Desenvolupament d’una aplicació per a l’aprenentatge i la docència de l’Estadística Bayesiana

Treballs Finals de Grau en Estadística UB-UPC, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa (UB) i Facultat de Matemàtiques i Estadística (UPC), Curs: 2015-2016, Tutors: Xavier Puig i Lluís MarcoDes de començaments del 2015, el departament d’Estadística i Investigació Operativa de la Universitat Politènica de Catalunya du a terme un projecte per desenvolupar una aplicació de lliure distribució per facilitar l’aprenentatge de l’estadística en l’educació secundària. L’aplicació s’anomena StatClip. Basant-se en la interfície d’usuari creada, en aquest projecte es desenvolupa BayesClip, una nova aplicació lliure que faciliti l’aprenentatge de l’estadística Bayesiana en cursos d’iniciació d’aquesta branca. Pel desenvolupament de BayesClip s’estudiarà el llenguatge de programació Shiny, conceptes d’estadística Bayesiana, s’elaborarà una recerca d’aplicacions ja existents, es decidiran i implementaran els elements de l’aplicació i finalment es testarà en alumnes del grau d’estadística per determinar el seu impacte. L’aplicació es pot trobar a https://noctilabium.shinyapps.io/BayesClip/

El CReSA estudia millorar la detecció de virus en aus

La Influença Aviària (IA) és una malaltia molt contagiosa, causada per un virus del gènere Influenzavirus tipus A, que pot arribar a causar elevada mortalitat en aus de producció. El Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal de la UAB estudia, entre altres aspectes, la detecció i prevalença d'aquest virus. Enguany treballa en la posada al punt d'una nova tècnica més fiable que la convencional.La Influenza Aviar (IA) es una enfermedad muy contagiosa, causada por un virus del género Influenzavirus tipo A, que puede llegar a causar elevada mortalidad en aves de producción. El Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal de la UAB estudia, entre otros aspectos, la detección y prevalencia de este virus. Este año trabaja en la puesta a punto de una nueva técnica más fiable que la convencional

West Nile Virus Lineage 2 Spreads Westwards in Europe and Overwinters in North-Eastern Spain (2017–2020)

West Nile virus lineage 2 (WNV-L2) emerged in Europe in 2004; since then, it has spread across the continent, causing outbreaks in humans and animals. During 2017 and 2020, WNV-L2 was detected and isolated from four northern goshawks in two provinces of Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). In order to characterise the first Spanish WNV-L2 isolates and elucidate the potential overwintering of the virus in this Mediterranean region, complete genome sequencing, phylogenetic analyses, and a study of phenotypic characterisation were performed. Our results showed that these Spanish isolates belonged to the central-southern WNV-L2 clade. In more detail, they were related to the Lombardy cluster that emerged in Italy in 2013 and has been able to spread westwards, causing outbreaks in France (2018) and Spain (2017 and 2020). Phenotypic characterisation performed in vitro showed that these isolates presented characteristics corresponding to strains of moderate to high virulence. All these findings evidence that these WNV-L2 strains have been able to circulate and overwinter in the region, and are pathogenic, at least in northern goshawks, which seem to be very susceptible to WNV infection and may be good indicators of WNV-L2 circulation. Due to the increasing number of human and animal cases in Europe in the last years, this zoonotic flavivirus should be kept under extensive surveillance, following a One-Health approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ecological Factors Driving Avian Influenza Virus Dynamics in Spanish Wetland Ecosystems

Studies exploring the ecological interactions between avian influenza viruses (AIV), natural hosts and the environment are scarce. Most work has focused on viral survival and transmission under laboratory conditions and through mathematical modelling. However, more integrated studies performed under field conditions are required to validate these results. In this study, we combined information on bird community, environmental factors and viral epidemiology to assess the contribution of biotic and abiotic factors in the occurrence of low pathogenic AIV in Spanish wetlands. For that purpose, seven locations in five different wetlands were studied during two years (2007-2009), including seven sampling visits by location. In each survey, fresh faeces (n = 4578) of wild birds and water samples were collected for viral detection. Also, the vegetation structure, water physical properties of wetlands, climatic conditions and wild bird community composition were determined. An overall AIV prevalence of 1.7%±0.4 was detected in faecal samples with important fluctuations among seasons and locations. Twenty-six AIV were isolated from the 78 RRT-PCR positive samples and eight different haemagglutinines and five neuraminidases were identified, being the combination H3N8 the most frequent. Variation partitioning procedures identified the combination of space and time variables as the most important pure factor - independently to other factors - explaining the variation in AIV prevalence (36.8%), followed by meteorological factor (21.5%) and wild bird community composition/vegetation structure (21.1%). These results contribute to the understanding of AIV ecological drivers in Spanish ecosystems and provide useful guidelines for AIV risk assessment identifying potential hotspots of AIV activity

Risk Factors for COVID-19 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A National, ENEIDA-Based Case–Control Study (COVID-19-EII)

(1) Scant information is available concerning the characteristics that may favour the acquisition of COVID-19 in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess these differences between infected and noninfected patients with IBD. (2) This nationwide case-control study evaluated patients with inflammatory bowel disease with COVID-19 (cases) and without COVID-19 (controls) during the period March-July 2020 included in the ENEIDA of GETECCU. (3) A total of 496 cases and 964 controls from 73 Spanish centres were included. No differences were found in the basal characteristics between cases and controls. Cases had higher comorbidity Charlson scores (24% vs. 19%; p = 0.02) and occupational risk (28% vs. 10.5%; p < 0.0001) more frequently than did controls. Lockdown was the only protective measure against COVID-19 (50% vs. 70%; p < 0.0001). No differences were found in the use of systemic steroids, immunosuppressants or biologics between cases and controls. Cases were more often treated with 5-aminosalicylates (42% vs. 34%; p = 0.003). Having a moderate Charlson score (OR: 2.7; 95%CI: 1.3-5.9), occupational risk (OR: 2.9; 95%CI: 1.8-4.4) and the use of 5-aminosalicylates (OR: 1.7; 95%CI: 1.2-2.5) were factors for COVID-19. The strict lockdown was the only protective factor (OR: 0.1; 95%CI: 0.09-0.2). (4) Comorbidities and occupational exposure are the most relevant factors for COVID-19 in patients with IBD. The risk of COVID-19 seems not to be increased by immunosuppressants or biologics, with a potential effect of 5-aminosalicylates, which should be investigated further and interpreted with caution

Jardins per a la salut

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia. Assignatura: Botànica farmacèutica. Curs: 2014-2015. Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són el recull de les fitxes botàniques de 128 espècies presents en el Jardí Ferran Soldevila de l’Edifici Històric de la UB. Els treballs han estat realitzats manera individual per part dels estudiants dels grups M-3 i T-1 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos de febrer a maig del curs 2014-15 com a resultat final del Projecte d’Innovació Docent «Jardins per a la salut: aprenentatge servei a Botànica farmacèutica» (codi 2014PID-UB/054). Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pels professors de l’assignatura. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica. També s’ha pretès motivar els estudiants a través del retorn de part del seu esforç a la societat a través d’una experiència d’Aprenentatge-Servei, deixant disponible finalment el treball dels estudiants per a poder ser consultable a través d’una Web pública amb la possibilitat de poder-ho fer in-situ en el propi jardí mitjançant codis QR amb un smartphone

Desenvolupament d’una aplicació per a l’aprenentatge i la docència de l’Estadística Bayesiana

Des de començaments del 2015, el departament d’Estadística i Investigació Operativa de la Universitat Politènica de Catalunya du a terme un projecte per desenvolupar una aplicació de lliure distribució per facilitar l’aprenentatge de l’estadística en l’educació secundària. L’aplicació s’anomena StatClip. Basant-se en la interfície d’usuari creada, en aquest projecte es desenvolupa BayesClip, una nova aplicació lliure que faciliti l’aprenentatge de l’estadística Bayesiana en cursos d’iniciació d’aquesta branca. Pel desenvolupament de BayesClip s’estudiarà el llenguatge de programació Shiny, conceptes d’estadística Bayesiana, s’elaborarà una recerca d’aplicacions ja existents, es decidiran i implementaran els elements de l’aplicació i finalment es testarà en alumnes del grau d’estadística per determinar el seu impacte. L’aplicació es pot trobar a https://noctilabium.shinyapps.io/BayesClip/

West Nile Virus Lineage 2 Spreads Westwards in Europe and Overwinters in North-Eastern Spain (2017-2020)

West Nile virus lineage 2 (WNV-L2) emerged in Europe in 2004; since then, it has spread across the continent, causing outbreaks in humans and animals. During 2017 and 2020, WNV-L2 was detected and isolated from four northern goshawks in two provinces of Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). In order to characterise the first Spanish WNV-L2 isolates and elucidate the potential overwintering of the virus in this Mediterranean region, complete genome sequencing, phylogenetic analyses, and a study of phenotypic characterisation were performed. Our results showed that these Spanish isolates belonged to the central-southern WNV-L2 clade. In more detail, they were related to the Lombardy cluster that emerged in Italy in 2013 and has been able to spread westwards, causing outbreaks in France (2018) and Spain (2017 and 2020). Phenotypic characterisation performed in vitro showed that these isolates presented characteristics corresponding to strains of moderate to high virulence. All these findings evidence that these WNV-L2 strains have been able to circulate and overwinter in the region, and are pathogenic, at least in northern goshawks, which seem to be very susceptible to WNV infection and may be good indicators of WNV-L2 circulation. Due to the increasing number of human and animal cases in Europe in the last years, this zoonotic flavivirus should be kept under extensive surveillance, following a One-Health approach