Fire performance of innovative steel-concrete composite columns using high strength steels

yesThis paper presents the results of a numerical investigation on strategies for enhancing the fire behaviour of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns by using inner steel profiles such as circular hollow sections (CHS), HEB profiles or embedded steel core profiles. A three-dimensional finite element model is developed for that purpose, which is capable for representing the various types of sections studied and the nonlinear behaviour of the materials at elevated temperatures. High strength steel is considered in the numerical model, as a possible way to lengthen the fire endurance. The numerical model is validated against experimental results available in the literature for various types of steel-concrete composite sections using inner steel profiles, obtaining satisfactory results. Based on the developed numerical model, parametric studies are conducted for investigating the influence of the cross-sectional geometry and the steel grade of the inner profiles on the fire performance of these composite columns, for eventually providing some practical recommendations

A new rapid desensitization protocol for chemotherapy agents

Background: Desensitization has been used for some decades to treat patients with the allergenic drug when an alternative drug with similar effi cacy and safety is not available. We present the results from a series of oncology patients desensitized at our hospital during the last 2 years. Objective: To assess the effi cacy of a new desensitization protocol in patients allergic to chemotherapy drugs. Methods: We performed an observational retrospective study of 11 women (6 breast cancer and 5 ovarian cancer) who underwent our desensitization protocol. Four patients had immediate reactions to carboplatin, 3 to docetaxel, 3 to paclitaxel, and 1 to both docetaxel and paclitaxel. Premedication was administered in all cases. A 5-step protocol based on 5 different dilutions of the drugs was used. Results: We performed 39 desensitization procedures: 14 to carboplatin, 3 to oxaliplatin, 16 to docetaxel, and 6 to paclitaxel. Eight patients tolerated the full dose in 36 procedures. One patient suffered an anaphylactic reaction to carboplatin that reverted with treatment. One patient had dyspnea after a paclitaxel cycle. One patient experienced dyspnea due to chronic pulmonary thromboembolism related to her disease. Conclusion: Desensitization is a useful procedure in patients who are allergic to their chemotherapy agents

El Sector MedTech

Los, cada vez más comunes, avances tecnológicos destinados al usuario de a pie, están revolucionando todos los sectores de la vida diaria de una persona. Sectores como la educación, la banca o el sector de la salud están siendo avasallados por una oleada incipiente de nuevas empresas que tratan de cambiar las reglas del juego. Es en el sector de la salud y la medicina, y en las empresas que lo forman, donde se basa el estudio de este proyecto. Dichas empresas forman el Medtech, concepto que sale de la fusión de las palabras Medical y Technology. En el presente trabajo se propone una definición del campo Medtech así como también una estructura del mismo basada en cuatro categorías y hasta cuatro niveles de profundidad. Las cuatro grandes ramas que forman el Medtech son: Aparatos Médicos, In Vitro Diagnostics, Imagen y eHealth. Es dentro del eHealth donde encontramos el campo del mHealth del cual se ha realizado una base de datos pública de 150 empresas rellenando más de 40 campos relacionados con información respectiva a las inversiones, los clientes, la localización o el canal, entro otros. Se incita al lector a adentrarse en la base de datos a través del link situado al final de la página y ver el gran mundo del mHealth. Después de la fase teórica donde se delimita y se estructura el Medtech, se realiza el análisis del sector mHealth a través de las conclusiones extraídas de la base de datos. Primeramente se encuentran las tendencias del sector divididas en tres: aquellas empresas que están en fase de desarrollo, las que están en fase de crecimiento y las que están en fase de maduración. A continuación se analizan diferentes aspectos del mercado que envuelven a las empresas como son el Canal, la Marca, el Mercado, la Localización… El sector del Medtech, y el del mHealth, es altamente imprevisible por encontrarse aún en una fase inicial de su recorrido haciendo muy difícil augurar los pasos que se van dar los próximos años. Aun así, se ha tratado de dar diferentes virtudes y dificultades que se va a ir encontrado el sector en sus próximos pasos, como son regulaciones o barreras geográficas. Este proyecto trata de introducir al lector en el nuevo mundo del Medtech y del mHealth, conociendo sus sectores y las tendencias que los mueven. También los campos más atractivos y las startups más destacadas. En resumen, dar unos conocimientos básicos pero útiles de un sector que acaba de empezar como es el Medtech

Study of USH1 Splicing Variants through Minigenes and Transcript Analysis from Nasal Epithelial Cells

Usher syndrome type I (USH1) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by congenital profound deafness, vestibular areflexia and prepubertal retinitis pigmentosa. The first purpose of this study was to determine the pathologic nature of eighteen USH1 putative splicing variants found in our series and their effect in the splicing process by minigene assays. These variants were selected according to bioinformatic analysis. The second aim was to analyze the USH1 transcripts, obtained from nasal epithelial cells samples of our patients, in order to corroborate the observed effect of mutations by minigenes in patient’s tissues. The last objective was to evaluate the nasal ciliary beat frequency in patients with USH1 and compare it with control subjects. In silico analysis were performed using four bioinformatic programs: NNSplice, Human Splicing Finder, NetGene2 and Spliceview. Afterward, minigenes based on the pSPL3 vector were used to investigate the implication of selected changes in the mRNA processing. To observe the effect of mutations in the patient’s tissues, RNA was extracted from nasal epithelial cells and RT-PCR analyses were performed. Four MYO7A (c.470G>A, c.1342_1343delAG, c.5856G>A and c.3652G>A), three CDH23 (c.2289+1G>A, c.6049G>A and c.8722+1delG) and one PCDH15 (c.3717+2dupTT) variants were observed to affect the splicing process by minigene assays and/or transcripts analysis obtained from nasal cells. Based on our results, minigenes are a good approach to determine the implication of identified variants in the mRNA processing, and the analysis of RNA obtained from nasal epithelial cells is an alternative method to discriminate neutral Usher variants from those with a pathogenic effect on the splicing process. In addition, we could observe that the nasal ciliated epithelium of USH1 patients shows a lower ciliary beat frequency than control subjects

Slender double-tube ultra-high strength concrete-filled tubular columns under ambient temperature and fire

This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign where both the room temperature and the fire resistance of six double-tube concrete filled steel tubular slender columns with different combinations of concrete strength are studied. Firstly, the ultimate axial load of the specimens at room temperatura was experimentally obtained and afterwards the fire resistance of such columns subjected to a 20% of their load bearing capacity was measured. Given the reduced number of experimental results found in the literature on slender concrete filled tubular columns with double steel tubular cross-sections, the main objective of this paper is to compare the behaviour of such innovative cross-sections under ambient and high temperatures. The influence of filling the inner ring with concrete on the fire performance of these columns is studied in this paper, as well as the variation of thicknesses of the outer and inner steel tubes. Despite the fact that the tested columns are not covered by the scope of Eurocode 4, the current simple calculation models were applied in this paper in order to assess the validity of the standard to this typology of columns, unsafe results being found.The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity through the project BIA2012-33144 and to the European Community for the FEDER funds.Romero, ML.; Espinós Capilla, A.; Portoles Flaj, JM.; Hospitaler Pérez, A.; Ibáñez Usach, C. (2015). Slender double-tube ultra-high strength concrete-filled tubular columns under ambient temperature and fire. Engineering Structures. 99:536-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2015.05.026S5365459

Estudio comparativo sobre sostenibilidad en aplicaciones de Inteligencia Artificial de uso docente

En este trabajo se hace un estudio comparativo sobre una serie de herramientas que usan Inteligencia Artificial para uso docente. Para la realización de este estudio se han definido una serie de parámetros que se han considerado más relevantes para evaluar cada herramienta. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar cada herramienta individualmente para ver si cumplen con el cometido de ayudar con la educación y ser sostenibles al mismo tiempo

Discrimination of the effects on zebrafish reproduction from pollutans in drinking water via female , via male and/or via fecundation water

[EN] The lack of preventive policy legislation and the low removal rate of organic pollutants in conventional potabilization treatments lead to some of them being present in drinking water. The problem arises because some of these substances have detrimental effects on human reproduction health, via females, via males or even both. In this work, we established the zebrafish as a bioindicator of these types of substances with the goal of discriminating the effects through three different pathways: male, female or water where the fertilization took place. For this purpose, four parameters were analysed: fertility rate, hatching rate and survival and abnormalities rates. So, for each parameter two groups were formed, according to whether adult males or females were reared in bottled spring water (Z) or tap water (B) and if the in vitro fertilization took place in water Z or B. Results revealed a decline in the fertility and hatching rate in water B, due to a water effect. The most plausible explanation could be the presence of substances which affect the micropyle and chorion. Moreover, a decrease in the fertility rate due to an effect over the female was also observed, but in this case by an alteration of the oocyte quality.Martínez-Sales, MI.; García Ximenez, F.; Espinos Gutierrez, FJ. (2016). Discrimination of the effects on zebrafish reproduction from pollutans in drinking water via female , via male and/or via fecundation water. Zygote. 24(4):563-567. doi:10.1017/S0967199415000532S56356724