Pallantia : vulgo (Valencia la vieja) : su historia, su rio Turia y el Palancia, sus acueductos o canales de riego y abastecimiento de aguas de algunas poblaciones y entre ellas nuestra ciudad de Valencia

Obra premiada en los Juegos Florales celebrados por "Lo Rat Penat" en 189

Parent proxy-report of their children's health-related quality of life: an analysis of 13,878 parents' reliability and validity across age subgroups using the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales

BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measurement has emerged as an important health outcome in clinical trials, clinical practice improvement strategies, and healthcare services research and evaluation. While pediatric patient self-report should be considered the standard for measuring perceived HRQOL, there are circumstances when children are too young, too cognitively impaired, too ill or fatigued to complete a HRQOL instrument, and reliable and valid parent proxy-report instruments are needed in such cases. Further, it is typically parents' perceptions of their children's HRQOL that influences healthcare utilization. Data from the PedsQL™ Database(SM )were utilized to test the reliability and validity of parent proxy-report at the individual age subgroup level for ages 2–16 years as recommended by recent FDA guidelines. METHODS: The sample analyzed represents parent proxy-report age data on 13,878 children ages 2 to 16 years from the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales Database(SM). Parents were recruited from general pediatric clinics, subspecialty clinics, and hospitals in which their children were being seen for well-child checks, mild acute illness, or chronic illness care (n = 3,718, 26.8%), and from a State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in California (n = 10,160, 73.2%). RESULTS: The percentage of missing item responses for the parent proxy-report sample as a whole was 2.1%, supporting feasibility. The majority of the parent proxy-report scales across the age subgroups exceeded the minimum internal consistency reliability standard of 0.70 required for group comparisons, while the Total Scale Scores across the age subgroups approached or exceeded the reliability criterion of 0.90 recommended for analyzing individual patient scale scores. Construct validity was demonstrated utilizing the known groups approach. For each PedsQL™ scale and summary score, across age subgroups, healthy children demonstrated a statistically significant difference in HRQOL (better HRQOL) than children with a known chronic health condition, with most effect sizes in the medium to large effect size range. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of parent proxy-report at the individual age subgroup for ages 2–16 years. These analyses are consistent with recent FDA guidelines which require instrument development and validation testing for children and adolescents within fairly narrow age groupings and which determine the lower age limit at which reliable and valid responses across age categories are achievable. Even as pediatric patient self-report is advocated, there remains a fundamental role for parent proxy-report in pediatric clinical trials and health services research

Genome wide SNP comparative analysis between EGFR and KRAS mutated NSCLC and characterization of two models of oncogenic cooperation in non-small cell lung carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lung cancer with EGFR mutation was shown to be a specific clinical entity. In order to better understand the biology behind this disease we used a genome wide characterization of loss of heterozygosity and amplification by Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Array analysis to point out chromosome segments linked to <it>EGFR </it>mutations. To do so, we compared genetic profiles between <it>EGFR </it>mutated adenocarcinomas (ADC) and <it>KRAS </it>mutated ADC from 24 women with localized lung cancer.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patterns of alterations were different between <it>EGFR </it>and <it>KRAS </it>mutated tumors and specific chromosomes alterations were linked to the <it>EGFR </it>mutated group. Indeed chromosome regions 14q21.3 (p = 0.027), 7p21.3-p21.2 (p = 0.032), 7p21.3 (p = 0.042) and 7p21.2-7p15.3 (p = 0.043) were found significantly amplified in EGFR mutated tumors. Within those regions 3 genes are of special interest <it>ITGB8</it>, <it>HDAC9 </it>and <it>TWIST1</it>. Moreover, homozygous deletions at <it>CDKN2A </it>and LOH at <it>RB1 </it>were identified in <it>EGFR </it>mutated tumors. We therefore tested the existence of a link between EGFR mutation, CDKN2A homozygous deletion and cyclin amplification in a larger series of tumors. Indeed, in a series of non-small-cell lung carcinoma (n = 98) we showed that homozygous deletions at <it>CDKN2A </it>were linked to <it>EGFR </it>mutations and absence of smoking whereas cyclin amplifications (<it>CCNE1 </it>and <it>CCND1</it>) were associated to <it>TP53 </it>mutations and smoking habit.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>All together, our results show that genome wide patterns of alteration differ between <it>EGFR </it>and <it>KRAS </it>mutated lung ADC, describe two models of oncogenic cooperation involving either <it>EGFR </it>mutation and <it>CDKN2A </it>deletion or cyclin amplification and <it>TP53 </it>inactivating mutations and identified new chromosome regions at 7p and 14q associated to EGFR mutations in lung cancer.</p

The striking geographical pattern of gastric cancer mortality in Spain: environmental hypotheses revisited

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastric cancer is decreasing in most countries. While socioeconomic development is the main factor to which this decline has been attributed, enormous differences among countries and within regions are still observed, with the main contributing factors remaining elusive. This study describes the geographic distribution of gastric cancer mortality at a municipal level in Spain, from 1994-2003.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Smoothed relative risks of stomach cancer mortality were obtained, using the Besag-York-Molliè autoregressive spatial model. Maps depicting relative risk (RR) estimates and posterior probabilities of RR being greater than 1 were plotted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From 1994-2003, 62184 gastric cancer deaths were registered in Spain (7 percent of all deaths due to malignant tumors). The geographic pattern was similar for both sexes. RRs displayed a south-north and coast-inland gradient, with lower risks being observed in Andalusia, the Mediterranean coastline, the Balearic and Canary Islands and the Cantabrian seaboard. The highest risk was concentrated along the west coast of Galicia, broad areas of the Castile & Leon Autonomous community, the province of Cáceres in Extremadura, Lleida and other areas of Catalonia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Spain, risk of gastric cancer mortality displays a striking geographic distribution. With some differences, this persistent and unique pattern is similar across the sexes, suggesting the implication of environmental exposures from sources, such as diet or ground water, which could affect both sexes and delimited geographic areas. Also, the higher sex-ratios found in some areas with high risk of smoking-related cancer mortality in males support the role of tobacco in gastric cancer etiology.</p

Enhancement of Water Transport and Microstructural Changes Induced by High-Intesity Ultrasound Application on Orange Peel Drying

The main aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of high-intensity ultrasound (US) on the drying kinetics of orange peel as well as its influence on the microstructural changes induced during drying. Convective drying kinetics of orange peel slabs were carried out at a relative humidity of 26.5±0.9%, 40 °C and 1 m/s with (AIR+US) and without (AIR) ultrasound application. In order to identify the US effect on water transport, drying kinetics were analyzed by taking the diffusion theory into account. Fresh, AIR and AIR+US dried samples were analyzed using Cryo-Scanning Electron Microscopy. Results showed that the drying kinetics of orange peel were significantly improved by US application, which involved a significant (p<0.05) improvement of mass transfer coefficient and effective moisture diffusivity. The effects on mass transfer properties were confirmed with microstructural observations. In the cuticle surface of flavedo, the pores were obstructed by the spread of the waxy components, this fact evidencing US effects on the air solid interfaces. Furthermore, the cells of the albedo were disrupted by US, as it created large intercellular air spaces facilitating water transfer through the tissue.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of MICINN and CEE (European Regional Development Fund) from projects Ref. DPI2009-14549-C04-04, PSE-060000-2009-003, and FP6-2004-FOOD-23140 HIGHQ RTE.García Pérez, JV.; Ortuño Cases, C.; Puig Gómez, CA.; Cárcel Carrión, JA.; Pérez Munuera, IM. (2012). Enhancement of Water Transport and Microstructural Changes Induced by High-Intesity Ultrasound Application on Orange Peel Drying. Food and Bioprocess Technology. 5(6):2256-2265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-011-0645-0S2256226556Alandes, L., Perez-Munuera, I., Llorca, E., Quiles, A., & Hernando, I. (2009). Use of calcium lactate to improve structure of “Flor de Invierno” fresh-cut pears. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 53(3), 145–151.Anagnostopoulou, M. A., Kefalas, P., Papageorgiou, V. P., Assimopoulou, A. N., & Boskou, D. (2006). Radical scavenging activity of various extracts and fractions of sweet orange peel (Citrus sinensis). Food Chemistry, 94(1), 19–25.AOAC. (1997). Official methods of analysis. Arlington: Association of Official Analytical Chemist.Arslan, D., Özcan, M. M. (2011). Evaluation of drying methods with respect to drying kinetics, mineral content, and color characteristics of savory leaves. Food and Bioprocess Technology. doi: 10.1007/s11947-010-0498-y , in press.Cárcel, J. A., Garcia-Perez, J. V., Riera, E., & Mulet, A. (2007). Influence of high intensity ultrasound on drying kinetics of persimmon. Drying Technology, 25(1), 185–193.Chafer, M., Gonzalez-Martinez, C., Chiralt, A., & Fito, P. (2003). Microstructure and vacuum impregnation response of citrus peles. Food Research International, 36(1), 35–41.Chau, C., Sheu, F., Huang, Y., & Su, L. (2005). Improvement in intestinal function and health by the peel fibre derived from Citrus sinensis L cv Liucheng. Journal of the Science of Food & Agriculture, 85(7), 1211–1216.Crank J. (1975). The Mathematics of diffusion. Oxford (2nd ed.), UK: Clarendon Press.Cruz, R. M. S., Vieira, M. C., Fonseca, S. C., Silva, C. L. M. (2010). Impact of thermal blanching and thermosonication treatments on watercress (Nasturtium officinale) quality: thermosonication process optimization and microstructure evaluation. Food and Bioprocess Technology. doi: 10.1007/s11947-009-0220-0 , in press.Delgado, A. E., Zheng, L., & Sun, D.-W. (2010). Influence of ultrasound on freezing rate of immersion-frozen apples. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 2(3), 263–270.FAOSTAT (2010). FAO Statistical Databases. Food and Agriculture of the United Nations. Available at: http://faostat.fao.org/site/291/default.aspx . Accessed 15 January 2010.Fernandes, F. A. N., Gallao, M. I., & Rodrigues, S. (2008a). Effect of osmotic dehydration and ultrasound pre-treatment on cell structure: Melon dehydration. Food Science and Technology, 41(4), 604–610.Fernandes, F. A. N., Oliveira, F. I. P., & Rodrigues, S. (2008b). Use of ultrasound for dehydration of papayas. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 1(4), 339–345.Gabaldon-Leyva, C. A., Quintero-Ramos, A., Barnard, J., Balandrán-Quintana, R., Talamás-Abbud, R., & Jiménez-Castro, J. (2007). Effect of ultrasound on the mass transfer and physical changes in brine bell pepper at different temperatures. Journal of Food Engineering, 81(2), 374–379.Gallego-Juárez, J. A. (1998). Some applications of air-borne power ultrasound to food processing. In M. J. W., Povey, T. J. Mason (Eds.), Ultrasound in Food Processing. UK: London, Chapman & Hall.Gallego-Juárez, J. A., Rodríguez-Corral, G., Gálvez-Moraleda, J. C., & Yang, T. S. (1999). A new high intensity ultrasonic technology for food dehydration. Drying Technology, 17(3), 597–608.Garau, M. C., Simal, S., Femenia, A., & Rosselló, C. (2006). Drying of orange skin: drying kinetics modelling and functional properties. Journal of Food Engineering, 75(2), 288–295.Garau, M. C., Simal, S., Rossello, C., & Femenia, A. (2007). Effect of air-drying temperature on physico-chemical properties of dietary fibre and antioxidant capacity of orange (Citrus aurantium v. Canoneta) by-products. Food Chemistry, 104(3), 1014–1024.Garcia-Perez, J. V., Cárcel, J. A., De la Fuente, S., & Riera, E. (2006). Ultrasonic drying of foodstuff in a fluidized bed. Parametric study. Ultrasonics, 44, 539–543.Garcia-Perez, J. V., Cárcel, J. A., Benedito, J., & Mulet, A. (2007). Power ultrasound mass transfer enhancement in food drying. Food and Bioproducts Proccessing, 85(3), 247–254.Guiné, R. P. F., Henrriques, F., Barroca, M. J. (2010). Mass transfer coefficients for the drying of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and dried product quality. Food and Bioprocess Technology. doi: 10.1007/s11947-009-0275 , in press.Khalloufi, S., Almeida-Rivera, C., & Bongers, P. (2009). A theoretical model and its experimental validation to predict the porosity as a function of shrinkage and collapse phenomena during drying. Food Research International, 42(8), 1122–1130.Larrauri, J. A., Rupérez, P., Bravo, L., & Saura-Calixto, F. (1996). High dietary fibre powders from orange and lime peels: associated polyphenols and antioxidant capacity. Food Research International, 29(8), 757–762.Mujumdar, A. S., & Law, C. L. (2010). Drying technology: trends and applications in postharvest processing. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 3(6), 843–852.Mulet, A., Blasco, M., García-Reverter, J., & Garcia-Perez, J. V. (2005). Drying kinetics of Curcuma longa rhizomes. Journal of Food Science, 7(5), 318–323.Oliveira, F. I. P., Gallao, M. I., Rodrigues, S., Fernandes, F.A.N. (2010). Dehydration of malay apple (Syzygium malaccense L.) using ultrasound as a pretreatment. Food and Bioprocess Technology. doi: 10.1007/s11947-010-0351-3 , in press.Ortuño, C., Perez-Munuera, I., Puig, A., Riera, E., & Garcia-Perez, J.V. (2010). Influence of power ultrasound application on mass transport and microstructure of orange peel during hot air drying. Physics Procedia, 3, 153–159.Perry, R. H. & Chilton, C. H. (1973). Chemical Engineers’ Handbook. McGraw Hill (5th ed.), New York, US.Ruiz-López, I. I., Castillo-Zamudio, R. I., Salgado-Cervantes, M. A., Rodríguez-Jimenes, G. C., & García-Alvarado, M. A. (2010). Mass transfer modelling during osmotic dehydration of hexahedral pineapple slices in limited volume solutions. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 3(3), 427–433.Salvador, A., Salvador, L., Besada, C., Larrea, V., Hernando, I., & Perez-Munuera, I. (2008). Reduced effectiveness of the treatment for removing astringency in persimmon fruit when stored at 15 °C: Physiological and microstructural study. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 49(3), 340–347.Sanchez, E. S., Simal, S., Femenía, A., Benedito, J., & Roselló, C. (2001). Effect of acoustic brining on lipolysis and on sensory characteristics of Mahon cheese. Journal of Food Science, 66(6), 892–896.Sanchez, E. S., Simal, S., Femenía, A., Llul, P., & Roselló, C. (2001). Proteolysis of Mahon cheese as affected by acoustic-assited brining. European Food Research and Technology, 212(2), 147–152.Sharma, A., & Gupta, M. N. (2006). Ultrasonic pre-irradiation effect upon aqueous enzymatic oil extraction from almond and apricot seeds. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 13(6), 529–534.Simal, S., Rosello, C., & Mulet, A. (1998). Modelling of air drying in regular shaped bodies. Trends in Chemical Engineering, 4(4), 171–180.Simal, S., Femenia, A., & Garcia-Pascual, P. (2003). Simulation of the drying curves of a meat-based product: effect of the external resistance to mass transfer. Journal of Food Engineering, 58(2), 193–199.Singh, R. P., & Heldman, D. R. (2001). Introduction to Food Engineering. Academic Press (3rd ed.): San Diego.Toma, M., Vinatoru, M., Paniwnyk, L., & Mason, T. J. (2001). Investigation of the effects of ultrasound on vegetal tissues during solvent extraction. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 8(2), 137–142

Reliability and validity of PedsQL for Portuguese children aged 5–7 and 8–12 years

BACKGROUND: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) is a measure to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents. It is formed by 23 items adapted to children age and includes a parent proxy report version. With four multidimensional subscales and three summary scores, it measures health as defined by WHO. The concepts measured by this instrument are ‘physical functioning’ (8 items), ‘emotional functioning’ (5 items), ‘social functioning’ (5 items) and ‘school functioning’ (5 items). It also measures a ‘total scale score’ (23 items), a ‘physical health summary score’ (8 items) and a ‘psychosocial health summary score’ (15 items). The aim of this paper is to present the main results of the cultural adaptation and validation of the PedsQL into European Portuguese. METHODS: The Portuguese version was the result of a forward-backward translation process, with a cognitive debriefing analysis, guaranteeing face validity and semantic equivalence. Children aged 5–7 and 8–12 were randomly selected and were asked to fill a socio-demographic data survey and the Portuguese versions of PedsQL and KINDL, another HRQoL measure for children and adolescents. They were divided into three groups, healthy children, children with type I diabetes and children with spina bifida. The reliability was tested for reproducibility (ICC) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). The construct validity (known-groups discriminant validity) was supported by differences between self-reports from healthy children and children with chronic conditions, and from children with chronic diseases and their parents. The criterion validity was tested after the correlations of the scores obtained by both children and adolescents HRQoL assessment instruments. RESULTS: A total of 179 children and 97 parents were recruited. PedsQL demonstrated good levels of reproducibility (r > 0.95 in all versions) and acceptable levels of internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha at 0.70 on most scales. Concordance values between children’s and parents’ perceptions ranged between 0.36 and 0.78 and the correlations with KINDL questionnaire were excellent, supporting concurrent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The Portuguese version of the PedsQL demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties for future research and clinical practice for children aged 5–12

Search for CP violation in D+→ϕπ+ and D+s→K0Sπ+ decays

A search for CP violation in D + → ϕπ + decays is performed using data collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV. The CP -violating asymmetry is measured to be (−0.04 ± 0.14 ± 0.14)% for candidates with K − K + mass within 20 MeV/c 2 of the ϕ meson mass. A search for a CP -violating asymmetry that varies across the ϕ mass region of the D + → K − K + π + Dalitz plot is also performed, and no evidence for CP violation is found. In addition, the CP asymmetry in the D+s→K0Sπ+ decay is measured to be (0.61 ± 0.83 ± 0.14)%

Genome-Wide Profiling of MicroRNAs in Adipose Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation and Mouse Models of Obesity

In recent years, there has been accumulating evidence that microRNAs are key regulator molecules of gene expression. The cellular processes that are regulated by microRNAs include e.g. cell proliferation, programmed cell death and cell differentiation. Adipocyte differentiation is a highly regulated cellular process for which several important regulating factors have been discovered, but still not all are known to fully understand the underlying mechanisms. In the present study, we analyzed the expression of 597 microRNAs during the differentiation of mouse mesenchymal stem cells into terminally differentiated adipocytes by real-time RT-PCR. In total, 66 miRNAs were differentially expressed in mesenchymal stem cell-derived adipocytes compared to the undifferentiated progenitor cells. To further study the regulation of these 66 miRNAs in white adipose tissue in vivo and their dependence on PPARγ activity, mouse models of genetically or diet induced obesity as well as a mouse line expressing a dominant negative PPARγ mutant were employed

Distress and quality of life after autologous stem cell transplantation: a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the outcome of a web-based stepped care intervention

Background Psychological distress (i.e. depression and anxiety) is a strong predictor of functional status and other aspects of quality of life in autologous stem cell transplantation following high-dose chemotherapy. Treatment of psychological distress is hypothesized to result in improvement of functional status and other aspects of quality of life. The aim is to evaluate the outcome of stepped care for psychological distress on functional status and other aspects of quality of life in patients with hematological malignancy treated with autologous stem cell transplantation. Methods/Design The study is designed as a randomized clinical trial with 2 treatment arms: a stepped care intervention program versus care as usual. Patients are randomized immediately pre transplant. Stepped care and care as usual are initiated after a 6 weeks buffer period. Outcome is evaluated at 13, 30, and 42 weeks post transplant. In the experimental group, the first step includes an Internet-based self-help program. If psychological distress persists after the self-help intervention, the second step of the program is executed, i.e. a diagnostic evaluation and a standardized interview, yielding a problem analysis. Based on this information, a contract is made with the patient and treatment is provided consisting of individual face-to-face counseling, medication, or referral to other services. Care as usual comprises an interview with the patient, on ad hoc basis; emotional support and advice, on ad hoc basis; if urgent problems emerge, the patient is referred to other services. Primary outcome variables are psychological distress and functional status. Data are analyzed according to the intention to treat-principle. Discussion This study has several innovative characteristics. First, the outcome of the intervention for psychological distress in patients with hematological malignancy treated with autologous stem cell transplantation is evaluated in a randomized controlled study. Second, the impact of the intervention on functional status is evaluated: it is hypothesized that reduction of psychological distress results in improved functional status. Furthermore, the intervention concerns an Internet-based treatment in the first step. Finally, the intervention is characterized by an emphasis on self-management, efficiency, and a multi-disciplinary approach with nurses taking up a central role