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Abstract Background The development of liver cirrhosis is usually an asymptomatic process until late stages when complications occur. The potential reversibility of the disease is dependent on early diagnosis of liver fibrosis and timely targeted treatment. Recently, the use of non-invasive tools has been suggested for screening of liver fibrosis, especially in subjects with risk factors for chronic liver disease. Nevertheless, large population-based studies with cost-effectiveness analyses are still lacking to support the widespread use of such tools. The aim of this study is to investigate whether non-invasive liver stiffness measurement in the general population is useful to identify subjects with asymptomatic, advanced chronic liver disease. Methods This study aims to include 30,000 subjects from eight European countries. Subjects from the general population aged ≥ 40 years without known liver disease will be invited to participate in the study either through phone calls/letters or through their primary care center. In the first study visit, subjects will undergo bloodwork as well as hepatic fat quantification and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by vibration-controlled transient elastography. If LSM is ≥ 8 kPa and/or if ALT levels are ≥1.5 x upper limit of normal, subjects will be referred to hospital for further evaluation and consideration of liver biopsy. The primary outcome is the percentage of subjects with LSM ≥ 8kPa. In addition, a health economic evaluation will be performed to assess the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of such an intervention. The project is funded by the European Commission H2020 program. Discussion This study comes at an especially important time, as the burden of chronic liver diseases is expected to increase in the coming years. There is consequently an urgent need to change our current approach, from diagnosing the disease late when the impact of interventions may be limited to diagnosing the disease earlier, when the patient is asymptomatic and free of complications, and the disease potentially reversible. Ultimately, the LiverScreen study will serve as a basis from which diagnostic pathways can be developed and adapted to the specific socio-economic and healthcare conditions in each country. Trial registration This study is registered on Clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT03789825 ).

Background: Observational studies reported worse COVID-19 evolution in relation to polypharmacy and reductions in COVID-19 hospital admissions and death in patients receiving chronic antihistamine treatment. The current profile of hospitalized patients with regard to different variants was analyzed to identify specific targets for future prospective trials. Methods: COVID-19 admissions to the Hospital of Terrassa (11 March 2020–28 August 2024 (n = 1457), from the integral Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa population (n = 167,386 people) were studied. Age, gender, the number of chronic treatments (nT), and immunization status were analyzed. Results: After 5 May 2023, 291 patients (54% females) required COVID hospitalization. Of these, 39% received >8 nT (23% receiving 5–7 nT), 70.2% were >70 years, and 93.4% survived. In total, 12% of patients admitted after 5 May 2024 were not vaccinated, while 59% received ≥4 vaccines (43% within the last 12 months). In total, 49% of admitted patients presented no previous infection (while 3% presented infection during the last year). Delta or Omicron variants would have accounted for ≥80% of admissions > 60 years compared to the first pandemic wave if no vaccines existed. Conclusions: Patients > 70 years who receive ≥5 nT, without prior COVID-19 infections, should be the priority for prevention, with updated vaccination and early treatments to reduce hospitalizations.

Introduction: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic put at risk the resilience of healthcare professionals by exposing them to high levels of stress. Our aim was to identify key elements for implementing the STEP programme, a psychological support service for healthcare professionals. Methods: qualitative design. The study participants were hospital healthcare staff. Anonymous questionnaires and transcriptions of group interventions and focus groups were used to identify professionals’ preferences to receiving psychological support, needs, concerns, resilience (STEP1.0); constrained emotions and associated thoughts (STEP1.5); perception of self-efficacy on managing emotions (STEP2.0); and the professionals’ profile requiring individual therapy. Results: Three hundred professionals participated in the study, 100.0% in STEP 1.0 , 27.3% in STEP 1.5, 2.7% in STEP 2.0, and 10.0% in individual interventions. Two hundred and three (67.7%) participants reflected in the survey that they would prefer access to a face-to-face psychological service during working hours. Three consecutive phases with specific needs and concerns were identified: The “cognitive” phase, at the beginning of the pandemic, when infection and self-efficacy were major concerns, the “ventilation” phase, when constrained emotions associated with several factors were expressed; and the “recovery” phase, when the clinical overload decreased and professionals were able to focus on emotion management training. Several personal characteristics associated with referral to individual therapy were identified. Conclusions: The key characteristics of a psychological support service are proximity, face-to-face interaction during working shifts, and a chronological phase system adapted to different emerging needs.

El sentido de esta nota editorial, en la que participa la profesora Juanita Villaveces, decana de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (sede Bogotá), Álvaro Zerda, profesor y exdecano de la misma facultad, y yo como director y editor en jefe de Innovar, es plantear el papel que han tenido las publicaciones de esta facultad, en particular esta publicación, como medios de divulgación y desarrollo del pensamiento económico y administrativo en el país, con ocasión de la conmemoración de los setenta años de nuestra facultad.

Is teaching impaired by gender bias? Following growing academic interest targeting gender bias in university curricula, we analyse the participation of literatura written by women in the compulsory course of Colombian Economic History to inquire about the existence of gender bias in the field of teaching. We analyse gender bias in two categories: relevance and participation to conclude that teaching and the investigation of the subfield reveals the existing biases in the economy and a slowness to change despite a growing awareness of the issue among scholars. This work seeks to contribute, based on a particular case, to the discussion on gender bias in teaching.

¿Es posible que el gobierno de turno reparta tierras baldías para premiar a los electores y aumentar el apoyo electoral? Los gobiernos utilizan mecanismos distributivos para obtener réditos electorales. Este trabajo analiza la relación entre la adjudicación de baldíos y las elecciones de 1930 a 1946 –cuando el partido liberal se consolidó como fuerza electoral– mediante un modelo de mínimos cuadrados ordinarios que incluye más de 600 municipios. Los resultados muestran que la adjudicación de baldíos favoreció a municipios liberales, aunque no está asociada con mayorías electorales del partido liberal en 1946.

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En el presente documento utilizamos las caricaturas económicas que aparecieron en el principal periódico colombiano (El Tiempo) entre 1928 y 1937, como una fuente primaria válida para el análisis de las tensiones que los fenómenos y situaciones económicas generaron en Colombia en una época tensa para la economía mundial. A través de la caricatura económica es posible ver la percepción de la opinión pública respecto a las políticas económicas y el temor e incertidumbre que éstas causaban en el común de la gente.

En este artículo se plantea una metodología de evaluación de la calidad de un geo- portal de una IDE, dedicando especial atención a su usabilidad e interoperabilidad, entendidas en sentido amplio, y se aplica a los geoportales nacionales de las IDE de las Américas. Esta metodología está basada en documentos anteriores de trabajo y la experiencia acumulada en el equipo IDE del CNIG (Centro Nacional de Informa- ción Geográfica) de España. Hasta ahora se ha dedicado mucha atención y se ha invertido un notable esfuer- zo de estandarización de servicios en el contexto de las IDE, pero creemos que se ha prestado poca atención a los geoportales y clientes que explotan dichos servicios. Por eso, nos parece oportuno abordar criterios objetivos de usabilidad e interopera- bilidad de geoportales que contribuyan a optimizarlos desde criterios técnicos y objetivos que atiendan a mejorar su calidad general. Se tratará de definir un indicador de calidad general de un geoportal IDE defi- niendo un conjunto de indicadores individuales cuya conveniencia y oportunidad se deriva de la experiencia y conocimiento de un grupo de expertos en el campo de las IDE. En este artículo se informa de los resultados obtenidos de la aplicación de la metodología definida a los geoportales de referencia nacionales de las Infraestructu- ras de Datos Espaciales del continente americano para evaluar su utilidad práctica, identificar áreas de mejora y contribuir a su optimización. Finalmente se realiza una serie de consideraciones que tratan de equilibrar el coste y el resultado de las posi- bles medidas correctivas derivadas de este análisis. El estudio permite sugerir a grandes rasgos un proyecto de implantación que aborda primero las medidas de menor coste y mayor impacto en la calidad general de los recursos gestionados.

Procedural learning can acquire or develop skills through performance and repetition of a task unconsciously or unintentionally. Procedural skills are considered as the cornerstone in the neuropsychological rehabilitation to promote the autonomy of patients with brain damage, as those with Alzheimer's disease. This review presents data about procedural skills in Alzheimer's disease. Over the past three decades, we have found 40 articles studying various procedural skills in the Alzheimer's disease: motor, perceptual-motor, cognitive, perceptual-cognitive and those developed through serial reaction-time paradigm. We analyzed every study evaluating a procedural skill, indicating the used task and preservation or no preservation of procedural learning. Overall, most of the papers published describe conservation of learning procedures or relatively conserved in Alzheimer's disease, which could be used to promote patient autonomy.