Study of chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment in women with breast cancer

Oncology patients experience a large number of symptoms and, those referring to cognitive performance has an ever-increasing importance in clinical practice, due to the increase in survival rates and interest in the patient’s quality of life. The studies reviewed showed that chemotherapy-related cognitive impairmentmight occur in 15 and 50% of oncology patients. The main objective of this research was to study the impact of chemotherapy on the cognitive function of patients with locoregional breast cancer. Method: Analytical, prospective, longitudinal study using three measures, unifactorial intrasubject design, non-probability, and random selection sampling. The sample comprisedwomen newly diagnosedwith locoregional breast cancer in stages I, II, IIIA who received chemotherapy at the University Hospital of Salamanca (Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca), randomly selected for three years. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, HAD); quality of life (QLQ-BR23 scale) and the following cognitive variables were assessed—processing speed, attention, memory, and executive functions (subtests of theWechsler Intelligence Scale and the TrailMaking Test). Results: The final sample size included 151 participants; 23 were excluded. A decline in cognitive performance was observed in patients, which did not completely recover two months after chemotherapy was completed. Additionally, worse cognitive performance was observed in patients with anxious or depressive symptoms. There was a negative impact on the quality of life. Conclusion: Chemotherapy had an impact on the cognitive performance of oncology patients in most cognitive domains studied

A proposal for an Internet of Things-based monitoring system composed by low capability, open source and open hardware devices

The Internet of Things makes use of a huge disparity of technologies at very different levels that help one to the other to accomplish goals that were previously regarded as unthinkable in terms of ubiquity or scalability. If the Internet of Things is expected to interconnect every day devices or appliances and enable communications between them, a broad range of new services, applications and products can be foreseen. For example, monitoring is a process where sensors have widespread use for measuring environmental parameters (temperature, light, chemical agents, etc.) but obtaining readings at the exact physical point they want to be obtained from, or about the exact wanted parameter can be a clumsy, time-consuming task that is not easily adaptable to new requirements. In order to tackle this challenge, a proposal on a system used to monitor any conceivable environment, which additionally is able to monitor the status of its own components and heal some of the most usual issues of a Wireless Sensor Network, is presented here in detail, covering all the layers that give it shape in terms of devices, communications or services

Pharmacodynamics of fosfomycin: Insights into clinical use for antimicrobial resistance

The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships of fosfomycin against extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli strains that have different fosfomycin MICs. Our methods included the use of a hollow fiber infection model with three clinical ESBL-producing E. coli strains. Human fosfomycin pharmacokinetic profiles were simulated over 4 days. Preliminary studies conducted to determine the dose ranges, including the dose ranges that suppressed the development of drug-resistant mutants, were conducted with regimens from 12 g/day to 36 g/day. The combination of fosfomycin at 4 g every 8 h (q8h) and meropenem at 1 g/q8h was selected for further assessment. The total bacterial population and the resistant subpopulations were determined. No efficacy was observed against the Ec42444 strain (fosfomycin MIC, 64 mg/liter) at doses of 12, 24, or 36 g/day. All dosages induced at least initial bacterial killing against Ec46 (fosfomycin MIC, 1 mg/liter). High-level drug-resistant mutants appeared in this strain in response to 12, 15, and 18 g/day. In the study arms that included 24 g/day, once or in a divided dose, a complete extinction of the bacterial inoculum was observed. The combination of meropenem with fosfomycin was synergistic for bacterial killing and also suppressed all fosfomycinresistant clones of Ec2974 (fosfomycin MIC, 1 mg/liter). We conclude that fosfomycin susceptibility breakpoints (≤64 mg/liter according to CLSI [for E. coli urinary tract infections only]) should be revised for the treatment of serious systemic infections. Fosfomycin can be used to treat infections caused by organisms that demonstrate lower MICs and lower bacterial densities, although relatively high daily dosages (i.e., 24 g/day) are required to prevent the emergence of bacterial resistance. The ratio of the area under the concentration-time curve for the free, unbound fraction of fosfomycin versus the MIC (fAUC/MIC) appears to be the dynamically linked index of suppression of bacterial resistance. Fosfomycin with meropenem can act synergistically against E. coli strains in preventing the emergence of fosfomycin resistance.Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas Sociales Junta de Andalucía PI-0044-2013FEDER REIPI RD12/001

Esterase, Glutathione S-Transferase and NADPH-Cytochrome P450 Reductase Activity Evaluation in Cacopsylla pyri L. (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) Individual Adults

Cacopsylla pyri (L.) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) is a key pest of pear orchards in Spain. The large number of insecticide treatments necessary for control may be an important contributor to the emergence of resistance. Laboratory toxicity and biochemical assays are necessary to validate the existence of insecticide resistance and establish the underlying mechanisms. All the methodologies developed to evaluate enzyme activity in C. pyri to date have incorporated 'pools' of adults to detect minimum activity ranges. In this study, we determined the optimal working conditions for evaluation of the activities of esterase, glutathione S-transferase and NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase in individual insects via colorimetric methods using a microplate reader. The main factors affecting enzymatic analysis activity, such as enzyme source and substrate concentration, filter wavelength, buffer pH, reaction time and additives, were evaluated for optimization. Determining the frequency of resistant individuals within a population could be used as an indicator for the evolution of insecticide resistance over time. Two laboratory strains, one of them selected with cypermethrin, and two field populations were analyzed for this purpose. The data obtained revealed high values and great variation in the activity ranges of esterase (EST) in the insecticide-selected population as well as in the field populations validating the applied methodology.This research was supported by a grant for research projects AGL2001-1201 and AGL2004-05182, a pre-doctoral fellowship and project AGL2016-77373-C2-2-R from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación from Spain

MICROINVERSOR CON CAPACIDAD PARA MANEJAR UNA LÁMPARA DE LEDs

Resumen  El presente artículo propone una novedosa topología que consiste en la integración de un microinversor con un driver de lámpara LEDs. El convertidor tiene la capacidad de funcionar como microinversor durante el día, inyectando toda la energía proveniente del panel fotovoltaico. Durante la noche el convertidor cambia de modo de operación y actúa como rectificador con alto factor de potencia para alimentar a una lámpara LEDs. Ambos convertidores (microinversor y Driver) están basados en un convertidor Flyback que operan en modo de conducción discontinua (MCD).Se muestra un análisis detallado del funcionamiento de la topología, las ecuaciones para el diseño de la misma y finalmente se presentan resultados de simulación.Palabra(s) Clave: Driver LEDs, Iluminación vial, Inversor Flyback, Microinversor. MICROINVERTER WITH CAPACITY TO HANDLE A LED LAMPAbstractThe present paper proposes a new topology integrating PV panel microinverter system and street lighting driver for a LED luminaire. The converter has the capacity for working as microinverter during daylight injecting the energy provided of PV panel to the grid. Meanwhile at night the converter changes its operation, then it acts as rectifier with high power factor to provide energy for the LED luminaire. The topology present two integrated converters. These converters are based in Flyback converter opering in discontinuous-current mode (DCM).The paper shows a detailed review of the topology function as well the equations used to design the topology and finally it shows the simulations results. Keywords: Flyback Inverter, LED Driver, Microinverter, Street lighting

Image restoration a comparative study of some methods applied to color images

The present work introduces five different methods to deal with digital image restoration. Particularly deconvolution by Richardson-Lucy method, Wiener filter, deconvolution with Gaussian priors in the frequency domain, spatial domain and the use of sparse priors. The Bayesian methodology is based on the prior knowledge of some information that allows an efficient modeling of the image acquisition process. The edge preservation of objects into the image while smoothing noise is necessary for an adequate model. Thus, we use five deconvolution methods to recover images, all of the presented images are contained on TID 2008, all of them were previously degraded by Gaussian noise and convolved with a disc point spread function (PSF) making reference to a typical fluorescence microscopy degradation. The principal objective when using restoration methods in the context of image processing is to eliminate those effects caused by the excessive smoothness on the reconstruction process of an image which is rich in contours or edges and also is important to consider the process time due to an improvement in this área could lead to a faster application. A comparison between the five methods is presented for a restoration process. This collection of implemented methods has been compared using different metrics such as SNR, PSNR, SSIM and process time. The obtained results showed a satisfactory performance and the effectiveness of the proposed methods on color space

A low frequency of losses in 11q chromosome Is associated with better outcome and lower rate of genomic mutations in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.To analyze the impact of the 11q deleted (11q-) cells in CLL patients on the time to first therapy (TFT) and overall survival (OS), 2,493 patients with CLL were studied. 242 patients (9.7%) had 11q-. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies showed a threshold of 40% of deleted cells to be optimal for showing that clinical differences in terms of TFT and OS within 11q- CLLs. In patients with ≥40% of losses in 11q (11q-H) (74%), the median TFT was 19 months compared with 44 months in CLL patients with <40% del(11q) (11q-L) (P<0.0001). In the multivariate analysis, only the presence of 11q-L, mutated IGHV status, early Binet stage and absence of extended lymphadenopathy were associated with longer TFT. Patients with 11q-H had an OS of 90 months, while in the 11q-L group the OS was not reached (P = 0.008). The absence of splenomegaly (P = 0.02), low LDH (P = 0.018) or β2M (P = 0.006), and the presence of 11q-L (P = 0.003) were associated with a longer OS. In addition, to detect the presence of mutations in the ATM, TP53, NOTCH1, SF3B1, MYD88, FBXW7, XPO1 and BIRC3 genes, a select cohort of CLL patients with losses in 11q was sequenced by next-generation sequencing of amplicons. Eighty %of CLLs with 11qshowed mutations and fewer patients with low frequencies of 11q- had mutations among genes examined (50% vs 94.1%, P = 0.023). In summary, CLL patients with <40% of 11qhad a long TFT and OS that could be associated with the presence of fewer mutated genes.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias FIS 09/01543, PI12/00281 and PI15/01471, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) "Una manera de hacer Europa", Proyectos de Investigación del SACYL 355/A/09, GRS/1172/A15, COST Action EuGESMA (BM0801), Fundación Manuel Solórzano, Obra Social Banca Cívica (Caja Burgos), Fundación Española de Hematología y Hemoterapia (FEHH), and by grants (RD12/0036/0069 and RD12/0036/0044) from Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer (RTICC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) "Una manera de hacer Europa" (CEI 2010-1-0010). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under Grant Agreement n°306242-NGS-PTL. María Hernández-Sánchez is fully supported by an Ayuda Predoctoral de la Junta de Castilla y León from the Fondo Social Europeo (JCYL-EDU/346/2013 Ph.D. scholarship). Vera Grossmann was supported by MLL Munich and Alexander Kohlmann was supported by MLL Munich and AstraZeneca in terms of salary.Peer Reviewe

Análisis de la reactividad del hollín emitido por un motor diésel operando con diferentes biocarburantes

Las estrictas normativas anticontaminantes impuestas a los vehículos diésel (EURO 6) han obligado al uso de complejos sistemas de post-tratamiento para reducir la emisión de NOx y partículas. En relación a estas últimas, el uso de filtros de partículas (DPF) se ha establecido como la única técnica capaz de cumplir con las comentadas normativas, a pesar de los problemas derivados de la regeneración de los mismos. Dicha regeneración provoca tanto un aumento en el consumo del vehículo (y por tanto mayor emisión de CO2) como posibles problemas operacionales derivados de la acumulación excesiva de partículas en el filtro. Unido a lo anterior, la aparición de combustibles alternativos de elevado potencial, como el HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), GTL (Gas-to-Liquid) y las mezclas de diésel con etanol (e-diésel), obligan a conocer las propiedades de las partículas emitidas con el objetivo de optimizar el diseño del DPF y determinar las necesidades térmicas requeridas para una correcta regeneración. En este trabajo se analiza la reactividad (temperaturas características del proceso de oxidación) de las partículas emitidas por un motor diésel operando tanto con combustible diésel como con diferentes biocarburantes (biodiésel convencional, HVO, GTL y e-diésel). Los ensayos para la recolección de partículas se han llevado a cabo sobre un motor comercial instalado en banco de ensayos, y se han evaluado varias modificaciones en el proceso de inyección. El análisis de reactividad de las partículas recogidas se ha efectuado empleando una balanza termogravimétrica (TGA) y un calorímetro diferencial de barrido (DSC), ambas técnicas habituales en bibliografía. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que ambas técnicas de caracterización (TGA y DSC) conducen a conclusiones similares y que los combustibles con oxígeno en su estructura molecular (biodiésel y e-diésel) generan partículas más reactivas que aquellos que no lo poseen. También se ha comprobado que la presencia de oxígeno en forma de alcohol (e-diésel) posibilita la regeneración a menor temperatura que cuando se emplea biodiésel convencional (oxígeno en forma de éster).Se agradece a Nissan la cesión del motor, y a Repsol, Stock del Vallés, Sasol, Neste Oil y Abengoa la de los combustibles. Agradecimientos al Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad por la financiación de este trabajo a través del proyecto CINBIOLT (TRA2010-18876). Se agradece a la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha – JCCM la concesión de una ayuda para la Formación de Personal Investigador [ref. 2014/10620] para la contratación de Jesús Sánchez-Valdepeñas García- Moreno

DNA damage response-related alterations define the genetic background of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and chromosomal gains

[EN]The presence of chromosomal gains other than trisomy 12 suggesting a hyperdiploid karyotype is extremely rare in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and is associated with a dismal prognosis. However, the genetic mechanisms and mutational background of these patients have not been fully explored. To improve our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of this subgroup of CLL, seven CLL patients with several chromosomal gains were sequenced using a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-targeted approach. The mutational status of 54 genes was evaluated using a custom-designed gene panel including recurrent mutated genes observed in CLL and widely associated with CLL pathogenesis. A total of 21 mutations were detected; TP53 (42.8%), ATM (28.5%), SF3B1 (28.5%), and BRAF (28.5%) were the most recurrently mutated genes. Of these mutations, 61.9% were detected in genes previously associated with a poor prognosis in CLL. Interestingly, five of the seven patients exhibited alterations in TP53 or ATM (deletion and/or mutation), genes involved in the DNA damage response (DDR), which could be related to a high genetic instability in this subgroup of patients. In conclusion, CLL patients with several chromosomal gains exhibit high genetic instability, with mutations in CLL driver genes and high-risk genetic alterations involving ATM and/or TP53 genes