Estudio epidemiológico de pacientes con autismo y salud mental

Frente a los indicios epidemiológicos de un aumento en la incidencia de los trastornos del espectro autista (TEA) y la escasa tradición de coordinación entre el sistema educativo, de atención a la dependencia y el sistema sanitario en personas adolescentes y adultas, se propone como alternativa asistencial la atención en la red general de salud mental complementada con tratamiento asertivo comunitario.Facing the epidemiological evidence of an increased incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and little tradition of coordination between the education system of dependency care and the health system in adolescents and adults, care attention in the general mental health network complemented by assertive community treatment is proposed as an alternative care attention system.peerReviewe

Automatic forest change detection through a bi-annual time series of satellite imagery: toward production of an integrated land cover map

Land cover mapping is fundamental for national and international agencies to monitor forest resources. However, monitoring forest disturbances by direct comparison of these maps poses several difficulties and challenges. As a result, different methodologies have been explored to detect forest disturbances. However, most of them cannot be fully integrated with land cover map production since they require additional input data, while others are not suitable for monitoring small land parcels. This study presents a methodology that fulfils the need to integrate land cover mapping with land cover change detection. Specifically, this methodology was designed to complement the Sentinel-2-based land cover mapping used in Galicia, northwest Spain, a region characterized by small land parceling. First, two previously obtained land cover maps from 2019 and 2020 were compared to identify all the pixels with potential land cover changes using QGIS. The behavior of spectral indexes in a time series were then analyzed to identify which of the previously identified pixels correspond to forest disturbances. This step was implemented in the software R. Using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to detect different land cover changes it was obtained an overall accuracy of 82%, considering the existence of varying phenologies, diverse topographic conditions, and areas with a high level of stand fragmentation. This study could help agencies that have already developed their own land cover maps to easily advance the integration of their maps with land cover change detection, since this technique can be applied with any land cover mapping methodology based on multitemporal analysis of satellite images, without the need for additional input data.Ministerio de Universidades | Ref. FPU19/02054Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-111581RB-I00Xunta de GaliciaUniversidade de Vigo/CISU

Forest cover mapping and Pinus species classification using very high-resolution satellite images and random forest

Advances in remote sensing technologies are generating new perspectives concerning the role of and methods used for National Forestry Inventories (NFIs). The increase in computation capabilities over the last several decades and the development of new statistical techniques have allowed for the automation of forest resource map generation through image analysis techniques and machine learning algorithms. The availability of large-scale data and the high temporal resolution that satellite platforms provide mean that it is possible to obtain updated information about forest resources at the stand level, thus increasing the quality of the spatial information. However, photointerpretation of satellite and aerial images is still the most common way that remote sensing information is used for NFIs or forest management purposes. This study describes a methodology that automatically maps the main forest covers in Galicia (Eucalyptus spp., conifers and broadleaves) using Worldview-2 and the random forest classifier. Furthermore, the method also evaluates the separate mapping of the three most abundant Pinus tree species in Galicia (Pinus pinaster, Pinus radiata and Pinus sylvestris). According to the results, Worldview-2 multispectral images allow for the efficient differentiation between the main forest classes that are present in Galicia with a very high degree of accuracy (91%) and ample spatial detail. Pinus species can also be efficiently differentiated (83%).Xunta de GaliciaAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-111581RB-I00Universidade de Vig

Challenges in automatic forest change reporting through land cover mapping

Up-to-date knowledge about changes in forest resources and their spatial distribution is essential for sustainable forest management. Therefore, monitoring of forest evolution is increasingly demanded by national and international agencies to design forestry policies and to track their progress. Annually updated land cover maps based on open access satellite imagery may serve as a primary tool for monitoring forest surface evolution over time. Spatially detailed information about forest change might be obtained by comparing land cover maps over time. This study aims to better understand the processes underlying pixels whose land cover changes from 1 year’s map to the next and to understand why errors occur. In this study, two annual land cover maps were produced using Sentinel-2 images and afterwards they were compared. The comparison was performed in terms of total surface occupied in each map by each of the classes (net comparison) and in terms of spatial agreement, comparing the results pixel to pixel. The study was performed for the entire region of Galicia (in the Northwest of Spain) for the years 2019 and 2020. Land cover maps obtained had overall accuracies of 82 and 85 per cent. Differences in the total surface of change were encountered when performing the net comparison and spatial agreement comparison. The detailed analysis performed in this study helps to better understand the processes underlying the maps’ discrepancies revealing the processes leading to wrongly identified forest changes. Future studies could aim to integrate this knowledge into the monitoring system to improve the ultimate usability of land cover maps to retrieve information about forest changes.Ministerio de Universidades | Ref. FPU19/02054Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-111581RB-I00Universidade de Vigo/CISUGXunta de Galici

Estudio epidemiológico de pacientes con autismo y salud mental

Facing the epidemiological evidence of an increased incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and little tradition of coordination between the education system of dependency care and the health system in adolescents and adults, care attention in the general mental health network complemented by assertive community treatment is proposed as an alternative care attention system.Frente a los indicios epidemiológicos de un aumento en la incidencia de los trastornos del espectro autista (TEA) y la escasa tradición de coordinación entre el sistema educativo, de atención a la dependencia y el sistema sanitario en personas adolescentes y adultas, se propone como alternativa asistencial la atención en la red general de salud mental complementada con tratamiento asertivo comunitario

Un ejemplo de contribución de la Química Analítica a la Higiene Industrial: determinación de perfluorados en la leche materna

Los contaminantes orgánicos perfluorados, presentes en numerosos objetos de nuestra vida cotidiana, forman parte de los llamados contaminantes emergentes, que empiezan a ser regulados por ley y cuyos efectos sobre los organismos y el medio ambiente aún no están bien evaluados. Estos compuestos se aplican en muchos productos industriales y domésticos por su resistencia al calor y su capacidad de repeler el agua y el aceite. La leche materna se ha utilizado como marcador biológico de la contaminación ambiental ya que, por los procesos de bioacumulación en tejido graso, muchos compuestos químicos alcanzan concentraciones fácilmente medibles en esta matriz. Dada la complejidad de la misma, y las dificultades que ofrece para su estudio desde un punto de vista analítico, este trabajo se ha centrado en la optimización y validación de una nueva y sencilla metodología analítica para la determinación de cinco compuestos perfluorados (cuatro ácidos perfluoroalquílicos (de C5 a C8) y el sulfonato de perfluorooctano) en leche materna mediante extracción por sorción sobre barras agitadoras, previa precipitación química de grasas y proteínas, y posterior análisis mediante cromatografía de líquidos de ultra-resolución acoplada a espectrometría de masas en tándem.Perfluoroalkyl compounds, present in several products of our everyday life, are part of the so-called emerging contaminants. Although they are starting to be regulated, their effects over organisms and the environment have not been well evaluated yet. Their widespread use on industrial and domestic products is due to their thermal stability and their unique ability to repel both water and oil. Breast milk has been used as biomarker of environmental pollution because several chemical compounds are bioaccumulated at quantifiable concentration levels in this fatty tissue. Due to the analytical challenge that involves this complex matrix, this work has been focused on the optimization and validation of a novel and simply analytical methodology for the determination of five perfluoroalkyl compounds (four perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (from C5 to C8) and perfluorooctane sulfonate) in breast milk. The analytical method involves a stir-bar sorptive extraction and analysis by UHPLC-MS/MS

Optimización del cálculo de aislamiento térmico en plantas industriales.

Las condiciones de vida del planeta en el que habitamos se están deteriorando rápidamente debido a la contaminación y al uso indiscriminado de recursos naturales. El elevado consumo de energía es uno de los aspectos que más contribuyen a este deterioro.En el presente Trabajo de Fin de Grado se desarrolla un programa de cálculo online sobre aislamiento térmico en equipos de plantas industriales, que utiliza como base la normativa más habitual, tanto la europea ISO EN 12241, como la americana ASTM C-680. Se trata de un software sencillo e intuitivo al alcance de cualquier usuario, con el que se realizan diversos cálculos como son hallar el flujo de calor transferido a través de un elemento, la temperatura superficial exterior, el espesor mínimo de aislante necesario para un determinado forma límite de flujo de calor o temperatura superficial, o la variación longitudinal de temperatura a través de una tubería o de un conducto. De esta manera, se unifican las dos normas en un solo programa y, adicionalmente, se ha realizado una comparación de resultados entre ambas. Por otra parte, se ha creado un extenso listado de productos dedicados al aislamiento térmico de las empresas punteras en el sector a nivel internacional.<br /

Automatised on-line SPE-chiral LC-MS/MS method for the enantiomeric determination of main fluoroquinolones and their metabolites in environmental water samples

Fluoroquinolones are antibiotics of significant environmental concern their extended use not only in human medicine but also in veterinary medicine and not only as therapeutic agents but also to promote livestock growth and in aquaculture. Some fluoroquinolones and their metabolites are chiral compounds. Therefore, for a proper environmental risk assessment, enantioselective analytical methods are required. In this work, an analytical method has been developed and validated for the first time automatised enantioselective determination of environmental significant fluoroquinolones and their metabolites in wastewater and surface water samples. Target fluoroquinolones were selected by considering their extended use in human (ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin) and veterinary (flumequine) medicine. The analytical method was based on on-line solid-phase extraction-chiral liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Analysis, including sample extraction and chiral LC-MS/MS determination, was carried out in just 14 min. The method was validated for its application to surface water and effluent and influent wastewater. Accuracy values were in the range from 61.4 to 122 % in wastewater and from 73.4 to 119 % in surface water. Precision, expressed as relative standard deviation, was lower than 13.6 % for all the compounds and sample matrices. Method quantification limits were in the range from 0.2 to 50 ng/L for all the compounds in wastewater and surface water. Method application to wastewater and surface water samples revealed the enantioselective transformation of LEV into (R)-OFL in surface water and the prevalence of OH-FLU D2 with respect to OH-FLU D1 in influent wastewater