How peoples' ratings of dental implant treatment change over time

Objectives: Dental implant treatment (DIT) improves peoples’ oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL). Assessment of changes in OHRQoL may be undermined by response shift (RS). RS is the process by which quality of life change, independent of health status as a result recalibration, reprioritization or reconceptualization. Thus, this research aimed to identify RS in individuals receiving dental implant treatment and to determine the validity of three approaches to measure it; the then-test, the self-anchored scale and the classification and regression trees (CRT). Methods: OHRQoL was assessed in 100 patients receiving DIT using the OHIP-Edent and the self-anchored scale before placement of the final restoration and 3 to 6 months after the treatment was completed. The OHIP-Edent was also used as a retrospective assessment at the follow-up. CRT examined changes in the OHIP-Edent total score as a dependent variable with global changes in oral health and each OHIP-Edent subscale score as independent variables. Results: OHRQoL improved after treatment. The OHIP-Edent score decreased from 36.4 at baseline to 12.7 after treatment. On average participants recalibrated their internal standard downwards (-4.0 OHIP-Edent points). The CRT detected recalibration (5% downwards and 15% upwards). Reprioritization was observed among the social disability and psychological discomfort aspects of OHRQoL. Conclusions: RS affects longitudinal assessments of OHRQoL in DIT reducing the apparent magnitude of change. Results of this study identified then-test and the CRT as valid complementary methods to assess RS

From waste to energy: microalgae production in wastewater and glycerol.

The present work aimed to evaluate the auto/mixotrophic growth of microalgae using domestic wastewater (WW) amended with glycerol aiming biofuels production. The best results were obtained with the highest glycerol supplementation (50 mM). In such condition, Chlorella vulgaris and Botryococcus terribilis showed a biomass productivity of 118 and 282 mg l−1 d−1, which produced about 18 and 35 mg l−1 d−1 of lipids, respectively. Thus, if scaled-up (200 m3 d−1 of WW, 240 working days y−1) biomass and lipid yields may be about 5.6 tons y−1 and 894.2 kg y−1 or 13.5 tons y−1 and 1.6 tons y−1 for C. vulgaris and B. terribilis, respectively. The mixotrophic production of lipids can generate high quality biodiesel according to estimations using their fatty acids profiles. The whole process can be advantageously combined with the production of other biofuels (e.g. methane and bio-ethanol) in a biorefinery scenario. This combination of algal biomass production with waste treatment (WW amended with glycerol) can have a significant impact in the water treatment sector and local markets

Red List assessment of amphibian species of Ecuador: A multidimensional approach for their conservation.

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, but faces severe pressures and threats to its natural ecosystems. Numerous species have declined and require to be objectively evaluated and quantified, as a step towards the development of conservation strategies. Herein, we present an updated National Red List Assessment for amphibian species of Ecuador, with one of the most detailed and complete coverages for any Ecuadorian taxonomic group to date. Based on standardized methodologies that integrate taxonomic work, spatial analyses, and ecological niche modeling, we assessed the extinction risk and identified the main threats for all Ecuadorian native amphibians (635 species), using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Our evaluation reveals that 57% (363 species) are categorized as Threatened, 12% (78 species) as Near Threatened, 4% (26 species) as Data Deficient, and 27% (168 species) as Least Concern. Our assessment almost doubles the number of threatened species in comparison with previous evaluations. In addition to habitat loss, the expansion of the agricultural/cattle raising frontier and other anthropogenic threats (roads, human settlements, and mining/oil activities) amplify the incidence of other pressures as relevant predictors of ecological integrity. Potential synergic effects with climate change and emergent diseases (apparently responsible for the sudden declines), had particular importance amongst the threats sustained by Ecuadorian amphibians. Most threatened species are distributed in montane forests and paramo habitats of the Andes, with nearly 10% of them occurring outside the National System of Protected Areas of the Ecuadorian government. Based on our results, we recommend the following actions: (i) An increase of the National System of Protected Areas to include threatened species. (ii) Supporting the ex/in-situ conservation programs to protect species considered like Critically Endangered and Endangered. (iii) Focalizing research efforts towards the description of new species, as well as species currently categorized as Data Deficient (DD) that may turn out to be threatened. The implementation of the described actions is challenging, but urgent, given the current conservation crisis faced by amphibians

COVID-19 in hospitalized HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients : A matched study

CatedresObjectives: We compared the characteristics and clinical outcomes of hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 with [people with HIV (PWH)] and without (non-PWH) HIV co-infection in Spain during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study. People with HIV were identified by reviewing clinical records and laboratory registries of 10 922 patients in active-follow-up within the Spanish HIV Research Network (CoRIS) up to 30 June 2020. Each hospitalized PWH was matched with five non-PWH of the same age and sex randomly selected from COVID-19@Spain, a multicentre cohort of 4035 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19. The main outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Results: Forty-five PWH with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were identified in CoRIS, 21 of whom were hospitalized. A total of 105 age/sex-matched controls were selected from the COVID-19@Spain cohort. The median age in both groups was 53 (Q1-Q3, 46-56) years, and 90.5% were men. In PWH, 19.1% were injecting drug users, 95.2% were on antiretroviral therapy, 94.4% had HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL, and the median (Q1-Q3) CD4 count was 595 (349-798) cells/μL. No statistically significant differences were found between PWH and non-PWH in number of comorbidities, presenting signs and symptoms, laboratory parameters, radiology findings and severity scores on admission. Corticosteroids were administered to 33.3% and 27.4% of PWH and non-PWH, respectively (P = 0.580). Deaths during admission were documented in two (9.5%) PWH and 12 (11.4%) non-PWH (P = 0.800). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that well-controlled HIV infection does not modify the clinical presentation or worsen clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalization

How do women living with HIV experience menopause? Menopausal symptoms, anxiety and depression according to reproductive age in a multicenter cohort

CatedresBackground: To estimate the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and anxiety/depression and to assess the differences according to menopausal status among women living with HIV aged 45-60 years from the cohort of Spanish HIV/AIDS Research Network (CoRIS). Methods: Women were interviewed by phone between September 2017 and December 2018 to determine whether they had experienced menopausal symptoms and anxiety/depression. The Menopause Rating Scale was used to evaluate the prevalence and severity of symptoms related to menopause in three subscales: somatic, psychologic and urogenital; and the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire was used for anxiety/depression. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of association between menopausal status, and other potential risk factors, the presence and severity of somatic, psychological and urogenital symptoms and of anxiety/depression. Results: Of 251 women included, 137 (54.6%) were post-, 70 (27.9%) peri- and 44 (17.5%) pre-menopausal, respectively. Median age of onset menopause was 48 years (IQR 45-50). The proportions of pre-, peri- and post-menopausal women who had experienced any menopausal symptoms were 45.5%, 60.0% and 66.4%, respectively. Both peri- and post-menopause were associated with a higher likelihood of having somatic symptoms (aOR 3.01; 95% CI 1.38-6.55 and 2.63; 1.44-4.81, respectively), while post-menopause increased the likelihood of having psychological (2.16; 1.13-4.14) and urogenital symptoms (2.54; 1.42-4.85). By other hand, post-menopausal women had a statistically significant five-fold increase in the likelihood of presenting severe urogenital symptoms than pre-menopausal women (4.90; 1.74-13.84). No significant differences by menopausal status were found for anxiety/depression. Joint/muscle problems, exhaustion and sleeping disorders were the most commonly reported symptoms among all women. Differences in the prevalences of vaginal dryness (p = 0.002), joint/muscle complaints (p = 0.032), and sweating/flush (p = 0.032) were found among the three groups. Conclusions: Women living with HIV experienced a wide variety of menopausal symptoms, some of them initiated before women had any menstrual irregularity. We found a higher likelihood of somatic symptoms in peri- and post-menopausal women, while a higher likelihood of psychological and urogenital symptoms was found in post-menopausal women. Most somatic symptoms were of low or moderate severity, probably due to the good clinical and immunological situation of these women