Exercises using a touchscreen tablet application improved functional ability more than an exercise program prescribed on paper in people after surgical carpal tunnel release: a randomised trial

Question: In people who have undergone surgical carpal tunnel release, do sensorimotor-based exercises performed on the touchscreen of a tablet device improve outcomes more than a conventional home exercise program prescribed on paper? Design: Randomised, parallel-group trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding, and intention-to-treat analysis. Participants: Fifty participants within 10 days of surgical carpal tunnel release. Intervention: Each participant was prescribed a 4-week home exercise program. Participants in the experimental group received the ReHand tablet application, which administered and monitored exercises via the touchscreen. The control group was prescribed a home exercise program on paper, as is usual practice in the public hospital system. Outcome measures: The primary outcome was functional ability of the hand, reported using the shortened form of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) questionnaire. Secondary outcomes were grip strength, pain intensity measured on a 10-cm visual analogue scale, and dexterity measured with the Nine-Hole Peg Test. Outcomes were measured by a blinded assessor at baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention period. Results: At Week 4, functional ability improved significantly more in the experimental group than the control group (MD –21, 95% CI –33 to –9) on the QuickDASH score (0 to 100). Although the mean estimates of effect on the secondary outcome also all favoured the experimental group, none reached statistical significance: grip strength (MD 5.6 kg, 95% CI –0.5 to 11.7), pain (MD –1.4 cm, 95% CI –2.9 to 0.1), and dexterity (MD –1.3 seconds, 95% CI –3.7 to 1.1). Conclusion: Use of the ReHand tablet application for early rehabilitation after carpal tunnel release is more effective in the recovery of functional ability than a conventional home exercise program. It remains unclear whether there are any benefits in grip strength, pain or dexterity. Trial registration: ACTRN12618001887268

Afectación tumoral del sistema nervioso periférico

Se han estudiado 18 pacientes con afectación del S.N.P. por lesiones tumorales tratados en nuestra unidad en un período de 8 años. La mayoría de estos tumores tenían una localización intraneural (14 casos), eran de naturaleza benigna (13 casos) y afectaban al miembro superior. La prueba diagnóstica más exacta fue la R.M.N. Destacamos la existencia en nuestra seria de algunos tumores de rara presentación en la clínica, como un caso de fibrolipoma, condroma intraneural y neurosarcoma de la variedad "Tritón", respectivamente.Eighteen patients who had tumours of peripheral nerves have been studied retrospectively. They were treated in our department for eight years. Most of these tumours were placed intraneuraly (14 cases), were benignant (13 cases), and located in the upper limb. The most precise test for diagnosis was the MRI. We want to emphasize the existence in our series of some tumours which rarely appears in clinic, for example a Fibrolipoma, a intraneural chondroma and a malignant triton tumour

Sinovitis villonodular pigmentada difusa: Revisión de 13 casos

Se hace un estudio retrospectivo de trece pacientes con Sinovitis Villonodular pigmentada, seis localizadas en la rodilla, dos en la muñeca y pie, y uno en tobillo, cadera y codo respectivamente. En cinco de los casos existía una afectación del hueso. Se hace una revisión bibliográfica sobre la etiopatogenia, radiología, métodos diagnósticos y tratamientoA retrospective study of thirteen patients with pigmented villonodular synovitis was made. Six cases were localized in the knee, two in the wrist and feet, and one in ankle, hip and elbow. Five case showed bone invasion, the pathogenesis, radiographical appearance, diagnosis and treatment are discussed

Adaptation of urban uses of environmental characteristics: A case study of La Safor, Valencia, Spain

[EN] In the 1990s a methodology was developed to apply the concept of land aptitude to urban plans. This methodology was based on the concepts of capacity and vulnerability in the face of different urban uses (e.g. residential use, industrial use and strategic facilities). The methodology was implemented thanks to geographical information systems (GIS) mapping of available cartography. In recent years, the available cartography has increased in quantity and in spatial resolution. Also, urban planning and environmental legislation have evolved. In this study, we propose a methodological update to incorporate all these changes. The updated methodology is applied to La Safor (Valencia, Spain), which is a region composed of 31 municipalities. La Safor is a model case study because of its characteristics that makes it representative of both coastal and inner areas. Our results point out the need to incorporate legal constraints to the methodology. Including climate adaptation is also essential for strategic urbanism and to accomplish environmental requirements. The methodology presented can be defined as an integrated assessment tool necessary for sustainable development and minimizing environmental risks.Altur Grau, VJ.; Aguilar-Maldonado, JA.; Sebastiá-Frasquet, M.; Miralles García, JL. (2019). Adaptation of urban uses of environmental characteristics: A case study of La Safor, Valencia, Spain. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment (Online). 238:187-198. https://doi.org/10.2495/SC190171S18719823

Instalación de calor solar de proceso en una fábrica de corcho extremeña

CIES2020 - XVII Congresso Ibérico e XIII Congresso Ibero-americano de Energia SolarRESUMEN: En Extremadura se produce 1/3 de la producción total de corcho de España. La mayor parte de este corcho se destina a la fabricación de tapones de corcho natural. En el proceso de fabricación de los tapones, el corcho natural tiene que ser cocido para que se vuelva más flexible. Durante el cocido, el corcho se sumerge en agua a 99 - 100 ºC. Generalmente este agua se calienta mediante un quemador de pellets. En este trabajo se describe la instalación de concentración solar ubicada en la corchera Natural Cork. Esta instalación genera agua caliente para el proceso de cocido de la corchera. Esta instalación se ha probado durante la temporada de cocido de 2019-2020 consiguiendo aportar el agua de cocido de caldera desde los depósitos de almacenamiento de la planta.ABSTRACT: 1/3 of the total cork production in Spain is produced in Extremadura. Most of this cork is used to make cork stoppers. In the process of making cork stoppers, the cork has to be boiled to make it more flexible. During boiling, the cork is immersed in water at 99-100 ºC. This water is usually heated by a pellet burner in a boiler. This work describes a solar plant located in the cork factory Natural Cork. This installation provides hot water for the cork boiling process. This installation has been successfully tested during the 2019-2020 cork boiling season, managing to supply the boiler hot water from the plant's storage tanks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis with AQP4 antibodies revealing ovarian teratoma.

Paraneoplastic myelitis is a rare inflammatory disorder most frequently associated with solid tumors or lymphoproliferative disorders. Patients often harbor onconeuronal antibodies and their prognosis is usually poor. Here we report a 42-year old woman with longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis and aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibodies that led to the diagnosis of ovarian teratoma. After tumor removal and immune therapy (including corticosteroids, plasma exchange, intravenous immunoglobulins and rituximab) the patient progressively improved achieving complete recovery. Histological study of the teratoma demonstrated neural tissue containing AQP4 expressing cells and intense inflammatory infiltrates, providing evidence for a possible paraneoplastic link between both disorders

Quantifying the Production of Fruit-Bearing Trees Using Image Processing Techniques

[EN] In recent years, the growth rate of world agricultural production and crop yields have decreased. Crop irrigation becomes essential in very dry areas and where rainfall is scarce, as in Egypt. Persimmon needs low humidity to obtain an optimal crop. This article proposes the monitoring of its performance, in order to regulate the amount of water needed for each tree at any time. In our work we present a technique that consists of obtaining images of some of the trees with fruit, which are subsequently treated, to obtain reliable harvest data. This technique allows us to have control and predictions of the harvest. Also, we present the results obtained in a first trial, through which we demonstrate the feasibility of using the system to meet the objectives set. We use 5 different trees in our experiment. Their fruit production is different (between 20 and 47kg of fruit). The correlation coefficient of the obtained regression model is 0.97.This work has been partially supported by European Union through the ERANETMED (Euromediterranean Cooperation through ERANET joint activities and beyond) project ERANETMED3-227 SMARTWATIR by the Conselleria de Educación, Cultura y Deporte with the Subvenciones para la contratación de personal investigador en fase postdoctoral, grant number APOSTD/2019/04, and by the Cooperativa Agrícola Sant Bernat Coop.V.García, L.; Parra-Boronat, L.; Basterrechea-Chertudi, DA.; Jimenez, JM.; Rocher-Morant, J.; Parra-Boronat, M.; García-Navas, JL.... (2019). Quantifying the Production of Fruit-Bearing Trees Using Image Processing Techniques. IARIA XPS Press. 14-19. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/180619S141

Design of a WSN for smart irrigation in citrus plots with fault-tolerance and energy-saving algorithms

[EN] Wireless sensor networks are widely used for monitoring different processes, including agriculture, in order to reach sustainability. One of the keys to sustainable crops is water saving. In particular, saving water is extremely important in arid and semiarid regions. In those regions, citrus trees are cultivated, and drip irrigation is used to save water. In this paper, we propose a smart irrigation system for citrus trees using a WSN. We describe the employed sensors and nodes for this proposal. Next, we present the proposed architecture and the operational algorithms for the nodes. Moreover, we designed different algorithms for fault tolerance and energy saving functionalities. The energy saving algorithm is based on the relevance of the gathered data, which is analyzed in order to consider whether the information should be forwarded or not. A TPC-based protocol is proposed to perform the communication among the nodes of our system. In addition, we present different simulations of the proposed system. Particularly, we show the consumed bandwidth and the remaining energy in the different nodes. Finally, we test different energy configurations to evaluate the network lifetime and the remaining energy when the first node depletes its energy.This work has been partially supported by the “Conselleria d' Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport” through the “Subvenciones para la contratación de personal investigator de carácter predoctoral (Convocatoria 2017)” Grant number ACIF/2017/069, by the “Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte”, through the “Ayudas para contratacion predoctoral de Formación del Profesorado Universitario FPU (Convocatoria 2014)”. Grant number FPU14/02953 and finally, the research leading to these results has received funding from “la Caixa” Foundation and Triptolemos Foundation. This work has also been partially supported by European Union through the ERANETMED (Euromediterranean Cooperation through ERANET joint activities and beyond) project ERANETMED3-227 SMARTWATIR.Parra-Boronat, L.; Rocher-Morant, J.; García-García, L.; Lloret, J.; Tomás Gironés, J.; Romero Martínez, JO.; Rodilla, M.... (2018). Design of a WSN for smart irrigation in citrus plots with fault-tolerance and energy-saving algorithms. Network Protocols and Algorithms. 10(2):95-115. https://doi.org/10.5296/npa.v10i2.13205S9511510

CARB-ES-19 Multicenter Study of Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli From All Spanish Provinces Reveals Interregional Spread of High-Risk Clones Such as ST307/OXA-48 and ST512/KPC-3

ObjectivesCARB-ES-19 is a comprehensive, multicenter, nationwide study integrating whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in the surveillance of carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (CP-Kpn) and E. coli (CP-Eco) to determine their incidence, geographical distribution, phylogeny, and resistance mechanisms in Spain.MethodsIn total, 71 hospitals, representing all 50 Spanish provinces, collected the first 10 isolates per hospital (February to May 2019); CPE isolates were first identified according to EUCAST (meropenem MIC > 0.12 mg/L with immunochromatography, colorimetric tests, carbapenem inactivation, or carbapenem hydrolysis with MALDI-TOF). Prevalence and incidence were calculated according to population denominators. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the microdilution method (EUCAST). All 403 isolates collected were sequenced for high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing, core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST), and resistome analysis.ResultsIn total, 377 (93.5%) CP-Kpn and 26 (6.5%) CP-Eco isolates were collected from 62 (87.3%) hospitals in 46 (92%) provinces. CP-Kpn was more prevalent in the blood (5.8%, 50/853) than in the urine (1.4%, 201/14,464). The cumulative incidence for both CP-Kpn and CP-Eco was 0.05 per 100 admitted patients. The main carbapenemase genes identified in CP-Kpn were blaOXA–48 (263/377), blaKPC–3 (62/377), blaVIM–1 (28/377), and blaNDM–1 (12/377). All isolates were susceptible to at least two antibiotics. Interregional dissemination of eight high-risk CP-Kpn clones was detected, mainly ST307/OXA-48 (16.4%), ST11/OXA-48 (16.4%), and ST512-ST258/KPC (13.8%). ST512/KPC and ST15/OXA-48 were the most frequent bacteremia-causative clones. The average number of acquired resistance genes was higher in CP-Kpn (7.9) than in CP-Eco (5.5).ConclusionThis study serves as a first step toward WGS integration in the surveillance of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in Spain. We detected important epidemiological changes, including increased CP-Kpn and CP-Eco prevalence and incidence compared to previous studies, wide interregional dissemination, and increased dissemination of high-risk clones, such as ST307/OXA-48 and ST512/KPC-3