Performance of surveillance case definitions for respiratory syncytial virus infections through the sentinel influenza surveillance system, Portugal, 2010 to 2018

Background: Well-established influenza surveillance systems (ISS) can be used for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surveillance. In Portugal, RSV cases are detected through the ISS using the European Union (EU) influenza-like illness (ILI) case definition. Aim: To investigate clinical predictors for RSV infection and how three case definitions (EU ILI, a modified EU acute respiratory infection, and one respiratory symptom) performed in detecting RSV infections in Portugal. Methods: This observational retrospective study used epidemiological and laboratory surveillance data (October 2010–May 2018). Associations between clinical characteristics and RSV detection were analysed using logistic regression. Accuracy of case definitions was assessed through sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). A 0.05 significance level was accepted. Results: The study involved 6,523 persons, including 190 (2.9%) RSV cases. Among 183 cases with age information, RSV infection was significantly more frequent among individuals < 5 years (n = 23; 12.6%) and ≥ 65 years (n = 45; 24.6%) compared with other age groups (p < 0.0001). Cough (odds ratio (OR): 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–6.5) was the best RSV-infection predictor considering all age groups, while shortness of breath was particularly associated with RSV-positivity among ≤ 14 year olds (OR: 6.7; 95% CI: 2.6–17.4 for 0–4 year olds and OR: 6.7; 95% CI: 1.5–28.8 for 5–14 year olds). Systemic symptoms were significantly associated with RSV-negative and influenza-positive cases. None of the case definitions were suitable to detect RSV infections (AUC = 0.51). Conclusion: To avoid underestimating the RSV disease burden, RSV surveillance within the Portuguese sentinel ISS would require a more sensitive case definition than ILI and, even a different case definition according to age.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Screening of contaminants of emerging concern in surface water and wastewater effluents, assisted by the Persistency-Mobility-Toxicity Criteria

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are compounds of diverse origins that have not been deeply studied in the past which are now accruing growing environmental interest. The NOR-Water project aimed to identify the main CECs and their sources in the water environment of Northern Portugal–Galicia (located in northwest Spain) transnational region. To achieve these goals, a suspect screening analytical methodology based on the use of liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) was applied to 29 sampling sites in two campaigns. These sampling sites included river and sea water, as well as treated wastewater. The screening was driven by a library of over 3500 compounds, which included 604 compounds prioritized from different relevant lists on the basis of the persistency, mobility, and toxicity criteria. Thus, a total of 343 chemicals could be tentatively identified in the analyzed samples. This list of 343 identified chemicals was submitted to the classification workflow used for prioritization and resulted in 153 chemicals tentatively classified as persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) and 23 as very persistent and very mobile (vMvP), pinpointing the relevance of these types of chemicals in the aqueous environment. Pharmaceuticals, such as the antidepressant venlafaxine or the antipsychotic sulpiride, and industrial chemicals, especially high production volume chemicals (HPVC) such as ε-caprolactam, were the groups of compounds that were detected at the highest frequencies.This research was funded by Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2021/06) and the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal Programme (POCTEP) 2014-2020 (ref. 0725_NOR_WATER_1_P). R. M. acknowledges Banco Santander and Universidade de Santiago de Compostela for her outstanding researcher contract and N. A. acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for his Ph.D. grant DFA/BD/6218/2020.S

Casas de infinitas privaciones: ¿Germen de ciudades para todos?

La presente colección Ciudades de la Gente representa a hombres y mujeres cuya cultura popular, producto de las mezclas de todos aquellos que vivían y otros que han llegado a nuestros territorios, han hecho de lugares declarados como no aptos, lugares donde vivir, y han creado dentro de nuestras ciudades, la extensión de lo distinto. Son hombres y mujeres cuyo trabajo, el que tienen para aportar, junto al de otros y otras de su misma condición, les ha permitido autoproducir interesantes y sin duda bellos espacios donde convivir. Los profesores e investigadores miembros del Grupo de Trabajo Hábitat Popular e Inclusión Social de CLACSO, nos unimos a todos aquellos hacedores que, superando los miedos y con deseos de avanzar, se atreven a caminar por lo desconocido y a no conformarse con lo conocido de otras realidades, buscando en conjunto afirmar, como derechos universales, las posibilidades de vidas dignas y de construcciones colectivas dentro de nuestras ciudades. Emprendemos la tarea de describir e interpretar el hábitat popular y la inclusión social, abriendo posibilidades para que, experimentados y debutantes líderes populares e investigadores, hablen sobre "las ciudades de la gente" de muy diversos modos

Aging and computational systems biology

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mooney, K. M., Morgan, A. E., & Mc Auley, M. T. (2016). Aging and computational systems biology. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Systems Biology and Medicine, 8(2), 123-139, which has been published in final form at doi10.1002/wsbm.1328. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingAging research is undergoing a paradigm shift, which has led to new and innovative methods of exploring this complex phenomenon. The systems biology approach endeavors to understand biological systems in a holistic manner, by taking account of intrinsic interactions, while also attempting to account for the impact of external inputs, such as diet. A key technique employed in systems biology is computational modeling, which involves mathematically describing and simulating the dynamics of biological systems. Although a large number of computational models have been developed in recent years, these models have focused on various discrete components of the aging process, and to date no model has succeeded in completely representing the full scope of aging. Combining existing models or developing new models may help to address this need and in so doing could help achieve an improved understanding of the intrinsic mechanisms which underpin aging