Protocol for a sequential, prospective metaanalysis to describe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the pregnancy and postpartum periods.

We urgently need answers to basic epidemiological questions regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant and postpartum women and its effect on their newborns. While many national registries, health facilities, and research groups are collecting relevant data, we need a collaborative and methodologically rigorous approach to better combine these data and address knowledge gaps, especially those related to rare outcomes. We propose that using a sequential, prospective meta-analysis (PMA) is the best approach to generate data for policy- and practice-oriented guidelines. As the pandemic evolves, additional studies identified retrospectively by the steering committee or through living systematic reviews will be invited to participate in this PMA. Investigators can contribute to the PMA by either submitting individual patient data or running standardized code to generate aggregate data estimates. For the primary analysis, we will pool data using two-stage meta-analysis methods. The meta-analyses will be updated as additional data accrue in each contributing study and as additional studies meet study-specific time or data accrual thresholds for sharing. At the time of publication, investigators of 25 studies, including more than 76,000 pregnancies, in 41 countries had agreed to share data for this analysis. Among the included studies, 12 have a contemporaneous comparison group of pregnancies without COVID-19, and four studies include a comparison group of non-pregnant women of reproductive age with COVID-19. Protocols and updates will be maintained publicly. Results will be shared with key stakeholders, including the World Health Organization (WHO) Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) Research Working Group. Data contributors will share results with local stakeholders. Scientific publications will be published in open-access journals on an ongoing basis.post-print641 K

Classification of uterine anomalies by three-dimensional ultrasonography using ESHRE/ESGE criteria: inter-observer variability.

Objective: To evaluate the interobserver repeatability of the coronal view measurements and classification of the uterine malformations (UM) according to the ESHRE/ESGE consensus by transvaginal three-dimensional ultrasound (3D US). Methods: 89 transvaginal 3D volumes acquired during the last two years at Delta Ecografía in Madrid, Spain, were selected from our archive by convenience sampling. Two expert operators blinded from each other, performed post-hoc analysis using render mode and multiplanar-VCI navigation. Uterine wall thickness at the fundus, indentation of the cavity and indentation of the fundus were measured, classified and sub-classified following the recommendations of the ESHRE/ESGE consensus. The reproducibility of interobserver measurements and classification was examined by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) and kappa statistic (k).pre-print261 K

Stability analysis for the background equations for inflation with dissipation and in a viscous radiation bath

The effects of bulk viscosity are examined for inflationary dynamics in which dissipation and thermalization are present. A complete stability analysis is done for the background inflaton evolution equations, which includes both inflaton dissipation and radiation bulk viscous effects. Three representative approaches of bulk viscous irreversible thermodynamics are analyzed: the Eckart noncausal theory, the linear and causal theory of Israel-Stewart and a more recent nonlinear and causal bulk viscous theory. It is found that the causal theories allow for larger bulk viscosities before encountering an instability in comparison to the noncausal Eckart theory. It is also shown that the causal theories tend to suppress the radiation production due to bulk viscous pressure, because of the presence of relaxation effects implicit in these theories. Bulk viscosity coefficients derived from quantum field theory are applied to warm inflation model building and an analysis is made of the effects to the duration of inflation. The treatment of bulk pressure would also be relevant to the reheating phase after inflation in cold inflation dynamics and during the radiation dominated regime, although very little work in both areas has been done, the methodology developed in this paper could be extended to apply to these other problems.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures, Published version JCA

Digitalització, buidatge i tractament textual de l'Onomasticon Cataloniae

Des del març de 2021 ja s'ha acomplert un dels dos objectius del projecte i l'Onomasticon es pot consultar per internet en l'adreça oncat.iec.cat. El 12 de març es va fer la presentació del projecte al Ple la Secció Filològica. Es treballa ra en el buidatge de l'obra per completar la informació de l'índex en paper, que recull essencialment els noms propis catalans (topònims i antropònims). Amb aquest buidatge i el tractament textual corresponent, s'aconseguirà recuperar informació lingüísticament molt rica que ara no és possible consultar sistemàticament perquè no apareix a l'índex. Per mitjà de cerques avançades es podran recuperar, per exemple, els dictats tòpics presents en l'obra, que sempre apareixen en relació a un topònim català; o formes pròpies d'una determinada àrea (com ara del País València); o formes pròpies d'una determinada llengua o varietat (per exemple, el benasquès)

Determinants of major choice and academic expectations: testing a prediction model across gender

With this study, we aim to test the predictive relationships between determinants of major choice (DMC) and academic expectations (AEs) and to analyze gender differences, using six items of the Determinants of Major Choice Scale and the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire to assess AEs. A convenience sample of Portuguese (n = 839) and Spanish (n = 1,001) first-year students (age-range = 17–23 years), mostly composed of women (56.9%, n = 1,047), was selected from two public universities. The invariance of the multivariate regression model with latent variables of the effect of DMC on AEs, with determinants linked to Personal Characteristics (PCs; e.g., capacities) and Mediating Agents (MAs; e.g., parents) as AE predictors, was tested across gender with LISREL. The invariance test of the multivariate regression model across gender fit the data well and revealed an equivalence of slopes between women and men, which allows a unique interpretation of the model’s predictive relationships for both genders. We also found statistically significant predictive relationships of PCs for six AE factors and MAs for five AE factors. The results showed theoretical relationships with the selfdetermination theory. At a practical level, they indicated the importance of PCs and MAs to design AE intervention programs in Higher Education (HE) institution

Construction and validation of a scoring system for the selection of high-quality data in a Spanish population primary care database (SIDIAP).

BACKGROUND: Computerised databases of primary care clinical records are widely used for epidemiological research. In Catalonia, the Information System for the Development of Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) aims to promote the development of research based on high-quality validated data from primary care electronic medical records. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to create and validate a scoring system (Registry Quality Score, RQS) that will enable all primary care practices (PCPs) to be selected as providers of researchusable data based on the completeness of their registers. METHODS: Diseases that were likely to be representative of common diagnoses seen in primary care were selected for RQS calculations. The observed/expected cases ratio was calculated for each disease. Once we had obtained an estimated value for this ratio for each of the selected conditions we added up the ratios calculated for each condition to obtain a final RQS. Rate comparisons between observed and published prevalences of diseases not included in the RQS calculations (atrial fibrillation, diabetes, obesity, schizophrenia, stroke, urinary incontinence and Crohn's disease) were used to set the RQS cutoff which will enable researchers to select PCPs with research-usable data. RESULTS: Apart from Crohn's disease, all prevalences were the same as those published from the RQS fourth quintile (60th percentile) onwards. This RQS cut-off provided a total population of 1 936 443 (39.6% of the total SIDIAP population). CONCLUSIONS: SIDIAP is highly representative of the population of Catalonia in terms of geographical, age and sex distributions. We report the usefulness of rate comparison as a valid method to establish research-usable data within primary care electronic medical records

A Case Study of available methodology for the identification of Vulnerable Ecosystems/Habitats in bottom deep-sea fisheries: Possibilities to apply this method in the NAFO Regulatory Area in order to select Marine Protected Areas

Information is critical to Ecosystem Approach and to research about Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems/Habitats (VME/Hs), fishing impacts on habitats and ad-hoc management measures are high-priority. Therefore, this paper presents the ECOVUL/ARPA Interdisciplinary Approach, a case study of methodology for the identification of VME/Hs in order to advise on conservation measures such as marine protected areas (MPAs). By means of an interactive process involving Conventional Fisheries Science, Geomorphology, Sedimentology and Benthic Ecology, the methodology developed under the ECOVUL/ARPA project, has been useful in order to contribute to define practical criteria to the identification of VME/Hs, to improve the knowledge about VME/Hs distribution and the adverse impacts of bottom trawl fisheries and to produce high quality advice on habitat protection. Applying an interdisciplinary approach, the project identified the deep-water bottom trawl fishery footprint on the Hatton Bank Western slope (NEAFC Regulatory Area), mapped the main fishing grounds and related seabed habitats and studied the interactions between fishing and cold-water corals. This approach was used to suggest, with high level of precision, the spatial limits of an area closed to bottom fishing, as an essential conservation measure to protect the cold-water corals in the framework of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries management. We present here the methods used, the main results obtained and discuss on the utility of this approach and the possibilities to apply it in the NAFO Regulatory Area, with the aim to advise on measures for reducing the interactions of bottom fishing with sensitive high-seas habitats and to contribute to implement the UNGA recommendations about habitat conservation

El papel de la autoestima y el apego entre iguales en grupos de trabajo bajo entornos de apoyo virtual a la docencia

Memoria ID-0004. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2017-2018

Investigación en docencia por contenidos (español como segunda lengua) en el proceso de internacionalización de la UA

La creciente internacionalización de nuestra universidad, junto con la experiencia acumulada desde la coordinación de programas Erasmus y la docencia a alumnado universitario no nativo, en diversas titulaciones, así como en las cinco ediciones del Curso de español académico para alumnos extranjeros, nos ha permitido constatar la relevancia de la integración académica de los estudiantes internacionales. El objetivo de la red es presentar la percepción del profesorado acerca de su presencia en las clases (cómo ha afectado a su docencia), así como la situación de los propios estudiantes, para averiguar cuáles son los retos a los que ambos colectivos se enfrentan. Nuestros informantes han sido 23 profesores del Dpto. de Filología Española con alumnado internacional y 30 estudiantes de movilidad matriculados en asignaturas ofertadas por dicho departamento, de quienes hemos recabado información a través de cuestionarios que nos han permitido obtener datos estadísticos. Los resultados finales nos indican, entre otros aspectos, la importancia del requisito lingüístico y del conocimiento de las rutinas académicas por parte del alumnado, así como la conveniencia de pautas sobre su evaluación para el profesorado. Se percibe a su vez la necesidad de una futura Guía académica para el alumnado extranjero, que contribuiría a un mejor rendimiento académico de su estancia