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Establishing proper neighbor relations between a set of spatial units under analysis is essential when carrying out a spatial or spatio-temporal analysis. However, it is usual that researchers choose some of the most typical (and simple) neighborhood structures, such as the first-order contiguity matrix, without exploring other options. In this paper, we compare the performance of different neighborhood matrices in the context of modeling the weekly relative risk of COVID-19 over small areas located in or near Valencia, Spain. Specifically, we construct contiguity-based, distance-based, covariate-based (considering mobility flows and sociodemographic characteristics), and hybrid neighborhood matrices. We evaluate the goodness of fit, the overall predictive quality, the ability to detect high-risk spatio-temporal units, the capability to capture the spatio-temporal autocorrelation in the data, and the goodness of smoothing for a set of spatio-temporal models based on each of the neighborhood matrices. The results show that contiguity-based matrices, some of the distance-based matrices, and those based on sociodemographic characteristics perform better than the matrices based on k-nearest neighbors and those involving mobility flows. In addition, we test the linear combination of some of the constructed neighborhood matrices and the reweighting of these matrices after eliminating weak neighbor relations, without any model improvement.

Introduction and objectives The pocket sized KardiaMobile (KM) is a monitoring device for ECG recording through a smartphone-based application. This system is generally aimed as screening tool to detect alterations in cardiac rhythm but its diagnostic potential for detection of ST changes remains largely unknown. This study sought to assess the diagnostic sensitivity of the KM system for detection of ST changes in patients with ST elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods Patients admitted with diagnosis of STEMI were consecutively included. Recordings with KM were obtained in leads I, II and anterior precordial. KM recordings were obtained as well from healthy individuals. All recordings were submitted for blinded assessment. Results A total of 112 patients with STEMI and 25 healthy individuals were included. Among those showing ST changes, these consisted mostly in depression (75%). Sensitivity was modest for individual leads (57-58%). The combination of 2-leads, when including the precordial, and the combination of 3-leads markedly increased sensitivity (88-98% and 100% respectively) for both inferior and anterior STEMI. Specificity was very high (96-100%) and the Youden's J statistic was excellent for the 2-leads combinations that included the precordial lead (0.84-0.94) and for the 3-leads combination (0.96). Conclusions The Kardia Mobile system with the combination of 2-leads (I + precordial or II + precordial) or 3-leads shows a very high sensitivity for both anterior and inferior STEMI.

Early exposure to mercury has been related to endocrine disruption. Steroid hormones play a crucial role in neural cell migration, differentiation, etc., as well as protecting against several neurotoxic compounds. We investigate the relation between mercury exposure and children's sexual development, and we evaluate the possible influence of different brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) polymorphisms on this association. Our study sample comprised 412 9-year-old children participating in the INMA cohort (2004-2015). Mercury concentrations were measured at birth (cord blood) and at 4 and 9 years of age (hair). Sexual development was assessed by levels of sex steroid hormones (estradiol and testosterone) in saliva and the Tanner stages of sex development at 9 years (categorized as 1: prepuberty and1: pubertal onset). Covariates and confounders were collected through questionnaires during pregnancy and childhood. Polymorphisms in the BDNF gene were genotyped in cord blood DNA. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed between mercury levels and children's sexual development by sex. Effect modification by genetic polymorphisms and fish intake was assessed. We found marginally significant inverse associations between postnatal exposure to mercury (at 9 years) and testosterone levels (β[95%CI] = -0.16[-0.33,0.001], and -0.20[-0.42,0.03], for boys and girls, respectively). Additionally, we found that prenatal mercury was negatively associated with Tanner stage1 in boys. Finally, we found significant genetic interactions for some single nucleotide polymorphisms in the BDNF gene. In conclusion, pre and postnatal exposure to mercury seems to affect children's sexual development and BDNF may play a role in this association, but further research would be needed.

Currently 128 people die daily from opioid-related overdoses in the United States. This burden has instigated a search for viable means to guide postoperative prescription decision-making. The Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) and the Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patient with Pain (SOAPP) are validated risk assessment tools to predict opioid usage in high-risk populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of these opioid risk assessments and pain intensity scores, including the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), to predict postoperative opioid use and dependence in shoulder surgery.A retrospective review of 81 patients who underwent shoulder surgery and completed 3 preoperative risk and pain assessments within a single hospital system from 2018 to 2020 was performed. Demographic variables and ORT-O, SOAPP-R (the revised version of the SOAPP assessment), and PROMIS 3a scores were recorded from preoperative assessments. Opioid prescriptions were recorded from Electronic-Florida Online Reporting of Controlled Substances Evaluation. Dependence was defined as opioid prescriptions at or greater than 3 months after surgery. Risk assessment scores were compared and tested against postoperative opioid prescriptions using statistical analyses and logistic regression modeling.In the cohort, there were 36 female and 45 male patients with an average age of 64.5 years and body mass index of 28.0. Preoperatively, the average pain score was 6.2, and 7.8% of patients reported prolonged preoperative narcotics use. The average ORT-O score was 3.0, with 35.8% of patients defined as either medium or high risk, and the average PROMIS pain intensity preoperatively was 10.8. Neither the ORT-O nor the PROMIS pain score were good predictors of postoperative opioid dependence (area under curve = 0.39 and 0.43, respectively). The SOAPP-R performed slightly better (area under curve = 0.70) and was the only assessment with significantly different mean scores between patients with postoperative opioid dependence and those without (33.4 and 24.5, respectively,With recent focus on preoperative risk assessments to predict postoperative opioid use and dependence, it is important to understand how well these tools work when applied to orthopedic patients. While the ORT may be helpful in other fields, it does not seem to be a strong predictor of postoperative opioid use or dependence in patients undergoing various types of shoulder surgery. Future studies are needed to explore the utility of the SOAPP-R in a larger sample and identify tools applicable to the orthopedic population to assist surgeons in screening at-risk patients.

A multicountry outbreak of monkeypox has gained global attention. Basic research including structural and immunological investigation on monkeypox virus (MPXV) is central to design effective solutions of treatment with antivirals and appropriate vaccines. We summarize some information about this virus and its re-emergence and the current vaccines that are proposed to limit its spread and present some possible avenues for developing new vaccines.

Tabu search (TS) is a metaheuristic that guides a local heuristic search procedure to explore the solution space beyond local optimality. One of the main components of TS is its use of adaptive memory, which creates a highly flexible search behavior. Memory-based strategies which are the hallmark of TS approaches are founded on a quest for “integrating principles,” by which alternative forms of memory are appropriately combined with effective strategies for exploiting them. The adaptive memory feature of TS allows the implementation of procedures that are capable of searching the solution space economically and effectively. Since local choices are guided by information collected during the search, TS contrasts with memoryless designs that heavily rely on semi-random processes that implement a form of sampling.

This chapter is a philosophical essay on how digital ethnography can shed light upon digital hate (especially homicidal hate) and self-harm. The author will do it by attending to the planned (ex)termination of a physical and social individual by herself or by the few ones' havoc against the rest of the people. Likewise, the author will meditate on the reality of lobbies and parties' silent wars and liberticide from different perspectives (post-structuralist, feminist, etc.) to attain a plural view on it while observing the role of digital ethnography in societies ranging from Indonesia to Spain. Therefore, it's an original study that embraces a unique scope of the unwilling ending of human existence and personas from a different and non-politicised angle.

El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivo determinar los costos y beneficios sociales asociados a mejorasambientales, basadas en escenarios económicos hipotéticos en el pozo “El Pital” (Planeta Rica-Córdoba). Seutilizaron los métodos económicos de valoración contingente y costo-efectividad. Para ello, se desarrollótrabajo en campo y se aplicaron encuestas a sus beneficiarios. Los datos obtenidos fueron codificados yregistrados en el software STATA 12.0, definiendo de esta forma los beneficios hipotéticos, a través de laecuación de Hanemann. Luego se presupuestaron los costos asociados a las medidas ambientales planteadas yse estimó la relación costo/beneficio. Dentro de los principales resultados se tiene que, a partir de lascondiciones socioambientales existentes, se plantearon tres medidas hipotéticas que permitirían unaconservación adecuada de El Pital: 1) construcción de un sistema de abastecimiento, 2) impermeabilizaciónde la zona de recarga de los carrocoches y 3) siembra de vegetación nativa. La disposición a pagar por cadalitro de agua para la aplicación de las medidas antes descritas fue de $271 pesos colombianos por cada 20litros de agua comprados. Se concluye que las personas circunscritas al pozo determinan su importancia conrelación a los litros de agua que obtiene de él, el impacto en su trabajo y la historia cultural del mismo. Caberesaltar que aun cuando las medidas sean viables socialmente y en escenarios económicos de carácterhipotéticos, desde la perspectiva sanitaria y ambiental seguiría significando una afectación al recurso y a laspersonas.

The pozzolanic materials have the capacity to modify the performance of Portland cement (PC) mortars. When they are used as supplementary materials, the physical-chemical properties such as compressive-strength and resistance to aggressive environments (chloride, sulphate, acids) are improved. In this article, a study was carried out to evaluate the effects of the addition of two natural pozzolans: volcanic pumice and zeolite. Both used as substitutes for PC in mortars based on cement, considering mechanical strength and the aggressive effect of sulphate ions. Furthermore, the electrochemical behavior of the steel rebar embedded in these mortars was studied during 730 days of exposition to aggressive conditions. The results revealed that the development of the compressive strength of mortars with pozzolans added reached similar values to the reference mortar. It was possible to observe that the addition of the pozzolan suppresses the ettringite formation proportionally to the pozzolan content. The corrosion resistance of the steel improves with the addition of pozzolans after 730 days of exposition at sulphate environment. The results of this study revealed the feasibility to use natural pozzolan as an additive during the preparation of cement up to 25% without significant changes of the physical-chemical properties of the mortars.