Cancer immunotherapy as a new treatment option

Cancer can coaptate the immune control of the immune system (IS), evade immunity and its destruction. So, could we say openly that immunotherapy is a viable treatment option for patients with advanced cancer? Yes, immunotherapy would give us great advances in the war against cancer. Therefore, the development of a new generation of immune modulators (which have been analyzed in the following article) is necessary. In addition, these will be more effective if we use them in combination, taking advantage of their synergy.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Experimental techniques and numerical models to detect pollutant emission in the transport sector

25th International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment, Urban Transport 2019; Aveiro; Portugal; 25 June 2019 through 27 June 2019; Code 155807In recent years, the growth of fossil fuel use and greenhouse gases emissions (GHGs) has been promoted by the population increase and development of the industry sector. Due to the increasing attention towards the effects of climate changes on quality of life, recent researches on pollutant formation processes have been developed in different sectors, especially in transportation. The last emission standards on pollutants impose limits on the dimensions and on the particle number of the particulate matter emissions, because of the highly dangerous effect on human health. To fight high concentrations of particulate matter (PM) emissions, a wide number of studies are addressed towards the definition of the most important parameters in effective production of particulate matter, especially in spark ignition engines. Physical processes such as mixture formation, engine operating parameters and fuel chemical properties strongly affect the soot formation in gasoline engines. The heat transfer process between the piston hot surface and the fuel gasoline during the post-injection phase is a key aspect of soot emissions for an engine. This paper is devoted to analyzing the fundamental parameters that are responsible for pollutant formation in the transport sector and the actual experimental and numerical techniques used to predict the environmental impact of engines

Devices for Prevention of Atrial Tachyarrhythmias

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent sustained cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice and, although its importance has been underestimated even in recent years, we are now becoming aware of its clinical transcendence1,2,3. The classical treatment is pharmacological, but its efficacy is limited and it does have side effects4,5. Therefore, in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in other types of non-pharmacological treatments6,7. Physiologic cardiac pacing has proven to be more effective than VVI mode pacing to prevent the occurrence of AF during the follow-up of patients who have had a permanent pacemaker implanted 8,9,10. There are currently different lines of research that use different atrial pacing techniques to prevent and treat episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation11,12. Techniques of multi-site pacing in the right atrium or both atria, new atrial pacing sites, prevention algorithms for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation episodes, and even high-frequency atrial tachyarrhythmia termination algorithms have all been proposed. In this article, we will try to synthesize the grounds for and findings of the different lines of research currently being developed

Advanced titanium scaffolds obtained by directional freeze-drying: on the influence of processing conditions

Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain under Grant No. MAT2010-20855Junta de Andalucía (Spain) / FEDER (EU), through the project Ref. P12-TEP-140

Inferring the connectivity of coupled chaotic oscillators using Kalman filtering

Inferring the interactions between coupled oscillators is a significant open problem in complexity science, with multiple interdisciplinary applications. While the Kalman filter (KF) technique is a well-known tool, widely used for data assimilation and parameter estimation, to the best of our knowledge, it has not yet been used for inferring the connectivity of coupled chaotic oscillators. Here we demonstrate that KF allows reconstructing the interaction topology and the coupling strength of a network of mutually coupled Rössler-like chaotic oscillators. We show that the connectivity can be inferred by considering only the observed dynamics of a single variable of the three that define the phase space of each oscillator. We also show that both the coupling strength and the network architecture can be inferred even when the oscillators are close to synchronization. Simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method.This work was supported in part by Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (PGC2018- 099443-B-I00), AGAUR FI scholarship (E.F.) and ICREA ACADEMIA (C. M.), Generalitat de Catalunya.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

New records of myxomycetes for the state of Veracruz from Cofre de Perote National Park

Most of the species of myxomycetes from Mexico are well documented, but their patchy geographical and temporal distribution responds to the individual efforts carried out in different areas of the territory over time. As such, even for well-studied areas, new projects can substantially increase biodiversity-based information. The present study constitutes an update of the myxomycete catalog of the state of Veracruz, carried out from an intensive study in a section of Abies religiosa at the Cofre de Perote National Park. The methodology consisted in field collections, complemented with a laboratory isolation process using diverse substrates from different locations. The study was carried out in two years (2018-2019) and in two seasons (dry and rainy). A total of 30 taxa were identified, out of which, 21 species were not previously known for the state of Veracruz, increasing the number of myxomycetes known in such state to 168 species, making it one of the most diverse states in Mexico, with approximately 45% of the known species in the country.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología/[812944]/CONACYT/MéxicoUniversidad de Costa Rica/[570-B9-7B4]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ingeniería::Facultad de Ingeniería::Escuela de Ingeniería de BiosistemasUCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede del Atlántico::Recinto de Paraíso::Finca Experimental Interdisciplinaria de Modelos Agroecológicos (FEIMA

Porous Titanium Cylinders Obtained by the Freeze-Casting Technique: Influence of Process Parameters on Porosity and Mechanical Behavior

 The discrepancy between the stiffness of commercially pure titanium and cortical bone  tissue compromises its success as a biomaterial. The use of porous titanium has been widely studied,  however, it is still challenging to obtain materials able to replicate the porous structure of the bones  (content, size, morphology and distribution). In this work, the freeze‐casting technique is used to  manufacture cylinders with elongated porosity, using a home‐made and economical device. The  relationship between the processing parameters (diameter and material of the mold, temperature  gradient), microstructural features and mechanical properties is established and discussed, in terms  of ensuring biomechanical and biofunctional balance. The cylinders have a gradient porosity  suitable for use in dentistry, presenting higher Young’s modulus at the bottom, near the cold spot  and, therefore better mechanical resistance (it would be in contact with a prosthetic crown), while  the opposite side, the hot spot, has bigger, elongated pores and walls.  Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain  grant  MAT2015‐71284‐P  FEDER‐Junta de Andalucía Research  Project (Modeling and implementation of the freeze casting technique: gradients of porosity with a tribomechanical equilibrium and electro‐stimulated cellular behavior).

A new multi-factor multi-objective strategy based on a factorial presence-absence design to determine polymer additive residues by means of head space-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A new multi-factor multi-objective strategy to approach the joint assessment of the effect of six experimental factors in the determination by head space-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) of eight different additives commonly used in the plastic packaging manufacturing is proposed in this work. Five HS-SPME experimental factors, both qualitative and quantitative, are explored: the type of fiber, addition of salt, extraction and desorption time, and extraction temperature. The effect of these factors is studied through a factorial presence-absence model, that include interactions, using a D-optimal design. As a result, the number of experiments is reduced from 128, full factorial design, to 14. The effect of carrying out the measurements in different experimental sessions is considered by including a blocking factor. The response for each compound is estimated in the experimental domain and then the best experimental conditions are chosen by using Pareto front. Parallel coordinates are employed to show the conflicting conditions intrinsic to a multiobjective analysis when compounds of different nature are extracted by HS-SPME. Parallel factor analysis 2 (PARAFAC2) decomposition is used because it makes the determination of target compounds in the presence of unknown interferents possible, which enables the unequivocal identification of target compounds according to official regulations. The developed method is applied to determine 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methyl-phenol (BHT), benzophenone (BP), bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA), diethyl phthalate (DEP), diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The level of these compounds found in nine types of bottled natural still and sparkling mineral waters is very low, so the compounds were not present in quantities that may be injurious to human health.The authors thank the financial support provided by Consejería de la Junta de Castilla y Leon ´ (JCyL) through project BU052P20 co-financed with European FEDER funds. Lucía Valverde-Som thanks JCyL for her postdoctoral contract through this project

Comprehensive framework for the development of control and navigation systems of autonomous underwater vehicles: the mission-sicuva project

This paper presents an overview of coordinated project MISSION-SICUVA, and the results achieved at its recent completion. A prototype of UUV has been built with an orientation to oceanographic research and test of new control algorithms. It consist of an underwater vehicle towing a surface buoy, with applications such as monitoring water quality, high resolution bathymetry of the seabed and its map projection. New biological inspired navigation algorithms have been implemented using a comprehensive component based development framework

Comprehensive framework for the development of control and navigation systems of autonomous underwater vehicles: the mission-sicuva project

Los resúmenes se publicarán e imprimirán en la revista Instrumentation Viewpoint: ISSN: 1886-4864 y se incluirán en los materiales de la conferencia. Los artículos completos se publicarán electrónicamente como actas de la conferencia.This paper presents an overview of coordinated project MISSION-SICUVA, and the results achieved at its recent completion. A prototype of UUV has been built with an orientation to oceanographic research and test of new control algorithms. It consist of an underwater vehicle towing a surface buoy, with applications such as monitoring water quality, high resolution bathymetry of the seabed and its map projection. New biological inspired navigation algorithms have been implemented using a comprehensive component based development framewo