Assessment of the quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. / Evaluación de la calidad de vida de los pacientes con enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal.

INTRODUCTION: Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) are diseases that cause a significant impact on patients' quality of life. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study, carried out at Torrecárdenas Hospital (Almería). Patients over 14 years of age diagnosed with CD or UC were included. For the assessment of HRQoL, the reduced 9-item IBDQ-9 questionnaire was used. RESULTS: 106 patients with a mean age of 44 years were included, with a female predominance. Forty-five percent of the patients in the sample had UC compared to 55% with CD. Of the patients, 69.8% were in clinical remission. The median questionnaire score was 60.8 points out of 100. Statistically significant differences were observed between sexes, with worse HRQoL for females. No differences were observed between patients with UC and CD. Differences were also detected between patients who underwent surgery and those who did not. A negative association was observed between the number of flares and the questionnaire score. CONCLUSIONS: In our study population, there is an acceptable HRQoL, with no differences observed between CD and UC. Female sex, absence of clinical remission, number of previous outbreaks, and surgery have a negative association with HRQoL.

Characterizing Hepatitis Delta in Spain and the gaps in its management.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic hepatitis D (CHD) is a severe form of chronic viral hepatitis. The estimated hepatitis delta prevalence in Spain is around 5% of patients with hepatitis B. Reimbursement of new antiviral therapies (Bulevirtide, BLV) was delayed in our country until February 2024. We aimed to characterize the clinical profile of patients with HDV/HBV infection in Spain and current barriers in their management at the time of BLV approval. METHOD: Multicenter registry including patients with positive anti-HDV serology actively monitored in 30 Spanish centers. Epidemiological, clinical and virological variables were recorded at the start of follow-up and at the last visit. RESULTS: We identified 329 anti-HDV patients, 41% were female with median age 51 years. The most common geographical origin was Spain (53%) and East Europe (24%). Patients from Spain were older and had HCV and HIV coinfection probably associated to past drug injection (p<0.01). HDV-RNA was positive in 138 of 221 assessed (62%). Liver cirrhosis was present at diagnosis in 33% and it was more frequent among viremic patients (58% vs 25%, p<0.01). After a median follow-up of 6 (3-12) years, 44 (16%) resolved infection (18 spontaneously and 26 after Peg-INF). An additional 10% of patients developed cirrhosis (n=137) during follow-up (45% had portal hypertension and 14% liver decompensation). Liver disease progression was associated to persisting viremia. CONCLUSION: One-third of the patients with CHD already have cirrhosis at diagnosis. Persistence of positive viremia is associated to rapid liver disease progression. Importantly, barriers to locally determine/quantify HDV-RNA were present.

Effects of ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim, and amoxicillin on microbial structure and growth as emerging pollutants reaching crop soils.

The presence of emerging pollutants, and specifically antibiotics, in agricultural soils has increased notably in recent decades, causing growing concern as regards potential environmental and health issues. With this in mind, the current study focuses on evaluating the toxicity exerted by three antibiotics (amoxicillin, trimethoprim, and ciprofloxacin) on the growth of soil bacterial communities, when these pollutants are present at different doses, and considered in the short, medium, and long terms (1, 8 and 42 days of incubation). Specifically, the research was carried out in 12 agricultural soils having different physicochemical characteristics and was performed by means of the leucine (3H) incorporation method. In addition, changes in the structure of soil microbial communities at 8 and 42 days were studied in four of these soils, using the phospholipids of fatty acids method for this. The main results indicate that the most toxic antibiotic was amoxicillin, followed by trimethoprim and ciprofloxacin. The results also show that the toxicity of amoxicillin decreases with time, with values of Log IC50 ranging from 0.07 ± 0.05 to 3.43 ± 0.08 for day 1, from 0.95 ± 0.07 to 3.97 ± 0.15 for day 8, and from 2.05 ± 0.03 to 3.18 ± 0.04 for day 42, during the incubation period. Regarding trimethoprim, 3 different behaviors were observed: for some soils the growth of soil bacterial communities was not affected, for a second group of soils trimethoprim toxicity showed dose-response effects that remained persistent over time, and, finally, for a third group of soils the toxicity of trimethoprim increased over time, being greater for longer incubation times (42 days). As regards ciprofloxacin, this antibiotic did not show a toxicity effect on the growth of soil bacterial communities for any of the soils or incubation times studied. Furthermore, the principal component analysis performed with the phospholipids of fatty acids results demonstrated that the microbial community structure of these agricultural soils, which persisted after 42 days of incubation, depended mainly on soil characteristics and, to a lesser extent, on the dose and type of antibiotic (amoxicillin, trimethoprim or ciprofloxacin). In addition, it was found that, in this research, the application of the three antibiotics to soils usually favored the presence of fungi and Gram-positive bacteria.

Prevalence of burnout syndrome in oncology nursing: A meta-analytic study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and low personal accomplishment in nursing professionals in oncology services. METHODS: A meta-analytical study was performed. The search was carried out in March 2017 in Pubmed, CINAHL, Scopus, Scielo, Proquest, CUIDEN, and LILACS databases. Studies using Maslach Burnout Inventory for the assessment of burnout were included. RESULTS: The total sample of oncology nurses was n = 9959. The total number of included studies was n = 17, with n = 21 samples for the meta-analysis of emotional exhaustion and n = 18 for depersonalization and low personal accomplishment. The prevalence of emotional exhaustion and of depersonalization was 30% (95% CI = 26%-33%) and 15% (95% CI = 9%-23%), respectively, and that of low personal performance was 35% (95% CI = 27%-43%). CONCLUSIONS: The are many oncology nurses with emotional exhaustion and low levels of personal accomplishment. The presence and the risk of burnout among these staff members are considerable.

The psychophysiology of Mastermind: Characterizing response times and blinking in a high-stakes television game show.

Television game shows have proven to be a valuable resource for studying human behavior under conditions of high stress and high stakes. However, previous work has focused mostly on choices-ignoring much of the rich visual information that is available on screen. Here, we take a first step to extracting more of this information by investigating the response times and blinking of contestants in the BBC show Mastermind. In Mastermind, contestants answer rapid-fire quiz questions while a camera slowly zooms in on their faces. By labeling contestants' behavior and blinks from 25 episodes, we asked how accuracy, response times, and blinking varied over the course of the game. For accuracy and response times, we tested whether contestants responded more accurately and more slowly after an error-exhibiting the "post-error increase in accuracy" and "post-error slowing" which has been repeatedly observed in the lab. For blinking, we tested whether blink rates varied according to the cognitive demands of the game-decreasing during periods of cognitive load, such as when pondering a response, and increasing at event boundaries in the task, such as the start of a question. In contrast to the lab, evidence for post-error changes in accuracy and response time was weak, with only marginal effects observed. In line with the lab, blinking varied over the course of the game much as we predicted. Overall, our findings demonstrate the potential of extracting dynamic signals from game shows to study the psychophysiology of behavior in the real world.

Depression in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

The pandemic meant a change in academic approach. This had an impact on the mental health of students, leading to, among other problems, depressive disorders. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence and factors that favoured the development of depression in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic review with meta-analysis of prevalence was conducted in October 2023, using Pubmed, CINAHL and Scopus as the data sources used for the search. This review followed the guidelines outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Search equation was: "(undergraduate nurses OR nursing students) AND depression AND (COVID-19 OR Sars-CoV-2)". The final set of articles was N = 12. Quantitative primary studies using anonymous scales and surveys to assess the prevalence of depression in nursing students in the last 3 years were included. Studies show a high prevalence of depression among young university students with figures above 50%. The total sample of students in the meta-analysis was n = 4,479 with a prevalence value of 32% (CI95% 22%-42%). Affected students are characterised by young, female students. Concerns included generalised academic uncertainty, social isolation, work overload, fear of contagion and concern about teaching delivery. Coping mechanisms were generally resilience, spiritual support, laughter therapy, seeking information about COVID-19 and eating food. In conclusion, students, especially female students, are at high risk of depression due to social isolation. In addition, coping techniques were inadequate and future strategies to prevent this situation should be considered.

A comparison of univariate and meta-analytic structural equation modeling approaches to reliability generalization applied to the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Introduction: Reliability is a property of tests scores that varies from sample to sample. One way of generalizing reliability of a test is to perform a meta-analysis on some reliability estimator. In 2011, a reliability generalization meta-analysis on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was conducted, concluding that average alpha values for the MBI dimensions ranged from 0.71 to 0.88. In the present study, we aimed to update the average reliability values of the MBI by conducting a literature search from 2010 until now and comparing to statistical procedures of meta-analysis: the Univariate approach, that were used in the previous study, and a novel meta-analytic approach based on structural equation modeling. Method: An estimation of average reliability was done based on 69 independent primary reliability coefficients for the Univariate approach. The average reliability was based on 9 independent studies in the case of the Meta-analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM) approach. Given that MASEM has the additional capability of testing the internal structure of a test, we also fitted several models. Results: The data was well-suited to the bifactor model, revealing the dominance of the general factor over the domain-specific ones. Acceptable overall alpha and omega coefficients were achieved for the two of the MBI dimensions, having depersonalization reliability estimates below recommendations. Discussion: In general, the MBI can be viewed as a highly interconnected three-factor scale, being its appropriate for research purposes.

Transcriptomic profile of the most successful Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain in Aragon, the MtZ strain, during exponential and stationary growth phases.

IMPORTANCE: Aragon Community suffered, during the first years of the beginning of this century, a large outbreak caused by the MtZ strain, producing more than 240 cases to date. MtZ strain and the outbreak have been previously studied from an epidemiological and molecular point of view. In this work, we analyzed the transcriptomic profile of the strain for better understanding of its success among our population. We have discovered that MtZ has some upregulated virulence pathways, such as the ESX-1 system, the cholesterol degradation pathway or the peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Interestingly, MtZ has downregulated the uptake of iron. Another special feature of MtZ strain is the interruption of desA3 gene, essential for producing oleic acid. Although the strain takes a long time to grow in the initial culture media, eventually it is able to reach normal optical densities, suggestive of the presence of another route for obtaining oleic acid in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Correction: Albendín-García et al. Explanatory Models of Burnout Diagnosis Based on Personality Factors in Primary Care Nurses. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 9170.

The following corrections have been made to the paper [...].

Prevalence of Burnout Syndrome and Fear of COVID-19 among Adolescent University Students.

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of burnout syndrome in adolescents entering university studies, to detect differences in burnout levels, personality factors and fear of coronavirus in a pandemic context due to COVID-19. A cross-sectional predictive study was performed with a sample that comprised 134 individuals in their first year of a Psychology degree at Spanish universities. The Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale were applied. The prevalence of burnout is estimated according to three methods: Maslach and Jackson's severity classification, Golembiewski's phase model and Maslach et al.'s profile model. The estimates show significant differences. The results indicated that between 9 and 21% of students were at risk of developing burnout. On the other hand, students who reported having suffered psychological consequences of the pandemic showed greater emotional exhaustion, neuroticism and fear of COVID-19, and a lower level of personal accomplishment than those who did not suffer such consequences. Neuroticism was the only significant predictor for all burnout dimensions, and fear of COVID-19 did not contribute to any of them.

Predicting the Risk of Re-Offending in Child-to-Parent Violence Using the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth.

Child-to-parent violence occurs when children engage in violent behaviour towards family members; the principal victim is often the mother. The risk assessment instruments used to identify the risk and protective factors in youth offenders who perpetrate child-to-parent violence are not specific to this type of offense. This study aims to describe the child-to-parent violence group in relation to the risk and protective factors they present in comparison with the group of young people who committed an assault offence. The sample for this study consists of two groups of youth offenders. The first group committed child-to-parent violence, and the second group has committed a violent crime against individuals to whom they are not related. Young people who commit child-to-parent violence have higher scores on the SAVRY risk factors and lower scores on the SAVRY protective factor than young people who have committed an assault offence. The results reveal the importance of identifying the risk and protective factors presented by youth offenders who commit child-to-parent violence in order to create specific intervention programs for the needs and strengths presented by this group of young people.

Prevalence and levels of burnout in nursing students: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze burnout levels and prevalence in nursing students and to estimate prevalence levels with meta-analyses. BACKGROUND: Nurses are one of the healthcare professionals most affect by burnout, but nursing students, during their studies, can also suffer burnout. DESIGN: a systematic review with meta-analysis was performed. METHODS: The search equation used in Pubmed, CINAHL and Scopus databases was "burnout AND nursing students". Quantitative primary studies including information about burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, or personal accomplishment in nursing students were included. Four meta-analysis were performed. RESULTS: the sample was of n = 34 studies, with n = 15 studies being included in the meta-analysis with n = 2744 nursing students. Burnout prevalence was 19% (95% CI 11-28%). Regarding burnout dimensions, the most affected was high emotional exhaustion with a prevalence of 41%(95% CI 23-61%; n = 2222) followed by 27% low personal accomplishment(95% CI 9-49%; n = 2096), 25% high depersonalization (95% CI 15-36%; n = 2096). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of burnout and its dimensions vary from 19% to 41%, being emotional exhaustion the main problem in nursing students. This problem may affect their future as nursing professionals, and it would be of important to prevent and to treat burnout at university levels.

Psychosocial Profile of Juvenile and Adult Offenders Who Acknowledge Having Committed Child-to-Parent Violence.

The main objective of this study was to establish the psychosocial profile of adolescents and adults who have admitted to committing child-to-parent violence (CPV) and were serving a judicial sanction or prison sentence, respectively. Two groups of participants took part in this study. The first group was made up of 89 male youths who were serving judicial sanctions, and the second group was made up of 70 men serving a prison sentence. A cross-sectional retrospective design with concurrent measurements was used in this study. Group differences in the exposure-to-violence variables were conducted. Automatic regression models were used to estimate a self-reported CPV. In relation to the variables of indirect exposure to violence, statistically significant differences between those who admitted having committed CPV and those who did not, irrespective of being adults or adolescents, were found for seeing violence in class and at home but not for seeing violence on the street or on television. Regarding the variables related to experiencing violence, the results showed statistically significant differences in experiencing violence at home but not in class or on the street. The best predictive model of CPV includes some of the dimensions of self-concept, specifically academic and family self-concept, as well as the avoidant and rational problem-solving styles and the negative orientation toward problems. The results have shown the existence of a CPV offender profile that is common to minors and adults.

Explanatory Models of Burnout Diagnosis Based on Personality Factors in Primary Care Nurses.

Burnout in the primary care service takes place when there is a high level of interaction between nurses and patients. Explanatory models based on psychological and personality related variables provide an approximation to level changes in the three dimensions of the burnout syndrome. A categorical-response ordinal logistic regression model, based on a quantitative, crosscutting, multicentre, descriptive study with 242 primary care nurses in the Andalusian Health Service in Granada (Spain) is performed for each dimension. The three models included all the variables related to personality. The risk factor friendliness was significant at population level for the three dimensions, whilst openness was never significant. Neuroticism was significant in the models related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, whilst responsibility was significant for the models referred to depersonalization and personal accomplishment dimensions. Finally, extraversion was also significant in the emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment dimensions. The analysis performed provides useful information, making more readily the diagnosis and evolution of the burnout syndrome in this collective.

Levels of Burnout and Engagement after COVID-19 among Psychology and Nursing Students in Spain: A Cohort Study.

The COVID pandemic has 0drastically changed the functioning of universities in Spain and may have altered individuals' behaviours and emotions, the way they engage in the learning process and their psychological well-being. Burnout syndrome is a psychological problem that arises from persistent confrontation with emotional and interpersonal stressors. COVID-related burnout among Spanish students has received little research attention. For this study, a pre-post cohort study design was used. Data were collected using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, the Granada Burnout Questionnaire for university students, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Fear of CoronaVirus-19 scale. The population was composed of two samples of 190 and 226 students from Spanish universities. According to the results obtained, significant differences were observed between the pre- and post-test samples. Levels of burnout were higher after the COVID-19 pandemic and students' levels of engagement have dropped significantly following their experiences of the COVID pandemic. This study shows the impact that the covid pandemic has had on Spanish university students, impacts which may have had important consequences for their mental and physical health. It is necessary to implement intervention programs to enable students to recover, at least, the levels of burnout and engagement prevailing before the outbreak of the pandemic.

The use of the effect size in JCR Spanish journals of psychology: from theory to fact.

In 1999, Wilkinson and the Task Force on Statistical Inference published "Statistical Methods and Psychology: Guidelines and Explanation." The authors made several recommendations about how to improve the quality of Psychology research papers. One of these was to report some effect-size index in the results of the research. In 2001, the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association included this recommendation. In Spain, in 2003, scientific journals like Psicothema or the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (IJCHP) published editorials and papers expressing the need to calculate the effect size in the research papers. The aim of this study is to determine whether the papers published from 2003 to 2008 in the four Spanish journals indexed in the Journal Citation Reports have reported some effect-size index of their results. The findings indicate that, in general, the followup of the norm has been scanty, though the evolution over the analyzed period is different depending on the journal.

Emotional Assessment in Spanish Youths With Antisocial Behavior.

Impaired emotional capacity in antisocial populations is a well-known reality. Taking the dimensional approach to the study of emotion, emotions are perceived as a disposition to action; they emerge from arousal of the appetitive or aversive system, and result in subjective, behavioral, and physiological responses that are modulated by the dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. This study uses the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) to study the interaction between the type of picture presented (pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant) and group (adolescents under custody in juvenile justice centers, adolescents under non-custodial measures, and secondary school students) in the emotional assessment of these dimensions. The interaction between the study variables was statistically significant. Statistically significant differences were found between the three types of pictures presented, in the ratings of unpleasant pictures between the custody group and the group of secondary students in regular schooling in valence, and in the ratings of unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures in arousal, between the custody group and all groups. Discriminant analyses of each affective dimension indicate that the unpleasant pictures with violent and/or aggressive content tend to be in the functions that most differentiate the antisocial groups.

Assessing the Interactions between Strengths and Risk Factors of Recidivism through the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY).

Instruments that assess recidivism risk in young people are used widely in the sphere of juvenile justice worldwide. Traditionally, research has focused on the study of risk factors presented by young offenders, and how these relate to criminal recidivism. In present-day research, protective factors have also come into their own, having proven to encourage non-recidivism in young offenders. This paper presents a study carried out with 594 young offenders. The instrument used for assessing risk of recidivism in young offenders was the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). In the results found here, one can observe how the young offenders who did not reoffend presented a greater level of protective factors than the repeating offenders. The youths with a prior arrest record scored higher in the risk domains than the reoffenders without a prior arrest record. The case of young repeat offenders who already had an arrest record represents a high-risk profile, or a profile of a criminal career. Crimes committed by young people can be isolated incidents in their life. In most youths, criminal behavior does not persist beyond legal age. Protective factors prove to be important in juvenile justice when planning an individualized intervention for the young offender.