Genetic parameters for novel climatic resilience indicators derived from automatically-recorded vaginal temperature in lactating sows under heat stress conditions.

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal records of automatically-recorded vaginal temperature (TV) could be a key source of data for deriving novel indicators of climatic resilience (CR) for breeding more resilient pigs, especially during lactation when sows are at an increased risk of suffering from heat stress (HS). Therefore, we derived 15 CR indicators based on the variability in TV in lactating sows and estimated their genetic parameters. We also investigated their genetic relationship with sows' key reproductive traits. RESULTS: The heritability estimates of the CR traits ranged from 0.000 ± 0.000 for slope for decreased rate of TV (SlopeDe) to 0.291 ± 0.047 for sum of TV values below the HS threshold (HSUB). Moderate to high genetic correlations (from 0.508 ± 0.056 to 0.998 ± 0.137) and Spearman rank correlations (from 0.431 to 1.000) between genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) were observed for five CR indicators, i.e. HS duration (HSD), the normalized median multiplied by normalized variance (Nor_medvar), the highest TV value of each measurement day for each individual (MaxTv), and the sum of the TV values above (HSUA) and below (HSUB) the HS threshold. These five CR indicators were lowly to moderately genetically correlated with shoulder skin surface temperature (from 0.139 ± 0.008 to 0.478 ± 0.048) and respiration rate (from 0.079 ± 0.011 to 0.502 ± 0.098). The genetic correlations between these five selected CR indicators and sow reproductive performance traits ranged from - 0.733 to - 0.175 for total number of piglets born alive, from - 0.733 to - 0.175 for total number of piglets born, and from - 0.434 to - 0.169 for number of pigs weaned. The individuals with the highest GEBV (most climate-sensitive) had higher mean skin surface temperature, respiration rate (RR), panting score (PS), and hair density, but had lower mean body condition scores compared to those with the lowest GEBV (most climate-resilient). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the CR indicators evaluated are heritable with substantial additive genetic variance. Five of them, i.e. HSD, MaxTv, HSUA, HSUB, and Nor_medvar share similar underlying genetic mechanisms. In addition, individuals with higher CR indicators are more likely to exhibit better HS-related physiological responses, higher body condition scores, and improved reproductive performance under hot conditions. These findings highlight the potential benefits of genetically selecting more heat-tolerant individuals based on CR indicators.

Guidelines for reproducible analysis of adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing data.

Enhancing the reproducibility and comprehension of adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing (AIRR-seq) data analysis is critical for scientific progress. This study presents guidelines for reproducible AIRR-seq data analysis, and a collection of ready-to-use pipelines with comprehensive documentation. To this end, ten common pipelines were implemented using ViaFoundry, a user-friendly interface for pipeline management and automation. This is accompanied by versioned containers, documentation and archiving capabilities. The automation of pre-processing analysis steps and the ability to modify pipeline parameters according to specific research needs are emphasized. AIRR-seq data analysis is highly sensitive to varying parameters and setups; using the guidelines presented here, the ability to reproduce previously published results is demonstrated. This work promotes transparency, reproducibility, and collaboration in AIRR-seq data analysis, serving as a model for handling and documenting bioinformatics pipelines in other research domains.

Using Digital Tools to Study the Health of Adults Born Preterm at a Large Scale: e-Cohort Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth is a global health concern. Its adverse consequences may persist throughout the life course, exerting a potentially heavy burden on families, health systems, and societies. In high-income countries, the first children who benefited from improved care are now adults entering middle age. However, there is a clear gap in the knowledge regarding the long-term outcomes of individuals born preterm. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of recruiting and following up an e-cohort of adults born preterm worldwide and provide estimations of participation, characteristics of participants, the acceptability of questions, and the quality of data collected. METHODS: We implemented a prospective, open, observational, and international e-cohort pilot study (Health of Adult People Born Preterm-an e-Cohort Pilot Study [HAPP-e]). Inclusion criteria were being an adult (aged ≥18 years), born preterm (<37 weeks of gestation), having internet access and an email address, and understanding at least 1 of the available languages. A large, multifaceted, and multilingual communication strategy was established. Between December 2019 and June 2021, inclusion and repeated data collection were performed using a secured web platform. We provided descriptive statistics regarding participation in the e-cohort, namely, the number of persons who registered on the platform, signed the consent form, initiated and completed the baseline questionnaire, and initiated and completed the follow-up questionnaire. We also described the main characteristics of the HAPP-e participants and provided an assessment of the quality of the data and the acceptability of sensitive questions. RESULTS: As of December 31, 2020, a total of 1004 persons had registered on the platform, leading to 527 accounts with a confirmed email and 333 signed consent forms. A total of 333 participants initiated the baseline questionnaire. All participants were invited to follow-up, and 35.7% (119/333) consented to participate, of whom 97.5% (116/119) initiated the follow-up questionnaire. Completion rates were very high both at baseline (296/333, 88.9%) and at follow-up (112/116, 96.6%). This sample of adults born preterm in 34 countries covered a wide range of sociodemographic and health characteristics. The gestational age at birth ranged from 23+6 to 36+6 weeks (median 32, IQR 29-35 weeks). Only 2.1% (7/333) of the participants had previously participated in a cohort of individuals born preterm. Women (252/333, 75.7%) and highly educated participants (235/327, 71.9%) were also overrepresented. Good quality data were collected thanks to validation controls implemented on the web platform. The acceptability of potentially sensitive questions was excellent, as very few participants chose the "I prefer not to say" option when available. CONCLUSIONS: Although we identified room for improvement in specific procedures, this pilot study confirmed the great potential for recruiting a large and diverse sample of adults born preterm worldwide, thereby advancing research on adults born preterm.

Life course of retrospective harmonization initiatives: key elements to consider.

Optimizing research on the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) involves implementing initiatives maximizing the use of the available cohort study data; achieving sufficient statistical power to support subgroup analysis; and using participant data presenting adequate follow-up and exposure heterogeneity. It also involves being able to undertake comparison, cross-validation, or replication across data sets. To answer these requirements, cohort study data need to be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), and more particularly, it often needs to be harmonized. Harmonization is required to achieve or improve comparability of the putatively equivalent measures collected by different studies on different individuals. Although the characteristics of the research initiatives generating and using harmonized data vary extensively, all are confronted by similar issues. Having to collate, understand, process, host, and co-analyze data from individual cohort studies is particularly challenging. The scientific success and timely management of projects can be facilitated by an ensemble of factors. The current document provides an overview of the 'life course' of research projects requiring harmonization of existing data and highlights key elements to be considered from the inception to the end of the project.

Feasibility of Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depressed Older Adults With the Moodbuster Platform: Protocol for 2 Pilot Feasibility Studies.

BACKGROUND: Internet-based interventions can be effective in the treatment of depression. However, internet-based interventions for older adults with depression are scarce, and little is known about their feasibility and effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: To present the design of 2 studies aiming to assess the feasibility of internet-based cognitive behavioral treatment for older adults with depression. We will assess the feasibility of an online, guided version of the Moodbuster platform among depressed older adults from the general population as well as the feasibility of a blended format (combining integrated face-to-face sessions and internet-based modules) in a specialized mental health care outpatient clinic. METHODS: A single-group, pretest-posttest design will be applied in both settings. The primary outcome of the studies will be feasibility in terms of (1) acceptance and satisfaction (measured with the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8), (2) usability (measured with the System Usability Scale), and (3) engagement (measured with the Twente Engagement with eHealth Technologies Scale). Secondary outcomes include (1) the severity of depressive symptoms (measured with the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale), (2) participant and therapist experience with the digital technology (measured with qualitative interviews), (3) the working alliance between patients and practitioners (from both perspectives; measured with the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Revised questionnaire), (4) the technical alliance between patients and the platform (measured with the Working Alliance Inventory for Online Interventions-Short Form questionnaire), and (5) uptake, in terms of attempted and completed modules. A total of 30 older adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale 15 score between 5 and 11) will be recruited from the general population. A total of 15 older adults with moderate to severe depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale 15 score between 8 and 15) will be recruited from a specialized mental health care outpatient clinic. A mixed methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative analyses will be adopted. Both the primary and secondary outcomes will be further explored with individual semistructured interviews and synthesized descriptively. Descriptive statistics (reported as means and SDs) will be used to examine the primary and secondary outcome measures. Within-group depression severity will be analyzed using a 2-tailed, paired-sample t test to investigate differences between time points. The interviews will be recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The studies were funded in October 2019. Recruitment started in September 2022. CONCLUSIONS: The results of these pilot studies will show whether this platform is feasible for use by the older adult population in a blended, guided format in the 2 settings and will represent the first exploration of the size of the effect of Moodbuster in terms of decreased depressive symptoms. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/41445.

Development of a data classification system for preterm birth cohort studies: the RECAP Preterm project.

BACKGROUND: The small sample sizes available within many very preterm (VPT) longitudinal birth cohort studies mean that it is often necessary to combine and harmonise data from individual studies to increase statistical power, especially for studying rare outcomes. Curating and mapping data is a vital first step in the process of data harmonisation. To facilitate data mapping and harmonisation across VPT birth cohort studies, we developed a custom classification system as part of the Research on European Children and Adults born Preterm (RECAP Preterm) project in order to increase the scope and generalisability of research and the evaluation of outcomes across the lifespan for individuals born VPT. METHODS: The multidisciplinary consortium of expert clinicians and researchers who made up the RECAP Preterm project participated in a four-phase consultation process via email questionnaire to develop a topic-specific classification system. Descriptive analyses were calculated after each questionnaire round to provide pre- and post- ratings to assess levels of agreement with the classification system as it developed. Amendments and refinements were made to the classification system after each round. RESULTS: Expert input from 23 clinicians and researchers from the RECAP Preterm project aided development of the classification system's topic content, refining it from 10 modules, 48 themes and 197 domains to 14 modules, 93 themes and 345 domains. Supplementary classifications for target, source, mode and instrument were also developed to capture additional variable-level information. Over 22,000 individual data variables relating to VPT birth outcomes have been mapped to the classification system to date to facilitate data harmonisation. This will continue to increase as retrospective data items are mapped and harmonised variables are created. CONCLUSIONS: This bespoke preterm birth classification system is a fundamental component of the RECAP Preterm project's web-based interactive platform. It is freely available for use worldwide by those interested in research into the long term impact of VPT birth. It can also be used to inform the development of future cohort studies.

The immuneML ecosystem for machine learning analysis of adaptive immune receptor repertoires.

Adaptive immune receptor repertoires (AIRR) are key targets for biomedical research as they record past and ongoing adaptive immune responses. The capacity of machine learning (ML) to identify complex discriminative sequence patterns renders it an ideal approach for AIRR-based diagnostic and therapeutic discovery. To date, widespread adoption of AIRR ML has been inhibited by a lack of reproducibility, transparency, and interoperability. immuneML (immuneml.uio.no) addresses these concerns by implementing each step of the AIRR ML process in an extensible, open-source software ecosystem that is based on fully specified and shareable workflows. To facilitate widespread user adoption, immuneML is available as a command-line tool and through an intuitive Galaxy web interface, and extensive documentation of workflows is provided. We demonstrate the broad applicability of immuneML by (i) reproducing a large-scale study on immune state prediction, (ii) developing, integrating, and applying a novel deep learning method for antigen specificity prediction, and (iii) showcasing streamlined interpretability-focused benchmarking of AIRR ML.

Influence of non-genetic factors on the maternal ability of Santa Inês ewes / Influência de fatores não-genéticos na habilidade materna de ovelhas Santa Inês

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different non-genetic effects on indicator traits for maternal ability in Santa Inês ewes. Data included performance records of 100 lambs (males and females) born from 59 dams, from 2009 to 2012. The analyzed traits were birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), average daily gain from birth until weaning (ADGBW), total litter weight at birth (TLWB), and total litter weight at weaning (TLWW). The effects analyzed were the year of birth of the lamb, birth season, dam age at lambing, dam weight at lambing, sex of the lamb, lamb birth type, interaction between sex and birth type, and interaction between sex and birth season. SAS® software (SAS University Edition, USA) was used for calculation of the analysis of variance, means, and Pearson correlation coefficients. With the exception of the birth season, all the other environmental effects evaluated had a significant influence on at least one of the studied traits. The correlation estimates ranged from low to high and were either positive or negative. Birth weight was negatively correlated with the birth type and influenced positively all the other performance traits evaluated. The maternal ability of Santa Inês ewes was more clearly influenced by the age and weight of the dam at lambing, and the lamb birth type.

RESUMO: O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a influência de diferentes efeitos não-genéticos sobre características indicadoras de habilidade materna em ovelhas da raça Santa Inês. Os dados utilizados incluíram registros de desempenho de 100 cordeiros (machos e fêmeas) filhos de 59 ovelhas, nascidos de 2009 a 2012. As características analisadas foram peso ao nascimento (PN), peso ao desmame (PD), ganho médio diário do nascimento ao desmame (GMND), peso total das crias ao nascer (PTCN) e peso total das crias ao desmame (PTCD). Os efeitos analisados foram ano de nascimento da cria, estação de nascimento, idade da mãe ao parto, peso da mãe ao parto, sexo da cria, tipo de nascimento da cria, interação entre sexo e tipo de nascimento, e interação entre sexo e estação de nascimento. O programa SAS (SAS University Edition, EUA) foi utilizado para o cálculo de análise de variância, médias e coeficientes de correlação de Pearson. Com exceção da estação de nascimento, os demais efeitos avaliados exerceram influência significativa sobre pelo menos uma das características estudadas. As estimativas de correlação variaram de baixa a alta magnitude e foram tanto positivas quanto negativas. O peso da cria ao nascimento foi negativamente correlacionado com o tipo de nascimento e influenciou positivamente todas as outras características de desempenho avaliadas. A habilidade materna de ovelhas Santa Inês foi mais claramente influenciada pela idade e peso da mãe ao parto e pelo tipo de nascimento da cria.

Improving adherence to an online intervention for low mood with a virtual coach: study protocol of a pilot randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (iCBT) is more effective when it is guided by human support than when it is unguided. This may be attributable to higher adherence rates that result from a positive effect of the accompanying support on motivation and on engagement with the intervention. This protocol presents the design of a pilot randomized controlled trial that aims to start bridging the gap between guided and unguided interventions. It will test an intervention that includes automated support delivered by an embodied conversational agent (ECA) in the form of a virtual coach. METHODS/DESIGN: The study will employ a pilot two-armed randomized controlled trial design. The primary outcomes of the trial will be (1) the effectiveness of iCBT, as supported by a virtual coach, in terms of improved intervention adherence in comparison with unguided iCBT, and (2) the feasibility of a future, larger-scale trial in terms of recruitment, acceptability, and sample size calculation. Secondary aims will be to assess the virtual coach's effect on motivation, users' perceptions of the virtual coach, and general feasibility of the intervention as supported by a virtual coach. We will recruit N = 70 participants from the general population who wish to learn how they can improve their mood by using Moodbuster Lite, a 4-week cognitive-behavioral therapy course. Candidates with symptoms of moderate to severe depression will be excluded from study participation. Included participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either (1) Moodbuster Lite with automated support delivered by a virtual coach or (2) Moodbuster Lite without automated support. Assessments will be taken at baseline and post-study 4 weeks later. DISCUSSION: The study will assess the preliminary effectiveness of a virtual coach in improving adherence and will determine the feasibility of a larger-scale RCT. It could represent a significant step in bridging the gap between guided and unguided iCBT interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Netherlands Trial Register (NTR) NL8110 . Registered on 23 October 2019.

Evaluation of a temporal causal model for predicting the mood of clients in an online therapy.

Background Self-reported client assessments during online treatments enable the development of statistical models for the prediction of client improvement and symptom development. Evaluation of these models is mandatory to ensure their validity. Methods For this purpose, we suggest besides a model evaluation based on study data the use of a simulation analysis. The simulation analysis provides insight into the model performance and enables to analyse reasons for a low predictive accuracy. In this study, we evaluate a temporal causal model (TCM) and show that it does not provide reliable predictions of clients' future mood levels. Results Based on the simulation analysis we investigate the potential reasons for the low predictive performance, for example, noisy measurements and sampling frequency. We conclude that the analysed TCM in its current form is not sufficient to describe the underlying psychological processes. Conclusions The results demonstrate the importance of model evaluation and the benefit of a simulation analysis. The current manuscript provides practical guidance for conducting model evaluation including simulation analysis.

The ADC API: A Web API for the Programmatic Query of the AIRR Data Commons.

The Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community is a research-driven group that is establishing a clear set of community-accepted data and metadata standards; standards-based reference implementation tools; and policies and practices for infrastructure to support the deposit, curation, storage, and use of high-throughput sequencing data from B-cell and T-cell receptor repertoires (AIRR-seq data). The AIRR Data Commons is a distributed system of data repositories that utilizes a common data model, a common query language, and common interoperability formats for storage, query, and downloading of AIRR-seq data. Here is described the principal technical standards for the AIRR Data Commons consisting of the AIRR Data Model for repertoires and rearrangements, the AIRR Data Commons (ADC) API for programmatic query of data repositories, a reference implementation for ADC API services, and tools for querying and validating data repositories that support the ADC API. AIRR-seq data repositories can become part of the AIRR Data Commons by implementing the data model and API. The AIRR Data Commons allows AIRR-seq data to be reused for novel analyses and empowers researchers to discover new biological insights about the adaptive immune system.

Lyophilized and gamma-sterilized allogeneic bone implant used as a spacer for advancement of a modified tibial tuberosity in the treatment of cranial cruciate ligament disease in dogs.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of a lyophilized and gamma-sterilized allogeneic freeze-dried bone wedge as a spacer for advancement of a modified tibial tuberosity (mTTA) in 16 knees that were clinically diagnosed with cranial cruciate ligament disease. Patients underwent radiography before the surgical procedure as well as immediately after surgery and at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days post-surgery, and their locomotion was evaluated at the same time points except for the immediate postoperative period. The surgical wounds were evaluated for signs of infection and rejection of the bone implant. Locomotion was graded on a scale of 0-5, with 0 indicating no limping and 5 indicating limb functional impotence. The "tibial-tibial bone-tibial implant" interfaces were evaluated radiographically, and each interface was assigned scores of 0-3, with 0 indicating no contact between the implant and adjacent bone and 3 indicating a bone bridge throughout the interface. The patients showed good clinical and radiographic recovery. The lyophilized bone spacer allowed for easy storage and transport and rapid and satisfactory execution of mTTA while showing resistance to drilling and fixation with screws in 87.5% of cases and a mean surgical time of 45.9 minutes. No immunogenic reactions were observed in 93.7% of the cases. One patient presented infection of the surgical focus, which showed remission after antimicrobial therapy. All patients showed functional recovery of the operated limb, with the number of clinically healthy patients being higher than those with claudication at 120 days (p ≤ 0.05). In all patients, it was possible to verify the incorporation of the bone implant into the tibia. Bone union occurred progressively, and the degrees of bone union observed on radiographs at postoperative days 60, 90, and 120 were significantly greater (p < 0.05) than those observed in the immediate postoperative period and at 30 days.

Unraveling the Black Box: Exploring Usage Patterns of a Blended Treatment for Depression in a Multicenter Study.

BACKGROUND: Blended treatments, combining digital components with face-to-face (FTF) therapy, are starting to find their way into mental health care. Knowledge on how blended treatments should be set up is, however, still limited. To further explore and optimize blended treatment protocols, it is important to obtain a full picture of what actually happens during treatments when applied in routine mental health care. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to gain insight into the usage of the different components of a blended cognitive behavioral therapy (bCBT) for depression and reflect on actual engagement as compared with intended application, compare bCBT usage between primary and specialized care, and explore different usage patterns. METHODS: Data used were collected from participants of the European Comparative Effectiveness Research on Internet-Based Depression Treatment project, a European multisite randomized controlled trial comparing bCBT with regular care for depression. Patients were recruited in primary and specialized routine mental health care settings between February 2015 and December 2017. Analyses were performed on the group of participants allocated to the bCBT condition who made use of the Moodbuster platform and for whom data from all blended components were available (n=200). Included patients were from Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and France; 64.5% (129/200) were female and the average age was 42 years (range 18-74 years). RESULTS: Overall, there was a large variability in the usage of the blended treatment. A clear distinction between care settings was observed, with longer treatment duration and more FTF sessions in specialized care and a more active and intensive usage of the Web-based component by the patients in primary care. Of the patients who started the bCBT, 89.5% (179/200) also continued with this treatment format. Treatment preference, educational level, and the number of comorbid disorders were associated with bCBT engagement. CONCLUSIONS: Blended treatments can be applied to a group of patients being treated for depression in routine mental health care. Rather than striving for an optimal blend, a more personalized blended care approach seems to be the most suitable. The next step is to gain more insight into the clinical and cost-effectiveness of blended treatments and to further facilitate uptake in routine mental health care.

Predicting short term mood developments among depressed patients using adherence and ecological momentary assessment data.

Technology driven interventions provide us with an increasing amount of fine-grained data about the patient. This data includes regular ecological momentary assessments (EMA) but also response times to EMA questions by a user. When observing this data, we see a huge variation between the patterns exhibited by different patients. Some are more stable while others vary a lot over time. This poses a challenging problem for the domain of artificial intelligence and makes on wondering whether it is possible to predict the future mental state of a patient using the data that is available. In the end, these predictions could potentially contribute to interventions that tailor the feedback to the user on a daily basis, for example by warning a user that a fall-back might be expected during the next days, or by applying a strategy to prevent the fall-back from occurring in the first place. In this work, we focus on short term mood prediction by considering the adherence and usage data as an additional predictor. We apply recurrent neural networks to handle the temporal aspects best and try to explore whether individual, group level, or one single predictive model provides the highest predictive performance (measured using the root mean squared error (RMSE)). We use data collected from patients from five countries who used the ICT4Depression/MoodBuster platform in the context of the EU E-COMPARED project. In total, we used the data from 143 patients (with between 9 and 425 days of EMA data) who were diagnosed with a major depressive disorder according to DSM-IV. Results show that we can make predictions of short term mood change quite accurate (ranging between 0.065 and 0.11). The past EMA mood ratings proved to be the most influential while adherence and usage data did not improve prediction accuracy. In general, group level predictions proved to be the most promising, however differences were not significant. Short term mood prediction remains a difficult task, but from this research we can conclude that sophisticated machine learning algorithms/setups can result in accurate performance. For future work, we want to use more data from the mobile phone to improve predictive performance of short term mood.

Using multi-relational data mining to discriminate blended therapy efficiency on patients based on log data.

INTRODUCTION: Clinical trials of blended Internet-based treatments deliver a wealth of data from various sources, such as self-report questionnaires, diagnostic interviews, treatment platform log files and Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA). Mining these complex data for clinically relevant patterns is a daunting task for which no definitive best method exists. In this paper, we explore the expressive power of the multi-relational Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) data mining approach, using combined trial data of the EU E-COMPARED depression trial. METHODS: We explored the capability of ILP to handle and combine (implicit) multiple relationships in the E-COMPARED data. This data set has the following features that favor ILP analysis: 1) Time reasoning is involved; 2) there is a reasonable amount of explicit useful relations to be analyzed; 3) ILP is capable of building comprehensible models that might be perceived as putative explanations by domain experts; 4) both numerical and statistical models may coexist within ILP models if necessary. In our analyses, we focused on scores of the PHQ-8 self-report questionnaire (which taps depressive symptom severity), and on EMA of mood and various other clinically relevant factors. Both measures were administered during treatment, which lasted between 9 to 16 weeks. RESULTS: E-COMPARED trial data revealed different individual improvement patterns: PHQ-8 scores suggested that some individuals improved quickly during the first weeks of the treatment, while others improved at a (much) slower pace, or not at all. Combining self-reported Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA), PHQ-8 scores and log data about the usage of the ICT4D platform in the context of blended care, we set out to unveil possible causes for these different trajectories. DISCUSSION: This work complements other studies into alternative data mining approaches to E-COMPARED trial data analysis, which are all aimed to identify clinically meaningful predictors of system use and treatment outcome. Strengths and limitations of the ILP approach given this objective will be discussed.

Enriching Mental Health Mobile Assessment and Intervention with Situation Awareness.

Current mobile devices allow the execution of sophisticated applications with the capacity for identifying the user situation, which can be helpful in treatments of mental disorders. In this paper, we present SituMan, a solution that provides situation awareness to MoodBuster, an ecological momentary assessment and intervention mobile application used to request self-assessments from patients in depression treatments. SituMan has a fuzzy inference engine to identify patient situations using context data gathered from the sensors embedded in mobile devices. Situations are specified jointly by the patient and mental health professional, and they can represent the patient's daily routine (e.g., "studying", "at work", "working out"). MoodBuster requests mental status self-assessments from patients at adequate moments using situation awareness. In addition, SituMan saves and displays patient situations in a summary, delivering them for consultation by mental health professionals. A first experimental evaluation was performed to assess the user satisfaction with the approaches to define and identify situations. This experiment showed that SituMan was well evaluated in both criteria. A second experiment was performed to assess the accuracy of the fuzzy engine to infer situations. Results from the second experiment showed that the fuzzy inference engine has a good accuracy to identify situations.

ULTEMAT: A mobile framework for smart ecological momentary assessments and interventions.

In this paper we introduce a new Android library, called ULTEMAT, for the delivery of ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) on mobile devices and we present its use in the MoodBuster app developed in the H2020 E-COMPARED project. We discuss context-aware, or event-based, triggers for the presentation of EMAs and discuss the potential they have to improve the effectiveness of mobile provision of mental health interventions as they allow for the delivery of assessments to the patients when and where these are most appropriate. Following this, we present the abilities of ULTEMAT to use such context-aware triggers to schedule EMAs and we discuss how a similar approach can be used for Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMIs).

Intoxicações exógenas agudas registradas em Centro de Assistência Toxicológica / Acute exogenous intoxications reported in a Toxicological Care Center

O objetivo deste trabalho foi descrever o perfil clínico e sociodemográfico dos casos de intoxicação aguda registrados pelo Centro de Assistência Toxicológica da Paraíba (Ceatox-PB) em 2012. O estudo foi transversal e retrospectivo, pautado na análise documental de dados secundários obtidos no Ceatox (PB). No ano de 2012, foram atendidos 208 casos de intoxicações exógenas no Ceatox-PB. A idade dos pacientes variou de 1 a 77 anos (17,3± 18), com faixa etária mais prevalente inferior a 18 anos (58,2%), e 52,8% do sexo feminino. O principal tipo de intoxicação foi acidente individual (47,6%), e no grupo entre 20-40 anos os casos relacionaram-se a tentativas de suicídio e acidentes individuais. As tentativas de suicídio foram mais frequentes no sexo feminino (60,8%). Os casos ocorreram no ambiente domiciliar (80%) e as causas mais frequentes foram medicamentos (24,6%) e via de intoxicação oral (83,2%). O padrão epidemiológico das intoxicações exógenas notificadas pelo Ceatox-PB, em 2012, foi similar ao relatado em outros estudos, em que jovens e mulheres foram os grupos de maior risco e medicamentos ingeridos de forma acidental, os principais causadores.

Clinical and socio-demographic profile of acute intoxication cases reported at the Toxicological Care Center of Paraíba (Ceatox-PB), Brazil, in 2012, is described by a transversal and retrospective study based on the documental analysis of secondary data retrieved from Ceatox-PB. In 2012, 208 cases of exogenous intoxications were treated at Ceatox-PB. Patients ranged between 1 and 77 years (17,3±18), with prevalent age bracket lower than 18 years (58,2%); 52,8% were female. Main intoxication was accidental (47,6%), and in groups aged 20 - 40 years related to suicide attempts and individual accidents. Attempts at suicide were more frequent in females (60,8%). Cases occurred at home (80%) and medicines taken orally (83,2%) were the most frequent cause (24,6%). Epidemiological pattern of exogenous intoxications at Ceatox-PB in 2012 was similar to that in other studies where young people and females constituted the highest risk group, with main agent as accidentally-taken medicines.

Intermuscular gluteal lipoma mimicking sciatic pain. Case report

Sciatic pain is a disabling pathology that can have various etiologies, but is rarely described as caused by an intermuscular gluteal lipoma. The authors describe a patient with a progressively worsening right sciatic pain for 6 months and with walking difficulty for 3 months. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an expansive process compatible with lipoma between the gluteus maximus and medius, which was completely removed without sciatic nerve injury. After surgery, the patient is asymptomatic. This is an unusual case and represents an important differential diagnosis that should be considered in sciatic pain patients

El dolor ciático es una patología inhabilitante que puede tener diversas etiologías, pero rara vez se describe como causada por un lipoma glúteo intermuscular. Los autores describen a un paciente con un dolor ciática derecha que empeora progresivamente durante 6 meses y con dificultad para caminar durante 3 meses. La resonancia magnética (RM) mostró un proceso expansivo compatible con lipoma entre el gluteo máximo, y el glúteo medio. El lipoma fue retirado por completo y sin lesión del nervio ciático. Después de la cirugía, el paciente está asintomático. Este es un caso inusual y representa un importante diagnóstico diferencial que debe ser considerado en los pacientes con ciática

Innovations in health care services: the CAALYX system.

PURPOSE: This paper describes proposed health care services innovations, provided by a system called CAALYX (Complete Ambient Assisted Living eXperiment). CAALYX aimed to provide healthcare innovation by extending the state-of-the-art in tele-healthcare, by focusing on increasing the confidence of elderly people living autonomously, by building on the knowledge base of the most common disorders and respective characteristic vital sign changes for this age group. METHODS: A review of the state-of-the-art on health care services was carried out. Then, extensive research was conducted on the particular needs of the elderly in relation to home health services that, if offered to them, could improve their day life by giving them greater confidence and autonomy. To achieve this, we addressed issues associated with the gathering of clinical data and interpretation of these data, as well as possibilities of automatically triggering appropriate clinical measures. Considering this initial work we started the identification of initiatives, ongoing works and technologies that could be used for the development of the system. After that, the implementation of CAALYX was done. FINDINGS: The innovation in CAALYX system considers three main areas of contribution: (i) The Roaming Monitoring System that is used to collect information on the well-being of the elderly users; (ii) The Home Monitoring System that is aimed at helping the elders independently living at home being implemented by a device (a personal computer or a set top box) that supports the connection of sensors and video cameras that may be used for monitoring and for interaction with the elder; (iii) The Central Care Service and Monitoring System that is implemented by a Caretaker System where attention and care services are provided to elders, where actors as Caretakers, Doctors and Relatives are logically linked to elders. Innovations in each of these areas are presented here. CONCLUSIONS: The ageing European society is placing an added burden on future generations, as the 'elderly-to-working-age-people' ratio is set to steadily increase in the future. Nowadays, quality of life and fitness allows for most older persons to have an active life well into their eighties. Furthermore, many older persons prefer to live in their own house and choose their own lifestyle. The CAALYX system can have a clear impact in increasing older persons' autonomy, by ensuring that they do not need to leave their preferred environment in order to be properly monitored and taken care of.