Càlcul del blindatge d’un microtró de pista d’electrons de 12 MeV

Premi al millor Projecte de Fi de Carrera presentat durant l'any 2011 en l'àmbit de Nuclear que atorga la CÀTEDRA ARGOSEl projecte que es presenta té com a principal objectiu el disseny del blindatge necessari d’un accelerador compacte d’electrons de 12 MeV de tipus Microtró de Pista (Race-Track Microtron en anglès, acrònim RTM) que està en procés de construcció per l’Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE) de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). S’estudien dos sistemes de blindatge, ubicats tots dos en una sala de l’edifici K2M del Parc UPC del Campus Nord. En el primer cas, s’analitza un blindatge estructural que consisteix en recobriments addicionals de formigó a les parets existents a la sala. El segon sistema està basat en un blindatge local format per una cambra cilíndrica de plom que envolta l’accelerador. El càlcul de blindatge es realitza mitjançant PENELOPE, un codi de simulació per Monte Carlo del transport d’electrons, fotons i positrons en la matèria. Com a fonts de radiació es consideren principalment la radiació secundària produïda per la interacció del feix primari amb una copa de Faraday en les proves inicials de posada a punt de l’equip i la radiació de fuites originada en la unitat principal de l’accelerador degut a les pèrdues originades per interacció del feix amb elements interns del Microtró. En les simulacions amb PENELOPE també es contempla la radiació terciària produïda per possibles dispersions en les parets secundàries. Cal destacar, que donada la complexitat del Microtró, la simulació amb PENELOPE és l’únic mètode per determinar la radiació de fuita de forma realista. Es presenten els resultats obtinguts mitjançant gràfics que relacionen taxa de dosi en funció de l’espessor. A partir d’aquests s’obtenen les primeres capes decimorreductores i la capa decimorreductora d’equilibri (CDRs i la CDReq). També es mostren els mapes de distribució de taxa de dosi per espessors i situacions d’interès. Utilitzant aquests resultats es calcula l’espessor de material per als dos esquemes de blindatge indicats que proporcionen la protecció radiològica suficient en el període de proves i la posta en marxa del Microtró. Finalment, els resultats es comparen amb estimacions realitzades en base a la Norma DIN 6847 part 2.Award-winnin

Neutropenia febril

Most chemotherapy treatments have a negative effect in myelopoiesis and the integrity of gastrointestinal mucous membranes, increasing the risk of invasive translocation infections of bacteria and/or fungi. Neutropenic fever is a serious complication; its mortality rate varies from 11 % to 50 % in the case of severe sepsis or septic shock. It is essential to recognize this early and start empirical antibacterial therapy immediately. In patients with good prognosis criteria, outpatient treatment is an option to consider.La quimioterapia deprime la mielopoyesis y afecta a la integridad de las mucosas gastrointestinales aumentando el riesgo de infecciones sistémicas por translocación de bacterias y hongos. La neutropenia febril es una complicación grave cuya tasa de mortalidad es de hasta el 11%. Es fundamental reconocer precozmente este cuadro e iniciar antibioterapia empírica de inmediato. En pacientes sin datos de gravedad, el tratamiento ambulatorio es igual de eficaz y seguro que el hospitalario

The Impact of Digital Health on Smoking Cessation

Background: Smartphones have become useful tools for medicine, with the use of specific apps making it possible to bring health care closer to inaccessible areas, continuously monitor a patient's pathology at any time and place, promote healthy habits, and ultimately improve patients’ quality of life and the efficiency of the health care system. Since 2020, the use of smartphones has reached unprecedented levels. There are more than 350,000 health apps, according to a 2021 IQVIA Institute report, that address, among other things, the management of patient appointments; communication among different services or professionals; the promotion of lifestyle changes related to adopting healthy habits; and the monitoring of different pathologies and chronic conditions, including smoking cessation. The number of mobile apps for quitting smoking is high. As early as 2017, a total of 177 unique smoking cessation–relevant apps were identified in the iPhone App Store, 139 were identified in Google Play, 70 were identified in the BlackBerry app store, and 55 were identified in the Windows Phone Store, but very few have adequate scientific support. It seems clear that efforts are needed to assess the quality of these apps, as well as their effectiveness in different population groups, to have tools that offer added value to standard practices. Objective: This viewpoint aims to highlight the benefits of mobile health (mHealth) and its potential as an adjuvant tool in health care. Methods: A review of literature and other data sources was performed in order to show the current status of mobile apps that can offer support for smoking cessation. For this purpose, the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were explored between May and November 2022. Results: In terms of smoking cessation, mHealth has become a powerful coadjuvant tool that allows health workers to perform exhaustive follow-ups for the process of quitting tobacco and provide support anytime and anywhere. mHealth tools are effective for different groups of smokers (eg, pregnant women, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, patients with mental illness, and the general population) and are cost-effective, generating savings for the health system. However, there are some patient characteristics that can predict the success of using mobile apps in the smoking cessation process, such as the lower age of patients, dependence on tobacco, the number of quit attempts, and the previous use of mobile apps, among others. Therefore, it is preferable to offer these tools to patients with a higher probability of quitting tobacco. Conclusions: mHealth is a promising tool for helping smokers in the smoking cessation process. There is a need for well-designed clinical studies and economic evaluations to jointly assess the effectiveness of new interventions in different population groups, as well as their impact on health care resource

Combined Immune Defect in B-Cell Lymphoproliferative Disorders Is Associated with Severe Infection and Cancer Progression

This research received no external funding. K.G.-H is supported by The European Social Fund (ESF) through a Río Ortega Grant for Health Research Projects by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) (CM20/00098).B cell chronic lymphoproliferative diseases (B-CLPD) are associated with secondary antibody deficiency and other innate and adaptive immune defects, whose impact on infectious risk has not been systematically addressed. We performed an immunological analysis of a cohort of 83 B-CLPD patients with recurrent and/or severe infections to ascertain the clinical relevance of the immune deficiency expression. B-cell defects were present in all patients. Patients with combined immune defect had a 3.69-fold higher risk for severe infection (p = 0.001) than those with predominantly antibody defect. Interestingly, by Kaplan–Meier analysis, combined immune defect showed an earlier progression of cancer with a hazard ratio of 3.21, than predominantly antibody defect (p = 0.005). When B-CLPD were classified in low-degree, high-degree, and plasma cell dyscrasias, risk of severe disease and cancer progression significantly diverged in combined immune defect, compared with predominantly antibody defect (p = 0.001). Remarkably, an underlying primary immunodeficiency (PID) was suspected in 12 patients (14%), due to prior history of infections, autoimmune and granulomatous conditions, atypical or variegated course and compatible biological data. This first proposed SID classification might have relevant clinical implications, in terms of predicting severe infections and cancer progression, and might be applied to different B-CLPD entities.Depto. de Inmunología, Oftalmología y ORLFac. de MedicinaTRUEpu

Use of Red Wine Polyphenols as a Natural Preservative in Health-Promoting Omega-3 Fatty Acids-Enriched Lamb Patties

eat consumption has been related to a higher risk of heart disease due to its saturated fat content. As a consequence, there has been a growth in research on how to increase unsaturated fat content in meat. However, a high content of unsaturated fat favours the development of oxidative processes. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a red wine extract (RWE) rich in polyphenols (50, 100, and 200 mg gallic acid equivalents/kg meat) as a natural antioxidant in lamb meat patties enriched with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) (100 mg n-3 PUFA/100 g meat), compared to using -tocopherol (TOC) (100 mg/kg meat). Adding RWE delayed metmyoglobin formation, lipid oxidation and loss of n-3 PUFA relative to controls, while TOC had no effect on preventing meat oxidation. Lamb odour was lower (p < 0.01) and odd odour higher (p < 0.001) in patties at the highest dose of RWE, compared to controls, but the overall liking score was not affected. The results suggest that RWE could be used as a natural antioxidant in the meat industry, even when n-3 PUFA content is high

Descripción de los niveles de Burnout en diferentes colectivos profesionales

El interés en la investigación del Burnout proviene del hecho de tratarse de un problema social que afecta a muchas personas. Los datos epidemiológicos sobre el síndrome hablan de un pro- blema de tal magnitud, que conlleva consecuencias personales y laborales negativas. Este hecho justifica por sí mismo que el desarrollo investigador haya crecido de manera considerable en es- tos últimos años. Si bien es cierto que existen diversos colectivos profesionales de riesgo de pa- decimiento del síndrome de Burnout, también lo es, que los niveles del mismo en sus diferentes dimensiones, suelen cambiar, e incluso la secuenciación en las mismas en la aparición del pro- blema, se puede ver alterada. El objetivo de este trabajo es describir comparativamente los nive- les de Burnout en cuatro muestras, una de población general y tres de profesionales, docentes, sanitarios y miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas

Perspectivas actuales de las fuentes del Derecho

Presentación / Rafael de Asís Roig. - Fuentes del Derecho y comunidad civil / Dionisio Llamazares Fernández. - Las fuentes del derecho y su problemática actual / Antonio Enrique Pérez Luño. - Fuentes del Derecho y sociedad civil : la participación de ésta en la creación normativa, desde la perspectiva del ordenamiento jurídico internacional / Montserrat Abad Castelos. - La tutela de la libertad religiosa en la Unión Europea y su incidencia en el ordenamiento interno español / Adoración Castro Jover. - Sistema normativo de la Unión Europea (naturaleza de las fuentes) / Carlos Moreiro González. - La incidencia de la Unión Europea en el sistema interno de fuentes de los Estados miembros / Ana Garriga Domínguez. - Las fuentes del Derecho Islámico / Mario Losano. - Multiculturalidad, Derecho islámico y ordenamiento secular; los supuestos de la poligamia y el repudio / Agustín Motilla de la Calle. - Interculturalidad y fuentes del Derecho : algunas reflexiones desde el Derecho Internacional / Carlos Fernández Liesa . - La definitiva secularización de la legislación sobre la interrupción del embarazo en España / Daniel Capodiferro Cubero. - Interculturalidade e Fontes do Direito. - A ética da racionalidade do outro como princípio e critério objetivo na análise da interculturalidade e sua relação quanto à legitimação das fontes do direito / Artur César de Souza. - El papel de los nuevos movimientos sociales en la regulación jurídica de la globalización / Jose Antonio García Saez. - Relaciones entre ordenamientos jurídicos en el ámbito de la Unión Europea / Cristina Hermida del LLano. - La incidencia «interesada» de la Directiva 2003/86/CE en la última reforma de la Ley de extranjería española / Encarnación La Spina. - La lex mercatoria : una excepción a la legitimidad del orden jurídico-político moderno / Francisco López Ruiz. - Un paralelismo entre las teorías de los principios y la jurisprudencia de conceptos: la ruptura del puente entre las fuentes del Derecho y la sociedad civil / Luis Lloredo Alix. - La configuración de un derecho cultural sobre lo religioso como una propuesta para la plena integración de las personas de origen musulman residentes en Europa / Andrés Murcia González. - Sobre algunas concepciones de la jurisprudencia en la cultura jurídica norteamericana / Oscar Pérez de la Fuent

Laboratorio de Relaciones Internacionales con América Latina

Puesta en marcha de un laboratorio de ideas y acciones, entre la UCM y diversas entidades latinoamericanas para desarrollar acciones de relaciones internacionales: presentación de un proyecto de cooperación a la XV convocatoria UCM, realización de acciones de sensibilización y realización de una publicación digital

Oral vaccination with heat inactivated Mycobacterium bovis activates the complement system to protect against tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a pandemic affecting billions of people worldwide, thus stressing the need for new vaccines. Defining the correlates of vaccine protection is essential to achieve this goal. In this study, we used the wild boar model for mycobacterial infection and TB to characterize the protective mechanisms elicited by a new heat inactivated Mycobacterium bovis vaccine (IV). Oral vaccination with the IV resulted in significantly lower culture and lesion scores, particularly in the thorax, suggesting that the IV might provide a novel vaccine for TB control with special impact on the prevention of pulmonary disease, which is one of the limitations of current vaccines. Oral vaccination with the IV induced an adaptive antibody response and activation of the innate immune response including the complement component C3 and inflammasome. Mycobacterial DNA/RNA was not involved in inflammasome activation but increased C3 production by a still unknown mechanism. The results also suggested a protective mechanism mediated by the activation of IFN-γ producing CD8+ T cells by MHC I antigen presenting dendritic cells (DCs) in response to vaccination with the IV, without a clear role for Th1 CD4+ T cells. These results support a role for DCs in triggering the immune response to the IV through a mechanism similar to the phagocyte response to PAMPs with a central role for C3 in protection against mycobacterial infection. Higher C3 levels may allow increased opsonophagocytosis and effective bacterial clearance, while interfering with CR3-mediated opsonic and nonopsonic phagocytosis of mycobacteria, a process that could be enhanced by specific antibodies against mycobacterial proteins induced by vaccination with the IV. These results suggest that the IV acts through novel mechanisms to protect against TB in wild boar.This research was supported by Plan Nacional I+D+I AGL2011-30041 from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Spain and FEDER. This is also a contribution to EU FP7 grant WildTBvac and the EU FP7 ANTIGONE project number 278976. R.C. Galindo was funded by MEC, Spain. B. Beltrán-Beck was supported by MINECO grant BES-2009-017401.Peer Reviewe