CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

¿Cómo evaluar el desarrollo integral de los niños especiales?

ESPECIAL", es una expresión que abarca a los niños y niñas con discapacidades físicas, a los que tienen problemas de aprendizaje y/o conducta, a los intelectuales dotados, a los que tienen retraso mental, a los niños y niñas perturbados emocionalmente y a los nacidos con algún síndrome como el Down, Pierre Robin, mongolismo, parálisis cerebral y otros

Sistematización de la ejecución del ensayo de consolidación en arcillas inorgánicas y de los cálculos asociados

The paper presents the Systematization of the consolidation test, installing to the consolidometer the linear strain transducer and the digital output device of the direct shear machine, all available in the Soil Laboratory of the School of Civil Engineering, University Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado. The adaptation was done through an interface between the computer and the device, to allow automated reading of vertical strain in clay soil samples subjected to load variations. These data are further processed by a software developed in this study that records the values and perform calculations related to the consolidation process. The software and the adaptation described, reduce errors of assessment data collection, lessen the subjectivity of the manual procedure to determine the parameters and indices associated with the consolidation test by applying mathematical functions and processes. Additionally, streamline the collection of results.El trabajo presenta la sistematización del ensayo de consolidación, instalándole al consolidómetro el transductor de longitudes y el dispositivo de salida digital de la máquina de corte directo, todos existentes en el Laboratorio de Suelos del Decanato de Ingeniería Civil de la Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado. La adaptación se realizó mediante una interfaz entre el computador y dicho dispositivo para permitir la lectura automatizada de deformaciones verticales en muestras de suelos arcillosos sometidas a variaciones de cargas. Estos datos son procesados posteriormente mediante un software elaborado en esta investigación que registra los valores y realiza los cálculos inherentes al proceso de consolidación. El software y la adaptación descrita, reducen los errores de apreciación en la toma de datos, disminuyen la subjetividad del procedimiento manual para determinar los parámetros e índices asociados del ensayo de consolidación al aplicar funciones y procesos matemáticos. Adicionalmente agilizan la obtención de los resultado

Phylogeny and latitudinal biogeography of the Papillomaviridae Family

Introduction: The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), a fundamental ecology pattern for higher organisms, has explained the increase of species diversity from the poles towards the tropics. Can we explain the biodiversity of Papillomaviruses based on this pattern? Objective: To analyse the phylogenetic diversity and phylogeography of most known genotypes and species belonging to Papillomaviridae Family isolated and molecularly characterized by distant latitudinal locations around the world. Methods: We collected 238 gene sequences encoding for the L1 and L2 viral capsid proteins from PaVE database. A geographical heat map based on the PV locations allowed to analyse the distribution and the number of PV species per country. Subsequently, a phylogenetic tree based on concatenated amino acid sequences L1 and L2 was constructed using a combination of Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods with Geneious version 11.2.1 and BEAST version 1.8.4.  Statistical analysis with Principal Coordinate Analyses (PCA) using the Jaccard similarity index for presence-absence were carried out to test the similarity of the groups in the phylogenetic tree based on their viral species, the host and origin country lists. Distance-based redundancy analysis generated an ordination plot of the similarity of viral species list per group of the phylogenetic tree vs. host species per group, the country list per group and the number of samples per group. Finally, the significance of each model was tested by Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: A clear tendency of most of the papillomavirus (PV) species clustering in the Northern regions appeared. Our phylogenetic analyses largely support the taxonomic division into major papillomavirus genera (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Lambda, Xi, Upsilon and Chi papillomaviruses), as reported in previous studies. Chelonid PV’s, a papillomavirus in turtles, appeared as the oldest group for all papillomaviruses. Minor inconsistencies were found within some of the major taxonomic groups explained by the exhausted phylogenetic analyses. Due to the different sampling data efforts with little replication in certain groups, hosts and countries, numerical models did not fit to the proposed hypothesis. Conclusions: Phylogeographical analysis allowed determining the global distribution of papillomaviruses species diversity per latitudinal location. As most of the papillomavirus (PV) species were clustered in the Northern regions, this may clearly represent a statistical bias because larger efforts in PV studies have historically been done in the US and Europe. The biogeographical trend of a latitudinal diversity gradient does not apply for papillomaviruses. Even though no support to the phylogeographical pattern of LDG for PV was obtained, our results may only be the product of a socio-economical-scientific artefact and not a natural phenomenon.</jats:p

Implantación del identificador ORCID en las universidades andaluzas

Se describe el proceso de implantación del sistema de identificación para autores ORCID por parte de las Bibliotecas del Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Andalucía (CBUA). Se hace un análisis de la organización del trabajo y se describen las fases para la implantación e integración de este identificador en los sistemas institucionales, así como las repercusiones en el PDI y en la propia institució

Estimating the Quantity of Non-Tariff Measures SADC Meat and Milk Trade

Global trade protection in the form of tariffs has been on the downward trend since the conclusion of the World Trade Organisation Uruguay Round of negotiations. The same pattern was observed in SADC as well as other regional integration groups. In SADC the declining trade protection was not accompanied by improvement in trade performance. If anything, the share of intra-SADC trade has actually declined during the phase down of tariffs in the eight year period. This study explores the possible reason for poor trade performance in the tariff reducing environment using meat and dairy markets as case studies over the period 2000 to 2010. It is hypothesised that non tariff measures (NTMs) are more trade restricting that tariffs. The statistics show that on average each agricultural product traded is affected by about ten NTM. These vary from country to country, with Mozambique having the highest incidence of NTMs, and the lowest being Malawi. On a product level, fruits are the most affected products with more about 40% of all NTMs applied. The gravity model was used to estimate intra-SADC trade and to evaluate the quantity impacts of NTMs on tariffs. The NTMs applied to meat products were found to be as high as 400% compared to roughly 200% for dairy. Furthermore, it was found that in the case of dairy tariffs and NTMs were used jointly as means of protection. This implies that there is a need to focus attention, both in research and policy on the NTMs