Innovation and International High Skilled Migration

The international mobility of highly skilled employees in the last few decades has become an essential part of an economy. Simultaneously innovation and its' components have a large effect on the migration of skilled people. The goal of this paper is finding out if a greater degree of innovation in a country has a positive impact on the arrival of highly skilled immigrants. In order to achieve the aforementioned goal and following existing literature on the subject, an analysis on an international level was made regarding the effect of relevant innovation factors (number of patents; research and development funding (as % of GDP) and number of articles in scientific and technical journals) on immigration of highly skilled employees. The results of a regression analysis confirmed a significant relation between the number of patents, articles in scientific and technical journals and number of highly skilled immigrants (HQI). This means that countries with a relatively larger amount of the innovation factors have a great incentive that attracts talented people on an international scale, although in order to achieve this there is the need to promote and maintain a favourable institutional, economic and technological environment

Antibacterial PHAs coating for titanium implants

Biomaterial-associated infection is a serious complication of modern implantation surgery. Thus, the improvement of implant surfaces is required to avoid the first stage for biofilm formation, bacterial adhesion. The current research addresses this issue by developing drug delivery systems (DDS) consisting of antibiotic-loaded polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) coatings on titanium implants. Dip-coating technique was used to achieve optimal coatings with biodegradable biopolyesters, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and its copolymer, polyhydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV). The coatings were completely characterized (wettability, topography, thickness and roughness), and studies of drug delivery, toxicity, antibacterial effect, and cell adhesion were performed. For both of biopolymers, surfaces were partially covered with 1 and 3 immersions, while with 6, they were completely covered. Although both antibiotic-loaded biopolymer coatings assure the protection against bacteria populations, PHBV coatings are closer to the desired release profile; its faster degradation provides for a greater and more stable drug release for a given period of time compared to PHB coatings. The use of coatings with different drug concentration per layer results in more controlled and homogeneous releases. The DDS designed not only assure to avoid the first stage of bacterial adhesion, but also their proliferation and biofilm formation, since the coatings degrade with time under physiological conditions, guaranteeing a prolonged drug release.Preprin

Dietary glycemic index and retinal microvasculature in adults: a cross-sectional study

[EN] Objective: To analyze the relationship between dietary glycemic index (GI) and retinal microvasculature in adults. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 300 subjects from the EVIDENT II study. Dietary GI was calculated using a validated, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Retinal photographs were digitized, temporal vessels were measured in an area 0.5–1 disc diameter from the optic disc and arteriolar-venular index (AVI) was estimated with semi-automated software. Results: AVI showed a significant difference between the tertiles of GI, after adjusting for potential confounders. The lowest AVI values were observed among subjects in the highest tertile of GI, whereas the greatest were found among those in the lowest tertile (estimated marginal mean of 0.738 vs. 0.768, p = 0.014). Conclusions: In adults, high dietary GI implies lowering AVI values regardless of age, gender and other confounding variables. Trial registration: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT02016014. Registered 9 December 2013

Bifocal dual reflectarray with curved main surface

This paper presents a novel approach to synthesizing curved reflectarrays using Geometrical Optics (GO). It introduces the concepts of virtual normal and path length shift, which enable a vector-based formulation of the problem that can be solved using ray tracing techniques. The formulation is applied for the design of two different versions of a Dual Bifocal Reflectarray with a parabolic main surface and a flat subreflectarray. The first version aims to enhance the performance of the multibeam antenna by providing a focal ring located at the feed cluster plane. The second version focuses on improving the scanning characteristics of the antenna in the horizontal plane by incorporating two foci. The synthesis procedure yields samples of the path length shift or its derivatives. To reconstruct the phase distribution, an interpolation scheme is employed and described in this paper. Numerical results are presented for both the focal-ring and two-foci configurations, demonstrating the feasibility of this solution for multibeam or scanning satellite antennas operating in the Ka.European Space Research and Technology Centre | Ref. 4000117113/16/NL/AFMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. PDC2021-120959-C21/C22Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. RYC2021-033593-IXunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC-ED431C-2019/2

Use of Biomarkers to Improve 28-Day Mortality Stratification in Patients with Sepsis and SOFA ≤ 6

Molecular diagnosis; Mortality; Sepsis biomarkersDiagnóstico molecular; Mortalidad; Biomarcadores de sepsisDiagnòstic molecular; Mortalitat; Biomarcadors de sèpsiaEarly diagnosis and appropriate treatments are crucial to reducing mortality risk in septic patients. Low SOFA scores and current biomarkers may not adequately discern patients that could develop severe organ dysfunction or have an elevated mortality risk. The aim of this prospective observational study was to evaluate the predictive value of the biomarkers mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM), procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and lactate for 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis, and patients with a SOFA score ≤6. 284 were included, with a 28-day all-cause mortality of 8.45% (n = 24). Non-survivors were older (p = 0.003), required mechanical ventilation (p = 0.04), were ventilated for longer (p = 0.02), and had higher APACHE II (p = 0.015) and SOFA (p = 0.027) scores. Lactate showed the highest predictive ability for all-cause 28-day mortality, with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.67 (0.55–0.79). The AUROC for all-cause 28-day mortality in patients with community-acquired infection was 0.69 (0.57–0.84) for SOFA and 0.70 (0.58–0.82) for MR-proADM. A 2.1 nmol/L cut-off point for this biomarker in this subgroup of patients discerned, with 100% sensibility, survivors from non-survivors at 28 days. In patients with community-acquired sepsis and initial SOFA score ≤ 6, MR-proADM could help identify patients at risk of 28-day mortality.This research was funded by a restricted grant from Thermo Fisher (Hennigsdorf, Germany), consisting of free-of-charge kits. However, the funding organization had no role in the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Investigación en matemáticas, economía y ciencias sociales

El resultado de este libro que reune inquietudes académicas en torno a temas tan estudiados como los que están alrededor del maíz, del frijol o del café; y tan contemporáneos como las aplicaciones concretas de las ciencias ya citadas, al estudio de la adopción del comercio electrónico en empresas del sector agroindustrial o, el caso de la generación de biogas o energía eléctrica por medio de biodigestores. Al editar este texto e incorporarlo a la bibliografía de los temas de referencia, se enriquecen opciones de consulta para los estudiosos de esos temas en general; pero también para interesados en aspectos tan específicos como la cadena de suministro del mercado hortofrutícola en Texcoco

Aprendizaje flexible y personalizado para atender la diversidad en el aula, mediante la gamificación, a través del uso integrado de un sistema virtual de respuesta en el aula para dispositivos móviles con acceso a internet y una aplicación de screencasting

Sección Deptal. de Farmacología y Toxicología (Veterinaria)Fac. de VeterinariaFALSEsubmitte