An integrated model for computer assisted diagnosis, treatment and design of insoles for the diabetic foot

The incidence of diabetes has increased significantly in recent decades. In Germany, there is an estimate of three million diabetics and this number is growing at a rate of about 2 percent per year. In the U.S.A., the American Diabetes Association estimates that thirteen million people suffer from this condition, representing 5.2 percent of the entire population and every year, some 35 thousand patients have a lower limb amputated. In Latin America, it has been reported that the prevalence of diabetes is of the order of 14 to 20 percent, according to a research conducted by the WHO's Ad Hoc Diabetes Reporting Group. In Colombia, a study by Ashner et al concludes that the prevalence is 7 percent in both sexes

Hunting for the Dark Matter Wake Induced by the Large Magellanic Cloud

Satellite galaxies are predicted to generate gravitational density wakes as they orbit within the dark matter (DM) halos of their hosts, causing their orbits to decay over time. The recent infall of the Milky Way's (MW) most massive satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), affords us the unique opportunity to study this process in action. In this work, we present high-resolution ($m_{dm} = 4 \times 10^4 M_{\odot}$ ) N-body simulations of the MW-LMC interaction over the past 2 Gyr. We quantify the impact of the LMC's passage on the density and kinematics of the MW's DM halo and the observability of these structures in the MW's stellar halo. The LMC is found to generate pronounced Local and Global wakes in both the DM and stellar halos, leads to both local overdensities and distinct kinematic patterns that should be observable with ongoing and future surveys. Specifically, the Global Wake will result in redshifted radial velocities of stars in the North and blueshifts in the South, at distances larger than 45 kpc. The Local Wake traces the orbital path of the LMC through the halo (50-200 kpc), resulting in a stellar overdensity with a distinct, tangential kinematic pattern that persists to the present day. The detection of the MW's halo response will constrain: the infall mass of the LMC and its orbital trajectory, the mass of the MW, and it may inform us about the nature of the dark matter particle itself.Comment: 41 pages, 27 figures. Accepted to ApJ. Some terminology was changed. High-resolution images and figures can be found at https://bit.ly/2S25Yz

Dedicatoria

Dedicatori

Plasma cytokines as potential biomarkers of kidney damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a heterogeneous chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder characterized by an exacerbated expression of cytokines and chemokines in different tissues and organs. Renal involvement is a significant contributor to the morbidity and mortality of systemic lupus erythematosus, and its diagnosis is based on renal biopsy, an invasive procedure with a high risk of complications. Therefore, the development of alternative, non-invasive diagnostic tests for kidney disease in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus is a priority. Aim: To evaluate the plasma levels of a panel of cytokines and chemokines using multiplex xMAP technology in a cohort of Colombian patients with active and inactive systemic lupus erythematosus, and to evaluate their potential as biomarkers of renal involvement. Results: Plasma from 40 systemic lupus erythematosus non-nephritis patients and 80 lupus nephritis patients with different levels of renal involvement were analyzed for 39 cytokines using Luminex xMAP technology. Lupus nephritis patients had significantly increased plasma eotaxin, TNF-a, interleukin-17-a, interleukin-10, and interleukin-15 as compared to the systemic lupus erythematosus non-nephritis group. Macrophage-derived chemokine, growth regulated oncogene alpha, and epidermal growth factor were significantly elevated in systemic lupus erythematosus non-nephritis patients when compared to lupus nephritis individuals. Plasma eotaxin levels allowed a discrimination between systemic lupus erythematosus non-nephritis and lupus nephritis patients, for which we performed a receiver operating characteristic curve to confirm. We observed a correlation of eotaxin levels with active nephritis (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index). Our data indicate that circulating cytokines and chemokines could be considered good predictors of renal involvement in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus

Insertion of T4-lysozyme (T4L) can be a useful tool for studying olfactory-related GPCRs.

The detergents used to solubilize GPCRs can make crystal growth the rate-limiting step in determining their structure. The Kobilka laboratory showed that insertion of T4-lysozyme (T4L) in the 3rd intracellular loop is a promising strategy towards increasing the solvent-exposed receptor area, and hence the number of possible lattice-forming contacts. The potential to use T4L with the olfactory-related receptors hOR17-4 and hVN1R1 was thus tested. The structure and function of native and T4L-variants were compared. Both receptors localized to the cell membrane, and could initiate ligand-activated signaling. Purified receptors not only had the predicted alpha-helical structures, but also bound their ligands canthoxal (MW = 178.23) and myrtenal (MW = 150.22). Interestingly, the T4L variants had higher percentages of soluble monomers compared to protein aggregates, effectively increasing the protein yield that could be used for structural and function studies. They also bound their ligands for longer times, suggesting higher receptor stability. Our results indicate that a T4L insertion may be a general method for obtaining GPCRs suitable for structural studies

Usefulness of sputum gram stain for etiologic diagnosis in community-acquired pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: implementation of sputum Gram stain in the initial assessment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients is still controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the usefulness of sputum Gram stain for defining the etiologic diagnosis of CAP in adult patients. Methods: we systematically searched the Medline, Embase, Science Direct, Scopus and LILACS databases for full-text articles. Relevant studies were reviewed by at least three investigators who extracted the data, pooled them using a random effects model, and carried out quality assessment. For each bacterium (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Gram-negative bacilli), pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios were reported. Results: after a review of 3539 abstracts, 20 articles were included in the present meta-analysis. The studies included yielded 5619 patients with CAP. Pooled sensitivity and pooled specificity of sputum Gram stain were 0.59 (95% CI, 0.56-0.62) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.86-0.89) respectively for S. pneumoniae, 0.78 (95% CI, 0.72-0.84) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94-0.97) for H. influenzae, 0.72 (95% CI, 0.53-0.87) and 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95-0.99) for S. aureus, and 0.64 (95% CI, 0.49-0.77) and 0.99 (95% CI, 0.97-0.99) for Gram-negative bacilli. Conclusion: Sputum Gram stain test is sensitive and highly specific for identifying the main causative pathogens in adult patients with CAP

Dark matter distribution in Milky Way-analog galaxies

Our current understanding of how dark matter (DM) is distributed within the Milky Way (MW) halo, particularly in the solar neighborhood, is based on either careful studies of the local stellar orbits or model assumptions on the global shape of the MW halo. In this work, we undertake a study of external galaxies, with the intent of providing insight to the DM distribution in MW-analog galaxies. For this, we carefully select a sample of galaxies similar to the MW, based on maximum atomic hydrogen (HI) rotational velocity (v=200-280 km s^{-1}) and morphological type (Sab-Sbc) criteria. With a need for deep, highly-resolved HI, our resulting sample is composed of 5 galaxies from the VIVA and THINGS surveys. To perform our baryonic analysis, we use deep Spitzer mid-IR images at 3.6 and 4.5 {\mu}m from the S4G survey. Based on the dynamical three-dimensional modeling software 3D-Barolo, we construct RCs and derive the gas and stellar contributions from the galaxy\'s gaseous- and stellar-disks mass surface density profiles. Through a careful decomposition of their rotation curves into their baryonic (stars, gas) and DM components, we isolate the DM contribution by using an MCMC-based approach. Based on the Sun\'s location and the MW\'s R_{25}, we define the corresponding location of the solar neighborhood in these systems. We put forward a window for the DM density (\rho=0.21-0.46 GeV cm^{-3}) at these galactocentric distances in our MW analog sample, consistent with the values found for the MW\'s local DM density, based on more traditional approaches found in the literature.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Ap

A systematic review of transfer studies in third language acquisition

The present systematic review examines what factors determine when, how and to what extent previous linguistic experience (from the L1, L2 or both languages) affects the initial stages and beyond of adult L3 acquisition. In doing so, we address what a bird’s eye view of the data tells us regarding competing theoretical accounts of L3 morphosyntactic transfer. Data couple together to suggest that some factors are more influential than others. As discussed, the systematic review transcends the field of adult multilingualism precisely because of what it reveals, as a prima facie example in behavioral research, in terms of how different types of methodological considerations impact the way data are interpreted to support or not particular claims