To analyse the characteristics and predictors of death in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Spain.
A retrospective observational study was performed of the first ...consecutive patients hospitalized with COVID-19 confirmed by real-time PCR assay in 127 Spanish centres until 17 March 2020. The follow-up censoring date was 17 April 2020. We collected demographic, clinical, laboratory, treatment and complications data. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with death.
Of the 4035 patients, male subjects accounted for 2433 (61.0%) of 3987, the median age was 70 years and 2539 (73.8%) of 3439 had one or more comorbidity. The most common symptoms were a history of fever, cough, malaise and dyspnoea. During hospitalization, 1255 (31.5%) of 3979 patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, 736 (18.5%) of 3988 were admitted to intensive care units and 619 (15.5%) of 3992 underwent mechanical ventilation. Virus- or host-targeted medications included lopinavir/ritonavir (2820/4005, 70.4%), hydroxychloroquine (2618/3995, 65.5%), interferon beta (1153/3950, 29.2%), corticosteroids (1109/3965, 28.0%) and tocilizumab (373/3951, 9.4%). Overall, 1131 (28%) of 4035 patients died. Mortality increased with age (85.6% occurring in older than 65 years). Seventeen factors were independently associated with an increased hazard of death, the strongest among them including advanced age, liver cirrhosis, low age-adjusted oxygen saturation, higher concentrations of C-reactive protein and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate.
Our findings provide comprehensive information about characteristics and complications of severe COVID-19, and may help clinicians identify patients at a higher risk of death.
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To compare, as a function of pupil size, the through-focus performance and halo features of four diffractive intraocular lenses (IOLs).
Three diffractive bifocal IOLs (ReSTOR +2.5 D SV25T0, Tecnis ...+2.75 D ZKB00, and AT LISA +3.75 D 809M) and a diffractive trifocal IOL (AT LISA tri +3.33 D, +1.66 D 839MP) were tested in vitro in a modified International Organization for Standardization eye model. The modulation transfer function (MTF) at the IOLs' foci was obtained with pupils ranging from 2.0 to 5.0 mm. Through-focus MTF curves (at 50 cycles/mm) were compared among all the IOLs. The halo formation and characteristics were obtained from image analysis.
The multifocal IOLs studied in this work showed, at their foci, secondary out-of-focus images, which originate halos and whose characteristics depend on the lens design and pupil size. The smallest halo occurred for the distance focus of the SV25T0. The distance and near foci of the SV25T0 yielded, respectively, the best and lowest optical quality among the studied IOLs. The distance focus of the ZKB00, AT LISA, and AT LISA tri were of similar quality, but the near focus of the ZKB00 outperformed the near foci of the rest of the IOLs. The IOLs' optical performance gradually deteriorates as pupil increases.
Differences in the design of the diffractive IOLs translate into differences in optical quality at their foci, through-focus performance, and halo features, which can offer further information to surgeons when selecting which IOL to implant.
The pathophysiology of Takotsubo Syndrome has not yet been precisely defined. Different hypotheses have been proposed, including cardiotoxicity due to catecholaminergic hormone release, metabolic ...disorders, coronary microvascular dysfunction and epicardial coronary artery spasm. Invasive coronary physiology is considered the cornerstone to understand physiological assessment of coronary blood flow in this setting. We have reviewed most important studies in coronary invasive physiology in this field to update the state of the art in TakoTsubo Syndrome.
Chitosan films were prepared by solvent casting using an acetic acid-based solution. The films that were developed contained 15.49% of acetic acid solution (10%
/
) and showed biocompatibility in ...vitro in human keratinocyte HaCaT cells and potent antiviral activity against both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The results showed up to 99.98% and 99.92% viral inactivation against the phi 6 enveloped bacteriophage and MS2 non-enveloped bacteriophage, respectively, suggesting that this chitosan/acetic acid film is a promising material for biomedical applications that require biodegradable broad-spectrum antiviral materials.
•PV plants are integrated in the electricity market based on an optimal scheduling.•Scheduling is carried out using MPC and considering operational constraints.•The algorithm maximizes the profit ...controlling the energy stored in the batteries.•The one-day horizon price forecast algorithm uses historical and meteorological data.•Sensitivity analysis shows the profit obtained in different scenarios.
The integration of solar energy in the electricity market faces some challenges related to the time-varying nature of energy coming from the sun. The use of energy storage emerges as a technological solution to these problems and opens new possibilities for the integration of photovoltaic (PV) plants in the electrical market. This paper addresses the problem of integration of PV plants in the electricity market, providing a solution for an optimal scheduling, which allows the plant to participate in the daily and intraday markets. In order to perform a proper scheduling, a good estimation of energy prices is of paramount importance. The paper proposes also a price forecast algorithm that provides prices in a one-day horizon, based on price historical data and meteorological information. The development of the scheduling strategy is carried out using Model Predictive Control (MPC) and taking into account operational constraints. The MPC techniques allow maximizing the economic benefit of the PV plant manipulating the energy stored and extracted from the batteries. Some results of the application of the price forecasting approach and the scheduling strategy to a simulated PV plant located in Seville (Spain) are presented. The weather data and electricity prices are publicly available, supplied by the Spanish System Operator.
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is demanding the rapid action of the authorities and scientific community in order to find new antimicrobial solutions that could inactivate the pathogen ...SARS-CoV-2 that causes this disease. Gram-positive bacteria contribute to severe pneumonia associated with COVID-19, and their resistance to antibiotics is exponentially increasing. In this regard, non-woven fabrics are currently used for the fabrication of infection prevention clothing such as face masks, caps, scrubs, shirts, trousers, disposable gowns, overalls, hoods, aprons and shoe covers as protective tools against viral and bacterial infections. However, these non-woven fabrics are made of materials that do not exhibit intrinsic antimicrobial activity. Thus, we have here developed non-woven fabrics with antimicrobial coatings of cranberry extracts capable of inactivating enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and the bacteriophage phi 6 (about 99% of viral inactivation in 1 min of viral contact), and two multidrug-resistant bacteria: the methicillin-resistant
and the methicillin-resistant
. The morphology, thermal and mechanical properties of the produced filters were characterized by optical and electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The non-toxicity of these advanced technologies was ensured using a
in vivo model. These results open up a new prevention path using natural and biodegradable compounds for the fabrication of infection prevention clothing in the current COVID-19 pandemic and microbial resistant era.
Abstract
Motivation
The study of comorbidities is a major priority due to their impact on life expectancy, quality of life and healthcare cost. The availability of electronic health records (EHRs) ...for data mining offers the opportunity to discover disease associations and comorbidity patterns from the clinical history of patients gathered during routine medical care. This opens the need for analytical tools for detection of disease comorbidities, including the investigation of their underlying genetic basis.
Results
We present comoRbidity, an R package aimed at providing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of disease comorbidities from both the clinical and molecular perspectives. comoRbidity leverages from (i) user provided clinical data from EHR databases (the clinical comorbidity analysis) and (ii) genotype-phenotype information of the diseases under study (the molecular comorbidity analysis) for a comprehensive analysis of disease comorbidities. The clinical comorbidity analysis enables identifying significant disease comorbidities from clinical data, including sex and age stratification and temporal directionality analyses, while the molecular comorbidity analysis supports the generation of hypothesis on the underlying mechanisms of the disease comorbidities by exploring shared genes among disorders. The open-source comoRbidity package is a software tool aimed at expediting the integrative analysis of disease comorbidities by incorporating several analytical and visualization functions.
Availability and implementation
https://bitbucket.org/ibi_group/comorbidity
Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Around, 30-40% of HER2-positive breast cancers do not show substantial clinical benefit from the targeted therapy and, thus, the mechanisms underlying resistance remain partially unknown. ...Interestingly, ERBB2 is frequently co-amplified and co-expressed with neighbour genes that may play a relevant role in this cancer subtype. Here, using an in silico analysis of data from 2,096 breast tumours, we reveal a significant correlation between Gasdermin B (GSDMB) gene (located 175 kilo bases distal from ERBB2) expression and the pathological and clinical parameters of poor prognosis in HER2-positive breast cancer. Next, the analysis of three independent cohorts (totalizing 286 tumours) showed that approximately 65% of the HER2-positive cases have GSDMB gene amplification and protein over-expression. Moreover, GSDMB expression was also linked to poor therapeutic responses in terms of lower relapse free survival and pathologic complete response as well as positive lymph node status and the development of distant metastasis under neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment settings, respectively. Importantly, GSDMB expression promotes survival to trastuzumab in different HER2-positive breast carcinoma cells, and is associated with trastuzumab resistance phenotype in vivo in Patient Derived Xenografts. In summary, our data identifies the ERBB2 co-amplified and co-expressed gene GSDMB as a critical determinant of poor prognosis and therapeutic response in HER2-positive breast cancer.
Gamification and entrepreneurial intentions Ruiz-Alba, José L; Soares, Anabela; Rodríguez-Molina, Miguel Angel ...
Journal of small business and enterprise development,
11/2019, Letnik:
26, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how gamification can influence entrepreneurial intentions (EI) of a group of users of an online platform provided by a private company.
...Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research strategy was used with a sample of 220 respondents. These respondents were tested before and after the gamification experience.
Findings
Main findings support literature suggesting a clear effect of attitudes towards behaviour and perceived behavioural control on EI, in line with the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Once the basic assumptions of TPB were confirmed, the authors tested the effects of gamification comparing before and after results. Main findings highlight an increase of these effects after the gamification experience, aligned with the self-determination theory.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that gamification is able to influence entrepreneurial behaviours. This contributes to both companies and educators’ knowledge on training for EI with gamification and the use of online platforms to this effect. Recommendations are provided.
Originality/value
This is the first study that investigates the impact of gamification on EI and how gamification can influence the different relationships between the antecedents of EI.
Abstract
Background
Isolation of COVID-19 patients has been universally implemented to control transmission of the outbreak. Hotels and other facilities have been adapted to help appropriate ...isolation be achieved. Our study tested the efficacy of isolating patients in a reconditioned hotel versus isolation in their domiciles to reduce infection transmission.
Methods
Observational cohort study based on a survey to COVID-19 patients between April and June 2020. One cohort had been isolated in a hotel and the other in their domiciles. Multivariate regression models analyzed the factors related to the occurrence of COVID-19 infection among the household members.
Results
A total of 229 household members of COVID-19 patients were analyzed, 139 of them belonging to the group of hotel-isolated patients and 90 in the group of domicile-isolated ones. More than half of the household members became infected (53.7%). Higher risk of infection was found in the household members of domicile-isolated patients isolated and in those reporting overcrowding at home, (odds ratio OR 1.67, 95% confidence interval CI 0.89–3.12) and (OR 1.44, 95% CI 0.81; 2.56), respectively.
Conclusions
The isolation of COVID-19 patients in community-supervised facilities may protect their household members from transmission of the disease. Overcrowded homes may contribute to the transmission of the infection.
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