Close2U: An App for Monitoring Cancer Patients with Enriched Information from Interaction Patterns

The management of cancer patients'' symptoms in doctor consultations is a cornerstone in clinical care, this process being fundamental for the follow-up of the evolution of these. This article presents an application that allows collecting periodically and systematically the data of cancer patients and their visualization by the medical team. In this article, we made the analysis, design, implementation, and final evaluation by analyzing the correlation of this data collection with interaction patterns to determine how the user information can be enriched with information from the interaction patterns. We have followed an agile methodology based on the iterative and incremental development of successive prototypes with increased fidelity, where the requirements and solutions have evolved over time according to the need and assessments made. The comprehensive analysis of the patient''s condition allowed us to perform a first analysis of the correlation of the states of patients concerning mood, sleeping quality, and pain with the interaction patterns. A future goal of this project is to optimize the process of data collection and the analysis of information. Another future goal is to reduce the time dedicated to reporting the evolution of symptoms in face-to-face consultations and to help professionals in analyzing the patient''s evolution even in the period that has not been attended in person

Application of the microarray technology to the transcriptional analysis of muscle phenotypes in pigs

The transcriptome refers to the collection of all transcripts present in a cell. Gene expression has a very dynamic nature; it acts as a bridge between epigenetic marks, DNA sequence and proteins and changes to accommodate the requirements of the cell at each given time. Recent technological advances have created new opportunities to study complex phenotypes from a global point of view. From an animal production perspective, muscle transcriptomics has been investigated in relation to muscle growth, carcass fattening and meat quality traits. In this review, we discuss the impact of nutritional, anatomical and genetic factors on muscle gene expression and meat quality of pigs assessed by microarray technologies. Altogether, several common themes have been revealed by the in-depth analysis of the current body of knowledge, for instance, the involvement of genes related to energy balance and substrate turnover in the oxidative/glycolytic phenotype of red/white muscle fibre types and in the storage of intramuscular fat. The review also covers recent advances in the discovery of expression QTL and regulatory RNAs in porcine breeds as well as technical developments in the field of deep-sequencing technologies that are expected to substantially increase our knowledge about the genetic architecture of meat quality and production traits

Associations between pig adiponectin (ADIPOQ) genotype and serum lipid levels are modulated by age-specific modifiers

The adiponectin (ADIPOQ) locus is a positional and functional candidate gene for 2 porcine chromosome 13 (SSC13) QTL influencing cholesterol (CHOL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) concentrations in 190-d-old pigs. By sequencing 2.37 kb of the pig ADIPOQ cDNA, we have identified 1 c.*1512G > T 3′ untranslated region polymorphism that has been genotyped in a Duroc pig commercial population with records for serum lipid levels at 45 and 190 d of age. Statistical analysis of the data have revealed significant associations between the ADIPOQ genotype and CHOL (P = 0.0040) and LDL (P = 0.0011) concentrations at 190 d but not at 45 d. In family 3, most of the SSC13 QTL effects on LDL levels at 190 d were explained by the ADIPOQ genotype. We also found an association with triglyceride levels at 45 d (P = 0.0060) but not at 190 d. Measurement of allelic mRNA imbalance demonstrated that the G and T alleles are expressed at very similar levels at muscle and fat tissues, indicating that the c.*1512G > T polymorphism does not affect transcript abundance. As a whole, results obtained in the current work as well as previous data gathered in humans and pigs provide[AU: please confirm change] evidence that the magnitude of associations between blood lipid phenotypes and candidate loci genotypes may vary depending on the age of the individual, therefore suggesting the existence of dynamic genotype × environment interactions changing on a temporal scaleThis work has been funded by grants AGL2007-66707-C02, AGL2010- 22208-C02-01, and AGL2010-22208-C02-02 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) and CSD 2007-00036 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Consolider Ingenio 2010 Program). The authors are indebted to Selección Batallé S.A. for providing the animal material and for their cooperation in the experimental protocol. D. Gallardo and C. Melo were funded with fellowships from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo, respectively. A. Zidi received a contractual grant under the framework of CSD 2007-0003

Hacia la excelencia en la docencia de producción animal: empleo de técnicas de aprendizaje activo para la gestión integral de explotaciones ganaderas

El objetivo de este Proyecto de Innovación Docente es crear un equipo de trabajo orientado al desarrollo de metodologías de aprendizaje activo para la gestión de explotaciones ganaderas en la ETS de Ingenierías Agrarias de la Universidad de Valladolid (Campus de Palencia). Se pretende que los alumnos adquieran la competencia en gestión de explotaciones ganaderas desde un enfoque profesional. Se incluye una guía para el manejo del programa GID (MSD Animal Health), un modelo de informe técnico profesional y la rúbrica de evaluación del informeDepartamento de Ciencias Agroforestale

Thermodynamic Parameters of Adsorption from Systems Activated Carbon Chlordiazepoxide and Activated Carbon-Diazepam Parámetros termodinámicos de adsorción de los sistemas carbón activado-clordiazepóxido y carbón activado-diazepam

Resumen Se estudian los parámetros termodinámicos de la adsorción de clordiazepóxido y diazepam en seis carbonos activados: Norit B, BDH, Merck, Panreac, M1 y M, en fluido gástrico simulado. Los materiales se caracterizan por: FTIR, pHzpc y adsorción de N 2 a 77 K. La porosidad fue interpretada por las ecuaciones de Dubinin-Radushkevich y BET. Los resultados muestran la relación entre el aumento de la temperatura, las características de cada adsorbente y el comportamiento de estos fármacos. Los valores positivos de todas las entalpías isostéricas de adsorción determinadas a partir de la pendiente de Van 't Hoff (R 2 > 97), indican la naturaleza endotérmica del proceso de adsorción, así como la ∆G < 0 con el incremento de la temperatura. La ∆G < 0 en todos los casos explica el carácter espontáneo del proceso de adsorción. Los valores positivos ∆S dejan claramente que la aleatoriedad se incrementó en la interfaz sólido-solución durante el proceso de adsorción. Palabras clave: carbón activado, adsorción, parámetros termodinámicos. Abstract It is study the thermodynamic parameters of chlordiazepoxide and diazepam drugs adsorbed onto six activated carbons: Norit B, BDH, Merck, Panreac, M1 and M, from simulated gastric fluid at pH 1,2 for 4 h were characterized by FTIR, pH zpc, and adsorption of N 2 to 77 K. The results of porosity were interpreted with the Dubinin-Radushkevich's models and BET' equation. By UV visible spectra residual drugs were monitored. The results show relationship between: increased of temperature, the characteristics of each adsorbent and the behavior of these drugs in acid solution. The positive values of all the isosteric adsorption enthalpies determined from the slope Van't Hoff plot (R 2 > 97), indicate the nature endothermic process of adsorption. The ∆G<0 in all cases explained the spontaneous character of the adsorption process and the positive values of ∆S state clearly that the randomness increased at the solidsolution interface during adsorption process

Pathological Features in Paediatric Patients with TK2 Deficiency

Thymidine kinase (TK2) deficiency causes mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. We aimed to report the clinical, biochemical, genetic, histopathological, and ultrastructural features of a cohort of paediatric patients with TK2 deficiency. Mitochondrial DNA was isolated from muscle biopsies to assess depletions and deletions. The TK2 genes were sequenced using Sanger sequencing from genomic DNA. All muscle biopsies presented ragged red fibres (RRFs), and the prevalence was greater in younger ages, along with an increase in succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity and cytochrome c oxidase (COX)-negative fibres. An endomysial inflammatory infiltrate was observed in younger patients and was accompanied by an overexpression of major histocompatibility complex type I (MHC I). The immunofluorescence study for complex I and IV showed a greater number of fibres than those that were visualized by COX staining. In the ultrastructural analysis, we found three major types of mitochondrial alterations, consisting of concentrically arranged lamellar cristae, electrodense granules, and intramitochondrial vacuoles. The pathological features in the muscle showed substantial differences in the youngest patients when compared with those that had a later onset of the disease. Additional ultrastructural features are described in the muscle biopsy, such as sarcomeric de-structuration in the youngest patients with a more severe phenotype