Exposure of Peregrine Falcons to Halogenated Flame Retardants: A 30 Year Retrospective Biomonitoring Study across North America.

Compared to aquatic ecosystem, terrestrial systems have been subjected to fewer investigations on the exposure to halogenated flame retardants (HFRs). Our study utilized peregrine falcon eggs collected from multiple habitats across North America to retrospectively explore both spatial distribution and temporal changes in legacy (e.g.

The Economic Impact of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) Pandemic in Spain.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has hit both the Spanish economy and the population's health hard. The result is an unprecedented economic and social crisis due to uncertainty about the remedy and the socioeconomic effects on people's lives.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 using key indicators of the Spanish economy for the 17 Autonomous Communities (ACs) of the country.

Training New Doctors in Mozambique. A Sustainable International Aid Health Program.

The collaborative project between the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the public University of Mozambique, UniZambeze, aims to strengthen the institutional and training capacities of its Faculty of Medicine located in Tete to provide new medical graduates. The essence of the program, training doctors, has the objective of improving the healthcare system and making it sustainable for the integration of new graduates into the staff of the faculty. In this work, we determine the cost of education for a new doctor and we evaluate the social benefit of the program in terms of the human capital.

Dying at home for terminal cancer patients: differences by level of education and municipality of residence in Spain.

Objective: To measure and assess differences by educational level in the place of death for cancer patients, and to determine whether patterns of geographical disparities are associated with access to palliative care services in the municipality of residence.

Method: We analysed the death certificates of adults (older than 24) who died of cancer (ICD-10 C00 to C97) in Spain during 2015, either at home, in hospital or in a long-term care centre. Of the 105,758 individuals included in the study population, 75.

Economic Crisis, Austerity Policies, Health and Fairness: Lessons Learned in Spain.

This paper reviews economic and medical research publications to determine the extent to which the measures applied in Spain to control public health spending following the economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 have affected healthcare utilization, health and fairness within the public healthcare system. The majority of the studies examined focus on the most controversial cutbacks that came into force in mid-2012. The conclusions drawn, in general, are inconclusive.

Allocation of Residency Training Positions in Spain: Contextual Effects on Specialty Preferences.

In Spain's 'MIR' system, medical school graduates are ranked by their performance on a national exam and then sequentially choose from the available residency training positions. We took advantage of a unique survey of participants in the 2012 annual MIR cycle to analyze preferences under two different choice scenarios: the residency program actually chosen by each participant when it came her turn (the 'real') and the program that she would have chosen if all residency training programs had been available (the 'counterfactual'). Utilizing conditional logit models with random coefficients, we found significant differences in medical graduates' preferences between the two scenarios, particularly with respect to three specialty attributes: work hours/lifestyle, prestige among colleagues, and annual remuneration.

Real waiting times for surgery. Proposal for an improved system for their management.

Objectives: In Spain, official information on waiting times for surgery is based on the interval between the indication for surgery and its performance. We aimed to estimate total waiting times for surgical procedures, including outpatient visits and diagnostic tests prior to surgery. In addition, we propose an alternative system to manage total waiting times that reduces variability and maximum waiting times without increasing the use of health care resources.

[Important differences between faculties of medicine. Implications for family and community medicine].

Objective: To determine if there are significant differences between universities in the proclivity to choose Family and Community Medicine (FCM), given the constraints imposed by the number of choice. To test the hypothesis that the Schools of Medicine that have the FCM as a compulsory subject in the degree (3 of 27) had the highest preference for this specialty.

Design: Observational study on the data file of all the individuals taking the MIR examination between 2003 and 2011.

Specialty choice in times of economic crisis: a cross-sectional survey of Spanish medical students.

Objective: To investigate the determinants of specialty choice among graduating medical students in Spain, a country that entered into a severe, ongoing economic crisis in 2008.

Setting: Since 2008, the percentage of Spanish medical school graduates electing Family and Community Medicine (FCM) has experienced a reversal after more than a decade of decline.

Design: A nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted online in April 2011.

Forecasting the need for medical specialists in Spain: application of a system dynamics model.

Background: Spain has gone from a surplus to a shortage of medical doctors in very few years. Medium and long-term planning for health professionals has become a high priority for health authorities.

Methods: We created a supply and demand/need simulation model for 43 medical specialties using system dynamics.

[Imbalance between the supply and demand for cardiologists in Spain. Analysis of the current situation, future prospects, and possible solutions].

Planning cardiology provision in Spain requires knowledge of the resources available and the demand, both now and in the future. In this report, we present the results of a study carried out by the Spanish Society of Cardiology on the availability of and demand for cardiologists in the country. The current situation is characterized by an imbalance of around 14% between the number of active cardiologists and the estimated number required.

[Analysis of factors related to smoking initiation and continued smoking in young adolescents].

Objective: To analyse the determining of the acquisition and later consolidation of the tobacco consumption in young adolescents.

Material And Method: Longitudinal study of three years of duration (2000-2002). Subjects were students of secondary education between 13 and 14 years old at the beginning of the study.

Attitudes of teenagers towards cigarettes and smoking initiation.

This paper contributes to the empirical knowledge of determinants of smoking initiation in adolescents. The instrument we used was a structural equation model, which is a powerful tool to analyze causal relationships in nonexperimental studies. We used a school-based sample of 1198 teenagers from Spain.

Young adolescents, tobacco advertising, and smoking.

Background: In adolescents aged 12-14, we measured attitudes to tobacco advertising. Our purpose is to understand the relation of these attitudes to tobacco use and identify the groups most influenced by the advertising.

Methods: Survey of adolescents on Gran Canaria Island, Spain, about aspects of family, school, peers, tobacco consumption, and tobacco advertising.

Utilization of nurse practitioners in long-term care: findings and implications of a national survey.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the national practice patterns of nurse practitioners (NPs) providing care in long-term care (LTC) facilities, including the number and characteristics of LTC facilities that use NPs for any portion of care to residents, NP activities, and employment arrangements between NPs, physicians, and facilities.

Design: Mailed survey.

Participants: Participants included all physicians who are members of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA).

Endotracheal intubation and esophageal tracheal Combitube insertion by regular ambulance attendants: a comparative trial.

Objective: Recent cardiac arrest resuscitation guidelines have recommended the esophageal tracheal Combitube (ETC) as an advanced airway management alternative for individuals who infrequently perform endotracheal intubation (ETI). This study attempted to analyze basic (nonparamedic) ambulance attendant success rates at ETI and ETC insertion as well as their continuing skill competency over time and whether ongoing practice on mannequins improved skill performance.

Methods: Three hundred fifty-seven adult patients in cardiorespiratory arrest were treated by 81 basic ambulance attendants.