UrbanPy: A Library to Download, Process and Visualize High Resolution Urban Data to Support Transportation and Urban Planning Decisions

Research demonstrates that the large-scale access and analysis to data can help cities plan for more inclusive and efficient growth. However, policy makers and researchers around the world still lack sufficient access to granular and dynamic sources of data – a challenge that has come to prominence as cities attempt to respond to the local impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this challenge, this paper presents UrbanPy, a new open-source library that makes the automated collection, processing, and visualization of spatial urban data simple and consistent for cities. UrbanPy, first developed as a tool to help Latin American cities design rapid responses to COVID-19, presents six innovative capabilities for researchers and practitioners focused on data collection, processing and visualization. To illustrate the potential applications of UrbanPy, this paper presents a case study from Lima, Peru, where the library helped municipal leaders with their COVID-19 response by identifying vulnerable populations, creating food accessibility metrics, and optimizing the location of food supply facilities. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Program: A focused, 5-year effort to increase the number of African American, Hispanic/Latino(a), Native American (AHLN) 7th-grade students who are academically prepared to take algebra

While research on the impact of after-school programs is not new, there is limited research of the combined use of online mathematics tools to increase the knowledge and skill level of African American, Hispanic, Latino(a), and Native American students coupled with qualitative feedback from mentoring, parental involvement, and university-based cultural capital. Using the online tool Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS), this mixed methods study explores the implementation of a universityindustry, hybrid model for African American, Hispanic, Latino(a), and Native American students to take algebra by the 7th grade. With the aid of culturally relevant science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy, our findings indicate that time spent, and topics learned in the mentorparental based Algebra by 7th Grade (Ab7G) for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade cohorts to date, were factors that contributed to the cumulative improvement of students' mastery of math concepts with accelerated growth of 1.25 academic years ahead of the student's current grade level. This paper shares a mixed methods methodology, which aims to increase math proficiency, algebra readiness, and opportunities for African American, Hispanic, Latino(a), and Native American students in elementary school. The longrange goals are for AHLN students to overcome systemic educational barriers and begin focused mathematics preparation, which will allow them to pursue rigorous STEM-related courses in high school. © 2022 American Society for Engineering Education.

Impact of Antibiotic Prophylaxis Prior to Treatment with Steroids and Tocilizumab in COVID-19 Patients

Background. The incidence of bacterial or fungal coinfections in COVID-19 patients is low. The incidence of nosocomial superinfections is higher, especially related to ICU admission. Treating COVID-19 with steroids plus tocilizumab (TCZ) has been associated with superinfections. Therefore, the use of antibiotic prophylaxis prior to infusion of TCZ could be considered to reduce the risk of life-threatening superinfections in critically ill patients. Methods. Retrospective, single center cohort study. COVID-19 patients older than 14 years, admitted to Hospital Central de la Defensa (Madrid, Spain) from Mar 5th to Nov 24th, 2020 with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were included. Local protocols suggested antimicrobial prophylaxis before the infusion of TCZ. Medical records, treatments received, and microbiological data of all patients who received TCZ were reviewed. Microbiological isolates were considered in the 14 days following the administration of TCZ. Two ID specialists independently reviewed the medical record and decided to qualify the isolate as superinfection or colonization. Results. 2,069 patient records were analyzed. 70 patients received TCZ;all of them were admitted to ID wards and under steroid treatment. 45 (64,5%) patients received antibiotic prophylaxis. The preferred antibiotics were ceftriaxone (N = 18) and ceftobiprole (N = 14). No significant differences were found in age, Charlson index or COVID-19 SEIMC-Score. 24 isolates were detected in 14 patients (18 bacterial, 6 fungal). 17 isolates were considered superinfections;the most frequent isolates were C. albicans (N=5), E. faecalis (N=3) and S. epidermidis (N=2). There were no statistically significant differences between the different prophylaxis strategies in terms of in-hospital mortality or ICU admission. However, patients who received ceftobiprole tended to have fewer isolates and fewer superinfections than those receiving ceftriaxone (ceftobiprole group: 2 isolates in 1 patient, 1 (7,1%) patient with superinfection;ceftriaxone 11 isolates in 5 patients, 4 (22,2%) patients with superinfection) (p= 0,35, Fisher exact test). Conclusion. Antibiotic prophylaxis prior to infusion of TCZ in patients with COVID-19 and receiving steroids could determine the profile of bacterial and fungal superinfections.

Lab on a Chip: Bioreactors miniaturization for rapid optimization of biomedical processes and its impact on SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis

Lab on a Chip (LoC) as part of Microbioreactors (MBRs) constitute an emergent technology to carry out micro-bioprocesses based on microfluidics research. In this review, the usefulness of LoCs is exposed since its inception, demonstrating that it is a multidisciplinary research field, gathering different science branches to develop this technology. As a result, a beneficial point of advancement is reached, producing useful consumables for humanity. Some of the described LoCs throughout this work are also used to detect infectious diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, allowing accelerated studies on emerging or high-impact diseases, such as COVID-19. Here are also displayed with an updated panorama, different strategies to improve the use, applications in the biomedical field, and spread of these devices aimed at their availability to solve social problems. © 2021 Revista Bionatura.

A methodology for managing public spaces to increase access to essential goods and services by vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to be used by the local authorities of a city in the planning and response phase of a disaster. The SDSS focuses on the management of public spaces as a resource to increase a vulnerable population’s accessibility to essential goods and services. Using a web-based platform, the SDSS would support data-driven decisions, especially for cases such as the COVID-19 pandemic which requires special care in quarantine situations (which imply walking access instead of by other means of transport). Design/methodology/approach: This paper proposes a methodology to create a web-SDSS to manage public spaces in the planning and response phase of a disaster to increase the access to essential goods and services. Using a regular polygon grid, a city is partitioned into spatial units that aggregate spatial data from open and proprietary sources. The polygon grid is then used to compute accessibility, vulnerability and population density indicators using spatial analysis. Finally, a facility location problem is formulated and solved to provide decision-makers with an adaptive selection of public spaces given their indicators of choice. Findings: The design and implementation of the methodology resulted in a granular representation of the city of Lima, Peru, in terms of population density, accessibility and vulnerability. Using these indicators, the SDSS was deployed as a web application that allowed decision-makers to explore different solutions to a facility location model within their districts, as well as visualizing the indicators computed for the hexagons that covered the district’s area. By performing tests with different local authorities, improvements were suggested to support a more general set of decisions and the key indicators to use in the SDSS were determined. Originality/value: This paper, following the literature gap, is the first of its kind that presents an SDSS focused on increasing access to essential goods and services using public spaces and has had a successful response from local authorities with different backgrounds regarding the integration into their decision-making process. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Tonic pupil after COVID-19 infection.

The latest global health threat is the ongoing outbreak of respiratory disease, which was named COVID-19 and multiple ever-evolving neurological complications have since been reported. We present the case of a patient with a bilateral tonic pupil in the postinfectious context of COVID 19. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and laboratory tests were normal, a 0.125% pilocarpine test confirmed the diagnosis.

[Tonic pupil after COVID-19 infection]. / Pupila tónica después de la infección por COVID-19.

The latest global health threat is the ongoing outbreak of respiratory disease, which was named COVID-19 and multiple ever-evolving neurological complications have since been reported. We present the case of a patient with a bilateral tonic pupil in the postinfectious context of COVID-19. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and laboratory tests were normal, a 0.125% pilocarpine test confirmed the diagnosis.

Nutritional inpatient care in geriatric population during covid-19 outbrake: some basics forgotten in the rush?

Rationale: Nutrition is often underestimated in the usual medical care in our hospitals and the impact of a suboptimal nutritional approach in this setting has been reported widely, especially in the elderly. Recently our hospital wards have been briskly and temporary overloaded by patients with COVID-19, most of them at older ages. We do not have much information about the nutritional approach during this unexpected situation. Aim: To describe basic aspects of nutritional care in inpatients of a tertiary hospital in Spain: diet prescription and use of nutritional support in patients admitted to internal medicine and pneumology inpatient units, specially focused in older population. Methods: A retrospective, cross sectional, descriptive study was performed. Medical records were analyzed to review nutritional care related aspects in all the SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive patients located at internal medicine and pneumology wards of a single hospital the last day of April 2020. Type of prescribed diet and nutritional support (oral supplements/tube feeding) were analyzed. Results: 27 patients were included (70.4% female) (median age 84;IQR 68-87), but data of patients over 75 (n=18;66,6%) were finally analyzed. Among them, patients described as partially or totally dependent individuals regarding instrumental activities of daily living were 72.2%. Texture-modified (pureed) food was administered in 16 patients (88.9%). Oral nutritional supplements were prescribed in 4 patients (22.2%) and tube feeding formula in 1 (5.6%). Conclusion: Most inpatients with COVID-19 in general wards are over 75, with a high prevalence of disability. Most of them were nourished using texture-modified food, considered as a risk factor for undernutrition if not supplemented with oral/enteral nutritional support. Nutritional care in COVID-19 elderly patients is specially challenging moreover if they are isolated without caregivers in their rooms most of the time in order to avoid SARS-CoV-2 infection dissemination. A wider and/or more structured use of oral or enteral nutritional support could help to improve and ease the nutritional approach in this challenging health care situation. Disclosure of Interest: M. I. Álvarez Schettini: None declared, L. A. Vázquez Speakers Bureau of: Fresenius, F. Cruz: None declared, M. C. García Gómez Speakers Bureau of: Fresenius, Nestlé, L. Ramos: None declared, A. González Speakers Bureau of: Nestlé, Abbott, Nutavant, C. H. Ortega: None declared, T. Gordo: None declared, A. Alonso: None declared, C. Montalban Speakers Bureau of: Nestlé

Use of renin angiotensin aldosterone system inhibitors and risk of COVID-19 requiring admission to hospital: a case-population study

BackgroundConcerns have been raised about the possibility that inhibitors of the renin?angiotensin?aldosterone system (RAAS) could predispose individuals to severe COVID-19;however, epidemiological evidence is lacking. We report the results of a case-population study done in Madrid, Spain, since the outbreak of COVID-19.