A heritage dataset of soil and water salinity in Bardenas, Spain.

This article presents the results of soil and water analysis plus the plans -or "maps"- from the Report [1] issued 1974 on salt-affected soils in a new irrigation district located in the semi-arid Bardenas area of Aragón, northern Spain (Fig. 1). The survey was carried out by the now defunct Institute for Agrarian Reform and Development (i.e., IRYDA by its Spanish acronym). Work began in January 1972, with a preliminary reconnaissance survey on 53,000 ha using aerial photographs at a scale of 1:32,000 from the USAF photogrammetric flight of 1956-57 which covered almost the whole of Spain. Photographs from this flight are available on the Spanish aerial photograph viewer (https://fototeca.cnig.es/fototeca/). At that time, levelling for irrigation had not yet begun. This reconnaissance allowed the selection of an area of 32,300 ha (Fig. 1) with relevant salinity symptoms, like irrigated fields with irregular or no crop growth. A more detailed photo interpretation of the area was carried out at 1:12,000 scale from a flight in August 1971. The new irrigation district is fed by high quality water from the Pyrenees, but soon faced salinity problems that were well known to the farmers and echoed by the media [2, 3, 4] in an environment of great social concern about increasing agricultural production [5]. The Report, written in Spanish, is dated July 1974, but the soil profiles were described and sampled between April 1972 and March 1974. The Report [1] consists of two volumes, the first is a Memoria containing data from the surveys, laboratory analyses, pedological descriptions and some photographs of the soils and other land features of agricultural importance, as well as data and calculations for designing the drainage of selected plots. The second volume consists of five folded plans: a) location of the surveyed area at the scale of 1:200,000, and four plans at the scale of 1:25,000, b) soil-geomorphologic units, c) soil units describing their characteristics, d) land use, and e) locations of the described soil profiles and other field observations. Taken together, these data, improved by our orthorectification, gives a picture of the salinity and other soil properties in this area. The reuse of the data for comparisons with the evolution of agriculture in subsequent years -especially soil salinity and sodicity- will help to evaluate the agricultural practices over the last fifty years, particularly after intensive land levelling and irrigation.

Epidemiology of stage III lung cancer: frequency, diagnostic characteristics, and survival.

Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) includes a highly heterogeneous group of patients with differences in the extent and localization of disease. Many aspects of stage III disease are controversial. The data supporting treatment approaches are often subject to a number of limitations, due to the heterogeneous patient populations involved in the trials. Furthermore, the definition of stage III disease has changed over time, and early studies were frequently inadequately powered to detect small differences in therapeutic outcome, were not randomized, or had a limited follow-up times. Major improvements in therapy, including the use of more active chemotherapy agents and refinements in radiation and surgical techniques, also limit the interpretation of earlier clinical trials. Lastly, improvements in pretreatment staging have led to reclassification of patients with relatively minimal metastatic disease as stage IV rather than stage III, leading to an apparent increase in the overall survival of both stage III and IV patients. Median overall stage III NSCLC survival ranges from 9 to 34 months. Higher survival rates are observed in younger Caucasian women with good performance status, adenocarcinoma, mutations, stage IIIA, and in patients with multidisciplinary-team-based diagnoses.

Lung cancer risk and residential radon exposure: A pooling of case-control studies in northwestern Spain.

BACKGROUND: Through a pooled case-control study design, we have assessed the relationship between residential radon exposure and lung cancer risk. Other objectives of the study were to evaluate the different risk estimates for the non-small cell lung cancer histological types and to assess the effect modification of the radon exposure on lung cancer risk by tobacco consumption. METHODS: We collected individual data from various case-control studies performed in northwest Spain that investigated residential radon and lung cancer. Cases had a confirmed anatomopathological diagnosis of primary lung cancer and controls were selected because they were undergoing ambulatory evaluation or surgical procedures that were unrelated to tobacco use. Residential radon was measured using alpha track detectors. Results were analyzed using logistic regression. RESULTS: 3704 participants were enrrolled, 1842 cases and 1862 controls. Data show that lung cancer risk increases with radon exposure, finding a significant association of radon exposure with lung cancer at radon exposures above 50 Bq/m3. The estimated adjusted OR for individuals exposed to concentrations >200 Bq/m3 was 2.06 (95% CI: 1.61-2.64) compared with those exposed to ≤50 Bq/m3. Within a smoking category, lung cancer risk increases markedly as radon concentration increases, reaching an OR of 29.3 (95% CI: 15.4-55.7) for heavy smokers exposed to more than 200 Bq/m.3 CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that residential radon exposure is a risk factor for lung cancer well below action levels established by international organizations. As expected, there is also an effect modification between radon exposure and tobacco consumption.

Exposure to Residential Radon and COPD: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between exposure to residential radon and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by means of a systematic review. Material and Methods: A search was conducted in PubMed and OVID for papers making reference to the radon-COPD relationship. No search filters were applied, whether by date of publication, study type or sample size. All studies not written in English or Spanish were discarded. Results: A total of 174 and 57 papers were found in PubMed and OVID, respectively: of these, 13 (11 on miners and 2 on the general population) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Only four of the studies on cohorts of miners analysed COPD as a specific disease, and only one reported statistically significant results. In addition, many of these studies lacked information on tobacco use among miners. In contrast, studies conducted on the general public showed an association between mortality and hospital admissions, on the one hand, and residential radon on the other. Conclusion: There are not enough studies to provide a basis for confirming or ruling out an association between radon exposure and COPD. Nonetheless, the most recent general population studies point to evidence of a possible association. In view of the heterogeneity of available studies, it is impossible to say whether this gas may or may not affect COPD morbidity and mortality, until such a time as further studies are carried out.

Lung cancer risk and do-it-yourself activities. A neglected risk factor for lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between do-it-yourself activities entailing the exposure to carcinogenic substances and the risk of lung cancer. METHODS: We pooled individual data from different case-control studies conducted in Northwestern Spain which investigated residential radon and lung cancer. Cases had an anatomopathologically confirmed primary lung cancer and controls were selected at the pre-surgery unit with uncomplicated surgeries. Both cases and controls were older than 30 years with no previous cancer history. All participants were interviewed face-to-face using a specific questionnaire. Painting, model building, furniture refinishing and woodworking or home carpentry were the do-it-yourself activities considered risky due to exposure to carcinogenic agents. RESULTS: We included 1528 cases and 1457 controls. Practicing do-it-yourself risk activities was more frequent among cases: 16.0% were exposed to carcinogenic exposures during leisure time, compared to 11.8% for controls. The overall adjusted OR for lung cancer risk among individuals who practiced do-it-yourself risk activities, was 1.77 (95% CI: 1.36-2.31); this was 2.17 (95% CI: 1.51-3.11) when the analysis was restricted to individuals who performed these activities for at least 10 years. These risks were greater when the analyses were carried out exclusively among never-smokers, with the respective ORs being 2.04 (95% CI: 1.38-3.01) and 3.10 (95% CI: 1.78-5.40). CONCLUSION: These results support the hypothesis that do-it-yourself activities involving exposure to certain carcinogens are associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, both in ever and never-smokers.

Residential radon, genetic polymorphisms in DNA damage and repair-related.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the relationship of GSTT1, GSTM1, XRCC1 (rs25487), ERCC1 (rs11615, rs3212986), ERCC2 (rs13181), XRCC3 (rs861539), OGG1 (rs1052133), and Alpha-1-Antitrypsin mutations (AAT) with the risk of lung cancer in never-smokers, and ascertain if there is an effect modification between these polymorphisms and residential radon exposure. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We designed a multicenter hospital-based case-control study in a radon-prone area. 322 cases and 338 controls, all never-smokers, were included. They were selected using a frequency sampling based on sex and age distribution of the cases. Participants donated 3 ml. of whole blood used to determine genotype for polymorphisms. They placed a radon detector to measure residential radon exposure in their dwelling. RESULTS: The OR for deleted GSTM1 patients was 3.46 (95% CI = 1.52-7.89) at residential radon exposures above 200 Bq/m3. The ERCC1 rs3212986 polymorphism was the most associated with the risk of developing lung cancer, both for low and high radon exposures. The ERCC1 rs321986 GT and TT genotypes (at radon concentrations >200 Bq/m3) were more significantly associated with higher lung cancer risk (OR = 2.40, 95% CI = 1.29-4.45; OR = 4.45, 95% CI = 1.26-15.7, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the hypothesis that certain polymorphisms in genes involved in DNA-repair and carriers of GSTM1 deletion have an increased risk of lung cancer in never-smokers exposed to residential radon.

Radon exposure: a major cause of lung cancer.

Introduction: Lung cancer is the most important cause of cancer mortality. It is a multifactorial disease with multiple risk factors, including residential radon exposure. Areas covered: The aim of this paper was to review the epidemiology of residential radon exposure and its impact on lung cancer risk. While tobacco is the main risk factor of lung cancer, residential radon is the first cause in never-smokers and the second in ever-smokers. Moreover, the synergistic effect between tobacco consumption and radon exposure should be considered. However, the biological mechanism by which radon and its decay products induce lung cancer is not entirely known. Expert opinion: Residential radon is usually neglected by clinicians. In fact, no lung cancer risk score (predicting incidence or mortality) includes radon as a variable. Further studies are needed to find out the molecular pathways of radon that cause lung cancer and whether this radioactive gas is also involved in the development of other diseases other than lung cancer. There is a clear need to increase awareness among administrations, health professionals and the general population in order to take the necessary measures to reduce this harmful exposure, particularly in radon-prone areas.

Lung cancer and residential radon in never-smokers: A pooling study in the Northwest of Spain.

BACKGROUND: Using a pooled case-control study design, including only never-smokers, we have assessed the association of residential radon exposure with the subsequent occurrence of lung cancer. We also investigated whether residential radon poses a different risk specifically for adenocarcinoma. METHODS: We pooled individual data from different case-control studies conducted in recent years in Northwestern Spain which investigated residential radon and lung cancer. All participants were never-smokers. Cases had a confirmed biopsy of primary lung cancer. Hospital controls were selected at pre-surgery units, presenting for non-complex surgical procedures. They were interviewed using a standardized instrument. Residential radon was measured using alpha track detectors at the Galician Radon Laboratory at the University of Santiago de Compostela. RESULTS: A total of 1415 individuals, 523 cases and 892 controls were included. We observed an odds ratio of 1.73 (95%CI: 1.27-2.35) for individuals exposed to ≥ 200 Bq/m3 compared with those exposed to ≤100 Bq/m3. Lung cancer risk for adenocarcinoma was 1.52 (95%CI: 1.14-2.02) using the same categories for radon exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Residential radon is a clear risk factor for lung cancer in never-smokers. Our data suggest that radon exposure is associated with all histological types of lung cancer and also with adenocarcinoma, which is currently the most frequent histological type for this disease.

Perceptions and attitudes of patients and health care workers toward patient empowerment in promoting hand hygiene.

BACKGROUND: Patient empowerment is a component of the World Health Organization's multimodal strategy to improve hand hygiene (HH). Its successful implementation requires knowledge of the perceptions and attitudes of patients and health care workers (HCWs) toward patient empowerment in HH. METHODS: A cross-sectional study, through a self-administered questionnaire of patients and their families and HCWs, was conducted in a 433-bed block of an 850-bed university hospital in Galicia, Spain. RESULTS: A total of 337 patients and their families and 196 HCWs completed the questionnaire. Among patients and their families, 49.9% were willing to remind HCWs about HH. However, only 31.6% of HCWs (41.8% of physicians and 24.8% of nurses) supported patient participation. The most common reason for patients and their families not being willing to ask caregivers to perform HH was fear of causing annoyance or receiving worse treatment as a consequence (76%). The main reasons that physicians disagreed with patient participation was patients' lack of knowledge (40%) and possible negative effects on the HCW/patient relationship (40%). Nurses considered this participation unnecessary (58%). CONCLUSIONS: There were significant differences between patients and their families and HCWs regarding support for patient empowerment in promoting HH. In our setting, a cultural change is needed in the HCW/patient relationship to create a facilitating environment.

Residential radon in Galicia: a cross-sectional study in a radon-prone area.

Residential radon exposure is a major public health problem. It is the second greatest cause of lung cancer, after smoking, and the greatest in never-smokers. This study shows the indoor radon exposure distribution in Galicia and estimates the percentage of dwellings exceeding reference levels. It is based on 3245 residential radon measurements obtained from the Galician Radon Map project and from controls of two previous case-control studies on residential radon and lung cancer. Results show a high median residential radon concentration in Galicia (99 Bq m-3), with 49.3% of dwellings having a radon concentration above 100 Bq m-3 and 11.1% having a concentration above 300 Bq m-3. Ourense and Pontevedra, located in South Galicia, are the provinces with the highest median indoor radon concentrations (137 Bq m-3 and 123.5 Bq m-3, respectively). Results also show lower radon levels in progressively higher building storeys. These high residential radon concentrations confirm Galicia as a radon-prone area. A policy on radon should be developed and implemented in Galicia to minimize the residential radon exposure of the population.

Retinosis pigmentaria con herencia recesiva ligada al cromosoma x: caracterización oftalmológica / Retinitis pigmentosa with recessive inheritance linked to X chromosome: ophthalmological characterization

Se realizó un estudio prospectivo para describir el comportamiento de la retinosis pigmentaria ligada al cromosoma X en las provincias de Ciudad de La Habana y La Habana; los grupos de edades más frecuentes en los pacientes fueron entre 30 y 44 años en Ciudad de La Habana y entre 15 y 29 años en La Habana. Se obtuvo un total de 31 casos en la primera provincia y tasa de prevalencia de 0,014 por 10 000 habitantes y Guanabacoa como municipio de mayor tasa. En La Habana se encontraron 17 casos con una prevalencia provincial de 0,24 por 10 000 habitantes y el municipio Güines con mayor prevalencia. La relación estadio-debut mostró 16 pacientes en el debut precoz con el 81,2 por ciento en el estadio III en Ciudad de La Habana y 12 con este debut con el 33,3 por ciento en el estadio III e igual cifra en el estadio IV, en La Habana

Retinosis pigmentaria con herencia recesiva ligada al cromosoma x: caracterización oftalmológica / Retinitis pigmentosa with recessive inheritance linked to X chromosome: ophthalmological characterization

Se realizó un estudio prospectivo para describir el comportamiento de la retinosis pigmentaria ligada al cromosoma X en las provincias de Ciudad de La Habana y La Habana; los grupos de edades más frecuentes en los pacientes fueron entre 30 y 44 años en Ciudad de La Habana y entre 15 y 29 años en La Habana. Se obtuvo un total de 31 casos en la primera provincia y tasa de prevalencia de 0,014 por 10 000 habitantes y Guanabacoa como municipio de mayor tasa. En La Habana se encontraron 17 casos con una prevalencia provincial de 0,24 por 10 000 habitantes y el municipio Güines con mayor prevalencia. La relación estadio-debut mostró 16 pacientes en el debut precoz con el 81,2 por ciento en el estadio III en Ciudad de La Habana y 12 con este debut con el 33,3 por ciento en el estadio III e igual cifra en el estadio IV, en La Habana(AU)

Valores normales de la perimetría cinética cuantitativa / Normal values of quantitative kinetic perimetry

Los autores realizan un estudio de la perimetría cinética cuantitativa a 20 pacientes de ambos sexos y edades comprendidas entre 25 y 35 años. Su examen oftalmológico es normal y su agudeza visual es de 1,0 en ambos ojos. Los datos son procesados estadísticamente y se determinan los valores medios y la variación estándar para cada uno de los 4 meridianos en las sumas 3, 4 y 5

Valores normales de la perimetría cinética cuantitativa / Noral values of quantitative kinetic perimetry

Los autores realizan un estudio de la perimetría cinética cuantitativa a 20 pacientes de ambos sexos y edades comprendidas entre 25 y 35 años. Su examen oftalmológico es normal y su agudeza visual es de 1,0 en ambos ojos. Los datos son procesados estadísticamente y se determinan los valores medios y la variación estándar para cada uno de los 4 meridianos en las sumas 3, 4 y 5

Fondo de ojo del recién nacido / Fundus of the eye of the newborn

Los autores realizan un estudio del fondo de ojo a 100 recién nacidos a término y sin enfermedad posnatal en las primeras 72 horas de su nacimiento, previa dilatación pupilar y observan hemorragias retinianas en el 13 %. El fondo de ojo hemorrágico predominó discretamente en los hijos de madres multíparas y en los recién nacidos de gran peso. No encontraron relación entre la hemorragia del fondo de ojo y los partos espontáneos e instrumentados, así como con la duración del parto

Fondo de ojo del recién nacido / Fundus of the eye of the newborn

Los autores realizan un estudio del fondo de ojo a 100 recién nacidos a término y sin enfermedad posnatal en las primeras 72 horas de su nacimiento, previa dilatación pupilar y observan hemorragias retinianas en el 13

. El fondo de ojo hemorrágico predominó discretamente en los hijos de madres multíparas y en los recién nacidos de gran peso. No encontraron relación entre la hemorragia del fondo de ojo y los partos espontáneos e instrumentados, así como con la duración del parto

Alteraciones del fondo de ojo en la toxemia gravídica / Eye fundus changes in toxemia of pregnancy

Se estudian un total de cien pacientes que presentaron toxemia gravídica: fueron clasificadas según el índice de Gestosis de Goecke, y se encontró que el 75 por ciento presentaron toxemia leves, el 18 por ciento toxemias moderadas; el 2 por ciento toxemias graves y el 5 por ciento eclampsias. La incidencia de la retinopatía toxémica en el total de las pacientes fue del 22 por ciento; se encontró presente en el 12 por ciento del grupo de pacientes con toxemia leve, en el 50 por ciento del grupo con toxemia moderada, en el 50 por ciento del grupo de las graves y en el 60 por ciento de las eclámpsicas (AU)