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Abstract Background and aim Traffic-related ultrafine particle pollution near highways is associated with adverse health. Reducing exposure by use of portable air purifiers in homes is one approach to reducing this risk. However, the reaction of residents to having air purifiers in homes is not well studied. Methods Within the framework of our randomized crossover trial of air purifiers in homes near a major highway, we collected data about participants’ use and reactions to air purifiers using questionnaires at their 30-day and 90-day home visits, recorded electricity consumption using HOBO monitors, and conducted structured interviews with participants. Results Nearly all 150 participants reported running the air purifiers virtually 24 h every day in both their living room and their bedroom in the prior month. The units’ HOBO electricity use, from a subset of 45 participants, supported the participants’ responses from the questionnaire. Approximately 80% of participants reported setting their air purifier on the medium setting. Tolerance to air purifier noise increased significantly between the 30-day and 90-day home visits, with approximately two thirds reporting not being bothered at all by the noise. The qualitative interviews in a subset of 26 participants yielded consistent responses to those from the questionnaires. Size of unit, airflow, and energy consumption were additional concerns that emerged during the interviews. Conclusions Results from the questionnaires, HOBO data, and structured interviews all suggest participants had positive reactions towards the presence of in-home APs, and therefore may be receptive to using air purifiers in their homes on a regular basis. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04279249 . Registered 09 October 2019.

Learning experiences based on serious games are employed in multiple contexts. Players carry out multiple interactions during the gameplay to solve the different challenges faced. Those interactions can be registered in logs as large data sets providing the assessment process with objective information about the skills employed. Most assessment methods in learning experiences based on serious games rely on manual approaches, which do not scalewell when the amount of data increases. We propose an automated method to analyse students’ interactions and assess their skills in learning experiences based on serious games. The method takes into account not only the final model obtained by the student, but also the process followed to obtain it, extracted from game logs. The assessment method groups students according to their in-game errors and ingame outcomes. Then, the models for the most and the least successful students are discovered using process mining techniques. Similarities in their behaviour are analysed through conformance checking techniques to compare all the students with the most successful ones. Finally, the similarities found are quantified to build a classification of the students’ assessments. We have employed this method with Computer Science students playing a serious game to solve design problems in a course on databases. The findings show that process mining techniques can palliate the limitations of skill assessment methods in game-based learning experiences.

This paper analyses literature related to the impact of COVID-19 on family firms’ financial decisions. Presenting their distinctive characteristics and their responses to both past crises and the current one, the aim is to single out the key factors that ensure these firms’ economic continuity. The analysis of the key factors shown in the studies makes it possible to identify and understand behavioural aspects, such as those relating to business resilience, employed by owners of family firms, which take precedence over traditional financial management decisions. The analysis of the financial impact of the current crisis on family firms will help improve their resilience to future exogenous impacts.

The field of pharmacogenetics (PGx) holds great promise in advancing personalized medicine by adapting treatments based on individual genetic profiles. Despite its benefits, there are still economic, ethical and institutional barriers that hinder its implementation in our healthcare environment. A retrospective analysis approach of anonymized data sourced from electronic health records was performed, encompassing a diverse patient population and evaluating key parameters such as prescribing patterns and test results, to assess the impact of pharmacogenetic testing. A head-to-head comparison with previously published activity results within the same pharmacogenetic laboratory was also conducted to contrast the progress made after 10 years. The analysis revealed significant utilization of pharmacogenetic testing in daily clinical practice, with 1,145 pharmacogenetic tests performed over a 1-year period and showing a 35% growth rate increase over time. Of the 17 different medical departments that sought PGx tests, the Oncology department accounted for the highest number, representing 58.47% of all genotyped patients. A total of 1,000 PGx tests were requested for individuals susceptible to receive a dose modification based on genotype, and 76 individuals received a genotype-guided dose adjustment. This study presents a comprehensive descriptive analysis of real-world data obtained from a public tertiary hospital laboratory specialized in pharmacogenetic testing, and presents data that strongly endorse the integration of pharmacogenetic testing into everyday clinical practice.

Brandy is a spirit obtained from distilled wine that has an alcohol content equal to or greater than 36 % ABV (Alcohol by Volume). It undergoes an ageing process in oak wood casks with a capacity of up to 1000 L for a minimum of six months. During this process, a series of physicochemical and sensory changes take place that confer the initial wine distillate with a series of improvements to its sensory profile. Such changes are mainly determined by the intrinsic characteristics of the wood and by those associated with the manufacturing process of the casks. The previous use of the casks, ageing time and the alcoholic strength of the wine distillate are also important factors, among others. The casks, which will have previously contained some type of Sherry wine (such as Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez), are known as Sherry Casks® and they must be used in the production of Brandy de Jerez. During the ageing of Brandy de Jerez, Sherry Casks® contribute to the final brandy via the compounds that are both inherent to the wood they are made of and from the wine that they initially contained and that were retained in the wood pores. The alcohol content of the wine distillate to be aged significantly affects not only the quality of the brandy, but also the financial cost of the process. This study aimed to determine the influence on brandy of the alcoholic strength of wine distillates aged in static ageing systems using Sherry Casks®. Specifically, we assessed the physicochemical composition and sensory profile of Brandy de Jerez made from wine distillates with three different alcoholic strengths (40 %, 55 % and 68 % ABV) and aged for 24 months. The Brandy de Jerez with lower alcoholic strengths (40 % - 55 % ABV) were found to contain a higher concentration of polyphenolic compounds deriving from the wood as well as from the constituents of the cask-seasoning Sherry wine. The brandies with higher alcoholic strengths exhibited a marked colour change, while the 40 % and 55 % ABV brandies were perceived to have the best sensory characteristics.

Chatbots have arrived in higher education, and professors are trying to make the most of them. Typically, chatbots are used to help students learn academic subjects. In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, students who were not living with their families during the course, especially international students, were isolated and in critical situations. The student services offices were in constant contact with these students to solve problems, advise them and support them during their stay, within the constraints of confinement and the guidelines dictated by the country at the time. The student services offices were overwhelmed trying to help these students because, although the students' problems were very recurrent, the government guidelines changed from one day to the next. This article proposes the use of a chatbot to provide initial support to students during crisis situations, and facilitate communication between them and the university. The chatbot was tested by more than 160 students and student services staff. The findings support the use of chatbots as a potential tool to facilitate communication with students in emerging emergency situations, and encourage universities to adopt these types of smart tools to be prepared to respond quickly and efficiently to students in times of crisis.

Study and management of a case with elevated potassium levels without apparent clinical causes in successive follow-up visits.

El estudio y abordaje de un caso clínico de una paciente con elevaciones de potasio en las sucesivas revisiones sin justificación clínica.

SQL is a key programming language for data scientists, but its learning is sometimes challenging, especially if the learner does not have a proper computer science background. This article introduces ChatbotSQL, a conversational agent that aims to support the autonomous learning of the SQL language for database querying. ChatbotSQL proposes exercises and guides about the steps to be taken by the learner in case of doubts, providing customised feedback. ChatbotSQL has been created on top of IBM Watson Assistant and is available in a web platform. Students in a higher education database subject used ChatbotSQL extensively, showing a positive perception of its usefulness in supporting the resolution of complex queries.

Technostress is a psychosocial phenomenon associated with the use of technologies to the detriment of health, the same one that during the pandemic was accelerated in the work considering home confinement. This work aims to systematize the main research on the impact of technostress at work during the severe confinement stage of the pandemic, between the years 2020 and 2021, with the purpose of identify and evaluate its main determining factors. A systematic review of the literature was carried out during COVID-19, using the words “technostress work COVID-19.” The works found focus mainly on analyzing the creators and inhibitors of technostress in workers, as well as the main consequences of the materialization of this technological risk associated with work performance during the stage of confinement by COVID-19. Techno invasion and techno overload were identified as the main techno stressors, with the main type of technostress appreciated in the literature being techno fatigue. Technostress is identified as a problem that had direct and relevant effects during the season of severe confinement and remote work at home due to COVID-19; highlighting techno fatigue as the most frequent type of stress, and techno stressors such as techno invasion and overload as the ones that presented the highest incidence.

Summary: Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare lymphoproliferative neoplasm considered incurable, with a median survival of 3–5 years. In recent years, Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi) have been introduced, demonstrating high therapeutic activity. However, the prognosis for MCL patients failing ibrutinib therapy is particularly poor, with a survival expectation of a few months. In this phase II trial, we assessed the efficacy and safety of the carfilzomib‐lenalidomide‐dexamethasone (KRD) combination in MCL patients who were relapsed/refractory (R/R) or intolerant to BTKi and in need of treatment. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the antitumor efficacy of the KRD combination in terms of 12‐month overall survival (12‐month OS). From September 2019 to December 2020, 16 patients were enrolled from 11 Italian centers. After a median follow‐up of 2.37 months (95% CI 0.92–6.47), the 12‐month OS was 13%. The rate of grade 3–4 adverse events (AEs) was 35%, and the overall response rate (ORR) was 19%. These results led to the premature termination of enrollment, as defined in the protocol stopping rules. The efficacy of the KRD combination in advanced‐stage MCL patients who are R/R to BTKi is unsatisfactory and too toxic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Secondary primary malignancies (SPM) have been reported after anti‐BCMA or anti‐CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)‐T‐cell therapies. While the cytotoxic effect of antecedent therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, has been well established, few data are available on risk related to CAR‐T immunotherapies. The study aimed to analyse the incidence of SPM in 651 patients enrolled in the Italian prospective observational CART‐SIE study. SPMs were documented in 4.3% (28/651), and the most frequent SPMs were haematological malignancies. In conclusion, the frequency of SPMs in our cohort of heavily pretreated patients receiving CAR‐T was relatively low and consistent with previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]