Nanostructured morphology of a random P(DLLA-co-CL) copolymer

The random architecture of a commercial copolymer of poly(DL-lactic acid) and poly(ε-caprolactone), poly(DL-lactide-co-caprolactone), has been characterized by chemical structure analysis from hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance results. Moreover, spherical nanodomains have been detected in the thin films of this copolymer obtained after solvent evaporation. These nanodomains studied by atomic force microscopy and transmission elecron microscopy grow progressively under annealing until they collapse and form a homogenous disordered structure. This is the first time that the nanostructure of random poly(DL-lactic acid)/poly-(ε-caprolactone) copolymers is revealed, representing one of few experimental evidences on the possible nanostructuration of random copolymers

Supramolecular Polycaprolactone-Based Polyurethanes with Thermally Activated Shape-Memory Behavior

In this work, using supramolecular polyurethanes theories, two polycaprolactone-based polyurethanes with 2-ureido-4-[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) motifs capable of forming quadruple hydrogen bonds were synthetized and characterized, focusing our attention on their capability to show thermally activated shape-memory response. In particular, H-1 NMR analyses confirmed the chemical structure of the supramolecular polyurethanes, while DSC showed their totally amorphous morphology. DMTA in tensile mode was used to study their thermally activated shape-memory properties. In our case, the UPy units are the switching domains while the network formed by the segregated hard segments is the permanent domain obtained materials with excellent shape-memory response at both 100 and 85 degrees C. These materials are promising for multi-responsive materials where bio-based and potentially recyclable polymers with excellent shape-memory properties are needed

Subclinical Endometritis in Dairy Cattle

Subclinical endometritis is recognized as a cause of poor reproductive performance in dairy cows. Inflammation of the endometrium persisting after postpartum uterine involution has been related with prolonged calving-conception intervals and low fertility in dairy cows. The subclinical nature of this condition makes it necessary in the use of endometrial cytology or biopsy for diagnosing it. There are some controversies among authors in relation to the postpartum period from which a physiological endometrial inflammation should be considered a pathological subclinical endometritis. Therefore, depending on the sampling period after calving, different studies establish a different degree of polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration as cutoff point to diagnose subclinical endometritis. Controversies also exist regarding the pathogenesis of the disease and its consequences on the fertility of dairy cattle. The aim of this chapter was to review the current knowledge on this uterine pathology

Light-induced capacitance tunability in ferroelectric crystals

The remote controlling of ferroic properties with light is nowadays a hot and highly appealing topic in materials science. Here, we shed light on some of the unresolved issues surrounding light–matter coupling in ferroelectrics. Our findings show that the capacitance and, consequently, its related intrinsic material property, i.e., the dielectric constant, can be reversibly adjusted through the light power control. High photodielectric performance is exhibited across a wide range of the visible light wavelength because of the wavelength-independence of the phenomenon. We have verified that this counterintuitive behavior can be strongly ascribed to the existence of “locally free charges” at domain wall.Postprint (author's final draft

La estabilidad del rendimiento en grano de los cereales invernales en la región semiárida pampeana

Los cereales invernales constituyen una alternativa importante en la planicie con tosca de la Región Semiárida Pampeana, otorgándole estabilidad al sistema a través de la incorporación del rastrojo al suelo. Los intentos por incorporar estabilidad genética fueron antagónicos con la búsqueda del rendimiento potencial. El efecto ambiental constituye una variable emergente en la definición del rendimiento, observándose una gran interacción entre el genotipo y el año. Estas condiciones del ambiente imponen al cultivo situaciones de estrés hídrico que hacen al rendimiento muy variable. El rendimiento promedio de los últimos 20 años en la provincia de La Pampa fue 1665 Kg. ha-1 con un máximo de 2664 Kg. ha-1 (año 2012) y un mínimo de 989 Kg. ha-1 (año 2009). El objetivo del trabajo es identificar el o los componentes de rendimiento que otorguen mayor estabilidad de rendimiento con aceptable calidad del grano. Los experimentos se realizan a campo con tres especies: Triticum aestivum L., Triticum durum D. y X Triticosecale W., en la Facultad de Agronomía de la UNLPam. Dentro de cada especie se seleccionaron variedades que mostraron en ensayos previos o en la descripción del criadero variabilidad en cuanto a número potencial de granos por m2 , peso individual. El efecto ambiental lo aportan los años. Se realizó la evaluación de los componentes de rendimiento: Nº de espigas por m2, Nº de granos por espiga, Nº de granos por m2 , peso de los granos a la cosecha. Además se determinaron características relacionadas con la calidad comercial y Peso Hectolítrico y porcentaje de proteínas. Se realizó un Análisis de Componentes Principales como resumen de la información recolectada en cuatro años de ensayos. La explicación alcanzada por los dos primeros componentes principales llega al 70% que es aceptable para una descripción aproximada de la variabilidad de la información. Se observó una relación positiva del rendimiento de grano con las variedades de trigo pan moderno y de triticale granífero, mientras que el trigo candeal y las variedades de trigo pan antiguas tuvieron una asociación negativa con el mismo. Los componentes espigas por m2 y Nº de granos por espiga fueron los de mayor asociación con el rendimiento del grano. El rinde estuvo negativamente asociado al Peso Hectolítrico y el porcentaje de proteínas. Las variedades antiguas mostraron más altura de la planta y menor rinde. Las variedades de trigo candeal se asociaron con alto PMG

Increasing the circularity of the copper metallurgical industry: Recovery of Sb(III) and Bi(III) from hydrochloric solutions by integration of solvating organophosphorous extractants and selective precipitation

The lack of high-purity ores has made the copper industry exploit low-impurity ores containing As, Sb and Bi which can affect the final product quality due to the floating insoluble arsenates. This is usually solved by treating the electrorefining electrolyte in a polishing stage devoted to removing Sb and Bi using aminophosphonic resins. Once the resin is saturated, it is regenerated using 6 M HCl, and the eluate produced is treated with CaO(s) to precipitate both Sb and Bi. However, this stream is of interest due to the inclusion of both elements in the Critical Raw Material list from the European Union. Therefore, the linear management option must be substituted by a circular approach. This work aims to develop such approach by the selective separation and recovery of Sb and Bi from HCl stream polluted with As. The method presented was based on the use of using a solvating mixture of alkylphosphine oxides commercialized as Cyanex 923 dissolved in kerosene and 1-decanol (10 %) as phase modifier. The separation factors of Sb(III) and Bi(III) from As(V) were evaluated and optimized as function of both extractant concentration and the aqueous to organic phase ratio. Results showed that at the lowest Cyanex 923 concentration (0.15 mol/L) and working at an A/O ratio of 1/3, it could be possible to extract 39 % Bi and 78 % Sb with As co-extraction below 2.5 %. Both Sb and Bi were easily recovered (>90 %) using 8 M HNO3 as stripping agent. Following a treatment using NaOH/NaCl or NaOH, both elements could be recovered either as oxychlorides (SbOCl(s) and BiOCl(s)) or oxides (Sb2O3(s) and BisO3(s)).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

LAVICAD: LAboratori VIrtual de Comunicacions Analògiques i Digitals

Mitjançant el present ajut s’ha ampliat l’aplicació en xarxa LAVICAD (LAboratori VIrtual de COmunicacions Analògiques i Digitals) que s’ofereix de forma integrada dins de la plataforma d’e-learning COM@WEB. LAVICAD és una eina programada en Java i Matlab i està formada per un conjunt de simuladors de la capa física de sistemes de comunicacions. Tots els simuladors es presenten en xarxa i es poden utilitzar pels estudiants des de qualsevol ordinador sense necessitat d’instal·lació de cap tipus de software especial. Durant el curs 2007 2008 s’han desenvolupat entre d’altres dos línies de treball. D’una banda s’ha programat l’applet que emula la capa física de la televisió digital terrestre, com a referent per a l’ensenyament de sistemes de comunicacions avançats. D’altra banda s’ha treballat en la programació de noves funcionalitats de l’eina LAVICAD, que permeten ajudar als professors en el seguiment i avaluació del treball continuat dels estudiants. En particular s’ha programat la generació d’una base de dades que conté la informació dels usuaris que s’han connectat i els resultats obtinguts a l’executar un determinat simulador. Les dues línies desenvolupades han de permetre durant l’actual curs, consolidar l’ús dels diferents simuladors per a la docència de les assignatures implicades al projecte.Peer Reviewe

Leveraging electronic healthcare record standards and semantic web technologies for the identification of patient cohorts

Introduction The secondary use of Electronic Healthcare Records (EHRs) often requires the identification of patient cohorts. In this context, an important problem is the heterogeneity of clinical data sources, which can be overcome with the combined use of standardized information models, Virtual Health Records, and semantic technologies, since each of them contributes to solving aspects related to the semantic interoperability of EHR data. Our main objective is to develop methods allowing for a direct use of EHR data for the identification of patient cohorts leveraging current EHR standards and semantic web technologies. Materials and Methods We propose to take advantage of the best features of working with EHR standards and ontologies. Our proposal is based on our previous results and experience working with both technological infrastructures. Our main principle is to perform each activity at the abstraction level with the most appropriate technology available. This means that part of the processing will be performed using archetypes (i.e., data level) and the rest using ontologies (i.e., knowledge level). Our approach will start working with EHR data in proprietary format, which will be first normalized and elaborated using EHR standards and then transformed into a semantic representation, which will be exploited by automated reasoning. Results We have applied our approach to protocols for colorectal cancer screening. The results comprise the archetypes, ontologies and datasets developed for the standardization and semantic analysis of EHR data. Anonymized real data has been used and the patients have been successfully classified by the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Conclusion This work provides new insights in how archetypes and ontologies can be effectively combined for EHR-driven phenotyping. The methodological approach can be applied to other problems provided that suitable archetypes, ontologies and classification rules can be designed.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and the FEDER program through grants TIN2010-21388-C01 and TIN2010-21388-C02. MCLG was supported by the Fundacion Seneca through grant 15555/FPI/2010.Fernández-Breis, JT.; Maldonado Segura, JA.; Marcos, M.; Legaz-García, MDC.; Moner Cano, D.; Torres-Sospedra, J.; Esteban-Gil, A.... (2013). Leveraging electronic healthcare record standards and semantic web technologies for the identification of patient cohorts. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 20(E2):288-296. https://doi.org/10.1136/amiajnl-2013-001923S28829620E2Cuggia, M., Besana, P., & Glasspool, D. (2011). Comparing semi-automatic systems for recruitment of patients to clinical trials. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 80(6), 371-388. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2011.02.003Sujansky, W. (2001). Heterogeneous Database Integration in Biomedicine. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 34(4), 285-298. doi:10.1006/jbin.2001.1024Schadow G Russler DC Mead CN . Integrating medical information and knowledge in the HL7 RIM. Proceedings of the AMIA Symposium, 2000:764–8.Johnson PD Tu SW Musen MA . A virtual medical record for guideline-based decision support. Proceedings of the AMIA 2001 Annual Symposium, 294–8.German, E., Leibowitz, A., & Shahar, Y. (2009). An architecture for linking medical decision-support applications to clinical databases and its evaluation. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 42(2), 203-218. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2008.10.007Peleg, M., Keren, S., & Denekamp, Y. (2008). Mapping computerized clinical guidelines to electronic medical records: Knowledge-data ontological mapper (KDOM). Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 41(1), 180-201. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2007.05.003Maldonado, J. A., Costa, C. M., Moner, D., Menárguez-Tortosa, M., Boscá, D., Miñarro Giménez, J. A., … Robles, M. (2012). Using the ResearchEHR platform to facilitate the practical application of the EHR standards. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 45(4), 746-762. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2011.11.004Parker CG Rocha RA Campbell JR . Detailed clinical models for sharable, executable guidelines. Stud Health Technol Inform 2004;107:145–8.Clinical Information Modeling Initiative. http://informatics.mayo.edu/CIMI/index.php/Main_Page (accessed Jun 2013).W3C, OWL2 Web Ontology Language. http://www.w3.org/TR/owl2-overview/ (accessed Jun 2013).European Commission. Semantic interoperability for better health and safer healthcare. Deployment and research roadmap for Europe. ISBN-13: 978-92-79-11139-6, 2009.SemanticHealthNet. http://www.semantichealthnet.eu/ (accessed Jun 2013).Martínez-Costa, C., Menárguez-Tortosa, M., Fernández-Breis, J. T., & Maldonado, J. A. (2009). A model-driven approach for representing clinical archetypes for Semantic Web environments. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 42(1), 150-164. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2008.05.005Iqbal AM . An OWL-DL ontology for the HL7 reference information model. Toward useful services for elderly and people with disabilities Berlin: Springer, 2011:168–75.Tao, C., Jiang, G., Oniki, T. A., Freimuth, R. R., Zhu, Q., Sharma, D., … Chute, C. G. (2012). A semantic-web oriented representation of the clinical element model for secondary use of electronic health records data. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(3), 554-562. doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2012-001326Heymans, S., McKennirey, M., & Phillips, J. (2011). Semantic validation of the use of SNOMED CT in HL7 clinical documents. Journal of Biomedical Semantics, 2(1), 2. doi:10.1186/2041-1480-2-2Menárguez-Tortosa, M., & Fernández-Breis, J. T. (2013). OWL-based reasoning methods for validating archetypes. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 46(2), 304-317. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2012.11.009Lezcano, L., Sicilia, M.-A., & Rodríguez-Solano, C. (2011). Integrating reasoning and clinical archetypes using OWL ontologies and SWRL rules. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 44(2), 343-353. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2010.11.005Tao C Wongsuphasawat K Clark K . Towards event sequence representation, reasoning and visualization for EHR data. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGHIT International Health Informatics Symposium (IHI'12). New York, NY, USA: ACM:801–6.Bodenreider O . Biomedical ontologies in action: role in knowledge management, data integration and decision support. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2008;67–79.Beale T . Archetypes. Constraint-based domain models for future-proof information systems. http://www.openehr.org/files/publications/archetypes/archetypes_beale_web_2000.pdfSNOMED-CT. http://www.ihtsdo.org/snomed-ct/ (accessed Jun 2013).UMLS Terminology Services. https://uts.nlm.nih.gov/home.html (accessed Jun 2013).The openEHR Foundation, openEHR Clinical Knowledge Manager. http://www.openehr.org/knowledge/ (accessed Jun 2013).Maldonado, J. A., Moner, D., Boscá, D., Fernández-Breis, J. T., Angulo, C., & Robles, M. (2009). LinkEHR-Ed: A multi-reference model archetype editor based on formal semantics. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 78(8), 559-570. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2009.03.006SAXON XSLT and XQuery processor. http://saxon.sourceforge.net/ (accessed Jun 2013).NCBO Bioportal. http://bioportal.bioontology.org/ (accessed Jun 2013).The Protégé Ontology Editor and Knowledge Acquisition System. http://protege.stanford.edu/ (accessed Jun 2013).Semantic Web Integration Tool. http://sele.inf.um.es/swit (accessed Jun 2013).Hermit Reasoner. http://www.hermit-reasoner.com/ (accessed Jun 2013).The OWLAPI. http://owlapi.sourceforge.net/ (accessed Jun 2013).Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global Burden of Disease. http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd (accessed Jun 2013).Segnan N Patnick J von Karsa L . European guidelines for quality assurance in colorectal cancer screening and diagnosis 2010. First Edition. European Union. ISBN 978-92-79-16435-4.W3C. XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language. http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/ (accessed Jun 2013).DL Query. http://protegewiki.stanford.edu/wiki/DL_Query (accessed Jun 2013).SPARQL Query Language for RDF. http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-query/ (accessed Jun 2013).Semantic Web Rule Language. http://www.w3.org/Submission/SWRL/ (accessed Jun 2013).Marcos, M., Maldonado, J. A., Martínez-Salvador, B., Boscá, D., & Robles, M. (2013). Interoperability of clinical decision-support systems and electronic health records using archetypes: A case study in clinical trial eligibility. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 46(4), 676-689. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2013.05.004Marcos, M., Maldonado, J. A., Martínez-Salvador, B., Moner, D., Boscá, D., & Robles, M. (2011). An Archetype-Based Solution for the Interoperability of Computerised Guidelines and Electronic Health Records. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 276-285. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-22218-4_35MobiGuide: Guiding patients anytime everywhere. http://www.mobiguide-project.eu/ (accessed Jun 2013).EURECA: Enabling information re-Use by linking clinical RE search and Care. http://eurecaproject.eu/ (accessed Jun 2013).Rea, S., Pathak, J., Savova, G., Oniki, T. A., Westberg, L., Beebe, C. E., … Chute, C. G. (2012). Building a robust, scalable and standards-driven infrastructure for secondary use of EHR data: The SHARPn project. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 45(4), 763-771. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2012.01.009Clinical Element Models. http://informatics.mayo.edu/sharp/index.php/CEMS (accessed Jun 2013)

Lung, Breast and Colorectal Cancer Incidence by Socioeconomic Status in Spain: A Population-Based Multilevel Study

Socioeconomic inequalities in cancer incidence are not well documented in southern Europe. We aim to study the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and colorectal, lung, and breast cancer incidence in Spain. We conducted a multilevel study using data from Spanish populationbased cancer registries, including incident cases diagnosed for the period 2010–2013 in nine Spanish provinces. We used Poisson mixed-effects models, including the census tract as a random intercept, to derive cancer incidence rate ratios by SES, adjusted for age and calendar year. Male adults with the lowest SES, compared to those with the highest SES, showed weak evidence of being at increased risk of lung cancer (risk ratio (RR): 1.18, 95% CI: 0.94–1.46) but showed moderate evidence of being at reduced risk of colorectal cancer (RR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.74–0.97). Female adults with the lowest SES, compared to those with the highest SES, showed strong evidence of lower breast cancer incidence with 24% decreased risk (RR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.68–0.85). Among females, we did not find evidence of an association between SES and lung or colorectal cancer. The associations found between SES and cancer incidence in Spain are consistent with those obtained in other European countries.Spanish National Health Institute Carlos III Miguel Servet-I Investigator grant/award, grant number CP17/00206-EU-FEDERInstituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII): PI18/01593 and CP17/00206-EU/FEDERAsociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC): PROYE20023SÁNCCancer Epidemiological Surveillance Subprogram (VICA) from the CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Pública (CIBERESP) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos IIILa Caixa Foundatio

Light-induced strain and its correlation with the optical absorption at charged domain walls in polycrystalline ferroelectrics

Photostrictive materials have a growing interest because of their great potential as light-driven actuators, among other optomechanical applications. In this context, the optical control of macroscopic strain in ferroelectrics has recently attracted remarkable attention as an effective alternative to the conventional electric control of strain. Here, a clear correlation between optical absorption and light-induced strain in polycrystalline BaTiO3 is shown. Specifically, the grain size and the sample thickness dependence of optical absorption when the material is irradiated with energy photons lower than the band gap evidence that light absorption at charged domain walls is the core of the observed photo-response in ferroelectrics. The photoinduced electronic reconstruction phenomenon is proposed as the primary physical mechanism for light absorption at charged domain walls. Results open a new pathway to designing ferroelectric-based devices with new functionalities like thickness gradient-based photo-controlled nanoactuators.Postprint (published version