Menu labelling and food choice in obese adults: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: To date research examining the benefits of menu labelling in the UK is sparse. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of menu labelling in a UK obese population. METHODS: Using a repeated measures design, 61 patients at a tier 3 weight management service completed four questionnaires to assess their food choice (control) and behaviour change when presented with 3 menu labelling formats (calorie content; nutrient content; and energy expenditure). RESULTS: All three forms of labelling increased participants weight control concerns compared to the control condition. There was a significant difference in content of food ordered in the three menu labelling formats compared to the control condition. The calorie condition had the largest percentage decrease in calories selected followed by energy expenditure and nutrient content. However, no difference was observed between the three conditions in the desire for menu labelling in restaurants to be introduced in the UK. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that menu labelling should be enforced in the UK as it is both beneficial to promoting healthy eating and in demand. This study is the first to examine menu labelling in a UK obese population using energy expenditure equivalents to provide nutritional information

Elaboración de Biofertilizantes a partir de microorganismos del bosque

Los suelos contienen una enorme cantidad de microorganismos (ej.bacterias, hongos), invertebrados (ej.ácaros, nemátodos) y animales (ej.lombrices, hormigas), que denominamos de manera general como su biodiversidad. Estas comunidades de organismos trabajan de manera coordinada entre sí y con las raíces de las plantas, y son clave no sólo para una producción en equilibrio con el ambiente sino también para garantizar la provisión de todo aquello que obtenemos de los ecosistemas y que conocemos como servicios ecosistémicosEstación Experimental Agropecuaria BarilocheFil: Cardozo, Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extensión Rural El Bolsón; ArgentinaFil: El Mujtar, Veronica Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Valeria Esther. nstituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentin

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication

El Universo escondido bajo nuestros pies: la importancia de conocer y preservar los organismos del suelo

Los suelos son la base de los sistemas productivos; sin embargo, pocos de estos sistemas contemplan la preservación de los organismos que contiene. Esta preservación es clave para el desarrollo de sistemas y estrategias productivas en equilibrio con el ambiente, ya que los organismos del suelo llevan a cabo procesos biológicos irremplazables que sustentan la provisión de servicios ecosistémicos.Estación Experimental Agropecuaria BarilocheFil: Alvarez, Valeria Esther. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo Interdisciplinario de Agroecología, Ambiente y Sistemas de Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Cardozo, Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extensión Rural El Bolsón; ArgentinaFil: El Mujtar, Verónica Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo Interdisciplinario de Agroecología, Ambiente y Sistemas de Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tittonell, Pablo Adrian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; Argentin

Modeling dose-response relationships of the effects of fesoterodine in patients with overactive bladder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fesoterodine is an antimuscarinic for the treatment of overactive bladder, a syndrome of urgency, with or without urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), usually with increased daytime frequency and nocturia. Our objective was to develop predictive models to describe the dose response of fesoterodine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from subjects enrolled in double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II and III trials were used for developing longitudinal dose-response models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The models predicted that clinically significant and near-maximum treatment effects would be seen within 3 to 4 weeks after treatment initiation. For a typical patient with 11 micturitions per 24 hours at baseline, predicted change was -1.2, -1.7, and -2.2 micturitions for placebo and fesoterodine 4 mg and 8 mg, respectively. For a typical patient with 2 UUI episodes per 24 hours at baseline, predicted change was -1.05, -1.26, and -1.43 UUI episodes for placebo and fesoterodine 4 mg and 8 mg, respectively. Increase in mean voided volume was estimated at 9.7 mL for placebo, with an additional 14.2 mL and 28.4 mL for fesoterodine 4 mg and 8 mg, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A consistent dose response for fesoterodine was demonstrated for bladder diary endpoints in subjects with overactive bladder, a result that supports the greater efficacy seen with fesoterodine 8 mg in post hoc analyses of clinical trial data. The dose-response models can be used to predict outcomes for doses not studied or for patient subgroups underrepresented in clinical trials.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>The phase III trials used in this analysis have been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00220363 and NCT00138723).</p

Computational system for the remote operation of a prototype hydroelectric plant through the web

This article describes the development of a software system oriented to operate a prototype hydroelectric power generation system (SGEH) via Web. The SGEH located at Universidad del Valle campus emulates hydraulic power based on the IEEE 1010-2006 standard. This system includes remote operation capacities and user management protocols. JavaScript, AJAX and Java Servlets applications were used. Three different types of users with complete or restricted privileges were considered: administrator, operator and monitor users. The software system restricts simultaneous access to only one administrator, one operator and up to 23 users on a local area network, which facilitates teaching and research activities in hydroelectric power generation systems

Manual para la elaboración de biofertilizante a partir de desechos agropecuarios

Los suelos contienen una enorme cantidad de microorganismos (ej. bacterias, hongos), invertebrados (ej. ácaros, nemátodos) y animales (ej. lombrices, hormigas), que denominamos de manera general como su biodiversidad. Estas comunidades de organismos trabajan de manera coordinada entre sí y con las raíces de las plantas, y son clave no sólo para una producción en equilibrio con el ambiente sino también para garantizar la provisión de todo aquello que obtenemos de los ecosistemas y que conocemos como servicios ecosistémicos.Estación Experimental Agropecuaria BarilocheFil: Cardozo, Andrea Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extension Rural El Bolson; ArgentinaFil: El Mujtar, Veronica Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: El Mujtar, Veronica Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Valeria Esther. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Valeria Esther. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Sisón Cáceres, Leandro Axel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extension Rural El Bolson; Argentin

Large-scale unit commitment under uncertainty: an updated literature survey

The Unit Commitment problem in energy management aims at finding the optimal production schedule of a set of generation units, while meeting various system-wide constraints. It has always been a large-scale, non-convex, difficult problem, especially in view of the fact that, due to operational requirements, it has to be solved in an unreasonably small time for its size. Recently, growing renewable energy shares have strongly increased the level of uncertainty in the system, making the (ideal) Unit Commitment model a large-scale, non-convex and uncertain (stochastic, robust, chance-constrained) program. We provide a survey of the literature on methods for the Uncertain Unit Commitment problem, in all its variants. We start with a review of the main contributions on solution methods for the deterministic versions of the problem, focussing on those based on mathematical programming techniques that are more relevant for the uncertain versions of the problem. We then present and categorize the approaches to the latter, while providing entry points to the relevant literature on optimization under uncertainty. This is an updated version of the paper "Large-scale Unit Commitment under uncertainty: a literature survey" that appeared in 4OR 13(2), 115--171 (2015); this version has over 170 more citations, most of which appeared in the last three years, proving how fast the literature on uncertain Unit Commitment evolves, and therefore the interest in this subject