Effectiveness of an mHealth intervention combining a smartphone app and smart band on body composition in an overweight and obese population: Randomized controlled trial (EVIDENT 3 study)

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) is currently among the supporting elements that may contribute to an improvement in health markers by helping people adopt healthier lifestyles. mHealth interventions have been widely reported to achieve greater weight loss than other approaches, but their effect on body composition remains unclear. Objective: This study aimed to assess the short-term (3 months) effectiveness of a mobile app and a smart band for losing weight and changing body composition in sedentary Spanish adults who are overweight or obese. Methods: A randomized controlled, multicenter clinical trial was conducted involving the participation of 440 subjects from primary care centers, with 231 subjects in the intervention group (IG; counselling with smartphone app and smart band) and 209 in the control group (CG; counselling only). Both groups were counselled about healthy diet and physical activity. For the 3-month intervention period, the IG was trained to use a smartphone app that involved self-monitoring and tailored feedback, as well as a smart band that recorded daily physical activity (Mi Band 2, Xiaomi). Body composition was measured using the InBody 230 bioimpedance device (InBody Co., Ltd), and physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: The mHealth intervention produced a greater loss of body weight (–1.97 kg, 95% CI –2.39 to –1.54) relative to standard counselling at 3 months (–1.13 kg, 95% CI –1.56 to –0.69). Comparing groups, the IG achieved a weight loss of 0.84 kg more than the CG at 3 months. The IG showed a decrease in body fat mass (BFM; –1.84 kg, 95% CI –2.48 to –1.20), percentage of body fat (PBF; –1.22%, 95% CI –1.82% to 0.62%), and BMI (–0.77 kg/m2, 95% CI –0.96 to 0.57). No significant changes were observed in any of these parameters in men; among women, there was a significant decrease in BMI in the IG compared with the CG. When subjects were grouped according to baseline BMI, the overweight group experienced a change in BFM of –1.18 kg (95% CI –2.30 to –0.06) and BMI of –0.47 kg/m2 (95% CI –0.80 to –0.13), whereas the obese group only experienced a change in BMI of –0.53 kg/m2 (95% CI –0.86 to –0.19). When the data were analyzed according to physical activity, the moderate-vigorous physical activity group showed significant changes in BFM of –1.03 kg (95% CI –1.74 to –0.33), PBF of –0.76% (95% CI –1.32% to –0.20%), and BMI of –0.5 kg/m2 (95% CI –0.83 to –0.19). Conclusions: The results from this multicenter, randomized controlled clinical trial study show that compared with standard counselling alone, adding a self-reported app and a smart band obtained beneficial results in terms of weight loss and a reduction in BFM and PBF in female subjects with a BMI less than 30 kg/m2 and a moderate-vigorous physical activity level. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to ensure that this profile benefits more than others from this intervention and to investigate modifications of this intervention to achieve a global effect

Epidemiological trends of HIV/HCV coinfection in Spain, 2015-2019

Altres ajuts: Spanish AIDS Research Network; European Funding for Regional Development (FEDER).Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and active HCV infection (HCV-RNA-positive) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Spain in 2019 and compared the results with those of four similar studies performed during 2015-2018. Methods: The study was performed in 41 centres. Sample size was estimated for an accuracy of 1%. Patients were selected by random sampling with proportional allocation. Results: The reference population comprised 41 973 PLWH, and the sample size was 1325. HCV serostatus was known in 1316 PLWH (99.3%), of whom 376 (28.6%) were HCV antibody (Ab)-positive (78.7% were prior injection drug users); 29 were HCV-RNA-positive (2.2%). Of the 29 HCV-RNA-positive PLWH, infection was chronic in 24, it was acute/recent in one, and it was of unknown duration in four. Cirrhosis was present in 71 (5.4%) PLWH overall, three (10.3%) HCV-RNA-positive patients and 68 (23.4%) of those who cleared HCV after anti-HCV therapy (p = 0.04). The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies decreased steadily from 37.7% in 2015 to 28.6% in 2019 (p < 0.001); the prevalence of active HCV infection decreased from 22.1% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Uptake of anti-HCV treatment increased from 53.9% in 2015 to 95.0% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In Spain, the prevalence of active HCV infection among PLWH at the end of 2019 was 2.2%, i.e. 90.0% lower than in 2015. Increased exposure to DAAs was probably the main reason for this sharp reduction. Despite the high coverage of treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents, HCV-related cirrhosis remains significant in this population

Anti-tumour necrosis factor discontinuation in inflammatory bowel disease patients in remission: study protocol of a prospective, multicentre, randomized clinical trial

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who achieve remission with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs may have treatment withdrawn due to safety concerns and cost considerations, but there is a lack of prospective, controlled data investigating this strategy. The primary study aim is to compare the rates of clinical remission at 1?year in patients who discontinue anti-TNF treatment versus those who continue treatment. Methods: This is an ongoing, prospective, double-blind, multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled study in patients with Crohn?s disease or ulcerative colitis who have achieved clinical remission for ?6?months with an anti-TNF treatment and an immunosuppressant. Patients are being randomized 1:1 to discontinue anti-TNF therapy or continue therapy. Randomization stratifies patients by the type of inflammatory bowel disease and drug (infliximab versus adalimumab) at study inclusion. The primary endpoint of the study is sustained clinical remission at 1?year. Other endpoints include endoscopic and radiological activity, patient-reported outcomes (quality of life, work productivity), safety and predictive factors for relapse. The required sample size is 194 patients. In addition to the main analysis (discontinuation versus continuation), subanalyses will include stratification by type of inflammatory bowel disease, phenotype and previous treatment. Biological samples will be obtained to identify factors predictive of relapse after treatment withdrawal. Results: Enrolment began in 2016, and the study is expected to end in 2020. Conclusions: This study will contribute prospective, controlled data on outcomes and predictors of relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease after withdrawal of anti-TNF agents following achievement of clinical remission. Clinical trial reference number: EudraCT 2015-001410-1

Development of model based sensors for the supervision of a solar dryer

Solar dryers are increasingly used in developing countries as an alternative to drying in open air, however the inherent variability of the drying conditions during day and along year drive the need for achieving low cost sensors that would enable to characterize the drying process and to react accordingly. This paper provides three different and complementary approaches for model based sensors that make use of the psychrometric properties of the air inside the drying chamber and the temperature oscillations of the wood along day. The simplest smart sensor, Smart-1, using only two Sensirion sensors, allows to estimate the accumulated water extracted from wood along a complete drying cycle with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. Smart-2 is a model based sensor that relays on the diffusion kinetics by means of assesing temperature and relative humidity of the air inside the kiln. Smart-2 model allows to determine the diffusivity, being the average value of D for the drying cycle studied equal to 5.14×10-10m2s-1 and equal to 5.12× 10-10m2s-1 for two experiments respectively. The multidistributed supervision of the dryer shows up the lack of uniformity in drying conditions supported by the wood planks located in the inner or center of the drying chamber where constant drying rate kinetics predominate. Finally, Smart-3 indicates a decreasing efficiency along the drying process from 0.9 to 0.2. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.Peer Reviewe

Control of a solar dryer through using a fuzzy logic and low-cost model-based sensor

Abstract Solar drying is one of the important processes used for extending the shelf life of agricultural products. Regarding consumer requirements, solar drying should be more suitable in terms of curtailing total drying time and preserving product quality. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a fuzzy logic-based control system, which performs a &apos;&apos;humanoperator-like&apos;&apos; control approach through using the previously developed low-cost modelbased sensors. Fuzzy logic toolbox of MatLab and Borland C++ Builder tool were utilized to develop a required control system. An experimental solar dryer, constructed by CONA SOLAR (Austria) was used during the development of the control system. Sensirion sensors were used to characterize the drying air at different positions in the dryer, and also the smart sensor SMART-1 was applied to be able to include the rate of wood water extraction into the control system (the difference of absolute humidity of the air between the outlet and the inlet of solar dryer is considered by SMART-1 to be the extracted water). A comprehensive test over a 3 week period for different fuzzy control models has been performed, and data, obtained from these experiments, were analyzed. Findings from this study would suggest that the developed fuzzy logic-based control system is able to tackle difficulties, related to the control of solar dryer process

Effect of accompanying antiretroviral drugs on virological response to pegylated interferon and ribavirin in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus

The effects of antiretroviral drugs on the response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin remain uncertain. We evaluated whether antiretroviral drugs affected the response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). We conducted a retrospective analysis of two cohorts of HIV/HCV-co-infected patients treated with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin between 2001 and 2007 in Spain. The outcome measure was sustained virological response (SVR). Logistic regression models were used to test possible associations between non-response and pre-treatment characteristics, including accompanying antiretroviral drugs. The study sample comprised 1701 patients: 63% were infected with HCV genotype (G) 1 or 4 and 88% were taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Factors independently associated with increased odds of SVR were G2 or 3, HVC RNA <500,000 IU/mL and CDC clinical category A or B. When we adjusted for these prognostic factors and dose of ribavirin/kg, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of SVR for patients without HAART was 1.31 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.91-1.88; P = 0.144]. Taking the backbone of tenofovir and lamivudine/emtricitabine as a reference, we found that, with the exception of regimens including zidovudine, the effect of other nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor backbones had little effect on SVR. The AOR of SVR for zidovudine and lamivudine was 0.65 (95% CI 0.46-0.93, P = 0.017). We carried out several sensitivity analyses, the results of which were consistent with the findings of the primary analysis. In conclusion, our results suggest that, with the exception of regimens including zidovudine, accompanying antiretroviral drugs have little effect on the virological response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin in HIV/HCV-co-infected patients.5.068 JCR (2011) Q1, 7/70 Infectious diseases, 18/114 Microbiology, 20/261 Pharmacology & pharmac

Health Hazards Associated with Wheat and Gluten Consumption in Susceptible Individuals and Status of Research on Dietary Therapies

Wheat accounts for about 20% to over 50% of the total calorie intake of food in regions where it is grown. However, there is a clear perception that disorders related to the consumption wheat are increasing, particularly in Western Europe, North America, and Australia. We consider here the evidence for this perception and discuss strategies and therapies that may be used to reduce the adverse impacts of wheat on the health of susceptible individuals. First, we will introduce the major groups of wheat grain proteins, focusing on those associated with adverse reactions, and discuss in detail the three major adverse reactions triggered by wheat consumption, namely celiac disease, wheat allergy, and non-celiac gluten/wheat sensitivity. Finally, will discuss other issues associated with the consumption of gluten-free foods focusing on gluten contamination of products purported to be gluten-free, gluten threshold or tolerance among celiac patients, and food labeling