ReferendumsLocalThe Executive Council of Catalonia (Catalan: Consell Executiu) or the Executive Government of Catalonia (Catalan: Govern de Catalunya) is the executive branch of the Generalitat of Catalonia. It is responsible for the political action, regulation, and administration of the government of the autonomous region.The President of the Generalitat is the head of government: he or she may also appoint a First Minister (Catalan: Conseller(a) primer(a)) to serve as their deputy, although since 2006 the office has been replaced by that of the Vice-President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, who must be approved by the Parliament of Catalonia. The various ministers (Catalan: consellers) are also appointed by the President of the Generalitat. Ministers need not be deputies in the parliament, as they have an automatic right to intervene in parliamentary debates.Serving members of the government may not be arrested for any acts committed in Catalonia, except in flagrante delicto, and may only be judged before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, or the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Spain outside of Catalonia.The Parliament of Catalonia unilaterally issued a declaration of independence from Spain on 27 October 2017 in favour of a Catalan Republic. In response Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Parliament of Catalonia and called a snap regional election for 21 December 2017.
The performance of TK100 resin was evaluated for the rapid and selective preconcentration of 226Ra for environmental water matrices. High radium uptake was observed in 0.01 M HNO3 and 0.01 M HCl, with weight distribution ratio above 1000 mL·g−1, and > 95
A key challenge in social benefit systems worldwide is the non-take-up (NTU) phenomenon, where eligible individuals do not claim the benefits to which they are entitled. This study evaluates the impact of two policy interventions—an in-person outreach program and a social media campaign—on reducing NTU through a large-scale randomized controlled trial involving 400 low-income neighborhoods in Spain. The interventions, targeted at reducing the NTU for the national minimum income scheme, were designed to address key informational and logistical barriers. The in-person treatment offered tailored support with application procedures and administrative coordination, while the social media campaign provided targeted information via Facebook and Instagram. We find that both interventions significantly increased application rates, though the temporal patterns differed—effects from in-person outreach were immediate, while those from social media emerged with a delay. However, neither intervention led to a substantial increase in benefit approvals, suggesting that while the interventions reduced initial frictions, persistent logistical barriers continue to hinder successful take-up. The results underscore the dual importance of informational and procedural hurdles in explaining NTU and point to the need for sustained, hands-on support to convert applications into successful claims.
Background:Nirsevimab, a long-acting monoclonal antibody against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), was recently introduced in Catalonia (Spain, 2023-2024 season onwards) and Italy (2024-2025 season). The United Kingdom (UK) instead introduced maternal RSV vaccination (RSVpreF) in the 2024-2025 season. Our aim was to analyse emergency department (ED) attendances and admissions to hospital following RSVpreF and nirsevimab introduction, with hospitals in Iceland and Romania, where no intervention was introduced, used as comparators. Methods:Multi-national retrospective analysis of ED attendances and admissions for all diagnoses, respiratory diagnoses excluding bronchiolitis, and bronchiolitis from all hospitals in Catalonia (Spain), four UK hospitals (Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Leicester), and one hospital in Italy (Rome), Romania (Bucharest), and Iceland (Reykjavík) from April 2018 to March 2025. Bronchiolitis diagnoses in the 2024-2025 season were compared to previous pre-intervention seasons (2018-2023, excluding the 2020-2021 COVID-19 year) by applying a generalised linear model in Poisson regression to obtain risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Findings:In the 2024-2025 season, in Catalonia, there was a reduction in the RR for bronchiolitis ED attendances and admissions in infants of age <6 months (RR 0.45; 95% CI 0.43-0.47 and RR 0.40; 95% CI 0.37-0.43, respectively). This was not seen in Rome, where the RR for ED attendances with bronchiolitis in infants of age <6 months was 1.09 (95% CI 0.92-1.30) and the RR for admissions was 1.12 (95% CI 0.83-1.52). In the UK, for infants of age <6 months with bronchiolitis, there was a significant but modest reduction in 1 out of 4 hospitals for ED attendances (Leicester; RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85-0.97) and in 2 out of 4 hospitals for admissions (Leicester; RR 0.80, 95% CI 0.69-0.94 and Edinburgh; RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.76-0.95). Interpretation:In Catalonia, there was a sustained reduction in bronchiolitis ED attendances and admissions for infants in the 2024-2025 season. However, no substantial reduction in bronchiolitis ED attendances or admissions was observed in Rome or the UK. These differences are likely to relate to the reduced uptake of RSV prevention products in these settings compared to Catalonia. Funding:None.
Background/Objectives: Healthcare workers have faced increasing emotional strain driven by organizational constraints, rising workload, and accumulated post-pandemic pressure. To support emotional well-being in primary care professionals, the Catalan Health Institute implemented a large-scale psychoeducational group program in its primary care centers. This study explored its feasibility, acceptability, and the factors shaping real-world implementation from the perspectives of participating professionals and community psychologists who taught it. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted involving five online focus groups held with community psychologists (two groups) and primary care professionals who participated in the program (three groups), selected through purposive sampling. Additional qualitative material was obtained from implementation-related field notes. Session transcripts were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05720429). Results: Participants described a context of sustained emotional strain that increased motivation to engage with the program. The sessions were perceived as a valuable protected space for emotional expression, interpersonal connection, and learning self-care strategies. Community psychologists were regarded as key facilitators due to their embedded role and contextual knowledge. However, inconsistent managerial engagement, lack of protected time, competing workloads, and inadequate physical spaces were barriers to successful implementation. Participants proposed strengthening institutional support and offering follow-up sessions to consolidate benefits. Conclusions: The program was positively valued and was perceived to provide individual and team-level benefits. Its sustainability requires stronger organizational commitment and integration into routine practice. Findings underscore the need to complement individual-focused interventions with systemic actions addressing workload, staffing, and organizational culture.
In this paper we study the dynamics of Halley's and Traub's root-finding algorithms applied to a symmetric family of polynomials of degree d+1≥ 3. We discuss the (un)boundedness and simple connectivity of the immediate basins of attraction of the fixed points associated to the roots of the polynomials. In particular, we show the existence of polynomials for which the immediate basin of attraction of a root is bounded under Halley's method
