2,021 research outputs found
Nonlinear Structural Analysis of the Elliptical Dome of the Church in the Universidad Laboral, Gijon, Spain
The Church of the Laboral University of Gijón has the world's largest elliptical masonry roof with 40.8 meters of mayor axis. This big structure is vertically supported with no columns using twenty pairs of masonry ribs crossing each other, and horizontally supported by means of two elliptical ring beams located at the top of the Church. In order to study this historical building, this paper presents the overall three-dimensional structural numerical analysis of the Church, taking into account different material nonlinearities - including masonry and reinforced concrete - as well as geometrical nonlinearities, such as contact effects among the different structural components of the building. Furthermore, a coupled thermal-structural analysis was carried out considering the summer temperature distribution and the Spanish standard rule dead and live loads. The most relevant results, in terms of maximum displacement, stress and, cracking and crushing phenomena are presented. Finally, valuable information from the interaction among the structural elements of the Church are discussed and the most critical points of the building are located, giving place to the most important conclusions of the nonlinear numerical analysis of this interesting structure
Current challenges in chronic bronchial infection in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Currently, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and their physicians face a number of significant clinical challenges, one of which is the high degree of uncertainty related to chronic bronchial infection (CBI). By reviewing the current literature, several challenges can be identified, which should be considered as goals for research. One of these is to establish the bases for identifying the biological and clinical implications of the presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms in the airways that should be more clearly elucidated according to the COPD phenotype. Another urgent area of research is the role of long-term preventive antibiotics. Clinical trials need to be carried out with inhaled antibiotic therapy to help clarify the profile of those antibiotics. The role of inhaled corticosteroids in patients with COPD and CBI needs to be studied to instruct the clinical management of these patients. Finally, it should be explored and confirmed whether a suitable antimicrobial treatment during exacerbations may contribute to breaking the vicious circle of CBI in COPD. The present review addresses the current state of the art in these areas to provide evidence which will enable us to progressively plan better healthcare for these patients
Increasing trend in the prevalence of morbid obesity in Spain: from 1.8 to 6.1 per thousand in 14 years
Obesity, and especiallymorbid obesity, increases the risk of cardiovascular as well as non-cardiovascular
diseases. Our objective was to ascertain the trends in morbid obesity in Spain from 1993 to 2006 using
representative data from 106,048 participants in the National Health Surveys. An age-adjusted Poisson
regression model stratified by sex was fitted using morbid obesity as the dependent variable.
An increasing trend in prevalent morbid obesity from 1.8 to 6.1 per thousand participants was found
(increase > 200%). Morbid obesity prevalence was higher in women. After adjusting for age, a
monotonically increasing prevalence of morbid obesity was apparent for both men and women: the
relative increase was 4% per year in women and 12% per year in men. These trends highlight the
importance of preventive actions
Validation of metabolic syndrome using medical records in the SUN cohort
The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of self
reported criteria of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) in the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad
de Navarra) cohort using their medical records as the gold standard. METHODS: We
selected 336 participants and we obtained MS related data according to Adult
Treatment Panel III (ATP III) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Then
we compared information on the self reported diagnosis of MS and MS diagnosed in
their medical records. We calculated the proportion of confirmed MS, the
proportion of confirmed non-MS and the intraclass correlation coefficients for
each component of the MS. RESULTS: From those 336 selected participants, we
obtained sufficient data in 172 participants to confirm or reject MS using ATP
III criteria. The proportion of confirmed MS was 91.2% (95% CI: 80.7- 97.1) and
the proportion of confirmed non-MS was 92.2% (95% CI: 85.7-96.4) using ATP III
criteria. The proportion of confirmed MS using IDF criteria was 100% (95% CI:
87.2-100) and the proportion of confirmed non-MS was 97.1% (95% CI: 85.1-99.9).
Kappa Index was 0.82 in the group diagnosed by ATP III criteria and 0.97 in the
group diagnosed by IDF criteria. Intraclass correlation coefficients for the
different component of MS were: 0.93 (IC 95%:0.91- 0.95) for BMI; 0.96 (IC 95%:
0.93-0.98) for waist circumference; 0.75 (IC 95%: 0.66-0.82) for fasting glucose;
0.50 (IC 95%:0.35-0.639) for HDL cholesterol; 0.78 (IC 95%: 0.70-0.84) for
triglycerides; 0.49 (IC 95%:0.34-0.61) for systolic blood pressure and 0.55 (IC
95%: 0.41-0.65) for diastolic blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported MS based
on self reported components of the SM in a Spanish cohort of university graduates
was sufficiently valid as to be used in epidemiological studies
Scaling behavior of the dipole coupling energy in two-dimensional disordered magnetic nanostructures
Numerical calculations of the average dipole-coupling energy in two-dimensional disordered magnetic nanostructures are
performed as function of the particle coverage . We observe that scales as with an
unusually small exponent --1.0 for coverages
. This behavior is shown to be primarly given by the
contributions of particle pairs at short distances, which is intrinsically
related to the presence of an appreciable degree of disorder. The value of
is found to be sensitive to the magnetic arrangement within the
nanostructure and to the degree of disorder. For large coverages
we obtain with , in agreement
with the straighforward scaling of the dipole coupling as in a periodic
particle setup. Taking into account the effect of single-particle anisotropies,
we show that the scaling exponent can be used as a criterion to distinguish
between weakly interacting () and strongly interacting
() particle ensembles as function of coverage.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
The role of Epstein-Barr virus in adults with bronchiectasis : A prospective cohort study
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is implicated in the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We aimed to determine whether EBV correlates with bronchiectasis severity, exacerbations, and progression. We collected induced sputum in healthy controls and spontaneous sputum at 3-6-month intervals and onset of exacerbations in bronchiectasis patients between March 2017 and October 2018. EBV DNA was detected with quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We collected 442 sputum samples from 108 bronchiectasis patients and 50 induced sputum samples from 50 healthy controls. When stable, bronchiectasis patients yielded higher detection rates of EBV DNA (48.1% vs 20.0%; P =.001), but not viral loads (mean log load, 4.45 vs 4.76; P =.266), compared with controls; 64.9% of patients yielded consistent detection status between 2 consecutive stable visits. Neither detection rate (40.8% vs 48.1%; P =.393) nor load (mean log load, 4.34 vs 4.45; P =.580) differed between the onset of exacerbations and stable visits, nor between exacerbations and convalescence. Neither detection status nor viral loads correlated with bronchiectasis severity. EBV loads correlated negatively with sputum interleukin-1β (P =.002), CXC motif chemokine-8 (P =.008), and tumor necrosis factor-α levels (P =.005). Patients initially detected with, or repeatedly detected with, EBV DNA had significantly faster lung function decline and shorter time to next exacerbations (both P .05). The EBV strains detected in bronchiectasis patients were phylogenetically homologous. Patients with detection of EBV DNA have a shorter time to bronchiectasis exacerbations. EBV may contribute to bronchiectasis progression
New 1-aryl-3-substituted propanol derivatives as antimalarial agents
This paper describes the synthesis and in vitro antimalarial activity against a P.
falciparum 3D7 strain of some new 1-aryl-3-substituted propanol derivatives. Twelve of
the tested compounds showed an IC50 lower than 1 μM. These compounds were also tested
for cytotoxicity in murine J774 macrophages. The most active compounds were evaluated
for in vivo activity against P. berghei in a 4-day suppressive test. Compound 12 inhibited
more than 50% of parasite growth at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day. In addition, an FBIT test was
performed to measure the ability to inhibit ferriprotoporphyrin biocrystallization. This data
indicates that 1-aryl-3-substituted propanol derivatives hold promise as a new therapeutic
option for the treatment of malaria
- …