50 research outputs found
Health Outcome Predictive Evaluation for COVID 19 international registry (HOPE COVID-19), rationale and design
The disease produced by the new coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), named COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-2019) has recently been classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, scarce clinical data is available and generally limited to the Chinese population due to the first cases were identified in Wuhan (Hubei, China).This article describes the rationale and design of the HOPE COVID-19 (Health Outcome Predictive Evaluation for COVID 19) registry (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04334291). With an ambispective cohort design, eligible patients are those discharged, deceased or alive, from any hospital center with a confirmed diagnosis or a COVID-19 high suspicion. With a current recruitment of more than 7000 cases, in 46 hospitals in 8 countries, since it is not possible to estimate the sample size based on literature reports, the investigators will try to get the maximum numbers of patients possible. The study primary objective is all cause mortality and aims to characterize the clinical profile of patients infected in order to develop a prognostic clinical score allowing, rapid logistic decision making. As secondary objectives, the analysis of other clinical events, the risk-adjusted influence of treatments and previous comorbidities of patients infected with the disease will be performed.The results of HOPE COVID-19 will contribute to a better understanding of this condition. We aim to describe the management of this condition as well as the outcomes in relation to the therapy chosen, in order to gain insight into improving patient care in the coming months. Clinical Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT04334291
Updating the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines for the Spanish Population: The Spanish Society of Community Nutrition (SENC) Proposal
Diet-related risk factors and physical inactivity are among the leading risk factors for disability and are responsible for a large proportion of the burden of chronic non-communicable diseases. Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) are useful tools for nutrition policies and public health strategies to promote healthier eating and physical activity. In this paper, we discuss the process followed in developing the dietary guidelines for the Spanish population by the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition (SENC) and further explain the collaboration with primary healthcare practitioners as presented in the context of the NUTRIMAD 2018 international congress of SENC. From a health in all policies approach, SENC convened a group of experts in nutrition and public health to review the evidence on diet-health, nutrient intake and food consumption in the Spanish population, as well as food preparation, determinants and impact of diet on environmental sustainability. The collaborative group drafted the document and designed the graphic icon, which was then subject to a consultation process, discussion, and qualitative evaluation. Next, a collaborative group was established to plan a dissemination strategy, involving delegates from all the primary healthcare scientific societies in Spain. A product of this collaboration was the release of an attractive, easy-to-understand publication
Anti-tumour necrosis factor discontinuation in inflammatory bowel disease patients in remission: study protocol of a prospective, multicentre, randomized clinical trial
Background:
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who achieve remission with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs may have treatment withdrawn due to safety concerns and cost considerations, but there is a lack of prospective, controlled data investigating this strategy. The primary study aim is to compare the rates of clinical remission at 1?year in patients who discontinue anti-TNF treatment versus those who continue treatment.
Methods:
This is an ongoing, prospective, double-blind, multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled study in patients with Crohn?s disease or ulcerative colitis who have achieved clinical remission for ?6?months with an anti-TNF treatment and an immunosuppressant. Patients are being randomized 1:1 to discontinue anti-TNF therapy or continue therapy. Randomization stratifies patients by the type of inflammatory bowel disease and drug (infliximab versus adalimumab) at study inclusion. The primary endpoint of the study is sustained clinical remission at 1?year. Other endpoints include endoscopic and radiological activity, patient-reported outcomes (quality of life, work productivity), safety and predictive factors for relapse. The required sample size is 194 patients. In addition to the main analysis (discontinuation versus continuation), subanalyses will include stratification by type of inflammatory bowel disease, phenotype and previous treatment. Biological samples will be obtained to identify factors predictive of relapse after treatment withdrawal.
Results:
Enrolment began in 2016, and the study is expected to end in 2020.
Conclusions:
This study will contribute prospective, controlled data on outcomes and predictors of relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease after withdrawal of anti-TNF agents following achievement of clinical remission.
Clinical trial reference number:
EudraCT 2015-001410-1
Elliptic flow of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV
We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb
collisions at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron
Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region
(||<0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2< < 5.0 GeV/. The
elliptic flow signal v, measured using the 4-particle correlation method,
averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 0.002
(stat) 0.004 (syst) in the 40-50% centrality class. The differential
elliptic flow v reaches a maximum of 0.2 near = 3
GeV/. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, the elliptic flow
increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include
viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.Comment: 10 pages, 4 captioned figures, published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/389
Wage inequality, segregation by skill and the price of capital in an assignment model
Some pieces of empirical evidence suggest that in the U.S., over the last few decades, (i) wage inequality between-plants has risen much more than wage inequality within-plants and (ii) there has been an increase in the segregation of workers by skill into separate plants. This paper presents a frictionless assignment model in which these two features can be explained simultaneously as the result of the decline in the relative price of capital. Additional implications of the model regarding the skill premium and the dispersion in labor productivity across plants are also consistent with the empirical evidence. [resumen de autor
Inclusive and multiplicity dependent production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in pp and p-Pb collisions
Measurements of the production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at midrapidity with the ALICE detector are presented down to a transverse momentum (p(T)) of 0.2 GeV/c and up to p(T) = 35 GeV/c, which is the largest momentum range probed for inclusive electron measurements in ALICE. In p-Pb collisions, the production cross section and the nuclear modification factor of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays are measured in the p(T) range 0.5 < p(T) < 26 GeV/c at root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV. The nuclear modification factor is found to be consistent with unity within the statistical and systematic uncertainties. In both collision systems, first measurements of the yields of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in different multiplicity intervals normalised to the multiplicity-integrated yield (self-normalised yield) at midrapidity are reported as a function of the self-normalised charged-particle multiplicity estimated at midrapidity. The self-normalised yields in pp and p-Pb collisions grow faster than linear with the self-normalised multiplicity. A strong p(T) dependence is observed in pp collisions, where the yield of high-p(T) electrons increases faster as a function of multiplicity than the one of low-p(T) electrons. The measurement in p-Pb collisions shows no p(T) dependence within uncertainties. The self-normalised yields in pp and p-Pb collisions are compared with measurements of other heavy-flavour, light-flavour, and strange particles, and with Monte Carlo simulations
Characterizing the initial conditions of heavy-ion collisions at the LHC with mean transverse momentum and anisotropic flow correlations
Correlations between mean transverse momentum and anisotropic flow coefficients or are measured as a function of centrality in Pb–Pb and Xe–Xe collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 5.02 TeV and 5.44 TeV, respectively, with ALICE. In addition, the recently proposed higher-order correlation between [pt], v2, and v3 is measured for the first time, which shows an anticorrelation for the presented centrality ranges. These measurements are compared with hydrodynamic calculations using IP-Glasma and TRENTO initial-state shapes, the former based on the Color Glass Condensate effective theory with gluon saturation, and the latter a parameterized model with nucleons as the relevant degrees of freedom. The data are better described by the IP-Glasma rather than the TRENTO based calculations. In particular, Trajectum and JETSCAPE predictions, both based on the TRENTO initial state model but with different parameter settings, fail to describe the measurements. As the correlations between [pt] and vn are mainly driven by the correlations of the size and the shape of the system in the initial state, these new studies pave a novel way to characterize the initial state and help pin down the uncertainty of the extracted properties of the quark–gluon plasma recreated in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
Measurement of the non-prompt D-meson fraction as a function of multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV
The fractions of non-prompt (i.e. originating from beauty-hadron decays) D0
and D+ mesons with respect to the inclusive yield are measured as a function of the
charged-particle multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s =
13 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The results are reported in intervals of
transverse momentum (pT) and integrated in the range 1 < pT < 24 GeV/c. The fraction
of non-prompt D0 and D+ mesons is found to increase slightly as a function of pT in
all the measured multiplicity intervals, while no significant dependence on the charged-
particle multiplicity is observed. In order to investigate the production and hadronisation
mechanisms of charm and beauty quarks, the results are compared to PYTHIA 8 as well
as EPOS 3 and EPOS 4 Monte Carlo simulations, and to calculations based on the colour
glass condensate including three-pomeron fusion
Hypertriton Production in p-Pb Collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV
The study of nuclei and antinuclei production has proven to be a powerful
tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in
high-energy hadronic collisions. The first measurement of the production of
in p-Pb collisions at = 5.02
TeV is presented in this Letter. Its production yield measured in the rapidity
interval -1 < y < 0 for the 40% highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions is . The measurement is compared with the expectations of statistical
hadronisation and coalescence models, which describe the nucleosynthesis in
hadronic collisions. These two models predict very different yields of the
hypertriton in small collision systems such as p-Pb and therefore the
measurement of is crucial to distinguish between them.
The precision of this measurement leads to the exclusion with a significance
larger than 6 of some configurations of the statistical hadronisation,
thus constraining the production mechanism of loosely bound states
General balance functions of identified charged hadron pairs of (pi,K,p) in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV
First measurements of balance functions (BFs) of all combinations of identified charged hadron ( π , K, p)
pairs in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV recorded by the ALICE detector are presented. The BF
measurements are carried out as two-dimensional differential correlators versus the relative rapidity
(delta-y) and azimuthal angle (delta-φ) of hadron pairs, and studied as a function of collision centrality. The delta-φ
dependence of BFs is expected to be sensitive to the light quark diffusivity in the quark–gluon plasma.
While the BF azimuthal widths of all pairs substantially decrease from peripheral to central collisions, the
longitudinal widths exhibit mixed behaviors: BFs of π π and cross-species pairs narrow significantly in
more central collisions, whereas those of KK and pp are found to be independent of collision centrality.
This dichotomy is qualitatively consistent with the presence of strong radial flow effects and the existence
of two stages of quark production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Finally, the first measurements of
the collision centrality evolution of BF integrals are presented, with the observation that charge balancing
fractions are nearly independent of collision centrality in Pb–Pb collisions. Overall, the results presented
provide new and challenging constraints for theoretical models of hadron production and transport in
relativistic heavy-ion collisions