COVID-19 lockdown measures have impacted the environment with both positive and negative effects. However, how human populations have perceived such changes in the natural environment and how they ...may have changed their daily habits have not been yet thoroughly evaluated. The objectives of this work were to investigate (1) the social perception of the environmental changes produced by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the derived change in habits in relation to i) waste management, energy saving, and sustainable consumption, ii) mobility, iii) social inequalities, iv) generation of noise, v) utilization of natural spaces, and, vi) human population perception towards the future, and (2) the associations of these potential new habits with various socio-demographic variables. First, a SWOT analysis identified strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) generated by the pandemic lockdown measures. Second, a survey based on the aspects of the SWOT was administered among 2370 adults from 37 countries during the period from February to September 2021. We found that the short-term positive impacts on the natural environment were generally well recognized. In contrast, longer-term negative effects arise, but they were often not reported by the survey participants, such as greater production of plastic waste derived from health safety measures, and the increase in e-commerce use, which can displace small storefront businesses. We were able to capture a mismatch between perceptions and the reported data related to visits to natural areas, and generation of waste. We found that age and country of residence were major contributors in shaping the survey participants ´answers, which highlights the importance of government management strategies to address current and future environmental problems. Enhanced positive perceptions of the environment and ecosystems, combined with the understanding that livelihood sustainability, needs to be prioritized and would reinforce environmental protection policies to create greener cities. Moreover, new sustainable jobs in combination with more sustainable human habits represent an opportunity to reinforce environmental policy.
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•The COVID-19 pandemic has altered human behaviours in relation to the environment.•Significant improvements in the environment were only perceived in the short term.•New negative effects (production of plastic waste and e-commerce) were persistent over time.•Positive social perceptions of the environment are an opportunity to reinforce environmental protection.•Government management is crucial in mitigating environmental problems.
The worldwide human population suffering from allergies continues to increase. Pollen grains are a major source of airborne allergens and significant cause of these diseases. Therefore, continuous ...monitoring of pollen grains released and transported in the air locally or regionally is required to determine the prevalence of various pollen types and identify intra-day and intra-annual seasonal variations over time. In this study, we developed the first pollen calendar for Mexico City, which includes a large variety of taxa, many of which show a long Main Pollen Season which may last throughout the year. The analysis and comparison of daily, monthly and annual values showed that the occurrence and abundance of the main types of aero-allergenic pollen in the atmosphere were species of
Fraxinus
, Cupressaceae and
Alnus
, which occur during the periods from December through March, whereas airborne pollens of several species of Poaceae and Urticaceae occurred throughout the year. The variation in pollen concentration showed that the greatest intra-diurnal variations occurred during the second half of the day. Regarding the relationship of pollen with bioclimatic factors, the increase in temperature favoured the presence of pollen in the air, whereas the increase in pluvial precipitation and relative humidity was associated with a decrease in airborne pollen. Large tracts of the Valley of Mexico have atmospheric conditions that are conducive to the accumulation of airborne particles, including pollen. Anomalous winds from the southeast dominated the surface wind variability during the first months of 2010. These patterns induced extreme values in wind convergence at the lower levels of the atmosphere, which resulted in high concentrations of pollen at our sampling site. We suggest that these conditions are related to the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon (2009–2010).
Anti-thrombotic drugs (antiplatelets and anticoagulants) are widely used for different clinical reasons. This means that there are an increasing number of patients undergoing elective ophthalmic ...surgery that are being treated with these drugs. A better knowledge of their implications and their peri-operative use may help to prevent surgical and secondary adverse events. There is often no firm recommendation on how to manage certain drugs in certain surgeries.
To review the recommendations in the scientific literature as regards managing anti-thrombotic agents during the peri-operative period of ophthalmic surgery.
A review was made of the relevant guidelines and studies using an antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs approach for cataract, vitreo-retinal, glaucoma, oculoplastic, and strabismus surgeries.
Recommendations about whether to continue or discontinue anti-thrombotic drugs in the peri-operative period of different ophthalmic surgical fields are presented.
There are only firm recommendations of maintaining anti-thrombotic drugs as regards cataract surgery using phacoemulsification with topical anaesthesia. In other surgical fields, ophthalmologists should balance the risk of thromboembolic events and risks of haemorrhagic complications in order to carry out a proper management. A multi-disciplinary approach is recommended for complex cases. Additional studies should be performed to better characterise the peri-operative use of anti-thrombotic agents in order to prepare clinical guidelines for ophthalmic surgery.
Los fármacos anticoagulantes y antiagregantes son ampliamente utilizados con indicaciones médicas diversas. Por tanto, hay cada vez más pacientes que precisan una cirugía oftalmológica programada y se encuentran en tratamiento con esta mediación. El conocimiento acerca de sus implicaciones y su correcto abordaje perioperatorio permite reducir complicaciones quirúrgicas y efectos adversos en los pacientes. En muchas ocasiones no hay una recomendación clara sobre cómo actuar con estas familias de fármacos en determinadas cirugías.
Realizar una revisión bibliográfica sobre el manejo perioperatorio de los antiagregantes y anticoagulantes en cirugía oftalmológica.
Se revisan los protocolos y la literatura existente acerca del empleo de dichos fármacos en diversas cirugías oftálmicas, incluyendo catarata, vítreo-retina, glaucoma, cirugía oculoplástica y orbitaria y estrabismo.
Se referencian guías clínicas y estudios realizados que recogen las recomendaciones acerca del mantenimiento o suspensión de antiagregantes y anticoagulantes en diferentes campos quirúrgicos de la oftalmología.
En la cirugía de catarata mediante facoemulsificación con anestesia tópica existe evidencia de que el mantenimiento de la medicación antitrombótica es seguro. En el resto de cirugías oftalmológicas se debería actuar en función del riesgo hemorrágico y trombótico que presente la cirugía y el paciente para una correcta utilización de los mismos. En casos complejos, se recomienda un abordaje multidisciplinar. Serían necesarios más estudios para la confección de guías clínicas que faciliten el manejo perioperatorio de estos fármacos en cirugía oftalmológica.
Six radium-223 injections at 4-week intervals is indicated for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases. However, patients usually develop disease ...progression after initial treatment. This prospective phase I/II study assessed re-treatment safety and efficacy of up to six additional radium-223 injections.
Patients had castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases and six initial radium-223 injections with no on-treatment bone progression; all had subsequent radiologic or clinical progression. Concomitant agents were allowed at investigator discretion, excluding chemotherapy and initiation of new abiraterone or enzalutamide. The primary endpoint was safety; additional exploratory endpoints included time to radiographic bone progression, time to total alkaline phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen progression, radiographic progression-free survival, overall survival, time to first symptomatic skeletal event (SSE), SSE-free survival, and time to pain progression.
Among 44 patients, 29 (66%) received all six re-treatment injections. Median time from end of initial radium-223 treatment was 6 months. Forty-one (93%) reported ≥1 treatment-emergent adverse event. No grade 4–5 hematologic treatment-emergent adverse events occurred. Only one (2%) patient had radiographic bone progression; eight (18%) had radiographic soft tissue tumor progression (three lymph node and five visceral metastases). Median times to total alkaline phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen progression were not reached and 2.2 months, respectively. Median radiographic progression-free survival was 9.9 months (12.8-month maximum follow-up). Five (11%) patients died and eight (18%) experienced first SSEs. Median overall survival, time to first SSE, and SSE-free survival were not reached. Five (14%) of 36 evaluable patients (baseline worst pain score ≤7) had pain progression. After 2 years of follow-up, 28 (64%) patients died, and the median overall survival was 24.4 months.
Re-treatment with a second course of six radium-223 injections after disease progression is well tolerated, with minimal hematologic toxicity and low radiographic bone progression rates in this small study with limited follow-up. Favorable safety and early effects on disease progression indicate that radium-223 re-treatment is feasible and warrants further evaluation in larger prospective trials.
The Timepix Telescope for high performance particle tracking Akiba, K.; Ronning, P.; van Beuzekom, M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2013, Letnik:
723
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Timepix particle tracking telescope has been developed as part of the LHCb VELO Upgrade project, supported by the Medipix Collaboration and the AIDA framework. It is a primary piece of ...infrastructure for the VELO Upgrade project and is being used for the development of new sensors and front end technologies for several upcoming LHC trackers and vertexing systems. The telescope is designed around the dual capability of the Timepix ASICs to provide information about either the deposited charge or the timing information from tracks traversing the 14×14mm matrix of 55×55μm pixels. The rate of reconstructed tracks available is optimised by taking advantage of the shutter driver readout architecture of the Timepix chip, operated with existing readout systems. Results of tests conducted in the SPS North Area beam facility at CERN show that the telescope typically provides reconstructed track rates during the beam spills of between 3.5 and 7.5kHz, depending on beam conditions. The tracks are time stamped with 1ns resolution with an efficiency of above 98% and provide a pointing resolution at the centre of the telescope of ∼1.6μm. By dropping the time stamping requirement the rate can be increased to ∼15kHz, at the expense of a small increase in background. The telescope infrastructure provides CO2 cooling and a flexible mechanical interface to the device under test, and has been used for a wide range of measurements during the 2011–2012 data taking campaigns.
•We provide a technical description of the Timepix Telescope for particle tracking applications.•We demonstrate the spatial and timing resolution to be 2μm and 1ns respectively.•The maximum particle rate is 7.5kHz with highly resolved timing and spacing.•The maximum particle rate is 15kHz with only highly resolved spacing.•We briefly describe the software and tracking algorithms used to achieve this.
First operational experience from the LHCb Silicon Tracker Gallas, A.; Bay, A.; Blanc, F. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2011, Letnik:
636, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The LHCb Silicon Tracker is a silicon micro-strip detector covering a sensitive area of 12
m
2 with a total of 272k readout channels. The installation of the detector is complete and commissioning is ...making excellent progress. The detector has recorded first beam-induced events during LHC synchronization tests in August 2008 and in June 2009. These events have allowed the performance to be studied, and adjustments to the operational parameters to be made. In this contribution, we will draw first lessons from the in situ commissioning of the Silicon Tracker, and present results from the reconstruction of data collected during the LHC synchronization tests.
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