Attitude and speed in young people. Implementation of a program of driver education

Contemporary Theories of change of attitudes defends that these depends on the way to think, to act and to feel of the people. If we touch upon each one of these three main components related between we can influence in the predisposition to act. The application of a program of speed self-control to ample of young drivers, using a design pretest- postest with control group and using a Factor Analysis shows that is possible the change of attitudes

Retinal vessel local tortuosity under a macula-to-optic disc central-framing change

Some ocular and cardiovascular diseases can be detected through the increased tortuosity of retinal blood vessels. Objective tortuosity measures can be obtained from digital image analysis of a retinography. This study tested a set of local tortuosity indices under a change in the frame center (macula, optic disc) of the eye fundus image. We illustrate the effects of such a change on 40 pairs of vessels evaluated with eight tortuosity indices. We show that the frame center change caused significant differences in the mean values of the vast majority of the tortuosity indices analyzed. The index defined as the ratio of the curvature to the arc length of a vessel segment proved to be the most robust in relation to a frame center change. Experimental results obtained from the analysis of clinical images are provided and discussed.This research was funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Spanish Government, grant number PID2020-114582RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

What is the status of immunotherapy in thyroid neoplasms?

Immunotherapy; Thyroid neoplasms; Tumor mutational burdenInmunoterapia; Neoplasias de la tiroides; Carga mutacional tumoralImmunoteràpia; Neoplàsies de les tiroides; Càrrega mutacional tumoralImmunotherapy has changed the treatment of patients with advanced cancer, with different phase III trials showing durable responses across different histologies. This review focuses on the preclinical and clinical evidence of potential predictive biomarkers of response and efficacy of immunotherapy in thyroid neoplasms. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) staining by immunohistochemistry has shown higher expression in anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) compared to other subtypes. The tumor mutational burden in thyroid neoplasms is low but seems to be higher in ATC. Immune infiltrates in the tumor microenvironment (TME) differ between the different thyroid neoplasm subtypes. In general, differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) has a higher number of tumor-associated lymphocytes and regulatory T cells (Tregs), while ATC and medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) display a high density of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Nevertheless, results from clinical trials with immunotherapy as monotherapy or combinations have shown limited efficacy. Further investigation into new strategies aside from anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4)/programmed death 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 antibodies, validation of predictive biomarkers, and better population selection for clinical trials in thyroid neoplasms is more than needed in the near future

Project DABE: Empathy among Spanish Medical Students

©2022. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is the Published, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Educación Médica. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edumed.2022.100769ntroduction Empathy refers to an aspect of personality, important in interpersonal relationships and in communication, considered to be an important value in the medical profession. In the present study, we have studied empathy in a sample of more than 5,000 medical students of all 43 medical schools in Spain. Methods The data belong to the DABE project, a study that included mental health variables and that was applied through a web survey just before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions started. To measure empathy, we used the Jefferson Empathy Scale (Student Version), which comprises 20 items relating to three underlying components, Perspective Taking, Compassionate Care, and Standing in the Patient’s Shoes. Results Empathy global score was high and it increased progressively every year during medical school. Empathy score was greater in the female students, with a 20% of participants showed high levels of empathy, again more in women. High empathy was associated with students having greater social support, more interest and participation in everyday experiences and satisfaction with social activities. The three components of empathy were also greater in women than in men. Empathy scores were significantly lower in those students that reported smoking and also in the students that reported use of frequent use of cannabis. Discussion Empathy scores are high in the spanish medical students population, with a 20% of them showing high levels. Empathy scores increase longitudinally during medical school, are greater in female students and lower in those smoking either tobacco or cannabis

3D UWB magnitude-combined tomographic imaging for biomedical applications. Algorithm validation

Biomedical microwave imaging is a topic of continuous research for its potential in different areas especially in breast cancer detection. In this paper, 3D UWB Magnitude-Combined tomographic algorithm is assessed for this recurrent application, but also for a more challenging one such as brain stroke detection. With the UWB Magnitude-Combined concept, the algorithm can take advantage of both the efficiency of Fourier Diffraction Theorem-based tomographic formulation and the robustness and image quality improvement provided by a multi-frequency combination.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

UWB High-contrast robust tomographic imaging for medical applications

In this paper a complete UWB Circular Tomographic System robust to high contrast or large objects, applied to Breast Tumor Detection, is presented. The main contribution of this paper is to focus on the implementation of a two degrees of freedom imaging setup in order to deal with non-symmetric objects and to demonstrate its functionality with realistic breast phantoms.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A layer stripping approach for monitoring resistivity variations using surface magnetotelluric responses

The resolution of surface-acquired magnetotelluric data is typically not sufficiently high enough in monitoring surveys to detect and quantify small resistivity variations produced within an anomalous structure at a given depth within the subsurface. To address this deficiency we present an approach, called "layer stripping", based on the analytical solution of the one-dimensional magnetotelluric problem to enhance the sensitivity of surface magnetotelluric responses to such subtle subsurface temporal variations in resistivity within e.g. reservoirs. Given a well-known geoelectrical baseline model of a reservoir site, the layer stripping approach aims to remove the effect of the upper, unchanging structures in order to simulate the time-varying magnetotelluric responses at depth. This methodology is suggested for monitoring all kinds of reservoirs, e.g. hydrocarbons, gas, geothermal, compress air storage, etc., but here we focus on CO2 geological storage. We study one-dimensional and three-dimensional resistivity variations in the reservoir layer and the feasibility of the method is appraised by evaluating the error of the approach and defining different detectability parameters. The geoelectrical baseline model of the Hontomín site (Spain) for CO2 geological storage in a deep saline aquifer is taken as our exemplar for studying the validity of the 1D assumption in a real scenario. We conclude that layer stripping could help detect resistivity variations and locate them in the space, showing potential to also sense unforeseen resistivity variations at all depths. The proposed approach constitutes an innovative contribution to take greater advantage of surface magnetotelluric data and to use the method as a cost-effective permanent monitoring technique in suitable geoelectrical scenarios

Toward 3D UWB tomographie imaging system for breast tumor detection

A novel 3D tomographic algorithm for short range cylindrical geometries using UWB frequency range is presented. The algorithm has been applied to breast tumor detection, nevertheless, its non application-specific character permits the use in other applications. The detection capability of the tomographic algorithm is proved through numerical simulations and experimental measurements of canonical and more realistic bodyattached breast phantoms. For the acquisition of the experimental data, a virtual array-based cylindrical measurement setup has been built. At the current stage of development 3 degrees of freedom are available allowing the scanning of bodies with revolution symmetry.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Modular Evolution and Population Variability of Oikopleura dioica Metallothioneins

Chordate Oikopleura dioica probably is the fastest evolving metazoan reported so far, and thereby, a suitable system in which to explore the limits of evolutionary processes. For this reason, and in order to gain new insights on the evolution of protein modularity, we have investigated the organization, function and evolution of multi-modular metallothionein (MT) proteins in O. dioica. MTs are a heterogeneous group of modular proteins defined by their cysteine (C)-rich domains, which confer the capacity of coordinating different transition metal ions. O. dioica has two MTs, a bi-modular OdiMT1 consisting of two domains (t-12C and 12C), and a multi-modular OdiMT2 with six t-12C/12C repeats. By means of mass spectrometry and spectroscopy of metal-protein complexes, we have shown that the 12C domain is able to autonomously bind four divalent metal ions, although the t-12C/12C pair -as it is found in OdiMT1- is the optimized unit for divalent metal binding. We have also shown a direct relationship between the number of the t-12C/12C repeats and the metal-binding capacity of the MTs, which means a stepwise mode of functional and structural evolution for OdiMT2. Finally, after analyzing four different O. dioica populations worldwide distributed, we have detected several OdiMT2 variants with changes in their number of t-12C/12C domain repeats. This finding reveals that the number of repeats fluctuates between current O. dioica populations, which provides a new perspective on the evolution of domain repeat proteins