COVID-19: hypofractionation in the Radiation Oncology Department during the 'state of alarm': first 100 patients in a private hospital in Spain.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spain declared a 'state of alarm' on 14 March 2020. In our Radiation Oncology Department, experienced in administering hypofractionated treatments (partial irradiation in breast cancer, moderate hypofractionation in localized prostate cancer, etc), we have increased the hypofractionated treatment indications. We are only deferring the start of non-urgent treatments such as prostate tumours under androgen deprivation or benign brain tumours which are candidates for radiosurgery such as meningiomas or acoustic neuroma. In this hypofractionation era we find that we have decreased the number of sessions per patient and that we can evaluate the last years with the fractionation index (FI) (calculated by dividing the total number of fractions administered in the department by the total number of patients treated). We have gone from 14.4 in 2018 to 13.78 in 2019, excluding brachytherapy. We report the results of the first 100 patients who have experienced radiotherapy treatment since the state of alarm (66 women and 34 men). In these patients, the FI is 12.12-lower than previous years.

The Functioning of psychopathy and trait aggression as predictive variables of criminal recidivism / Funcionamiento de la psicopatía y de la agresividad rasgo como factores implicados en la reincidencia delictiva

In the current study, several measures of aggression and psychopathy are analyzed as possible factors involved in prison recidivism. Sociodemographic data as well as aggression and psychopathy trait measures (Aggression Questionnaire, IPAS and TRIp) were obtained in a sample of 110 male inmates from a penitentiary center in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The sample consisted of two groups of 55 subjects, characterized by presenting, or not, mental disorder. The 55.8% of the participants were persistent offenders. Recidivism showed a statistically significant association (p < 0.05) with most of the dimensions studied for aggressiveness, with higher scores in this variable in the group of repeat offenders as well as in the group of inmates diagnosed with mental disorder. The variable that best predicted the likelihood of re-offending was psychopathic meanness. No statistically significant differences were found between the presence of a mental disorder and recidivism (p> 0.05), although it is observed that among the recidivists there is a greater proportion of people with a mental disorder (63.6%). Inmates with mental illness have a higher risk for criminal recidivism and this risk is associated with higher scores in trait aggressiveness as well as higher scores in disinhibition and psychopathic meanness

En el presente estudio, se analizan varias medidas de agresión y psicopatía como posibles factores involucrados en la reincidencia en la prisión. Se obtuvieron datos sociodemográficos, así como medidas de rasgos de agresión y psicopatía (Cuestionario de agresión, IPAS y TRIp) en una muestra de 110 reclusos varones de un centro penitenciario en Castilla-La Mancha (España). La muestra consistió en dos grupos de 55 sujetos, caracterizados por presentar o no trastorno mental. El 55,8% de los participantes eran delincuentes persistentes. La reincidencia mostró una asociación estadísticamente significativa (p < 0.05) con la mayoría de las dimensiones estudiadas para la agresividad, con puntuaciones más altas en esta variable en el grupo de delincuentes reincidentes, así como en el grupo de presos diagnosticados con trastorno mental. La variable que mejor predijo la probabilidad de reincidencia fue la mezquindad psicópata. No se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre la presencia de un trastorno mental y la reincidencia (p > 0.05), aunque se observa que entre los reincidentes hay una mayor proporción de personas con un trastorno mental (63.6%). Los reclusos con enfermedades mentales tienen un mayor riesgo de reincidencia criminal y este riesgo se asocia con puntuaciones más altas en la agresividad del rasgo, así como puntuaciones más altas en desinhibición y maldad psicópata

Anxiety reduction and emotional self-care using the U-technique in radiology departments.

Daily clinical practice is an important source of stress and emotional exhaustion. In the health field, patients could experience a significant number of emotional reactions. There are high levels of anxiety in patients referred for medical imaging, and these levels are even higher in patients undergoing complicated diagnostic procedures. All this shows the need to understand that anxiety must be diagnosed and treated. This situation forces radiologist to develop emotional and social skills to resolve difficulties that may arise in the communicative act. In the patient-radiologist interaction, many elements have been analysed, being communication and communicative skills one of the most important elements. The objective is to present an emotional management tool, the U-technique. It consists of four movements: sympathize, empathize, feel the antidote emotion and spread the antidote emotion in order that the health professionals recognize their emotional state in each moment of the relationship with the patient.