Non-Unitarity, sterile neutrinos, and Non-Standard neutrino Interactions

The simplest Standard Model extension to explain neutrino masses involves the addition of right-handed neutrinos. At some level, this extension will impact neutrino oscillation searches. In this work we explore the differences and similarities between the case in which these neutrinos are kinematically accessible (sterile neutrinos) or not (mixing matrix non-unitarity). We clarify apparent inconsistencies in the present literature when using different parametrizations to describe these effects and recast both limits in the popular neutrino non-standard interaction (NSI) formalism. We find that, in the limit in which sterile oscillations are averaged out at the near detector, their effects at the far detector coincide with non-unitarity at leading order, even in presence of a matter potential. We also summarize the present bounds existing in both limits and compare them with the expected sensitivities of near future facilities taking the DUNE proposal as a benchmark. We conclude that non-unitarity effects are too constrained to impact present or near future neutrino oscillation facilities but that sterile neutrinos can play an important role at long baseline experiments. The role of the near detector is also discussed in detail.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures: minor changes and references added, version published in JHE

“ASOCIACION ENTRE SOBREPESO Y OBESIDAD CON COMPLICACIONES MATERNAS EN EL EMBARAZO Y PUERPERIO EN EL HOSPITAL GENERAL DE CUAUTITLAN “GENERAL JOSE VICENTE VILLADA” JULIO-DICIEMBRE 2016

4. RESUMEN La OMS clasifica la obesidad como una pandemia. La prevalencia de sobrepeso y obesidad es mayor en mujeres, representando un 63% de mujeres por grupo de edad, así como el 50% de las mujeres embarazadas presentan obesidad o sobrepeso. En mujeres gestantes el sobrepeso y la obesidad se han asociado a un mayor número de complicaciones durante el embarazo, como son la diabetes gestacional, la enfermedad hipertensiva del embarazo, la preeclampsia, las infecciones maternas (urinarias o endometritis) la enfermedad tromboembólica, el asma y la apnea del sueño. OBJETIVO: Conocer la asociación existente en pacientes con obesidad y sobrepeso con las complicaciones maternas en el embarazo y puerperio en el Hospital General de Cuautitlán “General José Vicente Villada” Se realizó un estudio: Descriptivo, Observacional, Retrospectivo, Transversal. Se analizaron expedientes, de las pacientes con obesidad y sobrepeso durante el embarazo, las cuales fueron captadas a su ingreso a la unidad toco quirúrgica de esta unidad, para analizar la evolución así como la resolución del embarazo en un periodo de 01 Julio 2016 al 31 de Diciembre 2016

Immobilization of beta-cyclodextrin in ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer for active food packaging applications

[EN] Current developments in active food packaging are focusing on incorporating agents into the polymeric package walls that will release or retain substances to improve the quality, safety and shelf-life of the food. Because cyclodextrins are able to form inclusion complexes with various compounds, they are of potential interest as agents to retain or scavenge substances in active packaging applications. In this study, beta-cyclodextrin (beta CD) was successfully immobilized in an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer with a 44% molar percentage of ethylene (EVOH44) by using regular extrusion with glycerol as an adjuvant. Films with 10%, 20% and 30% of beta CD were flexible and transparent. The presence of the agent slightly increased the glass-transition temperature and the crystallinity percentage of the polymer, that is to say, it induced some fragility and a nucleating effect. The water vapor, oxygen and carbon dioxide barrier properties of the materials containing beta CD were determined and compared with those of the pure polymeric material. Permeability to these three permeants increased with the addition of beta CD due to the presence of discontinuities in the matrix and to the internal cavity of the oligosaccharide. Also the CO2/O-2 permselectivity increased with the addition of beta CD. Finally, the potential effect of the composites in the food aroma was analyzed. The materials with beta CD preferentially sorbed apolar compounds such as terpenes. This characteristic could be useful in active packaging applications for preferentially retaining undesired apolar food components like hexanal or cholesterol. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, projects AGL2006-02176 and Fun-C-Food CSD2007-00063, and the C. L-d-D fellowship (FPU program). Mary Georgina Hardinge provided assistance with the English language text.Lopez-De-Dicastillo, C.; Gallur, M.; Catala Moragrega, R.; Gavara Clemente, R.; Hernandez-Muñoz, P. (2010). Immobilization of beta-cyclodextrin in ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer for active food packaging applications. Journal of Membrane Science. 353(1-2):184-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2010.02.049S1841913531-

Improving the Antioxidant Protection of Packaged Food by Incorporating Natural Flavonoids into Ethylene-Vinyl Alcohol Copolymer (EVOH) Films

This document is the unedited Author s version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/jf1022324[EN] Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) films containing catechin or quercetin as antioxidant agents were successfully produced by extrusion. The addition of these bioactive compounds did not modify greatly their water and oxygen permeabilities, T-g, or crystallinity but improved their thermal resistance. Exposure of the films to different food simulants showed that both compounds were released, although the extent and kinetics of release were dependent on the type of food. In aqueous and alcoholic food simulants their release was greater in the case of the catechin-containing samples. Exposure of the films to isooctane and ethanol 95% (fatty food simulants) provided controversial results; no release was observed in isooctane, whereas both bioactive compounds were extracted by ethanol due to their high solubility in alcohol and the plasticizing effect of ethanol on the polymer. Packaging applications of these films can improve food stability and provide a method for adding such bioactive compounds.Received for review June 10, 2010. Revised manuscript received August 24, 2010. Accepted September 16, 2010. We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Projects AGL2006-02176, AGL2009-08776, and Fun-C-Food CSD2007-00063, and the C.L.-d.-D. fellowship (FPU program).Lopez-De-Dicastillo, C.; Alonso, JM.; Catala Moragrega, R.; Gavara Clemente, R.; Hernandez-Muñoz, P. (2010). Improving the Antioxidant Protection of Packaged Food by Incorporating Natural Flavonoids into Ethylene-Vinyl Alcohol Copolymer (EVOH) Films. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 58(20):10958-10964. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf1022324S1095810964582

Characterization and analysis of thionin genes

The general designation of thionins has been proposed for a family of homologous proteins that have been isolated from different tissues in a wide range of plant taxa and have been variously named purothionins, viscotoxins, crambins, etc. (see Garcia-Olmedo et al., 1989). The possible involvement of thionins in plant defense was first suggested, on the basis of their in vitro toxicity to plant pathogens, by Fernandez de Caleya et al., (1972). Those observations had been prompted by earlier reports concerning the antimicrobial properties of these polypeptides (Stuart and Harris, 1942; Balls and Harris, 1944). Work on the thionins, which has been actively pursued over the past half-century, has been recently reviewed in detail (Garcia-Olmedo et al., 1989). For this reason, earlier work will only be partially summarized in the present chapter, which will focus on recent developments concerning thionin genes and their potential role in plant defense mechanisms

The thionins: a protein family that includes purothionins, viscotoxins and crambins

Almost half a century ago, a crystalline protein material was obtained from lipid extracts of wheat endosperm and designated "purothionin" (Trvpwo, wheat; 9 e i w v , sulphur) on account of its high sulphur content (Balls et al., 1942a,b). This material, which was thought to be the oxidized form of a powerful oxidation-reduction system, was found to have baetericidal and fungicidal properties (Stuart and Harris, 1942), to inhibit fermentation of wheat mashes (Balls and Harris, 1944), and to be toxic to laboratory animáis (Coulson et al., 1942)

Comorbidity patterns in patients with chronic diseases in general practice

INTRODUCTION: Healthcare management is oriented toward single diseases, yet multimorbidity is nevertheless the rule and there is a tendency for certain diseases to occur in clusters. This study sought to identify comorbidity patterns in patients with chronic diseases, by reference to number of comorbidities, age and sex, in a population receiving medical care from 129 general practitioners in Spain, in 2007. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a health-area setting of the Madrid Autonomous Region (Comunidad Autónoma), covering a population of 198,670 individuals aged over 14 years. Multiple correspondences were analyzed to identify the clustering patterns of the conditions targeted. RESULTS: Forty-two percent (95% confidence interval [CI]: 41.8-42.2) of the registered population had at least one chronic condition. In all, 24.5% (95% CI: 24.3-24.6) of the population presented with multimorbidity. In the correspondence analysis, 98.3% of the total information was accounted for by three dimensions. The following four, age- and sex-related comorbidity patterns were identified: pattern B, showing a high comorbidity rate; pattern C, showing a low comorbidity rate; and two patterns, A and D, showing intermediate comorbidity rates. CONCLUSIONS: Four comorbidity patterns could be identified which grouped diseases as follows: one showing diseases with a high comorbidity burden; one showing diseases with a low comorbidity burden; and two showing diseases with an intermediate comorbidity burden.This study was partially supported by the CENIT Program (MICINN-CDTI) [CEN-2007-1010 ‘‘Digital personal environment for health and wellbeing – AmiVital’’ project], a grant from the Ministry of Health & Consumer Affairs [FIS PI08-0435], and the MOBIS Program of the Spanish Vodafone Foundation . The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Multilingual audio information management system based on semantic knowledge in complex environments

AbstractThis paper proposes a multilingual audio information management system based on semantic knowledge in complex environments. The complex environment is defined by the limited resources (financial, material, human, and audio resources); the poor quality of the audio signal taken from an internet radio channel; the multilingual context (Spanish, French, and Basque that is in under-resourced situation in some areas); and the regular appearance of cross-lingual elements between the three languages. In addition to this, the system is also constrained by the requirements of the local multilingual industrial sector. We present the first evolutionary system based on a scalable architecture that is able to fulfill these specifications with automatic adaptation based on automatic semantic speech recognition, folksonomies, automatic configuration selection, machine learning, neural computing methodologies, and collaborative networks. As a result, it can be said that the initial goals have been accomplished and the usability of the final application has been tested successfully, even with non-experienced users.</jats:p

Importance of university teacher behaviour in the faculty of health science

BackgroundWe describe the results from the questionnaire of Tuncel concerning the behaviour of university teachers, since university students believe they have influenced their academic achievement.AimsThe objective of this study was to reveal which behaviours of university teachers were most appreciated by the students in the first year of the studies taught at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid (Degrees in Medicine, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Dentistry, Psychology and Occupational Therapy).Methods 540 first-year students from the Health Sciences degree participated. An exploratory factor analysis of the items was performed and the internal consistency was studied using Cronbach’s alpha.ResultsStudents placed the most importance on the following areas: “Emotional aptitude of the university teacher”, “University teacher-student interaction”, “Achievement of teaching objectives”, “Connection between the teaching of theory and practical components”, “Organization and planning of teaching” and “Correct students and providing them with information on their progress and evolution”. It should be noted that affective factors and the relationship and close interaction with students were the areas most demanded and valued by the students.ConclusionMaking the teaching process more effective is an important goal of educational research. But few researchers take into account the point of view of the students and are primarily involved in determining the behaviour of university teachers. Therefore our aim in this study was to find out their opinions. We wanted to know which attitudes are the most valued by students of the Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid, Spain) studying for degrees in the health sciences program. Once identified, we will be able to use this information to identify teaching strategies that could improve the minimum academic requirements of the university

Multilingual audio information management system based on semantic knowledge in complex environments

AbstractThis paper proposes a multilingual audio information management system based on semantic knowledge in complex environments. The complex environment is defined by the limited resources (financial, material, human, and audio resources); the poor quality of the audio signal taken from an internet radio channel; the multilingual context (Spanish, French, and Basque that is in under-resourced situation in some areas); and the regular appearance of cross-lingual elements between the three languages. In addition to this, the system is also constrained by the requirements of the local multilingual industrial sector. We present the first evolutionary system based on a scalable architecture that is able to fulfill these specifications with automatic adaptation based on automatic semantic speech recognition, folksonomies, automatic configuration selection, machine learning, neural computing methodologies, and collaborative networks. As a result, it can be said that the initial goals have been accomplished and the usability of the final application has been tested successfully, even with non-experienced users.</jats:p