116 research outputs found

    Sistema de bajo coste para el seguimiento de personas

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    Gracias a una Raspberry Pi, a la Pi-cam y a pocos componentes más, vamos a diseñar un sistema de seguimiento de objetos de bajo coste. Para ello hemos diseñado varias aplicaciones que desempeñan tareas diferentes dentro de las que destacamos la siguientes: identificación de objetos en imágenes; detección y señalización de estos objetos; también hemos diseñado una aplicación que calcula el tamaño y la posición de nuestro objeto gracias a la cual sabremos si este se ha movido o no y gracias a la cual podremos mover nuestro sistema para posicionarnos en el lugar deseado. Veremos como con un presupuesto muy reducido seremos capaces de desarrollar un trabajo bastante completo. Hemos dividido el trabajo en dos tareas fundamentales, la localización del objeto deseado; la cual la fundamentaremos en la visión por computador. Y en un segundo lugar el movimiento del sistema; el cual gracias a la GPIO y un sistema actuador, seremos capaces de diseñar teóricamente. En los capítulos siguientes veremos como con un sistema tan versátil como es una Raspberry Pi se pueden lograr infinidad de objetivos en cuanto a visión por computador; y de igual modo su pines de entrada/salida GPIO nos versatilizan este dispositivo dándonos muchísimas opciones de diseño y desarrollo.Using a Raspberry Pi, a Pi-cam and a few more components, we are going to design a low cost tracking system. For that matter, we have designed several applications that play different tasks in which we highlight the following: object identification in pictures, detection and pointing out these objects. We also have designed an application that calculates the size and the position of our object and indicate if this object has moved or not so we can move our system to positioning in the desired place. We will see how with a very little budget, we will be able to develop a quite complete work. We have divided the work in two main tasks, the localization of the desired object, which we base in the computer sight. And in second place, the system movement, which thanks to the GPIO and a acting system, we will be able to theoretically design. In the next chapters we will see how a so versatile system as the Raspberry Pi can achieve tons of goals in computer sighting, and similarly its pins in/out GPIO make this device versatile, offering us a lot of options of design and development.Ingeniería Técnica en Electrónic

    Ethnographic "experimental collaborations" as practitioner methodology

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    In this paper we discuss emergent cross-cutting themes across a series of educational intervention projects in which practitioners-in-training adopted and adapted in their proposals and work design the logic of ethnographic experimental collaboration (XCOL) and participatory action research (PAR) (Clark, 2010; Estalella & Sánchez-Criado, 2018) perspectives. We were involved in three interventions developed in Madrid (Spain) across formal and informal learning contexts as part of the internship/practicum of future educational psychologists. Our work was designed in response to the identified needs and demands of the internship sites. Yet, as educational interventions, they were explicitly conceptualized and implemented in ways that depart substantially from the common expectations of process-product educational intervention and dominant ways, at least in Spain, of constructing educational accountability (cf. Berliner, 1989; Gage & Needels, 1989). We unpack four themes relevant across the three projects, which emerged from our joint discussions of the three interventions: (a) how "outcomes/results" are reconstructed in XCOL/PAR educational interventions, (b) the transformations in our emergent professional identities, (c) the place of different materialities and expressive media in the work we planned (d) how space-time constraints were construed in our unfolding projects

    Strength tests on asphalt mixes attacked by motor fuels. Recommendations on bath immersion times

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    [Abstract:] One of the limitations of asphalt mixes as pavement materials is their poor resistance to attack from crude oil-based motor fuels. Several procedures exist for determining the resistance of asphalt materials to motor fuel action. Different test standards can be found for fillers and surface dressings in both the US and European series. However, where the assessment of asphalt mixes themselves are concerned, there is a considerable lack of standardisation. This paper reports on laboratory studies on certain essential aspects of the procedures for assessing the strength of asphalt mixes in respect of motor fuel attack, chiefly the time the mix is exposed to the fuel. Based on the research results, the paper makes some good-practice recommendations for weight-loss procedures after immersion in motor fuel, with or without subsequent brushing, and in respect of the Marshall stability preserved after immersion. In relation to the immersion period and in view of the laboratory findings and their subsequent statistical processing, one of the factors with the greatest influence is the recommendation that the immersion period should be 24 hours, except in the weight-loss test subseuent to immersion without any brushing where the results obtained prove to be more significant if the immersion period is seven days

    Banana Pseudo-Stem Increases the Water-Holding Capacity of Minced Pork Batter and the Oxidative Stability of Pork Patties

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    [EN] Banana pseudo-stem (BPS), which is rich in fibre and polyphenols, is a potential functional ingredient for the food industry. In this study, BPS was added at concentrations of 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 g/kg to a minced pork batter to evaluate its performance as a filler and to pork burger patties to evaluate its performance as a natural antioxidant. The effects of BPS were compared with those of carrageenan and ascorbate, which are a conventional binder and antioxidant, respectively. The performance of BPS was similar to that of carrageenan in terms of the cooking yield and texture of the cooked batter. BPS reduced the brightness of fresh patties and appeared to reduce oxidative discolouration during the frozen storage of raw patties. Moreover, BPS reduced the levels of thio-barbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) during the refrigerated and frozen storage of cooked patties. A greater decrease in TBARS formation was observed with 4.5 g BPS/kg compared with 0.5 g sodium ascorbate/kg during refrigerated storage. In contrast to ascorbate, BPS promoted the presence of lipid-derived volatile compounds induced by thermal breakdown in the headspace of cooked patties. Nonetheless, this effect was reduced as the amount of BPS in the patties increased. In cooked minced meat products, BPS could increase cooking yields and lipid oxidative stability during storage and might result in a more intense flavourSID.E. Carballo is grateful for a doctoral grant from CONACYT (MEX/Ref. 288189

    Estudio multicéntrico español PIBHE: prevalencia e inmunización de la infección crónica por el virus de la hepatitis B en pacientes en hemodiálisis en España

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    ResumenIntroducciónEl estudio PIBHE, promovido por la Asociación Española de Hígado y Riñón y el Grupo de Virus en Diálisis de la Sociedad Española de Nefrología, es el primer estudio que determina la situación de los pacientes en hemodiálisis con infección crónica por el VHB y la inmunización frente a la vacuna.MétodoEstudio nacional multicéntrico, observacional, de corte transversal, entre enero de 2013 y de 2014. Se envió un cuaderno de recogida de datos a todos los servicios de nefrología y unidades extrahospitalarias de hemodiálisis de España, para que lo cumplimentaran a partir de la historia clínica del paciente, tras consentimiento informado. Los datos se incluyeron en una base central.ResultadosParticiparon 215 centros (15.645 pacientes), con una prevalencia del VHB del 1,03%. El 7,2% de los pacientes VHB(+) estaba coinfectado por el VHC o VIH. La carga viral era inferior a 2.000 UI/ml en el 80%. Los niveles de GOT y GPT fueron de 19,1±10,1 y 15,9±9,6 UI/ml, respectivamente. La biopsia hepática se había realizado en el 7,1%. El 30% había recibido tratamiento antiviral, que se había suspendido en el 12,5%. El más empleado había sido entecavir (13,3%), seguido de lamivudina (10%), adefovir y tenofovir (6,7%) e interferón (3,3%). El 34,5% era candidato a trasplante renal y el 6,9% no había sido evaluado. Se encontraban en seguimiento por un digestólogo el 64,3%. No había sido vacunado el 27,2% de los pacientes VHB(−) sin inmunización. Se emplearon 14 pautas distintas de vacunación, con un 58,8% de inmunización. La media de anti-HBs se situaba en 165,7±297,8mUI/ml. El 72,7% de los pacientes había recibido un ciclo de vacunación; el 26,4%, 2 ciclos; el 1,0%, 3 ciclos y el 11,6%, una dosis de recuerdo. El 28,3% tuvo una respuesta pobre (anti-HBs 10-99mUI/ml); el 22,4%, una respuesta óptima (anti-HBs 100-999mUI/ml); y el 7,9%, una respuesta excelente (anti-HBs≥1.000mUI/ml). La edad se asoció significativamente con la respuesta a la vacunación, de manera que los pacientes que no respondieron tenían una edad media significativamente mayor que los pacientes que obtuvieron cualquier tipo de respuesta (p<0,05). La mayor probabilidad de conseguir una respuesta inmunitaria se alcanzaba con 4 dosis de 40mcg de vacuna adyuvada (OR: 7,3; IC 95%: 3,4-15,7), a igualdad de edad y número de revacunaciones y recuerdos. La edad, la vacuna adyuvada, la dosis y el esquema de vacunación influían en la respuesta inmunitaria y en el título de anti-HBs alcanzado (p<0,05).ConclusiónLa prevalencia de la infección crónica por el VHB en hemodiálisis en España es baja, así como las tasas de inmunización frente a este virus. Los esquemas de vacunación empleados son muy diversos y se han correlacionado con la respuesta inmunitaria, por lo que sería necesario protocolizar la pauta más eficaz para aumentar la inmunización en estos pacientes.AbstractIntroductionThe PIBHE study, promoted by the Spanish Liver and Kidney Association and the Dialysis Virus Group of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, is the first study to determine the status of haemodialysis patients with chronic HBV infection and the immunisation against the vaccine.MethodThe study has a national multicentre, observational, cross-sectional design and was carried out between January 2013 and 2014. A data collection folder was sent to all the nephrology departments and outpatient haemodialysis units in Spain, to be completed based on patient medical files after informed consent. The data were recorded in a central database.ResultsA total of 215 centres participated (15,645 patients), with an HBV prevalence of 1.03%. HCV or HIV was present in 7.2% of the HBV(+) patients. Viral load was below 2,000 IU/ml in 80%. GOT and GPT levels were 19.1±10.1 and 15.9±9.6 IU/ml, respectively. Liver biopsy was performed in 7.1%. Antiviral treatment was prescribed in 30% and suspended in 12.5%: entecavir (13.3%), lamivudine (10%), adefovir and tenofovir (6.7%), and interferon (3.3%). A total of 34.5% were candidates for renal transplantation and 6.9% had not been evaluated; 64.3% were followed up by a gastroenterologist; 27.2% of HBV(−) patients without immunisation had not been vaccinated. Fourteen different immunisation schedules had been used, with an immunisation rate of 58.8%. Mean anti-HBs stood at 165.7±297.8mIU/ml. A total of 72.7% of patients had received a vaccination course; 26.4%, 2 cycles; 1.0%, 3 cycles; and 11.6%, a booster dose. A total of 28.3% had a poor response (anti-HBs 10-99mIU/ml); 22.4%, an optimal response (anti-HBs 100-999mIU/ml); and 7.9%, an excellent response (anti-HBs ≥ 1,000mIU/ml). Age was significantly associated with response to vaccination; the mean age of nonresponders was significantly higher than patients who had a response of any kind (P<.05). The highest probability of an immune response was achieved with 4 doses of 40 mcg of adjuvanted vaccine (OR: 7.3; 95% CI 3.4 to 15.7), for the same age and number of cycles and boosters. Age, adjuvanted vaccine, dose and vaccination schedule influenced the immune response and the anti-HBs titres reached (P<.05).ConclusionThe prevalence of chronic HBV infection in haemodialysis in Spain is low and so are the rates of immunisation against the virus. The vaccination schedules used are very diverse and have been observed to correlate with the immune response. It would therefore be necessary to establish a protocol for the most effective vaccination schedule to increase immunisation in these patients

    Whole transcription profile of responders to anti-tnf drugs in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

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    Background: Up to 30% of patients with pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) do not respond to anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor (anti-TNF) therapy. The aim of this study was to identify pharmacogenomic markers that predict early response to anti-TNF drugs in pediatric patients with IBD. Methods: An observational, longitudinal, prospective cohort study was conducted. The study population comprised 38 patients with IBD aged 0.6 or <−0.6 and p value < 0.05). After validation, FCGR1A, FCGR1B, and GBP1 were overexpressed in non-responders two weeks after initiation of anti-TNF treatment (Log2FC 1.05, 1.21, and 1.08, respectively, p value < 0.05). Conclusion: Expression of the FCGR1A, FCGR1B, and GBP1 genes is a pharmacogenomic biomarker of early response to anti-TNF agents in pediatric IBDInstituto de Salud Carlos III número de becas PI16 / 00559 y PI19 / 00792Consejería de Educación y Deporte de la Comunidad de Madrid PEJ16 / MED / AI-1260Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias Gregorio Marañón PRE2018-2Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) del Comisión Europe

    Changes in the Microbial Composition of the Rhizosphere of Hop Plants Affected by Verticillium Wilt Caused by Verticillium nonalfalfae

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    This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Root Interaction with Associated Microbiomes[EN] Verticillium wilt is a devastating disease affecting many crops, including hops. This study aims to describe fungal and bacterial populations associated with bulk and rhizosphere soils in a hop field cultivated in Slovenia with the Celeia variety, which is highly susceptible to Verticillium nonalfalfae. As both healthy and diseased plants coexist in the same field, we focused this study on the detection of putative differences in the microbial communities associated with the two types of plants. Bacterial communities were characterized by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene, whereas sequencing of the ITS2 region was performed for fungal communities. The bacterial community was dominated by phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteriota, Bacteroidota, Actinobacteriota, Planctomycetota, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadota, and Verrucomicrobiota, which are typically found in crop soils throughout the world. At a fungal level, Fusarium sp. was the dominant taxon in both bulk and rhizosphere soils. Verticillium sp. levels were very low in all samples analyzed and could only be detected by qPCR in the rhizosphere of diseased plants. The rhizosphere of diseased plants underwent important changes with respect to the rhizosphere of healthy plants where significant increases in potentially beneficial fungi such as the basidiomycetes Ceratobasidium sp. and Mycena sp., the zygomycete Mortierella sp., and a member of Glomeralles were observed. However, the rhizosphere of diseased plants experienced a decrease in pathogenic basidiomycetes that can affect the root system, such as Thanatephorus cucumeris (the teleomorph of Rhizoctonia solani) and Calyptella spSIThis work was financed through a PRIMA grant (Section 2-2021) and is part of the project PCI2022-132966, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN), the State Investigation Agency (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/Recovery Plant, Transformation and Resilience (PRTR). Carla Calvo-Peña was supported by a predoctoral contract from the Junta de Castilla y León (Consejería de Educación) and the European Social Fund. Ana Ibañez was supported by a “Margarita Salas” modality postdoctoral grant (Reference no.: UP2021-025) through the University of León awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities within the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (modernization and digitalization of the educational system), for which funding comes from the European Recovery Instrument European Union—NextGenerationE

    Amino acid substitutions associated with treatment failure of hepatitis C virus infection

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    Trabajo presentado en el XVI Congreso Nacional de Virología, celebrado en Málaga (España) del 06 al 09 de septiembre de 2022.Despite the high sustained virological response rates achieved with current directly-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) against hepatitis C virus (HCV), around 2% to 5% of patients do not achieve such a response. Identification of amino acid substitutions associated with treatment failure requires analytical designs, such as subtype-specific ultra-deep sequencing (UDS) methods for HCV characterization and patient management. By deep sequencing analysis of 220 subtyped HCV samples from infected patients who failed therapy, collected from 39 Spanish hospitals, we determined amino acid sequences of the DAA-target proteins NS3, NS5A and NS5B, by UDS of HCV patient samples, in search of resistanceassociated substitutions (RAS). Using this procedure, we have identified six highly represented amino acid substitutions (HRSs) in NS5A and NS5B of HCV, which are not bona fide RAS. They were present frequently in basal and post-treatment virus of patients who failed therapy to different DAA-based therapies. Contrary to several RAS, HRSs belong to the acceptable subset of substitutions according to the PAM250 replacement matrix. Coherently, their mutant frequency, measured by the number of deep sequencing reads within the HCV quasispecies that encode the relevant substitutions, ranged between 90% and 100% in most cases. Also, they have limited predicted disruptive effects on the threedimensional structures of the proteins harboring them. The information on HRSs that will be gathered during sequencing should be relevant not only to help predict treatment outcomes and disease progression but also to further understand HCV population dynamics, which appears much more complex than thought prior to the introduction of deep sequencing.The work at CBMSO was supported by grants SAF2014-52400-R from MINECO, SAF2017-87846-R and BFU2017-91384-EXP MICIU, PI18/00210 from ISCIII, S2013/ABI-2906 (PLATESA) and S2018/BAA-4370 (PLATESA2) from Comunidad de Madrid/FEDER. C.P. is supported by the Miguel Servet program of the ISCIII (CP14/00121 and CPII19/00001), cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). CIBERehd is funded by ISCIII. Institutional grants from the Fundación Ramón Areces and Banco Santander to the CBMSO are also acknowledged. The team at CBMSO belongs to the Global Virus Network (GVN). The work in Barcelona was supported by ISCIII, cofinanced by ERDF grant number PI19/00301 and by the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) from the MICIU, grant number IDI20151125. Work at CAB was supported by MINECO grant BIO2016-79618R and PID2019-104903RB-I00 (funded by the EU under the FEDER program) and by the Spanish State research agency (AEI) through project number MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”-Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA). Work at IBMB was supported by MICIN grant BIO2017-83906-P (funded by the EU under the FEDER program). C.G.-C. is supported by predoctoral contract PRE2018-083422 from MICIU. B.M.-G. is supported by predoctoral contract PFIS FI19/00119 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo), cofinanced by Fondo Social Europeo (FSE).Peer reviewe

    Disposable Amperometric Polymerase Chain Reaction-Free Biosensor for Direct Detection of Adulteration with Horsemeat in Raw Lysates Targeting Mitochondrial DNA

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    A novel electrochemical disposable nucleic acid biosensor for simple, rapid, and specific detection of adulterations with horsemeat is reported in this work. The biosensing platform involves immobilization of a 40-mer RNA probe specific for a characteristic fragment of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region of horse onto the surface of magnetic microcarriers. In addition, signal amplification was accomplished by using a commercial antibody specific to RNA/ DNA duplexes and a bacterial protein conjugated with a horseradish peroxidase homopolymer (ProtA-HRP40). Amperometric detection at −0.20 V vs Ag pseudoreference electrode was carried out at disposable screen-printed carbon electrodes. The methodology achieved a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.12 pM (3.0 attomoles) for the synthetic target and showed ability to discriminate between raw beef and horsemeat using just 50 ng of total extracted mitochondrial DNA (∼16 660 bp in length) without previous fragmentation. The biosensor also allowed discrimination between 100% raw beef and beef meat samples spiked with only 0.5% (w/w) horse meat (levels established by the European Commission) using raw mitochondrial lysates without DNA extraction or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification in just 75 min. These interesting features made the developed methodology an extremely interesting tool for beef meat screening, and it can be easily adapted to the determination of other meat adulterations by selection of the appropriate specific fragments of the mitochondrial DNA region and capture probes

    SARS-CoV-2 mutant spectra reveal differences between COVID-19 severity categories

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    Trabajo presentado en el XVI Congreso Nacional de Virología, celebrado en Málaga (España) del 06 al 09 de septiembre de 2022.RNA virus populations are composed of complex mixtures of genomes that are termed mutant spectra. SARS-CoV-2 replicates as a viral quasispecies, and mutations that are detected at low frequencies in a host can be dominant in subsequent variants. We have studied mutant spectrum complexities of SARS-CoV-2 populations derived from thirty nasopharyngeal swabs of patients infected during the first wave (April 2020) in the Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz. The patients were classified according to the COVID-19 severity in mild (non-hospitalized), moderate (hospitalized) and exitus (hospitalized with ICU admission and who passed away due to COVID-19). Using ultra-deep sequencing technologies (MiSeq, Illumina), we have examined four amplicons of the nsp12 (polymerase)-coding region and two amplicons of the spike-coding region. Ultra-deep sequencing data were analyzed with different cut-off frequency for mutation detection. Average number of different point mutations, mutations per haplotype and several diversity indices were significantly higher in SARS-CoV-2 isolated from patients who developed mild disease. A feature that we noted in the SARS-CoV-2 mutant spectra from diagnostic samples is the remarkable absence of mutations at intermediate frequencies, and an overwhelming abundance of mutations at frequencies lower than 10%. Thus, the decrease of the cut-off frequency for mutation detection from 0.5% to 0.1% revealed an increasement (50- to 100 fold) in the number of different mutations. The significantly higher frequency of mutations in virus from patients displaying mild than moderate or severe disease was maintained with the 0.1% cut- off frequency. To evaluate whether the frequency repertoire of amino acid substitutions differed between SARS-CoV-2 and the well characterized hepatitis C virus (HCV), we performed a comparative study of mutant spectra from infected patients using the same bioinformatics pipelines. HCV did not show the deficit of intermediate frequency substitutions that was observed with SARS-CoV-2. This difference was maintained when two functionally equivalent proteins, the corresponding viral polymerases, were compared. In conclusion, SARS-CoV-2 mutant spectra are rich reservoirs of mutants, whose complexity is not uniform among clinical isolates. Virus from patients who developed mild disease may be a source of new variants that may acquire epidemiological relevance.This work was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spanish Ministry of Science and In-novation (COVID-19 Research Call COV20/00181), and co-financed by European Development Regional Fund ‘A way to achieve Europe’. The work was also supported by grants CSIC-COV19-014 from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), project 525/C/2021 from Fundació La Marató de TV3, PID2020-113888RB-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, BFU2017-91384-EXP from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU), PI18/00210 and PI21/00139 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and S2018/BAA-4370 (PLATESA2 from Comunidad de Madrid/FEDER). C.P., M.C., and P.M. are supported by the Miguel Servet programme of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CPII19/00001, CPII17/00006, and CP16/00116, respectively) co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). CIBERehd (Centro de Investi-gación en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas) is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Institutional grants from the Fundación Ramón Areces and Banco Santander to the CBMSO are also acknowledged. The team at CBMSO belongs to the Global Virus Network (GVN). B.M.-G. is supported by predoctoral contract PFIS FI19/00119 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo) cofinanced by Fondo Social Europeo (FSE). R.L.-V. is supported by predoctoral contract PEJD-2019-PRE/BMD-16414 from Comunidad de Madrid. C.G.-C. is sup-ported by predoctoral contract PRE2018-083422 from MCIU. BS was supported by a predoctoral research fellowship (Doctorados Industriales, DI-17-09134) from Spanish MINECO
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