| 1. |
- Nguyen, Thanh N, et al.
(författare)
-
Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stroke Volumes and Cerebrovascular Events: A 1-Year Follow-up.
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Neurology. - 1526-632X. ; 100:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Declines in stroke admission, IV thrombolysis (IVT), and mechanical thrombectomy volumes were reported during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a paucity of data on the longer-term effect of the pandemic on stroke volumes over the course of a year and through the second wave of the pandemic. We sought to measure the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes of stroke admissions, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), IVT, and mechanical thrombectomy over a 1-year period at the onset of the pandemic (March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021) compared with the immediately preceding year (March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020).We conducted a longitudinal retrospective study across 6 continents, 56 countries, and 275 stroke centers. We collected volume data for COVID-19 admissions and 4 stroke metrics: ischemic stroke admissions, ICH admissions, IVT treatments, and mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases.There were 148,895 stroke admissions in the 1 year immediately before compared with 138,453 admissions during the 1-year pandemic, representing a 7% decline (95% CI [95% CI 7.1-6.9]; p < 0.0001). ICH volumes declined from 29,585 to 28,156 (4.8% [5.1-4.6]; p < 0.0001) and IVT volume from 24,584 to 23,077 (6.1% [6.4-5.8]; p < 0.0001). Larger declines were observed at high-volume compared with low-volume centers (all p < 0.0001). There was no significant change in mechanical thrombectomy volumes (0.7% [0.6-0.9]; p = 0.49). Stroke was diagnosed in 1.3% [1.31-1.38] of 406,792 COVID-19 hospitalizations. SARS-CoV-2 infection was present in 2.9% ([2.82-2.97], 5,656/195,539) of all stroke hospitalizations.There was a global decline and shift to lower-volume centers of stroke admission volumes, ICH volumes, and IVT volumes during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the prior year. Mechanical thrombectomy volumes were preserved. These results suggest preservation in the stroke care of higher severity of disease through the first pandemic year.This study is registered under NCT04934020.
|
|
| 2. |
- de Albuquerque, Gabriela E., et al.
(författare)
-
Evaluation of Bacteria and Fungi DNA Abundance in Human Tissues
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Genes. - : MDPI. - 2073-4425 .- 2073-4425. ; 13:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Whereas targeted and shotgun sequencing approaches are both powerful in allowing the study of tissue-associated microbiota, the human: microorganism abundance ratios in tissues of interest will ultimately determine the most suitable sequencing approach. In addition, it is possible that the knowledge of the relative abundance of bacteria and fungi during a treatment course or in pathological conditions can be relevant in many medical conditions. Here, we present a qPCR-targeted approach to determine the absolute and relative amounts of bacteria and fungi and demonstrate their relative DNA abundance in nine different human tissue types for a total of 87 samples. In these tissues, fungi genomes are more abundant in stool and skin samples but have much lower levels in other tissues. Bacteria genomes prevail in stool, skin, oral swabs, saliva, and gastric fluids. These findings were confirmed by shotgun sequencing for stool and gastric fluids. This approach may contribute to a more comprehensive view of the human microbiota in targeted studies for assessing the abundance levels of microorganisms during disease treatment/progression and to indicate the most informative methods for studying microbial composition (shotgun versus targeted sequencing) for various samples types.
|
|
| 3. |
- Hawkins, Stephen J., et al.
(författare)
-
The Intertidal Zone of the North-East Atlantic Region
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Interactions in the Marine Benthos: Global Patterns and Processes (Systematics Association Special Volume Series, pp. 7-46). - : Cambridge university press. - 9781108416085
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rocky shores of the north-east Atlantic have been long studied. Our focus is from Gibraltar to Norway plus the Azores and Iceland. Phylogeographic processes shape biogeographic patterns of biodiversity. Long-term and broadscale studies have shown the responses of biota to past climate fluctuations and more recent anthropogenic climate change. Inter- and intra-specific species interactions along sharp local environmental gradients shape distributions and community structure and hence ecosystem functioning. Shifts in domination by fucoids in shelter to barnacles/mussels in exposure are mediated by grazing by patellid limpets. Further south fucoids become increasingly rare, with species disappearing or restricted to estuarine refuges, caused by greater desiccation and grazing pressure. Mesoscale processes influence bottom-up nutrient forcing and larval supply, hence affecting species abundance and distribution, and can be proximate factors setting range edges (e.g., the English Channel, the Iberian Peninsula). Impacts of invasive non-native species are reviewed. Knowledge gaps such as the work on rockpools and host–parasite dynamics are also outlined.
|
|
| 4. |
- Jakobsson Bergstad, Cecilia, 1967, et al.
(författare)
-
The influence of socioeconomic factors in the diffusion of car sharing
- 2018
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In order to put into relationship, the diffusion of car sharing practices and relevant individual sociodemographic and economic factors, the research started analysing the information in some of the national travel surveys administered throughout Europe. From this research, it emerged that in most of the cases information on the use of car sharing for daily mobility at a national level is of poor quality. In particular, the characteristics of car sharing members such as gender, age, car ownership and travel behaviour have been compared with the characteristics of the population living in the same country or city, coming from the national (or city) travel survey. Since there is an urgent demand to reduce the damaging impact of transportation on the environment (air pollution, noise pollution, reduced green areas, traffic accidents, etc.) in urban cities, we aim to answer the following question: What are the main behavioural, psychological and social factors influencing people’s choice to use car sharing? This main question can be operationalized in more specific sub questions: do users and nonusers of car sharing differ, regarding transport choices? Are there differences among ages and genders for specific services and demands? What are the main motives for using car sharing for users and non-users? Are the social, behavioural and psychological aspects influencing people’s intention to use car sharing? If so, to which extent does it occur? In order to answer those questions, this report was structured in 5 main sections: Section 1: In this section multiple sources were exploited in order to give insights about the impact of car sharing on travel behaviours, among different kind of users and different countries/ cities. Section 2: Based on the model of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the latent variables Attitudes, Perceived Behaviour Control (PBC), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Ease of Use (EU), Subjective Norms (SN), Trust, Personal Norms (PN) Environmental Awareness (EA) and Habit were tested in a linear regression model along with sociodemographic variables to predict behaviour intention to use car sharing. The data were collected by STARS partners along EU countries with users and non-users of car sharing. Section 3: In this case study, it is examined how car sharers in Flanders assess the services of different car sharing organisations. Focus was given on membership, car ownership, customer satisfaction, overall characteristics of the service, costs, flexibility and offer of cars with alternative fuels. The influence of socioeconomic factors in the diffusion of car sharing GA n°769513 Page 17 of 243 Section 4: This second case study analysed and compared behavioural data from URBI during two months in Berlin, Milan, Turin and Madrid. Focus was given to patterns and hourly distribution of trips. Section 5: This case study analysed and compared behavioural data for users and non-users of car sharing in Germany. Focus was given to social demographic variables, the use of smartphones, attitudes towards different transport modes, incentives to use car sharing, support to implement car sharing, characterization of users of car sharing and relation to the characteristics of services.
|
|
| 5. |
- Kehoe, Laura, et al.
(författare)
-
Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 364:6438, s. 341-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 6. |
- Malbet, F., et al.
(författare)
-
Faint objects in motion: the new frontier of high precision astrometry
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 51:3, s. 845-886
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sky survey telescopes and powerful targeted telescopes play complementary roles in astronomy. In order to investigate the nature and characteristics of the motions of very faint objects, a flexibly-pointed instrument capable of high astrometric accuracy is an ideal complement to current astrometric surveys and a unique tool for precision astrophysics. Such a space-based mission will push the frontier of precision astrometry from evidence of Earth-mass habitable worlds around the nearest stars, to distant Milky Way objects, and out to the Local Group of galaxies. As we enter the era of the James Webb Space Telescope and the new ground-based, adaptive-optics-enabled giant telescopes, by obtaining these high precision measurements on key objects that Gaia could not reach, a mission that focuses on high precision astrometry science can consolidate our theoretical understanding of the local Universe, enable extrapolation of physical processes to remote redshifts, and derive a much more consistent picture of cosmological evolution and the likely fate of our cosmos. Already several missions have been proposed to address the science case of faint objects in motion using high precision astrometry missions: NEAT proposed for the ESA M3 opportunity, micro-NEAT for the S1 opportunity, and Theia for the M4 and M5 opportunities. Additional new mission configurations adapted with technological innovations could be envisioned to pursue accurate measurements of these extremely small motions. The goal of this White Paper is to address the fundamental science questions that are at stake when we focus on the motions of faint sky objects and to briefly review instrumentation and mission profiles.
|
|
| 7. |
- Martins Silva Ramos, Érika, 1991, et al.
(författare)
-
Mobility styles and car sharing use in Europe: attitudes, behaviours, motives and sustainability
- 2020
-
Ingår i: European Transport Research Review. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1867-0717 .- 1866-8887. ; 12:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- What are the profiles of both users and non-users of car sharing in European cities regarding their travel patterns and psychological aspects? Two subsamples (1519 users and 3695 non-users of car sharing) participated in a survey, translated into seven languages, with 36 questions regarding attitudes towards car sharing, the environment, political orientation, personal norms, frequency of use of different transport modes and transport mode choice for different travel purposes. Through a hierarchical cluster analysis, five distinct mobility styles were identified, with no a priori restriction of the number of clusters. The mobility styles were further characterised by sociodemographic variables and by the motives for making use of car sharing. This paper discusses the implications of research based decision-making and urban planning in a way that guarantees long-term human and environmental security.
|
|
| 8. |
- Martins Silva Ramos, Érika, 1991, et al.
(författare)
-
Overall assessment of the drivers for behavioural change
- 2019
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The final task of work package 4 is to draw on the empirical evidence collected in the previous tasks of this current WP as well as the results of WPs 2 and 3. The aim is to give an overall picture of the underlying mechanisms behind observed behavioural changes towards an increased use of shared mobility services. The objective is furthermore to assess the relative importance of sociodemographic, individual and contextual factors as well as advance the analyses of how the characteristics of the different services and the business models (classified into car sharing operator profiles) interact with users profiles (of sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics) and mobility styles (including user attitudes, travel modes and frequencies). Finally, the WP includes a workshop with the aim to discuss and validate the results with experts on car sharing both from the inside as well as the outside of academia. The workshop took place on the 24th of January in Bremen, Germany. The report consists of four main sections; Introduction, Method, Results and Conclusions. Furthermore, the Method and Result sections have three subsections; one on the work carried out by UGOT i.e. the SEM analyses, another section describing the work by POLITO on car sharing user trends according to different user profiles, and a final subsection describing the work-shop hosted by the city of Bremen. The main findings of this deliverable are: Users of free floating car sharing (Italian sample) and free floating with pool stations (Sweden) were the users with the lowest percentage of car-free household. In Italy, users of free floating services are more likely to subscribe to more than one service (1.5 on average) of the same typology of service. The frequent users of private cars are, at the same time those that envisage greater use of car sharing in the future than today, while among those who own and use private cars less frequently (MultiOC users, who are registered to more than one car sharing variant in parallel, and FFPS), there is a lower propensity for an increase compared to the current level of car sharing use. Even though all MultiOC users are registered to a free floating service in combination with another car sharing typology (FFPS in Italy, RTSB in Sweden and Germany), they are more frequently users of PT and active modes (walk and bike) and they have a higher degree of car-free households than the free floating users. Therefore, services integration and a higher degree of MultiOC users may be one important key to reduce the use of private cars and consequently its impacts. The FFOA service is more likely to grow in terms of number of subscribers in Italy; while in Sweden, round trip station based service have the highest number of potential users. Clearly these predictions may be affected by the actual provision of such services in the cities if there is a lack today. Overall assessment of the drivers for behavioural change GA n°769513 Page 8 of 93 The strongest direct predictors of behavioural intention (BI) to use (or increase using) car sharing services in a near future (6 months) were perceived behaviour control (PBC), currently being registered on a car sharing service, a lower degree of past car based travels and trust in the quality of the service delivered. The number of current car sharing operators in the city was not a predictor of behaviour intention, which indicates that by only increasing the number of operators within cities or fleet sizes, is not enough to induce behaviour change. It is instead more important to increase the perceived usefulness of car sharing services for people’s travels necessities. Women could be a target niche in the market, since being a woman has a positive direct effect on BI to use car sharing in the future. In addition, increasing trust in the service availability and quality is also a possible strategy to foster use of car sharing. Past travels by car based modes leads to driving habit formation and when this habit becomes stronger, one is less likely to express a strong intention to use car sharing The expert work shop in Bremen contained presentations of the STARS project in general and results from WP 4 summarized above in particular. Experts from car sharing organisations, cities and other research projects attended. Overall the work shop proved that the knowledge is welcome and can be useful when developing the services, as well as implement those services in a city.
|
|
| 9. |
- Pereira, Carla, et al.
(författare)
-
Comparison of East‐Asia and West‐Europe cohorts explains disparities in survival outcomes and highlights predictive biomarkers of early gastric cancer aggressiveness
- 2021
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Cancer. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 150:5, s. 868-880
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Surgical resection with lymphadenectomy and perioperative chemotherapy is the universal mainstay for curative treatment of gastric cancer (GC) patients with locoregional disease. However, GC survival remains asymmetric in West- and East-world regions. We hypothesize that this asymmetry derives from differential clinical management. Therefore, we collected chemo-naïve GC patients from Portugal and South Korea to explore specific immunophenotypic profiles related to disease aggressiveness and clinicopathological factors potentially explaining associated overall survival (OS) differences. Clinicopathological and survival data were collected from chemo-naïve surgical cohorts from Portugal (West-Europe cohort [WE-C]; n = 170) and South Korea (East-Asia cohort [EA-C]; n = 367) and correlated with immunohistochemical expression profiles of E-cadherin and CD44v6 obtained from consecutive tissue microarrays sections. Survival analysis revealed a subset of 12.4% of WE-C patients, whose tumors concomitantly express E-cadherin_abnormal and CD44v6_very high, displaying extremely poor OS, even at TNM stages I and II. These WE-C stage-I and -II patients tumors were particularly aggressive compared to all others, invading deeper into the gastric wall (P = .032) and more often permeating the vasculature (P = .018) and nerves (P = .009). A similar immunophenotypic profile was found in 11.9% of EA-C patients, but unrelated to survival. Tumours, from stage-I and -II EA-C patients, that display both biomarkers, also permeated more lymphatic vessels (P = .003), promoting lymph node (LN) metastasis (P = .019), being diagnosed on average 8 years earlier and submitted to more extensive LN dissection than WE-C. Concomitant E-cadherin_abnormal/CD44v6_very-high expression predicts aggressiveness and poor survival of stage-I and -II GC submitted to conservative lymphadenectomy.
|
|
| 10. |
- Solorzano, Leslie, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
-
Towards automatic protein co-expression quantification in immunohistochemical TMA slides
- 2021
-
Ingår i: IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 2168-2194 .- 2168-2208. ; 25:2, s. 393-402
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis of tissue biopsies is currently used for clinical screening of solid cancers to assess protein expression. The large amount of image data produced from these tissue samples requires specialized computational pathology methods to perform integrative analysis. Even though proteins are traditionally studied independently, the study of protein co-expression may offer new insights towards patients' clinical and therapeutic decisions. To explore protein co-expression, we constructed a modular image analysis pipeline to spatially align tissue microarray (TMA) image slides, evaluate alignment quality, define tumor regions, and ultimately quantify protein expression, before and after tumor segmentation. The pipeline was built with open-source tools that can manage gigapixel slides. To evaluate the consensus between pathologist and computer, we characterized a cohort of 142 gastric cancer (GC) cases regarding the extent of E-cadherin and CD44v6 expression. We performed IHC analysis in consecutive TMA slides and compared the automated quantification with the pathologists' manual assessment. Our results show that automated quantification within tumor regions improves agreement with the pathologists' classification. A co-expression map was created to identify the cores co-expressing both proteins. The proposed pipeline provides not only computational tools forwarding current pathology practices to explore co-expression, but also a framework for merging data and transferring information in learning-based approaches to pathology.
|
|
