Browsing by Author "Poblete, Rodrigo"

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    Social and health determinants related to adverse short-term outcomes after a first-ever stroke in adults younger than 65 years
    (2023) Lopez-Espejo, Mauricio; Poblete, Rodrigo; Bastias, Gabriel
    Background: Stroke-related mortality and disability-adjusted life years in adults younger than 65 have increased over the last decade. However, geographical differ-ences in distributing these outcomes could reflect dissimilarity in determinants. Therefore, this cross-sectional study of secondary data from Chilean hospitals aims to analyze the association of sociodemographic and clinical factors with in-hospital case-fatality risk or acquired neurologic deficits (adverse outcomes) in inpatients aged 18 to 64 who experienced their first-ever stroke. Methodology: Adjusted multi -variable logistic regression models and interaction analysis using multiple imputa-tion for missing data (4.99%) for 1,043 hospital discharge records from the UC-CHRISTUS Health Network International Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (IR-DRG) system database (2010-2021) were conducted. Results: Mean age: 51.47 years (SD, 10.79); female: 39.60%. Stroke types: subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH): 5.66%, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH): 11.98%, and ischemic: 82.45%. Adverse outcomes: 25.22% (neurological deficit: 23.59%; in-hospital case-fatality risk: 1.63%). After adjusting for confounders, adverse outcomes were associated with stroke type (patients with ICH and ischemic stroke had higher odds than those with SAH), soci-odemographic characteristics (age = 40 years, residence in an area of the capital city other than the center-east, and coverage by public health insurance), and discharge diagnoses (obesity, coronary artery and chronic kidney diseases, and mood and anxiety disorders). For hypertension, women had higher odds of adverse outcomes. Conclusions: In this predominantly Hispanic sample, modifiable social and health determinants are related to adverse short-term outcomes after a first-ever stroke. Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the causal role of these factors.
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    Social support for overcoming fear of contagion at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-sectional study in Latin America
    (2023) Carrillo, Irene; Poblete, Rodrigo; Serpa, Piedad; Martin-Delgado, Jimmy; Gimenez, Alejandro; Mira, Jose Joaquin
    Background: The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare professionals has been widely studied, along with different strategies to minimize it. However, professionals' assessment of the social support received and the factors that mitigated their fear of contagion have not been described. This study aimed to assess healthcare professionals' satisfaction with the social support and information received and their efforts to self-isolate to avoid infecting loved ones in Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador.Methods: A cross-sectional online survey, conducted from July to September 2020 in three Latin American countries, elicited healthcare professionals' satisfaction with social support from colleagues, their community, the media, and scientific societies; as well as the information received about the evolution of the pandemic and measures to avoid contagion. The EASE scale was used to measure acute stress.Results: Survey responses were received from 700 professionals. The response rate per country exceeded the estimated sample size except in the case of Colombia, which was 81.4%. In general, peer support was highly valued, though satisfaction was lower in high-risk units (p < 0.001). Those who directly assisted COVID-19 patients perceived the least community support (p = 0.023). Professionals from high-risk units (p = 0.013) and those who experienced greater acute stress (p = 0.05) assigned the lowest rating to the information offered by the centre on the pandemic. Men perceived more support from colleagues and better information from the centre than women (p < 0.05). Just 10.7% of professionals changed their residence during the pandemic, but those who worked in high-risk areas self-isolated more frequently (p = 0.026).Conclusion: In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals in Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador greatly valued the support received from their peers. Being infected with COVID-19, working in high-risk areas, experiencing higher self-reported acute stress, and having an infected co-worker were predictors for self-isolation to protect their relatives. These results point to the appropriateness of putting in place institutional resources based on peer support and specific communication strategies and action protocols to build resilience and responsiveness to future health crises.
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    Use of copper sheet in a solar photo-Fenton-like process applied in the treatment of landfill leachate
    (2023) Poblete, Rodrigo; Rodriguez, Carlos Anibal; Carrasco, Claudia; Herrera, Jose; Salazar-Gonzalez, Ricardo
    It is known that copper can be used as catalyst in photo-Fenton-like process; however, there is a lack of information related with its use in the treatment of landfill leachate (LL) in solar photo-Fenton-like processes. Here, we studied the effect of the mass of a copper sheet, the pH of the solution, and the concentration of LL in the removal of the organic matter present in this water. Before the reaction with landfill leachate, the copper sheet used in the reaction was constituted by Cu+ and Cu2O, respectively. The results showed that in a volume of 0.5 L of a pretreated LL, the higher removal of organic matter resulted using a mass of 2.7 g of the copper sheet, a pH of solution of 5, and a concentration of LL of a 10%, obtaining a final value of C/C-0 of chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 0.34, 0.54, 0.66, and 0.84 for concentrations of 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively, and 0.0041, 0.0042, 0.0043, and 0.016 for concentration of 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively, of C/C-0 of humic acids. The photolysis on LL at its natural pH using solar UV removes very little humic acid and COD, going from 9.4 to 8.5 and 7.7 Abs(254) for photolysis and UV + H2O2, obtaining 8.6 and 17.6% of removal, respectively, and 2.01 and 13.04% removal of COD, respectively. Copper sheet applied under Fenton-like conditions results in 65.9% removal and an increase of 0.2% for humic acid and COD, respectively. Removal using only H2O2 for Abs(254) and COD was 11.95 and 4.3%, respectively. Raw LL produced a 29.1% inhibition of the biological activated sludge rate after the adjustment to pH 7 and the final process of inhibition was 0.23%.