Mental health consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak in Spain. A longitudinal study of the alarm situation and return to the new normality.

AIMS: The objective is to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the effects of the pandemic and alarm situation on the mental health of the general population at three points in time: two weeks after beginning the confinement, after a month, and after two months, when the lockdown was lifted and the country returned to the new normality. METHODS: The evaluations were carried out by means of an online survey, with a sample of 3480 persons in the first data collection and 1041 and 569 persons in the successive evaluation periods. The presence of depressive symptoms, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was evaluated by means of screening tests. Sociodemographic data, Covid-19 variables, loneliness, psychological well-being, social support, discrimination and a sense of belonging, were collected. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms increased significantly throughout the confinement, decreasing at the last assessment but not dropping to previous levels. In anxiety, there are no significant changes between the three evaluations, but a downward trend can be seen over time. Regarding the symptomatology of PTSD, a downward trend is observed throughout the three evaluations, with significantly lower scores between the first and third assessments. The different regression models developed reveal the importance of perceived loneliness and spiritual well-being as the main predictors of mental health, as well as the importance of the lower age for depression and the female gender for anxiety and PSTD. CONCLUSIONS: This research shows that the pandemic has had a negative impact on our mental health, which still does not seem to be at pre-crisis levels, although it has improved as the emergency situation subsides. These results underline the importance of paying greater attention to mental health, and reveal key variables such as spiritual well-being and perceived loneliness in which to intervene from different care services, as well as younger people and women as vulnerable groups on which to focus more attention.

A dataset of modern and fossil distribution of coccolithophore species Florisphaera profunda in the world׳s ocean.

We compiled modern and fossil relative abundance of coccolithophore species Florisphaera profunda from published and unpublished datasets, along with ocean environmental variable data from satellite remote sensing and physical measurements. The database includes relative abundances of F. profunda in sediment trap (n = 26) and core-top (n = 1258), and sediment core samples (n = 104). Downcore data covers the Last Glacial Maximum (n = 94, 24-19 ka) or the Mid-to-Late Holocene (n = 77, <6 ka). This database allows studying modern and past biogeography of F. profunda as a response to changing ocean and climate conditions, "Quantitative reconstruction of primary productivity in low latitudes during the last glacial maximum and the mid-to-late Holocene from a global Florisphaera. profunda calibration dataset" (Hernández-Almeida et al., 2018).

Compound-Specific Radiocarbon Analysis by Elemental Analyzer-Accelerator Mass Spectrometry: Precision and Limitations.

We examine instrumental and methodological capabilities for microscale (10-50 µg of C) radiocarbon analysis of individual compounds in the context of paleoclimate and paleoceanography applications, for which relatively high-precision measurements are required. An extensive suite of data for 14C-free and modern reference materials processed using different methods and acquired using an elemental-analyzer-accelerator-mass-spectrometry (EA-AMS) instrumental setup at ETH Zurich was compiled to assess the reproducibility of specific isolation procedures. In order to determine the precision, accuracy, and reproducibility of measurements on processed compounds, we explore the results of both reference materials and three classes of compounds (fatty acids, alkenones, and amino acids) extracted from sediment samples. We utilize a MATLAB code developed to systematically evaluate constant-contamination-model parameters, which in turn can be applied to measurements of unknown process samples. This approach is computationally reliable and can be used for any blank assessment of small-size radiocarbon samples. Our results show that a conservative lower estimate of the sample sizes required to produce relatively high-precision 14C data (i.e., with acceptable errors of <5% on final 14C ages) and high reproducibility in old samples (i.e., F14C ≈ 0.1) using current isolation methods are 50 and 30 µg of C for alkenones and fatty acids, respectively. Moreover, when the F14C is >0.5, a precision of 2% can be achieved for alkenone and fatty acid samples containing ≥15 and 10 µg of C, respectively.

Development of the self-administered Spanish version of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Older Adults: HoNOS65+A.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to develop a self-administered version of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Older Adults (HoNOS65+) in Spanish - the HoNOS65+A - and to study its reliability and validity. METHODS: There are two phases in the study: construction of the HoNOS65+A and the study of its psychometric properties. In the second phase, 179 users of 10 services for older people of Madrid were interviewed. They completed the HoNOS65+A, the Spanish version of the HoNOS65+, and other instruments that evaluate similar constructs. Reliability (internal consistency with the other-administered HoNOS65+, intraclass) and validity (concurrent, discriminant, and criterion validity) were analyzed. RESULTS: High reliability indexes (intraclass correlation coefficients) were found for all the scales (HoNOS65+ and HoNOS65+A), except for items 4 and 6. Moreover, the HoNOS65+A has satisfactory concurrent (except 4, 6, and 9) and discriminant validity (except for items 4 and 10). Considering all these data and some theoretical points the items 4 and 6 have eliminated from the scale. Upon eliminating items 4 and 6, the analysis of the reliability (Cronbach's Alpha) and criterion validity (discriminant function among autonomous and assisted people) presents positive values. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the HoNOS65+A is a useful measure that does not assess a homogeneous area but instead different aspects of health and psychosocial functioning.