Socioeconomic inequalities in low birth weight risk before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina: A cross-sectional study

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have exacerbated existing socioe- conomic inequalities in health. In Argentina, public hospitals serve the poorest uninsured segment of the population, while private hospitals serve patients with health insurance. This study aimed to assess whether socioeconomic inequalities in low birth weight (LBW) risk changed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This multicenter cross-sectional study included 15929 infants. A difference-in-difference (DID) analysis of socioeconomic inequalities between public and private hospitals in LBW risk in a pandemic cohort (March 20 to July 19, 2020) was compared with a prepandemic cohort (March 20 to July 19, 2019) by using medical records obtained from ten hospitals. Infants were categorized by weight as LBW < 2500 g, very low birth weight (VLBW) < 1500 g and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) < 1000 g. Log binomial regression was performed to estimate risk differences with an interaction term representing the DID estimator. Covariate-adjusted models included potential perinatal confounders. Findings: Of the 8437 infants in the prepandemic cohort, 4887 (57 ? 9%) were born in public hospitals. The pandemic cohort comprised 7492 infants, 4402 (58 ? 7%) of whom were born in public hospitals. The DID estimators indicated no differences between public versus private hospitals for LBW risk ( −1 ? 8% [95% CI −3 ? 6, 0 ? 0]) and for ELBW risk ( −0 ? 1% [95% CI −0 ? 6, 0 ? 3]). Significant differences were found between public versus private hospitals in the DID estimators ( −1 ? 2% [95% CI, −2 ? 1, −0 ? 3]) for VLBW risk. The results were comparable in covariate-adjusted models. Interpretation: In this study, we found evidence of decreased disparities between public and private hos- pitals in VLBW risk. Our findings suggest that measures that prioritize social spending to protect the most vulnerable pregnant women during the pandemic contributed to better birth outcomes. Funding: No funding was secured for this study.Fil: Cuestas, Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Gómez Flores, Martha E.. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Hospital Doctor Ramón Carrillo; ArgentinaFil: Charras, María D.. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Hospital Doctor Ramón Carrillo; ArgentinaFil: Peyrano, Alberto J.. Hospital Materno Provincial Dr. Raúl Felipe Lucini; ArgentinaFil: Montenegro, Clara. Hospital Materno Provincial Dr. Raúl Felipe Lucini; ArgentinaFil: Sosa Boye, Ignacio. No especifíca;Fil: Burgos, Verónica. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Clínica Universitaria Reina Fabiola; ArgentinaFil: Giusti, Graciela. Clínica y Maternidad del Sol; ArgentinaFil: Espósito, Mario. Clínica y Maternidad del Sol; ArgentinaFil: Blanco Pool, Silvyana S.. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo ; Gobierno de la Provincia de Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Gurevich, Debora P.. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo ; Gobierno de la Provincia de Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Ahumada, Luis A.. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo ; Gobierno de la Provincia de Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Pontoriero, Ricardo D.. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo ; Gobierno de la Provincia de Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Rizzotti, Alina. Hospital Privado Universitario de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Bas, José I.. Hospital Privado Universitario de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Vaca, María B.. Hospital Universitario de Maternidad y Neonatología; ArgentinaFil: Miranda, María J.. Hospital Universitario de Maternidad y Neonatología; ArgentinaFil: Ferreyra, Mirta E.. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo ; Gobierno de la Provincia de Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Moreno, Gabriela C.. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Hospital Doctor Ramón Carrillo; ArgentinaFil: Pedicino, Héctor. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Rojas Rios, Melvy. Hospital Italiano; Argentin

Association between COVID-19 mandatory lockdown and decreased incidence of preterm births and neonatal mortality

Previous studies suggest a decrease in preterm births (PTB) during de coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), possibly due to the effect of the mandatory lockdown. Nevertheless, other reports have been unable to confirm this finding. Most of these studies originated in high-income countries and evaluated a limited number of potential confounders, and all of them assessed a short lockdown period. In addition, an important question remains unanswered: How can we be sure that the observed changes are due to lockdown, when most of the pregnancies delivered in the lockdown period were conceived prior to it?To date there is insufficient evidence to support the notion that public health interventions during the lockdown prevent PTB . The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of PTB, neonatal mortality (NM) and stillbirths adjusted by potential confounders during the lockdown period assessing a time window of nine and a half months during which all the pregnancies analyzed in the exposed group were conceived after the lockdown, with the corresponding incidence in the previous year where all the unexposed pregnancies analyzed were conceived before the lockdown.publishedVersionFil: Cuestas, Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina.Fil: Cuestas, Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina.Fil: Gómez Flores, Martha E. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Hospital Doctor Ramon Carrillo; Argentina.Fil: Charras, María D. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Hospital Doctor Ramon Carrillo; Argentina.Fil: Peyrano, Alberto J. Hospital Materno Provincial Dr. Raúl Felipe Lucini; Argentina.Fil: Montenegro, Clara. Hospital Materno Provincial Dr. Raúl Felipe Lucini; Argentina.Fil: Sosa-Boye, Ignacio. Clínica Universitaria Reina Fabiola; Argentina.Fil: Burgos, Verónica. Clínica Universitaria Reina Fabiola; Argentina.Fil: Giusti, Graciela. Clínica y Maternidad del Sol; Argentina.Fil: Espósito, Mario. Clínica y Maternidad del Sol; Argentina.Fil: Blanco Pool, Silvyana S. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo; Argentina.Fil: Blanco Pool, Silvyana S. Sanatorio Allende; Argentina.Fil: Gurevich, Debora P. Sanatorio Allende; Argentina.Fil: Gurevich, Debora P. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo; Argentina.Fil: Ahumada, Luis A. Sanatorio Allende; Argentina.Fil: Ahumada, Luis A. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo; Argentina.Fil: Pontoriero, Ricardo D. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo; Argentina.Fil: Rizzotti, Alina. Hospital Privado Universitario de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Bas, José I. Hospital Privado Universitario de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Vaca, María B. Hospital Universitario de Maternidad y Neonatología; Argentina.Fil: Miranda, María J. Hospital Universitario de Maternidad y Neonatología; Argentina.Fil: Ferreyra, Mirta E. Sanatorio del Salvador; Argentina.Fil: Ferreyra, Mirta E. Hospital Misericordia Nuevo Siglo; Argentina.Fil: Moreno, Gabriela C. Sanatorio del Salvador; Argentina.Fil: Pedicino, Héctor. Instituto Universidad Escuela de Medicina del Hospital Italiano; Argentina.Fil: Rojas-Rios, Melvy. Instituto Universidad Escuela de Medicina del Hospital Italiano; Argentina

Performance and Operation of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The operation and general performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter using cosmic-ray muons are described. These muons were recorded after the closure of the CMS detector in late 2008. The calorimeter is made of lead tungstate crystals and the overall status of the 75848 channels corresponding to the barrel and endcap detectors is reported. The stability of crucial operational parameters, such as high voltage, temperature and electronic noise, is summarised and the performance of the light monitoring system is presented

Phase transition in Random Circuit Sampling

Quantum computers hold the promise of executing tasks beyond the capability of classical computers. Noise competes with coherent evolution and destroys long-range correlations, making it an outstanding challenge to fully leverage the computation power of near-term quantum processors. We report Random Circuit Sampling (RCS) experiments where we identify distinct phases driven by the interplay between quantum dynamics and noise. Using cross-entropy benchmarking, we observe phase boundaries which can define the computational complexity of noisy quantum evolution. We conclude by presenting an RCS experiment with 70 qubits at 24 cycles. We estimate the computational cost against improved classical methods and demonstrate that our experiment is beyond the capabilities of existing classical supercomputers

Calibration of the CMS Drift Tube Chambers and Measurement of the Drift Velocity with Cosmic Rays

Peer reviewe

Readout of a quantum processor with high dynamic range Josephson parametric amplifiers

We demonstrate a high dynamic range Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA) in which the active nonlinear element is implemented using an array of rf-SQUIDs. The device is matched to the 50 $\Omega$ environment with a Klopfenstein-taper impedance transformer and achieves a bandwidth of 250-300 MHz, with input saturation powers up to -95 dBm at 20 dB gain. A 54-qubit Sycamore processor was used to benchmark these devices, providing a calibration for readout power, an estimate of amplifier added noise, and a platform for comparison against standard impedance matched parametric amplifiers with a single dc-SQUID. We find that the high power rf-SQUID array design has no adverse effect on system noise, readout fidelity, or qubit dephasing, and we estimate an upper bound on amplifier added noise at 1.6 times the quantum limit. Lastly, amplifiers with this design show no degradation in readout fidelity due to gain compression, which can occur in multi-tone multiplexed readout with traditional JPAs.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Measurement-Induced State Transitions in a Superconducting Qubit: Within the Rotating Wave Approximation

Superconducting qubits typically use a dispersive readout scheme, where a resonator is coupled to a qubit such that its frequency is qubit-state dependent. Measurement is performed by driving the resonator, where the transmitted resonator field yields information about the resonator frequency and thus the qubit state. Ideally, we could use arbitrarily strong resonator drives to achieve a target signal-to-noise ratio in the shortest possible time. However, experiments have shown that when the average resonator photon number exceeds a certain threshold, the qubit is excited out of its computational subspace, which we refer to as a measurement-induced state transition. These transitions degrade readout fidelity, and constitute leakage which precludes further operation of the qubit in, for example, error correction. Here we study these transitions using a transmon qubit by experimentally measuring their dependence on qubit frequency, average photon number, and qubit state, in the regime where the resonator frequency is lower than the qubit frequency. We observe signatures of resonant transitions between levels in the coupled qubit-resonator system that exhibit noisy behavior when measured repeatedly in time. We provide a semi-classical model of these transitions based on the rotating wave approximation and use it to predict the onset of state transitions in our experiments. Our results suggest the transmon is excited to levels near the top of its cosine potential following a state transition, where the charge dispersion of higher transmon levels explains the observed noisy behavior of state transitions. Moreover, occupation in these higher energy levels poses a major challenge for fast qubit reset