Publications by authors named "Alyana Almenar"

As access to doula services expands through state Medicaid coverage and specific initiatives aimed at improving maternal health equity, there is a need to build and improve upon relationships between the doula community, hospital leaders, and clinical staff. Previous research and reports suggest rapport-building, provider education, and forming partnerships between community-based organizations and hospitals can improve such relationships. However, few interventions or programs incorporating such approaches are described in the literature.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previous studies showed that, paradoxically, obese patients with heart failure (HF) have better clinical outcomes compared to overweight, normal, or underweight patients. Scientific societies emphasize the importance of integrating quality of life (QoL) assessment in cardiovascular care. However, the association between QoL and weight remains understudied.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Developing sustainable cost-effective strategies for valorization of field-spent granular activated carbon (s-GAC) from industrial water treatment has gained much interest. Here, we report a cost-effective strategy for the regeneration of s-GAC as an adsorbent in a large-scale drinking water treatment plant and used as an efficient and durable ozonation catalyst in water. To achieve this, a series of samples is prepared by subjecting s-GAC to thermally controlled combustion treatments with and without pyrolysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Food waste is a barrier to the development of sustainable food systems, and a large portion of it occurs at the household level. Household food waste can be decreased by using appropriate packaging. Despite the high rate of food waste in US households, little is known about how packaging affects this.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Iron deficiency (ID) is associated with an impaired cardiac function and remodelling in heart failure (HF). Treatment with ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) has been showed recently to improve biventricular systolic function and ventricular strain parameters in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction and ID, but there is no evidence on the benefit of FCM on the left atrium (LA). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of FCM on LA longitudinal strain (LA-LS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In recent years, (Skuse, 1984) has expanded its distribution globally due to its high ecological plasticity. This expansion has increased the population's susceptibility to contracting diseases such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, among others, which are transmitted by this mosquito species. In the absence of effective control methods, the application of the sterile insect technique (SIT) is proposed as part of an integrated vector management (IVM) program.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The cross-sectional study enrolled 231 patients with heart failure (n = 115; 60.87% were men; mean age, 74.34 ± 12.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Reducing loss and waste of fresh produce requires a systems-wide approach, where supply chain, logistical, and cold chain considerations are balanced with plant breeding, biotechnological, biochemical, and bioinspired solutions. Even though bioengineered specialty crops got off to a rocky start, genetically modified nonbrowning apples and potatoes have been on the market for almost a decade, with bioengineered pineapples, tomatoes, and gene-edited leafy greens with novel taste and nutritional profiles entering the market this year. Traditional and modern breeding expand the toolset of solutions for alleviating labor concerns, extending shelf life, and developing a generally tastier product less likely to be wasted by consumers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Patients with heart failure (HF) can exhibit kinesiophobia, an excessive, debilitating, and irrational fear of movement. This study aimed to enhance the understanding of kinesiophobia in patients with HF by analysing associations with the following variables: musculoskeletal pain, quality of life, quality of sleep, functional capacity, disability, frailty, sex, and age.

Methods And Results: In this cross-sectional study, 107 participants were included, with ages ranging from 28 to 97 years (57% men, mean age 73.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction And Objectives: Repetitive ambulatory doses of levosimendan are an option as a bridge to heart transplantation (HT), but evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of this treatment is scarce. The objective of the LEVO-T Registry is to describe the profile of patients on the HT list receiving levosimendan, prescription patterns, and clinical outcomes compared with patients not on levosimendan.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients listed for elective HT from 2015 to 2020 from 14 centers in Spain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The study aimed to study the influence of musculoskeletal pain on kinesiophobia in patients with heart failure. This cross-sectional study recruited 107 heart failure patients aged 73.18±12.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

LED lighting has become the standard solution for illumination purposes thanks to its energy efficiency. Nowadays, there is growing interest in the use of LEDs for data transmission to develop future-generation communication systems. The low cost and widespread deployment of phosphor-based white LEDs make them the best candidate for visible light communications (VLC), although they have a limited modulation bandwidth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • After heart transplantation, patients often struggle with physical activity engagement, prompting a study to identify factors influencing their exercise motivation and behaviors.
  • The study involved 133 post-heart transplant patients who completed questionnaires assessing their physical activity, motivation levels, and various health-related issues like depression and frailty.
  • Results indicated that improving functional capacity and fostering autonomous motivation are key strategies for enhancing physical activity and reducing sedentary time in these patients, with frailty and sarcopenia risk playing significant roles in this process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of this study was to explore the readiness for physical activity (PA) and its related factors in patients with heart failure. This cross-sectional study included 163 patients with heart failure (mean age 66 ± 16, 50% female). The ability to safely engage in PA was assessed with the PA Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The pathogen transmitting mosquito is spreading rapidly in Europe, putting millions of humans and animals at risk. This species is well-established in Albania since its first detection in 1979. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is increasingly gaining momentum worldwide as a component of area-wide-integrated pest management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The non-invasive diagnosis of acute cellular rejection (ACR) is a major challenge. We performed a molecular study analyzing the predictive capacity of serum RanGTPase AP1 (RANGAP1) for diagnosing ACR during the first year after heart transplantation (HT). We included the serum samples of 75 consecutive HT patients, extracted after clinical stability, to determine the RANGAP1 levels through ELISA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine whether physical activity enjoyment mediated the association between motivation and physical activity in patients with heart failure.

Design And Setting: A cross-sectional study at the cardiology clinic in the university hospital in Valencia, Spain.

Subjects: A total of 134 patients with heart failure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background The mechanisms explaining the clinical benefits of ferric carboximaltose (FCM) in patients with heart failure, reduced or intermediate left ventricular ejection fraction, and iron deficiency remain not fully clarified. The Myocardial-IRON trial showed short-term cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) changes suggesting myocardial iron repletion following administration of FCM but failed to find a significant increase in left ventricular ejection fraction in the whole sample. Conversely, the strain assessment could evaluate more specifically subtle changes in contractility.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Integrated vector control programs that use a Sterile Insect Technique approach require the production and release of large numbers of high quality, sterile male insects. In pilot projects conducted worldwide, sterile males are usually kept in containers at low densities until their manual release on the ground. Although the quality of the released insects is high, these containers are only suitable for small-scale projects, given the fact that the manual labor required for release is significant and therefore untenable in large-scale projects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study explores a new method for transmitting millimeter-wave signals in a 5G network through a combined fiber-optic and free-space optics approach, aiming to boost the connectivity for Industry 4.0 initiatives.
  • In experiments, the system successfully transmitted 3 Gb/s for the downlink, delivering 1 Gb/s to each user, and 2.4 Gb/s for the uplink, with performance meeting strict industry standards.
  • Simulations indicate the system can handle multiple users and maintain performance even under challenging conditions, with the potential to support a wireless range of about 200 meters for small-cell networks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: From clinical experience, kinesiophobia represents a barrier to being physically active after a heart transplantation (HTx), but studies in this field are lacking. Identifying the factors associated with kinesiophobia is essential to determine preventive interventions to avoid negative consequences for health.

Aims: To study the influence of disability, physical, and behavioural variables on kinesiophobia in patients with an HTx.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Heart transplantation (HT) is the reference treatment for patients with terminal heart failure. In recent years there has been a progressive increase in HT procedures in patients who have a circulatory support (CS).

Methods: This is a retrospective single-center study of 293 consecutive patients who underwent HT from 2009 to 2018, analyzing the evolution of the 2 cohorts: patients with and without CS as a bridge to HT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Although physical activity (PA) and exercise are essential for patients with heart failure (HF), adherence to the recommended guidelines is low. Not much is known about the mediating effect of HF patients' mental state with their readiness for PA and reported activity levels. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediatory effect of depression on PA readiness (physical limitation and psychological readiness) and self-reported PA in patients with HF.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Astrocytes, the main supportive cell type of the brain, show functional impairments upon ageing and in a broad spectrum of neurological disorders. Limited access to human astroglia for pre-clinical studies has been a major bottleneck delaying our understanding of their role in brain health and disease. We demonstrate here that functionally mature human astrocytes can be generated by SOX9 overexpression for 6 days in pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived neural progenitor cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

and are the main vectors of arboviral diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses. About a third of the world population is currently at risk of contracting -borne epidemics. In recent years, has drastically increased its distribution in many countries.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF