Use of cardiovascular events prediction models for the prognosis of a severe coronary artery lesion

Objetivos: Determinar el mejor punto de corte y el grado de conformidad de las escalas de riesgo, Framingham, PROCAM y Reynolds, para el diagnóstico de lesión vascular coronaria arte- rioesclerótica severa a través de la comparación de las áreas bajo la curva de acuerdo con las curvas operativas del receptor (COR). Métodos: Estudio de corte transversal en adultos que fueron sometidos a arteriografía corona- ria. Se aplicaron las escalas Framingham, PROCAM y Reynolds, las dos primeras ajustadas según estudio de calibración colombiano. Luego se realizó la recolección de los datos de manera concurrente en instituciones de referencia en cardiología y hemodinámica en Bogotá. Resultados: De 200 pacientes estudiados, 66% eran mujeres, 37,5% mayores de 70 a ̃nos, 53,2% con hipertensión, 52,7% en sobrepeso u obesidad, 61,5% presentaron valores altos de Proteína C Reactiva ultrasensible (PCRus) y 50% tenían al menos una lesión coronaria mayor de 70%. Se encontraron los mejores puntos de corte, de acuerdo con cada curva de características operativas del receptor (COR): Framingham ajustado 5,8% (sensibilidad 80%, especificidad 41%). PROCAM ajustado 1,7% (sensibilidad 78%, especificidad 45%) y Reynolds 3,8% (sensibilidad 68%, especificidad 45%). Adicionalmente, se encontró que las tres escalas presentaron áreas bajo la curva (ABC) de 0,59, 0,59 y 0,57, respectivamente.Q4Objectives: To determine the best cut-off point and the level of agreement of the Framingham, PROCAM, and Reynolds risk scales, for the diagnosis of a severe atherosclerotic coronary artery lesion by comparing the areas under the receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curves. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on adults that were subjected to coronary angiography. The Framingham, PROCAM, and Reynolds were applied, with the first two adjus- ted to a Colombian calibration study. Data were collected concurrently in the institutions of reference in Cardiology and haemodynamics in Bogota. Results: Of the 200 patients study, 66% were female, and 37.5% greater than 70 years-old. Hypertension was recorded in 53.2%, and overweight and obesity in 52.7%. Elevated levels of high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hsCRP) were observed in 61.5% of cases and 50% had at least one major coronary lesion greater than 70%. The best cut-off points according to each of the ROC curves: Adjusted Framingham, 5.8% (sensitivity, 80%, specificity, 41%), Adjusted PROCAM, 1.7% (sensitivity, 78%, specificity, 45%) and Reynolds, 3.8% (sensitivity, 68%, specificity, 45%). Additionally, the three areas under the curve (AUC) were 0.59, 0.59, and 0.57, respectively.Revista Nacional - Indexad

Design of service robots: Experiences using software engineering

This article relates our experiences over the last 15 years in the development of robotic applications within the field of service robotics, using the techniques proposed by software engineering. The process began with domain engineering and reference architectures, moved on to component-oriented development, and currently centered on model-driven design. One of the key problems in software development for robotic systems is that the possibilities of reusing software in new applications are frequently limited. This means that we are forced over and over to solve the same problems starting practically from zero every time. The possible causes of this include the following: 1) robotics specialists normally concentrate more on developing algorithms and the way to solve concrete problems than on organizing the software; 2) lack of good standards for the development of robotic software and implementations of these standards; 3) the case studies conducted to demonstrate the viability of software engineering techniques traditionally deal with information management systems; and 4) the robotics community see software engineering not as a solution but as another problem that adds complexity to already complex problems. This research has helped to demonstrate the viability of using software engineering techniques in real industrial applications, albeit using academic tools that cannot readily be accepted by industry.This work has been supported by EU and Spanish Government research programmes: 5th FP (GROWTH G3RD-CT-00794), CICYT-FEDER Program (MEDWSA, TIN2006-15175-C05- 02). Additional funds have been supplied by the Government of Murcia (Fundación Séneca) and the Spanish Ministry of Industry (PROFIT programs)

Uso de las TIC en secundaria: una experiencia basada en robots LEGO y Web- Blog

[SPA] El artículo describe una experiencia docente realizada con un grupo de estudiantes de educación secundaria (3º ESO) basada en la resolución de problemas mediante la programación de robots LEGO y en la creación de un Web-blog. El artículo describe las actividades realizadas por los alumnos, y analiza su rendimiento académico, motivación y grado de satisfacción. Las actividades descritas han sido diseñadas tratando de seguir buenas prácticas docentes y teniendo muy en cuenta las competencias básicas de los alumnos. Se describen las lecciones aprendidas durante la experiencia. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran la eficacia de los medios TIC para aumentar el rendimiento y la satisfacción de los alumnos en las materias consideradas, así como las dificultades asociadas a su uso.[ENG] The article describes an educational experience carried out with a group of high school students (3rd ESO). The experience is based on problem solving by programming LEGO robots and on the creation of a Web-Blog. The article describes the activities performed by students and analyzes their academic performance, motivation and satisfaction. The activities described have been designed trying to follow good teaching practices and taking into account the basic skills of the students. Lessons learned from the experience are also described. The results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of ICT means to increase the performance and satisfaction of students in the considered subjects as well as difficulties associated with their use

Portable single-lead electrocardiogram device is accurate for QTc evaluation in hospitalized patients

Q1Background: Many commonly used drugs can prolong the QTc interval (QTc), which can lead to potentially life-threatening arrhythmias. In the current era of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is worth mentioning that the disease itself and several drugs used for its treatment have been associated with QTc prolongation. Objective: To evaluate the agreement and clinical precision of a portable single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) device to measure the QTc interval compared to the standard 12-lead ECG. Methods: In sequential tests, QTc of ECG recordings obtained with the KardiaMobile (KM-1L) device (AliveCor, San Francisco, CA) were compared to QTc obtained with conventional 12-lead ECG. Agreement was evaluated using Bland-Altman plots and Lin's concordance coefficient. Consistency between the 2 devices in determining QTc prolongation (QTc ≥470 ms in males or ≥480 ms in females) was evaluated with kappa statistics. Results: A total of 128 patients with a presumed or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to a university hospital were included. QTc intervals measured with KM-1L were similar to QTc measured with conventional ECG (442.45 ± 40.5 vs 441.65 ± 40.3 ms, P = .15). Bland-Altman analysis showed no significant difference in QTc values (average difference of -0.797, 95% limits of agreement:-13.179; 11.585). Lin's concordance coefficient showed an excellent agreement (0.988, P 0.90). Conclusion: ECG recordings obtained with KM-1L allow an accurate QTc interval assessment. Considering its simplicity of use, this approach has advantages over conventional ECG and can provide an alternative for the evaluation of QTc in hospitalized patients, during the current time of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.Revista Internacional - Indexad

Leigh syndrome associated with TRMU gene mutations

Insuficiència hepàtica aguda: Síndrome de Leigh; TRMUInsuficiencia hepática aguda; Síndrome de Leigh; TRMUAcute liver failure; Leigh syndrome; TRMUtRNA 5-methylaminomethyl-2-thiouridylate methyltransferase (TRMU) deficiency causes an early onset potentially reversible acute liver failure, so far reported in less than 30 patients. We describe two new unrelated patients with an acute liver failure and a neuroimaging compatible with Leigh syndrome (LS) due to TRMU deficiency, a combination not previously reported. Our report enlarges the phenotypical spectrum of TRMU disease.This work was partially supported by the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias and cofounded with ERDF funds (Grant No. FIS PI15/01428, PI19/01772)

A cost-effective robotic solution for the cleaning of ships' hulls

Hull cleaning before repainting is a key operation in the maintenance of ships. For more than a decade, a means to improve this operation has been sought through robotization and the use of different techniques such as grit blasting and ultra high pressure water jetting. Despite this, it continues to be standard practice in shipyards that this process is carried out manually. This paper presents a family of robots that aims to offer important improvements to the process as well as satisfying, to a great extent, all the operative requirements of efficiency, security, and respect for the environment that shipyards nowadays demand. It is described the family of devices with emphasis on the mechanical design. This set consists of two vertical robotic towers and a robot climber. In addition, it is shown the control architecture of the global system. Finally, operative results are presented together with a comparison between the performance achieved in shipyards through the use of these robots and those obtained with a manual process.The work submitted here has been developed within the framework of the “EFTCoR: Environmentally Friendly and Cost-Effective Technology for Coating Removal (EFTCoR)” project, Fifth Frame Programme of the European Community (ref. GRD2-2001-50004). It has also received financing from the Spanish government (national plan of I + D + I, PET 2008-0131 and MEDWSA-TIN2006-5175-CO5-O2) and from the Government of the Region of Murcia (Séneca Foundation)

Open Data Consumption Through the Generation of Disposable Web APIs

The ever-growing amount of information in today’s world has led to the publication of more and more open data, i.e., that which is available in a free and reusable manner, on the Web. Open data is considered highly valuable in situational scenarios, in which thematic data is required for a short life cycle by a small group of consumers with specific needs. In this context, data consumers (developers or data scientists) need mechanisms with which to easily assess whether the data is adequate for their purpose. SPARQL endpoints have become very useful for the consumption of open data, but we argue that its steep learning curve hampers open data reuse in situational scenarios. In order to overcome this pitfall, in this paper, we coin the term disposable Web APIs as an alternative mechanism for the consumption of open data in situational scenarios. Disposable Web APIs are created on-the-fly to be used temporarily by a user to consume open data. In this paper we specifically describe an approach with which to leverage semantic information from data sources so as to automatically generate easy-to-use disposable Web APIs that can be used to access open data in a situational scenario, thus avoiding the complexity and learning curve of SPARQL and the effort of manually processing the data. We have conducted several experiments to discover whether non-experienced users find it easier to use our disposable Web API or a SPARQL endpoint to access open data. The results of the experiments led us to conclude that, in a situational scenario, it is easier and faster to use the Web API than the corresponding SPARQL endpoint in order to consume open data.This work was supported in part by the Access@City coordinated Research Project through the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under Grant TIN2016-78103-C2-1-R and Grant TIN2016-78103-C2-2-R; in part by the Plataforma intensiva en datos proveedora de servicios inteligentes de movilidad (MoviDA) Project through Rey Juan Carlos University; and in part by the Recolección y publicación de datos abiertos para la reactivación del sector turístico postCOVID-19 (UAPOSTCOVID19-10) Project through the Consejo Social of the University of Alicante. The work of César González-Mora was supported in part by the Generalitat Valenciana, and in part by the European Social Fund under Grant ACIF/2019/044

Eficacia de las alternativas de tratamiento para mucositis periimplantar y periimplantitis. Revisión sistemática.

147 p.INTRODUCCIÓN: La enfermedad periimplantar (EPI) es la complicación de los implantes dentales (ID) más frecuente y difícil de tratar. Estas corresponden a mucositis periimplantar (MP) y periimplantitis (PI). No existe consenso sobre cuál es el tratamiento más eficaz para la EPI. OBJETIVO: Evaluar la eficacia de los tratamientos para MP y PI, en base a parámetros clínicos y radiográficos, según la literatura publicada en los últimos 10 años. MATERIALES Y METODOS: Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática de la literatura del periodo Enero 2008 - Noviembre 2018, en Web of Knowledge, PubMed y ProQuest, usando la declaración PRISMA para su elaboración. Se incluyó todos los artículos con título y resumen en inglés, que incluyeran pacientes con diagnóstico de PI y/o MP, con diseños de estudio: revisión sistemática con o sin meta-análisis, estudio de cohorte, estudio de caso y control o ensayo clínico. Se excluyó estudios en animales, estudios que incluyeran pacientes con enfermedad sistémica y/o fumadores o que correspondieran a reporte de caso, serie de casos, estudios pilotos o revisiones narrativas de la literatura. Se analizó los parámetros clínicos: sangrado al sondaje y /o supuración, profundidad al sondaje, además del parámetro radiográfico nivel óseo periimplantar, en un tiempo basal y en un periodo de seguimiento de 3 meses y 6 meses. Se realizó una evaluación de la calidad metodológica y sesgo, con las herramientas del programa CASPe. RESULTADOS: Se incluyó 5 ensayos clínicos controlados y 4 revisiones sistemáticas, siendo 8 estudios de calidad metodológica alta y 1 moderada. Se obtuvo diferencias en la definición del diagnóstico, parámetros clínicos, falta de evaluación radiográfica en un tiempo basal y con periodo de seguimiento. CONCLUSIONES: Al comparar la eficacia de los tratamientos complementarios al tratamiento convencional con el tratamiento convencional por sí solo, en pacientes con EPI, se obtuvo que hasta la fecha el tratamiento más eficaz para MP es el debridamiento mecánico y para PI, el acceso quirúrgico. PALABRAS CLAVE: Enfermedad periimplantar, periimplantitis, mucositis periimplantar, tratamiento convencional, tratamiento complementario./ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Peri-implant disease (EPI) is the most frequent and difficult to treat complication of the dental implant (ID). EPIs correspond to peri-implant mucositis (MP) and peri-implantitis (PI). There is no consensus on which is the most effective treatment for EPI. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of the treatment alternatives for MP and PI, based on clinical and radiographic parameters, according to the literature published in the last 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search was made of the literature between January 2008 - November 2018, in Web of Knowledge, PubMed and ProQuest, using the PRISMA statement for its elaboration. All the articles with title and summary in English were included. Patients with MP and / or PI, from systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis, cohort studies, case-control studies or clinical trials, were included Studies carried out in animals were excluded, studies that included patients with systemic and / or smokers, or that corresponded to case reports, case series, pilot studies or narrative reviews of the literature. The clinical parameters were analyzed: bleeding on probing and / or suppuration, probing depth, in addition to the peri-implant radiographic bone level parameter, at a baseline time and in a follow-up period of 3 months and 6 months. An evaluation of the methodological quality and bias was made, with the tools of the CASPe program. RESULTS: 5 controlled clinical trials and 4 systematic reviews were included, with 8 studies of high methodological quality and 1 of moderate methodological quality. Differences were obtained regarding the definition of the diagnosis, clinical parameters, lack of radiographic evaluation in a baseline time and in a follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: When comparing the efficacy of treatments complementary to conventional treatment with conventional treatment alone, in patients with EPI, it was found that to date the most effective treatment for MP is mechanical debridement and for PI, surgical access. KEY WORDS: Peri-implant disease, peri-implantitis, peri-implant mucositis, conventional treatment, complementary treatment

Four-channel self-compensating single-slope ADC for space environments

A multichannel high-resolution single-slope analogue-to-digital converter (SS ADC) is presented that automatically compensates for process, voltage and temperature variations, as well as for radiation effects, in order to be used in extreme environmental conditions. The design combines an efficient implementation by using a feedback loop that ensures an inherently monotonic and very accurate ramp generation, with high levels of configurability in terms of resolution and conversion rate, as well as input voltage range. The SS ADC was designed in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology. Experimental measurements of the performance and stability against radiation and temperature are presented to verify the proposed approach

A Front-End ASIC for a 3-D Magnetometer for Space Applications by Using Anisotropic Magnetoresistors

This paper presents an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) aimed for an alternative design of a digital 3-D magnetometer for space applications, with a significant reduction in mass and volume while maintaining a high sensitivity. The proposed system uses magnetic field sensors based on anisotropic magnetoresistances and a rad-hard mixed-signal ASIC designed in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology. The ASIC performs sensor-signal conditioning and analogue-to-digital conversion, and handles calibration tasks, system configuration, and communication with the outside. The proposed system provides high sensitivity to low magnetic fields, down to 3 nT, while offering a small and reliable solution under extreme environmental conditions in terms of radiation and temperature.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación AYA2011-29967-C05-05, AYA2009-14212-C05-04, AYA2008-06420-C04-0