Ubicación óptima de sistemas de almacenamiento de energía basado en baterías para minimizar los costos operativos del sistema mediante el uso de flujos de potencia DC

La investigación ha sido motivada dado que en la actualidad se han incorporado nuevas tecnologías para el suministro de electricidad, entre ellas la generación con fuentes intermitentes y conjuntamente a estas la inclusión de sistemas de almacenamiento, por tanto, el trabajo ha desarrollado un modelo de optimización, basado en la programación entera mixta, que permite establecer la inserción de los sistemas de almacenamiento basado en baterías en los nodos de una red tipo de transmisión considerando para el efecto la aplicación de flujos de potencia DC, las características de la red, los parámetros de las unidades de generación, todo esto con el fin de minimizar los costos operativos y los costos de la energía no suministrada que podrían producirse por el desabastecimiento total o parcial de la demanda. Para la evaluación técnica y económica del modelo de optimización se ha usado el estándar de prueba de 24 nodos de la IEEE, sistema en el cual se modelarán generadores de tecnologías tales como las térmicas, hidráulicas, eólicas y fotovoltaicas, a más de los potenciales sistemas de almacenamiento que el optimizador decidirá incorporarlos al sistema, es así que el nivel el análisis global, considerará como horizonte un plazo de 24 horas, período en el cual la demanda de cada nodo estará variando conforme a una curva de carga estándar.The research has been motivated given that new technologies have been incorporated for the supply of electricity, among them the generation with intermittent sources and together with these the inclusion of storage systems, therefore, the work has developed an optimization model. , based on mixed integer programming, which allows establishing the insertion of battery-based storage systems in the nodes of a type of transmission network, considering for this purpose the application of DC power flows, the characteristics of the network, the parameters generation units, all this in order to minimize operating costs and the costs of energy not supplied that could occur due to total or partial shortage of demand. For the technical and economic evaluation of the optimization model, the IEEE 24-node test standard has been used, a system in which generators of technologies such as thermal, hydraulic, wind and photovoltaic will be modeled, in addition to the potential systems of storage that the optimizer will decide to incorporate them into the system, so the global analysis level will consider a 24-hour horizon as a horizon, a period in which the demand of each node will be varying according to a standard load curve

Mapping Drug Interactions at the Covalent Topoisomerase II-DNA Complex by Bisantrene/Amsacrine Congeners *

To identify structural determinants for the sequence-specific recognition of covalent topoisomerase II-DNA complexes by anti-cancer drugs, we investigated a number of bisantrene congeners, including a 10-azabioisoster, bearing one or two 4, 5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl hydrazone side chains at positions 1, 4, or 9 of the anthracene ring system. The studied bisantrene/amsacrine (m-AMSA) hybrid and bisantrene isomers were able to poison DNA topoisomerase II with an intermediate activity between those of bisantrene and m-AMSA. Moving the side chain from the central to a lateral ring (from C-9 to C-1/C-4) only slightly modified the drug DNA affinity, whereas it dramatically affected local base preferences of poison-stimulated DNA cleavage. In contrast, switching the planar aromatic systems of bisantrene and m-AMSA did not substantially alter the sequence specificity of drug action. A computer-assisted steric and electrostatic alignment analysis of the test compounds was in agreement with the experimental data, since a common pharmacophore was shared by bisantrene, m-AMSA, and 9-substituted analogs, whereas the 1-substituted isomer showed a radically changed pharmacophoric structure. Thus, the relative space occupancy and electron distribution of putative DNA binding (aromatic rings) and enzyme binding (side chains) moieties are fundamental in directing the specific action of topoisomerase II poisons and in determining the poison pharmacophore

Age above 70 years and Charlson Comorbidity Index higher than 3 are associated with reduced survival probabilities after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. Data from a contemporary series of 334 consecutive patients.

Objective: To assess the joint effect of age and comorbidities on clinical outcomes of radical cystectomy (RC).Methods: 334 consecutive patients undergoing open RC for bladder cancer (BC) during the years 2005-2015 were analyzed. Pre-, peri- and post-operative parameters, including age at RC (ARC) and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), were evaluated. Overall and cancer-specific survivals (OS, CSS) were assessed by univariate and multivariate modelling. Furthermore, a three-knot restricted cubic spline (RCS) was fitted to survival data to detect dependency between death-rate ratio (HR) and ARC. Results: Median follow-up time was 3.8 years (IQR = 1.3-7.5) while median OS was 5.9 years (95%CL = 3.8-9.1). Globally, 180 patients died in our cohort (53.8%), 112 of which (62.2%) from BC and 68 patients (37.8%) for unrelated causes. After adjusting for preoperative, pathological and perioperative parameters, patients with CCI > 3 showed significantly higher death rates (HR = 1.61; p = 0.022). The highest death rate was recorded in ARC = 71-76 years (HR = 2.25; p = 0.034). After fitting an RCS to both OS and CSS rates, two overlapping nonlinear trends, with common highest risk values included in ARC = 70-75 years, were observed. Conclusions: Age over 70 years and CCI > 3 were significant factors limiting the survival of RC and should both be considered when comparing current RC outcomes

Influenza vaccination in HIV-infected subjects

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Urology apps: overview of current types and use

Introduction In recent years numerous applications have been developed with different purposes, aimed both at simplifying the lives of doctors and patients also within the urological field.Material and methods In January 2020 we conducted a search in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.Results A total of 521 apps were reviewed, an increase of 8 times as compared to the last complete available review of eight years ago. Most of the urological apps are geared towards the patient and provide information and services to improve the understanding and treatment of different diseases. Some of these apps also get the patient directly in touch with healthcare staff allowing for an improvement in doctor-patient communication.Conclusions Although the usefulness of many of these tools is undoubted, the problem of scientific validation, content control and privacy are not yet solved

Topoisomerase poisoning activity of novel disaccharide anthracyclines.

International audienceDoxorubicin and idarubicin are very effective anticancer drugs in the treatment of human hematological malignancies and solid tumors. These agents are well known topoisomerase II poisons; however, some anthracycline analogs recently have been shown to poison topoisomerase I. In the present work, we assayed novel disaccharide analogs and the parent drug, idarubicin, for their poisoning effects of human topoisomerase I and topoisomerases IIalpha and IIbeta. Drugs were evaluated with a DNA cleavage assay in vitro and with a yeast system to test whether the agents were able to poison the enzymes in vivo. We have found that the test agents are potent poisons of both topoisomerases IIalpha and IIbeta. The axial orientation of the second sugar relative to the first one of the novel disaccharide analogs was shown to be required for poisoning activity and cytotoxicity. Interestingly, idarubicin and the new analogs stimulated topoisomerase I-mediated DNA cleavage at low levels in vitro. As expected, the cytotoxic level of the drug was highly affected by the content of topoisomerase II; nevertheless, the test agents had a yeast cell-killing activity that also was weakly dependent on cellular topoisomerase I content. The results are relevant for the full understanding of the molecular mechanism of topoisomerase poisoning by anticancer drugs, and they define structural determinants of anthracyclines that may help in the rational design of new compounds directed against topoisomerase I

Low Intra-Abdominal Pressure with Complete Neuromuscular Blockage Reduces Post-Operative Complications in Major Laparoscopic Urologic Surgery: A before–after Study

Most urological interventions are now performed with minimally invasive surgery techniques such as laparoscopic surgery. Combining ERAS protocols with minimally invasive surgery techniques may be the best option to reduce hospital length-of-stay and post-operative complications. We designed this study to test the hypothesis that using low intra-abdominal pressures (IAP) during laparoscopy may reduce post-operative complications, especially those related to reduced intra-operative splanchnic perfusion or increased splanchnic congestion. We applied a complete neuromuscular blockade (NMB) to maintain an optimal space and surgical view. We compared 115 patients treated with standard IAP and moderate NMB with 148 patients treated with low IAP and complete NMB undergoing major urologic surgery. Low IAP in combination with complete NMB was associated with fewer total post-operative complications than standard IAP with moderate NMB (22.3% vs. 41.2%, p p p = 0.004), anemia (6.8% vs. 16.5%, p = 0.049) and reoperation (2% vs. 7.8%, p = 0.035). The intra-operative management of laparoscopic interventions for major urologic surgeries with low IAP and complete NMB is feasible without hindering surgical conditions and might reduce most medical post-operative complications

Intravesical Therapy for Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: What Is the Real Impact of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Variant on Oncological Outcomes?

: Background and Objectives: To evaluate the oncological impact of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) variant in patients submitted to intravesical therapy for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Materials and Methods: Between January 2015 and January 2020, patients with conventional urothelial NMIBC (TCC) or urothelial NMIBC with SCC variant (TCC + SCC) and submitted to adjuvant intravesical therapies were collected. Kaplan-Meier analyses targeted disease recurrence and progression. Uni- and multivariable Cox regression analyses were used to test the role of SCC on disease recurrence and/or progression. Results: A total of 32 patients out of 353 had SCC at diagnosis. Recurrence was observed in 42% of TCC and 44% of TCC + SCC patients (p = 0.88), while progression was observed in 12% of both TCC and TCC + SCC patients (p = 0.78). At multivariable Cox regression analyses, the presence of SCC variant was not associated with higher rates of neither recurrence (p = 0.663) nor progression (p = 0.582). Conclusions: We presented data from the largest series on patients with TCC and concomitant SCC histological variant managed with intravesical therapy (BCG or MMC). No significant differences were found in term of recurrence and progression between TCC and TCC + SCC. Despite the limited sample size, this study paves the way for a possible implementation of the use of intravesical BCG and MMC in NMIBC with histological variants

The association of the type and number of D'Amico high-risk criteria with rates of pathologically non-organ-confined prostate cancer

Introduction The aim of this study was to assess the association between the type and number of D'Amico high-risk criteria (DHRCs) with rates of pathologically non-organ-confined (NOC) prostate cancer in patients treated with radical prostatectomy (RP) and pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND). Material and methods In the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2004-2016), we identified 12961 RP and PLDN patients with at least one DHRC. We relied on descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression models. Results Of 12 961 patients, 6135 (47%) exclusively harboured biopsy Gleason score (GS) 8-10, 3526 (27%) had clinical stage >_T2c, and 1234 (9.5%) had prostate-specific antigen (PSA) >20 ng/mL. Only 1886 (15%) harboured any combination of 2 DHRCs. Finally, all 3 DHRCs were present in 180 (1.4%) patients. NOC rates increased from 32% for clinical T stage >_T2c to 49% for either GS 8-10 only or PSA >20 ng/mL only and to 66-68% for any combination of 2 DHRCs, and to 84% for respectively all 3 DHRCs, which resulted in a multivariable logistic regression OR of 1.00, 2.01 (95% CI 1.85-2.19; p <0.001), 4.16 (95% CI 3.69-4.68; p <0.001), and 10.83 (95% CI 7.35-16.52; p <0.001), respectively. Conclusions Our study indicates a stimulus-response effect according to the type and number of DHRCs. Hence, a formal risk-stratification within high-risk prostate cancer patients should be considered in clinical decision-making

The association of type and number of high-risk criteria with cancer specific mortality in prostate cancer patients treated with radiotherapy

BackgroundTo assess the association between of type and number of D'Amico high-risk criteria (DHRCs) with rates of cancer-specific mortality (CSM) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients treated with external beam radiotherapy (RT). MethodsIn the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2004-2016), we identified 34,908 RT patients with at least one DHRCs, namely prostate-specific antigen (PSA) >20 ng/dL (hrPSA), biopsy Grade Group (hrGG) 4-5, clinical T stage (hrcT) >= T2c. Multivariable Cox regression models (CRM), as well as competing risks regression (CRR) model, which further adjust for other cause mortality, tested the association between DHRCs and 5-year CSM. ResultsOf 34,908 patients, 14,777 (42%) exclusively harbored hrGG, 5641 (16%) hrPSA, 4390 (13%) had hrcT. Only 8238 (23.7%) harbored any combination of two DHRCs and 1862 (5.3%) had all three DHRCs. Five-year CSM rates ranged from 2.4% to 5.0% when any individual DHRC was present (hrcT, hrPSA, hrGG, in that order), versus 5.2% to 10.5% when two DHRCs were present (hrPSA+hrcT, hrcT+hrGG, hrPSA+hrGG, in that order) versus 14.4% when all three DHRCs were identified. In multivariable CRM hazard ratios relative to hrcT ranged from 1.07 to 1.76 for one DHRC, 2.20 to 3.83 for combinations of two DHRCs, and 5.11 for all three DHRCs. Multivariable CRR yielded to virtually the same results. ConclusionsOur study indicates a stimulus-response effect according to the type and number of DHRCs. This indicates potential for risk-stratification within HR PCa patients that could be applied in clinical decision making to increase or reduce treatment intensity