Summary Background Since December, 2019, Wuhan, China, has experienced an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 have been reported but risk factors for mortality and a detailed clinical course of illness, including viral shedding, have not been well described. Methods In this retrospective, multicentre cohort study, we included all adult inpatients (≥18 years old) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from Jinyintan Hospital and Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital (Wuhan, China) who had been discharged or had died by Jan 31, 2020. Demographic, clinical, treatment, and laboratory data, including serial samples for viral RNA detection, were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between survivors and non-survivors. We used univariable and multivariable logistic regression methods to explore the risk factors associated with in-hospital death. Findings 191 patients (135 from Jinyintan Hospital and 56 from Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital) were included in this study, of whom 137 were discharged and 54 died in hospital. 91 (48%) patients had a comorbidity, with hypertension being the most common (58 [30%] patients), followed by diabetes (36 [19%] patients) and coronary heart disease (15 [8%] patients). Multivariable regression showed increasing odds of in-hospital death associated with older age (odds ratio 1·10, 95% CI 1·03–1·17, per year increase; p=0·0043), higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (5·65, 2·61–12·23; p Interpretation The potential risk factors of older age, high SOFA score, and d-dimer greater than 1 μg/mL could help clinicians to identify patients with poor prognosis at an early stage. Prolonged viral shedding provides the rationale for a strategy of isolation of infected patients and optimal antiviral interventions in the future. Funding Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences; National Science Grant for Distinguished Young Scholars; National Key Research and Development Program of China; The Beijing Science and Technology Project; and Major Projects of National Science and Technology on New Drug Creation and Development.

Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study

Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China

(1988). Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 59, No. 6, pp. 698-699.

Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind

Aims: In this article, inflammatory mechanisms that link periodontal diseases to cardiovascular diseases are reviewed. Methods: This article is a literature review. Results: Studies in the literature implicate a number of possible mechanisms that could be responsible for increased inflammatory responses in atheromatous lesions due to periodontal infections. These include increased systemic levels of inflammatory mediators stimulated by bacteria and their products at sites distant from the oral cavity, elevated thrombotic and hemostatic markers that promote a prothrombotic state and inflammation, cross-reactive systemic antibodies that promote inflammation and interact with the atheroma, promotion of dyslipidemia with consequent increases in pro-inflammatory lipid classes and subclasses, and common genetic susceptibility factors present in both disease leading to increased inflammatory responses. Conclusions: Such mechanisms may be thought to act in concert to increase systemic inflammation in periodontal disease and to promote or exacerbate atherogenesis. However, proof that the increase in systemic inflammation attributable to periodontitis impacts inflammatory responses during atheroma development, thrombotic events or myocardial infarction or stroke is lacking.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jcpe.12060

Inflammatory mechanisms linking periodontal diseases to cardiovascular diseases

The recent, fast development of nanotechnology is reflected in the medical sciences. Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs) are an excellent example. Thanks to their superparamagnetic properties, SPIONs have found application in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and magnetic hyperthermia. Unlike bulk iron, SPIONs do not have remnant magnetization in the absence of the external magnetic field; therefore, a precise remote control over their action is possible. This makes them also useful as a component of the advanced drug delivery systems. Due to their easy synthesis, biocompatibility, multifunctionality, and possibility of further surface modification with various chemical agents, SPIONs could support many fields of medicine. SPIONs have also some disadvantages, such as their high uptake by macrophages. Nevertheless, based on the ongoing studies, they seem to be very promising in oncological therapy (especially in the brain, breast, prostate, and pancreatic tumors). The main goal of our paper is, therefore, to present the basic properties of SPIONs, to discuss their current role in medicine, and to review their applications in order to inspire future developments of new, improved SPION systems.

Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles—Current and Prospective Medical Applications

Longitudinal count responses are often analyzed with a Poisson mixed model. However, under overdispersion, these responses are better described by a negative binomial mixed model. Estimators of the...

Sensitivity analysis of longitudinal count responses: a local influence approach and application to medical data

Comparison of two normal populations with restricted means

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Análisis proposicional cuantitativo aplicado a la investigación en administración

Background: The beneficial effects of exercise on cardiovascular health may be related to the improvement in several physiologic pathways, including peripheral vascular function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between cardiovascular responses during the treadmill exercise test and exercise-induced muscle vasodilatation in individuals without overt heart disease. Methods: The study included 796 asymptomatic subjects (431 females and 365 males) without overt heart disease. We evaluated the heart rate (chronotropic reserve and heart rate recovery), blood pressure (maximum systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as systolic blood pressure recovery) and exercise capacity during symptom-limited treadmill exercise testing. Exercise-induced muscle vasodilatation was studied with venous occlusion plethysmography and estimated by forearm blood flow and vascular conductance responses during a 3-min handgrip maneuver. Results: Forearm blood flow increase during the handgrip exercise was positively associated with heart rate recovery during treadmill exercise testing (p Conclusion: In a sample of individuals without overt heart disease, exercise-induced muscle vasodilatation was associated with heart rate and blood pressure responses during treadmill exercise testing, but was not associated with exercise capacity. These findings suggest that favorable hemodynamic and chronotropic responses are associated with better vasodilator capacity, but exercise capacity does not predict muscle vasodilatation.

Exercise-induced muscle vasodilatation and treadmill exercise test responses in individuals without overt heart disease.

A analise de entrevistas com questoes abertas e frequente no cotidiano do pesquisador em Administracao. Uma de suas dificuldades e a conversao dos dados da fala em categorias ou valores quantitativos para posterior tratamento estatistico. As propostas nesse sentido em geral estao baseadas em contagens de ocorrencias lexicais que, por estarem fundamentadas em significacoes dicionarizadas (previamente estabelecidas), deixam de lado as associacoes semânticas feitas pelo proprio entrevistado no contexto da entrevista. O objetivo deste artigo e apresentar um instrumento de analise composto de um conjunto de procedimentos para a geracao de unidades linguisticas passiveis de descricao, comparacao, modelagem e inferencia estatisticas: a Analise Proposicional Quantitativa (APQ). Sua principal diferenca em relacao a outros metodos consiste na escolha da proposicao, e nao do lexico, como unidade de analise. A aplicacao do metodo e apresentada em um estudo sobre internacionalizacao de empresas do varejo.

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Viviana Giampaoli

Papers

Sensitivity analysis of longitudinal count responses: a local influence approach and application to medical data

Comparison of two normal populations with restricted means

Análisis proposicional cuantitativo aplicado a la investigación en administración

Exercise-induced muscle vasodilatation and treadmill exercise test responses in individuals without overt heart disease.

Análise proposicional quantitativa aplicada à pesquisa em administração