Biomarkers of pollution by glyphosate in the lichens, Parmotrema tinctorium and Usnea barbata.

Glyphosate is a herbicide commonly used in agriculture for weed control. Current agricultural production demands vast amounts of this product, which are applied by ground or aerial spraying. The concomitant aerial currents promote glyphosate drift to vegetated or urban areas. In this context, we hypothesized that the lichens, Parmotrema tinctorum and Usnea barbata, could be sensitive to the action of glyphosate and therefore be used to bio-indicate the presence of this herbicide in areas affected by drift. Since living organisms respond in different ways to the action of herbicides, our interest was also to indicate biological markers responsive to the action of glyphosate, through concentrations and exposure times of the thallus, besides identifying the most sensitive species. We evaluated the effect of different concentrations (0.0, 4.8, 9.6, and 19.2 mg L-1) and exposure times (24, 48, and 72 hours) to glyphosate on the morphoanatomy, photobiont vitality, photosynthetic efficiency, and oxidative metabolism of the thalli. We found that the lichens, P. tinctorum and U. barbata, respond to glyphosate stress, with prospects for use in the biomonitoring of pollutant dispersal from plantation areas. When using P. tinctorum as a bioindicator, lichen morphoanatomy, photobiont vitality, and photosynthetic pigment concentration were efficient biomarkers for the effect of concentration and exposure time. For U. barbata, the lichenic morphoanatomy and the activity of SOD and APX enzymes were essential tools to indicate the herbicide action. Parmotrema tinctotum, however, was characterized as more sensitive in bio-indicating the presence of this herbicide to diagnose the air quality in urban areas or vegetation sectors adjacent to agricultural environments.

Psychometric assessment of the cultural capacity scale Spanish version in Chilean nursing students.

AIM: To assess the psychometric properties of the Cultural Capacity Scale Spanish version in Chilean nursing students. BACKGROUND: The increased diversity in healthcare facilities and the current shortage of local nursing workforce in Chile present a significant challenge to the nursing education to train future competent local nurses. To facilitate cultural competence development among Chilean nursing students, it is necessary to regularly assess their cultural competence, which necessitates a culturally adapted valid and reliable tool. METHODS: A convenience sample of 502 Chilean nursing students was surveyed in this cross-sectional study using the culturally adapted scale. Reliability of the instrument was established by internal consistency and stability reliability, while validity was established by content and construct. RESULTS: The Cronbach's α value of the entire scale was 0.95, and the test-retest reliability was 0.85. The Corrected Item-Total Correlations ranged from 0.45 to 0.78. The tool manifested an excellent content and construct validity. The exploratory factor analysis confirmed a single factor of the scale. DISCUSSION: The tool demonstrated evidence of internal consistency, stability reliability, content validity and construct validity. The study provided cross-cultural evidence for the potential application of this scale in Chile and other Spanish-speaking countries. CONCLUSION: The Cultural Capacity Scale Spanish version demonstrated sound psychometric properties for assessing the cultural competence of Chilean nursing students. LIMITATIONS: The sample was restricted to one university, and the tool was only used in Chilean nursing students. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: The establishment of the Spanish version of the tool will facilitate accurate and timely monitoring of the cultural competence among Chilean nursing students and other Spanish-speaking nursing students and nurses, which can inform the creation of nursing policies aimed at ensuring cultural competence development.

Cultural competence among nursing students in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study.

AIM: This study assessed the cultural competence of nursing students in a Saudi University. BACKGROUND: With the current situation of immigration in Saudi Arabia, the cultural diversity in healthcare facilities is anticipated to grow. This presents a great challenge to the members of the healthcare team. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 272 nursing students in a Saudi university using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of two parts, namely the respondents' demographics and cultural background information sheet and the Cultural Capacity Scale Arabic version. RESULTS: The respondents showed the highest competence in their ability to demonstrate communication skills with culturally diverse patients and lowest in the familiarity with health- or illness-related cultural knowledge or theory. Gender, academic level, clinical exposure, prior diversity training, the experience of taking care of culturally diverse patients and patients belonging to special population groups were significant factors that could likely to influence cultural competence. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that the Saudi nursing students possess the ability to provide culturally appropriate nursing care to patients with a diverse cultural background. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the good cultural competence reflected in this study, some aspects in ensuring a culturally competent care rendered by Saudi nursing students need to be improved. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING & HEALTH POLICY: With the country's Saudization policy in health care (replacing foreign nurses with Saudi nurses), the findings can be used in designing training and interventions to meet the needs of Saudi nursing students regarding cultural competence development, which is integral in their preparation to assume their future roles as nurses. Policy guidelines, such as including cultural competency training and foreign languages training as mandatory continuing education for nurses, as well as integrating cultural competency and foreign languages in the prelicensure curriculum, should be developed and implemented in Saudi Arabia and other countries.

Ticks and tick-borne Rickettsiae surveillance in Montesinho Natural Park, Portugal.

This study constitutes the first contribution to the knowledge of tick dynamics and its implication in the epidemiology of rickettsial diseases in Montesinho Natural Park (MNP), Bragança district of Portugal. Of 76 ticks collected, 12 (15.8%) were Dermacentor (D.) marginatus, 36 (47.4%) D. reticulatus, and 28 (36.8%) Rhipicephalus (R.) sanguineus. Isolation assays were performed by shell-vial technique on 41 ticks. Israeli spotted fever strain was an isolate from R. sanguineus, and three isolates of Rickettsia slovaca were obtained from D. reticulatus. All 76 ticks were screened by PCR for Rickettsia sp., Ehrlichia (E.) chaffeensis, and Anaplasma (A.) phagocytophilum. Rickettsia RpA4 strain DNA was detected in 10 D. marginatus and 2 D. reticulatus, and Israeli spotted fever strain in 1 R. sanguineus. No E. chaffeensis or A. phagocytophilum infection was detected. New host records are provided for D. reticulatus. Also described for the first time in Portugal is the isolation of R. slovaca from D. reticulatus and the isolation of Israeli spotted fever strain from R. sanguineus. This confirms the association of the last rickettsiae strain with the same vector tick as previously described in Israel and Sicily.

First isolation of Borrelia lusitaniae from a human patient.

The first human isolate of Borrelia lusitaniae recovered from a Portuguese patient with suspected Lyme borreliosis is described. This isolate, from a chronic skin lesion, is also the first human isolate of Borrelia in Portugal. Different phenotypic and molecular methods are used to characterize it.