Unequal impact of COVID-19 on excess deaths, life expectancy, and premature mortality in Spanish regions (2020-2021).

Objective: We aimed to estimate regional inequalities in excess deaths and premature mortality in Spain during 2020 and 2021, before high vaccination coverage against COVID-19.

Method: With data from the National Institute of Statistics, within each region, sex, and age group, we estimated the excess deaths, the change in life expectancy at birth (e) and age 65 (e) and years of life lost as the difference between the observed and expected deaths using a time series analysis of 2015-2019 data and life expectancies based on Lee-Carter forecasting using 2010-2019 data.

Results: From January 2020 to June 2021, an estimated 89,200 (men: 48,000; women: 41,200) excess deaths occurred in Spain with a substantial regional variability (highest in Madrid: 22,000, lowest in Canary Islands: -210).

Hospital referrals, exclusions from hospital care, and deaths among long-term care residents in the Community of Madrid during the March-April 2020 COVID-19 epidemic period: a multivariate time series analysis.

Background: From March 7 to April 7, 2020, the Community of Madrid (CoM), Spain, issued interventions in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, including hospital referral triage protocols for long-term care facility (LTCF) residents (March 18-25). Those with moderate to severe physical disability and cognitive impairment were excluded from hospital referral. This research assesses changes in the association between daily hospital referrals and the deaths of LTCF residents attributable to the triage protocols.

Exploring through the use of physiological and isotopic techniques the potential of a PGPR-based biofertilizer to improve nitrogen fertilization practices efficiency in strawberry cultivation.

The use of microorganisms as a biofertilizer in strawberry has focused mainly on pathogen biocontrol, which has led to the underestimation of the potential of microorganisms for the improvement of nutritional efficiency in this crop. A study was established to investigate the impact of a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) based biofertilizer integrated by self-compatible stress tolerant strains with multiple PGP properties, including atmospheric nitrogen fixation, on strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa cv. Rociera) tolerance to N deficiency in terms of growth and physiological performance.

Restrictions on Hospital Referrals from Long-Term Care Homes in Madrid and COVID-19 Mortality from March to June 2020: A Systematic Review of Studies Conducted in Spain.

In March 2020, a ministerial directive issued by the Government of the Community of Madrid (CoM) in Spain included disability-based exclusion criteria and recommendations against hospital referral of patients with respiratory conditions living in long-term care homes (LTCHs). Our objective was to assess whether the hospitalization mortality ratio (HMR) is greater than unity, as would be expected had the more severe COVID-19 cases been hospitalized. Thirteen research publications were identified in this systematic review of mortality by place of death of COVID-19-diagnosed LTCH residents in Spain.

Long-Term Care Home Size Association with COVID-19 Infection and Mortality in Catalonia in March and April 2020.

We aim to assess how COVID-19 infection and mortality varied according to facility size in 965 long-term care homes (LTCHs) in Catalonia during March and April 2020. We measured LTCH size by the number of authorised beds. Outcomes were COVID-19 infection (at least one COVID-19 case in an LTCH) and COVID-19 mortality.

The Impact of Long-Term Care Home Ownership and Administration Type on All-Cause Mortality from March to April 2020 in Madrid, Spain.

Our aim is to assess whether long-term care home (LTCH) ownership and administration type were associated with all-cause mortality in 470 LTCHs in the Community of Madrid (Spain) during March and April 2020, the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are eight categories of LTCH type, including various combinations of ownership type (for-profit, nonprofit, and public) and administration type (completely private, private with places rented by the public sector, administrative management by procurement, and completely public). Multilevel regression was used to examine the association between mortality and LTCH type, adjusting for LTCH size, the spread of the COVID-19 infection, and the referral hospital.

[Unknown mortality of the population in long-term care homes in Spain].

It seems necessary to assess the mortality of older people living in long-term care homes to examine its determinants, including the structural and organizational characteristics of these centers and their relationship with the use of health and social services. Attempting to investigate the mortality of the population over 65 years of age living in long-term care homes during COVID-19, we were not able to identify those who died at their long-term care home and, consequently, to know their number of deaths and their causes. In this field note, we describe this anomalous situation and propose a solution: compliance with the law that obliges all citizens to register at their usual address, which should be required in the process of admission to a residence.

Refugee Camps as Torturing Environments-An Analysis of the Conditions in the Moria Reception Center (Greece) Based on the Torturing Environment Scale.

Background: European countries apply a policy of deterrence of migrants in territorial and extraterritorial border areas. The authors apply the model of torturing environments, which has been already applied to other contexts where persons are deprived of liberty, to the situation of the reception center of Moria, on the island of Lesvos (Greece).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the months of April and June of 2020.

Different tolerance to salinity of two populations of Oenothera drummondii with contrasted biogeographical origin.

Oenothera drummondii is a native species from the coastal dunes of the Gulf of Mexico that has nowadays extended to coastal areas in temperate zones all over the world, its invasion becoming a significant problem locally. The species grows on back beach and incipient dunes, where it can suffer flooding by seawater, and sea spray. We were interested in knowing how salinity affects this species and if invasive populations present morphological or functional traits that would provide greater tolerance to salinity than native ones.

The relationship between gender roles and self-rated health: A perspective from an international study.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between gender roles and self-rated health in older men and women from different contexts.

Methods: 2002 community-dwelling older adults from the International Mobility in Aging Study were recruited from 5 research sites. Gender role was measured with the 12-item Bem Sex Role Inventory, which categorized study participants into four gender roles: Masculine, Feminine, Androgynous, and Undifferentiated.

Field comparison of ecophysiological traits between an invader and a native species in a Mediterranean coastal dune.

Photochemical efficiency, gas exchange, leaf water potential, pigment content and free proline content of Oenothera drummondii subsp. drummondii Hook (an invasive non-native species) and Achillea maritima (L.) Ehrend.

Impact of self-reported bank fraud on self-rated health, comorbidity and pain.

Objectives: As reported in other high-income countries, around the 2008 Great Recession the Spanish banking sector engaged abusive practices that satisfy the definition of fraud. Our objective is to examine the association between self-reported bank fraud and physical health, using a gender perspective.

Methods: With data from the 2017 Madrid Health Survey, we examined the association between the economic impact of fraud and poor self-rated health (SRH), comorbidity and pain (N = 4425).

Chronic disease and malnutrition biomarkers among unemployed immigrants and Canadian born adults.

Background: Immigration status and unemployment may intersect on the health outcomes of men and women. This study aimed to identify intersections between unemployment and immigration in inflammatory, metabolic and nutritional blood markers and assess gender differences.

Methods: We used Canadian Health Measures Survey data on 2493 participants aged 18 to 65.

Financial Fraud, Mental Health, and Quality of Life: A Study on the Population of the City of Madrid, Spain.

Over the past few decades, the financial system has engaged in abusive practices that meet the definition of fraud. Our objective is to compare the prevalence of psychological distress and levels of health-related quality of life according to having been exposed to financial fraud and its economic impact on family finances. The City of Madrid Health Survey 2017 included specific questions on exposure to financial fraud-this section was administered to half of the participants ( = 4425).

Gender Differences in Trajectories of Lower Extremity Function in Older Adults: Findings From the International Mobility in Aging Study.

Objectives: We examined the lower extremity function trajectories of older men and women over 4 years and baseline predictors of these trajectories.

Design: Longitudinal analysis of an international cohort study.

Settings And Participants: Older adults from the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS) aged between 65 and 74 years at baseline.

Gender differences in four-year incidence of self-reported and performance-based functional disability: The International Mobility in Aging Study.

Objectives: To examine differences in incidence of functional disability between older women and men.

Methods: 2002 participants (65-74 years) were recruited in 2012 from Canada, Brazil, Colombia, and Albania, and re-assessed in 2016. Three measures of functional disability were used (1) Difficulty in any of five mobility-related Activities of Daily Living (ADL disability); (2) Self-reported difficulty climbing a flight of stairs or walking 400 m (mobility disability); and (3) Poor physical performance.

Leukocyte Telomere Length and Chronic Conditions in Older Women of Northeast Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study.

This study assessed whether telomere length is related to chronic conditions, cardiovascular risk factors, and inflammation in women aged 65 to 74 from Northeast Brazil. Participants were selected from two sources, a representative sample of the International Mobility in Aging Study ( = 57) and a convenience sample ( = 49) recruited at senior centers. Leukocyte telomere length was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction from blood samples in 83 women.

Domains and determinants of a person-centered index of aging well in Canada: a mixed-methods study.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to explore the perspectives of older adults about the most important domains of aging well and to identify the social determinants of a person-centered index capturing these domains.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study of 40 semi-structured interviews and epidemiological data from 670 older adults participating in the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS) in Saint-Hyacinthe and Kingston. A composite index capturing the domains of aging well was constructed on the basis of findings from qualitative content analysis.

Groundwater drawdown drives ecophysiological adjustments of woody vegetation in a semi-arid coastal ecosystem.

Predicted droughts and anthropogenic water use will increase groundwater lowering rates and intensify groundwater limitation, particularly for Mediterranean semi-arid ecosystems. These hydrological changes may be expected to elicit differential functional responses of vegetation either belowground or aboveground. Yet, our ability to predict the impacts of groundwater changes on these ecosystems is still poor.