To burn-out or not to burn-out: A cross-sectional study in healthcare professionals in Spain during COVID-19 pandemic

Objective To assess the prevalence of burn-out syndrome in healthcare workers working on the front line (FL) in Spain during COVID-19. Design Cross-sectional, online survey-based study. Settings Sampling was performed between 21st April and 3rd May 2020. The survey collected demographic data and questions regarding participants' working position since pandemic outbreak. Participants Spanish healthcare workers working on the FL or usual ward were eligible. A total of 674 healthcare professionals answered the survey. Main outcomes and measures Burn-out syndrome was assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Medical Personnel. Results Of the 643 eligible responding participants, 408 (63.5%) were physicians, 172 (26.8%) were nurses and 63 (9.8%) other technical occupations. 377 (58.6%) worked on the FL. Most participants were women (472 (73.4%)), aged 31-40 years (163 (25.3%)) and worked in tertiary hospitals (>600 beds) (260 (40.4%)). Prevalence of burn-out syndrome was 43.4% (95% CI 39.5% to 47.2%), higher in COVID-19 FL workers (49.6%, p<0.001) than in non-COVID-19 FL workers (34.6%, p<0.001). Women felt more burn-out (60.8%, p=0.016), were more afraid of self-infection (61.9%, p=0.021) and of their performance and quality of care provided to the patients (75.8%, p=0.015) than men. More burn-out were those between 20 and 30 years old (65.2%, p=0.026) and those with more than 15 years of experience (53.7%, p=0.035). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that, working on COVID-19 FL (OR 1.93; 95% CI 1.37 to 2.71, p<0.001), being a woman (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.29, p=0.022), being under 30 years old (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.89, p=0.028) and being a physician (OR 1.64; 95% CI 1.11 to 2.41, p=0.011) were associated with high risk of burn-out syndrome. Conclusions This survey study of healthcare professionals reported high rates of burn-out syndrome. Interventions to promote mental well-being in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 need to be immediately implemented.publishersversionpublishe

Clinical factors influencing long-term survival in a real-life cohort of early stage non-small-cell lung cancer patients in Spain

Funding Information: This work was supported in part by Centro de Matematica e Aplicaçoes, UID (MAT/00297/2020), Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology. Acknowledgments Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Torrente, Sousa, Guerreiro, Franco, Hernández, Parejo, Sousa, Campo-Cañaveral, Pimentão and Provencio.Background: Current prognosis in oncology is reduced to the tumour stage and performance status, leaving out many other factors that may impact the patient´s management. Prognostic stratification of early stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with poor prognosis after surgery is of considerable clinical relevance. The objective of this study was to identify clinical factors associated with long-term overall survival in a real-life cohort of patients with stage I-II NSCLC and develop a prognostic model that identifies features associated with poor prognosis and stratifies patients by risk. Methods: This is a cohort study including 505 patients, diagnosed with stage I-II NSCLC, who underwent curative surgical procedures at a tertiary hospital in Madrid, Spain. Results: Median OS (in months) was 63.7 (95% CI, 58.7-68.7) for the whole cohort, 62.4 in patients submitted to surgery and 65 in patients submitted to surgery and adjuvant treatment. The univariate analysis estimated that a female diagnosed with NSCLC has a 0.967 (95% CI 0.936 - 0.999) probability of survival one year after diagnosis and a 0.784 (95% CI 0.712 - 0.863) five years after diagnosis. For males, these probabilities drop to 0.904 (95% CI 0.875 - 0.934) and 0.613 (95% CI 0.566 - 0.665), respectively. Multivariable analysis shows that sex, age at diagnosis, type of treatment, ECOG-PS, and stage are statistically significant variables (p1) while adjuvant chemotherapy is a good prognostic variable (HR<1). The prognostic model identified a high-risk profile defined by males over 71 years old, former smokers, treated with surgery, ECOG-PS 2. Conclusions: The results of the present study found that, overall, adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with the best long-term OS in patients with resected NSCLC. Age, stage and ECOG-PS were also significant factors to take into account when making decisions regarding adjuvant therapy.publishersversionpublishe

Determination of essential biomarkers in lung cancer : a real-world data study in Spain with demographic, clinical, epidemiological and pathological characteristics

Background The survival of patients with lung cancer has substantially increased in the last decade by about 15%. This increase is, basically, due to targeted therapies available for advanced stages and the emergence of immunotherapy itself. This work aims to study the situation of biomarker testing in Spain. Patients and methods The Thoracic Tumours Registry (TTR) is an observational, prospective, registry-based study that included patients diagnosed with lung cancer and other thoracic tumours, from September 2016 to 2020. This TTR study was sponsored by the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (GECP) Foundation, an independent, scientific, multidisciplinary oncology society that coordinates more than 550 experts and 182 hospitals across the Spanish territory. Results Nine thousand two hundred thirty-nine patients diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 2106 and 2020 were analysed. 7,467 (80.8%) were non-squamous and 1,772 (19.2%) were squamous. Tumour marker testing was performed in 85.0% of patients with non-squamous tumours vs 56.3% in those with squamous tumours (p-value < 0.001). The global testing of EGFR, ALK, and ROS1 was 78.9, 64.7, 35.6% respectively, in non-squamous histology. PDL1 was determined globally in the same period (46.9%), although if we focus on the last 3 years it exceeds 85%. There has been a significant increase in the last few years of all determinations and there are even close to 10% of molecular determinations that do not yet have targeted drug approval but will have it in the near future. 4,115 cases had a positive result (44.5%) for either EGFR, ALK, KRAS, BRAF, ROS1, or high PDL1. Conclusions Despite the lack of a national project and standard protocol in Spain that regulates the determination of biomarkers, the situation is similar to other European countries. Given the growing number of different determinations and their high positivity, national strategies are urgently needed to implement next-generation sequencing (NGS) in an integrated and cost-effective way in lung cancer

Using Fuzzy Logic to Improve BLE Indoor Positioning System

Part 6: Intelligent EnvironmentsInternational audienceAccuracy and precision are key parameters in the definition of indoor positioning systems. We want to provide a mobile robot with the capacity to autonomously determining its location inside buildings, to allow it to autonomously navigate. The solution developed is based on spreading emitter beacons of Bluetooth Low Energy in the building and use location finding techniques to determine the robot’s location. The main challenge is the capacity to obtain accurate readings of signal strength and the low repeatability of readings even under unchanged conditions. To improve the signal strength measurements it is necessary to deal with this imprecision. Our approach is based on the use of Fuzzy Logic to deal with the accuracy problem. Once better signal strength readings are achieved, using this method, approximate distances are calculated based on signal strength and the trilateration method is implemented to provide the location of the mobile robot

Assessing the quality of mappings between Semantic Resources in Construction

International audienceThis paper discusses how to map between Semantic Resources (SRs) specifically created to represent knowledge in the Construction Sector and how to measure and assess the quality of such mappings. In particular results from the FUNSIEC project are presented, which investigated the feasibility of establishing semantic mappings among Construction-oriented SRs. The paper points to the next lines of inquiry to extend such work. In FUNSIEC, a Semantic Infrastructure was built using SRs that were semantically mapped among them. After the positive results from FUNSIEC, the obvious questions came up: how good are the mappings? Can we trust them? Can we use them? This paper presents FUNSIEC research (approach, methodology, and results) and the main di-rections of investigation to support its continuation, which is based on the ap-plication of fuzzy logics to qualify the mappings produced

Assessing the quality of mappings between Semantic Resources in Construction

International audienceThis paper discusses how to map between Semantic Resources (SRs) specifically created to represent knowledge in the Construction Sector and how to measure and assess the quality of such mappings. In particular results from the FUNSIEC project are presented, which investigated the feasibility of establishing semantic mappings among Construction-oriented SRs. The paper points to the next lines of inquiry to extend such work. In FUNSIEC, a Semantic Infrastructure was built using SRs that were semantically mapped among them. After the positive results from FUNSIEC, the obvious questions came up: how good are the mappings? Can we trust them? Can we use them? This paper presents FUNSIEC research (approach, methodology, and results) and the main di-rections of investigation to support its continuation, which is based on the ap-plication of fuzzy logics to qualify the mappings produced

Interoperability among Semantic Resources in Construction: Is it Feasible?

International audienceThis paper discusses the semantic interoperability in the Construction sector, from the viewpoint of the FUNSIEC project. Shortly, FUNSIEC project aimed to answer the following question: is it feasible to establish semantic mappings amongst Semantic Resources (SRs) specifically created for the Construction sector? This quest has been answered positively through the development of the Open Semantic Infrastructure for the European Construction Sector (OSIECS). FUNSIEC work relied in a methodology that supported the development of the OSIECS triad, which is formed by the OSIECS Kernel, the OSIECS metamodel, and the OSIECS model. This paper presents the OSIECS triad, discussing the approach adopted, the challenges faced, the problems overcome, and the results achieved. The work to be done to continue this work is also discussed

Interoperability among Semantic Resources in Construction: Is it Feasible?

International audienceThis paper discusses the semantic interoperability in the Construction sector, from the viewpoint of the FUNSIEC project. Shortly, FUNSIEC project aimed to answer the following question: is it feasible to establish semantic mappings amongst Semantic Resources (SRs) specifically created for the Construction sector? This quest has been answered positively through the development of the Open Semantic Infrastructure for the European Construction Sector (OSIECS). FUNSIEC work relied in a methodology that supported the development of the OSIECS triad, which is formed by the OSIECS Kernel, the OSIECS metamodel, and the OSIECS model. This paper presents the OSIECS triad, discussing the approach adopted, the challenges faced, the problems overcome, and the results achieved. The work to be done to continue this work is also discussed