Primary bone lymphoma of the mandible and thyroid incidentaloma identified by 18FDG PET/CT: a case report

The mandible is a rare site for the occurrence of primary bone lymphoma (PBL), a non-Hodgkin lymphoma. We report herein a case of an incidentally diagnosed thyroid incidentaloma by (18)Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in a patient with a previous diagnosis of PBL. Therapeutic options are reviewed and discussed

Neurosurgery in a patient with severe hemophilia B: an experience using eftrenonacog alfa as perioperative management

Anesthesia; Haemophilia B; NeurosurgeryAnestesia; Hemofilia B; NeurocirugíaAnestèsia; Hemofília B; NeurocirurgiaExtended half-life FIX (EHL-FIX) concentrates have been developed with the purpose of reducing the frequency of infusions in patients with severe or moderate hemophilia B. We describe the case of a 63-year-old patient with severe hemophilia B (sHB) treated with FIX-Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc) who underwent neurosurgery

A new prognostic algorithm based on stage of cirrhosis and HVPG to improve risk-stratification after variceal bleeding

Background & Aims: HVPG decrease ≥20% or ≤12mmHg (“responders”) indicates good prognosis during propranolol/nadolol treatment but requires two HVPG measurements. We aimed at simplifying risk‐stratification after variceal bleeding using clinical data and HVPG. Methods: 193 cirrhotic patients (62% with ascites and/or hepatic encephalopathy, HE) included within 7‐days of bleeding had HVPG measured before and at 1‐3 months of treatment with propranolol/nadolol plus endoscopic band ligation. End‐points: Rebleeding and rebleeding/transplantation‐free survival for 4‐years. Another cohort (n=231) served as validation set. Results: During follow‐up 45 patients had variceal bleeding and 61 died. HVPG‐responders (n=71) had lower rebleeding‐risk (10% vs 34%, p=0.001) and better survival than 122 non‐responders (61% vs 39%, p=0.001). Patients with/HE (n=120) had lower survival than patients without (40% vs 63%, p=0.005). Among patients with ascites/HE, those with baseline HVPG≤16mmHg (n=16) had low rebleeding‐risk (13%). By contrast, among patients with ascites/HE and baseline HVPG>16mmHg, only HVPG‐responders (n=32) had good prognosis, with lower rebleeding‐risk and better survival than non‐responders (n=72) (respective proportions: 7% vs 39%,p=0.018; 56% vs 30% p=0.010). These findings allowed developing a new algorithm for risk‐stratification in which HVPG‐response was only measured in patients with ascites and/or HE and baseline HVPG>16mmHg. This algorithm reduced the grey‐zone (high‐risk patients not dying on follow‐up) from 46% to 35% and decreased by 42% the HVPG measurements required. The validation cohort confirmed these results. Conclusion: Restricting HVPG measurements to patients with ascites/HE and measuring HVPG‐response only if baseline HVPG>16mmHg improves detection of high‐risk patients while markedly reducing the number of HVPG measurements required

The AXIOM software layers

AXIOM project aims at developing a heterogeneous computing board (SMP-FPGA).The Software Layers developed at the AXIOM project are explained.OmpSs provides an easy way to execute heterogeneous codes in multiple cores. People and objects will soon share the same digital network for information exchange in a world named as the age of the cyber-physical systems. The general expectation is that people and systems will interact in real-time. This poses pressure onto systems design to support increasing demands on computational power, while keeping a low power envelop. Additionally, modular scaling and easy programmability are also important to ensure these systems to become widespread. The whole set of expectations impose scientific and technological challenges that need to be properly addressed.The AXIOM project (Agile, eXtensible, fast I/O Module) will research new hardware/software architectures for cyber-physical systems to meet such expectations. The technical approach aims at solving fundamental problems to enable easy programmability of heterogeneous multi-core multi-board systems. AXIOM proposes the use of the task-based OmpSs programming model, leveraging low-level communication interfaces provided by the hardware. Modular scalability will be possible thanks to a fast interconnect embedded into each module. To this aim, an innovative ARM and FPGA-based board will be designed, with enhanced capabilities for interfacing with the physical world. Its effectiveness will be demonstrated with key scenarios such as Smart Video-Surveillance and Smart Living/Home (domotics).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

LIFE medCLIFFS: towards an integrative management of invasive plant species in the Costa Brava (North-east Iberian Peninsula)

Comunicación oral presentada en el XVII OPTIMA Meeting celebrado en Erice (Italia), del 20 al 23 Septiembre 202

Peritumoral immune infiltrates in primary tumours are not associated with the presence of axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study

Background. The axillary lymph nodes (ALNs) in breast cancer patients are the body regions to where tumoral cells most often first disseminate. The tumour immune response is important for breast cancer patient outcome, and some studies have evaluated its involvement in ALN metastasis development. Most studies have focused on the intratumoral immune response, but very few have evaluated the peritumoral immune response. The aim of the present article is to evaluate the immune infiltrates of the peritumoral area and their association with the presence of ALN metastases. Methods. The concentration of 11 immune markers in the peritumoral areas was studied in 149 patients diagnosed with invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (half of whom had ALN metastasis at diagnosis) using tissue microarrays, immunohistochemistry and digital image analysis procedures. The differences in the concentration of the immune response of peritumoral areas between patients diagnosed with and without metastasis in their ALNs were evaluated. A multivariate logistic regression model was developed to identify the clinical-pathological variables and the peritumoral immune markers independently associated with having or not having ALN metastases at diagnosis. Results. No statistically significant differences were found in the concentrations of the 11 immune markers between patients diagnosed with or without ALN metastases. Patients with metastases in their ALNs had a higher histological grade, more lymphovascular and perineural invasion and larger-diameter tumours. The multivariate analysis, after validation by bootstrap simulation, revealed that only tumour diameter (OR = 1.04; 95% CI [1.00-1.07]; p = 0.026), lymphovascular invasion (OR = 25.42; 95% CI [9.57-67.55]; p<0.001) and histological grades 2 (OR = 3.84; 95% CI [1.11-13.28]; p = 0.033) and 3 (OR = 5.18; 95% CI [1.40-19.17]; p = 0.014) were associated with the presence of ALN metastases at diagnosis. This study is one of the first to study the association of the peritumoral immune response with ALN metastasis. We did not find any association of peritumoral immune infiltrates with the presence of ALN metastasis. Nevertheless, this does not rule out the possibility that other peritumoral immune populations are associated with ALN metastasis. This matter needs to be examined in greater depth, broadening the types of peritumoral immune cells studied, and including new peritumoral areas, such as the germinal centres of the peritumoral tertiary lymphoid structures found in extensively infiltrated neoplastic lesions

Thrombopoietin Receptor Agonists for Severe Thrombocytopenia after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation : Experience of the Spanish Group of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant

Persistent thrombocytopenia is a common complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Romiplostim and eltrombopag are the currently available thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RAs), and some studies with very small numbers of cases have reported their potential efficacy in the allo-SCT setting. The present retrospective study evaluated the safety and efficacy of TPO-RAs in 86 patients with persistent thrombocytopenia after allo-HSCT. Sixteen patients (19%) had isolated thrombocytopenia (PT), and 71 (82%) had secondary failure of platelet recovery (SFPR). TPO-RA therapy was started at a median of 127 days (range, 27 to 1177 days) after allo-SCT. The median initial and maximum administered doses were 50 mg/day (range, 25 to 150 mg/day) and 75 mg/day (range, 25 to 150 mg/day), respectively, for eltrombopag and 1 µg/kg (range, 1 to 7 µg/kg) and 5 µg/kg (range, 1 to 10 µg/kg), respectively, for romiplostin. The median platelet count before initiation of TPO-RA therapy was 14,000/µL (range, 1000 to 57,000/µL). Platelet recovery to ≥50,000/µL without transfusion support was achieved in 72% of patients at a median time of 66 days (range, 2 to 247 days). Eighty-one percent of the patients had a decreased number of megakaryocytes before treatment, showing a slower response to therapy (P =.011). The median duration of treatment was 62 days (range, 7 to 700 days). Grade 3-4 adverse events (hepatic and asthenia) were observed in only 2% of the patients. At last follow-up, 81% of patients had discontinued TPO-RAs and maintained response, and 71% were alive. To our knowledge, this is the largest series analyzing the use of TPO-RAs after allo-SCT reported to date. Our results support the efficacy and safety in this new setting. Further prospective trials are needed to increase the level of evidence and to identify predictors of response

Un proyecto europeo para la gestión integral de las especies vegetales invasoras en la Costa Brava

Póster presentado en el III Simposio Anual de Botánica Española celebrado en el Institut Botànic de Barcelona, Barcelona, 25-26 de noviembre de 2022LIFE medCLIFFS es un proyecto financiado por el programa LIFE de la Unión Europea, con una duración de cinco años y que se focaliza en la Costa Brava y en el Parque Natural de Cap de Creus, una de las zonas con acantilados litorales más afectadas en Cataluña por la problemática de las especies vegetales invasoras. Las actividades del proyecto incluyen desde acciones preventivas a acciones de erradicación y, con el mismo nivel de importancia, acciones de concienciación social y de difusión. En este sentido, involucra administraciones públicas, científicos, voluntarios y sector productivo entre sus socios, y busca la colaboración de personas individuales y entidades locales. Las acciones se centran básicamente en la detección temprana y erradicación de cinco táxones —Opuntia ficus-indica y O. stricta, Carpobrotus acinaciformis y C. edulis (y sus posibles híbridos) y Gazania rigens— lo que debería también servir para reducir su impacto en áreas sensibles que alberguen especies endémicas amenazadas como Limonium geronense, L. tremolsii y Seseli farrenyi, únicas en el mundo. En paralelo, se han creado redes participativas para la detección temprana y control de la flora alóctona invasora o potencialmente invasora, integradas por observadores y voluntarios que aportan una información clave para actualizar y calibrar un sistema automático de evaluación del riesgo de invasión (RISKMAPR). Además, puesto que la jardinería y el uso de plantas ornamentales son la principal causa del establecimiento de plantas invasoras, están previstas también las siguientes acciones específicas: redacción de una guía de buenas prácticas, incluyendo una lista con las especies inocuas y la flora ornamental a evitar y creación de una etiqueta de calidad para los proveedores y grandes usuarios, como los ayuntamientos, entre otros

LIFE medCLIFFS: un proyecto europeo para la gestión integral de las especies vegetales invasoras en el litoral del nororiente de Cataluña (España)

Póster presentado en el V Congreso Ecuatoriano de Mastozoología, III Congreso Nacional de Manejo de Vida Silvestre y I Congreso Ecuatoriano de Centros de Rescate, Zoológicos, Acuarios y Afines, efectuados entre el 19 y 21 de octubre de 2022, en la ciudad Samborondón, GuayasLIFE medCLIFFS es un proyecto financiado por el programa LIFE de la Unión Europea, con una duración de cinco años y que focalizará sus actuaciones en la Costa Brava y el Parque Natural del Cap de Creus, una de las zonas con acantilados litorales más afectadas en Cataluña por la problemática de las especies vegetales invasoras. Este proyecto es pionero en la región de actuación (SO de Europa) por su visión integradora de la gestión de las especies invasoras: las actividades del proyecto incluyen desde acciones preventivas a acciones de erradicación, pasando por la detección temprana de especies y, con el mismo nivel de importancia, acciones de concienciación social/difusión e incluso acciones legales. En este sentido, involucra administraciones públicas, científicos, voluntarios y sector productivo entre sus socios, y busca la colaboración de personas individuales y entidades locales. Las acciones para controlar y erradicar especies alóctonas ya establecidas se centrarán básicamente en cinco táxones —Opuntia ficus-indica y O. stricta, Carpobrotus acinaciformis y C. edulis (y sus posibles híbridos), y Gazania rigens— lo que debería también servir para reducir su impacto en áreas sensibles que alberguen especies endémicas amenazadas como Limonium geronense, L. tremolsii y Seseli farrenyi, únicas en el mundo. En paralelo, se crearán redes participativas para la detección temprana y control de la flora alóctona invasora o potencialmente invasora, integradas por observadores y voluntarios que aportarán una información clave para actualizar y calibrar un sistema automático de evaluación del riesgo de invasión (RISKMAPR o similar). El proyecto incidirá, además, a través de campañas de educación y divulgación en el propio Parque Natural y otros sitios turísticos costeros del NE de Cataluña (Costa Brava), en la concienciación social sobre los efectos nocivos de estas especies invasoras y la necesidad de reducir su propagación. Además, en esta línea, y puesto que la jardinería y el uso de plantas ornamentales son la principal causa de su establecimiento, están previstas también las siguientes acciones específicas (1) redacción de una guía de buenas prácticas, incluyendo una lista con las especies inocuas y la flora ornamental a evitar; (2) creación de una etiqueta de calidad para los proveedores (viveros, empresas de jardinería y cadenas de supermercados, entre otros) y (3) redacción de un reglamento para el uso de flora ornamental a nivel municipal y aprobación en los municipios costeros de la costa Brava

LIFE medCLIFFS: un proyecto europeo para la gestión integral de las especies vegetales invasoras en el litoral del NE de Cataluña

Comunicación oral presentada en el XI Congreso de Biología de la Conservación de Plantas celebrado en Gran Canaria del 17 al 21 de julio de 202