Microeconomics of intertemporal choice in zero-space during Covid-19: a behavioral economics perspective

The European Journal of Health Economics -     

COVID-19 pandemic,as experienced in the surgical service of a district hospital in Spain

The coronavirus disease 2019, which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread rapidly, evolving into a full-blown pandemic. We would like to report our experience after 1 year of this pandemic in the surgical service of a district hospital in Spain. There have been many changes (including new protocols) that our service and the hospital have undergone, to adapt to the new situation. We believe that this experience can be useful for other professionals who have lived and are living a similar situation.     

Treat-to-target strategy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Audit of adherence from real world clinical data

IntroductionThe current paradigm of the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) recommends achieving a state of remission or low disease activity through the treat-to-target strategy. Our study assesses adherence to this strategy.MethodPatients with RA (ACR-EULAR 2010 criteria) were included. From each centre, 19 patients were randomly selected. Clinical histories (CH) were assessed by independent auditors, checking compliance with predefined quality criteria. The study was approved by ethics committees.ResultsWe included 856 patients (mean age 54 years; 71% women). The use of a combined index (CI) was recorded in 61% of cases. Visits were recorded every 4 weeks using a CI in 4% of CH while attempts were made to achieve remission. Monitoring of disease activity every 6–8 months after reaching the target was recorded in 73% of cases.ConclusionsThe implementation of the treat-to-target strategy is barely recorded in patients with RA in routine clinical practice.     

Performance comparison of a flow cytometry immunoassay for intracellular cytokine staining and the QuantiFERON® SARS-CoV-2 test for detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2-Spike-reactive-IFN-γ-producing T cells after COVID-19 vaccination

European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases - We compared the performance of an in-house-developed flow cytometry assay for intracellular cytokine staining (FC-ICS) and a...     

Lessons from glaucoma: rethinking the fluid-brain barriers in common neurodegenerative disorders

Glaucoma has been recently characterized as a member of the group of anoikis-related diseases. Anoikis, a form of apoptosis, can be triggered by the unfastening of adherent junctions present in astrocytes. In those areas of the central nervous system in which the soma of the neurons or their axons and dendrites are metabolically dependent on the activity of astrocytes, a derangement of the lactate shuttle caused by a separation between the plasma membranes of neurons and astrocytes would result in metabolic impairment of the neurons themselves. In glaucoma, the triggering event has been attributed to the posterior deviation of aqueous humor towards the astrocyte-rich prelaminar tissue of the optic nerve head. The mean calcium content in the aqueous is able to interfere with calcium-dependent adherent junctions and induce anoikis of the astrocytes. As the cerebrospinal fluid has a similar base calcium concentration, a shunt of cerebrospinal fluid through the cerebral parenchyma would be able to interfere in the astrocytic architecture with dire consequences to the metabolically dependent neurons. Here the similitude between glaucoma,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease are discussed and the concept of the break in the fluid-brain barrier, as an event separated from the blood-brain barrier, is stressed.     

Safety profile of the adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine: Pooled analysis of two large randomised phase 3 trials

Background

The ZOE-50 (NCT01165177) and ZOE-70 (NCT01165229) phase 3 clinical trials showed that the adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) was ≥90% efficacious in preventing herpes zoster in adults. Here we present a comprehensive overview of the safety data from these studies.