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- Vigliar, Elena, et al.
(author)
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COVID-19 pandemic impact on cytopathology practice in the post-lockdown period: An international, multicenter study
- 2022
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In: Cancer Cytopathology. - : WILEY. - 1934-662X .- 1934-6638. ; 130:5, s. 344-351
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background In a previous worldwide survey, the authors showed a drastic reduction in the number of cytological specimens processed during the coronavirus disease 2019 "lockdown" period along with an increase in malignancy rates. To assess the continued impact of the pandemic on cytological practices around the world, they undertook a second follow-up worldwide survey collecting data from the post-lockdown period (2020). Methods Participants were asked to provide data regarding their cytopathology activity during the first 12 weeks of their respective national post-lockdown period (2020), which ranged from April 4 to October 31. Differences between the post-lockdown period and the corresponding 2019 period were evaluated, and the authors specifically focused on rates of malignant diagnoses. Results A total of 29 respondents from 17 countries worldwide joined the survey. Overall, a lower number of cytological specimens (n = 236,352) were processed in comparison with the same period in 2019 (n = 321,466) for a relative reduction of 26.5%. The overall malignancy rate showed a statistically significant increase (12,442 [5.26%] vs 12,882 [4.01%]; P < .001) during the same time period. Similar results were obtained if both malignancy and suspicious for malignancy rates were considered together (15,759 [6.58%] vs 16,011 [4.98%]; P < .001). Conclusions The data showed a persistent reduction in the cytological specimen volume during the post-lockdown period (2020). However, the relative increase in the cytological workload in the late part of the post-lockdown is a promising finding of a slow return to normality.
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- Vigliar, Elena, et al.
(author)
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Global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cytopathology practice: Results from an international survey of laboratories in 23 countries
- 2020
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In: Cancer Cytopathology. - : WILEY. - 1934-662X .- 1934-6638. ; 128:12, s. 885-894
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background To the authors knowledge, the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on cytopathology practices worldwide has not been investigated formally. In the current study, data from 41 respondents from 23 countries were reported. Methods Data regarding the activity of each cytopathology laboratory during 4 weeks of COVID-19 lockdown were collected and compared with those obtained during the corresponding period in 2019. The overall number and percentage of exfoliative and fine-needle aspiration cytology samples from each anatomic site were recorded. Differences in the malignancy and suspicious rates between the 2 periods were analyzed using a meta-analytical approach. Results Overall, the sample volume was lower compared with 2019 (104,319 samples vs 190,225 samples), with an average volume reduction of 45.3% (range, 0.1%-98.0%). The percentage of samples from the cervicovaginal tract, thyroid, and anorectal region was significantly reduced (P < .05). Conversely, the percentage of samples from the urinary tract, serous cavities, breast, lymph nodes, respiratory tract, salivary glands, central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, liver, and biliary tract increased (P < .05). An overall increase of 5.56% (95% CI, 3.77%-7.35%) in the malignancy rate in nongynecological samples during the COVID-19 pandemic was observed. When the suspicious category was included, the overall increase was 6.95% (95% CI, 4.63%-9.27%). Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic reduction in the total number of cytology specimens regardless of anatomic site or specimen type. The rate of malignancy increased, reflecting the prioritization of patients with cancer who were considered to be at high risk. Prospective monitoring of the effect of delays in access to health services during the lockdown period is warranted.
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- Catarino, N, et al.
(author)
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Enhanced dynamic annealing and optical activation of Eu implanted a-plane GaN
- 2012
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In: Europhysics letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 0295-5075 .- 1286-4854. ; 97:6, s. 68004-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The implantation damage build-up and optical activation of a-plane and c-plane GaN epitaxial films were compared upon 300 keV Eu implantation at room temperature. The implantation defects cause an expansion of the lattice normal to the surface, i.e. along the a-direction in a-plane and along the c-direction in c-plane GaN. The defect profile is bimodal with a pronounced surface damage peak and a second damage peak deeper in the bulk of the samples in both cases. For both surface orientations, the bulk damage saturates for high fluences. Interestingly, the saturation level for a-plane GaN is nearly three times lower than that for c-plane material suggesting very efficient dynamic annealing and strong resistance to radiation. a-plane GaN also shows superior damage recovery during post-implant annealing compared to c-plane GaN. For the lowest fluence, damage in a-plane GaN was fully removed and strong Eu-related red luminescence is observed. Although some residual damage remained after annealing for higher fluences as well as in all c-plane samples, optical activation was achieved in all samples revealing the red emission lines due to the 5D0→ 7F2transition in the Eu3+ ion. The presented results demonstrate a great promise for the use of ion beam processing for a-plane GaN based electronic devices as well as for the development of radiation tolerant electronics.
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- Marques-Sule, Elena, et al.
(author)
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What motivates heart transplantation patients to exercise and engage in physical activity? A network analysis
- 2023
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In: European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 1474-5151 .- 1873-1953.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims After heart transplantation (HTx), increments in physical activity (PA) are strongly recommended. However, participation rates in exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation and engagement in PA are insufficient in many patients. Hence, this study aimed to explore the central factors and the interconnections among distinct types of motivation to exercise, PA, sedentary time, psychosomatic, diet, and activity limitation characteristics in post-HTx patients. Methods and results This is a cross-sectional study involving 133 post-HTx patients (79 men, mean age 57 +/- 13 years, mean time from transplantation 55 +/- 42 months) recruited from an outpatient clinic in Spain. The patients were asked to fill in questionnaires measuring self-reported PA, motivation to exercise, kinesiophobia, musculoskeletal pain, quality of sleep, depression, functional capacity, frailty, sarcopenia risk, and diet quality. Two network structures were estimated: one network including PA and one network including sedentary time as nodes. The relative importance of each node in the network structures was determined using centrality analyses. According to the strength centrality index, functional capacity and identified regulation (subtypes of motivation to exercise) are the two most central nodes of the network (strength: z-score = 1.35-1.51). Strong and direct connections emerged between frailty and PA and between sarcopenia risk and sedentary time. Conclusion Functional capacity and autonomous motivation to exercise are the most promising targets of interventions to improve PA levels and sedentary time in post-HTx patients. Furthermore, frailty and sarcopenia risk were found to mediate the effects of several other factors on PA and sedentary time.
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