Temporal dynamics and pathophysiology of the edematous response after acute myocardial infarction: a translational journey

Post-myocardial infarction tissue composition is highly dynamic and can be characterized by cardiac magnetic resonance, which has been used to assess surrogate outcomes and efficacy endpoints in many experimental and clinical studies. However, there is a paucity of studies tracking the temporal dynamics of these processes and analyzing their pathophysiology in a comprehensive manner. The experimental and clinical work contained in this dissertation shows that the degree and extent of post-myocardial infarction tissue composition changes (mainly edema; but also necrosis, hemorrhage and microvascular obstruction) as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance are variable according to the time from infarction, duration of ischemia, cardioprotective strategies, and the interplay between them. These dynamic changes should be taken into consideration when performing image acquisition. Comparative studies should be performed at similar timings to avoid the bias of these dynamic changes. Thus, and in contrast to the accepted view, it is shown for the first time that myocardial edema in the week after ischemia/reperfusion is a bimodal phenomenon, both in pigs and humans. The initial wave of edema, appearing abruptly upon reperfusion and which is significantly attenuated at 24 hours, is due to the reperfusion process itself. The deferred wave of edema, appearing progressively days after ischemia/reperfusion and reaching a plateau between days 4 to 7, is mainly caused by the tissue healing processes. These findings highlight the need for standardizing experimental and clinical protocols for post-myocardial infarction tissue characterization aiming to quantify edema, myocardial area at risk, infarct size, myocardial salvage, intramyocardial hemorrhage and microvascular obstruction. The timeframe between day 4 and 7 post-infarction seems a good compromise solution according to translational data here presented. However, further studies and expert consensus are needed to stablish more precise recommendations

Integrating Olfaction in a Robotic Telepresence Loop

In this work we propose enhancing a typical robotic telepresence architecture by considering olfactory and wind flow information in addition to the common audio and video channels. The objective is to expand the range of applications where robotics telepresence can be applied, including those related to the detection of volatile chemical substances (e.g. land-mine detection, explosive deactivation, operations in noxious environments, etc.). Concretely, we analyze how the sense of smell can be integrated in the telepresence loop, covering the digitization of the gases and wind flow present in the remote environment, the transmission through the communication network, and their display at the user location. Experiments under different environmental conditions are presented to validate the proposed telepresence system when localizing a gas emission leak at the remote environment.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Epileptic Encephalopathies in Infants and Children

Epileptic encephalopathies represent a group of devastating epileptic disorders that appear early in life. They are characterized by pharmacoresistant generalized or focal seizures, persistent severe EEG abnormalities, and cognitive dysfunction or decline. The ictal and interictal epileptic discharges are age-specific and either are the main cause or contribute to cognitive deterioration in the idiopathic or symptomatic group, respectively. Despite choosing the most appropriate antiepileptic drugs for the seizure type and syndrome, the results are often disappointing, and polytherapy and/or alternative therapy becomes unavoidable; in those cases, consideration should be given to the quality of life of the child and carers. In this chapter, we will discuss the clinical and electroencephalographic characteristics and evolution and management of age-related epileptic encephalopathies, recognized by the International League Against Epilepsy, as follows: early infantile epileptic encephalopathy (Ohtahara syndrome), early myoclonic encephalopathy, epilepsy of infancy with migrating focal seizures, infantile spasms (West syndrome), severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (Dravet syndrome), myoclonic-atonic epilepsy (Doose syndrome), Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, epileptic encephalopathy with continuous spike-and-wave during sleep, and Landau-Kleffner syndrome. Their clinical features, prognosis, etiologies, and treatment are presented and updated

Analyzing interference between RGB-D cameras for human motion tracking

Multi-camera RGB-D systems are becoming popular as sensor setups in Computer Vision applications but they are prone to cause interference between them, compromising their accuracy. This paper extends previous works on the analysis of the noise introduced by interference with new and more realistic camera configurations and different brands of devices. As expected, the detected noise increases as distance and angle grows, becoming worse when interference is present. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions of using DC vibration motors to mitigate them. The results of this study are being used to assess the effect of interference when applying these setups to human motion tracking.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Plan Propio de Investigación de la UMA. Junta de Andalucía, proyecto TEP2012-53