Using an Online Calculator to Describe Excess Mortality in the Philippines During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective Excess mortality is an indicator of the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aims to describe excess mortality in the Philippines from January 2020 to December 2021 using an online all-cause mortality and excess mortality calculator. Methods All-cause mortality datasets from 2015 to 2021 from the Philippine Statistics Authority were obtained and analysed using the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office All-Cause Mortality Calculator. Expected mortality, excess mortality and P-scores were obtained using two models, 5-year averages and negative binomial regression, for total deaths and by administrative region. Results Reported national all-cause mortality exceeded the expected mortality in August 2020 and from January to November 2021, peaking in September 2021 at 104 per 100 000. Total excess mortality using negative binomial regression was -13 900 deaths in 2020 and 212 000 deaths in 2021, peaking in September 2021. P-scores were -2% in 2020 and 33% in 2021, again peaking in September 2021 at 114%. Reported COVID-19 deaths accounted for 20% of excess deaths in 2021. In 2020, consistently high P-scores were recorded in the National Capital Region from July to September and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from June to July. In 2021, most regions recorded high P-scores from June to October. Discussion Tracking excess mortality using a robust, accessible and standardized online tool provided a comprehensive assessment of the direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Furthermore, analysis by administrative region highlighted the key regions disproportionately affected by the pandemic, information that may not have been fully captured from routine COVID-19 surveillance

"No Good Reason to Remove Features": Expert Users Value Useful Apps over Secure Ones

Application sandboxes are an essential security mechanism to contain malware, but are seldom used on desktops. To understand why this is the case, we interviewed 13 expert users about app appropriation decisions they made on their desktop computers. We collected 201 statements about app appropriation decisions. Our value-sensitive empirical analysis of the interviews revealed that (a) security played a very minor role in app appropriation; (b) users valued plugins that support their productivity; (c) users may abandon apps that remove a feature – especially when a feature was blocked for security reasons. Our expert desktop users valued a stable user experience and flexibility, and are unwilling to sacrifice those for better security. We conclude that sandboxing – as currently implemented – is unlikely to be voluntarily adopted, especially by expert users. For sandboxing to become a desirable security mechanism, they must first accommodate plugins and features widely found in popular desktop apps

From Paternalistic to User-Centred Security: Putting Users First with Value-Sensitive Design

Usable security research to date has focused on making users more secure, by identifying and addressing usability issues that lead users to making mistakes, or by persuading users to pay attention to security and make secure choices. However, security goals were set by security experts, who were unaware that users often have other priorities and value security differently. In this paper, we present examples of circumventions and non-adoption of secure systems designed under this paternalistic mindset. We argue that security experts need to identify user values and deliver on them. To do that, we need a methodological framework that can conceptualise values and identify those that impact user engagement with security. We show that (a) engagement with, and adherence to security, are mediated by user values, and that (b) it is necessary to model those values to understand the nature of security’s failures and to design viable alternatives

Concepciones y creencias de profesores sobre enseñanza y aprendizaje de la matematica

En este trabajo se caracteriza a un grupo de docentes de matemática del Ciclo Básico Común de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en cuanto a sus concepciones y creencias sobre los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje, y a sus creencias sobre las opiniones de los alumnos respecto de estas cuestiones. Se establecen, además, similitudes y diferencias con otros grupos de profesores. El interés del mismo radica en que el conocimiento de las concepciones y creencias del profesor permite comprender sus actitudes y posiciones. Se utilizó como instrumento un cuestionario cerrado, a modo de escala de valoración, de 15 preguntas que contienen ítems no alternativos que expresan diferentes concepciones o creencias ante la cuestión general que la precede. Diez de las preguntas corresponden a la encuesta validada e implementada por Gil Cuadra y colaboradores (Gil Cuadra, 2003) para obtener el perfil de los profesores de matemática españoles después de la reforma del año 1990 que implantó la enseñanza secundaria obligatoria. Las cinco preguntas restantes recaban opiniones de los docentes sobre las características del buen profesor y sobre las creencias de los alumnos acerca de ciertos aspectos de los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Se agregaron con la intención de elaborar, en base al cuestionario definitivo de 15 preguntas, una encuesta paralela destinada a alumnos que permita contrastar, en una instancia posterior, las opiniones de docentes y de alumnos acerca de los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje

Device for negative pressure wound therapy in low-resource regions: open-source description and bench test evaluation

Background: Negative (vacuum) pressure therapy promotes wound healing. However, commercially available devices are unaffordable to most potential users in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), limiting access to many patients who could benefit from this treatment. This study aimed to design and test a cheap and easy-to-build negative pressure device and provide its detailed open-source description, thereby enabling free replication. Methods: the negative pressure device was built using off-the-shelf materials available via e-commerce and was based on a small pump, a pressure transducer, and the simplest Arduino controller with a digital display (total retail cost ≤ 75 US$). The device allows the user to set any therapeutic range of intermittent negative pressure and has two independent safety mechanisms. The performance of the low-cost device was carefully tested on the bench using a phantom wound, producing a realistic exudate flow rate. Results: the device generates the pressure patterns set by the user (25-175 mmHg of vacuum pressure, 0-60 min periods) and can drain exudate flows within the clinical range (up to 1 L/h). Conclusions: a novel, low-cost, easy-to-build negative pressure device for wound healing displays excellent technical performance. The open-source hardware description provided here, which allows for free replication and use in LMICs, will facilitate the application and wider utilization of this therapy to patients

Luminescent Pt-II and Pt-IV Platinacycles with Anticancer Activity Against Multiplatinum-Resistant Metastatic CRC and CRPC Cell Models

Platinum-based chemotherapy persists to be the only effective therapeutic option against a wide variety of tumours. Nevertheless, the acquisition of platinum resistance is utterly common, ultimately cornering conventional platinum drugs to only palliative in many patients. Thus, encountering alternatives that are both effective and non-cross-resistant is urgent. In this work, we report the synthesis, reduction studies, and luminescent properties of a series of cyclometallated (C,N,N')PtIV compounds derived from amine- imine ligands, and their remarkable efficacy at the high nanomolar range and complete lack of cross57 resistance, as an intrinsic property of the platinacycle, against multiplatinum-resistant colorectal cancer (CRC) and castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) metastatic cell lines generated for this work. We have also determined that the compounds are effective and selective for a broader cancer panel, including breast and lung cancer. Additionally, selected compounds have been further evaluated, finding a shift in their antiproliferative mechanism towards more cytotoxic and less cytostatic than cisplatin against cancer cells, being also able to oxidize cysteine residues and inhibit topoisomerase II, thereby holding great promise as future improved alternatives to conventional platinum drugs

Finding and tracing human MSC in 3D microenvironments with the photoconvertible proteinDendra2

Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells (MSC) are a promising cell type for cell-based therapies - from tissue regeneration to treatment of autoimmune diseases - due to their capacity to migrate to damaged tissues, to differentiate in different lineages and to their immunomodulatory and paracrine properties. Here, a simple and reliable imaging technique was developed to study MSC dynamical behavior in natural and bioengineered 3D matrices. Human MSC were transfected to express a fluorescent photoswitchable protein, Dendra2, which was used to highlight and follow the same group of cells for more than seven days, even if removed from the microscope to the incubator. This strategy provided reliable tracking in 3D microenvironments with different properties, including the hydrogels Matrigel and alginate as well as chitosan porous scaffolds. Comparison of cells mobility within matrices with tuned physicochemical properties revealed that MSC embedded in Matrigel migrated 64% more with 5.2 mg protein/mL than with 9.6 mg/mL and that MSC embedded in RGD-alginate migrated 51% faster with 1% polymer concentration than in 2% RGD-alginate. This platform thus provides a straightforward approach to characterize MSC dynamics in 3D and has applications in the field of stem cell biology and for the development of biomaterials for tissue regeneration

Emergence of Tuning to Natural Stimulus Statistics along the Central Auditory Pathway

We have previously shown that neurons in primary auditory cortex (A1) of anaesthetized (ketamine/medetomidine) ferrets respond more strongly and reliably to dynamic stimuli whose statistics follow "natural" 1/f dynamics than to stimuli exhibiting pitch and amplitude modulations that are faster (1/f(0.5)) or slower (1/f(2)) than 1/f. To investigate where along the central auditory pathway this 1/f-modulation tuning arises, we have now characterized responses of neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) and the ventral division of the mediate geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (MGV) to 1/f(gamma) distributed stimuli with gamma varying between 0.5 and 2.8. We found that, while the great majority of neurons recorded from the ICC showed a strong preference for the most rapidly varying (1/f(0.5) distributed) stimuli, responses from MGV neurons did not exhibit marked or systematic preferences for any particular gamma exponent. Only in A1 did a majority of neurons respond with higher firing rates to stimuli in which gamma takes values near 1. These results indicate that 1/f tuning emerges at forebrain levels of the ascending auditory pathway

Molecular Characterization of HIV-1 CRF01_AE in Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and Impact of T-Cell Epitope Mutations on HLA Recognition (ANRS 12159)

To date, 11 HIV-1 subtypes and 48 circulating recombinant forms have been described worldwide. The underlying reason why their distribution is so heterogeneous is not clear. Host genetic factors could partly explain this distribution. The aim of this study was to describe HIV-1 strains circulating in an unexplored area of Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and to assess the impact of optimal epitope mutations on HLA binding.We recruited 125 chronically antiretroviral-naive HIV-1-infected subjects from five cities in the Mekong Delta. We performed high-resolution DNA typing of HLA class I alleles, sequencing of Gag and RT-Prot genes and phylogenetic analysis of the strains. Epitope mutations were analyzed in patients bearing the HLA allele restricting the studied epitope. Optimal wild-type epitopes from the Los Alamos database were used as reference. T-cell epitope recognition was predicted using the immune epitope database tool according to three different scores involved in antigen processing (TAP and proteasome scores) and HLA binding (MHC score). with a Vietnamese specificity held by two different haplotypes. The percentage of homology between Mekong and B consensus HIV-1 sequences was above 85%. Divergent epitopes had TAP and proteasome scores comparable with wild-type epitopes. MHC scores were significantly lower in divergent epitopes with a mean of 2.4 (±0.9) versus 2 (±0.7) in non-divergent ones (p<0.0001).Our study confirms the wide predominance of CRF01_AE in the Mekong Delta where patients harbor a specific HLA pattern. Moreover, it demonstrates the lower MHC binding affinity among divergent epitopes. This weak immune pressure combined with a narrow genetic diversity favors immune escape and could explain why CRF01_AE is still predominant in Vietnam, particularly in the Mekong area

Quality versus quantity of social ties in experimental cooperative networks

Recent studies suggest that allowing individuals to choose their partners can help to maintain cooperation in human social networks; this behaviour can supplement behavioural reciprocity, whereby humans are influenced to cooperate by peer pressure. However, it is unknown how the rate of forming and breaking social ties affects our capacity to cooperate. Here we use a series of online experiments involving 1,529 unique participants embedded in 90 experimental networks, to show that there is a ‘Goldilocks’ effect of network dynamism on cooperation. When the rate of change in social ties is too low, subjects choose to have many ties, even if they attach to defectors. When the rate is too high, cooperators cannot detach from defectors as much as defectors re-attach and, hence, subjects resort to behavioural reciprocity and switch their behaviour to defection. Optimal levels of cooperation are achieved at intermediate levels of change in social ties