Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

Despite the increasing investments in Latin American healthcare, the corresponding improvement in population health is not proportional. This discrepancy may be attributed to the efficiency of resource utilization. This study used the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to assess the efficiency of healthcare systems in 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

We used the most recent data from the World Bank (2017). Our analysis included healthcare expenditure (percentage of gross domestic product), hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants, physicians per 1000 inhabitants, and nurses per 1000 inhabitants as input variables. Life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate were used as output variables. We conducted sensitivity analyses on model parameters to understand their influence. Linear and Tobit regressions were developed to comprehend the relationship between variables and DEA scores. Finally, we performed a temporal analysis of efficiencies to identify trends and patterns within the sample.

The DEA model classified 13 of the 23 analyzed countries as efficient, with 10 consistently maintaining this level throughout the 10 years of the temporal analysis: Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Peru. Conversely, 4 countries were never considered efficient: Barbados, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.

This study provides valuable insights for Latin American and Caribbean countries, offering a roadmap to manage their resources better and provide quality and equitable service to their people despite economic challenges.

In this study, we developed a simple, solvent- and metal-free one-pot method to synthesize 4-acyl-1,2,3-triazoles from readily available acetophenones and various aryl azides.Thirty-three compounds were obtained with yields ranging from 40 to 82 % within 2 h under thermal conditions.This research also investigates these compounds as precursors to bioactive hydroxy-1,2,3-triazoles, aiming to identify new drug candidates for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) treatment.Specifically, we evaluated their ability to rescue the common CF-causing variant p.Phe508del-CFTR.Two new compounds, LSO-162 and LSO-168, successfully rescued p.Phe508del-CFTR trafficking with EC50 values of 2.41 and 1.91 μM, resp.For comparison, the clin. approved drug VX-445, a compound in a triple combination therapy, has an EC50 of 0.245 μM.Computational studies provided insights into the structure-activity relationship, particularly the role of carbonylated and hydroxylated triazole-based compounds as potential new p.Phe508del-CFTR traffic correctors.These findings highlight the potential for developing new, effective CF treatments.

The behavior of concrete structures subjected to shear forces involves the contribution of several shear force transfer actions, such as aggregate interlock, dowel action, concrete residual tensile along the fracture process zone, and transfer through the uncracked concrete.While the contribution and interaction between these actions dependt on the shape and kinematics of the critical shear crack, the prediction models available either do not consider all these actions or are based on linear or bilinear shapes for the critical crack.In this context, this paper presents a multiaction model in which the shear actions are considered in the equilibrium of forces and moments based on the shape and kinematics of the critical shear crack.The crack shape, represented by a quadratic Bézier curve, was obtained from an optimization process using a genetic algorithm.The results obtained from the model include the location, shape, and kinematics of the critical crack and the final shear strength and the contributions of each mechanism.The outcomes of the proposed approach were compared with exptl. results reported in the literature for beams without stirrups and made with fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) and fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) or conventional steel bars.The exptl. behavior was accurately simulated, especially for the critical shape and shear strength, which presented relative errors of around 1% and 7%, indicating good agreement.In addition, the model revealed that the residual tensile stress resulting from a discrete fiber action had the highest impact on the load-bearing capacity, following the same observations as the reference studies.The proposed model represents a promising methodol. to predict the shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams with various combinations of materials.