Stress in Emergency Healthcare Professionals: The Stress Factors and Manifestations Scale.

Background: Healthcare workers are continuously exposed to a high level of stress, especially emergency department professionals. In the present research, we aimed to determine the internal consistency and validity of the Stress Factors and Manifestations Scale for in-hospital and out-of-hospital emergency workers. Methods: A quantitative, prospective, cross-sectional, and observational study including 269 emergency service professionals. Results: The scale was composed of 21 items, with a Cronbach's α value of 0.908. The hospital workers (38.4 ± 10.8 vs. 35.1 ± 9.9, p = 0.014) and women (39.3 ± 11.4 vs. 34.2 ± 8.6, p < 0.001) had higher levels of stress. The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the scale were adequate. Conclusion: In the present study, including in-hospital and out-of-hospital emergency workers, the Stress Factors and Manifestations Scale presented appropriate usefulness, internal consistency, and validity, with optimal predictive ability. Higher levels of anxiety, female gender, being less optimistic, and working in hospital emergency departments were related to increased stress levels. Further studies are warranted to validate our results and potentially extend the Stress Factors and Manifestations Scale to other contexts.

Cyclodextrin polymers and salts: An Eco-Friendly combination to modulate the removal of sulfamethoxazole from water and its release.

This study is aimed to validate water-insoluble cyclodextrin-epichlorohydrin polymer (ß-EPI) use to remove, by adsorption, sulfamethoxazole (SMX) from water and then release it via an environmentally friendly treatment so that the adsorbent can be recycled according to one of the objectives of the European Project Life "Clean up" (LIFE 16 ENV/ES/000169). SMX adsorption experiments on ß-EPI polymer in-batch were performed, varying different experimental parameters of the process, such as contact time, pH values, and so on. The adsorption process, exothermic and driven by enthalpy, occurs both through the formation of inclusion and association complexes, involves mainly hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds, has a rate-controlling step depending on both pollutant concentration and adsorbent dose and can be described by the Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich models which confirm the polymer surface heterogeneity and the physical nature of the adsorption. The presence of salts gives rise to a general decrease in the SMX sorption, mainly in the case of bromide, which was used to promote the SMX desorption and regenerate the adsorbent. The overall results indicate that ß-EPI polymer is not only capable of removing SMX by adsorption with short contact times and a qmax = 10 mg/g but it is also easily regenerated using a 0.5 M solution of sodium bromide without any loss in the adsorption performance and with obvious economic and environmental advantages. The polymer as synthesized, with SMX adsorbed and regenerated was characterized by FT-IR, SEM and DSC.

Synthesis of New Cyclodextrin-Based Adsorbents to Remove Direct Red 83:1.

Two cyclodextrins (CDs), γ- and hydroxypropyl (HP)-γ-CDs were used to synthesize new adsorbents by using epichlorohydrin (EPI) as cross-linking agent in order to remove Direct Red 83:1 (DR) from water. Both polymers were characterized in terms of Fourier spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, particle size distribution and thermogravimetric analysis. Experimental data for both polymers were well fitted to the pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion model, indicating that in the adsorption both chemical and physical interactions are essential in the removal of DR. Three different isotherm models were analyzed, concluding that γ-CDs-EPI followed the Temkin isotherm and HP-γ-CDs-EPI the Freundlich isotherm, these results suggested that the adsorption was happening onto heterogeneous surfaces. The results of the Gibbs free energy showed that the adsorption was spontaneous at room temperature. In order to eliminate the remaining dye after the polymer treatment, and advanced oxidation process (AOP) was considered, achieving more than 90% of removal combining both mechanisms.

Kaempferol complexation in cyclodextrins at basic pH.

The complexation of kaempferol with cyclodextrins (CDs) (beta-, G(2)-beta-, and HP-beta-CDs) in basic medium was studied, and the complexation constants (K(c)) were calculated by using enzymatic, solubility, and fluorometric methods. This is the first time that a decrease in fluorescence has been observed as result of the analyte complexation by CDs. The highest K(c) value for kaempferol complexation was obtained for HP-beta-CDs. To establish the validity of the fluorometric method for determining the K(c) between kaempferol and CDs, the same parameters were also determined by enzymatic and solubility methods. The enzymatic method was carried out by using horseradish peroxidase as oxidative enzyme, and the K(c) values obtained were similar to those obtained by using the solubility method. However, the fluorometric method underestimated the K(c) value by about 1.2-fold with respect to the other methods used. In all cases HP-beta-CDs showed the highest K(c) value, indicating that they are more efficient in the formation of inclusion complexes with kaempferol.

Dissecting the hydrolytic activities of sarcoplasmic reticulum ATPase in the presence of acetyl phosphate.

Sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles and purified Ca(2+)-ATPase hydrolyze acetyl phosphate both in the presence and absence of Ca(2+). The Ca(2+)-independent activity was fully sensitive to vanadate, insensitive to thapsigargin, and proceeded without accumulation of phosphorylated enzyme. Acetyl phosphate hydrolysis in the absence of Ca(2+) was activated by dimethyl sulfoxide. The Ca(2+)-dependent activity was partially sensitive to vanadate, fully sensitive to thapsigargin, and associated with steady phosphoenzyme accumulation. The Ca(2+)/P(i) coupling ratio at neutral pH sustained by 10 mm acetyl phosphate was 0.57. Addition of 30% dimethyl sulfoxide completely blocked Ca(2+) transport and partially inhibited the hydrolysis rate. Uncoupling induced by dimethyl sulfoxide included the accumulation of vanadate-insensitive phosphorylated enzyme. When acetyl phosphate was the substrate, the hydrolytic pathway was dependent on experimental conditions that might or might not allow net Ca(2+) transport. The interdependence of both Ca(2+)-dependent and Ca(2+)-independent hydrolytic activities was demonstrated.