Evaluation of the United Kingdom-Primary Biliary Cholangitis and Global Primary Biliary Cholangitis Group Prognostic Models for Primary Biliary Cholangitis Patients Treated with Ursodeoxycholic Acid in the U.S. Population

JGH Open: An open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology published by Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd. Background and Aim: The United Kingdom-primary biliary cholangitis (UK-PBC) and global primary biliary cholangitis group (GLOBE) prognostic models have been recently developed to predict long-term outcomes in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). However, these predictive scores have not yet been well evaluated in the U.S. population. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed newly diagnosed PBC patients at the Cleveland Clinic between November 1998 and February 2017. Adverse events were defined as liver transplantation, liver-related mortality, and all-cause mortality. Transplant-free survival (TFS) was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Predictive performances of all prognostic models were evaluated using the C-statistic. Results: We identified 352 patients who used ursodeoxycholic acid therapy. Of them, 311 (88.4%) only had PBC, while 41 (11.6%) were diagnosed with PBC-autoimmune hepatitis overlap. A total of 22 (6%), 47 (13%), and 55 (16%) patients had adverse events within 5, 10, and 15 years after diagnosis, respectively. In patients with PBC only, the C-statistic in predicting 15-year adverse events was 0.75 per GLOBE compared to 0.74 per UK-PBC (P = 0.94), 0.73 per Rotterdam (P = 0.44), 0.66 per Barcelona (P = 0.004), 0.65 per Paris 1 (P = 0.005), 0.62 per Paris 2 (P \u3c 0.0001), 0.60 per Toronto (P \u3c 0.0001), and 0.60 per Mayo (P \u3c 0.0001) scores. Median follow-up was 9.2 years. Ten-year TFS for patients who had optimal versus suboptimal treatment response was 92 versus 74% per Paris 1 (P \u3c 0.0001), 95 versus 79% per Paris 2 (P = 0.0002), 93 versus 65% per Barcelona (P \u3c 0.0001), and 96 versus 68% per Rotterdam (P \u3c 0.0001) risk scores, respectively. Conclusion: In our cohort of PBC patients, the UK-PBC and GLOBE scores were both accurate and reasonably valid prognostic models in the U.S. population

Impacts of desert dust outbreaks on air quality in urban areas

Air pollution has many adverse effects on health and is associated with an increased risk of mortality. Desert dust outbreaks contribute directly to air pollution by increasing particulate matter concentrations. We investigated the influence of desert dust outbreaks on air quality in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a city located in the dust export pathway off the west coast of North Africa, using air-quality observations from a six-year period (2012–2017). During winter intense dust outbreaks PM10 mean (24-h) concentrations increased from 14 µg m−3 to 98 µg m−3 , on average, and PM2.5 mean (24-h) concentrations increased from 6 µg m−3 to 32 µg m−3 . Increases were less during summer outbreaks, with a tripling of PM10 and PM2.5 daily mean concentrations. We found that desert dust outbreaks reduced the height of the marine boundary layer in our study area by >45%, on average, in summer and by ∼25%, on average, in winter. This thinning of the marine boundary layer was associated with an increase of local anthropogenic pollution during dust outbreaks. NO2 and NO mean concentrations more than doubled and even larger relative increases in black carbon were observed during the more intense summer dust outbreaks; increases also occurred during the winter outbreaks but were less than in summer. This has public health implications; local anthropogenic emissions need to be reduced even further in areas that are impacted by desert dust outbreaks to reduce adverse health effects.This activity has been undertaken in the framework of the World Meteorological Organisation Global Atmosphere Watch Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME) project

Characterization of patients with referred pain due to osteomyarticular conditions treated with Natural and Traditional Medicine

Introduction: Currently in Cuba and the world the application of methods of natural and traditional medicine (NTM) is increasing in different osteomyoarticular pathologies. Objective: to characterize the patients with pain due to osteomyoarticular affections treated in the MNT consultation of the rehabilitation room of the polyclinic "Dr. Carlos Juan Finlay", from the Colón municipality in the Matanzas province, between the months of June to December of the year 2019. Method: an observational, descriptive, longitudinal and retrospective study from 675 patients diagnosed with osteomyoarticular conditions, of which 365 who suffered from pain were selected. Variables were studied: age, sex, osteomyoarticular affections diagnosed, NTM modality applied and clinical evolution according to number of treatment sessions. Results: Patients in the age range between 50 and 59 years (24.4%) and females (73.7%) predominated. The osteomyoarticular pain conditions with the highest incidence were low back pain (32.1%), and neck pain (30.9%). The most used NTM modality was pharmacopuncture (40.5%). Clinical improvement was observed in up to (88.8%) of the patients with 5 to 9 treatment sessions. Conclusions: The patients who most attended NTM therapy were mainly middle-aged, older adults, and female. The highest incidence corresponded to sacrolumbalgia. Pharmacopuncture was the most used procedure. These results are similar to those of other bibliographic sources consulted

Una climatología del agua precipitable en la región subtropical sobre la isla de Tenerife basada en datos de radiosondeos

El agua precipitable representa la cantidad de agua que se obtendría si todo el vapor de agua contenido en una cierta columna vertical de aire se condensase y precipitase. El objeto de esta nota técnica es el de desarrollar una climatología del vapor de agua basada en las medidas de agua precipitable obtenidas a través de radiosondas de presión, temperatura y humedad (PTU) lanzadas en Tenerife

Monitoring of the Greenhouse Gases Concentrations in Madrid (MEGEI-MAD)

Ponencia presentada en: XVIII Congreso de la Asociación Española de Teledetección celebrado en Valladolid del 24 al 27 septiembre 2019.[ES]Las áreas urbanas concentran actualmente el 50% de las emisiones globales de Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEIs). Este porcentaje está aumentando, ya que la población mundial cada vez más se concentra en las áreas urbanas, y se estima que pase del 50% hoy en día al 70% en 2050. Consecuentemente, las medidas de las emisiones urbanas de GEIs, a escalas temporales y espaciales pequeñas, son cruciales para diseñar políticas efectivas de control y mitigación de los GEIs. En este contexto, este trabajo presenta el proyecto MEGEI-MAD (Medida de las Concentraciones de Gases de Efecto Invernadero en Madrid), que es la primera iniciativa española para la monitorización de las emisiones de GEIs en ambientes urbanos. En particular, MEGEI-MAD tiene como objetivo la caracterización completa de las emisiones urbanas de dióxido de carbono (CO2) y metano (CH4), en Madrid, la ciudad más densamente poblada de España. Este objetivo central fue abordado con una campaña de medidas llevada a cabo entre el 16 de Septiembre y el 9 de Octubre de 2018 en la zona metropolitana de Madrid, donde las observaciones de CO2 y CH4 en la columna total atmosférica fueron medidas simultáneamente con observaciones in situ a nivel de superficie.[EN]Urban areas currently contribute over 50% of the global emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). This percentage is growing since worldwide population is increasingly concentrating in the urban areas, going from over 50% nowadays to 70% by 2050. Consequently, monitoring urban GHGs emissions at small temporal and spatial scales is crucial to design effective GHGs control and mitigation policies. In this context, this work gives an overview of the Project MEGEI-MAD (Monitoring of the Greenhouse Gases Concentrations in Madrid), which is the first Spanish initiative to monitor GHGs emissions in urban environments. Particularly, MEGEI-MAD aims to comprehensively characterize the urban emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) of Madrid, the highest population density city in Spain. This core objective was reached by a field campaign carried out between 16th September-9th October 2018 in the Madrid Metropolitan area, where CO2 and CH4 total column amounts observations have been measured simultaneously with ground-level records

Izaña Atmospheric Research Center. Activity Report 2019-2020

Editors: Emilio Cuevas, Celia Milford and Oksana Tarasova.[EN]The Izaña Atmospheric Research Center (IARC), which is part of the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET), is a site of excellence in atmospheric science. It manages four observatories in Tenerife including the high altitude Izaña Atmospheric Observatory. The Izaña Atmospheric Observatory was inaugurated in 1916 and since that date has carried out uninterrupted meteorological and climatological observations, contributing towards a unique 100-year record in 2016. This reports are a summary of the many activities at the Izaña Atmospheric Research Center to the broader community. The combination of operational activities, research and development in state-of-the-art measurement techniques, calibration and validation and international cooperation encompass the vision of WMO to provide world leadership in expertise and international cooperation in weather, climate, hydrology and related environmental issues.[ES]El Centro de Investigación Atmosférica de Izaña (CIAI), que forma parte de la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología de España (AEMET), representa un centro de excelencia en ciencias atmosféricas. Gestiona cuatro observatorios en Tenerife, incluido el Observatorio de Izaña de gran altitud, inaugurado en 1916 y que desde entonces ha realizado observaciones meteorológicas y climatológicas ininterrumpidas y se ha convertido en una estación centenaria de la OMM. Estos informes resumen las múltiples actividades llevadas a cabo por el Centro de Investigación Atmosférica de Izaña. El liderazgo del Centro en materia de investigación y desarrollo con respecto a las técnicas de medición, calibración y validación de última generación, así como la cooperación internacional, le han otorgado una reputación sobresaliente en lo que se refiere al tiempo, el clima, la hidrología y otros temas ambientales afines

Izaña Atmospheric Research Center. Activity Report 2015-2016

This report is a summary of the many activities at the Izaña Atmospheric Research Center to the broader community. The combination of operational activities, research and development in state-of-the-art measurement techniques, calibration and validation and international cooperation encompass the vision of WMO to provide world leadership in expertise and international cooperation in weather, climate, hydrology and related environmental issues

La erupción volcánica de La Palma y el papel de la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

Durante la erupción del volcán de Cumbre Vieja, en la isla de La Palma en 2021, la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), en calidad de Servicio Nacional y Autoridad Meteorológica del Estado, prestó diferentes servicios de apoyo al Comité Científico y al Comité Asesor del Plan de Emergencias Volcánicas de Canarias (PEVOLCA). Parte de sus actividades abarcaron la vigilancia y predicción meteorológica, la monitorización y predicción del transporte del penacho volcánico, y la valoración del impacto de las emisiones de gases y cenizas de la erupción volcánica en la calidad del aire en la isla de La Palma y en la región de Canarias.Peer reviewe

Fostering English-taught higher education programs in a Spanish university: the "TechEnglish" innovative project

In recent years, coinciding with adjustments to the Bologna process, many European universities have attempted to improve their international profile by increasing course offerings in English. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), Spain has notably increased its English-taught higher education programs, ranking fifth in the list of European countries by number of English-taught Master's programs in 2013. This article presents the goals and preliminary results of an on-going innovative education project (TechEnglish) that aims to promote course offerings in English at the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM). The UPM is the oldest and largest of all Technical Universities in Spain. It offers graduate and postgraduate programs that cover all the engineering disciplines as well as architecture. Currently, the UPM has no specific bilingual/multilingual program to promote teaching in English, although there is an Educational Model Whitepaper (with a focus on undergraduate degrees) that promotes the development of activities like an International Semester or a unique shared curriculum. The TechEnglish project is an attempt to foster courses taught in English at 7 UPM Technical Schools, including students and 80 faculty members. Four tasks were identified: (1) to design a university wide framework to increase course offerings, (2) to identify administrative difficulties, (3) to increase visibility of courses offered, and (4) to disseminate the results of the project. First, to design a program we analyzed existing programs at other Spanish universities, and other projects and efforts already under way at the UPM. A total of 13 plans were analyzed and classified according to their relation with students (learning), professors (teaching), administration, course offerings, other actors/institutions within the university (e.g., language departments), funds and projects, dissemination activities, mobility plans and quality control. Second, to begin to identify administrative and organizational difficulties in the implementation of teaching in English, we first estimated the current and potential course offerings at the undergraduate level at the UPM using a survey (student, teacher and administrative demand, level of English and willingness to work in English). Third, to make the course offerings more attractive for both Spanish and international students we examined the way the most prestigious universities in Spain and in Europe try to improve the visibility of their academic offerings in English. Finally, to disseminate the results of the project we created a web page and a workspace on the Moodle education platform and prepared conferences and workshops within the UPM. Preliminary results show that increasing course offerings in English is an important step to promote the internationalization of the University. The main difficulties identified at the UPM were related to how to acknowledge/certify the departments, teachers or students involved in English courses, how students should register for the courses, how departments should split and schedule the courses (Spanish and English), and the lack of qualified personnel. A concerted effort could be made to increase the visibility of English-taught programs offered on-line

Incidence, Clinical Characteristics and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain : Large-Scale Epidemiological Study

(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD-Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)-during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100,000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and 0.5 for IBD-U; 53% of patients were male and median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 31-56 years). During a median 12-month follow-up, 34% of patients were treated with systemic steroids, 25% with immunomodulators, 15% with biologics and 5.6% underwent surgery. The percentage of patients under these treatments was significantly higher in CD than UC and IBD-U. Use of systemic steroids and biologics was significantly higher in hospitals with high resources. In total, 28% of patients were hospitalized (35% CD and 22% UC patients, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusion: The incidence of IBD in Spain is rather high and similar to that reported in Northern Europe. IBD patients require substantial therapeutic resources, which are greater in CD and in hospitals with high resources, and much higher than previously reported. One third of patients are hospitalized in the first year after diagnosis and a relevant proportion undergo surgery