El aborto eugenésico: entre el diagnóstico prenatal y el consentimiento desinformado / Eugenic abortion: between prenatal diagnosis and uninformed consent

El denominado aborto “eugenésico” tiene un extraordinario matiz diferencial frente a las otras moda lidades de aborto legalmente establecidas, que se concreta en el modo en que llega a formarse la decisión de la mujer, que no es previa, sino consecuencia de una información médica recibida sobre el feto; decisión, además, en la que late una clara componente ‘discriminatoria’, puesto que el aborto se produce exclusiva mente por la discapacidad del feto. Esa singularidad exige prestar atención al contexto en que se plantean las decisiones eugenésicas, porque en ellas inciden tres elementos fundamentales que, según se planteen, pueden conducir o no al aborto: en primer lugar, la oportunidad de realizar determinadas pruebas pre natales sin existir factores de riesgo. En segundo lugar, la enorme responsabilidad de los profesionales sanitarios a la hora de informar a los padres sobre el resultado de una prueba prenatal. En tercer lugar, el punto de vista de los futuros padres, que deberían evitar una concepción eugenésica de la paternidad/ maternidad, siendo conscientes de que lo que se está desarrollando en el útero de la mujer es su hijo o hija, no un embrión genérico afectado por anomalías; y que un hijo o hija es una realidad personal, más allá de sus capacidades. El artículo aborda estas tres cuestiones, que convierten al aborto eugenésico en una práctica discriminatoria y evitable, puesto que no se trata de impedir la decisión abortiva de la mujer, sino de refrendar su decisión primaria de continuar con el embarazo a partir de una visión positiva y no eugenésica de la discapacidad (AU)

The so-called “eugenic” abortion has an extraordinary differential nuance compared to the other le gally established modalities of abortion, which is specified in the way the woman’s decision is formed, which is not prior, but a consequence of medical information received about the foetus; a decision, more over, in which there is a clear “discriminatory” component, since the abortion is produced exclusively because of the disability of the foetus. This uniqueness requires attention to the context in which eugenic decisions are made, because they involve three fundamental elements which, depending on how they are made, may or may not lead to abortion: firstly, the opportunity to carry out certain prenatal tests in the absence of risk factors. Secondly, the enormous responsibility of health professionals in informing parents about the results of a prenatal test. Thirdly, the point of view of future parents, who should avoid a eu genic conception of parenthood, being aware that what is developing in the woman’s womb is their son or daughter, not a generic embryo affected by anomalies; and that a son or daughter is a personal reality, beyond his o her capabilities. The paper addresses these three issues, which make eugenic abortion a dis criminatory and avoidable practice, since the aim is not to prevent the woman’s decision to abort, but to endorse her primary decision to continue with the pregnancy on the basis of a positive, non-eugenic view of disability (AU)

[Eugenic abortion: Between prenatal diagnosis and uninformed consent]. / El aborto eugenésico: entre el diagnóstico prenatal y el consentimiento desinformado.

The so-called ″eugenic″ abortion has an extraordinary differential nuance compared to the other legally established modalities of abortion, which is specified in the way the woman's decision is formed, which is not prior, but a consequence of medical information received about the foetus; a decision, moreover, in which there is a clear ″discriminatory″ component, since the abortion is produced exclusively because of the disability of the foetus. This uniqueness requires attention to the context in which eugenic decisions are made, because they involve three fundamental elements which, depending on how they are made, may or may not lead to abortion: firstly, the opportunity to carry out certain prenatal tests in the absence of risk factors. Secondly, the enormous responsibility of health professionals in informing parents about the results of a prenatal test. Thirdly, the point of view of future parents, who should avoid a eugenic conception of parenthood, being aware that what is developing in the woman's womb is their son or daughter, not a generic embryo affected by anomalies; and that a son or daughter is a personal reality,beyond his o her capabilities. The paper addresses these three issues, which make eugenic abortion a discriminatory and avoidable practice, since the aim is not to prevent the woman's decision to abort, but to endorse her primary decision to continue with the pregnancy on the basis of a positive, non-eugenic view of disability.

La comunicación enfermera con el paciente en situación terminal / Nurse communication with patients in terminal fase. bibliographic review

Introducción. La comunicación constituye una necesidad humana básica, y durante el proceso de terminalidad se considera una herramienta terapéutica fundamental. En el ámbito enfermero constituye un elemento definitorio de la calidad de los cuidados muy importante. Sin embargo, pese a considerarse los problemas comunicativos como la principal fuente de estrés en los profesionales sanitarios de Cuidados Paliativos, y ser la comunicación una de las necesidades más valoradas por los pacientes al final de sus días, en la actualidad la consecución de una comunicación eficaz con estos pacientes sigue siendo una meta a alcanzar. objetIvo. Realizar una revisión bibliográfica narrativa sobre los aspectos que la literatura considera más relevantes en el proceso de comunicación con el paciente en situación terminal, en el ámbito de la enfermería española. Metodología. Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática de los estudios publicados desde enero de 2006 hasta enero de 2016, en las bases de datos siguientes: DIALNET, PUBMED, IBECS, CUIDEN, SCIELO, ENFISPO, COCHRANE PLUS, IME, WEB OF SCIENCE, MEDES, LILACS, MEDLINE y SCOPUS, usando los descriptores "Cuidados paliativos", "Enfermería oncológica", "Terminal" y "Comunicación". Asimismo, se realizó una búsqueda manual de documentos extraídos de artículos principales, guías clínicas, manuales y libros. desarrollo. Finalmente se seleccionaron 26 documentos, generándose 4 categorías de análisis; comunicación eficaz, decir o no la verdad, la conspiración del silencio y formación en habilidades comunicativas. conclusIones. Este trabajo muestra los resultados hallados a través de una revisión narrativa y categoriza los temas más importantes de la comunicación con el paciente terminal en el ámbito enfermero

IntroductIon. Communication is a basic human need, and during the end-of-life stage it is considered a fundamental therapeutic tool. In the field of nursing, it is a defining element in the quality of care which is very important. It is one of the most valued needs for the patients at the end of their days, however the communicative problems are considered one of the main sources of stress by Palliative Care health professionals. Hence, the achievement of an effective communication with these patients remains as a goal to be achieved. objectIve. To perform a narrative bibliography review. Focusing on the aspects that the literature considers most relevant in the process of communication with the patient in terminal phase, in the scope of Spanish nursing. Methodology. A systematic search of the studies published from January 2006 to January 2016 was carried out in the following databases: DIALNET, PUBMED, IBECS, CUIDEN, SCIELO, ENFISPO, COCHRANE PLUS, IME, WEB OF SCIENCE, MEDES, LILACS, MEDLINE and SCOPUS, using the descriptors "Palliative care", "Nursing oncology", "Terminal" and "Communication". Also, a manual search of documents extracted from the main articles, clinical guides, manuals and books was carried out. Development. Finally, 26 documents were selected, generating 4 categories of analysis; Effective communication, truth-telling, conspiracy of silence, and communication skills training. conclusIons. This study shows the results found in the narrative review and categorizes the most important communication with the terminal-phase patient in the field of nursin

Phytoremediation of Cu and Zn by vetiver grass in mine soils amended with humic acids.

Phytoremediation of contaminated mine soils requires the use of fast-growing, deep-rooted, high-biomass, and metal-tolerant plants with the application of soil amendments that promote metal uptake by plants. A pot experiment was performed to evaluate the combined use of vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) and humic acid for phytoremediation of Cu and Zn in mine soils. Vetiver plants were grown in soil samples collected from two mine sites of Spain mixed with a commercial humic acid derived from leonardite at doses of 0, 2, 10, and 20 g kg(-1). Plant metal concentrations and biomass were measured and metal bioavailability in soils was determined by a low molecular weight organic acid extraction. Results showed that humic acid addition decreased organic acid-extractable metals in soil. Although this extraction method is used to estimate bioavailability of metals, it was not a good estimator under these conditions due to competition with the strong chelators in the added humic acid. High doses of humic acid also promoted root growth and increased Cu concentrations in plants due to formation of soluble metal-organic complexes, which enhanced removal of this metal from soil and its accumulation in roots. Although humic acid was not able to improve Zn uptake, it managed to reduce translocation of Zn and Cu to aerial parts of plants. Vetiver resulted unsuitable for phytoextraction, but our study showed that the combined use of this species with humic acid at 10-20 g kg(-1) could be an effective strategy for phytostabilization of mine soils.

Soluble organic carbon and pH of organic amendments affect metal mobility and chemical speciation in mine soils.

We evaluated the effects of pH and soluble organic carbon affected by organic amendments on metal mobility to find out the optimal conditions for their application in the stabilization of metals in mine soils. Soil samples (pH 5.5-6.2) were mixed with 0, 30 and 60 th a(-1) of sheep-horse manure (pH 9.4) and pine bark compost (pH 5.7). A single-step extraction procedure was performed using 0.005 M CaCl2 adjusted to pH 4.0-7.0 and metal speciation in soil solution was simulated using NICA-Donnan model. Sheep-horse manure reduced exchangeable metal concentrations (up to 71% Cu, 75% Zn) due to its high pH and degree of maturity, whereas pine bark increased them (32% Cu, 33% Zn). However, at increasing dose and hence pH, sheep-horse manure increased soluble Cu because of higher soluble organic carbon, whereas soluble Cu and organic carbon increased at increasing dose and correspondingly decreasing pH in pine bark and non-amended treatments. Near the native pH of these soils (at pH 5.8-6.3), with small doses of amendments, there was minimum soluble Cu and organic carbon. Pine bark also increased Zn solubility, whereas sheep-horse manure reduced it as soluble Zn always decreased with increasing pH. Sheep-horse manure also reduced the proportion of free metals in soil solution (from 41% to 4% Cu, from 97% to 94% Zn), which are considered to be more bioavailable than organic species. Sheep-horse manure amendment could be efficiently used for the stabilization of metals with low risk of leaching to groundwater at low doses and at relatively low pH, such as the native pH of mine soils.

Chemical speciation and mobilization of copper and zinc in naturally contaminated mine soils with citric and tartaric acids.

A one-step extraction procedure and a leaching column experiment were performed to assess the effects of citric and tartaric acids on Cu and Zn mobilization in naturally contaminated mine soils to facilitate assisted phytoextraction. A speciation modeling of the soil solution and the metal fractionation of soils were performed to elucidate the chemical processes that affected metal desorption by organic acids. Different extracting solutions were prepared, all of which contained 0.01 M KNO(3) and different concentrations of organic acids: control without organic acids, 0.5 mM citric, 0.5 mM tartaric, 10 mM citric, 10 mM tartaric, and 5 mM citric +5 mM tartaric. The results of the extraction procedure showed that higher concentrations of organic acids increased metal desorption, and citric acid was more effective at facilitating metal desorption than tartaric acid. Metal desorption was mainly influenced by the decreasing pH and the dissolution of Fe and Mn oxides, not by the formation of soluble metal-organic complexes as was predicted by the speciation modeling. The results of the column study reported that low concentrations of organic acids did not significantly increase metal mobilization and that higher doses were also not able to mobilize Zn. However, 5-10 mM citric acid significantly promoted Cu mobilization (from 1 mg kg(-1) in the control to 42 mg kg(-1) with 10 mM citric acid) and reduced the exchangeable (from 21 to 3 mg kg(-1)) and the Fe and Mn oxides (from 443 to 277 mg kg(-1)) fractions. Citric acid could efficiently facilitate assisted phytoextraction techniques.

Dynamics of pruning waste and spent horse litter co-composting as determined by chemical parameters.

Co-composting of pruning waste and horse manure was monitored by different parameters. A windrow composting pile, having the dimensions 2.5m (height) x 30m (length) was established. The maturation of pruning waste and horse manure compost was accompanied by a decline in NH(4)(+)-N concentration, water soluble C and an increase in NO(3)(-)-N content. Organic matter (OM) content during composting followed a first-order kinetic equation. This result was in agreement with the microbiological activity measured by the CO(2) respiration during the process. The correlation at a high level of probability found between the OM loss and CO(2) evolution showed that both parameters could be used to indicate the degree of OM degradation that is the maturity and stability phases of the compost studied. Humification parameters data from the organic matter fractionation did not show a clear tendency during the composting time, suggesting that these parameters are not suitable for evaluating the dynamics of the process.

Chemical and physical properties of pruning waste compost and their seasonal variability.

Selected chemical and physical properties of 12 different pruning waste compost (PWC) samples were evaluated to assess their suitability as substrates for ornamental plants. Samples were taken periodically from the same composting facility over 18 months in order to determine if there was any seasonal variability. In addition to the PWC samples, a Canadian Sphagnum peat and a commercial growing medium (CGM) were used as standard materials. With respect to PWC properties, pH values were above 8, significantly higher than the pH of peat and the commercial substrate. All samples showed adequate levels of organic matter and correspondingly high cation-exchange capacity (CEC) values. The C/N ratio varied between 22 and 48, significantly higher than the optimal values of 15-20. Although composts were sampled from piles established in different seasons, no significant differences were found in their chemical properties. However, water retention characteristics were affected by seasonal changes in components entering the facility. Comparing the properties of PWC to those of peat and commercial growing medium, this material appears to be an acceptable component of a substrate for container-grown ornamental plants.

Use of pruning waste compost as a component in soilless growing media.

The objective of this work was to study the use of pruning wastes compost (PWC) as a growing media component for ornamental plants. The main physical, chemical and biological characteristics of PWC were analysed in order to evaluate its suitability for use in soil-less cultivation. Six growth substrates were prepared by mixing PWC with peat (P), ground leaves (GL), sand (S) and spent mushroom compost (SMC) in different proportions. Two different pot experiments were carried out to test its characteristics of production using perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.) as indicators and the different media as treatments. The growth experiments showed that PWC required mixing with a nutrient-richer material to produce higher results. Therefore, substrates containing SMC (PWC+P+SMC and PWC+SMC) seems to be the most adequate growing media. After the statistical analysis, we concluded that the PWC could be used as a growing media component.