Predicting prostate cancer treatment choices: The role of numeracy, time discounting, and risk attitudes

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among males in the United States and there is lack of consensus as to whether active surveillance (AS) or radical prostatectomy (RP) is the best course of treatment. In this study we examined the role of three overlooked determinants of decision making about prostate cancer treatment in a hypothetical experiment—numeracy, time discounting, and risk taking in 279 men over age 50 without a prior prostate cancer diagnosis. Results showed that AS was the most frequently chosen option. Furthermore, numeracy and time discounting significantly predicted participants’ preference for AS, whereas a propensity to take risks was associated with a preference for RP. Such insights into the factors that affects cancer treatment preferences may improve tailored decision aids and help physicians be better poised to engage in shared decision-making to improve both patient-reported and clinical outcomes

Archaeological microgravimetric prospection inside don church (Valencia, Spain)

The microgravimetric surveying technique is applicable to the detection of shallow subsurface structures if a lateral density contrast is presented, and thus, it is a valid technique for archaeological prospection. In this paper, this technique has been revealed to be an efficient tool for archaeological studies, such as those performed inside Don Church (18th century), located in the urban area of Alfafar town, Valencia (Spain), where a buried crypt, suggested by different boreholes drilled during the second restoration process in 1993, is expected. Details of the site’s characteristics, topographic survey procedures, microgravimetric field operations, data collection and gravity reduction operations (where the inner building effect of walls, pillars and the altar is confirmed as one of the most important) are also presented. Finally, the results confirm the buried crypt.Padin Devesa, J.; Martín Furones, ÁE.; Anquela Julián, AB. (2012). Archaeological microgravimetric prospection inside don church (Valencia, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science. 39(2):547-554. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.10.012S54755439

Docencia e investigación en el uso del poli-éter-éter-cetona (PEEK) para la confección de implantes dentales a través de la impresión 3D

Introducción: En la actualidad y con el avance de la implantología, donde la oseointegración de un implante dental está condicionada a la topografía superficial, al recubrimiento y al tipo de material del implante. Se está dando importancia, aunque son varios los materiales utilizados para la fabricación de implantes dentales, al empleo preferentemente del poli-éter-éter-cetona (PEEK), ya que es un biomaterial que presenta excelentes propiedades físicas, mecánicas y estéticas y puede ser confeccionado a través de tecnología 3D. Esta técnica permite lograr incrementar la rugosidad de la superficie, por ende, la porosidad del mismo lo que proporciona mejorar su adaptación al tejido óseo. Objetivo: Difundir a los alumnos del último año de la carrera de odontología, las características superficiales del nuevo material para implantología oral poli-éter-éter-cetona, obtenidas mediante el uso del sistema 3D. Incentivar las propias capacidades mediante estrategias didácticas desde la virtualidad y motivar a la participación en investigación.Facultad de Odontologí

Planck early results. V. The low frequency instrument data processing

We describe the processing of data from the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) used in production of the Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue (ERCSC). In particular, we discuss the steps involved in reducing the data from telemetry packets to cleaned, calibrated, time-ordered data (TOD) and frequency maps. Data are continuously calibrated using the modulation of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation induced by the motion of the spacecraft. Noise properties are estimated from TOD from which the sky signal has been removed using a generalized least square map-making algorithm. Measured 1/f noise knee-frequencies range from ~100 mHz at 30 GHz to a few tens of mHz at 70GHz. A destriping code (Madam) is employed to combine radiometric data and pointing information into sky maps, minimizing the variance of correlated noise. Noise covariance matrices required to compute statistical uncertainties on LFI and Planck products are also produced. Main beams are estimated down to the ??10dB level using Jupiter transits, which are also used for geometrical calibration of the focal plane.Planck is too large a project to allow full acknowledgement of all contributions by individuals, institutions, industries, and funding agencies. The main entities involved in the mission operations are as follows. The European Space Agency operates the satellite via its Mission Operations Centre located at ESOC (Darmstadt, Germany) and coordinates scientific operations via the Planck Science Office located at ESAC (Madrid, Spain). Two Consortia, comprising around 50 scientific institutes within Europe, the USA, and Canada, and funded by agencies from the participating countries, developed the scientific instruments LFI and HFI, and continue to operate them via Instrument Operations Teams located in Trieste (Italy) and Orsay (France). The Consortia are also responsible for scientific processing of the acquired data. The Consortia are led by the Principal Investigators: J.L. Puget in France for HFI (funded principally by CNES and CNRS/INSU-IN2P3) and N. Mandolesi in Italy for LFI(funded principally via ASI). NASA US Planck Project, based at J.P.L. and involving scientists at many US institutions, contributes significantly to the efforts of these two Consortia. The author list for this paper has been selected by the Planck Science Team, and is composed of individuals from all of the above entities who have made multi-year contributions to the development of the mission. It does not pretend to be inclusive of all contributions. The Planck-LFI project is developed by an International Consortium lead by Italy and involving Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA. The Italian contribution to Planck is supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and INAF. This work was supported by the Academy of Finland grants 121703 and 121962. We thank the DEISA Consortium (http://www.deisa.eu), co-funded through the EU FP6 project RI-031513 and the FP7 project RI-222919, for support within the DEISA Virtual Community Support Initiative. We thank CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd (Finland) for computational resources. We acknowledge financial support provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaciõn through the Plan Nacional del Espacio y Plan Nacional de Astronomia y Astrofisica. We acknowledge The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics Planck Analysis Centre (MPAC) is funded by the Space Agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) under grant 50OP0901 with resources of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, and by the Max Planck Society. This work has made use of the Planck satellite simulation package (Level-S), which is assembled by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics Planck Analysis Centre (MPAC) Reinecke et al. (2006). We acknowledge financial support provided by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Some of the results in this paper have been derived using the HEALPix package Górski et al. (2005). A description of the Planck Collaboration and a list of its members, indicating which technical or scientific activities they have been involved in, can be found at http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=PLANCK&page=Planck_Collaboration

Genomic Characterization of Host Factors Related to SARS-CoV-2 Infection in People with Dementia and Control Populations: The GR@ACE/DEGESCO Study

Emerging studies have suggested several chromosomal regions as potential host genetic factors involved in the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease outcome. We nested a COVID-19 genome-wide association study using the GR@ACE/DEGESCO study, searching for susceptibility factors associated with COVID-19 disease. To this end, we compared 221 COVID-19 confirmed cases with 17,035 individuals in whom the COVID-19 disease status was unknown. Then, we performed a meta-analysis with the publicly available data from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. Because the APOE locus has been suggested as a potential modifier of COVID-19 disease, we added sensitivity analyses stratifying by dementia status or by disease severity. We confirmed the existence of the 3p21.31 region (LZTFL1, SLC6A20) implicated in the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and TYK2 gene might be involved in COVID-19 severity. Nevertheless, no statistically significant association was observed in the COVID-19 fatal outcome or in the stratified analyses (dementia-only and non-dementia strata) for the APOE locus not supporting its involvement in SARS-CoV-2 pathobiology or COVID-19 prognosis

Surface treatment in PEEK implants

En el siguiente trabajo se propuso la realización de dos procedimientos para los implantes PEEK a nivel superficial, Microarenado y Sulfonación. El objetivo es lograr una superficie rugosa con dos alternativas de tratamiento sobre el material establecido y medición de sus resultados. Se utilizó para el método mecánico una micro arengadora neumática detallando una presión constante de 2 bar con 3 (tres) diferentes granulometrías de óxido de aluminio sobre 14 probetas caracterizadas. Se toma en cuenta la distancia preestablecida de la presión y tiempo de exposición. En el método químico se estableció un protocolo de inmersión se logró cambiar la estructura molecular del PEEK mediante el uso de ácido sulfúrico e inactivado con potasio carbonado. Los resultados arrojan medidas muy satisfactorias debido al cambio notable en la formación de poros con el microarenado y en cuanto a los mecanismos de inmersión sugieren que PEEK con superficie tratada y sin toxicidad observable es un material que tienen gran potencial clínico. Pruebas posteriores in vitro son necesarios para evaluar el mecanismo bioactivo del proceso de tratamiento superficial descrito en estos estudios.In the following work, it was proposed to carry out two procedures for PEEK implants at the superficial level, Micro-sandblasting and Sulfonation. The objective is to achieve a rough surface with two treatment alternatives on the established material and measurement of its results. A pneumatic micro sandblasting machine was used for the mechanical method detailing a constant pressure of 2 bar with 3 (three) different granulometries of aluminum oxide on 14 characterized test tubes. The preset pressure distance and exposure time are taken into account. In the chemical method, an immersion protocol was established, it was possible to change the molecular structure of PEEK through the use of sulfuric acid and inactivated with carbonated potassium. The results show very satisfactory measurements due to the notable change in the formation of pores with micro-sandblasting and in terms of immersion mechanisms, they suggest that PEEK with a treated surface and no observable toxicity is a material that has great clinical potential. Subsequent in vitro tests are necessary to evaluate the bioactive mechanism of the surface treatment process described in these studies.Facultad de Odontologí

A flowgraph model for bladder carcinoma

Background: Superficial bladder cancer has been the subject of numerous studies for many years, but the evolution of the disease still remains not well understood. After the tumor has been surgically removed, it may reappear at a similar level of malignancy or progress to a higher level. The process may be reasonably modeled by means of a Markov process. However, in order to more completely model the evolution of the disease, this approach is insufficient. The semi-Markov framework allows a more realistic approach, but calculations become frequently intractable. In this context, flowgraph models provide an efficient approach to successfully manage the evolution of superficial bladder carcinoma. Our aim is to test this methodology in this particular case. Results: We have built a successful model for a simple but representative case. Conclusion: The flowgraph approach is suitable for modeling of superficial bladder cancer.Rubio Navarro, G.; García Mora, MB.; Santamaria Navarro, C.; Pontones Moreno, JL. (2014). A flowgraph model for bladder carcinoma. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling. 11(1):1-11. doi:10.1186/1742-4682-11-S1-S3S111111van Rhijn BW, Burger M, Lotan Y, Solsona E, Stief CG, Sylvester RJ, Witjes JA, Zlotta AR: Recurrence and progression of disease in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: from epidemiology to treatment strategy. Eur Urol. 2009, 56: 430-42. 10.1016/j.eururo.2009.06.028.Sylvester RJ, van der Meijden AP, Oosterlinck W, Witjes JA, Bouffioux C, Denis L, Newling DW, Kurth K: Predicting recurrence and progression in individual patients with stage Ta T1 bladder cancer using EORTC risk tables: a combined analysis of 2596 patients from seven EORTC trials. Eur Urol. 2006, 49: 475-7.Fernández-Gómez J, Madero R, Solsona E, Unda M, neiro LMP, González M, Portillo J, Ojea A, Pertusa C, Rodríguez-Molina J, Camacho J, Rabadan M, Astobieta A, Montesinos M, Isorna S, nola PM, Gimeno A, Blas M, neiro JAMP: The EORTC Tables Overestimate the Risk of Recurrence and Progression in Patients with Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Treated with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin: External Validation of the EORTC Risk Tables. Eur Urol. 2011, 60: 423-30. 10.1016/j.eururo.2011.05.033.Butler RW, Huzurbazar AV: Stochastic network models for survival analysis. J Am Statist Assoc. 1997, 92: 246-57. 10.1080/01621459.1997.10473622.Klein JP, Moeschberger ML: Suvival Analysis Techniques for Censored and Truncated Data. 2003, Springer, segundaNeuts MF: Matrix Geometric Solutions in Stocastic Models An Algoritmic Approach. 1981, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University PressLatouche G, Ramaswami V: Introduction to Matrix Analytic Methods in Stochastic Modeling. 1999, Philadelphia: SIAMPérez-Ocón R, Segovia MC: Modeling lifetimes using phase-type distributions. Risk, Reliability and Societal Safety, Proceedings of the European Safety and Reliability Conference 2007 (ESREL 2007). Edited by: Taylor & Francis re. 2007Huzurbazar A, Williams B: Incorporating Covariates in Flowgraph Models: Applications to Recurrent Event Data. Thecnometrics. 2010, 52: 198-208. 10.1198/TECH.2010.08044.Collins DH, Huzurbazar AV: System reliability and safety assessment using non-parametric flowgraph models. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part O: Journal of Risk and Reliability December 1, 2008 vol 222 no 4. 2008, 667-664.Huzurbazar A: Multistate Models, Flowgraph Models, and Semi-Markov Processes. Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods. 2004, 33: 457-474. 10.1081/STA-120028678.Huzurbazar A: Flowgraph Models for Multistate Time-To-Event Data. 2005, New York: WileyMullen KM, van Stokkum IHM: nnls: The Lawson-Hanson algorithm for non-negative least squares (NNLS). 2012, [R package version 1.4], http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nnlsAbate J, Whitt W: The Fourier-Series Method For Inverting Transforms Of Probability Distributions. Queueing Syst. 1992, 5-88.Collins DH, Huzurbazar AV: Prognostic models based on statistical flowgraphs. 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VIII Encuentro de Docentes e Investigadores en Historia del Diseño, la Arquitectura y la Ciudad

Acta de congresoLa conmemoración de los cien años de la Reforma Universitaria de 1918 se presentó como una ocasión propicia para debatir el rol de la historia, la teoría y la crítica en la formación y en la práctica profesional de diseñadores, arquitectos y urbanistas. En ese marco el VIII Encuentro de Docentes e Investigadores en Historia del Diseño, la Arquitectura y la Ciudad constituyó un espacio de intercambio y reflexión cuya realización ha sido posible gracias a la colaboración entre Facultades de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño de la Universidad Nacional y la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Católica de Córdoba, contando además con la activa participación de mayoría de las Facultades, Centros e Institutos de Historia de la Arquitectura del país y la región. Orientado en su convocatoria tanto a docentes como a estudiantes de Arquitectura y Diseño Industrial de todos los niveles de la FAUD-UNC promovió el debate de ideas a partir de experiencias concretas en instancias tales como mesas temáticas de carácter interdisciplinario, que adoptaron la modalidad de presentación de ponencias, entre otras actividades. En el ámbito de VIII Encuentro, desarrollado en la sede Ciudad Universitaria de Córdoba, se desplegaron numerosas posiciones sobre la enseñanza, la investigación y la formación en historia, teoría y crítica del diseño, la arquitectura y la ciudad; sumándose el aporte realizado a través de sus respectivas conferencias de Ana Clarisa Agüero, Bibiana Cicutti, Fernando Aliata y Alberto Petrina. El conjunto de ponencias que se publican en este Repositorio de la UNC son el resultado de dos intensas jornadas de exposiciones, cuyos contenidos han posibilitado actualizar viejos dilemas y promover nuevos debates. El evento recibió el apoyo de las autoridades de la FAUD-UNC, en especial de la Secretaría de Investigación y de la Biblioteca de nuestra casa, como así también de la Facultad de Arquitectura de la UCC; va para todos ellos un especial agradecimiento

Miradas exploratorias sobre modelos de enseñanza y elaboración de discursos críticos: Un análisis sobre el regionalismo crítico desde una experiencia de cátedra

En el marco de la enseñanza de la arquitectura, el alumno trabaja sobre un proceso de diseño cuyo significado desconoce, y sólo puede hacerlo a medida que comienza a comprenderlo por sí mismo (Schön, 1992). Un acercamiento hacia los modos de proyectar, permitirían generar en el alumno habilidades intelectuales que puedan ser transferidas a su práctica profesional. En el campo de la historia de la arquitectura, ese acercamiento es posible mediante la capacitación de los estudiantes en metodologías de análisis y elaboración de discursos críticos; así como en las técnicas historiográficas entendidas como elementos indispensables en su proceso de formación. El presente trabajo analizará, desde el campo de la didáctica, aquellas herramientas que favorecen los procesos comprensivos desde un aprendizaje significativo . Para dicho análisis, se tomará la experiencia de un trabajo práctico realizado por un grupo de alumnos avanzados de la carrera de Arquitectura , quienes - desde la propia discusión surgida en el seno del grupo sobre un texto de análisis propuesto por la cátedra - plantearon diversas vías de análisis teóricas y exploratorias.On the architechture teaching picture, the student works on a design process which meaning is unknown to him, and can only manage to do it as he begins to comprehend it by himself (Schon, 1992). A closer view into different ways of planning, would allow the student to develop an intellect useful to his professional work. In the architechtural history field, this approach is possible through the qualification of the student's analysis systems and creating critic speeches; as in historiographic techniques recognized as key elements in their training process. The following assignment will analyze, from the teaching field, those tools that will work towards comprehensive processes from a substantial learning . For it, we will study the experience of a paper done by advanced students from the Architechture career , who - from their own argument about a reading given by us - presented different theoretycal and exploratory analyses.Fill: Fernando, Martínez Nespral, FADU-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentin