El gasto económico en centros de fitness low-cost: Diferencias según fidelidad y características del cliente

Thegrowth in thenumber of fitness centers and theirclients, thestudysoughtto examine and understandthebehavior of consumers of these sport organizations. Therefore, theobjective of thisstudywastoanalyzefordifferences in economicexpendituresbasedoncustomerloyalty and customerprofile in low-cost fitness centers. Thesamplewascomposed of 8462 clients of which50.9% (n=4303) werewomen and 49.1% (n=4159) men. A descriptiveanalysiswasconductedwiththevariancetoaddresstheobjective of thestudy. Theprincipleresultsindicatesignificantdifferences in regardstotheeconomicexpendituresaccordingtogender, age, longevitywiththeorganization and behaviorintentions as measuredwith Net Promoter Score. Thesefindings are of importantrelevanceoffering a detailedunderstanding of clients and variables whichshould be appropriatelymanagedtoincreasetheclients' expenditure.Debido al incremento en el número de instalaciones y clientes, los centros de fitness están siendo examinados para comprender el comportamiento del consumidor que asiste a estas organizaciones deportivas. Por ello, el objetivo de esta investigación fue analizar si existían diferencias de gasto económico en base al perfil y a la fidelidad de clientes en centros de fitness low-cost. La muestra se compuso de 8462 clientes de los que el 50.9% (n=4303) fueron mujeresy el 49.1% (n=4159) hombres. Se realizaron análisis descriptivos y de la varianza para dar respuesta al objetivo. Los principales resultados indican que existen diferencias significativas en cuanto al gasto económico según el género, la edad, la permanencia en la organización y las intenciones de comportamiento medidas con el Net Promoter Score. Estos hallazgos son de especial relevancia ya que favorecen el conocimiento detallado de los clientes, y de cuáles son las variables que se deberían gestionar adecuadamente para aumentar el gasto

Stability of schizophrenia diagnosis in a ten-year longitudinal study on first episode of non-affective psychosis: conclusions from the PAFIP cohort

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ten-year stability of schizophrenia diagnosis in a cohort of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and the factors associated with it. METHODS: Changes in diagnosis of 209 FEP patients were described during ten years of follow-up. Related factors with maintenance or change of schizophrenia diagnosis were evaluated in prospective and retrospective approaches through Binary Logistic Regressions, ROC and survival curves. RESULTS: Out of the 209 patients, 126 were diagnosed of schizophrenia six months after their inclusion in the clinical program. Prospective analyses showed that eight of those 126 schizophrenia patients had changed to a different diagnosis after ten years, and predictors of change were better childhood premorbid adjustment, less severity of clinical global impression at baseline, and diagnosis of comorbid personality disorder during follow-up. Retrospectively, out of the 154 patients with schizophrenia in the ten-year assessment, 36 had a different diagnosis at baseline, and those factors related with a different prior diagnosis than schizophrenia were better socioeconomic status and shorter duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). A survival analysis on the timing of schizophrenia diagnosis showed that male gender and longer DUP were predictors of earlier definite diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic stability of schizophrenia in our FEP sample is high, especially prospective stability, and the group of patients with diagnostic change corresponded to a milder psychopathological profile before and at the onset of disease. Moreover, we observed a cautious attitude in the diagnosis of schizophrenia in patients with shorter DUP who had schizophrenia diagnosis after ten years

Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons as markers of the Drosophila buzzatii colonization in Australia

Background: Transposable elements (TEs) constitute an important source of genetic variability owing to their jumping and regulatory properties, and are considered to drive species evolution. Several factors that are able to induce TE transposition in genomes have been documented (for example environmental stress and inter- and intra-specific crosses) but in many instances the reasons for TE mobilisation have yet to be elucidated. Colonising populations constitute an ideal model for studying TE behaviour and distribution as they are exposed to different environmental and new demographic conditions. In this study, the distribution of two TEs, Osvaldo and Isis, was examined in two colonising populations of D. buzzatii from Australia. Comparing Osvaldo copy numbers between Australian and Old World (reported in previous studies) colonisations provides a valuable tool for elucidating the colonisation process and the effect of new conditions encountered by colonisers on TEs. Results: The chromosomal distributions of Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons in two colonising populations of D. buzzatii from Australia revealed sites of high insertion frequency (>10%) and low frequency sites. Comparisons between Osvaldo insertion profiles in colonising populations from the Old World and Australia demonstrate a tendency towards a higher number of highly occupied sites with higher insertion frequency in the Old World than in Australian populations. Tests concerning selection against deleterious TE insertions indicate that Isis is more controlled by purifying selection than Osvaldo. The distribution of both elements on chromosomal arms follows a Poisson distribution and there are non-significant positive correlations between highly occupied sites and chromosomal inversions. Conclusions: The occupancy profile of Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons is characterised by the existence of high and low insertion frequency sites in the populations. These results demonstrate that Australian D. buzzatii populations were subjected to a founder effect during the colonisation process. Moreover, there are more sites with high insertion frequency in the Old World colonisation than in the Australian colonisation, indicating a probable stronger bottleneck effect in Australia. The results suggest that selection does not seem to play a major role, compared to demography, in the distribution of transposable elements in the Australian populations

Many body physics from a quantum information perspective

The quantum information approach to many body physics has been very successful in giving new insight and novel numerical methods. In these lecture notes we take a vertical view of the subject, starting from general concepts and at each step delving into applications or consequences of a particular topic. We first review some general quantum information concepts like entanglement and entanglement measures, which leads us to entanglement area laws. We then continue with one of the most famous examples of area-law abiding states: matrix product states, and tensor product states in general. Of these, we choose one example (classical superposition states) to introduce recent developments on a novel quantum many body approach: quantum kinetic Ising models. We conclude with a brief outlook of the field.Comment: Lectures from the Les Houches School on "Modern theories of correlated electron systems". Improved version new references adde

Active commuting to and from university, obesity and metabolic syndrome among Colombian university students

Background: There is limited evidence concerning how active commuting (AC) is associated with health benefits in young. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between AC to and from campus (walking) and obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a sample of Colombian university students. Methods: A total of 784 university students (78.6% women, mean age = 20.1 ± 2.6 years old) participated in the study. The exposure variable was categorized into AC (active walker to campus) and non-AC (non/infrequent active walker to campus: car, motorcycle, or bus) to and from the university on a typical day. MetS was defined in accordance with the updated harmonized criteria of the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Results: The overall prevalence of MetS was 8.7%, and it was higher in non-AC than AC to campus. The percentage of AC was 65.3%. The commuting distances in this AC from/to university were 83.1%, 13.4% and 3.5% for < 2 km, 2- 5 km and > 5 km, respectively. Multiple logistic regressions for predicting unhealthy profile showed that male walking commuters had a lower probability of having obesity [OR = 0.45 (CI 95% 0.25–0.93)], high blood pressure [OR = 0.26 (CI 95% 0.13–0.55)] and low HDL cholesterol [OR = 0.29 (CI 95% 0.14–0.59)] than did passive commuters. Conclusions: Our results suggest that in young adulthood, a key life-stage for the development of obesity and MetS, AC could be associated with and increasing of daily physical activity levels, thereby promoting better cardiometabolic health.This study was part of the project entitled “Body Adiposity Index and Biomarkers of Endothelial and Cardiovascular Health in Adults”, which was funded by Centre for Studies on Measurement of Physical Activity, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario (Code N° FIUR DNBG001) and Universidad de Boyacá (Code N° RECT 60)

Productive performance, carcass and meat quality of intact and castrated gilts slaughtered at 106 or 122 kg BW

A total of 200 (Landrace3Large White dam3Pietrain3Large White sire) gilts of 5063 days of age (23.361.47 kg BW) were used to investigate the effects of castration (intact gilt, IG v. castrated gilt, CG) and slaughter weight (SW; 106 v. 122 kg BW) on productive performance, carcass and meat quality. Four treatments were arranged factorially and five replicates of 10 pigs each per treatment. Half of the gilts were ovariectomized at 58 days of age (8 days after the beginning of the trial at 29.861.64 kg BW), whereas the other half remained intact. The pigs were slaughtered at 106 or 122 kg BW. Meat samples were taken at Musculus longissimus thoracis at the level of the last rib and subcutaneous fat samples were taken at the tail insertion. For the entire experimental period, CG had higher ( P,0.05) BW gain and higher ( P,0.001) backfat and Musculus gluteus medius fat thickness than IG. However, IG had higher ( P,0.05) loin and trimmed primal cut yields than CG. Meat quality was similar for IG and CG but the proportion of linoleic acid in subcutaneous fat was higher ( P,0.001) for IG. Pigs slaughtered at 122 kg BW had higher ( P,0.001) feed intake and poorer feed efficiency than pigs slaughtered at 106 kg BW. An increase in SW improved ( P,0.001) carcass yield but decreased ( P,0.05) trimmed primal cut yield. Meat from pigs slaughtered at the heavier BW was redder (a*; P,0.001) and had more ( P,0.01) intramuscular fat and less thawing ( P,0.05) and cooking ( P,0.10) loss than meat from pigs slaughtered at the lighter BW. In addition, pigs slaughtered at 122 kg BW had less ( P,0.01) linoleic acid content in subcutaneous fat than pigs slaughtered at 106 kg BW. Castration of gilts and slaughtering at heavier BW are useful practices for the production of heavy pigs destined to the dry-cured industry in which a certain amount of fat in the carcass is required. In contrast, when the carcasses are destined to fresh meat production, IG slaughtered at 106 kg BW is a more efficient alternative

Exploring Health Science Students’ Notions on Organ Donation and Transplantation: A Multicenter Study

The knowledge acquired during university education about organ donation and transplantation (ODT) decisively influences the information future health professionals transmit. This is important in ODT where the participation of the general public is essential to obtain organs. Objective: To determine notions of Spanish medicine and nursing students on ODT and its relationship with attitude toward ODT. Methods and Design: and design. We conducted a sociologic, multicenter, and observational study. The population for our study consisted of medical and nursing students in Spanish universities. Our database was the Collaborative International Donor Project, stratified by geographic area and academic course. A validated questionnaire (PCID-DTO-RIOS) was self-administered and completed anonymously. Our sample consisted of 9598 medical and 10, 566 nursing students (99% confidence interval; precision of ±1%), stratified by geographic area and year of study. Results: The completion rate for our study was 90%. Only 20% (n=3640) of students thought their notions on ODT were good; 41% (n=7531) thought their notions were normal; 36% (n=6550) thought their notions were scarce. Comparing groups, there were differences between those who believed that their notions on ODT were good (44% nursing vs 56% medical students; P < .000), and those who believed it scarce (54% nursing vs 46% medical students; P < .000). Notions on ODT were related with attitude toward the donation of one''s own organs: those who considered their notions were good were more in favor then those who considered it scarce (88% vs 72%; P < .000). Conclusion: Only 20% of Spanish medical and nursing students thought their notions on ODT were good. Having good knowledge is related to a favorable attitude towards ODT. Receiving specific information on the subject could improve their knowledge about ODT during their training

Percutaneous mitral valve repair : Outcome improvement with operator experience and a second-generation device

Background and aim: Recent randomized data comparing percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR) versus optimal medical treatment in patients with functional MR (FMR) seemed to highlight the importance of the learning curve not only for procedural outcomes but also for patient selection. The aim of the study was to compare a contemporary series of patients undergoing PMVR using a second-generation Mitraclip device (Mitraclip NT) with previous cohorts treated with a first-generation system. Methods: This multicenter study collected individual data from 18 centers between 2012 and 2017. The cohort was divided into three groups according to the use of the first-generation Mitraclip during the first (control-1) or second half (control-2) or the Mitraclip NT sys-tem. Results: A total of 545 consecutive patients were included in the study. Among all, 182 (33.3%), 183 (33.3%), and 180 (33.3%) patients underwent mitral repair in the control-1, control-2, and NT cohorts, respectively. Procedural success was achieved in 93.3% of patients without differences between groups. Major adverse events did not statistically differ among groups, but there was a higher rate of pericardial effusion in the control-1 group (4.3%, 0.6%, and 2.6%, respectively; p = 0.025). The composite endpoint of death, surgery, and admission for congestive heart failure (CHF) at 12 months was lower in the NT group (23.5% in control-1, 22.5% in control-2, and 8.3% in the NT group; p = 0.032). Conclusions: The present paper shows that contemporary clinical outcomes of patients undergoing PMVR with the Mitraclip system have improved over time