Temporomandibular chronic dislocation : the long-standing condition

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation can be categorised into three groups: acute, habitual or recurrent and long-standing. The long-standing or protracted lower jaw dislocation refers to a condition that persists for more than one month without reduction. There are a great variety of methods for its treatment, from the manual or non-surgical, to surgical ones like the indirect approach (conservative surgical approach) and direct approach (open joint). Additional procedures in unsuccessful cases may include extra-articular orthognathic techniques to correct a malocclusion until joint replacement. We report four new cases with a minimum of 6 weeks dislocation who were seen since 1995 to 2015 in the Maxillofacial Department of the Clínico Hospital (Valencia, Spain), in which the mean age was 57.5 years. Most of them were bilateral and the gender was predominantly female. Additionally, we have reviewed the related literature. All of the cases were successfully treated and half of them required open surgery. The report confirms the difficulty of the treatment and reaffirms the necessity to bear in mind the wide variety of methods available for the treatment of this pathology. We stress the difficulties associated with managing the treatment and of suggesting new guidelines. The best option still remains not to delay the diagnostic and to select the appropriate initial treatment

Celebrity games

We introduce Celebrity games, a new model of network creation games. In this model players have weights (W being the sum of all the player's weights) and there is a critical distance ß as well as a link cost a. The cost incurred by a player depends on the cost of establishing links to other players and on the sum of the weights of those players that remain farther than the critical distance. Intuitively, the aim of any player is to be relatively close (at a distance less than ß ) from the rest of players, mainly of those having high weights. The main features of celebrity games are that: computing the best response of a player is NP-hard if ß>1 and polynomial time solvable otherwise; they always have a pure Nash equilibrium; the family of celebrity games having a connected Nash equilibrium is characterized (the so called star celebrity games) and bounds on the diameter of the resulting equilibrium graphs are given; a special case of star celebrity games shares its set of Nash equilibrium profiles with the MaxBD games with uniform bounded distance ß introduced in Bilò et al. [6]. Moreover, we analyze the Price of Anarchy (PoA) and of Stability (PoS) of celebrity games and give several bounds. These are that: for non-star celebrity games PoA=PoS=max{1,W/a}; for star celebrity games PoS=1 and PoA=O(min{n/ß,Wa}) but if the Nash Equilibrium is a tree then the PoA is O(1); finally, when ß=1 the PoA is at most 2. The upper bounds on the PoA are complemented with some lower bounds for ß=2.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Las ciudades intermedias: concepto y dimensiones

Este artículo sintetiza las principales líneas de trabajo impulsadas, en los últimos años, por la Cátedra UNESCO de Ciudades Intermedias de la Universitat de Lleida, con el objetivo de evidenciar la trascendencia de la ciudad intermedia como mayoritaria en la geografía urbana mundial. Además de su papel clave en las relaciones entre lo urbano y el medio rural. Aspectos como intermediación y cohesión territorial, escala humana y gobernanza, y su topología de cortas distancias y de proximidad, refuerzan la idea de la ciudad intermedia como un nuevo paradigma en el proceso de urbanización mundial, y como elemento clave en la implementación a escala local de la Agenda 2030

Physiological responses of coccolithophores to abrupt exposure of naturally low pH deep seawater

Upwelling is the process by which deep, cold, relatively high-CO2, nutrient-rich seawater rises to the sunlit surface of the ocean. This seasonal process has fueled geoengineering initiatives to fertilize the surface ocean with deep seawater to enhance productivity and thus promote the drawdown of CO2. Coccolithophores, which inhabit many upwelling regions naturally ‘fertilized’ by deep seawater, have been investigated in the laboratory in the context of ocean acidification to determine the extent to which nutrients and CO2 impact their physiology, but few data exist in the field except from mesocosms. Here, we used the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (north Atlantic Ocean) Observatory to retrieve seawater from depths with elevated CO2 and nutrients, mimicking geoengineering approaches. We tested the effects of abrupt natural deep seawater fertilization on the physiology and biogeochemistry of two strains of Emiliania huxleyi of known physiology. None of the strains tested underwent cell divisions when incubated in waters obtained from 1,000 m, artificial upwelling using shallower waters may not be a suitable approach for promoting carbon sequestration for some locations and assemblages, and should therefore be investigated on a site-by-site basis

Estuarine hydrodynamic patterns and hydrokinetic energy production: The Douro estuary case study

Influenced by both marine and river flows, estuaries can present a high potential for hydrokinetic energy exploitation. In this study, the hydrokinetic energy production in the Douro estuary was evaluated through hydrodynamic numerical modelling. The model analysed the tide and river flow, reproduced the combined effects of these two factors on the main current velocity patterns, and identified the estuarine locations with the highest potential for energy exploitation. Given the river?s high variability caused by the precipitation patterns in the hydrographic basin area and the river?s torrential regime, several discharge scenarios were explored, combining spring and neap tides, and high and low river flows. The results revealed that the region with the highest potential is located in the upper part of the estuary, where the highest-velocity currents were achieved for mid-ebb tide conditions and strong river flows. It was also found that tides reinforce the hydrokinetic energy production during ebb tide, although they are not strong enough to produce high values of hydrokinetic energy, being the river flow the main forcing. This work demonstrates the relevance of choosing parametrized magnitudes that are not dependent on a specific equipment, as well as the importance of a proper characterization of the estuarine hydrodynamic patterns needed to optimize the hydrokinetic energy exploitation. ? 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Organic bee pollen: botanical origin, nutritional value, bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity and microbiological quality

Organic bee pollen (BP, n = 22) harvested from the Douro International Natural Park (DINP, Portugal) was studied. Nine botanical families were found in the mixture of the samples. The water activity and pH ranged 0.21–0.37 and 4.3–5.2, respectively. The BP analyses averaged 67.7% carbohydrates, 21.8% crude protein, 5.2% crude fat and 2.9% ash. The energy ranged from 396.4 to 411.1 kcal/100 g. The principal fatty acid found was linolenic, followed by linoleic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid. The phenolic and flavonoid contents varied from 12.9 to 19.8 mg of gallic acid equivalents/g of extract and from 4.5 to 7.1 mg of catechin equivalents/g of extract, respectively. The scavenger activity and β-carotene bleaching assays values (EC50) were 3.0 ± 0.7 mg/mL and 4.6 mg/mL ± 0.9 mg/mL, respectively. E. coli, sulphite-reducing Clostridia, Salmonella and S. aureus were not found. Since there are studies indicating appreciable differences among BPs from different regions, the full characterization of BP from diverse origins still appears to be a sound research priority in order to obtain reliable data about this beehive product

Cellulose nanocrystal and water-soluble cellulose derivative based electromechanical bending actuators

This study reports a versatile method for the development of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and water-soluble cellulose derivatives (methyl cellulose (MC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (NaCMC)) films comprising the ionic liquid (IL) 2-hydroxy-ethyl-trimethylammonium dihydrogen phosphate ([Ch][DHP]) for actuator fabrication. The influence of the IL content on the morphology and physico–chemical properties of free-standing composite films was evaluated. Independently of the cellulose derivative, the ductility of the films increases upon [Ch][DHP] incorporation to yield elongation at break values of nearly 15%. An increase on the electrical conductivity as a result of the IL incorporation into cellulosic matrices is found. The actuator performance of composites was evaluated, NaCMC/[Ch][DHP] showing the maximum displacement along the x-axis of 9 mm at 8 Vpp. Based on the obtained high electromechanical actuation performance, together with their simple processability and renewable nature, the materials fabricated here represent a step forward in the development of sustainable soft actuators of high practical relevance.The authors thank FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - for financial support under the framework of the Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2019 and UID/QUI/50006/2019 and projects PTDC/BTM-MAT/28237/2017, PTDC/EMD-EMD/28159/2017 and PTDC/FIS-MAC/28157/2017. D.M.C. and R.M.M. also acknowledge to FCT by the grants SFRH/BPD/121526/2016 and SFRH/BD/148655/2019. The authors also acknowledge to the funds by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the project MAT2016-76039-C4-3-R (AEI/FEDER, UE) and from the Basque Government Industry Department under the ELKARTEK and HAZITEK programs. SGIker (UPV/EHU, MICINN, GV/EJ, ERDF and ESF) support is gratefully acknowledged

Sexual abuse vs. sexual freedom? A legal Approach to the Age of Sexual Consent in Adolescents in Spanish-Speaking Countries

Child and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) is an international public health problem. Despite the importance of CSA, there is no consensus definition, and the lack of consensus is related to difficulties in conducting prevalence studies as well as research in other areas. To establish a consensual definition, legal aspects such as the age of sexual consent and the difference in age or power between victim and aggressor as well as aspects related to sexual freedom and sexual indemnity must be considered. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to analyze the age of sexual consent in the legal systems of Spanish-speaking countries and to examine whether the Romeo and Juliet clause is established. To achieve the proposed aims, we employed the legal interpretation method, and we analyzed the current Criminal Codes of the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. From the results, it is found that the age of sexual consent varies between countries, establishing valid sexual consent between 13 and 18 years. In addition, only six countries have the Romeo and Juliet clause that protects sexual freedom in adolescents. Finally, we discussed the lack of consensus on the age of sexual consent and the limitations presented by the Romeo and Juliet clause