Studies on autoantibodies and inflammatory markers in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies

Idiopathic Inflammatory myopathies (IIM), commonly known as myositis, are chronic autoimmune diseases characterized by low muscle strength and low muscle endurance as main features. However, a high number of patients may develop extra muscular manifestations such as interstitial lung disease, skin rash or arthritis. There are known genetic and environmental risk factors for developing these conditions, but the cause is not fully understood. To date, it is considered that myositis is driven by an autoimmune component. In this sense, the production of autoantibodies is characteristic in most patients and each of these autoantibodies is strongly linked to specific clinical manifestations. However, the implications of positive autoantibodies as prognostics tools beyond the association with clinical features has not been fully studied. Moreover, different methods have been used to detect these autoantibodies and new methods, usually employed in the daily clinical setting, require validation. In addition to the autoantibodies, the role of inflammatory markers as predictors of subjective health perception has been overlooked in patients with myositis. The aim of this thesis was to validate an autoantibody assay commonly used in the clinic, a line blot assay, as well as to explore the usefulness of autoantibodies as predictors of response to treatment and organ damage, and to investigate the association of inflammatory markers with patient reported outcomes. A validation of a line bot test was conducted using an immunoprecipitation-based algorithm as comparator in a cohort of well-characterized patients with myositis. The prevalence of relevant clinical associations with both assays was compared between patients. A moderate agreement between the assays was found, and the clinical features of patients with detected autoantibodies by the line blot assay were consistent with known clinical phenotypes (Paper I). By using a longitudinal Swedish electronic database (SweMyoNet), dermatomyositis specific autoantibodies (DMSA) were found as predictors for moderate level of response to treatment; initial doses of glucocorticoids and shorter time lag from first symptoms to diagnosis were also predictors of response to treatment (Paper II). In a longitudinal study, based on a large international electronic database (MyoNet), patients with anti-PM/Scl autoantibodies accumulated damage more pronounced than seronegative patients, and patients with DMSA accumulated less pronounced damage than seronegative patients. Furthermore, a strong correlation between severity of muscle damage and functional disability was found, especially in patients with immune-mediated necrotizing myopathies (Paper III). By analyzing data from MyoNet, we found a longitudinal correlation between Patient Global Assessment (PatGA) and inflammatory markers, namely C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (Paper IV). Altogether, the findings of this thesis indicate that the line blot assay is useful to detect the most frequent autoantibodies in patients with a known myositis diagnosis. The results of this thesis also suggest that autoantibodies are useful as predictors of response to treatment and of organ damage, and that inflammatory markers are associated with subjective health perception status measured by the Patient Global Assessment scale in patients with myositis

Semiconductor cavity QED: Bandgap induced by vacuum fluctuations

We consider theoretically a semiconductor nanostructure embedded in one-dimensional microcavity and study the modification of its electron energy spectrum by the vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. To solve the problem, a non-perturbative diagrammatic approach based on the Green's function formalism is developed. It is shown that the interaction of the system with the vacuum fluctuations of the optical cavity opens gaps within the valence band of the semiconductor. The approach is verified for the case of large photon occupation numbers, proving the validity of the model by comparing to previous studies of the semiconductor system excited by a classical electromagnetic field. The developed theory is of general character and allows for unification of quantum and classical descriptions of the strong light-matter interaction in semiconductor structures

Análisis comparativo y limitaciones de diseño entre terraplenes ejecutados con materiales seleccionados y terraplenes con materiales tolerables

Trabajo de InvestigaciónEl trabajo de investigación contiene el desempeño de dos tipos de materiales de relleno permitidos por el instituto nacional de vías (INVIAS) en su capítulo 2 – Explanaciones, Articulo 220-12. Para lo cual se estudió la caracterización física y el comportamiento mecánico de materiales seleccionados y materiales tolerables, evaluando los resultados de laboratorio obtenidos de la literatura. Con los resultados obtenidos se estableció las condiciones de falla y se realizó un análisis comparativo en cuanto al desempeño que ofrecen los dos tipos de material frente a los requerimientos constructivos de los terraplenes y mediante el uso del método de análisis de equilibrio limite se obtuvo el factor de seguridad y la comparación de las fuerzas o momentos resistentes y actuantes sobre la superficie de falla, para ello se realizó la modelación de los parámetros de diseño previamente establecidos en el software Slide el cual mediante el criterio de equilibrio limite permite validar la condición de estabilidad de las diferentes configuraciones geométricas de los terraplenes1. INTRODUCCIÓN 2. GENERALIDADES 3. PLANTEAMIENTO Y FORMULACIÓN DEL PROBLEMA 4. OBJETIVOS 5. ALCANCES Y LIMITACIONES 6. ESTADO DEL ARTE 7. MARCO DE REFERENCIA 8. METODOLOGÍA 9. RESULTADOS 10. ANÁLISIS Y DISCUSIÓN DE RESULTADOS 11. CONCLUSIONES 12. RECOMENDACIONES 13. BIBLIOGRAFÍAPregradoIngeniero Civi

Incidencia de las políticas públicas en la producción cinematográfica de Ecuador durante la década 2007-2017

Governmental actions provide solutions to problems of public interest in order to improve the quality of life of the population; with the creation of the Law for the Promotion of National Cinema in 2006, the country began a change in film production, the objective of this study is to determine the impact of public policies on film production in Ecuador during the decade 2007-2017. The present research is qualitative with an exploratory approach. The methods used are historical-logical and analytical-synthetic. A non-probabilistic intentional sampling was used for the application of surveys to a group of 200 filmmakers and audiovisual producers. The results analyzed the economic and productive impacts of filmmaking as a result of the public policies established by the government of Rafael Correa. The structural transformation of filmmaking was identified as a result of the Film Promotion Law, issued in 2006, and the creation of the National Filmmaking Council a year later. The lack of foreign investment, the limited application of the Organic Law of Culture and the Law of Communication have left cinema out of the priority issues, minimizing the creation, distribution and equitable access to different audiovisual contents; however, despite these gaps, Ecuadorian cinema continues to be characterized by its creativity, entertainment and resistance that still awaits an upturn.Las acciones gubernamentales permiten dar soluciones a problemas de interés público con la finalidad de mejorar la calidad de vida de la población; con la creación de la ley de Fomento al cine nacional en el 2006, el país inició un cambio en la producción cinematográfica, el objetivo de este estudio es determinar la incidencia de las políticas públicas en la producción cinematográfica de Ecuador durante la década 2007-2017. La presente investigación es cualitativa con un enfoque exploratorio Los métodos utilizados son histórico-lógico y analítico-sintético. Se utilizó un muestreo no probabilístico intencional para la aplicación de encuestas a un grupo de 200 cineastas y productores audiovisuales. Como resultados se analizaron los impactos económico y productivo del cine a partir de las políticas públicas establecidas en el gobierno de Rafael Correa, se identificó la transformación estructural de la cinematografía a partir de la Ley de Fomento Cinematográfico, expedida en el 2006 y un año posterior la creación del Consejo Nacional de Cinematografía. La falta de inversión extranjera, la limitada aplicación de la Ley Orgánica de Cultura y la Ley de Comunicación han dejado el cine fuera de los temas prioritarios minimizando la creación, distribución y acceso equitativo a diferentes contenidos audiovisuales; sin embargo; a pesar estas brechas el cine ecuatoriano sigue caracterizándose por su creatividad, relato de entretenimiento y resistencia que todavía aguarda por un despunte

Las instalaciones militares y su significado en el plano urbano de la ciudad de Burgos

Las instalaciones militares han ido ligadas a las ciudades desde su formación. En el ejemplo de Burgos, entre los siglos XVIII y XX, han sido un elemento clave para la formación de la ciudad tal como la conocemos. Por ello, a través de los cuarteles podemos observar la historia de la Ciudad: su sistema de defensas, las desamortizaciones del siglo XIX, las consecuencias urbanas de los periodos de postguerra o la “guerra del suelo” que viene sucediendo desde los años setenta. Todas estas transformaciones sucedidas en los dos últimos siglos, han consolidado los suelos de la periferia de la ciudad, formando el Burgos que hoy conocemosMilitary installations have been linked to cities since its formation. In the example of Burgos, between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, military installations have been a key element in the building of the city as we know it. Firstly by consolidating non-urban land and secondly by releasing lands with a great urban value. Through the barracks we can see the history of the city: its defenses, the sale of Church lands of the nineteenth century or the urban consequences of conflicts or the "land war" in the beginning of twenty-first century