Age but not sex may explain the negative effect of arterial hypertension and diabetes on COVID-19 prognosis

We found that the negative effect of underlying arterial hypertension on COVID-19 critical illness significantly and positively correlated with the age difference between critical/mortal and non-critical patients (slope±SE: 0.0718±0.021, p=0.00066 ) but not with the difference in male sex proportion (slope:-0.010±0.023, p=0.66). Likewise, the negative effect oftype 2 diabetes on severe COVID-19 infection significantly and positively correlated with the age difference between the two groups (slope: 0.079±0.025, p=0.00185) but not with thedifference in male proportion (slope: -0.040±0.027, p=0.133). On the contrary, by meta-regression analysis, we found that the negative effect of preexisting respiratory disease on COVID-19 critical illness significantly and positively correlated with the difference in male proportion (slope: 0.118±0.056, p= 0.034) but not with the age difference (slope: -0.030±0.048, p= 0.520). Finally, we observed that the negative effect of pre-existing cardiovascular disease on severe COVID-19 clinical course is not influenced either by sex (slope: 0.0343±0.033, p= 0.300) or by age (slope: 0.048±0.033, p= 0.143).Fil: Pirola, Carlos José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Sookoian, Silvia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentin

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis pharmacotherapy and predictors of response: dual role of aminotransferases as biosensors of metabolism and biomarkers of histological improvement

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)—the severe histological form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)—is regarded as a major health problem worldwide (1,2). The disease can progress to liver cirrhosis and eventually to hepatocellular carcinoma (1,3). Treatment of NASH and NASH-fibrosis is thus increasingly being given priority in the clinical field.Fil: Sookoian, Silvia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Pirola, Carlos José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentin

Cell-free DNA methylation as liquid biopsy for the assessment of fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a gap between innovation and implementation

The presence of cfDNA in the circulating compartment was demonstrated three decades ago , leading to the emergence of liquid biopsy.However, the implementation of cfDNA methylation as a non-invasive molecular tool for the diagnosis of fibrosis imposes tremendous analytical and technical challenges because cfDNA is not only highly fragmented (~170?500 bp) but also circulates at very low concentrations (1.8?44 ng/mL). The fact that exploration of DNA methylation signatures requires a previous step of DNA bisulfitation or other complex and protracted techniques, such as 5mC-containing DNA immunoprecipitation and sequencing, imposes further obstacles to the adoption of this method. Available evidence suggests that a considerable gap between innovation and implementation still exists, preventing definitive affirmation that plasma DNA methylation signatures reflect the molecular pathology associated with fibrotic liver disease. Nonetheless, this is a promising horizon toward which further research efforts should be directed.Fil: Sookoian, Silvia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Pirola, Carlos José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentin

The natural history of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: mortality rates and liver enzymes

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as an important health issue of the modern world, due to the dramatic increase in its prevalence, which has doubled and in some regions tripled in the past decade. Epidemiological studies, including national health surveys, are remarkable instruments for indirectly measuring the health status of the general population, as well as providing estimations of the mortality and morbidity associated with major diseases and delineating global risk factors.Fil: Pirola, Carlos José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Sookoian, Silvia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentin

Repurposing drugs to target nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complex disorder that has evolved in recent years as the leading global cause of chronic liver damage. The main obstacle to better disease management pertains to the lack of approved pharmacological interventions for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and NASH-fibrosis-the severe histological forms. Over the past decade, tremendous advances have been made in NAFLD research, resulting in the discovery of disease mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets. Hence, a large number of pharmacological agents are currently being tested for safety and efficacy. These drugs are in the initial pharmacological phases (phase 1 and 2), which involve testing tolerability, therapeutic action, and pharmacological issues. It is thus reasonable to assume that the next generation of NASH drugs will not be available for clinical use for foreseeable future. The expected delay can be mitigated by drug repurposing or repositioning, which essentially relies on identifying and developing new uses for existing drugs. Here, we propose a drug candidate selection method based on the integration of molecular pathways of disease pathogenesis into network analysis tools that use OMICs data as well as multiples sources, including text mining from the medical literature.Fil: Sookoian, Silvia Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Pirola, Carlos José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas; Argentin

Redes Bayesianas para detección de roles de equipos en aprendizaje colaborativo soportado por computadoras

El trabajo colaborativo soportado por computadoras permite a los estudiantes que se encuentran en lugares remotos trabajar de manera conjunta en el mismo entorno virtual y permite la comunicación de ideas e información entre los integrantes del grupo. Sin embargo, como no todos los estudiantes son iguales, es importante estudiar las características de éstos para construir grupos de trabajo más productivos. La teoría de roles de equipo posibilita obtener buen desempeño en los equipos de trabajo considerando habilidades individuales, combinando las falencias de cada rol con las fortalezas de los otros. Generalmente, las personas tienen que completar extensos cuestionarios para poder determinar sus roles de equipo. En este trabajo, se propone un método alternativo para realizar esta detección a través de un sistema de aprendizaje colaborativo y a partir de la utilización de la técnica de Redes Bayesianas.Computer-supported collaborative learning allows students who are in different places to work together in the same virtual space, and supports the communication of ideas and information among learners. However, as not all students are identical, it is important to study users' characteristics to build more productive teams. Team Roles Theory allows obtaining very good team performance taking into account individual skills, combining the weaknesses of each role with the strengths of others. Originally, people have to complete extensive questionnaires to determine their team role. In this work we propose an alternative method to make this detection through a collaborative learning system and by using a Bayesian Network.Fil: Balmaceda, José María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software; ArgentinaFil: Schiaffino, Silvia Noemi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software; ArgentinaFil: Godoy, Daniela Lis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software; Argentin

The effect of social programs and exposure to professionals on the educational aspirations of the poor

Investment in human capital is an important tool for reducing poverty. However, the poor may lack the capacity to aspire, which often results in underinvestment in their children’s education. This paper studies the effect of a social program on the educational aspirations of the poor, and explores the role of exposure to educated professionals as a possible channel for increasing aspirations. First, using differences-in-differences, we show that beneficiary parents of the Mexican antipoverty program PROGRESA have higher educational aspirations for their children of a third of a school year than do non-beneficiary parents. This effect corresponds to a 15% increase in the proportion of parents who aspire for their children to finish college. Then, we exploit the design of the program whose requirements cause its target population to have different levels of mandated exposure to doctors and nurses. Our triple difference estimate shows that, educational aspirations for children from high-exposure households (relative to low- exposure households) in treatment villages (relative to control villages) were a third of a school year higher six months after the start of the program (relative to before its introduction). These results suggest that the change in aspirations is driven by exposure to highly educated professionals.social programs, educational aspirations, poverty, educational aspirations

Development of a Low-Cost Weather Station to Measure in Situ Essential Climate Variables

A weather station is proposed especially designed for developing countries, and to meet the standards of the international scientific community making research on the earth system. The station would measure in situ several ECV (essential climate variables). These data may enable an agricultural breakthrough in countries lacking meteorological infrastructure, help in climate change monitoring, and facilitate diffusion of wind energy. A pre-feasibility analysis is presented. It appears interesting that the station is supplied by a social enterprise. A research to establish the best shelter design using computational fluid dynamics is also reported. The criterion is the accuracy with which the surface air temperature is reproduced inside the shelter. A design following recommendations by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), a smaller design with identical geometry, and two alternative small designs are analyzed. All four designs are simulated in PVC, natural rubber and wood, with and without white paint coating. The smaller shelters perform better. The influence of the material, dimensions and design is smaller than that of the white paint. Shelters made of PVC or rubber, and/or in alternative designs, may be more interesting if other criteria are considered, like whether logistics, manufacturing, etc. are more sustainable, easier and/or cheaper.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Non-noticeable information embedding in color images: marking and detection

One of the problems arising from the use of digital media is the ease of obtaining identical copies of digital images or audio files, allowing manipulation and unauthorized use. Copyright is an effective tool for preserving intellectual property of those documents but authors and publishers need effective techniques preventing copyright modification, due to the straightforward access to multimedia applications and the wider use of digital publications through the WWW. These techniques are generally called watermarking and allow the introduction of side information (i.e. author identification, copyrights, dates, etc.). This work concentrates on the problem of watermarking embedding and optimum detection in color images through the use of spread spectrum techniques, both in space (direct sequence spread spectrum or DSSS) and frequency (frequency hopping). It is applied to RGB and opponent color component representations. Perceptive information is considered in both color systems. Some tests are performed in order to ensure imperceptibility and to assess detection quality of the optimum color detectors.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The euro area Bank Lending Survey matters: empirical evidence for credit and output growth

This study examines empirically the information content of the euro area Bank Lending Survey for aggregate credit and output growth. The responses of the lending survey, especially those related to loans to enterprises, are a significant leading indicator for euro area bank credit and real GDP growth. Notwithstanding the short history of the survey, the findings are robust across various specifications, including “horse races” with other well-known leading financial indicators. Our results are supportive of the existence of a bank lending, balance sheet, and risk-taking channel of monetary policy. They also suggest that price as well as non-price conditions and terms of credit standards do matter for credit and business cycles. Finally, we discuss the implications for the 2007/2009 financial and economic crisis. JEL Classification: C23, E32, E51, E52, G21, G28bank lending survey, business cycle, credit cycle, euro area, Monetary policy transmission