University of Alcalá

About: University of Alcalá is a education organization based out in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 10795 authors who have published 20718 publications receiving 410089 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Alcala & University of Alcala de Henares.

Temporary Employment and Segmentation in the Spanish Labour Market: An Empirical Analysis through the Study of Wage Differentials

Abstract: The focus of this piece of work is the study of wage differentials between two broad types of workers, classified according to the nature of the employment contract they hold: either temporary or permanent. We intend to find out whether wage differentials between these two groups of workers are related to the distribution of employment contracts between different kinds of jobs or they register different returns for the same features. Although temporary and permanent workers are supposed to be equally paid for the same tasks, labour laws defending the former against discrimination. The data-sets used here to explore wage differentials are the European Community Household Panel (hereafter ECHP), and the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES). They are not strictly comparable then, but complementary. Wage differentials obtained with each data-set are decomposed using the well known Oaxaca-Blinder method, and the relevance of the different elements of such decomposition constitutes the main conclusive results. Our first intuition is that temporary and permanent contracts are used to cover different kinds of jobs, and this will be the main factor that will explain wage differentials between temporary and permanent workers. Besides, since temporary work does not affect people homogeneously through their working lives (being a common feature during the first years of the working life), differences in wage differentials should also be found among young and adult workers. Summarising, the aim is to study whether temporary status implies lower wages regardless of personal and job-related characteristics or whether temporary contracts are used in Spain to fill a particular segment of the labour demand and that is the main cause of wage differentials. These aspects will be separately studied for young and adult workers and the analysis is done twice, using two complementary data-sets. The main empirical findings show that permanent workers are better paid than temporary ones regardless of the age group, the main reasons for this being both the differences in the composition of employment and the distribution of job and personal characteristics between both kinds of workers. Besides, there are features that influence the probability of being hired under a (temporary) permanent contract and push wages (down) up. Wage differentials between temporary and permanent workers are explained by the differences in the characteristics of jobs and workers. Indeed, should two workers be exactly the same but have different types of contracts, temporary workers would register higher earnings than permanent ones. This result differs from previous evidence on the topic, but on the one hand it is achieved through a slightly different econometric specification (since we control for the endogeneity of the type of contract) and on the other hand it is coherent using two different data-sets. Results would agree with the initial intuition: there is a demand-based segmentation in the Spanish labour market.

Metabolic Heterogeneity in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Is Determined by Obesity: Plasma Metabolomic Approach Using GC-MS

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Abdominal adiposity and obesity influence the association of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with insulin resistance and diabetes. We aimed to characterize the intermediate metabolism phenotypes associated with PCOS and obesity. METHODS: We applied a nontargeted GC-MS metabolomic approach to plasma samples from 36 patients with PCOS and 39 control women without androgen excess, matched for age, body mass index, and frequency of obesity. RESULTS: Patients with PCOS were hyperinsulinemic and insulin resistant compared with the controls. The increase in plasma long-chain fatty acids, such as linoleic and oleic acid, and glycerol in the obese patients with PCOS suggests increased lipolysis, possibly secondary to impaired insulin action at adipose tissue. Conversely, nonobese patients with PCOS showed a metabolic profile consisting of suppression of lipolysis and increased glucose utilization (increased lactic acid concentrations) in peripheral tissues, and PCOS patients as a whole showed decreased 2-ketoisocaproic and alanine concentrations, suggesting utilization of branched-chain amino acids for protein synthesis and not for gluconeogenesis. These metabolic processes required effective insulin signaling; therefore, insulin resistance was not universal in all tissues of these women, and different mechanisms possibly contributed to their hyperinsulinemia. PCOS was also associated with decreased α-tocopherol and cholesterol concentrations irrespective of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial metabolic heterogeneity, strongly influenced by obesity, underlies PCOS. The possibility that hyperinsulinemia may occur in the absence of universal insulin resistance in nonobese women with PCOS should be considered when designing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for the management of this prevalent disorder.

Covid-19 transmission, outcome and associated risk factors in cancer patients at the first month of the pandemic in a Spanish hospital in Madrid.

Abstract: There are no large reported series determining the Covid-19 cancer patient’s characteristics. We determine whether differences exist in cumulative incidence and mortality of Covid-19 infection between cancer patients and general population in Madrid. We reviewed 1069 medical records of all cancer patients admitted at Oncology department between Feb 1 and April 7, 2020. We described Covid-19 cumulative incidence, treatment outcome, mortality, and associated risk factors. We detected 45/1069 Covid-19 diagnoses in cancer patients vs 42,450/6,662,000 in total population (p < 0.00001). Mortality rate: 19/45 cancer patients vs 5586/42,450 (p = 0.0001). Mortality was associated with older median age, adjusted by staging and histology (74 vs 63.5 years old, OR 1.06, p = 0.03). Patients who combined hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin presented 3/18 deaths, regardless of age, staging, histology, cancer treatment and comorbidities (OR 0.02, p = 0.03). Cancer patients are vulnerable to Covid-19 with an increase in complications. Combined hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin is presented as a good treatment option.

Longitudinal Properties of a Widespread Solar Energetic Particle Event on 2014 February 25: Evolution of the Associated CME Shock

Abstract: We investigate the solar phenomena associated with the origin of the solar energetic particle (SEP) event observed on 2014 February 25 by a number of spacecraft distributed in the inner heliosphere over a broad range of heliolongitudes. These include spacecraft located near Earth; the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory spacecraft, STEREO-A and STEREO-B, located at ∼1 au from the Sun 153° west and 160° east of Earth, respectively; the MErcury Surface Space ENvironment GEochemistry and Ranging mission (at 0.40 au and 31° west of Earth); and the Juno spacecraft (at 2.11 au and 48° east of Earth). Although the footpoints of the field lines nominally connecting the Sun with STEREO-A, STEREO-B and near-Earth spacecraft were quite distant from each other, an intense high-energy SEP event with Fe-rich prompt components was observed at these three locations. The extent of the extreme-ultraviolet wave associated with the solar eruption generating the SEP event was very limited in longitude. However, the white-light shock accompanying the associated coronal mass ejection extended over a broad range of longitudes. As the shock propagated into interplanetary space it extended over at least ∼190° in longitude. The release of the SEPs observed at different longitudes occurred when the portion of the shock magnetically connected to each spacecraft was already at relatively high altitudes (2 Re above the solar surface). The expansion of the shock in the extended corona, as opposite to near the solar surface, determined the SEP injection and SEP intensity-time profiles at different longitudes.