Implementation of the Z-scan technique using NI cRIO 9074 system

This paper presents the implementation of Z-scan technique using NI cRIO 9074 system to characterize different types of nanofluids and films. This technique was implemented in the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico. For this experiment a chassis NI cRIO9074 of National Instruments, a linear translation stage NRT150E and a stepper motor controller BSC203 were used, both of Thorlabs. Three steps were followed for this implementation first, the connection between NI cRIO9074 and BSC203 controller. Second, the program on LabVIEW was developed and finally, all optic part of the z-scan technique was implemented. This implementation can be used to characterize relatively thin (< 5mm) optical materials. The system testing was done with gold nanoparticles. The results showed the nonlinear optical properties of these samples

Programa de farmacovigilancia de la droguería Cubarral, enfocado en el uso adecuado del acetaminofén

El programa de farmacovigilancia de la Droguería Cubarral ofrece los protocolos para la realización de reportes adversos en la plataforma eReporting y FOREAM, como también la consulta de alertas sanitaria emitidas por el Invima y Vademécum; pero además de esto se desarrolla una campaña de educación sanitaria enfocada en el uso adecuado del medicamento acetaminofén la cual está dividida en tres etapas, una inicial al hacerse una encuesta de diagnóstico, la segunda de socialización de una infografía y la tercera una evaluación de la campaña. Los resultados de la encuesta inicial de diagnóstico permitió identificar debilidades en el correcto uso del acetaminofén, al tener una percepción errada de la indicación, dosis unitaria y total del acetaminofén, lo cual nos permito enfocar nuestra campaña de educación sanitaria en brindar información útil sobre este medicamento atraves de la infografía y por medio de una evaluación en línea pudimos verificar que se impactó positivamente a los encuestados brindándoles conocimientos útiles en el uso de este medicamente. El desarrollo de la campaña nos permitió inferir que todos los encuestados usan acetaminofén, lo utilizan para tratar diversos síntomas diferentes al cual está indicado este medicamento, se evidencia practicas inadecuadas de automedicación e interacción con otros medicamentos, además de falta de conocimiento de las dosis individual y total diaria máximas de consumo representan un riesgo de intoxicación y posibles situaciones de reacciones adversar por consumo de acetaminofénEl programa de farmacovigilancia de la Droguería Cubarral ofrece los protocolos para la realización de reportes adversos en la plataforma eReporting y FOREAM, como también la consulta de alertas sanitaria emitidas por el Invima y Vademécum; pero además de esto se desarrolla una campaña de educación sanitaria enfocada en el uso adecuado del medicamento acetaminofén la cual está dividida en tres etapas, una inicial al hacerse una encuesta de diagnóstico, la segunda de socialización de una infografía y la tercera una evaluación de la campaña. Los resultados de la encuesta inicial de diagnóstico permitió identificar debilidades en el correcto uso del acetaminofén, al tener una percepción errada de la indicación, dosis unitaria y total del acetaminofén, lo cual nos permito enfocar nuestra campaña de educación sanitaria en brindar información útil sobre este medicamento atraves de la infografía y por medio de una evaluación en línea pudimos verificar que se impactó positivamente a los encuestados brindándoles conocimientos útiles en el uso de este medicamente. El desarrollo de la campaña nos permitió inferir que todos los encuestados usan acetaminofén, lo utilizan para tratar diversos síntomas diferentes al cual está indicado este medicamento, se evidencia practicas inadecuadas de automedicación e interacción con otros medicamentos, además de falta de conocimiento de las dosis individual y total diaria máximas de consumo representan un riesgo de intoxicación y posibles situaciones de reacciones adversar por consumo de acetaminofé

Large-scale analysis of structural brain asymmetries in schizophrenia via the ENIGMA consortium

Left-right asymmetry is an important organizing feature of the healthy brain that may be altered in schizophrenia, but most studies have used relatively small samples and heterogeneous approaches, resulting in equivocal findings. We carried out the largest case-control study of structural brain asymmetries in schizophrenia, using MRI data from 5,080 affected individuals and 6,015 controls across 46 datasets in the ENIGMA consortium, using a single image analysis protocol. Asymmetry indexes were calculated for global and regional cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical volume measures. Differences of asymmetry were calculated between affected individuals and controls per dataset, and effect sizes were meta-analyzed across datasets. Small average case-control differences were observed for thickness asymmetries of the rostral anterior cingulate and the middle temporal gyrus, both driven by thinner left-hemispheric cortices in schizophrenia. Analyses of these asymmetries with respect to the use of antipsychotic medication and other clinical variables did not show any significant associations. Assessment of age- and sex-specific effects revealed a stronger average leftward asymmetry of pallidum volume between older cases and controls. Case-control differences in a multivariate context were assessed in a subset of the data (N = 2,029), which revealed that 7% of the variance across all structural asymmetries was explained by case-control status. Subtle case-control differences of brain macro-structural asymmetry may reflect differences at the molecular, cytoarchitectonic or circuit levels that have functional relevance for the disorder. Reduced left middle temporal cortical thickness is consistent with altered left-hemisphere language network organization in schizophrenia

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Diseño y Programación de un Sistema Dedicado para el Control de una Máquina de Bolsas Stand-Up Pouch

Se desarrollará un sistema dedicado en una pc embedded enfocado al control de un proceso industrial como el sellado de bolsas Stand-Up Pounch. Se desarrollarán interfaces de control para los drives de los diferentes elementos a controlar e interfaces con el usuario. El sistema dedicado se desarrollará con un sistema operativo como QNX con el fin de contar con propiedades de tiempo real del tipo crítico. Se presentan avances de la comunicación de los drives con la pc a través del puerto serie

Machine Learning for Large-Scale Quality Control of 3D Shape Models in Neuroimaging

As very large studies of complex neuroimaging phenotypes become more common, human quality assessment of MRI-derived data remains one of the last major bottlenecks. Few attempts have so far been made to address this issue with machine learning. In this work, we optimize predictive models of quality for meshes representing deep brain structure shapes. We use standard vertex-wise and global shape features computed homologously across 19 cohorts and over 7500 human-rated subjects, training kernelized Support Vector Machine and Gradient Boosted Decision Trees classifiers to detect meshes of failing quality. Our models generalize across datasets and diseases, reducing human workload by 30-70%, or equivalently hundreds of human rater hours for datasets of comparable size, with recall rates approaching inter-rater reliability

Large-scale analysis of structural brain asymmetries in schizophrenia via the ENIGMA consortium

Left-right asymmetry is an important organizing feature of the healthy brain that may be altered in schizophrenia, but most studies have used relatively small samples and heterogeneous approaches, resulting in equivocal findings. We carried out the largest case-control study of structural brain asymmetries in schizophrenia, with MRI data from 5,080 affected individuals and 6,015 controls across 46 datasets, using a single image analysis protocol. Asymmetry indexes were calculated for global and regional cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical volume measures. Differences of asymmetry were calculated between affected individuals and controls per dataset, and effect sizes were meta-analyzed across datasets. Small average case-control differences were observed for thickness asymmetries of the rostral anterior cingulate and the middle temporal gyrus, both driven by thinner left-hemispheric cortices in schizophrenia. Analyses of these asymmetries with respect to the use of antipsychotic medication and other clinical variables did not show any significant associations. Assessment of age- and sex-specific effects revealed a stronger average leftward asymmetry of pallidum volume between older cases and controls. Case-control differences in a multivariate context were assessed in a subset of the data (N = 2,029), which revealed that 7% of the variance across all structural asymmetries was explained by case-control status. Subtle case-control differences of brain macrostructural asymmetry may reflect differences at the molecular, cytoarchitectonic, or circuit levels that have functional relevance for the disorder. Reduced left middle temporal cortical thickness is consistent with altered left-hemisphere language network organization in schizophrenia

Reduction of cardiac imaging tests during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Italy. Findings from the IAEA Non-invasive Cardiology Protocol Survey on COVID-19 (INCAPS COVID)

Background: In early 2020, COVID-19 massively hit Italy, earlier and harder than any other European country. This caused a series of strict containment measures, aimed at blocking the spread of the pandemic. Healthcare delivery was also affected when resources were diverted towards care of COVID-19 patients, including intensive care wards. Aim of the study: The aim is assessing the impact of COVID-19 on cardiac imaging in Italy, compare to the Rest of Europe (RoE) and the World (RoW). Methods: A global survey was conducted in May–June 2020 worldwide, through a questionnaire distributed online. The survey covered three periods: March and April 2020, and March 2019. Data from 52 Italian centres, a subset of the 909 participating centres from 108 countries, were analyzed. Results: In Italy, volumes decreased by 67% in March 2020, compared to March 2019, as opposed to a significantly lower decrease (p &lt; 0.001) in RoE and RoW (41% and 40%, respectively). A further decrease from March 2020 to April 2020 summed up to 76% for the North, 77% for the Centre and 86% for the South. When compared to the RoE and RoW, this further decrease from March 2020 to April 2020 in Italy was significantly less (p = 0.005), most likely reflecting the earlier effects of the containment measures in Italy, taken earlier than anywhere else in the West. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic massively hit Italy and caused a disruption of healthcare services, including cardiac imaging studies. This raises concern about the medium- and long-term consequences for the high number of patients who were denied timely diagnoses and the subsequent lifesaving therapies and procedures