Subcycle dynamics of excitons under strong laser fields.

Excitons play a key role in the linear optical response of two-dimensional (2D) materials. However, their role in the nonlinear response to intense, nonresonant, low-frequency light is often overlooked as strong fields are expected to tear the electron-hole pair apart. Using high-harmonic generation as a spectroscopic tool, we theoretically study their formation and role in the nonlinear optical response.

Association between mitochondrial DNA copy number and production traits in pigs.

Mitochondria are essential organelles in the regulation of cellular energetic metabolism. Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA_CN) can be used as a proxy for mitochondria number, size, and activity. The aims of our study are to evaluate the effect of mtDNA_CN and mitochondrial haploblocks on production traits in pigs, and to identify the genetic background of this cellular phenotype.

A novel QTL region for pH and meat color in Duroc pigs.

One of the most important processes that occur during the transformation of muscle to meat is the pH decline as a consequence of the post-mortem metabolism of muscle tissue. Abnormal pH declines lead to pork defects such as pale, soft, and exudative meat. There is genetic variance for ultimate pH and the role of some genes on this phenotype is well established.

Following the Nonthermal Phase Transition in Niobium Dioxide by Time-Resolved Harmonic Spectroscopy.

Photoinduced phase transitions in correlated materials promise diverse applications from ultrafast switches to optoelectronics. Resolving those transitions and possible metastable phases temporally are key enablers for these applications, but challenge existing experimental approaches. Extreme nonlinear optics can help probe phase changes, as higher-order nonlinearities have higher sensitivity and temporal resolution to band structure and lattice deformations.

Identification of a missense variant in the porcine AGPAT gene family associated with intramuscular fat content through whole-genome sequencing.

The 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferases (AGPATs) are enzymes that catalyze the conversion of lysophosphatidic acid to phosphatidic acid, which is a precursor of triacylglycerol, the main fat reservoir in mammals. We used whole-genome sequencing of 205 pigs to identify 6639 genetic variants in the porcine AGPAT gene family. Of these, 166 common variants in the AGPAT5 gene had significant associations with fat content and composition traits.

Coordinated Response to Imported Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus Infection, Barcelona, Spain, 2019-2020.

In 2019, the Public Health Agency of Barcelona, Spain, was notified of a vaccine-derived poliovirus infection. The patient had an underlying common variable immunodeficiency and no signs of acute flaccid paralysis. We describe the ongoing coordinated response to contain the infection, which included compassionate-use treatment with pocapavir.

Do workers' health surveillance examinations fulfill their occupational preventive objective? Analysis of the medical practice of occupational physicians in Catalonia, Spain.

Objectives: Although routine workers' health examinations are extensively performed worldwide with important resource allocation, few studies have analyzed their quality. The objective of this study has been to analyze the medical practice of workers' health examinations in Catalonia (Spain) in terms of its occupational preventive aim.

Material And Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out by means of an online survey addressed to occupational physicians who were members of the Catalan Society of Safety and Occupational Medicine.

[Quality and compliance with the regulations of workers'health examinations in relation to their preventive purpose].

Objective: To analyze whether examinations for health surveillance in Catalonia are carried out with a high enough degree of quality as to comply with the preventive aim of the regulations, and to identify potential differences by type of prevention service.

Method: Qualitative and quantitative techniques. Body of data: Spanish regulations related to health surveillance, and a self-reported questionnaire answered by occupational health professionals who performed health examinations in their usual practice.

[Multidimensional measurement of precarious employment: social distribution and its association with health in Catalonia (Spain)].

Objective: To show the prevalence of precarious employment in Catalonia (Spain) for the first time and its association with mental and self-rated health, measured with a multidimensional scale.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the II Catalan Working Conditions Survey (2010) with a subsample of employed workers with a contract. The prevalence of precarious employment using a multidimensional scale and its association with health was calculated using multivariate log-binomial regression stratified by gender.

How much do workers' health examinations add to health and safety at the workplace? Occupational preventive usefulness of routine health examinations.

Objective: Despite no evidence in favour, routine workers' health examinations, mostly pre-employment and periodic, are extensively performed worldwide with important allocation of resources. In Spain they are performed within a theoretical job-specific health surveillance system. Our objective was to ascertain their occupational preventive usefulness from the perspective of occupational health professionals.

The changing patterns of psychosocial exposures at work in the south of Europe: Spain as a labor market laboratory.

Aims: To examine the pattern of psychosocial risk exposures at work among wage-earners in Spain in 2005 and 2010, and to analyze changes in exposure inequalities by gender and job category.

Methods: Psychosocial exposures were compared using the COPSOQ-ISTAS21 method, based on two surveys representative of the Spanish wage-earning population (2005 and 2010). Statistical analysis was conducted using correspondence analysis.

The copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire II (COPSOQ II) in Spain--a tool for psychosocial risk assessment at the workplace.

Aims: To describe the second version of the Spanish Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and to present evidence of its validity and reliability.

Methods: The original Danish long COPSOQ II questionnaire was adapted to the labor market, cultural, and linguistic setting of Spain and included in the 2010 Spanish Psychosocial Risks Survey. Analysis involved the assessment of psychometric characteristics and associations among psychosocial scales and health scales.

[Lipoprotein (a), D-Dimer and apolipoprotein A1 as markers of presence and severity of coronary disease].

Background And Objective: To examine the relationship between blood levels of lipids as well as haemostatic and inflammatory markers and the presence and severity of angiographically-evaluated coronary stenosis.

Material And Method: We included 897 patients (629 males and 268 females), aged 65.12+/-11.

Acute versus chronic myocardial ischemia: a differential biological profile study.

Objective: To determine the possible differences in lipid, thrombogenic and inflammatory marker concentrations and the presence of chronic and acute coronary artery disease (stable and unstable angina, respectively), comparing them with a group of control patients with normal coronary arteries.

Material And Methods: This prospective cohort study included 125 patients with unstable angina, 189 with stable angina and a control group of 83 patients with normal coronary arteries. Marker concentrations were measured in all 3 groups.

[Predictive value of lipoprotein (a) and apolipoprotein A1 in patients with angiographycally evaluated coronary stenosis].

Background And Objective: To examine the relationship between blood levels of lipids, hemostatic and inflammatory markers and the presence of angiographycally evaluated coronary stenosis.

Patients And Method: We included 397 consecutive patients (267 males and 130 females) who were admitted to the hospital because of an acute episode of chest pain. Each patient underwent a coronariography using the Seldinger technique.

Prevalence and biologic profile of aspirin resistance in patients with angiographically proven coronary artery disease.

Background: Aspirin protects from cardiovascular events. However, a number of patients who take this drug suffer events, probably due to aspirin resistance. The role of certain biologic variables that may affect resistance is still uncertain.

Association between inflammation, lipid and hemostatic factors in patients with stable angina.

Introduction: Dyslipidemia and thrombotic processes are both clearly involved in atherogenesis and its secondary complications. Moreover, inflammation has also been shown to play an important role in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Our objective was to determine the association between inflammation, lipids and thrombosis in a group of patients with stable angina.

Social inequalities in mortality in a retrospective cohort of civil servants in Barcelona.

Background: The objective of this study is to describe the inequalities in mortality by occupational category and sex in a retrospective cohort of civil servants working in the city council of Barcelona (Spain).

Methods: The cohort was followed for the period 1984-1993. There were 11 647 men and 9001 women.

Sickness leave, administrative category and gender: results from the "Casa Gran" project.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse the variations of sickness leave rates among the Barcelona city council civil servants by administrative category and gender.

Methods: The study was a retrospective cohort including all people who worked for more than six months for the City Council of Barcelona from 1 January 1984 to 31 December 1993. The cohort was composed of 11,647 men and 9,001 women who contribute to a total of 134,928.

Treatment of diastolic dysfunction in hypertensive patients without left ventricular hypertrophy.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of verapamil SR 240 mg (V) and the combination amiloride 5 mg + hydrochlorothiazide 50 mg (AH) on diastolic dysfunction of hypertensive patients without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Twenty-six hypertensive patients with diastolic dysfunction, normal systolic function and without LVH were included into a 2-week washout period and then randomised to a 6-month V or AH treatment. One blinded-to-treatment echocardiographist at baseline and at weeks 4, 12 and 24 assessed Doppler-echocardiography.

[Risk factors in stable coronary disease. Relationship with ischemic threshold and prognostic implications].

Background: To assess the clinical evolution, in a 5-year follow-up, of the development of acute coronary syndromes, in patients with angina clinically stable, establishing its relationship with the ischemic threshold (IT) and the main modifiable cardiovascular risk factors.

Patients And Methods: 120 patients, 86 males (71%), with an age of 57 +/- 8 years, with stable angina. The presence of smoking, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and diabetes mellitus was evaluated.

Congestive heart failure due to hypertensive ventricular diastolic dysfunction.

Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction is the first discernible manifestation of heart disease in hypertensive patients. Arterial hypertension with LV hypertrophy leads to reduced preload followed by impaired cardiac output (systolic dysfunction stemming from primary diastolic dysfunction). Diastolic dysfunction leads more often than systolic dysfunction to hypertensive heart failure and is in many cases clearly distinguishable from heart failure with low ejection fraction (EF).

Microvascular angina pectoris in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy and diagnostic value of exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy.

In a series of 120 hypertensive patients, 60 were found to have echocardiographic left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (Devereux's method). Of these, 18 (30%) had typical stress-induced angina and underwent coronary angiography, which showed that 11 (61%) had normal coronary arteries, and 7 (39%) (p < 0.05) had coronary stenosis of the epicardial arteries.