Hand Coverage

Hand and finger soft tissue defects have always represented a surgical challenge at any accident and emergency department. Techniques may vary from just direct closure of the wound to free tissue transfer. Knowledge of the main locoregional hand flaps is paramount to solve most of the soft tissue defects at this level. Flaps vary depending on their blood supply and design. Their vascularity might be at random, they can be pedicled with anterograde or reversed flow or they can rely on simple or complex free tissue transfer whose blood flow depends on vascular anastomosis. This article reviews all the main soft tissue local or locoregional reconstructive techniques for hands and fingers

The Effect Of Campus Praktikum On The Choice Of University Studies

In some Spanish universities in recent years, there has been a decrease in the number of students, mainly due to the drop in the birth rate and the increase in the number of universities throughout the country. In addition, the number of (unknown)bachelor\u27s degrees that can be studied at university has also increased. For these reasons, since 2010, an activity called Campus Praktikum has been carried out at the Universitat Politècnica de València to bring the university studies taught at this centre closer to secondary school students. The aim is to show the studies taught at the UPV (mainly engineering studies), to find out about the professions linked to these studies and to be able to have testimonials from university students who are currently studying. During one week, secondary school students take part in workshops related to university studies, which give them an in-depth understanding of the content of their studies and university life. The main objective is to increase the number of students in general and, above all, to increase the number of women who choose the UPV for their university studies. The paper describes what the activities of the Campus Praktikum consist of and compares the opinions obtained through surveys of students who enjoyed the activity right after finishing the campus and the information obtained from the student\u27s registration at the university. With all this information conclusion will be drawn, analysing the actual effect of this type of activity on the student\u27s choice of university studies

Analysis of bio-anode performance through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

In this paper we studied the performance of bioanodes under different experimental conditions using polarization curves and impedance spectroscopy. We have identified that the large capacitances of up to 1 mF·cm− 2 for graphite anodes have their origin in the nature of the carbonaceous electrode, rather than the microbial culture. In some cases, the separate contributions of charge transfer and diffusion resistance were clearly visible, while in other cases their contribution was masked by the high capacitance of 1 mF·cm− 2. The impedance data were analyzed using the basic Randles model to analyze ohmic, charge transfer and diffusion resistances. Increasing buffer concentration from 0 to 50 mM and increasing pH from 6 to 8 resulted in decreased charge transfer and diffusion resistances; lowest values being 144 Ω·cm2 and 34 Ω·cm2, respectively. At acetate concentrations below 1 mM, current generation was limited by acetate. We show a linear relationship between inverse charge transfer resistance at potentials close to open circuit and saturation (maximum) current, associated to the Butler–Volmer relationship that needs further exploration.The authors wish to acknowledge funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2012-2016) project ‘Bioelectrochemical systems for metal production, recycling, and remediation’ under grant agreement no. 282970. AtH is supported by a NWO VENI grant no. 13631. OS was supported by the French environmental agency ADEME, by the Region Bretagne and by Rennes Metropole when doing the experiments. This work was performed in the cooperation framework of Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology (www.wetsus.nl). Wetsus is co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, the European Union Regional Development Fund, the Province of Fryslân, and the Northern Netherlands Provinces

Approximation of surfaces for the execution of timbrel vaults

[EN] The difficulty presented in the execution of “domical vault” or “ quatre punts” timbrel vaults with diagonal brickwork is that of the marking out with cladding tiles in the layering of the first rows, when setting the pace of the construction and joins. The continuity of the joins is a sign of the good execution of the vault, resembling a translational surface made by the curved movement of the two parallel falsework systems. Experience in the execution of this complex procedure proves that faults and errors appear as the initial joins are lost and it is not possible to follow a specific geometry. A valid solution consists of approaching the vault as a toric surface, generated by the revolution of the generatrix arch taking the axis to be the vertical line perpendicular to the guide arch. The differences in proportion between the two surfaces are minimal, but with this second option the workman has more control over the marking out and execution, by using falsework systems that generate a repetitive sequence for the rows.[ES] La dificultad que presenta la ejecución de bóvedas tabicadas del tipo “falsa vaída” o “quatre punts” con aparejo en diagonal, es la del replanteo con rasillas en el sencillado de las primeras hiladas, al marcar el ritmo de la fábrica y el rejuntado. La continuidad de las juntas delata la buena ejecución de la bóveda, aproximándose ésta a una superficie de traslación, realizada por el desplazamiento curvilíneo de dos cimbras paralelas. La experiencia en la ejecución por este complejo método demuestra que aparecen desajustes y errores al perderse el rejuntado inicial y no poder seguir una geometría concreta. Una solución válida consiste en aproximar la bóveda a una superficie tórica, aquella generada por la revolución del arco generatriz tomando como eje la recta perpendicular al centro del arco directriz. Las diferencias de proporción entre ambas superficies son mínimas, pero con esta segunda opción aumenta el control del operario sobre el replanteo y ejecución, al usar cimbras que generan una secuencia repetitiva para las hiladasTrabajo financiado por el proyecto de innovación docente “EDU2012-37247/EDUC: E-learning 3.0 en la docencia de la Arquitectura. Casos de estudio de investigación educativa para un futuro inmediato” del Gobierno de España. Parroquia Ortodoxa Rumana San Jorge de Barcelona, Aurel Bunda, Marin Olteanu, Sorin Deac y Salvador Gomis AviñoGimenez Mateu, L.; Navarro Delgado, I.; Cabrera Guardiola, A. (2016). Aproximación de superficies para la ejecución de bóvedas tabicadas. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 21(27):220-231. https://doi.org/10.4995/ega.2016.4742SWORD2202312127BASSEGODA I NONELL, Joan. Aproximación a Gaudí. Madrid: Doce Calles, 1992. ISBN 8487111246.Moya BLANCO, Luis. Bóvedas tabicadas. Madrid: Dirección General de Arquitectura, 1947.OCHSENDORF, John Allen. Guastavino vaulting: the art of structural tile. New york: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010. ISBN 9781568987415

Coastal Management Activities in Valdevaqueros Dune Area (Tarifa, SW Spain)

Valdevaqueros dune area is located in the SW of Spain (Tarifa, Cádiz) and represents an important recreational zone. However, after Spanish Shore Act approbation in 1988, sand extractions were prohibited and the system began to loose stability producing the dune invasion landwards. The main objective of this paper is to present an integrated study of alternatives for Valdevaqueros dune area, considering all the problems involved: dune degradation, invasion of Punta Paloma road by the mobile dune, excessive recreational pressure on the dune area and adjacent lagoon, parking lots resettlements, and undesirable land uses in the surroundings, among the most important problems found in that area. In particular, a cost-benefit analysis for different alternatives was carried out regarding the road-dune interaction

Inhibition of a-Synuclein Aggregation and Mature Fibril Disassembling With a Minimalistic Compound, ZPDm

Synucleinopathies are a group of disorders characterized by the accumulation of a-Synuclein amyloid inclusions in the brain. Preventing a-Synuclein aggregation is challenging because of the disordered nature of the protein and the stochastic nature of fibrillogenesis, but, at the same time, it is a promising approach for therapeutic intervention in these pathologies. A high-throughput screening initiative allowed us to discover ZPDm, the smallest active molecule in a library of more than 14.000 compounds. Although the ZPDm structure is highly related to that of the previously described ZPD-2 aggregation inhibitor, we show here that their mechanisms of action are entirely different. ZPDm inhibits the aggregation of wild-type, A30P, and H50Q a-Synuclein variants in vitro and interferes with a-Synuclein seeded aggregation in protein misfolding cyclic amplification assays. However, ZPDm distinctive feature is its strong potency to dismantle preformed a-Synuclein amyloid fibrils. Studies in a Caenorhabditis elegans model of Parkinson’s Disease, prove that these in vitro properties are translated into a significant reduction in the accumulation of a-Synuclein inclusions in ZPDm treated animals. Together with previous data, the present work illustrates how different chemical groups on top of a common molecular scaffold can result in divergent but complementary anti-amyloid activities

The Prognostic Value of BRCA1 mRNA Expression Levels Following Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer

A fraction of sporadic breast cancers has low BRCA1 expression. BRCA1 mutation carriers are more likely to achieve a pathological complete response with DNA-damage-based chemotherapy compared to non-mutation carriers. Furthermore, sporadic ovarian cancer patients with low levels of BRCA1 mRNA have longer survival following platinum-based chemotherapy than patients with high levels of BRCA1 mRNA. hybridization, and BRCA1 mRNA was analyzed in a subset of 41 patients for whom sufficient tumor tissue was available by real-time quantitative PCR. Median time to progression was 42 months and overall survival was 55 months. In the multivariate analysis for time to progression and overall survival for 41 patients in whom BRCA1 could be assessed, low levels of BRCA1 mRNA, positive PR and negative lymph node involvement predicted a significantly lower risk of relapse, low levels of BRCA1 mRNA and positive PR were the only variables associated with significantly longer survival.We provide evidence for a major role for BRCA1 mRNA expression as a marker of time to progression and overall survival in sporadic breast cancers treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy. These findings can be useful for customizing chemotherapy

Advances in camera trap data management tools: Towards collaborative development and integration with GIS

Camera traps have become a widely used technique for conducting biological inventories, generating a large number of database records of great interest. The main aim of this paper is to describe a new free and open source software (FOSS), developed to facilitate the management of camera-trapped data which originated from a protected Mediterranean area (SE Spain). In the last decade, some other useful alternatives have been proposed, but ours focuses especially on a collaborative undertaking and on the importance of spatial information underpinning common camera trap studies. This FOSS application, namely, “Camera Trap Manager” (CTM), has been designed to expedite the processing of pictures on the .NET platform. CTM has a very intuitive user interface, automatic extraction of some image metadata (date, time, moon phase, location, temperature, atmospheric pressure, among others), analytical (Geographical Information Systems, statistics, charts, among others), and reporting capabilities (ESRI Shapefiles, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets, PDF reports, among others). Using this application, we have achieved a very simple management, fast analysis, and a significant reduction of costs. While we were able to classify an average of 55 pictures per hour manually, CTM has made it possible to process over 1000 photographs per hour, consequently retrieving a greater amount of data.This project has been carried out thanks to the UNCROACH project (CGL-2011-30581-CC02-01) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; and has been partially funded by the public call for research projects of the Conselleria of Education (T6217-2010); and the Institute of Culture Juan Gil-Albert-Alicante

Multi-site performance evaluation of the Alinity m Molecular assay for quantifying Epstein-Barr virus DNA in plasma samples

Detection and monitoring of acute infection or reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are critical for treatment decision-making and to reduce the risk of EBV-related malignancies and other associated diseases in immunocompromised individuals. The analytical and clinical performance of the Alinity m EBV assay was evaluated at two independent study sites; analytical performance was assessed by evaluating precision with a commercially available 5-member EBV verification panel, while the clinical performance of the Alinity m EBV assay was compared to the RealTime EBV assay and a laboratory-developed test (LDT) as the routine test of record (TOR). Analytical analysis demonstrated standard deviation (SD) between 0.08 and 0.13 Log IU/mL. A total of 300 remnant plasma specimens were retested with the Alinity m EBV assay, and results were compared to those of the TOR at the respective study sites (n = 148 with the RealTime EBV assay and n = 152 with the LDT EBV assay). Agreement between Alinity m EBV and RealTime EBV or LDT EBV assays had kappa values of 0.88 and 0.84, respectively, with correlation coefficients r of 0.956 and 0.912, while the corresponding observed mean bias was -0.02 and -0.19 Log IU/mL. The Alinity m EBV assay had a short median onboard turnaround time of 2:40 h. Thus, the Alinity m system can shorten the time to results and, therefore, to therapy.Molecular basis of virus replication, viral pathogenesis and antiviral strategie