Clinical Comparison of the Performance of Two Marketed Ophthalmic Viscoelastic Devices (OVDs): The Bacterially Derived Healon PRO OVD and Animal-Derived Healon OVD

This clinical investigation compared the clinical performance of two marketed ophthalmic viscoelastic devices (OVDs): the bacterially derived Healon PRO OVD (test) and the animal-derived Healon OVD (control) under normal use conditions during cataract removal and lens implantation. This prospective, multicenter, randomized, parallel, participant/evaluator masked, postmarket investigation enrolled 139 subjects (170 eyes), 116 (143 eyes) of which were treated (73 test; 70 control group). Both test and control OVDs were used, at a minimum, to inflate the anterior chamber and protect the endothelium prior to cataract extraction according to the standard procedure. The surgeon completed a postsurgery OVD clinical performance questionnaire, and intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured before surgery and at the 1 day postoperative visit with Goldmann applanation tonometry. Any IOP measurement of 30 mmHg or higher was considered a "spike"and recorded as a study-specific, serious adverse event. The bacterially derived Healon PRO OVD was found to be statistically noninferior to the overall clinical performance of the animal-derived Healon OVD control; thus, the primary hypothesis was satisfied. There were no statistically significant differences between OVD groups for any of the additional endpoints relating to IOP changes or to safety, thus satisfying additional hypotheses. The Healon PRO OVD showed statistically significant improvements in surgeon ratings for ease of injectability, transparency/visibility, and ease of IOL placement. The safety profile was also similar between OVD groups with regards to serious and/or device-related adverse events, as well as medical and lens findings. The results of this clinical investigation support the safety and effectiveness of the bacterially derived, currently marketed Healon PRO OVD and indicate that the intraocular surgical performance was similar between the two OVDs

Lack of detection of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in mild and severe respiratory infections in Catalonia, northeastern Spain

AbstractSurveillance of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was conducted to explore the possible introduction and circulation of this novel virus in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. Five hundred and sixty-three samples from mild and severe respiratory infections collected between January 2012 and April 2013 were screened using real-time RT-PCR. All samples were negative, suggesting that MERS-CoV is not circulating silently in Catalonia

Evaluation of a new, rapid, simple test for the detection of influenza virus

BACKGROUND: Influenza virus infections are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in both pediatric and adult populations worldwide. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of influenza is necessary for appropriate patient management during the influenza season and for optimal utilization of anti-influenza therapy. We prospectively tested the accuracy of a simple and rapid diagnostic method. METHODS: Ninety-eight samples (nasal and pharyngeal swabs) from patients with upper respiratory tract infection symptoms who presented to primary healthcare centres in Barcelona (Spain) were prospectively analyzed. The samples were collected as part of influenza surveillance program. Samples that had enough volume to make the new test after aliquoting the amount needed to perform routine tests were included. None of the samples were pre-selected as a result of their status in relation to influenza virus. Samples were analyzed by in-house real-time PCR and Alere™ i Influenza A & B (Alere™ i), which uses isothermal amplification of nucleic acids for the qualitative detection of influenza A and B in nasal swabs transported in viral transport media. The two techniques were compared by positive percent agreement (PPA) and negative percent agreement (NPA). Statistical analysis was performed with Stata. RESULTS: Of the 98 samples analysed 90 were concordant; 46 (46.9%) were positive and 44 (44.9%) were negative. Five samples showed invalid results with the Alere™ i test and could be not re-tested due to insufficient sample volume and were not included in the final statistical analysis. In the 93 remaining samples, the Alere™ i test showed 97% of accuracy having correctly classified 90 samples. We obtained discordant results in 3 samples (3%). The PPA was 93.8% for influenza A and 94.1% for influenza B, and NPA was 100% for influenza A and influenza B virus. In addition, the Alere™ i was very rapid (15 minutes or less) and extremely easy to use. CONCLUSIONS: The Alere™ i test provided a good correlation compared to the real-time PCR test for the diagnosis of influenza. Since this method can be performed in minutes, it allows immediate, accurate clinical decisions to prescribe appropriate antiviral treatment or isolation of patients

Interfase GiD per a la generació paramètrica de geometries trenades per a l’apantallament de cables coaxials

En aquest informe tècnic es presenta un programa que genera automàticament geometries trenades per a l’apantallament (shielding) de cables coaxials i que s’integra en l’entorn GiD. L’objectiu general d’aquest treball és desenvolupar una eina numèrica capaç de generar la geometria inicial de la simulació electromagnètica. Aquesta simulació electromagnètica té com a propòsit calcular la transferència d’impedància d’aquests trenats d’apantallament. La transferència d’impedància és una magnitud que caracteritza l’eficàcia d’aquest apantallament. Una baixa transferència indica un bon apantallament. El desenvolupament d’aquesta eina numèrica ajudarà a optimitzar el disseny de trenats (com menys material, més bon apantallament) i per arribar a comprendre bé la física del problema. A més a més, l’avantatge d’emprar una eina numèrica basada en el mètode dels elements finits en lloc de càlculs analítics és que se serà capaç d’aplicar per materials i geometries generals i al mateix temps complexes. L’eina que es vol costumitzar es diu ERMES (Electric Field Regularized Maxwell Equations with Singularities), i és un codi d’elements finits que empra GiD [1] com a pre i post processador. Fins al moment de la elaboració del present informe, s’està desenvolupant l’eina de generació de geometria per separat d’ERMES [4]

Assessment of two complementary influenza surveillance systems : Sentinel primary care influenza-like illness versus severe hospitalized laboratory-confirmed influenza using the moving epidemic method

Monitoring seasonal influenza epidemics is the corner stone to epidemiological surveillance of acute respiratory virus infections worldwide. This work aims to compare two sentinel surveillance systems within the Daily Acute Respiratory Infection Information System of Catalonia (PIDIRAC), the primary care ILI and Influenza confirmed samples from primary care (PIDIRAC-ILI and PIDIRAC-FLU) and the severe hospitalized laboratory confirmed influenza system (SHLCI), in regard to how they behave in the forecasting of epidemic onset and severity allowing for healthcare preparedness. Epidemiological study carried out during seven influenza seasons (2010-2017) in Catalonia, with data from influenza sentinel surveillance of primary care physicians reporting ILI along with laboratory confirmation of influenza from systematic sampling of ILI cases and 12 hospitals that provided data on severe hospitalized cases with laboratory-confirmed influenza (SHLCI-FLU). Epidemic thresholds for ILI and SHLCI-FLU (overall) as well as influenza A (SHLCI-FLUA) and influenza B (SHLCI-FLUB) incidence rates were assessed by the Moving Epidemics Method. Epidemic thresholds for primary care sentinel surveillance influenza-like illness (PIDIRAC-ILI) incidence rates ranged from 83.65 to 503.92 per 100.000 h. Paired incidence rate curves for SHLCI-FLU/PIDIRAC-ILI and SHLCI-FLUA/PIDIRAC-FLUA showed best correlation index' (0.805 and 0.724 respectively). Assessing delay in reaching epidemic level, PIDIRAC-ILI source forecasts an average of 1.6 weeks before the rest of sources paired. Differences are higher when SHLCI cases are paired to PIDIRAC-ILI and PIDIRAC-FLUB although statistical significance was observed only for SHLCI-FLU/PIDIRAC-ILI (p-value Wilcoxon test = 0.039). The combined ILI and confirmed influenza from primary care along with the severe hospitalized laboratory confirmed influenza data from PIDIRAC sentinel surveillance system provides timely and accurate syndromic and virological surveillance of influenza from the community level to hospitalization of severe cases