An electronic patient-reported outcome mobile app for data collection in type a hemophilia:Design and usability study

BACKGROUND: There is currently limited evidence on the level and intensity of physical activity in individuals with hemophilia A. Mobile technologies can offer a rigorous and reliable alternative to support data collection processes but they are often associated with poor user retention. The lack of longitudinal continuity in their use can be partly attributed to the insufficient consideration of stakeholder inputs in the development process of mobile apps. Several user-centered models have been proposed to guarantee that a thorough knowledge of the end user needs is considered in the development process of mobile apps. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to design and validate an electronic patient-reported outcome mobile app that requires sustained active input by individuals during POWER, an observational study that aims at evaluating the relationship between physical activity levels and bleeding in patients with hemophilia A. METHODS: We adopted a user-centered design and engaged several stakeholders in the development and usability testing of this mobile app. During the concept generation and ideation phase, we organized a need-assessment focus group (FG) with patient representatives to elicit specific design requirements for the end users. We then conducted 2 exploratory FGs to seek additional inputs for the app’s improvement and 2 confirmatory FGs to validate the app and test its usability in the field through the mobile health app usability questionnaire. RESULTS: The findings from the thematic analysis of the need-assessment FG revealed that there was a demand for sense making, for simplification of app functionalities, for maximizing integration, and for minimizing the feeling of external control. Participants involved in the later stages of the design refinement contributed to improving the design further by upgrading the app’s layout and making the experience with the app more efficient through functions such as chatbots and visual feedback on the number of hours a wearable device had been worn, to ensure that the observed data were actually registered. The end users rated the app highly during the quantitative assessment, with an average mobile health app usability questionnaire score of 5.32 (SD 0.66; range 4.44-6.23) and 6.20 (SD 0.43; range 5.72-6.88) out of 7 in the 2 iterative usability testing cycles. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the usability test indicated a high, growing satisfaction with the electronic patient-reported outcome app. The adoption of a thorough user-centered design process using several types of FGs helped maximize the likelihood of sustained retention of the app’s users and made it fit for data collection of relevant outcomes in the observational POWER study. The continuous use of the app and the actual level of engagement will be evaluated during the ongoing trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04165135; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0416513

Acetalización de glicerol: un estudio de sólidos mesoporosos en la síntesis de solketal

El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar la transformación de materia prima proveniente de la biomasa en acetales cíclicos como el solketal, (2,2-dimetil1,3-dioxolano-4-metanol) por reacción de condensación de glicerol con acetona utilizando catalizadores ácidos. Este compuesto presenta particular interés dado que puede utilizarse como aditivo en gasolinas o productos intermediarios para la obtención de solventes, refrigerantes y/o surfactantes entre otras aplicaciones.Fil: Vannucci, Julian Agustin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Física del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Física. Instituto de Física del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Perez, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Legnoverde, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Basaldella, Elena Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Nichio, Nora Nancy. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Pompeo, Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaV Jornadas en Ciencias Aplicadas Dr. Jorge J. RoncoLa PlataArgentinaCindec

Influencia de las propiedades ácidas y texturales de materiales micro y mesoporosos en la actividad catalítica de la cetalización de glicerol

En este trabajo una SBA-15 funcionalizada con grupos sulfónicos (SBAsulf), y dos zeolitas beta libres de aluminio modificadas con Zr fueron sintetizadas empleando métodos diferentes.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada

Acetalización de glicerol: un estudio de sólidos mesoporosos en la síntesis de solketal

El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar la transformación de materia prima proveniente de la biomasa en acetales cíclicos como el solketal, (2,2-dimetil- 1,3-dioxolano-4-metanol) por reacción de condensación de glicerol con acetona utilizando catalizadores ácidos. Este compuesto presenta particular interés dado que puede utilizarse como aditivo en gasolinas o productos intermediarios para la obtención de solventes, refrigerantes y/o surfactantes entre otras aplicaciones.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada

Acetalización de glicerol: un estudio de sólidos mesoporosos en la síntesis de solketal

El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar la transformación de materia prima proveniente de la biomasa en acetales cíclicos como el solketal, (2,2-dimetil- 1,3-dioxolano-4-metanol) por reacción de condensación de glicerol con acetona utilizando catalizadores ácidos. Este compuesto presenta particular interés dado que puede utilizarse como aditivo en gasolinas o productos intermediarios para la obtención de solventes, refrigerantes y/o surfactantes entre otras aplicaciones.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada

Influencia de las propiedades ácidas y texturales de materiales micro y mesoporosos en la actividad catalítica de la cetalización de glicerol

En este trabajo una SBA-15 funcionalizada con grupos sulfónicos (SBAsulf), y dos zeolitas beta libres de aluminio modificadas con Zr fueron sintetizadas empleando métodos diferentes

Climate and landscape composition explain agronomic practices, pesticide use and grape yield in vineyards across Italy

Context Worldwide, organic farming is being promoted as one of the main alternatives to intensive conventional farming. However, the benefits of organic agriculture are still controversial and need to be tested across wide environmental gradients. Objective Here, we carried out an observational study to test how agronomic practices, pest management, environmental impact and yield of conventional and organic vineyards changed along wide climatic and landscape gradients across Italy. Methods We used a block design with 38 pairs of conventional and organic vineyards across Italy. Results and conclusions Most agronomic practices did not differ between conventional and organic vineyards. By contrast, landscape composition and climate were strong predictors of management in both systems. First, increasing semi-natural areas around the vineyards reduced pesticide pressure and related environmental impacts, but was also associated with lower yield. Second, irrespective of the farming system, a warm and dry climate was associated with reduced fungicide pressure. Conventional farming had a yield gain of 40% in cold and wet climate compared to organic but the yield gap disappeared in the warmest regions. Significance In both farming systems, we observed a large variability in management practices that was mainly explained by climate and landscape composition. This large variability should be considered when evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of different farming systems under contrasting environmental contexts

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients

La ricerca dipartimentale ai tempi del COVID-19

La pandemia Covid-19 ha comportato conseguenze e trasformazioni prefigurando scenari inediti sul piano economico, sociale e personale, determinando anche nel campo della ricerca l’urgenza di esplorarne le ricadute. Il volume dà quindi conto delle indagini svolte e in corso, sin dai primi giorni del lockdown, dai docenti e dai collaboratori del Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione dell’Università Roma Tre, toccando i temi più diversi: dalla didattica a distanza, all’università e nei diversi ordini di scuola, al futuro dei servizi di orientamento, dal lavoro socio-educativo nelle varie tipologie di servizi all’impatto della pandemia sulle comunità, dalle narrazioni ai linguaggi artistici a contrasto di quest’emergenza non solo sanitaria.Si sono così esplorate le diverse educazioni possibili, riassegnando centralità ai processi formativi e al benessere delle persone, provando a tratteggiare nuovi paradigmi e prospettive