Three-dimensional two-fluid modeling of a cylindrical fluidized bed and validation of the Maximum Entropy method to determine bubble properties

Diameter and velocity of bubbles from a three-dimensional two-fluid model simulation of a cylindrical fluidized bed are presented. Two methods for obtaining the bubble size and velocity are compared: (i) estimation from the chord lengths and velocities of the detected bubbles using information from two virtual voidage probes (pierced bubble method) and (ii) calculation from the bubble volume and velocity directly obtained from the instantaneous 3D voidage field (tomography method). The Maximum Entropy method (MaxEnt) is employed to convert probability density functions of chord lengths into the corresponding diameter distributions. The algorithm for the direct evaluation of the bubble volume and velocity, based on the tomography reconstruction of the 3D field, is explicitly explained and used to evaluate the results obtained from the virtual void probe signals. Results show a good agreement between the bubble sizes obtained using the MaxEnt treatment of the chord lengths and the directly obtained bubble sizes, which confirms the robustness of the MaxEnt.method to infer bubble behavior in 3D bubbling beds. In particular, the mean bubble diameter obtained with the MaxEnt method applied to chord lengths was less than 4.5% different to the result from the tomography reconstruction. It was found that the bubble velocities obtained from virtual voidage probes are higher than the bubble velocities calculated with the tomography method, but the differences were not greater than 17% in the worst case. The probability density functions of bubble size and velocity obtained with the two methods were similar in terms of the location of the most probable values and the variation of the distribution with the distance to the distributor.The present work has been funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through the Project DPI2009-10518. The authors gratefully appreciate this support.Publicad

Tolerance and adherence of patients with chronic chagas disease treated with benznidazole

©2023 Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ . This document is the Published, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine . To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0384-2022Background: Chagas disease (CD) treatment is commonly associated with a high incidence of adverse effects. It is crucial to study and update these adverse effects to improve the existing knowledge of which drugs to use and to clarify the information presented to patients. Methods: We analyzed the adverse effects of benznidazole in two cohorts of patients: a large retrospective study and a small prospective study. Results: This large retrospective study described the most and least common adverse effects in our area and characterized our Chagas disease population. This prospective study, along with a close follow-up of the treatment, detected more adverse effects and enhanced the patients’ perception of the disease and treatment. Conclusions: This information is important for preventing non-medical-related withdrawals and for removing baseless fears. Better knowledge of patients could help us provide better care

Intervenciones dirigidas a la disminución de los síntomas obsesivo-compulsivos en personas con trastorno del espectro autista: una revisión

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in communication and social interaction as well as restrictive and repetitive behavior. It has high comorbidity with other disorders, reaching 37% with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in young patients. OCD is characterized by recurrent thoughts and ideas that lead the person to perform compulsive actions to reduce the level of anxiety generated by these thoughts. This paper presents a review of the psychological intervention methods, as well as their effectiveness, used to reduce the symptoms of comorbid OCD in people with ASD. It includes 14 articles in which cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure and prevention of responses (EPR) showed encouraging results in reducing these symptoms.El trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) es un trastorno del neurodesarrollo caracterizado por déficits en la comunicación e interacción social y por comportamientos restrictivos y repetitivos. Presenta una elevada comorbilidad con otros trastornos, de hasta un 37% con el trastorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC) en pacientes jóvenes. El TOC se caracteriza por pensamientos e ideas recurrentes que llevan a la persona a realizar acciones compulsivas para disminuir el nivel de ansiedad que estos pensamientos le generan. Este trabajo presenta una revisión de los métodos psicológicos de intervención utilizados, así como de la efectividad de los mismos, en la reducción de los síntomas del TOC comórbido en personas con TEA. Se incluyeron 14 artículos, en los que la terapia cognitivo conductual (TCC) y la exposición y prevención de respuestas (EPR) presentaron resultados alentadores en la disminución de estos síntomas. &nbsp

Transmitted drug resistance to antiretroviral drugs in Spain during the period 2019–2021

To evaluate the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance (TDR) to nucleoside and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI, NNRTI), protease inhibitors (PI), and integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTI) in Spain during the period 2019-2021, as well as to evaluate transmitted clinically relevant resistance (TCRR) to antiretroviral drugs. Reverse transcriptase (RT), protease (Pro), and Integrase (IN) sequences from 1824 PLWH (people living with HIV) were studied. To evaluate TDR we investigated the prevalence of surveillance drug resistance mutations (SDRM). To evaluate TCRR (any resistance level >= 3), and for HIV subtyping we used the Stanford v.9.4.1 HIVDB Algorithm and an in-depth phylogenetic analysis. The prevalence of NRTI SDRMs was 3.8% (95% CI, 2.8%-4.6%), 6.1% (95% CI, 5.0%-7.3%) for NNRTI, 0.9% (95% CI, 0.5%-1.4%) for PI, and 0.2% (95% CI, 0.0%-0.9%) for INSTI. The prevalence of TCRR to NRTI was 2.1% (95% CI, 1.5%-2.9%), 11.8% for NNRTI, (95% CI, 10.3%-13.5%), 0.2% (95% CI, 0.1%-0.6%) for PI, and 2.5% (95% CI, 1.5%-4.1%) for INSTI. Most of the patients were infected by subtype B (79.8%), while the majority of non-Bs were CRF02_AG (n = 109, 6%). The prevalence of INSTI and PI resistance in Spain during the period 2019-2021 is low, while NRTI resistance is moderate, and NNRTI resistance is the highest. Our results support the use of integrase inhibitors as first-line treatment in Spain. Our findings highlight the importance of ongoing surveillance of TDR to antiretroviral drugs in PLWH particularly with regard to first-line antiretroviral therapy

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Largest HIV-1 CRF02_AG Outbreak in Spain: Evidence for Onward Transmissions

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41–6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain.Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000–2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively.Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p < 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2–79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (tMRCA) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999–2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin.Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics

Enfermedad de Chagas en fase crónica. Evaluación de diferentes métodos diagnósticos en una zona no endémica.

Los recientes flujos migratorios han propiciado la llegada de un número importante de personas procedentes de zonas donde la enfermedad de Chagas es endémica. El diagnóstico de laboratorio de la enfermedad de Chagas reviste unas características especiales debido a que, según la fase en la evolución de la enfermedad en la que se encuentre el paciente, se utilizarán distintas técnicas, siendo la detección de anticuerpos frente a Trypanosoma cruzi el principal método diagnóstico de la enfermedad de Chagas en fase crónica. Por tanto, en el contexto epidemiológico de la Región de Murcia, consideramos importante evaluar la eficacia de las diferentes técnicas de diagnóstico parasitológico y serológico, así como ensayar nuevos métodos serológicos basados en el empleo de péptidos recombinantes. Palabras clave: enfermedad de Chagas, métodos diagnósticos, serología Abstract Due to recent migration flows, a significant number of people from Chagas disease endemic areas has arrived to our region. Appropriate diagnostic testing for Chagas disease varies depending on the phase of disease; the detection of Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies by serological methods is still the main support for diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease. Therefore, in the epidemiological context of Murcia region (Spain), we consider important to evaluate the utility of different parasitological and serological methods and to test new serological assays based on recombinant proteins. Keywords: Chagas disease, diagnostic methods, serolog

Interventions aimed at reducing obsessive-compulsive symptoms in people with autism spectrum disorder: A review

El trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) es un trastorno del neurodesarrollo caracterizado por déficits en la comunicación e interacción social y por comportamientos restrictivos y repetitivos. Presenta una elevada comorbilidad con otros trastornos, de hasta un 37% con el trastorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC) en pacientes jóvenes. El TOC se caracteriza por pensamientos e ideas recurrentes que llevan a la persona a realizar acciones compulsivas para disminuir el nivel de ansiedad que estos pensamientos le generan. Este trabajo presenta una revisión de los métodos psicológicos de intervención utilizados, así como de la efectividad de los mismos, en la reducción de los síntomas del TOC comórbido en personas con TEA. Se incluyeron 14 artículos, en los que la terapia cognitivo conductual (TCC) y la exposición y prevención de respuestas (EPR) presentaron resultados alentadores en la disminución de estos síntomas

Intervenciones dirigidas a la disminución de los síntomas obsesivo-compulsivos en personas con trastorno del espectro autista: una revisión

El trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) es un trastorno del neurodesarrollo caracterizado por déficits en la comunicación e interacción social y por comportamientos restrictivos y repetitivos. Presenta una elevada comorbilidad con otros trastornos, de hasta un 37% con el trastorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC) en pacientes jóvenes. El TOC se caracteriza por pensamientos e ideas recurrentes que llevan a la persona a realizar acciones compulsivas para disminuir el nivel de ansiedad que estos pensamientos le generan. Este trabajo presenta una revisión de los métodos psicológicos de intervención utilizados, así como de la efectividad de los mismos, en la reducción de los síntomas del TOC comórbido en personas con TEA. Se incluyeron 14 artículos, en los que la terapia cognitivo conductual (TCC) y la exposición y prevención de respuestas (EPR) presentaron resAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in communication and social interaction as well as restrictive and repetitive behavior. It has high comorbidity with other disorders, reaching 37% with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in young patients. OCD is characterized by recurrent thoughts and ideas that lead the person to perform compulsive actions to reduce the level of anxiety generated by these thoughts. This paper presents a review of the psychological intervention methods, as well as their effectiveness, used to reduce the symptoms of comorbid OCD in people with ASD. It includes 14 articles in which cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure and prevention of responses (EPR) showed encouraging results in reducing these symptoms