Model and neural control of the depth of anesthesia during surgery

At present, the experimentation of anesthetic drugs on patients requires a regulation protocol, and the response of each patient to several doses of entry drug must be well known. Therefore, the development of pharmacological dose control systems is a promising field of research in anesthesiology. In this paper it has been developed a non-linear compartmental pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamical model which describes the anesthesia depth effect on a sufficiently reliable way over a set of patients with the depth effect quantified by the Bi-Spectral Index. Afterwards, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) predictive controller has been designed based on the depth of anesthesia model so as to keep the patient on the optimum condition while he undergoes surgical treatment. For the purpose of quantifying the efficiency of the neural predictive controller, a classical proportional-integral-derivative controller has also been developed to compare both strategies. Results show the superior performance of predictive neural controller during Bi- Spectral Index reference tracking.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Leishmaniosis: estado actual y perspectivas de futuro

Discurso de Ingreso en la Real Academia de Ciencias Veterinarias de Andalucía Oriental como Académico Correspondient

System dynamics modelling in systems biology and applications in pharmacology

El modelado matemático de sistemas biológicos complejos es uno de los temas clave en la Biología de Sistemas y varios métodos computacionales basados ​​en la simulación computarizada han sido aplicados hasta ahora para determinar el comportamiento de los sistemas no lineales. La Dinamica de Sistemas es una metodología de modelado intuitivo basada en el razonamiento cualitativo por el cual un modelo conceptual se puede describir como un conjunto de relaciones de causa y efecto entre las variables de un sistema. A partir de esta estructura, es posible obtener un conjunto de ecuaciones dinámicas que describan cuantitativamente el comportamiento del sistema. Centrándose en los sistemas farmacológicos, el modelado compartimental a menudo se utiliza para resolver un amplio espectro de problemas relacionados con la distribución de materiales en los sistemas vivos en la investigación, el diagnóstico y la terapia en todo el cuerpo, los órganos y los niveles celulares. En este artículo presentamos la metodología de modelado de Dinámica del Sistema y su aplicación al modelado de un modelo compartimental farmacocinético-farmacodinámico del efecto de profundidad anestésica en pacientes sometidos a intervenciones quirúrgicas, derivando un modelo de simulación en el entorno de simulación orientada a objetos OpenModelica. La Dinamica de Sistemas se puede ver como una herramienta educativa poderosa y fácil de usar y en la enseñanza de Biología de Sistemas.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Application of Anodic Stripping Voltammetry to assess sorption performance of an industrial waste entrapped in alginate beads to remove As(V)

AbstractA solid waste material containing Fe(III) and other metal (hydr)oxides produced in a metal surface treatment industry has been investigated for As(V) removal. In order to facilitate sorbent application, 2% of raw material has been entrapped in calcium alginate gel matrix (2% O-CA).An accurate characterization of the sorption on gel beads was undertaken, considering thermodynamic and kinetic aspects. All experiments were carried out at pH 8, since the maximum As(V) sorption was reached between pH 6 and 9. About isotherms, the best fit was obtained considering the Langmuir model and a capacity of 1.9mg/g was achieved. The kinetic profiles evidenced that a quantitative sorption was obtained within 10h. The 2% O-CA beads were also tested for continuous As(V) removal in a fixed bed column. Experiments were performed at constant flow rate, and varying the inlet As(V) concentration. With a view to design an automatic system for As(V) analysis in the outlet flow, the suitability of applying Anodic Stripping Voltammetry was evaluated: the method resulted appropriated to follow the As(V) content in the outlet solutions of columns with metal inlet concentration <1 mg/L.These results suggested that 2% O-CA beads could be a promising sorbent candidate for As(V) removal

Understanding the impact of line-of-sight in the ergodic spectral efficiency of cellular networks

In this paper we investigate the impact of lineof-sight (LoS) condition in the ergodic spectral efficiency of cellular networks. To achieve this goal, we have considered the kappa-mu shadowed model, which is a general model that provides an excellent fit to a wide set of propagation conditions. To overcome the mathematical complexity of the analysis, we have split the analysis between large and small-scale effects. Building on the proposed framework, we study a number of scenarios that range from heavily-fluctuating LoS to deterministic-LoS. Finally, we shed light on the interplay between fading severity and spectral efficiency by means of the amount of fading.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Poliquetos del Seno Aysén, Chile: distribución, abundancia y comparaciones biogeográficas con la fauna de poliquetos de áreas someras de la Antártida y la provincia de Magallanes

This paper analyzes the composition, abundance and biogeographical relationship of the benthic polychaetes collected in three shallow subtidal locations (mouth of Cuervo and Condor rivers and Acantilada Bay) from Aysen Fjord, AF, Chile (45ºS, 73ºW), and provides a comparison with data on shallow soft-bottom polychaetes from Antarctica and other locations of the Magellan Province: Dalcahue Channel, DC (42º22´S, 73º39´W), Puerto Cisnes, Puyuhuapi Channel, PC (44º43´S, 72º42´W) and Magellan Straits, MS. AF polychaete fauna comprises 38 species, the macrobenthic taxon being most representative in terms of abundance and species richness. The importance of polychaetes seems to be higher in fjords than in channels. Low numbers of common species were detected among DC, PC, MS and AF, indicating differences along the influence area of the Cape Horn Current or along the Magellan Province. The polychaetes from AF show low affinities with Antarctica; maximum number of common species was observed with the Antarctic Peninsula, whereas the lowest values were recorded from locations in the Ross and Weddell Seas. Coincidence in some ecological attributes between AF and Antarctica indicate that polychaetes may play an important and similar ecological role in both environments.Se analiza la composición, abundancia y relaciones biogeográficas de poliquetos bentónicos recolectados en tres localidades someras (desembocadura de los ríos Cuervo y Cóndor y Bahía Acantilada) del Seno Aysén, SA, Chile (45ºS, 73ºO), y se efectúa una comparación con los poliquetos de la Antártida y otras localidades de la Provincia de Magallanes: Canal Dalcahue, CD (42º22’S, 73º39’O), Puerto Cisnes, Canal Puyuhuapi, CP (44º43’S, 72º42’O) y Estrecho de Magallanes, EM. La poliquetofauna del SA se compone de 38 especies, siendo el taxón más representativo del macrobentos en términos tanto de abundancia como de riqueza de especies. La importancia de los poliquetos parece mayor en fiordos que en canales. Se detectaron escasas afinidades entre CD, CP, EM y SA, indicando diferencias geográficas del papel de los poliquetos en la Provincia de Magallanes o en el área influenciada por la corriente del Cabo de Hornos. Existen escasas afinidades entre los poliquetos del SA y la Antártida; el mayor número de especies comunes fue compartido con la Península Antártica, mientras que ocurría lo contrario con localidades de los Mares de Ross y Weddell. La similitud de algunos atributos ecológicos entre SA y la Antártida sugieren que los poliquetos juegan un papel ecológico similar en ambos ambientes