Epidemiological, socio-demographic and clinical features of the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Ecuador

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread rapidly around the globe. Nevertheless, there is limited information describing the characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Latin America. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 9,468 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Ecuador. We calculated overall incidence, mortality, case fatality rates, disability adjusted life years, attack and crude mortality rates, as well as relative risk and relative odds of death, adjusted for age, sex and presence of comorbidities. A total of 9,468 positive COVID-19 cases and 474 deaths were included in the analysis. Men accounted for 55.4% (n = 5, 247) of cases and women for 44.6% (n = 4, 221). We found the presence of comorbidities, being male and older than 65 years were important determinants of mortality. Coastal regions were most affected by COVID-19, with higher mortality rates than the highlands. Fatigue was reported in 53.2% of the patients, followed by headache (43%), dry cough (41.7%), ageusia (37.1%) and anosmia (36.1%). We present an analysis of the burden of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Our findings show that men are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than women, and risk increases with age and the presence of comorbidities. We also found that blue-collar workers and the unemployed are at greater risk of dying. These early observations offer clinical insights for the medical community to help improve patient care and for public health officials to strengthen Ecuador’s response to the outbreak

Use of multivitamins, folic acid and herbal supplements among breast cancer survivors: the black women's health study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use, including herbals and multivitamin supplements, is quite common in the U.S., and has been shown to be highest in breast cancer survivors. However, limited data are currently available for CAM usage among African Americans. Thus, we sought to determine the prevalence of multivitamins, folic acid and herbal supplement usage in African American breast cancer survivors, and to compare the characteristics of users and nonusers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cohort study of breast cancer survivors, who completed the 1999 Black Women's Health Study questionnaire and self-reported having been diagnosed with breast cancer between 1995 and 1999, comprised the study population. In this study, the intake of natural herbs, multivitamins and folic acid at least three days per week within the past two years was used as a proxy for typical usage of this complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) modality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 998 breast cancer survivors were identified. Overall, 68.2% had used either herbals or multivitamin supplements or both. The three most frequently used herbals were garlic (21.2%), gingko (12.0%), and echinacea (9.4%). The multivariate analysis determined that single marital status (OR = 1.58; 95%CI: 1.04-2.41), and alcohol consumption of 1-3 drinks per week (OR = 1.86, 95%CI: 1.28-2.68) were significantly associated with increased herbal use. Multivitamin use was significantly lower among obese women (OR = 0.66, 95%CI: 0.46-0.94) and current smokers (OR = 0.53, 95%CI: 0.34-0.82).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A significant number of African American breast cancer survivors are using herbals and multivitamins as CAM modality. Additional research is needed to understand the impact of herbals and multivitamins in African American breast cancer survivors.</p

The burden of prostate cancer in Trinidad and Tobago: one of the highest mortality rates in the world

Purpose In Trinidad and Tobago (TT), prostate cancer (CaP) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the leading cause of cancer deaths among men. TT currently has one of the highest CaP mortality rates in the world. Methods: 6,064 incident and 3,704 mortality cases of CaP occurring in TT from January 1995 to 31 December 2009 reported to the Dr. Elizabeth Quamina Cancer population-based cancer registry for TT, were analyzed to examine CaP survival, incidence, and mortality rates and trends by ancestry and geography. Results: The age-standardized CaP incidence and mortality rates (per 100,000) based on the 1960 world-standardized in 2009 were 64.2 and 47.1 per 100,000. The mortality rate in TT increased between 1995 (37.9 per 100,000) and 2009 (79.4 per 100,000), while the rate in the US decreased from 37.3 per 100,000 to 22.1 per 100,000 over the same period. Fewer African ancestry patients received treatment relative to those of Indian and mixed ancestry (45.7%, 60.3%, and 60.9%, respectively). Conclusions: Notwithstanding the limitations surrounding data quality, our findings highlight the increasing burden of CaP in TT and the need for improved surveillance and standard of care. Our findings highlight the need for optimized models to project cancer rates in developing countries like TT. This study also provides the rationale for targeted screening and optimized treatment for CaP to ameliorate the rates we report. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10552-018-1038-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Epidemiological, socio-demographic and clinical features of the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Ecuador.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread rapidly around the globe. Nevertheless, there is limited information describing the characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Latin America. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 9,468 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Ecuador. We calculated overall incidence, mortality, case fatality rates, disability adjusted life years, attack and crude mortality rates, as well as relative risk and relative odds of death, adjusted for age, sex and presence of comorbidities. A total of 9,468 positive COVID-19 cases and 474 deaths were included in the analysis. Men accounted for 55.4% (n = 5, 247) of cases and women for 44.6% (n = 4, 221). We found the presence of comorbidities, being male and older than 65 years were important determinants of mortality. Coastal regions were most affected by COVID-19, with higher mortality rates than the highlands. Fatigue was reported in 53.2% of the patients, followed by headache (43%), dry cough (41.7%), ageusia (37.1%) and anosmia (36.1%). We present an analysis of the burden of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Our findings show that men are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than women, and risk increases with age and the presence of comorbidities. We also found that blue-collar workers and the unemployed are at greater risk of dying. These early observations offer clinical insights for the medical community to help improve patient care and for public health officials to strengthen Ecuador's response to the outbreak

Seasonal energy efficiency ratio of regenerative indirect evaporative coolers—Simplified calculation method

Evaporative-cooling technology is a promising alternative to conventional air-cooling systems that are based on using direct expansion units in terms of energy efficiency. Seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) calculation methodologies and standards for these air-cooling systems remain limited. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a novel simplified method for calculating the SEER for regenerative indirect evaporative coolers (RIEC). Experimental tests were performed to obtain energy efficiency ratio models of four RIEC systems. Five climate zones in the Mediterranean region were considered for calculation of the SEER values. A detailed calculation method based on annual energy simulations was employed, and the results of the seasonal index were compared with those of a simplified calculation method based on the steady-state operation at four specific test points. The relative error between the SEER calculation methods was 4.6% for all the RIEC systems and climate zones. The highest SEER values of 5.8 and 5.5 were achieved for the Cairo and Madrid weather conditions, respectively. This study can serve as a reference for research on the seasonal performance and life-cycle analysis of RIEC based on an efficient counterflow heat exchanger with a wide range of airflow and cooling capacities

Experimental evaluation of a 3D printed air dehumidification system developed with green desiccant materials

Energy-efficient dehumidification systems are necessary to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Desiccant systems could be an alternative to conventional air dehumidification systems based on direct-expansion units. In the present work, the main objective was to develop and experimentally evaluate a 3D printed desiccant system manufactured using green desiccant materials. Hence, the adsorbent capacity of three 3D printed desiccant materials were studied: polylactic acid (PLA), pine wood with PLA (PW-PLA) and olive pit with PLA (OP-PLA). The results showed that PW-PLA was the material with the highest adsorption capacity of those analysed, up to 12.7 % higher than OP-PLA. A fixed bed desiccant system was fabricated using PW-PLA filament and its latent energy performance was investigated under different inlet air conditions and low regeneration temperature, 50 °C. The evaluation of the energy performance of the 3D printed desiccant system revealed adequate moisture removal capacity values, up to 30 g/sm3, with low pressure drop, less than 552 Pa. These results show the promising potential of 3D printing and green desiccant materials for manufacturing ecological air dehumidification systems

Manufacturing and experimental analysis of a dew-point indirect evaporative cooler using fused deposition modelling 3D printing and polymeric materials

Evaporative cooling (EC) is an interesting alternative for reducing energy consumption and CO2 emission associated with the cooling of building. In the present work, a prototype of an innovative dew-point indirect evaporative cooler (DIEC) was manufactured by additive manufacturing technology. This prototype was made up of two types of materials: (a) one porous, with high water absorption capacity, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with felt, and therefore, high capacity of generate EC; and (b) another with high hydrophobic properties, polylactic acid (PLA) with bronze. The materials were characterised in terms of thermal, water absorption properties and morphological properties. Prior to manufacturing, a design of experiments was conducted in order to find the optimal manufacturing parameters. The prototype was produced through an innovative process, based on the simultaneous use of two extruders, and the manufacture of a porous layer of felt by dissolving the PVA matrix where the felt was initially embedded. Finally, the energy performance of the prototype was experimentally analysed, reaching values of dew-point effectiveness up to 0.9 and energy efficiency ratio up to 22.74 at 45 °C outside dry bulb temperature. These results show that additive manufacturing is promising for developing competitive compact and highly energy efficient DIEC systems