The Association of Blood Banks per City with Mortality Due to Traumatic Hemorrhagic Shock in Colombia: A Population-Based Analysis

Background: Hemorrhagic shock is the second leading cause of death for injured people and disproportionately affects low resource economies. The potential role of spatial allocation of blood banks and the unmet transfusion needs of patients are yet to be characterized. We aimed to estimate the effect of the number of blood banks in mortality due to traumatic hemorrhagic shock (THS) in Colombia. Methods: We performed a population-based cross-sectional study using secondary data from the Colombian Government: including annual reports from the Blood Bank Network, mortality, and population estimates for 2015-2016. International Classification of Disease 10th code T79.4 identified THS as the primary cause of death. A city-clustered multivariate negative binomial regression, weighted by violent deaths rate, was used to obtain incidence rate ratios (IRR) of death due to THS with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: Of the 59,030 violent deaths in Colombia in 2015-2016, 36.76% were due to THS. Only 3.13% of Colombian municipalities had a blood bank. THS incidence decreased as the number of blood banks in a city increased, and the lowest incidence was observed at ten banks (IRR:0.18, 95%CI:0.15-0.22). Receiving medical care in a city with blood banks had a more substantial impact on THS (IRR:0.85; 95%CI:0.76-0.96). Conclusion: The number of blood banks per city was associated with lower incidence of THS deaths. These findings may highlight the inequitable distribution of blood systems and their association with preventable deaths. Further studies with more focused clinical and geographical data might clarify the geographic determinants of blood products’ availability

Perception and city: analysis of the ‘Cali cómo vamos’ program survey (2005-2014)

Los capítulos que componen este libro dan cuenta de algunos de los modos a través de los cuales es posible abordar la diversidad constitutiva del fenómeno urbano. Cali es, por su historia, por sus pobladores, por el entresijo de procesos que tienen lugar en ella y con ella, por su tamaño, una ciudad diversa, fragmentada, desigual, inequitativa, heterogénea, multifacética. Frente a esto no queda sino aproximarse a ella poco a poco, capa a capa, proceso por proceso. Este libro es un intento por recorrer la ciudad desde la perspectiva de los ciudadanos, analizando y discutiendo lo que implican sus percepciones, contrastándolas con otras más institucionales, más decantadas por los procedimientos académicos y políticos, por los famosos datos \'duros\'; de este contraste, esperamos salgan mejores formas de aproximarse a la ciudad. En el primer capítulo, el profesor Mario Gandini explora la percepción de la ciudadanía sobre los aspectos ambientales y la gestión ambiental que desarrolla la Administración Local. El texto muestra que, con relación a esta última, la calificación que le da la ciudadanía es toda inferior a 3 sobre 5, en temas como: contaminación del aire; contaminación del agua; nivel de ruido; cantidad de árboles; contaminación visual: basuras y escombros en las calle, lo cual evidencia el complejo panorama que atraviesa la ciudad con respecto a este problemaAnálisis del programa Cali cómo vamos, aspectos ambientales. Movilidad y vialidad en Cali: una carrera perdida. Empleo y precios. Sector salud. La educación en Cali: realidades y percepciones. El espacio público y la oferta de cultura y recreación en Cali. Percepción de la seguridad, Cali: 2005 - 2014. Metodología de las encuestas repetidas: un análisis en el marco de la encuesta Cali cómo vamos (2005-2014

COVID-19 public health measures and patient and public involvement in health and social care research: An umbrella review

An umbrella review of previously published systematic reviews was conducted to determine the nature and extent of the patient and public involvement (PPI) in COVID-19 health and social care research and identify how PPI has been used to develop public health measures (PHM). In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on PPI in research as it offers alternative perspectives and insight into the needs of healthcare users to improve the quality and relevance of research. In January 2022, nine databases were searched from 2020–2022, and records were filtered to identify peer-reviewed articles published in English. From a total of 1437 unique records, 54 full-text articles were initially evaluated, and six articles met the inclusion criteria. The included studies suggest that PHM should be attuned to communities within a sociocultural context. Based on the evidence included, it is evident that PPI in COVID-19-related research is varied. The existing evidence includes written feedback, conversations with stakeholders, and working groups/task forces. An inconsistent evidence base exists in the application and use of PPI in PHM. Successful mitigation efforts must be community specific while making PPI an integral component of shared decision-making

Gyrospun antimicrobial nanoparticle loaded fibrous polymeric filters

© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).A one step approach to prepare hybrid nanoparticle embedded polymer fibres using pressurised gyration is presented. Two types of novel antimicrobial nanoparticles and poly (methylmethacrylate) polymer were used in this work. X-ray diffraction analysis of the nanoparticles revealed Ag, Cu and W are the main elements present in them. The concentration of the polymer solution and the nanoparticle concentration had a significant influence on the fibre diameter, pore size and morphology. Fibres with a diameter in the range of 6-20 ìm were spun using 20 wt% polymer solutions containing 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 w% nanoparticles under 0.3 MPa working pressure and a rotational speed of 36000 rpm. Continuous, bead-free fibre morphologies were obtained for each case. The pore size in the fibres varied between 36-300 nm. Successful incorporation of the nanoparticles in polymer fibres was confirmed by energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The fibres were also gyrospun on to metallic disks to prepare filters which were tested for their antibacterial activity on a suspension of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nanoparticle loaded fibres showed higher antibacterial efficacy than pure poly(methylmethacrylate) fibres.8pÍuPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

High-pressure rheological analysis of CO2-induced melting point depression and viscosity reduction of poly(ε-caprolactone)

High-pressure rheology has been used to assess the effects of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) on the melting point (Tm) and viscosity of poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) over a range of temperatures and pressures up to 300 bar over a wide range of shear rates. Plots of the storage and loss moduli against temperature show a significant shift of Tm to lower temperatures in the presence of CO2, indicating that the polymer crystals melt at temperatures much lower than the ambient pressure Tm. Furthermore, a significant decrease in the viscosity of two PCL grades with different molecular weight (Mn ~ 10 kDa and 80 kDa) was also detected upon increasing the CO2 pressure to 300 bar. Experimental viscosity data were fitted to the Carreau model to quantify the extent of the plasticising effects on the zero-shear viscosity and relaxation time under different conditions. Similar analyses were conducted under high-pressure nitrogen, to compare the effects obtained in the presence of a non-plasticising gas

Bespoke cationic nano-objects via RAFT aqueous dispersion polymerisation

A range of cationic diblock copolymer nanoparticles are synthesised via polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA) using a RAFT aqueous dispersion polymerisation formulation. The cationic character of these nanoparticles can be systematically varied by utilising a binary mixture of two macro-CTAs, namely non-ionic poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) (PGMA) and cationic poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride (PQDMA), with poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate) (PHPMA) being selected as the hydrophobic core-forming block. Thus a series of cationic diblock copolymer nano-objects with the general formula ([1 - n] PGMAx + [n] PQDMAy) - PHPMAz were prepared at 20% w/w solids, where n is the mol fraction of the cationic block and x, y and z are the mean degrees of polymerisation of the non-ionic, cationic and hydrophobic blocks, respectively. These cationic diblock copolymer nanoparticles were analysed in terms of their chemical composition, particle size, morphology and cationic character using 1H NMR spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and aqueous electrophoresis, respectively. Systematic variation of the above PISA formulation enabled the formation of spheres, worms or vesicles that remain cationic over a wide pH range. However, increasing the cationic character favors the formation of kinetically-trapped spheres, since it leads to more effective steric stabilisation which prevents sphere-sphere fusion. Furthermore, cationic worms form a soft free-standing gel at 25 °C that undergoes reversible degelation on cooling, as indicated by variable temperature oscillatory rheology studies. Finally, the antimicrobial activity of this thermo-responsive cationic worm gel towards the well-known pathogen Staphylococcus aureus is examined via direct contact assays

Antimicrobial polymers as synthetic mimics of host‐defense peptides

Antibiotic‐resistant bacteria ‘superbugs’ are an emerging threat to public health due to the decrease in effective antibiotics as well as the slowed pace of development of new antibiotics to replace those that become ineffective. The need for new antimicrobial agents is a well‐documented issue relating to world health. Tremendous efforts have been given to developing compounds that not only show high efficacy, but also those that are less susceptible to resistance development in the bacteria. However, the development of newer, stronger antibiotics which can overcome these acquired resistances is still a scientific challenge because a new mode of antimicrobial action is likely required. To that end, amphiphilic, cationic polymers have emerged as a promising candidate for further development as an antimicrobial agent with decreased potential for resistance development. These polymers are designed to mimic naturally occurring host‐defense antimicrobial peptides which act on bacterial cell walls or membranes. Antimicrobial‐peptide mimetic polymers display antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of bacteria including drug‐resistant strains and are less susceptible to resistance development in bacteria. These polymers also showed selective activity to bacteria over mammalian cells. Antimicrobial polymers provide a new molecular framework for chemical modification and adaptation to tune their biological functions. The peptide‐mimetic design of antimicrobial polymers will be versatile, generating a new generation of antibiotics toward implementation of polymers in biomedical applications. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2013, 5:49–66. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1199 Conflict of interest: K. K. is a coinventor on a patent application filed by the University of Pennsylvania covering ‘Antimicrobial Copolymers and Uses Thereof’. The patent application has been licensed to PolyMedix Inc. (Radnor, PA). PolyMedix did not play a role in the design and conduct of this study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; or in the preparation, review, or approval of the article. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94848/1/1199_ftp.pd

Snail1 expression is required for sarcomagenesis

Altres ajuts: Fundació La Marató de TV3 (120130)Snail1 transcriptional repressor is a major inducer of epithelial-to mesenchymal transition but is very limitedly expressed in adult animals. We have previously demonstrated that Snail1 is required for the maintenance of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), preventing their premature differentiation. Now, we show that Snail1 controls the tumorigenic properties of mesenchymal cells. Increased Snail1 expression provides tumorigenic capabilities to fibroblastic cells; on the contrary, Snail1 depletion decreases tumor growth. Genetic depletion of Snail1 in MSCs that are deficient in p53 tumor suppressor downregulates MSC markers and prevents the capability of these cells to originate sarcomas in immunodeficient SCID mice. Notably, an analysis of human sarcomas shows that, contrarily to epithelial tumors, these neoplasms display high Snail1 expression. This is particularly clear for undifferentiated tumors, which are associated with poor outcome. Together, our results indicate a role for Snail1 in the generation of sarcomas

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente