Random laser imaging of bovine pericardium under the uniaxial tensile test.

We demonstrate random laser (RL) emission from within bovine pericardium (BP) tissue. The interest in BP relies on its wide use as a valve replacement and as a biological patch. By imaging the emitting tissue, we show that RL emission is mostly generated inside the collagen fibers. Multimode RL operation is thus achieved within the volume of each fiber. Image analysis reveals that the intensity of the RL emission from individual fibers is dependent on the relative orientation to the stress axis. Our results suggest that RL intensity may be used as an indicator of stress concentration in individual fibers

Enhanced near infrared optical access to the brain with a transparent cranial implant and scalp optical clearing.

We report on the enhanced optical transmittance in the NIR wavelength range (900 to 2400 nm) offered by a transparent Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) implant coupled with optical clearing agents (OCAs). The enhancement in optical access to the brain is evaluated upon comparing ex-vivo transmittance measurements of mice native skull and the YSZ cranial implant with scalp and OCAs. An increase in transmittance of up to 50% and attenuation lengths of up to 2.4 mm (i.e., a five-fold increase in light penetration) are obtained with the YSZ implant and the OCAs. The use of this ceramic implant and the biocompatible optical clearing agents offer attractive features for NIR optical techniques for brain theranostics

Embarazos y maternidad adolescente desde una perspectiva cualitativa en ciencias sociales

En este artículo vamos a acercarnos a embarazadas y madres adolescentes desde una perspectiva cualitativa, es decir desde la voz de estas mismas jóvenes en primera persona. A través del análisis de varios estudios como los realizados en el Centro Joven de Madrid; la Federación de Planificación Estatal (FPFE) y el Centro Reina Sofía de la Fundación de ayuda contra la drogadicción (FAD) expondremos las claves para conocer los factores relacionados con el embarazo adolescente y las recomendaciones para conseguir una menor vulnerabilidad del mismo en el camino de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos en la adolescencia y la juventud

Cytokine Profiling Plays a Crucial Role in Activating Immune System to Clear Infectious Pathogens

Pathogen infections are recognized by the immune system, which consists of two types of responses: an innate immune response that recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and an antigen-specific adaptive immune response. In both responses, there are several activated cells of the immune system, which play a key role in establishing the environment of cytokines, thus directing their differentiation either suppressing or promoting the immune response. This immune response is crucial against pathogen infections. In this chapter, we will describe the crucial role played by different families of cytokines during activation of the immune system to eliminate infectious pathogens

Functional Tapered Fiber Devices Using Polymeric Coatings

A wide variety of fiber devices can be created by adding special coatings on tapered sections of optical fibers. In this work we present the fundamentals for the fabrication of tapered optical fibers coated with functional polymers. The required aspects of light propagation in tapered sections of optical fibers are introduced and the relevant parameters enabling light interaction with external media are discussed. A special case of interest is the addition of polymeric coatings with prescribed thicknesses in the tapered sections allowing for adjusting the light propagation features. We assess the use of liquid polymer coatings with varying thicknesses along the taper profile that can be tailored for tuning the transmission features of the devices. Hence, we introduce a methodology for obtaining coatings with predefined geometries whose optical properties will depend on the polymer functionality. As demonstrated with numerical simulations, the use of functional polymer coatings in tapered optical fibers allows for obtaining a wide variety of functionalities. Thus, controlled polymer coating deposition may provide a simple means to fabricate fiber devices with adjustable transmission characteristics

Traumatismo en Atención Primaria

Introducción: el término traumatismo procede y se deriva del griego trauma, que significa herida, que es un término general que comprende todas las lesiones, psicológicas u orgánicas, internas o externas y sus consecuencias locales o generales para el organismo, que son causadas por la acción de cualquier tipo de agente vulnerante externo o interno. El traumatismo como enfermedad representa un problema de salud pública mayor. El Servicio de Emergencia del Policlínico Pedro Borrás Astorga no se escapa de esta problemática. Objetivo: caracterizar el traumatismo en la Atención Primaria de Salud, servicio de emergencia del Policlínico Universitario “Pedro Borrás Astorga”, febrero 2012 a febrero 2013. Métodos: se realizó una investigación observacional, descriptiva y transversal en el Policlínico Universitario “Pedro Borrás Astorga”. Se empleó una muestra de 172 pacientes; los datos fueron obtenidos a través de fuentes secundarias; se emplearon métodos de estadística descriptiva e inferencial aplicando Chi-x². Resultados: se observó un predominio de pacientes entre 36 y 60 años de edad (34,9%) en ambos sexos (33,3% y 36% respectivamente), la mayoría de los traumatismos fueron causados por caída (37,8%). Predominó la contusión (41,3%) y la región de mayor afectación fue de miembro superior (30,2%); la mayoría de los traumatismos ocurrieron en el hogar (48,3%). Conclusiones: a pesar de los logros alcanzados en Pinar del Río en relación a esta problemática, es una realidad que el traumatismo a diferentes niveles continúa incidiendo con altas frecuencias en los Servicios de Emergencia de la Provincia

Volumetric temperature mapping using light-sheet microscopy and upconversion fluorescence from micro- and nano-rare earth composites

We present a combination of light-sheet excitation and two-dimensional fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) measurements as a simple and promising technique for three-dimensional temperature mapping. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated with samples fabricated with sodium yttrium fluoride nanoparticles co-doped with rare-earth ytterbium and erbium ions (NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+) incorporated into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a host material. In addition, we also evaluate the technique using lipid-coated NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanoparticles immersed in agar. The composite materials show upconverted (UC) fluorescence bands when excited by a 980 nm near-infrared laser light-sheet. Using a single CMOS camera and a pair of interferometric optical filters to specifically image the two thermally-coupled bands (at 525 and 550 nm), the two-dimensional FIR and, hence, the temperature map can be readily obtained. The proposed method can take optically sectioned (confocal-like) images with good optical resolution over relatively large samples (up to the millimetric scale) for further 3D temperature reconstruction.This research was partially funded by CONAHCYT (Mexico) through APY CIENCIA FROTN-2 (grant no. 317184) and FORDECyT-PRONACES (Grant No. 246648). This work re- ceived funding from LASERLAB-EUROPE (the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 871124) and was partially funded by CEX2019- 000910-S [MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033], Fundació Cellex, Fundació Mir-Puig, Generalitat de Catalunya through CERCA, and the Digital Retina project (PID2021-122807OB-C31) funded by MCIN /AEI /10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UEPostprint (published version