Result of the implementation of telematic consultations in orthopaedic surgery and traumatology during COVID-19 laparoscopic surgery. / Resultado de la implantación de consultas telemáticas en cirugía ortopédica y traumatología durante la pandemia COVID-19.

The COVID pandemic has made telematic consultations a basic tool in daily practice. AIMS: The main objective of the study is to assess the results of the application of telematic consultations to limit the mobility of patients. The operational objectives are; to propose a consultation plan, to know how attendance limits consultations and to define which pathologies benefit the most from this plan. METHODS: A scheme is proposed with the creation of pre-scheduled clinic to assess suitability and the possibility of carrying them out in a single non face-to-face act. RESULTS: Phone call to 5,619 patients were made with a lack of response of 19%. The cases of 74% of the patients that answered were resolved virtually. There is a difference between units, obtaining a higher answering rate from patients appointed to specific clinic units, OR = 0.60, or to general trauma ones, OR = 0.67. The lowest answering rate was obtained from those derived from the emergency department. Twenty per cent of the consultations were not accompanied by complementary tests that would have favored the resolution in a single act. The general trauma consultations, OR = 0.34, postoperative control, OR = 0.49, and specific unit ones, OR = 0.40, were the ones that better met this requirement. Out of the remaining patients, the general trauma consultations, OR = 0.50, and those referred to units, OR = 0.54, were the ones that had a higher resolution rate without in- person consultation. CONCLUSIONS: The cases of 74% of the patients who answered the phone call were resolved virtually. Cases of 20% of the patients cannot be solved in a single act because they are derived without complementary tests. Osteosynthesis and postoperative arthroscopic follow-up consultations are the ones that need to be carried out in person the most.

Influence of adding Sea Spaghetti seaweed and replacing the animal fat with olive oil or a konjac gel on pork meat batter gelation. Potential protein/alginate association.

Standard and modulated differential scanning calorimetry (DSC, MDSC) and dynamic rheological thermal analysis (DRTA) were used to in situ simulate the batter gelation process. Texture profile analysis (TPA) and conventional quality evaluations were applied to processed products. Sea Spaghetti seaweed addition was highly effective at reinforcing water/oil retention capacity, hardness and elastic modulus in all formulations. Olive oil substituting half pork fat yielded a presumably healthier product with slightly better characteristics than control. A konjac-starch mixed gel replacing 70% of pork fat produced a similar product to control but with nearly 10% more water. DSC revealed the currently unknown phenomenon that Sea Spaghetti alginates apparently prevented thermal denaturation of a considerable protein fraction. MDSC confirmed that this mainly concerned non-reversing effects, and displayed glass transition temperatures in the range of 55-65°C. DRTA and TPA indicated however much stronger alginate-type gels. It is tentatively postulated that salt-soluble proteins associate athermally with seaweed alginates on heating to constitute a separate phase in a thermal composite-gelling process.

A counterfactual impact evaluation of a bilingual program on students' grade point average at a spanish university.

This observational study intends to estimate the causal effects of an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) program (as predictor) on students Grade Point Average (GPA) (as outcome) at a particular University in Spain by using a Counterfactual Impact Evaluation (CIE). The need to address the crucial question of causal inferences in EMI programs to produce credible evidences of successful interventions contrasts, however, with the absence of experimental or quasi-experimental research and evaluation designs in the field. CIE approach is emerging as a methodologically viable solution to bridge that gap. The program evaluated here consisted in delivering an EMI program in a Primary Education Teacher Training Degree group. After achieving balance on the observed covariates and recreating a situation that would have been expected in a randomized experiment, three matching approaches such as genetic matching, nearest neighbor matching and Coarsened Exact Matching were used to analyze observational data from a total of 1288 undergraduate students, including both treatment and control group. Results show unfavorable effects of the bilingual group treatment condition. Potential interpretations and recommendations are provided in order to strengthen future causal evidences of bilingual education programs' effectiveness in Higher Education.

Salt and phosphate effects on the gelling process of pressure/heat treated pork batters.

Thermal instability and setting was induced in pork by comminution, and the presence of NaCl and a salt mixture. Meat batter production by cooking (70 °C/30 min) produced almost complete protein denaturation and aggregation, mostly by hydrophobic interactions. It led to a firm and elastic gel with high water holding capability, these properties being greater in the gel with sodium tripolyphosphate. Pressurisation (400 MPa/70 °C/30 min) produced partial protein denaturation and differential scanning calorimetry and electrophoresis showed that both salt-soluble and salt-insoluble proteins remained native-like after treatment. The presence of these proteins, stabilised by hydrogen-bonds, were responsible for reductions in the mechanical properties but enhancement in water holding of the pressurised products. Tripolyphosphate partially counteracted the pressure effects in the pressure/heat combination.

Preparation and molecular characterization of chitosans obtained from shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) shells.

Four chitosan samples were prepared from shrimp shells without deproteination and decoloration steps, by a deacetylation process at 2 reaction times (2 and 4 h) and with/without using a reducing agent (R.A.). Variations in the physicochemical properties of the final products were analyzed. Viscosity average molecular weight (Mw) determinations demonstrated the protective action of the R.A. on the molecular oxidative degradation. Oppositely, an increase on the reaction time produced samples with low Mw. Deacetylation degrees (DDs) were chemically evaluated by the nitrogen content and by spectroscopic techniques as infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance. The existing differences in crystallinity were studied by X-ray diffraction. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry were used to demonstrate the dehydration and thermal degradation processes of the different chitosans. A novel method from calorimetric profiles is presenting for DD determinations of chitosan, which achieved highly satisfactory results (linear fit and Pearson's correlation coefficient) and is proposed to be generally extended to complex curves application.

Collagen characteristics of farmed Atlantic salmon with firm and soft fillet texture.

The possible role of collagen in texture variations among Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) grown under commercial conditions at a Norwegian farm was studied. The texture was determined instrumentally as the breaking strength, and collagen and its salt (SSC), acid (ASC), pepsin (PSC) and insoluble (IF) fractions were analysed in order to determine the collagen aggregation degree. The collagen solubility and its overall amino acid (AA) composition showed no correlation to the breaking strength, but a positive correlation was observed between the breaking strength and glycine (r=0.74) and alanine (r=0.87) contents of the PSC fraction. Salmon with high breaking strength had higher T(peak) (temperature of transition) and ΔH (enthalpy of transition), and the collagen seemed to have triple helix structures mainly stabilized by covalent associations as compared to salmon with low breaking strength. The glycosylation degree was also positively correlated to the breaking strength (r=0.88, p ≤ 0.05). It is concluded that firmness of salmon muscle was not related to the total amount of collagen in the muscle, but rather higher collagen stability.

"Escuchemos el lenguaje del niño": normalidad versus signos de alerta / "Let's listen to children language": normality versus warning signs

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Influence of temperature and composition on some physical properties of milk and milk concentrates. IV. Thermal expansion.

Apparent thermal expansion measurements were carried out by dilatometry on eleven types of milk, grouped in three sets according to their fat to solids-not-fat ratio, over the temperature range of 0 degrees to 80 degrees C. Analytical expressions relating milk thermal expansion coefficients with its composition and temperature are given. These expressions predicted the thermal behaviour of samples usually within 1%. A nomogram is also presented for the direct derivation of relative integral dilatations from temperature, total solids content and fat to solids-no-fat ratio of the sample.

Determination of the triglyceride composition of avocado oil by high-performance liquid chromatography using a light-scattering detector.

The triglyceride composition of avocado oil was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography using a light-scattering detector. Two avocado varieties, Fuerte and Hass, were analysed, and the qualitative composition of each was found to be similar, though quantitative differences were detected. The triglyceride composition was predicted using a system of equations based on the relationship between log k' and the molecular variables equivalent carbon number, chain length and number of double bonds for each of the fatty acids in the glycerides. A total of 24 molecular species of triglycerides were identified. The chromatographic system used successfully separated the critical pairs OOO-LOS, PaPaO-LnPP and PaOO-LOP (O = olein; L = linolein; S = stearin; Pa = palmitolein; Ln = linolenin; P = palmitin). Detector response was found to have a linear relationship with the amount of sample injected over the injection range 10-70 micrograms.

Interactions in the Thallium(I) Heptanoate and Heptanoic Acid System: Association, Aggregation, and Phase Behavior

The phase, association, and aggregation behavior of the binary system [TlO2C(CH2)5CH3 + HO2C(CH2)5CH3] have been investigated through temperature and enthalpy vs composition diagrams by determination of the thermal behavior of the pure components and 30 mixtures over an interval of nearly 300 K, and by differential scanning calorimetry and polarized microscopy. Total miscibility was observed in liquid and liquid crystalline phases but essentially total immiscibility among crystalline phases. The phase behavior exhibits: (1) Formation of two intermediate compounds which dissociate in the solid state at low temperature; (2) A eutectic reaction at salt molar fraction x = 0.08 about 3 K below the acid melting point; (3) Unimolecular salt:acid association by very strong hydrogen bonding, which undergoes a crystal/crystal transition prior to incongruent melting at 295.5 K, occurring by a highly energetic peritectic reaction in which the compound evolves more than the sum of the total transition enthalpies of both components; (4) Lyotropic mesophase formation at 390.0 K over the x >/= 0.66 composition range by aggregation of a solid and a liquid phase to yield, on heating, a continuous series of liquid crystalline solutions with mixed-lamellar structure and interlamellar spacings around 20 A as determined by powder X-ray diffractometry, their texture being focal conic, consistent with the neat thermotropic mesophase of the pure salt. A tridimensional phase diagram is presented. All these main reactions have been fully characterized by their nature, stoichiometry, and relevant thermodynamic data.

Thermal gelation of meat batters as a function of type and level of fat and protein content.

The rheological behaviour of meat batters during heating was analysed as a function of protein level (10-16%), type (pork back or perirenal/peritoneal fat) and amount (10-22%) of fat used. Fat thermal behaviour was studied by differential scanning calorimetry and rheological properties of batters were assessed using non-destructive measurements (thermal scanning rigidity monitor). The higher the protein content, the higher were the rigidity values displayed by the batters, irrespective of fat type, although the magnitude of these values appeared to be dependent on the amount and characteristics of the fat. The lower the fat content, the lower were the rigidity values of the batters. This behaviour pattern was influenced by the amount of protein present. In general, samples containing perirenal/peritoneal fat exhibited lower rigidity values at high temperatures, whereas at less than 35-40 degrees C, the opposite appeared to be the case.

Molecular association of normal alkanoic acids with their thallium(I) salts: a new homologous series of fatty acid metal soaps.

A new homologous series of thallium(I) hydrogen dialkanoates, fatty acid thallium soaps, from the dipropane up to the ditetradecane is reported for the first time. This association with 1:1 stoichiometry is the only one exhibited by the thallium derivatives. They have been prepared by solidification of molten mixtures with equimolar proportions of acid and corresponding neutral salt, through crystallization from an anhydrous ethanolic solution of the mixture has also been successful in getting pure compounds with largest chain lengths. Vibrational spectroscopies clearly characterize these crystalline compounds as very strong hydrogen bonding systems. Assignations of active modes in proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (NMR) (in ethanol) and infrared (IR) and Raman spectra (in solid state) are reported. According to X-ray diffraction (XRD) they have monomolecular lamellar structures with the acyl chains arranged up and down to the cation/H-bond network in a methyl-to-methyl fashion, and vertically oriented to the basal plane. The acyl chains present all-trans conformation and alternating configuration (perpendicular orthorhombic subcell), like the beta'-phases of other kinds of lipids. Lamellar thickness is reported for the six room-temperature crystalline members. The molecular compounds present polymorphism, one crystal/crystal transition at temperatures close to the peritectical melting. Phase transition thermodynamics are also given and discussed with respect to their acid and salt parents. Their incongruent melting involves nearly 90% of the total enthalpic increments of both constituents' melting processes, making these compounds potential thermal energy storage materials.