Kaolin waste dumps contain a huge volume of material that cannot be commercialized due to the presence of variable amounts of iron minerals, which impart a yellowish color to the kaolin. Elimination of iron from kaolin using either a chemical or a biological method was the aim of this study. The chemical leaching of iron from kaolin was carried out using response surface methodology to optimize the reaction conditions. Time was found to be the most influential variable, although oxalic acid must be present to leach 32% of the iron. Biological leaching was also assayed for 14 days using a Bacillus strain. The results of bacterial leaching of iron from kaolin showed <1% iron elimination.

The burden of depression is increasing worldwide, specifically in older adults. Unhealthy dietary patterns may partly explain this phenomenon. In the Spanish PREDIMED-Plus study, we explored (1) the cross-sectional association between the adherence to the Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS), an a priori-defined high-quality food pattern, and the prevalence of depressive symptoms at baseline (cross-sectional analysis) and (2) the prospective association of baseline PDQS with changes in depressive symptomatology after 2 years of follow-up. After exclusions, we assessed 6612 participants in the cross-sectional analysis and 5523 participants in the prospective analysis. An energy-adjusted high-quality dietary score (PDQS) was assessed using a validated FFQ. The cross-sectional association between PDQS and the prevalence of depression or presence of depressive symptoms and the prospective changes in depressive symptoms were evaluated through multivariable regression models (logistic and linear models and mixed linear-effects models). PDQS was inversely associated with depressive status in the cross-sectional analysis. Participants in the highest quintile of PDQS (Q5) showed a significantly reduced odds of depression prevalence as compared to participants in the lowest quartile of PDQS (Q1) (OR (95 %) CI = 0·82 (0·68, 0·98))). The baseline prevalence of depression decreased across PDQS quintiles (Pfor trend = 0·015). A statistically significant association between PDQS and changes in depressive symptoms after 2-years follow-up was found (β (95 %) CI = −0·67 z-score (–1·17, −0·18). A higher PDQS was cross-sectionally related to a lower depressive status. Nevertheless, the null finding in our prospective analysis raises the possibility of reverse causality. Further prospective investigation is required to ascertain the association between PDQS and changes in depressive symptoms along time.

The Monitoring Studies (MS) program, the approach developed by RedETS to generate postlaunch real-world evidence (RWE), is intended to complement and enhance the conventional health technology assessment process to support health policy decision making in Spain, besides informing other interested stakeholders, including clinicians and patients. The MS program is focused on specific uncertainties about the real effect, safety, costs, and routine use of new and insufficiently assessed relevant medical devices carefully selected to ensure the value of the additional research needed, by means of structured, controlled, participative, and transparent procedures. However, despite a clear political commitment and economic support from national and regional health authorities, several difficulties were identified along the development and implementation of the first wave of MS, delaying its execution and final reporting. Resolution of these difficulties at the regional and national levels and a greater collaborative impulse in the European Union, given the availability of an appropriate methodological framework already provided by EUnetHTA, might provide a faster and more efficient comparative RWE of improved quality and reliability at the national and international levels.

Recent changes to the availability and accessibility of LiDAR data in Italy have greatly expanded the potential for their exploration by members of the general public. Further promotion of this fact and how to engage with such data could prove to be of significant value to both archaeologists and other interested parties.

The two volumes under review are the outcome of the ‘Focus on Fortifications Project’, or ‘FoFo’ as its many participants refer to it here. In their insightful introduction, the editors explain that this project is best characterised as a scholarly network intended to foster new knowledge of ancient fortifications in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East (Asia Minor, Syria and Jordan). The resulting two volumes, published in the monograph series of the Danish Institute at Athens, encompass theoretical and methodological considerations (Volume 1), and the results of new studies of specific fortifications (Volume 2).

Since 2009, a large-scale archaeological field survey – the Ager Segisamonensis Survey Project – has been carried out on the Northern Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Burgos province (Castilla y León), Spain. The aim of this project is to understand the Iron Age/Roman transition in terms of settlement strategies and landscape exploitation. The field survey has been undertaken in the landscape surrounding an Iron Age settlement and the successive Roman city of Segisamo – modern Sasamón. The goal is not the discovery of new settlements, but the recognition of the so-called ‘dwelling landscape’ and its evolution. In this article, we highlight our field survey methodology based on hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments and the creation of a recording system of ‘aggregation units'.

In this study, we identified 67 research trends that meet the criteria of this special issue. In the following pages, all the research trends will be reviewed, grouped into five categories: personal and social development, cognitive and linguistic development, developmental and educational contexts, cognition and instruction, and development and learning disabilities. A general overview of the area is obtained by dividing each category into subcategories, thus arranging the identified research trends in a four-level hierarchical structure. Taking into account this analysis, in our Conclusions section, we note the regularities with regard to the issues that have been studied the most, the predominant type of works, and, more important, the most noteworthy imbalances. We reached six conclusions: (1) Research on educational changes predominates over the study of developmental changes; (2) the study of formal education is predominant over informal education; (3) cognitive-linguistic aspects predominate over personal and social aspects; (4) application of knowledge predominates over the generation of new knowledge; (5) new educational-practice proposals predominate over the study of these educational practices; and (6) the study of change is not related to the proposals that promote change.

We report on the crystalline structure, morphology and thermomagnetic properties of glass-coated magnetic microwires with Cu56Ga28Mn16 composition, as well as the thermal annealing influence on its magneto-structural properties. As-cast CuMnGa microwires exhibit a majority cubic B2 phase, and upon annealing at temperatures up to 573 K a new hexagonal phase appears coexisting with the cubic B2 major phase. Thermal annealing treatments also shift the Curie temperature about 150 K with respect to the one for the as-cast microwire. Furthermore, the signature of a structural phase transition is observed for the microwire annealed at 523 K

Living morphogenetic studies show that each definitive ventricle is constructed from different primitive cardiac segments, and each has its specific anatomical features. These ventricular segments are the atrioventricular junction; the primitive inlet segment, part of the primary heart tube, which initially provides the inlets of each ventricle; the primitive outlet segment, which gives rise to both ventricular outlets; and the apical trabeculated regions of the right and left ventricles which grow from the primary heart tube, respectively. In this review, we describe regional pathology based on the relationship of these primitive ventricular components. We propose that the abnormal morphogenesis of one of these segments gives origin to regional ventricular pathology. For example, abnormal embryogenesis of the atrioventricular canal produces malformations of the atrioventricular junctions, such as double inlet ventricle, absence of one atrioventricular connection, and straddling and overriding atrioventricular valves. Similarly, abnormal morphogenesis of the primitive outlet segment gives rise to malformations of the subarterial region of each ventricle, along with the valves guarding these vessels. The principal anatomical features of these malformations of the ventricular inlets and outlets are described, and their possible morphogenesis is discussed. Due to the fact that the apical trabeculated region of each ventricle arises from a separate primitive segment, each ventricle can be identified according to the pattern of its apical trabeculations. This feature is crucial in the elucidation of complex congenital pathology, such as discordant atrioventricular connections.