Experiencias departamentales en la construcción, divulgación y uso del análisis de situación de salud, Colombia 2016

Objetivo El Análisis de Situación de Salud (ASIS) es una metodología que se encuentra en implementación recientemente en Colombia. Este estudio buscó comprender la experiencia de construcción, divulgación y uso del ASIS para la toma de decisiones en  algunas entidades territoriales (ET).Métodos Entrevistas semiestructuradas a funcionarios de las entidades departamentales  de salud; la información fue analizada de acuerdo a un conjunto de categorías establecidas previamente.Resultados Las ET implementan el ASIS incorporando el enfoque de los Determinantes Sociales de la Salud; sin embargo, las capacidades técnicas, económicas y humanas son desiguales para la elaboración de este tipo de análisis; la participación intersectorial y social aún es débil y los resultados generados todavía no orientan latoma de decisiones a nivel territorial.Conclusiones La metodología ASIS aspira a posicionarse como uno de los mecanismos oficiales para generar evidencia que oriente las políticas y la toma de decisiones en salud a nivel nacional, regional y local; existen desafíos a nivel económico, institucional y político para su consolidación como estrategia de útil en la planificación en salud. El ASIS es una metodología de gran relevancia para las ET y debe seguir fortaleciéndose su implementación.Objetive The Health Situation Analysis (ASIS in Spanish) is a methodology that has been implemented recently in Colombia. This study aims at understanding the experience of building, disseminating and using ASIS for decision-making in some territorial entities.Methods Semistructured interviews were applied to officials of the departmental health entities. The information was analyzed according to a set of categories previously established.Results The territorial entities implement ASIS by incorporating the Social Determinants of Health approach; however, the technical, economic and human capacities for the elaboration of this type of analysis are not equitable. Intersectoral and social participation isstill weak and the results do not guide the decision making at territorial level yet.Conclusions The ASIS methodology seeks to position itself as one of the official mechanisms to generate evidence that guides health policy and decision making at national, regional and local levels. There are economic, institutional and political challenges forits consolidation as a useful strategy in health planning. ASIS is a methodology of great relevance for the territorial entities and its implementation should be further strengthened

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection