Browsing by Author "Gomez, Fernando"

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    Copper recycling and scrap availability
    (ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2007) Gomez, Fernando; Guzman, Juan Ignacio; Tilton, John E.
    According to existing estimates, available old copper scrap has more than tripled over the past 40 years. Secondary production (that is, copper produced from recycling old scrap), however, has only doubled. Indeed, over the past 10 years, while copper consumption and primary production have continued to expand briskly, while available old scrap has increased by over 35%, secondary production has actually stagnated.
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    Effectiveness of the implementation of a re-linkage to care strategy in patients with Hepatitis C who were lost of follow-up
    (2021) Mendizabal, Manuel; Thompson, Marcos Andres; Ridruejo, Ezequiel; Gonzalez Ballerga, Esteban; Ruiz Velasco, Jose Antonio Velarde; Palazzo, Ana; Mezzano, Gabriel; Muñoz Espinosa, Linda Elsa; Pessoa, Mario; Cerda Reyes, Eira; Soza, Alejandro; Ruiz, Sandro; Gomez-Aldana, Andres Jose; Gerona, Solange; Fuster, Francisco; Anders, Margarita; Beltran Valdivia, Flor De Maria; Poniachik, Jaime; Schinoni, Maria Isabel; Hernandez, Nelia; Montes, Pedro; Girala, Marcos; Castillo, Lida; Castillo-Barradas, Mauricio; Chavez, Rocio; Cabrera, Cecilia; Tenorio, Laura; Zevallos, Katherine; Garavito, Jorge; Brutti, Julia; Tagle, Martin; Castro Narro, Graciela; Vera Pozo, Emilia; Perazzo, Rosalia; Guillermo Toro, Luis; Varon, Adriana; Ferreiro, Melina; Lazcano, Monserrat; Dolores Murga, Maria; Gomez, Fernando; Hernandez, Larissa; Damasio Moutinho, Bruna; Gandara-Calderon, Julian; Vargas Domínguez, José Ignacio; Simian, Daniela; Silva, Marcelo
    Background: In order to achieve the World Health Organization’s ambitious goal of eliminating hepatitis C (HCV), we must implement innovative strategies to diagnose and treat more patients. Therefore, our study aimed to identify patients with chronic HCV infection who lost follow-up and offer them re-linkage to care and treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Methods: We conducted an implementation study of a strategy to contact patients with chronic HCV who were not under regular follow-up in 10 countries from Latin America. Patients with HCV were identified by the international classification of diseases (ICD-9/10) or similar. Medical records were then reviewed to confirm the diagnosis of chronic HCV infection defined as anti-HCV + and detectable HCVRNA. Identified patients who were not under follow-up by a liver specialist were contacted to offer them a medical reevaluation and, eventually, treatment with DAA. Results: A total of 3,709 patients were classified as HCV, of which 367 (9.9%) presented undetectable HCVRNA, and 148 (4.0%) were wrongly coded. Overall, 3,194 (86.1%) individuals were identified with chronic HCV infection, 49,9% were male, median age was 61 years (IQR 51-69); 166 (5.2%) developed hepatocellular carcinoma, and 117 (3.7%) underwent liver transplantation. Advanced liver fibrosis (F3-F4) was present in 1,361 (42.6%) patients. A total of 1,764 (55.2%) patients were under close care. Of these, 1,371 (74.7%) received antiviral treatment, 70 (5.3%) did not achieve sustained virologic response, 314 (17.8%) were not treated for different reasons and 133 (7.5%) died. We identified 1,430 (44.8%) patients who were lost of follow-up, 564 (39.4%) of whom were finally located. Of those contacted, 402 (71.3%) were candidates to receive DAAs, 108 (19.2%) were treated in other institutions, 12 (2.1%) did not wish to be treated, and 42 (7.4%) died (Figure). Globally, in our study 786/3,194 (24.6%) patients were candidates to receive antiviral therapies. Conclusion: In our cohort, 1 out of 4 patients with chronic HCV could be re-linked to care and treated. This strategy impresses to be effective, accessible and, significantly impact on the HCV cascade to cure.
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    Implementation of a re-linkage to care strategy in patients with chronic hepatitis C who were lost to follow-up in Latin America
    (2023) Mendizabal, Manuel; Thompson, Marcos; Gonzalez-Ballerga, Esteban; Anders, Margarita; Castro-Narro, Graciela E.; Pessoa, Mario G.; Cheinquer, Hugo; Mezzano, Gabriel; Palazzo, Ana; Ridruejo, Ezequiel; Descalzi, Valeria; Velarde-Ruiz Velasco, Jose A.; Marciano, Sebastian; Munoz, Linda; Schinoni, Maria, I; Poniachik, Jaime; Perazzo, Rosalia; Cerda, Eira; Fuster, Francisco; Varon, Adriana; Ruiz Garcia, Sandro; Soza, Alejandro; Cabrera, Cecilia; Gomez-Aldana, Andres J.; de Maria Beltran, Flor; Gerona, Solange; Cocozzella, Daniel; Bessone, Fernando; Hernandez, Nelia; Alonso, Cristina; Ferreiro, Melina; Antinucci, Florencia; Torre, Aldo; Moutinho, Bruna D.; Coelho Borges, Silvia; Gomez, Fernando; Dolores Murga, Maria; Pinero, Federico; Sotera, Gisela F.; Ocampo, Jhonier A.; Cortes Mollinedo, Valeria A.; Simian, Daniela; Silva, Marcelo O.
    To achieve WHO's goal of eliminating hepatitis C virus (HCV), innovative strategies must be designed to diagnose and treat more patients. Therefore, we aimed to describe an implementation strategy to identify patients with HCV who were lost to follow-up (LTFU) and offer them re-linkage to HCV care. We conducted an implementation study utilizing a strategy to contact patients with HCV who were not under regular follow-up in 13 countries from Latin America. Patients with HCV were identified by the international classification of diseases (ICD-9/10) or equivalent. Medical records were then reviewed to confirm the diagnosis of chronic HCV infection defined by anti-HCV+ and detectable HCV-RNA. Identified patients who were not under follow-up by a liver specialist were contacted by telephone or email, and offered a medical reevaluation. A total of 10,364 patients were classified to have HCV. After reviewing their medical charts, 1349 (13%) had undetectable HCV-RNA or were wrongly coded. Overall, 9015 (86.9%) individuals were identified with chronic HCV infection. A total of 5096 (56.5%) patients were under routine HCV care and 3919 (43.5%) had been LTFU. We were able to contact 1617 (41.3%) of the 3919 patients who were LTFU at the primary medical institution, of which 427 (26.4%) were cured at a different institutions or were dead. Of the remaining patients, 906 (76.1%) were candidates for retrieval. In our cohort, about one out of four patients with chronic HCV who were LTFU were candidates to receive treatment. This strategy has the potential to be effective, accessible and significantly impacts on the HCV care cascade.