Recovery of dialysis patients with COVID-19 : health outcomes 3 months after diagnosis in ERACODA

Background. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related short-term mortality is high in dialysis patients, but longer-term outcomes are largely unknown. We therefore assessed patient recovery in a large cohort of dialysis patients 3 months after their COVID-19 diagnosis. Methods. We analyzed data on dialysis patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2021 from the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database (ERACODA). The outcomes studied were patient survival, residence and functional and mental health status (estimated by their treating physician) 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Complete follow-up data were available for 854 surviving patients. Patient characteristics associated with recovery were analyzed using logistic regression. Results. In 2449 hemodialysis patients (mean ± SD age 67.5 ± 14.4 years, 62% male), survival probabilities at 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis were 90% for nonhospitalized patients (n = 1087), 73% for patients admitted to the hospital but not to an intensive care unit (ICU) (n = 1165) and 40% for those admitted to an ICU (n = 197). Patient survival hardly decreased between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. At 3 months, 87% functioned at their pre-existent functional and 94% at their pre-existent mental level. Only few of the surviving patients were still admitted to the hospital (0.8-6.3%) or a nursing home (∼5%). A higher age and frailty score at presentation and ICU admission were associated with worse functional outcome. Conclusions. Mortality between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis was low and the majority of patients who survived COVID-19 recovered to their pre-existent functional and mental health level at 3 months after diagnosis

Uncertainty in Soft Constraint Problems

none2noneM. S. Pini; F. RossiPini, MARIA SILVIA; Rossi, Francesc

Understanding Users’ Health Information Privacy Concerns for Health Wearables

Health information privacy concerns (HIPC) are commonly cited as primary barrier to the ongoing growth of health wearables (HW) for private users. However, little is known about the driving factors of HIPC and the nature of users’ privacy perception. Seven semi-structured focus groups with current users of HWs were conducted to empirically explore factors driving users’ HIPC. Based on an iterative thematic analysis approach, where the interview codes were systematically matched with literature, I develop a thematic map that visualizes the privacy perception of HW users. In particular this map uncovers three central factors (Dilemma of Forced Acceptance, State-Trait Data Sensitivity and Transparency) on HIPC, which HW users have to deal with

Gomory cuts in a hybrid constraint programming approach

Recently, many successful hybrid approaches which use both constraint programming (CP) and operations research (OR) techniques to solve a problem have been proposed. They usually use OR techniques, like cutting planes, which are specific to the problem. In this paper we investigate the use of generic cutting planes (more specifically, Gomory cuts) in a typical CP-OR hybrid approach. This allows us to have a general algorithm to be applied to all problem classes. We will show that our approach is indeed promising: on the class of partial latin square completion problems, the performance of our algorithm is comparable to that of a pure CP algorithmand better in several cases. In particular we will show that the hybrid approach solves many problem instances that the CP approach is not able to solve in a reasonable amount of time

Extracellular Matrix (ECM) Remodeling in the airways of OA challenged brown normay (BN) rats.

4sinonenoneL. PINI; J.G. MARTIN; Q. HAMID; M.S. LUDWIG.Pini, Laura; J. G., Martin; Q., Hamid; M. S., Ludwi

Effect of training on airways inflammatory response and remodeling in a rat model

Training has many beneficial effects, however few studies report its effects on the lungs. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of acute exercise and exercise training on inflammatory responses and remodeling in central and peripheral airways. Sixteen Sprague-Dawley rats trained for 10weeks, while 14 rats served as controls. Before sacrifice, 8 trained (TR(AC)) and 8 untrained control (CON(AC)) rats underwent a single acute exercise bout, while 8 trained (TR) and 6 untrained control (CON) rats were sacrificed without acute exercise. The central and peripheral airways were morphologically examined for inflammatory cells and immunostained for decorin, collagen I, \u3b1-smooth muscle actin. No significant differences were found for morphometric analysis in central and peripheral airways, however CON(AC) showed a significant increase in polymorphonuclear cells in the central airways compared to CON. In contrast, TR(AC) did not show an inflammatory response different from TR. A similar trend was present in peripheral airways. Training did not induce differences in airways inflammation and remodeling as compared to CON. However, training seemed to limit the inflammatory response induced by acute exercise in the central airways