Collaborative Technologies in Automotive and Aerospace Industries towards Industry 4.0

Working in a virtual environment with several dispersed teams becomes an essential part of supply chains, especially for the automotive and aerospace being those industries requiring hundreds of different services and parts manufacturing and assembly. In such scenarios, collaborative technologies support the creation of virtual environments where dispersed teams can jointly respond to business opportunities, and time, cost and travel expenses are reduced. In Industry 4.0, where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) merge with physical processes, collaborative networks might require additional functionalities. We aim to present an analysis on state-of-the-art tools, technologies and platforms towards assessing its utility for Industry 4.0 in the context of the European Commission Horizon 2020 (EU H2020) programme promoting smart collaborative supply chain systems research. As a first overview, we have identified that it seems to be a lack of a common definition of collaborative technologies and tools, where the concept, applications and characteristics of those is unclear among both industrial and academic fronts. Thus, to present a clear concept of collaborative technologies, this research proposes ontology to represent the formal structure of taxonomy to analyse and classify the collaborative technologies in appropriate categories. This formal structure is also intended to be used later to aid a gap analysis of collaborative technologies, assessing their support and readiness towards Industry 4.0 collaborative networks. The ontology developed is built upon the results of a systematic literature review aimed at finding the definition of collaborative technologies, its features and applications. The systematic review was conducted on extracting relevant articles from the journals proposed by the Association of Information System (AIS) basket of eight

SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia is associated with severe chronic underlying diseases but not with nasopharyngeal viral load

Supported by Plan Nacional de I + D + i 2013–2016 and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI, RD16/0016/0001, RD16/0016/0005, RD16/0016/0007, RD16/0016/0009, RD16/0016/0010, R D16/0016/0013) cofinanced by European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe”, Operative program Intelligent Growth 2014–2020. JSC and EC received grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Proyectos de Investigación sobre el SARSCoV-2 y la enfermedad COVID-19 ( COV20/00580 ; COV20/00370 ). J.S.C. is a researcher belonging to the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C-0059–2018), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, Spain

Excretion and viability of SARS-CoV-2 in feces and its association with the clinical outcome of COVID-19

The main objective was to evaluate the viability of the SARS-CoV-2 viral particles excreted in stools. In addition, we aimed to identify clinical factors associated with the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in feces, and to determine if its presence is associated with an unfavorable clinical outcome, defined as intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or death. A prospective multicenter cohort study of COVID-19 adult patients, with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-PCR assay in nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs admitted to four hospitals in Spain, from March 2020 to February 2021. Sixty-two adult COVID-19 patients had stool samples collected at admission and/or during the follow up, with a total of 79 stool samples. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in stool samples from 27 (43.5%) out of the 62 patients. Replicative virus, measured by the generation of cytopathic effect in cell culture and subsequent RT-PCR confirmation of a decrease in the Ct values, was not found in any of these stool samples. Fecal virus excretion was not associated with the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms, or with differences in the evolution of COVID-19 patients. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 replicative capacity is null or very limited in stool samples, and thus, the fecal–oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as an alternative infection route is highly unlikely. In our study, the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in feces at the beginning of the disease is not associated with any clinical factor nor with an unfavorable clinical outcome.This work was supported by National Plan R+D+I 2013–2016 and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases [REIPI RD16/0016/0009]; cofinanced by European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe”, Operative program Intelligent Growth 2014–2020; and supported by Grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Proyectos de Investigación sobre el SARS-CoV-2 y la enfermedad COVID-19 [COV20/00370; COV20/00580]. J.S.C. is a researcher belonging to the program “Nicolás Monardes” (C-0059-2018), Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, Spain.Peer reviewe

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries