The two earthquakes that recently struck the northern coast of Venezuela will deepen a health crisis that has troubled the country for twenty years. They have exposed how weak its health infrastructure is, how scarce medicines are, how little epidemiological surveillance remains, and how long investment has been lacking. The humanitarian health crisis in Venezuela did not arise from armed conflict, as it has elsewhere. Its roots lie in decades of authoritarian rule and institutional decay, which have eroded public health capacity, research infrastructure, vaccination coverage and the control of infectious diseases in general. Because these weaknesses have accumulated, the earthquakes may well turn into an even graver humanitarian emergency. Recovery that lasts will not be secured by short-term international aid alone. It will require the rebuilding of accountable institutions able to govern transparently and to apply equitable health policies, so that the health system can regain its resilience.
Introduction: This article addresses the application of sentiment analysis to fiction series scripts to design content tailored to audience sensibilities, thereby improving content quality and production sustainability. The hypothesis is that emotional gratification optimizes audience engagement through the proper development of plots and characters. Methodology: A case study of the Spanish thriller Ana Tramel. El juego is conducted, triangulating three analyses: the pilot script using R, messages on Twitter/X during its premiere on television, and a questionnaire administered to an audience sample after a private screening of the pilot episode. Results: The results reveal that the script's emotional design is effectively transmitted (the main emotions align: trust, sadness, and fear), but the audience unconsciously reinterprets it, prioritizing fear. The reaction on social media is more polarized and negative, while the conscious analysis highlights surprise and anticipation as keys to engagement and validates the effectiveness of complex characters who generate positive feelings through trust and empathic sadness. Discussion: The comparison between the intention of the writing and production teams, the unconscious audience reaction on social media, and the conscious assessment by the public demonstrates the suitability of these studies as complementary tools in creative processes to align narrative design with the audience's emotional reception. Conclusions: It is concluded that this methodological triangulation is suitable for understanding the viewer's experience and that the emotional design of characters and plots is a fundamental element for achieving audience engagement, offering guidelines to optimize the efficiency and sustainability of audiovisual productions.
Cutaneous keratinocyte carcinomas (CKCs) are more frequent and aggressive in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs), particularly heart transplant recipients (HTRs), owing to prolonged immunosuppressive treatment. This prospective cohort study evaluated the association between immunosenescence markers and CKC development in 30 HTRs over 1 year of follow-up. Lymphocyte subpopulations were analyzed by flow cytometry, along with cellular immunosenescence markers including PD-1, CD57, and TIGIT. At the end of follow-up, 23.3% of patients developed new CKCs. These patients showed a higher proportion of CD8+PD-1+ lymphocytes compared to those without new CKCs. No significant differences were found in CD4+ lymphocyte populations, NK cells, or regulatory T cells. These results suggest that CD8+PD-1+ lymphocytes may represent a potential biomarker associated with increased CKC risk in HTRs.
This study examines how plastics manufacturing firms can be classified according to their level of implementation of circular economy (CE) and industrial symbiosis (IS) practices and how such adoption influences sustainability performance. Using data from plastics manufacturing firms, we integrate cluster analysis with partial least squares structural equation modeling to capture firm-level heterogeneity and examine practice-performance relationships. The analysis reveals three key archetypes: reactive and isolated, emerging planners and network explorers, and executors and network builders. Results show that higher adoption of CE and IS practices is positively related to all performance dimensions. Effects are strongest on environmental and social outcomes, whereas economic gains remain significant but comparatively lower, suggesting a reliance on longer-term systemic enablers. By linking firm heterogeneity with sustainability outcomes, this study advances understanding of circular transition pathways in the plastics sector and provides actionable guidance for managers and policymakers in line with the European Union's Circular Economy Action Plan.
Water purification and treatment methods are becoming increasingly complex due to the use of new additives, solvents, pesticides, dyes, and other emerging pollutants in industry, agriculture, and households. Consequently, the search for new water treatment techniques and materials that can help reduce this environmental impact has become a major focus in the field of green chemistry. In this work, the photocatalytic degradation capacity of composites containing TiO2 nanoparticles (TNPs) for the removal of organic pollutants in water was studied. The TNPs were immobilized in bio-based hydrogel microparticles, which were prepared using microfluidic techniques. The composition of the dispersed phase was optimized with a lab-on-a-chip device, resulting in composite microparticles with a narrow size distribution. UV-visible spectroscopy results indicated that increasing the concentration of TNPs in the hydrogel microparticles enhanced the photodegradation performance of the new composite. Remarkably, it was able to efficiently degrade nearly 90% of reference dyes after four adsorption-desorption cycles.
