Dietary assessment methods for micronutrient intake in elderly people: a systematic review

The European micronutrient recommendations aligned (EURRECA) Network of Excellence seeks to establish clear guidelines for assessing the validity of reported micronutrient intakes among vulnerable population groups. A systematic literature review identified studies validating the methodology used in elderly people for measuring usual dietary micronutrient intake. The quality of each validation study selected was assessed using a EURRECA-developed scoring system. The validation studies were categorised according to whether the reference method applied reflected short-term intake ( <7 d), long-term intake ( = 7 d) or used biomarkers (BM). A correlation coefficient for each micronutrient was calculated from the mean of the correlation coefficients from each study weighted by the quality of the study. Thirty-three papers were selected, which included the validation of twenty-five different FFQ, six diet histories (DH), one 24-h recall (24HR) and a videotaped dietary assessment method. A total of five publications analysed BM, which were used to validate four FFQ, and one 24HR, presenting very good correlations only for vitamin E. The analysis of weighted correlation coefficients classified by FFQ or DH showed that most of the micronutrients had higher correlations when the DH was used as the dietary method. Comparing only FFQ results showed very good correlations for measuring short-term intakes of riboflavin and thiamin and long-term intakes of P and Mg. When frequency methods are used for assessing micronutrient intake, the inclusion of dietary supplements improves their reliability for most micronutrients

Geographical, Socioeconomic, and Gender Inequalities in Opioid Use in Catalonia

Background: In recent years, worldwide opioid use has seen a sharp increase, especially for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. Catalonia is no exception to this trend. However, no recent studies have addressed the socioeconomic and gender inequalities in opioid use in the different geographical areas of Catalonia. Methods: We performed an ecological study to analyse the associations between socioeconomic status, gender and the use of opioids in the 372 Health Areas of Catalonia. Robust Poisson models were performed to analyse the data provided from the Central Register of Insured Persons and dispensing data from the Electronic Prescription Database. Results: The results show that socioeconomic status has a major impact on opioid use, with the most deprived areas presenting the highest levels of use. There are major inequalities in the DDD/1,000 inhabitants per areas. Moreover, women have much higher utilization rates than men, especially in more deprived areas. The greatest difference is observed in the use of weak opioids in women: the DDD/1,000 inhabitants per day was 2.34 in the area with the lowest use, compared with 22.18 in the area with the highest use. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that stronger action is needed to promote best practices in prescribing for chronic pain and to reduce socioeconomic and gender variation between geographical areas. This study provides a model for routine monitoring of opioid prescription for targeted interventions aimed at lowering high-dose consumption in specifically identified areas

Multilabel Prototype Generation for Data Reduction in k-Nearest Neighbour classification

Prototype Generation (PG) methods are typically considered for improving the efficiency of the $k$-Nearest Neighbour ($k$NN) classifier when tackling high-size corpora. Such approaches aim at generating a reduced version of the corpus without decreasing the classification performance when compared to the initial set. Despite their large application in multiclass scenarios, very few works have addressed the proposal of PG methods for the multilabel space. In this regard, this work presents the novel adaptation of four multiclass PG strategies to the multilabel case. These proposals are evaluated with three multilabel $k$NN-based classifiers, 12 corpora comprising a varied range of domains and corpus sizes, and different noise scenarios artificially induced in the data. The results obtained show that the proposed adaptations are capable of significantly improving -- both in terms of efficiency and classification performance -- the only reference multilabel PG work in the literature as well as the case in which no PG method is applied, also presenting a statistically superior robustness in noisy scenarios. Moreover, these novel PG strategies allow prioritising either the efficiency or efficacy criteria through its configuration depending on the target scenario, hence covering a wide area in the solution space not previously filled by other works

Multilabel Prototype Generation for data reduction in K-Nearest Neighbour classification

Prototype Generation (PG) methods are typically considered for improving the efficiency of the k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN) classifier when tackling high-size corpora. Such approaches aim at generating a reduced version of the corpus without decreasing the classification performance when compared to the initial set. Despite their large application in multiclass scenarios, very few works have addressed the proposal of PG methods for the multilabel space. In this regard, this work presents the novel adaptation of four multiclass PG strategies to the multilabel case. These proposals are evaluated with three multilabel kNN-based classifiers, 12 corpora comprising a varied range of domains and corpus sizes, and different noise scenarios artificially induced in the data. The results obtained show that the proposed adaptations are capable of significantly improving—both in terms of efficiency and classification performance—the only reference multilabel PG work in the literature as well as the case in which no PG method is applied, also presenting statistically superior robustness in noisy scenarios. Moreover, these novel PG strategies allow prioritising either the efficiency or efficacy criteria through its configuration depending on the target scenario, hence covering a wide area in the solution space not previously filled by other works.This research was partially funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through the MultiScore (PID2020-118447RA-I00) and DOREMI (TED2021-132103A-I00) projects. The first author is supported by grant APOSTD/2020/256 from “Programa I+D+i de la Generalitat Valenciana”

Ground-based near-IR observations of the secondary eclipse of CoRoT-2b

We present the results of a ground-based search for the secondary eclipse of the 3.3 Mjup transiting planet CoRoT-2b. We performed near infrared photometry using the LIRIS instrument on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, in the H and K_s filters. We monitored the star around two expected secondary eclipses in two nights under very good observing conditions. For the depth of the secondary eclipse we find in H-band a 3 sigma upper limit of 0.17%, whereas we detected a tentative eclipse with a depth of 0.16+-0.09% in the K_s-band. These depths can be translated into brightness temperatures of T_H<2250 K and T_{K_s} = 1890(+260-350) K, which indicate an inefficient re-distribution of the incident stellar flux from the planet's dayside to its nightside. Our results are in agreement with the CoRoT optical measurement (Alonso et al. 09) and with Spitzer 4.5 and 8 micron results (Gillon et al. 09c).Comment: Astronomical Journal, accepte

Los sedimentos de la plataforma continental balear

El anáiisis sedimentológico de distintos sectores de la plataforma continental balear (Bahia de Campos, Sur de Menorca y Canal de Menorca) ha puesto de manifiesto la existencia de siete grupos de facies: A) algales, B) de bivalvos, C) de gasterópodos, D) bioclásticas, E) mixtas, F) de fragmentos liticos y G) cementadas (costras algales y calcarenitas). La distribución de estas facies sedimentarias guarda una estrecha relacibn con la profundidad, excepto en el Sur de Menorca, y con las comunidades bentónicas que se desarrollan en la plataforma continental. Las facies que recubren actualmente la plataforma balear se depositaron durante la fase del ascenso del nivel del mar de la transgresión Versiliense

Effect of zinc intake on growth in infants: A meta-analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effect of zinc (Zn) intake on growth in infants. Out of 5500 studies identified through electronic searches and reference lists, 19 RCTs were selected after applying the exclusion/inclusion criteria. The influence of Zn intake on growth was considered in the overall meta-analysis. Other variables were also taken into account as possible effect modifiers: doses of Zn intake, intervention duration, nutritional status, and risk of bias. From each select growth study, final measures of weight, length, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), head circumference, weight for age z-score (WAZ), length for age z-score (LAZ), and weight for length z-score (WLZ) were assessed. Pooled β and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Additionally, we carried out a sensitivity analysis. Zn intake was not associated with weight, length, MUAC, head circumference, and LAZ in the pooled analyses. However, Zn intake had a positive and statistically effect on WAZ (β = 0.06; 95%CI 0.02 to 0.10) and WLZ (β = 0.05; 95%CI 0.01 to 0.08). The dose–response relationship between Zn intake and these parameters indicated that a doubling of Zn intake increased WAZ and WLZ by approximately 4%. Substantial heterogeneity was present only in length analyses (I2 = 45%; p = 0.03). Zn intake was positively associated with length values at short time (four to 20 weeks) (β = 0.01; CI 95% 0 to 0.02) and at medium doses of Zn (4.1 to 8 mg/day) (β = 0.003; CI 95% 0 to 0.01). Nevertheless, the effect magnitude was small. Our results indicate that Zn intake increases growth parameters of infants. Nonetheless, interpretation of these results should be carefully considered

Strategies to enhance access to diagnosis and treatment for Chagas disease patients in Latin America

Introduction: Chagas disease, caused by infection with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, represents a huge public health problem in the Americas, where millions of people are affected. Despite the availability of two drugs against the infection (benznidazole and nifurtimox), multiple factors impede their effective usage: (1) gaps in patient and healthcare provider awareness; (2) lack of access to diagnosis; (3) drug toxicity and absence of treatment algorithms to address adverse effects; (4) failures in drug supply and distribution; and (5) inconsistent drug efficacy against the symptomatic chronic stage. Areas covered: We review new approaches and technologies to enhance access to diagnosis and treatment to reduce the disease burden. We also provide an updated picture of recently published and ongoing anti-T. cruzi drug clinical trials. Although there has been progress improving the research and development (R&D) landscape, it is unclear whether any new treatments will emerge soon. Literature search methodologies included multiple queries to public databases and the use of own-built libraries. Expert opinion: Besides R&D, there is a major need to continue awareness and advocacy efforts by patient associations, local and national governments, and international agencies. Overall, health systems strengthening is essential to ensure vector control commitments, as well as patient access to diagnosis and treatment

Dietary assessment methods for micronutrient intake in pregnant women : a systematic review

The EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned (EURRECA) Network of Excellence needs clear guidelines for assessing the validity of reported micronutrient intakes among vulnerable population groups. A systematic literature search identified studies validating the methodology used for measuring usual dietary intake during pregnancy. The quality of each validation study selected was assessed using a EURRECA-developed scoring system. The validation studies were categorised according to whether the study used a reference method that reflected short-term intake (,7 d) long-term intake ($7 d) or used biomarkers (BM). A correlation coefficient for each micronutrient was calculated from the mean of the correlation coefficients from each study weighted by the quality of the study. Seventeen papers were selected, which included the validation of fifteen FFQ, two dietary records (DR), one diet history and a Fe intake checklist. Estimates of twenty-six micronutrients by six FFQ were validated against 24-h recalls indicating good correlation for six micronutrients. Estimates of twenty-four micronutrients by two FFQ were validated against estimated DR and all had good or acceptable correlations. Estimates of fourteen micronutrients by three FFQ were validated against weighed DR indicating good correlations for five. Six FFQ were validated against BM, presenting good correlations only for folic acid. FFQ appear to be most reliable for measuring short-term intakes of vitamins E and B6 and long-term intakes of thiamin. Apart from folic acid, BM do not add any more certainty in terms of intake method reliability. When frequency methods are used, the inclusion of dietary supplements improves their reliability for most micronutrients