263 research outputs found

    Simulando el análisis de hacinamiento sectorial en empresas colombianas

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    El objetivo de este trabajo es hacer una interpretación de la herramienta “hacinamiento estratégico” la cual fue propuesta por el profesor Luis F. Restrepo P. y Hugo A. Rivera en el año 2006 a través del Centro de Estudios Empresariales para la Perdurabilidad. El análisis de hacinamiento es una herramienta que hace parte complementaria del Análisis Estructural de Sectores Estratégicos (AESE), la cual muestra la percepción de imitación que tiene una empresa sobre un sector estratégico determinado. En este trabajo se presenta una interpretación formal de los planteamientos teóricos en los cuales se basa el hacinamiento; luego de la formalización se desarrolla una simulación que muestra nuevas formas de observar la imitación en un sector estratégico. Las técnicas utilizadas para la nueva observación son el análisis de discriminante, y la probabilidad condicional

    Early and late skin reactions to radiotherapy for breast cancer and their correlation with radiation-induced DNA damage in lymphocytes

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    INTRODUCTION: Radiotherapy outcomes might be further improved by a greater understanding of the individual variations in normal tissue reactions that determine tolerance. Most published studies on radiation toxicity have been performed retrospectively. Our prospective study was launched in 1996 to measure the in vitro radiosensitivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes before treatment with radical radiotherapy in patients with breast cancer, and to assess the early and the late radiation skin side effects in the same group of patients. We prospectively recruited consecutive breast cancer patients receiving radiation therapy after breast surgery. To evaluate whether early and late side effects of radiotherapy can be predicted by the assay, a study was conducted of the association between the results of in vitro radiosensitivity tests and acute and late adverse radiation effects. METHODS: Intrinsic molecular radiosensitivity was measured by using an initial radiation-induced DNA damage assay on lymphocytes obtained from breast cancer patients before radiotherapy. Acute reactions were assessed in 108 of these patients on the last treatment day. Late morbidity was assessed after 7 years of follow-up in some of these patients. The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) morbidity score system was used for both assessments. RESULTS: Radiosensitivity values obtained using the in vitro test showed no relation with the acute or late adverse skin reactions observed. There was no evidence of a relation between acute and late normal tissue reactions assessed in the same patients. A positive relation was found between the treatment volume and both early and late side effects. CONCLUSION: After radiation treatment, a number of cells containing major changes can have a long survival and disappear very slowly, becoming a chronic focus of immunological system stimulation. This stimulation can produce, in a stochastic manner, late radiation-related adverse effects of varying severity. Further research is warranted to identify the major determinants of normal tissue radiation response to make it possible to individualize treatments and improve the outcome of radiotherapy in cancer patients

    The My Active and Healthy Aging (My-AHA) ICT platform to detect and prevent frailty in older adults: Randomized control trial design and protocol

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    [EN] Introduction Frailty increases the risk of poor health outcomes, disability, hospitalization, and death in older adults and affects 7%¿12% of the aging population. Secondary impacts of frailty on psychological health and socialization are significant negative contributors to poor outcomes for frail older adults. Method The My Active and Healthy Aging (My-AHA) consortium has developed an information and communications technology¿based platform to support active and healthy aging through early detection of prefrailty and provision of individually tailored interventions, targeting multidomain risks for frailty across physical activity, cognitive activity, diet and nutrition, sleep, and psychosocial activities. Six hundred adults aged 60 years and older will be recruited to participate in a multinational, multisite 18-month randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of the My-AHA platform to detect prefrailty and the efficacy of individually tailored interventions to prevent development of clinical frailty in this cohort. A total of 10 centers from Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and Australia will participate in the randomized controlled trial. Results Pilot testing (Alpha Wave) of the My-AHA platform and all ancillary systems has been completed with a small group of older adults in Europe with the full randomized controlled trial scheduled to commence in 2018. Discussion The My-AHA study will expand the understanding of antecedent risk factors for clinical frailty so as to deliver targeted interventions to adults with prefrailty. Through the use of an information and communications technology platform that can connect with multiple devices within the older adult's own home, the My-AHA platform is designed to measure an individual's risk factors for frailty across multiple domains and then deliver personalized domain-specific interventions to the individual. The My-AHA platform is technology-agnostic, enabling the integration of new devices and sensor platforms as they emerge.This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 689582 and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHRMC) European Union grant scheme (1115818). M.J.S. reports personal fees from Eli Lilly (Australia) Pty Ltd and grants from Novotech Pty Ltd, outside the submitted work. All other authors report nothing to disclose.Summers, MJ.; Rainero, I.; Vercelli, AE.; Aumayr, GA.; De Rosario Martínez, H.; Mönter, M.; Kawashima, R. (2018). 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    Safety and immunomodulatory effects of three probiotic strains isolated from the feces of breast-fed infants in healthy adults: SETOPROB study

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    We previously described the isolation and characterization of three probiotic strains from the feces of exclusively breast-fed newborn infants: Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036. These strains were shown to adhere to intestinal mucus in vitro, to be sensitive to antibiotics and to resist biliary salts and low pH. In the present study, a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 100 healthy volunteers in three Spanish cities was carried out to evaluate the tolerance, safety, gut colonization and immunomodulatory effects of these three probiotics. Volunteers underwent a 15-day washout period, after which they were randomly divided into 5 groups that received daily a placebo, a capsule containing one of the 3 strains or a capsule containing a mixture of two strains for 30 days. The intervention was followed by another 15-day washout period. Patients did not consume fermented milk for the entire duration of the study. Gastrointestinal symptoms, defecation frequency and stool consistency were not altered by probiotic intake. No relevant changes in blood and serum, as well as no adverse events occurred during or after treatment. Probiotic administration slightly modified bacterial populations in the volunteers’ feces. Intestinal persistence occurred in volunteers who received L. rhamnosus CNCM I-4036. Administration of B. breve CNCM I-4035 resulted in a significant increase in fecal secretory IgA content. IL-4 and IL-10 increased, whereas IL-12 decreased in the serum of volunteers treated with any of the three strains. These results demonstrate that the consumption of these three bacterial strains was safe and exerted varying degrees of immunomodulatory effects.Part of the research currently in progress in the authors' laboratory is funded by the company Hero Spain, S. A. through the grant #3582 managed by the Fundacion General Empresa-Universidad de Granada

    Rapidly growing black holes and host galaxies in the distant universe from the Herschel Radio Galaxy Evolution Project

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    We present results from a comprehensive survey of 70 radio galaxies at redshifts 1 2.5 are higher than the sSFR of typical star forming galaxies over the same redshift range, but are similar or perhaps lower than the galaxy population for radio galaxies at z< 2.5. By comparing the sSFR and the specific ṀBH (sṀBH), we conclude that black holes in radio loud AGN are already, or soon will be, overly massive compared to their host galaxies in terms of expectations from the local MBH–MGal relation. In order to catch up with the black hole, the galaxies require about an order of magnitude more time to grow in mass at the observed SFRs compared to the time the black hole is actively accreting. However, during the current cycle of activity, we argue that this catching up is likely to be difficult because of the short gas depletion times. Finally, we speculate on how the host galaxies might grow sufficiently in stellar mass to ultimately fall onto the local MBH–MGal relation

    Validation of the Spanish Version of the ICECAP-O for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

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    Background Measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is important for a chronic disease, such as dementia, which impairs the quality of life of affected patients in addition to their length of life. This is important in the context of economic evaluations when interventions do not (only) affect HRQoL and these other factors also affect overall quality of life. Objective To validate the Spanish translation of the ICECAP-O's capability to measure Health-related quality of life in elderly with dementia who live in nursing homes. Method Cross-sectional study. For 217 residents living in 8 Spanish nursing homes, questionnaires were completed by nursing professionals serving as proxy respondents. We analyzed the internal consistency and other psychometric properties. We investigated the convergent validity of the ICECAP-O with other HRQoL instruments, the EQ-5D extended with a cognitive dimension (EQ-5D+C), the Alzheimer's Disease Related Quality of Life (ADRQL) measures, and the Barthel Index measure of activities of daily living (ADL). Results The ICECAP-O presents satisfactory internal consistency (alpha 0.820). The factorial analysis indicated a structure of five principal dimensions that explain 66.57% of the total variance. Convergent validity between the ICECAP-O, EQ-5D+C, ADRQL, and Barthel Index scores was moderate to good (with correlations of 0.62, 0.61, and 0.68, respectively), but differed between dimensions of the instruments. Discriminant validity was confirmed by finding differences in ICECAP-O scores between subgroups based on ADL scores (0.70 low, 0.59 medium, and 0.39 high level care), dementia severity (0.72 mild, 0.63 medium, and 0.50 severe), and ages (0.59 below 75 years and 0.84 above 75 years). Conclusions This study presented the first use of a Spanish version of the ICECAP-O. The results indicate that the ICECAP-O appears to be a reliable Health-related quality of life measurement instrument showing good convergent and discriminant validity for people with dementia

    Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

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    The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

    SARS-CoV-2 viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs is not an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome

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    The aim was to assess the ability of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load at first patient’s hospital evaluation to predict unfavorable outcomes. We conducted a prospective cohort study including 321 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 through RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs. Quantitative Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA cycle threshold values were used to calculate the viral load in log10 copies/mL. Disease severity at the end of follow up was categorized into mild, moderate, and severe. Primary endpoint was a composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or death (n = 85, 26.4%). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load over the second quartile (≥ 7.35 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.003) and second tertile (≥ 8.27 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.01) were associated to unfavorable outcome in the unadjusted logistic regression analysis. However, in the final multivariable analysis, viral load was not independently associated with an unfavorable outcome. Five predictors were independently associated with increased odds of ICU admission and/or death: age ≥ 70 years, SpO2, neutrophils > 7.5 × 103/µL, lactate dehydrogenase ≥ 300 U/L, and C-reactive protein ≥ 100 mg/L. In summary, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load on admission is generally high in patients with COVID-19, regardless of illness severity, but it cannot be used as an independent predictor of unfavorable clinical outcome

    A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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    Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID-19 death rates between and within countries?

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    Correction: Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Article Number: 44 DOI: 10.1186/s13601-020-00351-w Published: OCT 26 2020Reported COVID-19 deaths in Germany are relatively low as compared to many European countries. Among the several explanations proposed, an early and large testing of the population was put forward. Most current debates on COVID-19 focus on the differences among countries, but little attention has been given to regional differences and diet. The low-death rate European countries (e.g. Austria, Baltic States, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia) have used different quarantine and/or confinement times and methods and none have performed as many early tests as Germany. Among other factors that may be significant are the dietary habits. It seems that some foods largely used in these countries may reduce angiotensin-converting enzyme activity or are anti-oxidants. Among the many possible areas of research, it might be important to understand diet and angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) levels in populations with different COVID-19 death rates since dietary interventions may be of great benefit.Peer reviewe
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