A Low-Cost Non-Intrusive Method for In-Field Motor Speed Measurement Based on a Smartphone.

Induction motors are broadly used as drivers of a large variety of industrial equipment. A proper measurement of the motor rotation speed is essential to monitor the performance of most industrial drives. As an example, the measurement of rotor speed is a simple and broadly used industrial method to estimate the motor's efficiency or mechanical load. In this work, a new low-cost non-intrusive method for in-field motor speed measurement, based on the spectral analysis of the motor audible noise, is proposed. The motor noise is acquired using a smartphone and processed by a MATLAB-based routine, which determines the rotation speed by identifying the rotor shaft mechanical frequency from the harmonic spectrum of the noise signal. This work intends to test the hypothesis that the emitted motor noise, like mechanical vibrations, contains a frequency component due to the rotation speed which, to the authors' knowledge, has thus far been disregarded for the purpose of speed measurement. The experimental results of a variety of tests, from no load to full load, including the use of a frequency converter, found that relative errors on the speed estimation were always lower than 0.151%. These findings proved the versatility, robustness, and accuracy of the proposed method.

DOLAMA study: Effectiveness, safety and pharmacoeconomic analysis of dual therapy with dolutegravir and lamivudine in virologically suppressed HIV-1 patients.

Dolutegravir (DTG) has shown effectiveness in combination with rilpivirine in with experience of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and with 3TC in naïve patients (GEMINI trial). The main objectives of this real-life study were to analyze the effectiveness and safety of 3TC plus DTG in virologically suppressed HIV-1 patients and to conduct a pharmacoeconomic analysis.We conducted an observational, retrospective and multicenter study of HIV+ patients pretreated for at least 6 months with ART that was then simplified to 3TC + DTG for any reason. We gathered data on viral loads (VLs) during exposure to the DT, calculating the rate with VL < 50 copies/mL at week 48, and on associated adverse effects.The 177 HIV+ patients were collected, 77.4% male, with average age of 48.5 years and mean count of 252.2cell/µL CD4+ nadir lymphocytes; 96.6% had VL < 50 copies/mL and 674 cells/µL CD4+ lymphocytes. Median time since HIV diagnosis was 15 years, and median ART duration was 13 years, and 34.5% of patients were on mono- or dual-therapy before the switch. At week 48, 82.4% of patients had VL < 50 cop/µL using an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, 89.6% according to mITT, and 96.7% according to Per-Protocol analysis. 3.3% patients had virological failure (VF). These effectiveness data and costs were compared with those for 2 reference triple therapies (DTG/ABC/3TC and EVG/cobi/FTC/TAF) in a cost minimization analysis, showing cost savings with administration of DTG+3TC (2741 &OV0556;/year vs DTG/ABC/3TC and 4164 &OV0556;/year vs EVG/cobi/FTC/TAF) and in a cost-effectiveness analysis, finding the DT to be the most cost-effective approach (ICER = -548 vs DTG/ABC/3TC and ICER = -4,627&OV0556; vs EVG/cobi/FTC/TAF)The combination of 3TC with DTG appears to be a safe and effective option for the simplification of ART in pretreated and virologically stable HIV-positive patients, being cost-effective and offering the same effectiveness as the triple therapy it replaces.

Analysis of the costs and cost-effectiveness of the guidelines recommended by the 2018 GESIDA/Spanish National AIDS Plan for initial antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected adults.

BACKGROUND: The GESIDA/National AIDS Plan expert panel recommended preferred regimens (PR), alternative regimens (AR) and other regimens (OR) for antiretroviral treatment (ART) as initial therapy in HIV-infected patients for 2018. The objective of this study was to evaluate the costs and the efficiency of initiating treatment with PR and AR. METHODS: Economic assessment of costs and efficiency (cost-effectiveness) based on decision tree analyses. Effectiveness was defined as the probability of reporting a viral load <50copies/mL at week 48, in an intention-to-treat analysis. Cost of initiating treatment with an ART regimen was defined as the costs of ART and its consequences (adverse effects, changes of ART regimen, and drug-resistance studies) over the first 48 weeks. The payer perspective (National Health System) was applied considering only differential direct costs: ART (official prices), management of adverse effects, studies of resistance, and HLA B*5701 testing. The setting was Spain and the costs correspond to those of 2018. A deterministic sensitivity analysis was conducted, building three scenarios for each regimen: base case, most favourable and least favourable. RESULTS: In the base-case scenario, the cost of initiating treatment ranges from 6788 euros for TAF/FTC/RPV (AR) to 10,649 euros for TAF/FTC+RAL (PR). The effectiveness varies from 0.82 for TAF/FTC+DRV/r (AR) to 0.91 for TAF/FTC+DTG (PR). The efficiency, in terms of cost-effectiveness, ranges from 7814 to 12,412 euros per responder at 48 weeks, for ABC/3TC/DTG (PR) and TAF/FTC+RAL (PR), respectively. CONCLUSION: Considering ART official prices, the most efficient regimen was ABC/3TC/DTG (PR), followed by TAF/FTC/RPV (AR) and TAF/FTC/EVG/COBI (AR).

Costs and cost-efficacy analysis of the 2017 GESIDA/Spanish National AIDS Plan recommended guidelines for initial antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected adults.

INTRODUCTION: GESIDA and the Spanish National AIDS Plan panel of experts have recommended preferred (PR), alternative (AR) and other regimens (OR) for antiretroviral therapy (ART) as initial therapy in HIV-infected patients for 2017. The objective of this study was to evaluate the costs and the efficiency of initiating treatment with PR and AR. METHODS: Economic assessment of costs and efficiency (cost-efficacy) based on decision tree analyses. Efficacy was defined as the probability of reporting a viral load <50copies/mL at week 48, in an intention-to-treat analysis. Cost of initiating treatment with an ART regimen was defined as the costs of ART and its consequences (adverse effects, changes of ART regimen and drug resistance studies) during the first 48 weeks. The payer perspective (National Health System) was applied considering only differential direct costs: ART (official prices), management of adverse effects, resistance studies and HLA B*5701 screening. The setting was Spain and the costs correspond to those of 2017. A deterministic sensitivity analysis was conducted, building three scenarios for each regimen: base case, most favourable and least favourable. RESULTS: In the base case scenario, the cost of initiating treatment ranged from 6882 euro for TFV/FTC/RPV (AR) to 10,904 euros for TFV/FTC+RAL (PR). The efficacy varied from 0.82 for TFV/FTC+DRV/p (AR) to 0.92 for TAF/FTC/EVG/COBI (PR). The efficiency, in terms of cost-efficacy, ranged from 7923 to 12,765 euros per responder at 48 weeks, for ABC/3TC/DTG (PR) and TFV/FTC+RAL (PR), respectively. CONCLUSION: Considering ART official prices, the most efficient regimen was ABC/3TC/DTG (PR), followed by TFV/FTC/RPV (AR) and TAF/FTC/EVG/COBI (PR).

Welfare Homes for Patients Living with HIV/AIDS in Andalusia.

AIMS: To study the AIDS welfare homes (AWHs) in Andalusia, assess their resources and the services provided, and describe the characteristics of their residents. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional, observational study; an interview questionnaire technique was used with the managers and the residents of the AWHs. RESULTS: A total of 7 AWHs and 96 residents were included; 32% of the staff were health care workers and 45.5% volunteers. The occupancy rate was 86% (2007) and 96% (2008). Residents' characteristics: mean age 45.6 years, 73% male, 92% with at least 1 AIDS-defining disease, median Karnofsky index 60 (50-80), and median Barthel index 80 (40-100). Half the residents had physical sequelae and 31% mental sequelae. CONCLUSION: The AWHs perform an important role in the care of certain types of patients with HIV infection. They require human and material resources to be able to tackle the immense difficulties associated with this group of patients.

Long-term assessment of didanosine, lamivudine, and efavirenz in antiretroviral-naive patients: 3-year follow-up.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of didadosine (ddI), lamivudine (3TC), and efavirenz (EFV). This was a follow-up to the VESD study, a 12-month open-label, observational, multicenter study of adult patients with HIV infection who started antiretroviral treatment with the ddI-3TC-EFV once-daily regimen. Of the 167 patients originally included, 106 patients remained on the same triple therapy at the end of the study (1 year), and they were offered an extra 24 months of follow-up; 96 were enrolled in this study (VESD-2). Seventy patients out of the initial cohort were still on the same regimen at month 36, with 97% of them with plasma viral load <50 copies /ml. An intention-to-treat analysis showed that the percentage of patients with plasma viral load <50 copies/ml was 73% at 36 months. CD4 cell counts increased 344 cells/microl over the 36 months. Safety and tolerance were good with no unexpected long-term toxicity. After 3 years of treatment with ddI-3TC-EFV, more than 40% of the patients were still receiving the initial antiretroviral therapy with sustained, durable immunovirological benefit and good acceptance. Long-term toxicity and virological failure were low.

Didanosine, lamivudine-emtricitabine and efavirenz as initial therapy in naive patients.

There are currently several suitable and different antiretroviral regimens to start highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and many clinicians and patients prefer once-daily therapy. The efficacy and potency of efavirenz (EFV) has been established in many clinical trials and cohort studies; its pharmacokinetics, allowing for a convenient once-daily administration, make EFV one of the first agents to be included in once-daily regimens in naive patients. The two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) accompanying the third drug have become the central skeleton, or the 'backbone' of the therapeutic scheme. Among the different NRTI pairs, a didanosine-lamivudine (3TC) or emtricitabine backbone for combination antiretroviral therapy may be a good option compared with any current NRTI-combinations due to its security, tolerance and once-daily dose. In this article, we review the advantages and drawbacks of didanosine-XTC-EFV as the initial regimen of HAART in HIV-infected patients.