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Spiritual pain and financial distress are two important dimensions of cancer care that are often overlooked. Both dimensions can have a significant impact on the quality of life of patients with cancer and their families. This study conducted a cross-cultural adaptation, feasibility study, and psychometric properties of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-Financial and Spiritual (ESAS-FS) in a Spanish-speaking population with advanced cancer. The ESAS-FS is a patient-reported outcome measure that assesses 12 symptoms, including spiritual pain and financial distress. In the cross-cultural adaptation process, the terms "spiritual pain" and "financial distress" were refined to "sufrimiento espiritual" and "preocupación por asuntos económicos" respectively, with strong professional consensus and high patients' acceptancy (relevant questions 80%, appropriate terms 91%). A cohort of 100 onco-hematologic patients revealed that 70% experienced spiritual pain (mean 2.9/10), while 49% reported financial distress (mean 2.2/10). Symptomatic analyses illustrated significant associations of spiritual pain with various symptoms like fatigue, drowsiness, and depression. Similarly, financial distress correlated notably with drowsiness, depression, and anxiety. Moreover, a distinct correlation was observed between spiritual pain and financial distress. The findings of this study suggest that the ESAS-FS is a valuable tool for assessing spiritual pain and financial distress in Spanish-speaking patients with advanced cancer. The tool can be used to identify patients who are experiencing these dimensions of distress and to provide them with appropriate care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Correlation between transport properties and free volume has been widely evidenced by several authors. We are showing through a positron annihilation study in a high barrier polymer that transport properties can be improved by means of antiplasticizers addition. We also are verifying in this paper the influence of both free volume hole size and free fractional volume in diffusion of gases, finding a relationship with solubility too. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work summarizes the miscibility and transport properties of different polymer blends obtained by mixing a bacterial, isotactic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (iPHB) with copolymers of styrene and vinyl phenol (Sty-co-VPh copolymers). Given that iPHB and pure commodity poly(styrene) (PS) form immiscible blends, PS has been modified by copolymerizing it with vinyl phenol (VPh) units, in an attempt to promote blend miscibility. VPh units have appropriate functional groups that interact with iPHB ester moieties. The potential miscibility was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measuring the glass transition temperatures of blends of different compositions. As an additional test, the interaction parameter between the two components, using the iPHB melting point depression caused by the second component, was also measured. Copolymers containing less than 90% styrene showed miscibility with iPHB.Given the remarkable barrier properties of iPHB to gases and vapours, the study has been completed by measuring transport properties of carbon dioxide through different iPHB/Sty-co-VPh copolymer blends, using gravimetric sorptions in a Cahn electrobalance. A clear difference was observed between the behaviour of rubbery blends and those that exhibit a glassy behaviour at the selected experimental temperature (303 K). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to modify the transport properties of the amorphous polyamide Trogamid-T™, several additives with structural characteristics that produce antiplasticization have been tested. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) has been used to determine both the size of free volume holes and the number of holes (free fractional free volume). Polyvinyl phenol (PVPh), 1,5 dihydroxy naphthalene (Ndiol) and a hexafluorinated Bisphenol A (HFBA) were chosen according to the results of a preliminary study based on density and PALS measurements with 15% of additive blends. Their blends with Trogamid show different behaviours: HFBA behaves clearly as a plasticizer while the polyvinyl phenol acts as an antiplasticizer. Ndiol has a more special effect: blend densities are greater than additive whereas the hole size decreases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this work the miscibility and the carbon dioxide transport properties of a bacterial, isotactic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (iPHB) and its blends with a copolymer of epichlorohydrin and ethylene oxide (ECH-co-EO) have been studied. Blends were prepared by solution/precipitation. The aim to obtain miscible blends of iPHB with a rubbery second component (such as the ECH-co-EO copolymer) is to have mixtures with glass transition temperatures below room temperature. In these conditions, the iPHB chains not involved in the crystalline regions retain its mobility. This mobility seems to be necessary for the attack of microorganisms and the corresponding biodegradability.Miscibility is the general rule of these mixtures, as shown by the existence of a single glass transition temperature for each blend and by the depression of the iPHB melting point. The interaction energy density stabilising the mixtures, calculated using the Nishi–Wang treatment, was similar to those of other polymer mixtures involving different polyesters and poly(epichlorohydrin) (PECH) and ECH-co-EO copolymers. The so-called binary interaction model has been used in order to simulate the evolution of the interaction energy density with the ECH-co-EO copolymer composition. Previously reported experimental data on blends of iPHB with PECH and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) have been used to quantify the required segmental interaction energy densities.In the determination of the CO2 transport properties of the mixtures, only iPHB rich blends containing up to 40% of copolymer were considered. The effect of the ECH-co-EO copolymer is to increase the sorption and the diffusion of the penetrant (and, consequently, the permeability) with respect to the values of the pure iPHB. This is primarily due to the reduction of the global crystallinity of the blends and to the low barrier character of the ECH-co-EO copolymer. Sorption data can be reasonably reproduced using an extension of the Henry''s law to ternary systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Transposition of great arteries in humans is associated with a wide spectrum of coronary artery patterns. However, no information is available about how this pattern diversity develops. We have studied the development of the coronary arteries in mouse embryos with a targeted mutation of perlecan, a mutation that leads to ventriculo-arterial discordance and complete transposition in about 70% of the embryos. The perlecan-deficient embryos bearing complete transposition showed a coronary artery pattern consisting of right and left coronary arteries arising from the morphologically dorsal and ventral sinuses of Valsalva, respectively. The left coronary artery gives rise to a large septal artery and runs along the ventral margin of the pulmonary root. In the earliest embryos where transposition could be confirmed (12.5 d post coitum), a dense subepicardial vascular plexus is located in this ventral margin. In wild-type mice, however, capillaries are very scarce on the ventral surface of the pulmonary root and the left coronary artery runs dorsally to this root. We suggest that the establishment of the diverse coronary artery patterns is determined by the anatomical arrangement and the capillary density of the peritruncal vascular plexus, a plexus that spreads from the atrio-ventricular groove and grows around the aortic or pulmonary roots depending on the degree of the short-axis aortopulmonary rotation. This simple model, based on very few assumptions, might explain all the observed variation of the coronary artery patterns in humans with transposition, as well as our observations on the perlecan-deficient and the normal mice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Molecular mass and temperature dependences of the polymer–solvent interaction parameter have been investigated in the extreme interval of high polymer concentration using inverse gas chromatography (IGC). The observed molecular mass dependence has been compared with the predictions of a theoretical model, which emphasises the role of intramolecular contacts in the polymer chain. The model reproduces reasonably well the molecular mass dependence. However, enthalpic and entropic contributions of the interaction parameter, obtained from IGC measurements at different temperatures, exhibit behaviours difficult to explain in the framework of the current models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The addition of Phenoxy to Polylactide causes a decrease of the permeability coefficients proportional to the amount of Phenoxy, even in spite of the lack of miscibility between both polymers. The effect of a Poly(caprolactone-b-lactide) multiblock copolymer as a compatibilizer of a Poly(lactide)/Phenoxy blend was analyzed,1 achieving miscibility and providing an improvement in the barrier properties of the blend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Modification of transport properties of an amorphous polyamide, poly(trymethylhexamethylene terephtalamide) by addition of a nanosilicate, montmorillonite has been studied. For this proposal, carbon dioxide, water vapor and oxygen have been investigated in different sorption and permeability devices. Transport properties have also been related to the structural features. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy have provided the morphological analysis as well as the positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy has given the free volume characterization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Evaluates the effects of a package of activities, known as portfolio, on cognitive functioning, self-regulation and academic achievement of students. Discussion on intelligence; Regression analysis; Correlations between general intelligence, cognitive flexibility, metacognitive strategies and academic achievement.

The brucellae are facultative intracellular pathogens causing brucellosis, an important zoonosis. Here, we review the nutritional, genetic, proteomic and transcriptomic studies on Brucella carbon uptake and central metabolism, information that is needed for a better understanding of Brucella virulence. There is no uniform picture across species but the studies suggest primary and/or secondary transporters for unknown carbohydrates, lactate, glycerol phosphate, erythritol, xylose, ribose, glucose and glucose/galactose, and routes for their incorporation to central metabolism, including an erythritol pathway feeding the pentose phosphate cycle. Significantly, all brucellae lack phosphoenolpyruvate synthase and phosphofructokinase genes, which confirms previous evidence on glycolysis absence, but carry all Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway and Krebs cycle (and glyoxylate pathway) genes. However, glucose catabolism proceeds through the pentose phosphate cycle in the classical species, and the ED pathway operates in some rodent-associated brucellae, suggesting an ancestral character for this pathway in this group. Gluconeogenesis is functional but does not rely exclusively on classical fructose bisphosphatases. Evidence obtained using infection models is fragmentary but suggests the combined or sequential use of hexoses/pentoses, amino acids and gluconeogenic substrates. We also discuss the role of the phosphotransferase system, stringent reponse, quorum sensing, BvrR/S and sRNAs in metabolism control, an essential aspect of the life style of facultative intracellular parasites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preliminary design of shell-and-tubes membrane reactor for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene on a P-O-Ni-Mn/alumina catalyst (on an industrial scale) is presented. A one-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model is used. The membrane is an inorganic and non-perm-selective one; nevertheless, it enables an oxygen flow high enough to ensure the progress of the reaction. The influence of different disturbances (feed composition, pressure and temperature) on the evolution of conversion of ethylbenzene and selectivity to styrene is analyzed. Membrane reactor allows achieving high selectivity to styrene and moderate conversion of ethylbenzene, keeping a low oxygen concentration on the reaction side. Styrene production overcomes the expected amount to carry out the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusions The normal nasal lymphatic drainage runs via the facial vessels into the neck lymphatic nodes of levels I–II and this drainage pattern was found in our patients with sinonasal tumors. We found only one true-positive sentinel lymph node (SLN). Our pathological material was very limited and so further investigations are required before any valid conclusions can be drawn concerning the clinical value of SLNs in nasal tumors. Objectives To detect the lymph collection route of the nasal fossae and paranasal sinuses and to identify the first echelon in the tumor metastatic cascade in order to prevent the risk of occult metastases in N0 necks in patients with primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Material and methods Our control group comprised 30 patients (20 females; age range 19–50 years) suffering from chronic otitis media who had an anatomically normal nose and a cNO neck on palpation. The pathological group comprised 6 patients (2 females; age range 40–85 years) suffering from sinonasal tumors: 3 SCC, 1 recurrent melanoma, 1 ameloblastoma and 1 inverted papilloma. All had a clinically staged cNO neck on palpation and CT. In the control group, lymphoscintigraphy was carried out by means of unilateral injection of radioactive gold into the head of the inferior turbinate. The tracer was identified using a gamma camera 3 and 6 h after the injection. In the pathological group the chosen tracer was technetium, which was administered 1 day prior to surgery by means of injections into the heads of the inferior and middle turbinates, into the nasal septum and into the retromaxillary gingival mucosa. The tracer was identified transcutaneously using a navigator probe in the gamma camera at 15 min, 30 min and 1 h post-injection. A mark was drawn on the skin corresponding to the hot spot of the SLN. The study was repeated 30 min before surgery. The neck incision was selected according to the location of the SLN. A hand-held gamma probe was used in the operating theatre to detect in situ the radioactivity of the surgical excisional nasal area and the cervical SLN. Once the SLN was excised its radioactivity was confirmed ex situ, taking into account that the activity counts were at least three times greater than background. Postoperatively, all SLNs were histopathologically examined and cytokeratin staining was carried out immunohistochemically using the monoclonal antibody cocktail AE1/AE3. Results In the control group, intense activity at the injection tracer site and lower activity in the submandibular area (level I) were detected in 26.6% of cases. Nasal radioactivity persisted for 6 h post-injection and submandibular radioactivity increased, also reaching the area corresponding to neck node level II (70%). In two cases (6.6%), radioactivity was observed in the retropharyngeal nodes. In the pathological group, the SLN was found in the submandibular area (level I) in three cases, and in the ameloblastoma patient three SLNs were found at levels I–II. Three cases were false positives, and no metastases were detected using any of the histopathological procedures. The only one true positive corresponded to a female with an SCC of the maxillary infrastructure with invasion of the gingival mucosa. The histopathological code was 1 and a metastasis was detected on hematoxylin–eosin examination. In the other two cases no SLNs were detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The thermal degradation behaviour of bacterial poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) has been studied by Pyrolysis–GC–FTIR using a semi continuous furnace in the temperature range of 200–600°C. At temperatures lower than 400°C, 2-butenoic acid and higher degradation products have been obtained. However, at higher temperatures propene and carbon dioxide are the major degradation products. The relative composition of the detected compounds changes as a function of pyrolysis temperature. The application of Hi-Res TGA technique permits the minimum temperature of PHB decomposition to be determined with increased precision. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this work a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) study of blends of styrene–vinyl phenol copolymers (containing different proportions of styrene) with atactic PHB is presented. The equilibrium constant describing phenolic OH/ester carbonyl hydrogen bonds (KA) has been experimentally determined from the quantification of the hydrogen-bonded carbonyl group fraction as a function of temperature, and the effect of functional group accessibility on KA values has been discussed. An average value of KA=41 has been employed to perform a prediction of miscibility maps employing the association model of Painter and Coleman. A fairly good agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental results has been obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examined the effects of teaching self-regulation strategies and social skills to 40 middle school students in a compulsory secondary education setting, who presented difficulties in self-reflection, self-inquiry, assertiveness, and empathy. A quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-test measurements was employed. Intervention consisted of the performance of tasks, called ‘Portfolio’, related to the criteria skills during the school course. Significant differences between the experimental and the control groups were observed in the measurement of the criteria variables. Results are discussed in terms of the implications concerning how teachers can implement self-regulatory activities in their daily classroom practice to meet the educational needs of students with social problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Epicardially derived cells (EPDCs) delaminate from the primitive epicardium through an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation (EMT). After this transformation, a subpopulation of cells progressively invades myocardial and valvuloseptal tissues. The first aim of the study was to determine the tissue-specific distribution of two molecules that are thought to play a crucial function in the interaction between EPDCs and other cardiac tissues, namely the Wilms'' Tumor transcription factor (WT1) and retinaldehyde-dehydrogenase2 (RALDH2). This study was performed in normal avian and in quail-to-chick chimeric embryos. It was found that EPDCs that maintain the expression of WT1 and RALDH2 initially populate the subepicardial space and subsequently invade the ventricular myocardium. As EPDCs differentiate into the smooth muscle and endothelial cell lineage of the coronary vessels, the expression of WT1 and RALDH2 becomes downregulated. This process is accompanied by the upregulation of lineage-specific markers. We also observed EPDCs that continued to express WT1 (but very little RALDH2) which did not contribute to the formation of the coronary system. A subset of these cells eventually migrates into the atrioventricular (AV) cushions, at which point they no longer express WT1. The WT1/RALDH2-negative EPDCs in the AV cushions do, however, express the smooth muscle cell marker caldesmon. The second aim of this study was to determine the impact of abnormal epicardial growth on cardiac development. Experimental delay of epicardial growth distorted normal epicardial development, reduced the number of invasive WT1/RALDH2-positive EPDCs, and provoked anomalies in the coronary vessels, the ventricular myocardium, and the AV cushions. We suggest that the proper development of ventricular myocardium is dependent on the invasion of undifferentiated, WT1-positive, retinoic acid-synthesizing EPDCs. Furthermore, we propose that an interaction between EPDCs and endocardial (derived) cells is imperative for correct development of the AV cushions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In biochemical dynamical systems during each transition between periodical behaviors, all metabolic intermediaries of the system oscillate with the same frequency but with different phase-shifts. We have studied the behavior of phase-shift records obtained from random transitions between periodic solutions of a biochemical dynamical system. The phase-shift data were analyzed by means of Hurst's rescaled range method (introduced by Mandelbrot and Wallis). The results show the existence of persistent behavior: each value of the phase-shift depends not only on the recent transitions, but also on previous ones. In this paper, the different kind of periodic solutions were determined by different small values of the control parameter. It was assessed the significance of this results through extensive Monte Carlo simulations as well as quantifying the long-range correlations. We have also applied this type of analysis on cardiac rhythms, showing a clear persistent behavior. The relationship of the results with the cellular persistence phenomena conditioned by the past, widely evidenced in experimental observations, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Solar drinking water disinfection (SODIS) is a low-cost, point-of-use water purification method that has been disseminated globally. Laboratory studies suggest that SODIS is highly efficacious in inactivating waterborne pathogens. Previous field studies provided limited evidence for its effectiveness in reducing diarrhoea.Methods and Findings: We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 22 rural communities in Bolivia to evaluate the effect of SODIS in reducing diarrhoea among children under the age of 5 y. A local nongovernmental organisation conducted a standardised interactive SODIS-promotion campaign in 11 communities targeting households, communities, and primary schools. Mothers completed a daily child health diary for 1 y. Within the intervention arm 225 households (376 children) were trained to expose water-filled polyethyleneteraphtalate bottles to sunlight. Eleven communities (200 households, 349 children) served as a control. We recorded 166,971 person-days of observation during the trial representing 79.9% and 78.9% of the total possible person-days of child observation in intervention and control arms, respectively. Mean compliance with SODIS was 32.1%. The reported incidence rate of gastrointestinal illness in children in the intervention arm was 3.6 compared to 4.3 episodes/year at risk in the control arm. The relative rate of diarrhoea adjusted for intracluster correlation was 0.81 (95% confidence interval 0.59-1.12). The median length of diarrhoea was 3 d in both groups.Conclusions: Despite an extensive SODIS promotion campaign we found only moderate compliance with the intervention and no strong evidence for a substantive reduction in diarrhoea among children. These results suggest that there is a need for better evidence of how the well-established laboratory efficacy of this home-based water treatment method translates into field effectiveness under various cultural settings and intervention intensities. Further global promotion of SODIS for general use should be undertaken with care until such evidence is available.Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.govNCT00731497 Please see later in the article for Editors' Summary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]