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. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Deep-sequencing reveals broad subtype-specific HCV resistance mutations associated with treatment failure

A percentage of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients fail direct acting antiviral (DAA)-based treatment regimens, often because of drug resistance-associated substitutions (RAS). The aim of this study was to characterize the resistance profile of a large cohort of patients failing DAA-based treatments, and investigate the relationship between HCV subtype and failure, as an aid to optimizing management of these patients. A new, standardized HCV-RAS testing protocol based on deep sequencing was designed and applied to 220 previously subtyped samples from patients failing DAA treatment, collected in 39 Spanish hospitals. The majority had received DAA-based interferon (IFN) a-free regimens; 79% had failed sofosbuvir-containing therapy. Genomic regions encoding the nonstructural protein (NS) 3, NS5A, and NS5B (DAA target regions) were analyzed using subtype-specific primers. Viral subtype distribution was as follows: genotype (G) 1, 62.7%; G3a, 21.4%; G4d, 12.3%; G2, 1.8%; and mixed infections 1.8%. Overall, 88.6% of patients carried at least 1 RAS, and 19% carried RAS at frequencies below 20% in the mutant spectrum. There were no differences in RAS selection between treatments with and without ribavirin. Regardless of the treatment received, each HCV subtype showed specific types of RAS. Of note, no RAS were detected in the target proteins of 18.6% of patients failing treatment, and 30.4% of patients had RAS in proteins that were not targets of the inhibitors they received. HCV patients failing DAA therapy showed a high diversity of RAS. Ribavirin use did not influence the type or number of RAS at failure. The subtype-specific pattern of RAS emergence underscores the importance of accurate HCV subtyping. The frequency of “extra-target” RAS suggests the need for RAS screening in all three DAA target regions

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Challenge 4: Cyberphysical systems and internet of things

Accés lliure al text del llibre a la web de l'editorCyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT) are complementary paradigms in digitalization. Sensors and actuators, hardware designs and development platforms, architectures and computational frameworks, modeling, control and optimization, and potential applications are analyzed and presented from impact and main challenges up to strategic plan.Postprint (published version

Anales de Edafología y Agrobiología Tomo 36 Número 9-10

Procesos geoedáficos en la génesis, evolución y desarrollo de la tierra parda meridional. II. Perfiles desarrollados sobre roca plutónica: Características morfológicas y físico-químicas, por A. Guerra Delgado y J. L. Moreno Alvarez.-- Diagnóstico de deficiencias minerales en citrus mediante utilización de actividades enzimáticas, por S. Llorente, A. León y A. Torrecillas.-- Influencia de la distancia al mar en la producción y distribución de las precipitaciones, por J. A. Hernández, E. Hernández, l. F. Sánchez y J. Garmendía.-- Relaciones entre el crecimiento vegetativo y el nitrógeno y fósforo en la planta de fresa, por V. J. Mangas, R. Martínez-Carrasco y L. Sánchez de la Puente.-- Fertilidad de los suelos de cultivo de la comarca de Sayago (Zamora), por Luisa Prat Peret y José Forteza Bonnin.-- Características químicas de los suelos de plátanos de Tenerife, por V. García, A. Diaz, E. Fernández Caldas y C. E. Alvarez.-- Determinación de cloruros en hojas de limonero por fluorescencia de rayos X, por M. Romero, F. Santacruz, M. Caro y F. G. Fernández.-- Retención de DDT y DDE por vermiculita, por l. de D. López González, C. Valenzuela Calahorro y A. Navarrete Guijosa.-- Humificación en los sabinares de la comarca de Somosierra (Segovia), por F. Velasco y J. del Río.-- Estructura de la vegetación de marisma de la reserva biológica de Doñana (Huelva). I. Análisis factorial de datos cualitativos, por F. González Bernáldez, L. Ramírez Díaz, A. Torres Martínez y F. Díaz Pineda.-- Estructura de la vegetación de marisma de la reserva biológica de Doiiana (Huelva). II. Estudio de un gradiente de salinidad, por F. González Bernáldes, L. Ramírez Díaz, A. Torres Martínez y E. Díaz Pineda.-- Evolución de mica potásica en suelos formados sobre material calizo (alfisoles), por Elisa Barragán Landa y Jaime lñiguez Herrero.-- Suelos forestales de la Sierra de la Pila (Murcia). IV. Mineralogía de arcillas, por L. J. Alías P. Linares y R. Ortiz.-- Aridisoles del Campo de Cartagena (Murcia). IV. Argids: Características generales y mineralógicas, por L. J. Alías, R. Ortiz y J. Albadalejo.—Notas.Prof. Dr. H. C. Arthur Primavesi.-- Reunión del Grupo de Trabajo de Normalización de Métodos Analíticos.-- VI Reunión Nacional de Suelos.-- Convocatoria de becas y ayudas para estancias en el extranjero incluidas en convenios de intercambio.-- Sociedad Española de Ciencia del Suelo.-- Duodécimo Congreso de la ISSS.-- Curso sobre suelos salinos y desarrollo vegetal y Seminario sobre biodisponibilidad y toxicidad de metales pesados.-- Coloquio sobre a Biología y Etica: Beneficios y problemas de la investigación ctentífca en Genetica.--III Reunión Nacional del Grupo Español de Trabajo del Cuaternario.-- Actividades del Grupo de Fijación de Nitrógeno de EMBRAPA.-- Conferencia del Dr. Rodríguez-Barrueco en la Fundación Gulbenkiam de Oeiras.-- Notice of International Symposium.-- 50 aniversario de la realización del 1er Congreso de la lSSS.-- Seminario sobre Erosión de los suelos agrícolas en clima no mediterráneo templado.-- Premio Holanda.-- BibliografíaPeer reviewe