Building wood debris piles benefits avian seed dispersers in burned and logged Mediterranean pine forests

Salvage logging is a common practice carried out in burned forests worldwide, and intended to mitigate the economic losses caused by wildfires. Logging implies an additional disturbance occurring shortly after fire, although its ecological effects can be somewhat mitigated by leaving wood debris on site. The composition of the bird community and its capacity to provide ecosystem services such as seed dispersal offleshy-fruited plants have been shown to be affected by postfire logging. We assessedthe effects of the habitat structure resulting from different postfire management practices on the bird community, in three burned pine forests in Catalonia (western Mediterranean). For this purpose, we focused on the group of species that is responsible for seed dispersal, a process which takes place primarily during the winter in theMediterranean basin. In addition, we assessed microhabitat selection by seed disperser birds in such environments in relation to management practices. Our results showed a significant, positive relationship between the density of wood debris piles and the abundance of seed disperser birds. Furthermore, such piles were the preferredmicrohabitat of these species. This reveals an important effect of forest management on seed disperser birds, which is likely to affect the dynamics of bird-dependent seed dispersal. Thus, building wood debris piles can be a useful practice for the conservation of both the species and their ecosystem services, while also being compatible with timber harvesting

Factors de creixement autòlegs aplicats a les ferides cròniques amb evolució tòrpida

Les ferides cròniques, especialment les de lenta curació, suposen una carga important pels pacients i pels sistemes de salut. És imprescindible investigar en nous tractaments que redueixin el temps de curació d‟aquestes ferides. L‟objectiu d‟aquest projecte, és avaluar l‟eficàcia dels factors de creixement, obtinguts de plasma ric en plaquetes, en la curació o millora de les ferides cròniques. El projecte s‟ha dissenyat com un estudi d‟una sèrie de casos que compara el tractament convencional amb el tractament amb factors de creixement. La variable resultats és la curació o la disminució del àrea de l‟úlcera. El projecte pretén avaluar uns quants pacients consecutius atesos en l‟ unitat de ferides cròniques del nostre hospital. Els subjectes del estudi han de presentar una ferida de més de 3 mesos d‟evolució nul·la o escassa resposta als tractaments habituals. La tècnica de obtenció dels factors de creixement plaquetar no és complexa i es pot realitzar en l‟entorn d‟un hospital de dia. No s‟han comunicat en la literatura efectes secundaris majors de l‟aplicació dels factors de creixement en ferides cròniques.

Patson Approach versus the Standard Approach for increasing breast reconstruction rates in women undergoing mastectomy. A randomized, controlled, open-label clinical trial

Breast cancer is the most prevalent neoplasm among women in the majority of countries worldwide. Breast cancer treatment include mastectomy which is associated to strong impact in women. Breast reconstruction is an option for many women to re-establish their body image and also to decrease psychological impact. However, breast reconstruction rates are low and many factors are involved in not undergoing breast reconstruction. Patient involvement in the decision-making process increases breast reconstruction rates and is associated to higher satisfaction and less anxiety and depression symptoms. More physician-patient relation and more education in terms of breast reconstruction are needed to achieve our objective. A new approach of medical care, called Patson Approach, is created in order to meet our goal with more patient involvement, as well as, physician and psychological counsellingObjective: to increase breast reconstruction rates in women who are candidates for breast reconstruction after mastectomy and are included in the Patson Approach compared to women included in the Standard ApproachMethods: the study design will be a randomized, controlled, open-label clinical trial. 62 patients will be recruited during two years and randomly divided in two groups, 31 will be included in the Standard Approach and 31 will be included in the Patson Approach. Preoperative and postoperative appointments are established in order to do a follow-up of the patients and collect all the data

Open Device Lab: movement to improve web and app experience

We present here the first part of the literature review regarding our study object, the Open Device Labs. The research on ODLs emerges from the observation of worldwide non-profit movement, which, through mutual collaboration, information and devices sharing, proposes a final improvement on user’s experience with the web and app.