Perceived stress as a predictor of the self-reported new diagnosis of symptomatic CHD in older women

This article describes one aspect of a prospective cohort study of 10,432 women aged between 70 and 75 years. After a 3-year period, 503 women self-reported a new diagnosis by a doctor of angina or myocardial infarction (symptomatic coronary heart disease [CHD]). Time one psychosocial variables (Duke Social Support Index, time pressure, Perceived Stress Scale, Mental Health Index, having a partner, educational attainment, and location of residence) were analyzed using univariate binary logistic regression for their ability to predict subsequent symptomatic CHD. Of these variables, the Duke Social Support Index, Perceived Stress Scale and the Mental Health Index were found to be significant predictors of symptomatic CHID diagnosis. Only the Perceived Stress Scale, however, proved to be a significant independent predictor. After controlling for time one nonpsychosocial variables, as well as the frequency of family doctor visits, perceived stress remained a significant predictor of the new diagnosis of symptomatic CHD in this cohort of older women over a 3-year period.

New ionic liquids and salts derived from β-Lactam antibiotics

In recent years ionic liquids (ILs) have been increasing the popularity and the number of applications. Ionic liquids were used mainly as solvent in organic synthesis, but in recent years they are also used in analytical chemistry, separation chemistry and material science. Additional to significant developments in their chemical properties and applications, ionic liquids are now bringing unexpected opportunities at the interface of chemistry with the life sciences. Ionic liquids (ILs) are currently defined as salts that are composed solely of cations and anions which melt below 100ºC. Our goal in this work is to explore the dual activity of the ionic liquids, due to the presence of two different ions, an anion with bacterial activity as β-lactam antibiotics and different kinds of cations. In this work the anions of ILs and salts were derived from three different antibiotics: ampicillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. The cations were derived from substituted ammonium, phosphonium pyridinium and methylimidazolium salts, such as: tetraethyl ammonium, trihexiltetradecilphosphonium, cetylpyridinium, choline (an essential nutrient), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, and 1-ethanol-3-methyl imidazolium structures. Commercial ammonium and phosponium halogen salts were first transformed into hydroxides on ionic exchange column (Amberlite IRA-400) in methanol. The prepared hydroxides were then neutralized with β-lactam antibiotics. After crystallization we obtained pure ILs and salts containing β-lactam antibiotics. This work presents a novel method for preparation of new salts of antibiotics with low melting point and their chemistry and microbiological characterization.

Breaking the Pattern and Creating New Paths – Feminist Mizrahi Women Artists in Israel

This article addresses the work of Mizrahi women artists, i.e., Israeli-Jewish women of Asian or African ethnic origin, using the artist Vered Nissim as a case study. Nissim seeks to affirm the politics of identity and recognition, as well as feminism in order to create a paradigm shift with regards to the local regime of cultural representations in the Israeli art scene. Endeavouring to find ways of undermining the rigid imbalances between different social groups, she calls for a comprehensive reform of the status quo through artistic activism. Nissim employs a style, content, and medium that disrupts the accepted social order, using humour and irony as unique weapons with which she takes liberties with conventional moral, social, and economic values. Placing issues of race, class and gender at the centre of her work, she seeks to undermine and problematize essentialist attitudes, highlighting the political intersections of different identity categories as the critical analysis of intersectionality unfolds.

1st National Accessiblity Plan 2004-2012: achieving equal opportunities and full participation through design for all

According to official statistics, disabled people in Spain number 3.5 million and make up 8.8% of the Spanish population. This group of people are increasingly being recognised as members of society with equal rights, and many of their demands are gradually being transformed into solutions that benefit society as a whole. One example is improved accessibility. Accessible built environments are more human and inclusive places, as well as being easier to get around. Improved accessibility is now recognised as a requirement shared by all members of society, although it is achieved thanks to the demands of disabled people and their representatives. The 1st National Accessibility Plan is a strategic framework for action aimed at ensuring that new products, services and built environments are designed to be accessible for as many people as possible (Design for All) and that existing ones are gradually duly adapted.

Documentation and sport information: the challenges and opportunities brought by new technologies

This text corresponds to the contents of the seminar “Information Services at the Sport Institutions” held by the author as part of the programme of activities of the Invited Professor of Olympism of the International Chair in Olympism (IOC-UAB) in 2001. The seminar discusses the potential of technologies such as the Internet in sports documentation.

The Olympic Movement and Information Society: New Internet Challenges and Opportunities

Article describing the current situation of the Internet, the use of Internet by sport institutions, and the relationship between the Internet and the Olympic Games, and the Olympic Movement. This paper was presented at the International Symposium on Television in the Olympic Games held in Lausanne in October 1998.

Domestic and peridomestic transmission of American cutaneous leishmaniasis: changing epidemiological patterns present new control opportunities

Predictions that deforestation would reduce American cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence have proved incorrect. Presentations at a recent international workshop, instead, demonstrated frequent domestication of transmission throughout Latin America. While posing new threats, this process also increases the effectiveness of vector control in and around houses. New approaches for sand fly control and effective targeting of resources are reviewed.

A new procedure to assess the energy requirements of lactation in Gambian women.

The combined 24-h energy expenditure (24-h EE) of mother and child was measured with a respiratory chamber (indirect calorimeter) in a group of 16 lactating Gambian women and was compared with that of a control group of 16 nonpregnant, nonlactating (NPNL) Gambian women. Breast-milk production (738 +/- 47 g/d: mean +/- SE) was adequate to allow a normal rate of growth of their 2-mo-old babies (28.0 +/- 2.4 g/d). The combined 24-h EE (mother and child) was higher (8381 +/- 180 kJ/d. P less than 0.001) than that of NPNL women (6092 +/- 121 kJ/d). Two-thirds of this differences could be attributed to the child's EE and one-third to a greater spontaneous physical activity of lactating women. The energy retained by the child for growth in conjunction with the calorimetric measurements allowed the calculation of the extra energy requirements for lactation, which were found to be 2100 kJ/d. These results confirm the values of the current dietary recommendations for lactation, based on the energy cost of milk production.

A Reply to comments by D. Bar-Yosef M. Stiner on "Prehistoric exploitation of marine resources in Southern Africa with particular reference to shellfish gathering: opportunities and continuities"

I am very grateful to Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer and Mary Stiner for their comments on an article I published in the previous issue of Pyrenae. Having spent many years working with coastal sites in South Africa and now settling in the Mediterranean academic landscape, I value the feedback from these two well-known archaeologists who have dedicated years of hard work in this later part of the world. Their opinions are very much appreciated for they allow me to bring new contexts to some of the (old) questions I have pursued in South Africa, an exercise that would help me with the process of broadening my research interests to the Mediterranean region.