New results on q-positivity

In this paper we discuss symmetrically self-dual spaces, which are simply real vector spaces with a symmetric bilinear form. Certain subsets of the space will be called q-positive, where q is the quadratic form induced by the original bilinear form. The notion of q-positivity generalizes the classical notion of the monotonicity of a subset of a product of a Banach space and its dual. Maximal q-positivity then generalizes maximal monotonicity. We discuss concepts generalizing the representations of monotone sets by convex functions, as well as the number of maximally q-positive extensions of a q-positive set. We also discuss symmetrically self-dual Banach spaces, in which we add a Banach space structure, giving new characterizations of maximal q-positivity. The paper finishes with two new examples.Comment: 18 page

Formación e información en la meteorología y climatología

Número monográfico dedicado a la meteorología.En este artículo se pretenden exponer las principales actividades que el Instituto Nacional de Meteorología realiza en cumplimiento de las funciones que tiene encomendadas en estas dos importantes misiones de la Meteorología y la Climatología al servicio de la sociedad: formar e informar, que contribuyen al bienestar y calidad de vida de los ciudadanos

Digital ulcerative lichenoid dermatitis in a patient receiving anti-PD-1 therapy

Programmed cell death receptor 1 inhibitors (anti-PD-1) constitute a form of immunotherapy for the treatment of several cancers. They are associated with cutaneous immune-related adverse events (irAE), occurring in up to 50% of patients. Lichenoid dermatitis is frequent and several presentations have been described. Although attempts have been made to study these reactions, they are yet to be fully characterized and the relationship with tumor response is unclear. We describe a case of digital ulcerative lichenoid dermatitis resembling ulcerative cutaneous lichen planus that occurred during pembrolizumab therapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma. The patient developed a painful ulcer on his index finger 18 months into therapy. Biopsy revealed epidermal ulceration with intense lichenoid dermatitis. Immunohistochemical study revealed intense CD8 positivity at the ulcer's edges and marked CD163 positivity at its base. Although idiopathic forms of this type of lichenoid dermatitis are particularly recalcitrant, our case was successfully managed with topical therapy and oncologic treatment did not require modification. One year after ending treatment the patient remains free of disease progression. It is unclear if this reaction is associated with his favorable oncologic response. This report adds an undescribed reaction to the increasing diversity of cutaneous irAE associated with anti-PD-1 therapy

Apocrine hidrocystoma on the nipple: the first report in this unusual location

Apocrine hidrocystoma is a rare, benign, cystic tumor of the apocrine sweat glands. They are most commonly located around the eyes and may also be found on the scalp and neck. However, despite the fact that the nipple and areola contain numerous apocrine sweet glands, apocrine hydrocystomas have not been described previously in this area to the best of our knowledge. We report the first case of this cyst in this unsual location

Estatus epiléptico refractario no convulsionante en postoperatorio de pancreatectomía total: A propósito de un caso

We present a clinical case of non-convulsive epileptic status in the post-operative of a 79-year-old patient with no history of epilepsy, and its probable relationship with scheduled antibiotic therapy. Then a discussion about the epileptic status and its appearance as a side effect of the treatment with certain antibiotics is made.Se presenta un caso clinico de Estatus Epileptico No convulsionante en el posopoeratorio de una paciente de 79 años sin antecedentes de epilepsia, y su probable relación con la antibioterapia pautada. Seguidamente se realiza una discusion acerca del estatus epileptico y su aparicion como efecto secundario del tratamiento con ciertos antibioticos.

Spelling problems after early oral language difficulties

Recent research has stated that early oral language acquisition difficulties are related to reading and writing difficulties. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) experience difficulties with several dimensions of language. In this study we focus on the specific difficulties of children with DLD in spelling. We examine the impact of lexicality and length in written production of Spanish-speaking children with DLD. A total of 18 children with language difficulties (Mage = 8;4) were compared with age-matched children (Mage = 8;2). Participants completed a spelling-to-dictation task of words and pseudowords, where length was manipulated. A digital tablet was used to collect data and obtain measures of accuracy, latencies and total writing durations. Results showed that children with DLD produced more errors, longer latencies and longer writing durations than age-matched children. Regarding accuracy, analysis of the errors shows that children in the control group produce few errors, most being substitutions, while children with DLD made more errors and of more varied categories. Moreover, they were more affected by length on writing accuracy than the control group

Use of Recycled Aggregates from Demolition Wastes in Concrete: Acoustic Properties

The construction industry is one of the most demanding in terms of natural resources, and of the most polluting in terms of emissions to the atmosphere. Concrete is one of the most used materials in engineering and is a paradigm of the consumption of rocks for aggregates, used in polluting industries such as cement production. In trying to reduce the consumption of natural resources, efforts are being made to use waste as recycled aggregates. This fact has evident economic and environmental advantages, but it has a drawback. The concrete prepared with recycled aggregates has lower mechanical strength than ordinary concrete. This decrease of resistance is mainly due to a higher porosity exhibited by the materials from recycled aggregates. But the increase of porosity can be a great advantage in terms of sound absorption. In this work several types of recycled aggregates have been tested, paying special attention to their acoustic behaviour and pore structure. The results show that concrete made with recycled waste are effective in absorbing sound. It might become an alternative to traditional concrete, since recycling samples behave similarly or better in terms of sound absorption, using recycled materials, and increasing their life-cycle. The measurement of acoustic properties, as well as density, has already been undertaken in previous works. This work presents an image analysis methodology that is completely novel, and that helps to understand the acoustic behaviour of concrete elements

Leveraging electronic healthcare record standards and semantic web technologies for the identification of patient cohorts

Introduction The secondary use of Electronic Healthcare Records (EHRs) often requires the identification of patient cohorts. In this context, an important problem is the heterogeneity of clinical data sources, which can be overcome with the combined use of standardized information models, Virtual Health Records, and semantic technologies, since each of them contributes to solving aspects related to the semantic interoperability of EHR data. Our main objective is to develop methods allowing for a direct use of EHR data for the identification of patient cohorts leveraging current EHR standards and semantic web technologies. Materials and Methods We propose to take advantage of the best features of working with EHR standards and ontologies. Our proposal is based on our previous results and experience working with both technological infrastructures. Our main principle is to perform each activity at the abstraction level with the most appropriate technology available. This means that part of the processing will be performed using archetypes (i.e., data level) and the rest using ontologies (i.e., knowledge level). Our approach will start working with EHR data in proprietary format, which will be first normalized and elaborated using EHR standards and then transformed into a semantic representation, which will be exploited by automated reasoning. Results We have applied our approach to protocols for colorectal cancer screening. The results comprise the archetypes, ontologies and datasets developed for the standardization and semantic analysis of EHR data. Anonymized real data has been used and the patients have been successfully classified by the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Conclusion This work provides new insights in how archetypes and ontologies can be effectively combined for EHR-driven phenotyping. 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