- SHADOW PRICES AND DISTANCE FUNCTIONS: AN ANALYSIS FOR FIRMS OF THE SPANISH CERAMIC PAVEMENTS INDUSTRY.

This paper deals with the calculation of shadow prices for two industrial wastes generated on their production processes by a sample of eighteen firms belonging to the Spanish ceramic pavements industry. These prices are used to construct a corrected index of productivity which allows for considering wastes going with the production of marketable goods. It is followed the ethodologicalapproach first proposed by Färe, Grosskopf, Lovell y Yaisawarng (1993), which establishes a duality between distance and revenue functions. The shadow prices obtained for watery muds and used oils allow to measure in terms of a loss of marketable output the cost of achieving a marginal reduction in the production of these wastes. It is also found a negative correlation between absolute shadow prices and the intensity of wastes production, reflecting a greater marginal cost of eliminating wastes for those firms that have already made investments on cleaner procedures. Finally, differences between a conventional labour productivity index and a corrected productivity index are related to some firms¿ characteristics: size, recorded investments in cleaner technologies ad affiliation to a Ceramics Technological Institute, and found to be statistically significant. En este trabajo se estiman los precios sombra de los residuos industriales que acompañan a laproducción de pavimentos cerámicos de un conjunto de dieciocho empresas del sector. Estosprecios son utilizados para construir una medida corregida de productividad que considera laproducción de residuos como outputs no deseables. Para la obtención de los precios sombra seutiliza un enfoque basado en la dualidad entre función distancia y función de ingresos propuestopor Färe, Grosskopf, Lovell y Yaisawarng (1993). Los resultados muestran que los preciossombra de los lodos acuosos y aceites industriales usados representan un notable coste deoportunidad para las empresas, cuantifica-ble en términos de pérdidas de producción deseable.Se observa, además, una cierta correlación nega-tiva entre la intensidad de producción deresiduos y el valor absoluto de sus precios sombra, lo que puede reflejar los mayores costesmarginales de la reducción de residuos para aquellas empresas que ya vienen aplicandoprocesos de producción más eficientes en términos medioambientales. Final-mente, secomprueba que las diferencias entre el índice convencional de productividad del trabajo y el índicecorregido están relacionadas en forma estadísticamente significativa con características de lasempresas tales como su dimensión, la realización previa de inversiones en tecnologías limpias yla afiliación al Instituto Tecnológico de la Cerámica AICE.precios sombra, función distancia, función de ingresos, industria de pavimentos cerámicos, medio ambiente, productividad shadow prices, duality, distance functions, revenue functions, ceramic pavements industry, environment, productivity

Dones públiques, homes ocults

Obra ressenyada: Regina Paula MEDEIROS, Hablan las putas. Sobre prácticas sexuales preservativas y SIDA en el mundo de la prostitució

Dones públiques, homes ocults

MEDEIROS, Regina Paula. Hablan las putas. Sobre prácticas sexuales preservativas y SIDA en el mundo de la prostitució

Attending home care patients in primary care using a smartphone application (WhatsICS): A feasibility study

Background: Provision of care to patients with chronic diseases at their homes remains a great challenge for modern health care systems. Smartphone applications are indicated as one of the strategies that could improve care delivery to this group of patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and usability of a proprietary application with a messaging service used by a primary care team attending chronic patients mainly at their homes. Methods: A Cross-sectional pilot study of a smartphone application to communicate amongst clinicians. Primary care practices in Tona, Spain, were recruited during a period from January to December 2016. Clinicians used WhatsICS to communicate during their home visits for 12 months. We studied the patterns of use, response time and types of communication. To explore barriers and enablers, semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected nurses, social worker and general practitioners. Results: Two nurses, two practitioners and a social worker were recruited and more than 1,000 hours of communication were recorded on 163 patients, generating 5820 communication events. Nurses initiated the majority of communications (59.79%); these communications were mainly for the purpose of receiving instructions from practitioners and for coordination (66.6%). The communications were made on weekdays, from Monday to Friday, and between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. (99.73%). Participants felt that WhatsICS helped streamline and improve home-based care. Conclusions: WhatsICS is safe technologically and accepted as a communication tool for professionals. This study establishes the basis for future implementations of this tool to improve the care of chronic patients at home through smartphones

Thrombosis and Hyperinflammation in COVID-19 Acute Phase Are Related to Anti-Phosphatidylserine and Anti-Phosphatidylinositol Antibody Positivity

COVID-19; Antiphospholipid antibodies; ThrombosisCOVID-19; Anticuerpos antifosfolípidos; TrombosisCOVID-19; Anticossos antifosfolípids; TrombosiAntiphospholipid antibodies (APLA) are strongly associated with thrombosis seen in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome. In COVID-19, thrombosis has been observed as one of the main comorbidities. In patients hospitalised for COVID-19, we want to check whether APLA positivity is associated with COVID-19-related thrombosis, inflammation, severity of disease, or long COVID-19. We enrolled 92 hospitalised patients with COVID-19 between March and April 2020 who were tested for 18 different APLAs (IgG and IgM) with a single line-immunoassay test. A total of 30 healthy blood donors were used to set the cut-off for each APLA positivity. Of the 92 COVID-19 inpatients, 30 (32.61%; 95% CI [23.41–43.29]) tested positive for APLA, of whom 10 (33.3%; 95% CI [17.94–52.86]) had more than one APLA positivity. Anti-phosphatidylserine IgM positivity was described in 5.4% of inpatients (n = 5) and was associated with the occurrence of COVID-19-related thrombosis (p = 0.046). Anti-cardiolipin IgM positivity was the most prevalent among the inpatients (n = 12, 13.0%) and was associated with a recorded thrombosis in their clinical history (p = 0.044); however, its positivity was not associated with the occurrence of thrombosis during their hospitalisation for COVID-19. Anti-phosphatidylinositol IgM positivity, with a prevalence of 5.4% (n = 5), was associated with higher levels of interleukin (IL)-6 (p = 0.007) and ferritin (p = 0.034). Neither of these APLA positivities was a risk factor for COVID-19 severity or a predictive marker for long COVID-19. In conclusion, almost a third of COVID-19 inpatients tested positive for at least one APLA. Anti-phosphatidylserine positivity in IgM class was associated with thrombosis, and anti-phosphatidylinositol positivity in IgM class was associated with inflammation, as noticed by elevated levels of IL-6. Thus, testing for non-criteria APLA to assess the risk of clinical complications in hospitalised COVID-19 patients might be beneficial. However, they were not related to disease severity or long COVID-19.This research was funded by Synlab Group (Barcelona, Spain), Catedra UAB-Gravida de Medicina i Immunologia Reproductiva (Barcelona, Spain), and Sociedad Española de Medicina y Cirugía Cosmética (SEMCC, Barcelona, Spain)

Aquaculture perceptions in the Barcelona metropolitan area from fish and seafood wholesalers, fishmongers, and consumers

Aquaculture provides more than half of the global seafood production and offers a wide diversity of high-quality products. However, its social acceptability is still not well established. The goal of this study was to determine the perceptions of aquaculture by different stakeholders along the seafood value chain in the Barcelona metropolitan area. The methodology used was based on a two-phase qualitative approach: the nominal group technique (NGT) and the Delphi survey. In the NGT phase, three groups, wholesalers, fishmongers and consumers, the latter divided into two subgroups according to the frequency of consumption of seafood, were used to collect and rank positive and negative perceptions about aquaculture. This information was subsequently used to build the questionnaire for the Delphi survey, which involved a group of experts from the board of the Wholesalers' Association, Fishmongers' Guild board and consumers' associations. Results showed that among the different stakeholders the highest concordance in positive aspects of aquaculture products included market issues and the stable quality of farmed products. On the other hand, the highest concordance in negative aspects included the lack of sufficient information about aquaculture, which was a serious issue for all stakeholders, and quality. Globally, animal welfare and environmental impact issues were not of much concern, although they included some minor positive and negative perceptions. The diversity of opinions among experts on certain aspects further emphasizes the need for more information, as they could have a potential role as information prescribers to consumers. We argue that information campaigns can take advantage of the positive perception of market issues (convenience, price, diversity) and quality stability to create a favourable predisposition towards aquaculture and thus help to introduce other problems in which perceptions generate a stronger debate. In communication or marketing campaigns, it is essential to highlight the quality and safety of farmed products, with a particular emphasis on the quality of fish feed as a guarantee of optimal nutritional and organoleptic properties of aquaculture products. Welfare and environment generate minor negative perceptions, so they should appear in campaigns, with a firm focus on the sustainability of the aquaculture sector, to improve its general image. In summary, the results of this study contribute to identifying the most relevant aspects to be taken into account to improve the public perception of aquaculture in the Barcelona area and may be of help in the design of similar efforts elsewhere.Postprint (updated version

Differences in Antiphospholipid Antibody Profile between Patients with Obstetric and Thrombotic Antiphospholipid Syndrome

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune condition characterised by the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) associated with vascular thrombosis and/or pregnancy complications. In a cohort of 74 yet diagnosed APS individuals fulfilling Sydney laboratory criteria (twice positive for lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin, aCL, and/or anti-β2glycoprotein I, aβ2GPI), 33 out of 74 were obstetric APS (OAPS) and 41 thrombotic APS (TAPS) patients. 39% of TAPS patients were women. Although aPL detection was persistent, we observed an oscillatory aPL positivity in 56.7% and a transient seroconversion in 32.4% of APS patients at enrolment. Thus, we tested their sera in a line immunoassay that simultaneously detected IgG or IgM for criteria (aCL and aβ2GPI) and non-criteria (anti-phosphatidylserine, aPS; anti-phosphatidic acid, aPA; anti-phosphatidylinositol, aPI; anti-annexin 5, aA5; anti-prothrombin, aPT; anti-phosphatidylethanolamine; anti-phosphatidylglycerol, and anti-phosphatidylcholine) aPL. OAPS and TAPS patients displayed different but overlapping clusters based on their aPL reactivities. Specifically, while OAPS patients showed higher aPA, aPS, aA5, aβ2GPI and aPT IgM levels than TAPS patients, the latter displayed higher reactivity in aCL, aPI and aA5 IgG. Eventually, with a cut-off of the 99 th percentile established from a population of 79 healthy donors, TAPS patients significantly tested more positive for aCL and aA5 IgG than OAPS patients, who tested more positive for aPA, aPS and aβ2GPI IgM. Transiently seronegative APS patients showed non-criteria aPL positivity twice in sera obtained 3 months apart. Overall, our data show that APS patients presented clusters of aPL that define different profiles between OAPS and TAPS, and persistent non-criteria aPL positivity was observed in those who are transiently seronegativ