correlated with the length of the genome. HCV viruses prefer valine-initiated codon pairs, while HCV-like viruses prefer alanine-initiated codon pairs. The HCV host range is very narrow and is confined to only humans and chimpanzees. Based on indices including codon usage correlation analysis, similarity index, and relative codon deoptimization index, it is evident in the study that the chimpanzee is the primary host of the virus. The present study helped elucidate the preferred host for HCV. The information presented in the study paved the way for generating an attenuated vaccine candidate through viral recoding, with finely tuned nucleotide composition and a perfect balance of preferred and rare codons.

We studied the developmental course of the spreading of phonological activation in individuals with and without dyslexia by means of a phonological version of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott false memory task. The false memory effect is assumed to reflect the spreading of activation from the presented stimuli to similar words in the lexicon. We assessed 35 volunteers with dyslexia and a group of matched controls with ages ranging from 6 to 58 years. They were first presented with six lists of ten two-syllable words each, all of which shared one syllable with a reference unpresented word. Then, they answered a recognition questionnaire including 24 presented words, 18 phonologically related unpresented words, and 12 unrelated unpresented words. False recognition of phonologically related words increased with age in the control group but stayed at very low levels in the dyslexia group. Our study indicates the existence of a deficit in the spreading of phonological activation in individuals with dyslexia throughout life.

Background and Objectives. The diagnosis of seawater drowning (SWD) remains one of the most complex and contentious. It is one of the leading causes of unintentional death around the world. In most cases, the forensic pathologist must reach an accurate diagnosis from the autopsy findings and a series of complementary tests such as histopathological, biological, and chemical studies. Despite the lung being the most affected organ in death by submersion, there are few studies on this type of death’s impact on this organ. The aim was to investigate human lung cadavers of forensic cases due to different causes of death, the concentration of the oxidative stress markers malondialdehyde (MDA) and γ-glutamyl-l-cysteinyl glycine (GSH), and the relationship with the expression of surfactant protein A (SP-A) to try to discriminate SWD from other types of causes of death. Materials and Methods. A total of 93 forensic autopsy cases were analyzed. Deaths were classified into three major groups based on the scene, cause of death, and autopsy findings (external foam, frothy fluid in airways, overlapping medial edges of the lungs): (a) drowning in seawater (n = 35), (b) other asphyxia (n = 33), such as hangings (n = 23), suffocations (n = 6), and strangulation (n = 4), and (c) other causes (n = 25), such as multiple suffocations. Oxidative stress markers (MDA and GSH) and the immunohistochemical expression of SP-A were determined in both lungs. Results. MDA levels were statistically higher in both lungs in cases of SWD than in other causes of death (p = 0.023). Similarly, significantly higher levels of GSH were observed in SWD compared to the rest of the deaths (p = 0.002), which was more significant in the right lung. Higher immunohistochemical expression of SP-A was obtained in the cases of SWD than in the other causes of death, with higher levels in both lungs. The correlation analysis between the levels of oxidative stress (MDA and GSH) in the lung tissue and the expression level of SP-A showed positive and significant results in SWD, both in the alveolar membrane and the alveolar space. Conclusions. Determining the levels of MDA and GSH in lung tissue and the expression level of SP-A can be of great importance in diagnosing SWD and the circumstances of death. A better understanding of the physiology of submersion is essential for its possible repercussions in adopting measures in the approach to patients who have survived a submersion process. It is also necessary for forensic pathology to correctly interpret the events that lead to submersion.