Continuous Monitoring of High‐Rise Buildings Using Seismic Interferometry

The linear seismic response of a building is commonly extracted from ambient vibration measurements. Seismic deconvolution interferometry performed on ambient vibrations can be used to estimate the dynamic characteristics of a building, such as its shear-wave velocity and its damping. The continuous nature of the ambient vibrations allows us to measure these parameters repeatedly and to observe their temporal variations. We used 2 weeks of ambient vibrations, recorded by 36 accelerometers that were installed in the Green Building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, to monitor the shear wavespeed and the apparent attenuation factor of the building. Because of the low strain of the ambient vibrations, we observed small speed changes followed by recoveries. We showed that measuring the velocity variations for the deconvolution functions, filtered around the fundamental-mode frequency, is equivalent to measuring the wandering of the fundamental frequency in the raw ambient vibration data. By comparing these results with local weather parameters, we showed that the air humidity is the dominating factor in the velocity variations of the waves in the Green Building, as well as the main force behind the wandering of the fundamental mode. The one-day periodic variations are affected by both the temperature and the humidity. The apparent attenuation, measured as the exponential decay of the fundamental-mode waveforms, is strongly biased due to the amplitude of the raw vibrations and shows a more complex behavior with respect to the weather measurements. We have also detected normal-mode nonlinear interaction for the Green Building, likely due to heterogeneity or anisotropy of its structure. We found that the temporal behavior of the frequency singlets may be used for monitoring.Royal Dutch-Shell Group (through MIT Energy Initiative)National Science Foundation (U. S.) (Grant Grant EAR-1415907

Towards ultrasound travel time tomography for quantifying human limb geometry and material properties

Sound speed inversions made using simulated time of flight data from a numerical limb-mimicking phantom comprised of soft tissue and a bone inclusion demonstrate that wave front tracking forward modeling combined with 1 regularization could lead to accurate estimates of bone sound-speed. Ultrasonic tomographic imaging of limbs has the potential to impact prosthetic socket fitting, as well as detect and track muscular dystrophy diseases, osteoporosis and bone fractures at low cost and without radiation exposure. Research in ultrasound tomography of bones has increased in the last 10 years, however, methods delivering clinically useful sound-speed inversions are lacking. Inversions for the sound-speed of the numerical phantoms using 1 and 2 regularizations are compared using wave front forward models. The simulations are based on a custom-made cylindrically-scanning tomographic medical ultrasound system (0.5 – 5 MHz) consisting of two acoustic transducers capable of collecting pulse echo and travel time measurements over the entire 360° aperture. Keywords: Ultrasound tomography, bone, migration, reverse time migratio

Comprehensive analysis and insights gained from long-term experience of the Spanish DILI Registry

Background & aims: Prospective drug-induced liver injury (DILI) registries are important sources of information on idiosyncratic DILI. We aimed to present a comprehensive analysis of 843 patients with DILI enrolled into the Spanish DILI Registry over a 20-year time period. Methods: Cases were identified, diagnosed and followed prospectively. Clinical features, drug information and outcome data were collected. Results: A total of 843 patients, with a mean age of 54 years (48% females), were enrolled up to 2018. Hepatocellular injury was associated with younger age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] per year 0.983; 95% CI 0.974-0.991) and lower platelet count (aOR per unit 0.996; 95% CI 0.994-0.998). Anti-infectives were the most common causative drug class (40%). Liver-related mortality was more frequent in patients with hepatocellular damage aged ≥65 years (p = 0.0083) and in patients with underlying liver disease (p = 0.0221). Independent predictors of liver-related death/transplantation included nR-based hepatocellular injury, female sex, higher onset aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and bilirubin values. nR-based hepatocellular injury was not associated with 6-month overall mortality, for which comorbidity burden played a more important role. The prognostic capacity of Hy's law varied between causative agents. Empirical therapy (corticosteroids, ursodeoxycholic acid and MARS) was prescribed to 20% of patients. Drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis patients (26 cases) were mainly females (62%) with hepatocellular damage (92%), who more frequently received immunosuppressive therapy (58%).The present study has been supported by grants of Instituto de Salud Carlos III cofounded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional – FEDER (contract numbers: PI19/00883, PI16/01748, PI18/00901, PI18/01804, PI-0285-2016, PI-0274-2016, PI-0310- 2018, PT17/0017/0020) and Agencia Española del Medicamento. CIBERehd and Plataforma ISCIII Ensayos Clinicos are funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III. MRD holds a Joan Rodes (JR16/ 00015)/Acción B clinicos investigadores (B-0002-2019) and JSC a Rio Hortega (CM17/00243) research contract from ISCIII and Consejería de Salud de Andalucía. The funding sources had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report or in the de- cision to submit the manuscript for publication

Elective cancer surgery in COVID-19-free surgical pathways during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An international, multicenter, comparative cohort study

PURPOSE As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19–free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19–free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19–free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19–free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score–matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19–free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks

Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19-free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19-free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS: Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19-free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19-free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score-matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19-free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Variaciones globales y de largo alcance de duración de la fuente y escala para terremotos de profundidad intermedia y foco profundo

The systematic behavior of earthquake rupture as a function of earthquake magnitude and/or tectonic setting is a key in our understanding of the physical mechanisms involved during earthquake rupture. Geophysical evidence suggests that although deep earthquakes—including intermediate?depth and deep—are similar to shallow ones, the mechanism involved during deep earthquakes is different from that of shallow ones. In particular, the magnitude and depth dependence of scaled duration, a measure of earthquake rupture duration, has led to controversy of what controls deep earthquake behavior. Here we estimate scaled source durations for 600 intermediate?depth and deep?focus earthquakes recorded at teleseismic distances and show deviation from self?similar scaling. No depth dependence is observed which we interpret as due to little differences between intermediate?depth and deep?focus earthquake mechanisms. The data show no correlation between durations and plate age or thermal parameters, suggesting that the thermal properties of the plate have little effect on source durations. We nevertheless report differences in average source duration and scaling between subduction zones and along?strike variations of source durations that more closely resemble the geometry of subduction (flat or steep subduction) rather than plate age

Una evaluación numérica de la atenuación de las funciones de correlación de ruido ambiental.

The ambient noise correlation function (NCF) calculated between seismic stations contains, under appropriate conditions, accurate travel time information. However, NCF amplitudes are highly debated due to noise source intensity and distribution, seismic intrinsic attenuation, scattering, and elastic path effects such as focusing and defocusing. We prove with various numerical simulations that the NCFs calculated for a uniformly dispersive medium using the coherency method preserve accurate geometrical spreading and attenuation decay. We show that for a wide range of noise source distributions, the coherency of the noise correlation functions matches a Bessel function decaying exponentially with a specific attenuation coefficient. Conditions needed to obtain these results include averaging over long enough time intervals, a uniformly distributed seismic network, and a good distribution of far?field noise sources. We also show that the estimated attenuation coefficient corresponds to the interstation and not the noise?source?to?receiver structure

Definition and risk factors for chronicity following acute idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury.

Chronic outcome following acute idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is not yet defined. This prospective, long-term follow-up study aimed to analyze time to liver enzyme resolutions to establish the best definition and risk factors of DILI chronicity. 298 out of 850 patients in the Spanish DILI registry with no pre-existing disease affecting the liver and follow-up to resolution or ⩾1year were analyzed. Chronicity was defined as abnormal liver biochemistry, imaging test or histology one year after DILI recognition. Out of 298 patients enrolled 273 (92%) resolved ⩽1year from DILI recognition and 25 patients (8%) were chronic. Independent risk factors for chronicity were older age [OR: 1.06, p=0.011], dyslipidemia [OR: 4.26, p=0.04] and severe DILI [OR: 14.22, p=0.005]. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (TB) median values were higher in the chronic group during follow-up. Values of ALP and TB >1.1 x upper limit of normal (xULN) and 2.8 xULN respectively, in the second month from DILI onset, were found to predict chronic DILI (p1.1 x upper limit of normal (xULN) and 2.8 xULN respectively, in the second month from DILI onset, were found to predict chronic DILI (p One year is the best cut-off point to define chronic DILI or prolonged recovery, with risk factors being older age, dyslipidemia and severity of the acute episode. Statins are distinctly related to chronicity. ALP and TB values in the second month could help predict chronicity or very prolonged recovery. Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) patients who do not resolve their liver damage during the first year should be considered chronic DILI patients. Risk factors for DILI chronicity are older age, dyslipidemia and severity of the acute episode. Chronic DILI is not a very common condition; normally featuring mild liver profile abnormalities and not being an important clinical problem, with the exception of a small number of cases of early onset cirrhosis