De bona fusta dolrada per mans de mestre. Techumbres policromadas en la arquitectura valenciana (siglos XIII-XV)

La construcción de techumbres en madera ha sido tradicionalmente uno de los aspectos más característicos de la carpintería valenciana. A lo largo de la Edad Media, su producción se consolida no sólo a nivel funcional en grandes espacios libres como almacenes e iglesias, sino que pasa a desempeñar un notable papel decorativo en el interior de casas y palacios. La madera, labrada, dorada y policromada por manos expertas aportaba su esplendor al recinto, denotaba el gusto refinado de su promotor. A este deseo de lujo supieron responder los carpinteros de Valencia medieval, quienes se esforzaron por desarrollar nuevos diseños en cada encargo y lograron así perfeccionar las técnicas de fabricación hasta alcanzar elevadas cotas de calidad. Prueba de ello fueron los alfarjes de la antigua Casa de la Ciutat y del Palau de la Generalitat, cuyo alzamiento examinaremos en este artículo como ejemplos insignes de la valoración de las cubiertas de madera por parte de la sociedad coetánea. Asimismo, contemplaremos el impacto de su realización desde el punto de vista social y económico.The construction of wooden ceilings has been traditionally one of the most characteristic aspects of the Valencia carpentry. Throughout the Middle Ages, their production consolidated not only at a functional level in large and wide spaces, such as warehouses or churches, but also played a remarkable role in the interior decoration of major public buildings, palaces and houses. Wood, carved and painted by expert hands, brought its magnificence into the room, showing the refined taste of the patrons. Medieval carpenters in Valencia knew how to satisfy this craving for luxury and did their best to develop new designs in every request, therefore achieving an improvement in their skills and production techniques up to a high quality. In this article we are going to examine the construction process of the wooden ceilings in the ancient Casa de la Ciutat and in the Palau de la Generalitat in Valencia, both masterpieces notable examples of skilful crafts, highly esteemed by the contemporary society. We will also to study the consequences of this craftwork from a social and economical point of view

Inmigración, integración y competencias en materia de empleo: el papel, y el reto, de las Comunidades Autónomas

A finales de los años noventa, la Unión Europea impulsó un cambio en las políticas de inmigración de los Estados miembros, que de ser políticas de control pasaron a ser políticas de integración.  En España, dichas políticas de integración han sido asumidas principalmente por las Comunidades Autónomas, en la medida en que las mismas tienen competencias sectoriales esenciales de cara a la integración como la cultura, la educación o la sanidad.  Pero es el empleo el factor esencial de cualquier plan de integración.  Por eso, las Comunidades Autónomas que tenían competencia sobre la materia han hecho del empleo el eje de sus propuestas de integración.  Desde principios de siglo, varios planes de integración han sido diseñados a nivel autonómico y algunas Comunidades han incluido una competencia específica sobre inmigración, sobre la base de sus competencias sobre empleo, en las reformas de sus Estatutos de Autonomía.  No obstante, la crisis económica ha determinado que la eficacia de estos planes, en lo que a la inserción laboral se refiere, haya sido mucho menor de lo deseable.----------------------------------------------------------------By the end of the nineties, the European Union promoted a change for the immigration policies of the member states.  Those policies, which were control oriented, became integration policies.  In Spain, integration policies have been mainly taken over by the Autonomous Communities as they have some competences on issues which are very important in this regard such as culture, education or health.  But employment is the most important factor in any strategy for the integration of foreing people.  That is the reason why those Autonomous Communities having competence on employment issues have used that competence as the axis for their integration strategies.  Since the beginning of this century, several plans for integration of foreing people have been designed by the Autonomous Communities.  And, using their competence on employment, some Communities have created a new competence on immigration.  Then they have included such a competence in the reform of their Statutes of Autonomy.  Notwithstanding these efforts, the economic crisis has ruined the effects of those strategies for integration through employment promoted by some Spanish Autonomous Communities.Artículo revisado por pare

Control de margall (Lolium rigidum gaudin) en una agricultura sostenible

Peer Reviewe

Metabolic Profile of chronic liver disease by NMR spectroscopy of human biopsies

Abstract Among the different processes occurring during the evolution of liver disease, fibrosis has a predominant role. Liver fibrosis mechanisms are fairly constant irrespective of the underlying etiology. Cirrhosis is the end-stage of this reaction. Metabolic profiles, which are affected by many physiological and pathological processes, may provide further insight into the metabolic consequences of this severe liver disease. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of 1H high resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy in the biochemical profile determination of human liver needle biopsy samples for the characterization of metabolic alterations related to the severity of liver disease. We recorded and analyzed HR-MAS spectra of 68 liver tissue samples obtained by needle biopsy from patients with chronic liver disease. Multivariate analysis was applied to these data to obtain discrimination patterns and to reveal relevant metabolites. The metabolic characterization of liver tissue from needle biopsies by HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy provided differential patterns for cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic chronic liver disease tissue. Metabolites closely related to the liver metabolism such as some fatty acids, glucose and amino acids show differences between the two groups. Phospholipid precursors, which have been previously correlated with hepatic lesions also show differences. Furthermore, the correlation between histologically assessed liver disease stages and the levels of the most discriminative metabolites show that liver dysfunction is present at the initial stages of chronic hepatic lesions. Overall, this work suggests that the additional information obtained by NMR metabolomics applied to needle biopsies of human liver may be useful for assessing metabolic alterations and liver dysfunction in chronic liver disease

Llenado de tuberías con aire atrapado

[ES] Las conducciones con perfil irregular presentan una serie de particularidades que no pueden ser ignoradas, como puede ser la posible cavitación en los puntos altos. Para evitar el colapso de la conducción se recurre a la instalación de ventosas, las cuales permiten la entrada de aire cuando la presión en el interior de la tubería es inferior a la atmosférica. Pero el aire introducido en la conducción debe ser expulsado cuando se vuelva a producir el llenado de la tubería, y ello debe hacerse de forma adecuada para evitar sobrepresiones indeseables. La presencia de ventosas no siempre ofrece la fiabilidad necesaria y puede llevar a situaciones más adversas de las que se pretendían evitar. Incluso sin ventosas, el aire puede entrar en la conducción a través de las juntas, válvulas, etc., durante las interrupciones temporales del suministro, situación muy común en sistemas de riego pero que debería evitarse en abastecimientos urbanos. El aire atrapado entre dos columnas de agua en una conducción a presión, con o sin ventosas, puede provocar importantes sobrepresiones cuando se proceda al arranque de la instalación. En el presente artículo se pretende estudiar y modelizar el problema del llenado de tuberías con aire atrapado para predecir el transitorio que se producirá y tratar de evaluar los peligrosos picos de presión que pueden generarse. No se contempla la presencia de ventosas por cuanto supone considerar las peores condiciones y, en consecuencia, la situación más desfavorable. Se utiliza el modelo rígido para analizar el comportamiento de n bolsas de aire atrapado en tuberías de perfil irregular y se aplica a un caso concreto, del cual se extraen interesantes conclusiones.Fuertes, VS.; Izquierdo Sebastián, J.; Iglesias, PL.; Cabrera, E.; García-Serra, J. (1997). Llenado de tuberías con aire atrapado. Ingeniería del Agua. 4(3):57-67. https://doi.org/10.4995/ia.1997.2730SWORD576743Abreu, J., Cabrera, E., García-Serra, J., Izquierdo, J. (1991), Boundary between elastic and inelastic models in hydraulic transients with entrapped air pockets, Proceedings of the 9th Round Table on Hydraulic Transients with Water Column Separation, Valencia, Spain.Abreu, J., Cabrera, E., Izquierdo, J., García-Serra, J. (1997), Flow modeling in pressurized systems revisited, remitido al Journal of Hydraulic Division, ASCE, para su posible publicación.Albertson, M.L., Andrews, J.S. (1971), Transients caused by air release, Control of flow in closed conduits (edited by J.P. Tullis), Colorado State University, Fort Collings, Colorado, USA.Blum, L.J. (1994), Laboratory tests of air valve performance, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver Office, Hydraulic Branch, USA.Cabrera, E., Abreu, J., Pérez, R., Vela, A. (1992), On the influence of liquid length variation in hydraulic transients, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, December 1992.Cabrera, E., Izquierdo, J., Abreu, J., Iglesias, P.L. (1997), Discussion del artículo Filling of pipelines with undulating elevation profiles, Liou, C.P. y Hunt, W.A., Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, October 1996. Aceptado para su publicación.Chaudhry, H.M. (1989), Application of lumped and distributed approaches for hydraulic transient analysis, Proceedings of the International Congress on Cases and Accidents in Fluid Systems, ANAIS, Polytechnic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.Coddington, E.A., Levinson, N. (1955) Theory of ordinary differential equations, McGraw Hill, New York, USA.Gandenberger, W. (1950) Grundlagen der graphischen ermittlung der druckschwankungen (Graphical analysis of pressure surges in water supply lines), R. Oldenbourg Verlag.Hope, P., Papworth, M.U. (1980) Fire main failures due to rapid priming of dry lines, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Pressure Surges, Canterbury, England.Jönsson, L. (1985) Maximun transients pressures in a conduit with check valve and air entrainment, Proceedings of the International Conference on the Hydraulics of Pumping Stations, Manchester, England.Koelle, E. (1987), Critical volume of entrapped air in hydraulic circuits, 8th International Round Table on Hydraulic Transients in Power Stations, Madeira, Portugal.Liou, C.P., Hunt, A.W. (1996), Filling of pipelines with undulating elevation profiles, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, October 1996.Martin, C.S., (1976), Entrapped air in pipelines, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Pressure Surges, London, England.Martin, C.S. (1979) Transients performance of air vacuum breaker, Proceedings of the Fourth International Meeting on Water Column Separation, Cagliari, Italy.Stoer, J., Bulirsch, R., (1980) Introduction to numerical analysis, Springer-Verlag, New York, USA.Thorley, A.R.D., Spurret, R.P. (1990), Cavity dynamics and the risk of explosive combustion in pipelines, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Pressure Surges, Cambridge, England.Tullis, J.P. (1989), Hydraulics of pipelines. Pumps, valves, cavitation and transients, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., USA.Wylie, E.B., Streeter, V.L. (1993), Fluid transients in systems, Ed. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA

Cost-effectiveness and harm-benefit analyses of risk-based screening strategies for breast cancer

The one-size-fits-all paradigm in organized screening of breast cancer is shifting towards a personalized approach. The present study has two objectives: 1) To perform an economic evaluation and to assess the harm-benefit ratios of screening strategies that vary in their intensity and interval ages based on breast cancer risk; and 2) To estimate the gain in terms of cost and harm reductions using risk-based screening with respect to the usual practice. We used a probabilistic model and input data from Spanish population registries and screening programs, as well as from clinical studies, to estimate the benefit, harm, and costs over time of 2,624 screening strategies, uniform or risk-based. We defined four risk groups, low, moderate-low, moderate-high and high, based on breast density, family history of breast cancer and personal history of breast biopsy. The risk-based strategies were obtained combining the exam periodicity (annual, biennial, triennial and quinquennial), the starting ages (40, 45 and 50 years) and the ending ages (69 and 74 years) in the four risk groups. Incremental cost-effectiveness and harm-benefit ratios were used to select the optimal strategies. Compared to risk-based strategies, the uniform ones result in a much lower benefit for a specific cost. Reductions close to 10% in costs and higher than 20% in false-positive results and overdiagnosed cases were obtained for risk-based strategies. Optimal screening is characterized by quinquennial or triennial periodicities for the low or moderate risk-groups and annual periodicity for the high-risk group. Risk-based strategies can reduce harm and costs. It is necessary to develop accurate measures of individual risk and to work on how to implement risk-based screening strategies.This study was funded by grants PS09/01340 and PS09/01153 from the Health Research Fund (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria) of the Spanish Ministry of Health. The authors thank the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium and the funding that the BCSC received from the National Cancer Institute (U01CA63740, U01CA86076, U01CA86082, U01CA63736, U01CA70013, U01CA69976, U01CA63731, U01CA70040, and HHSN261201100031C). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Ocular related emergencies in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, a multicenter study

Purpose: To evaluate ophthalmological emergencies (OE) during the COVID-19 pandemic comparing them with the same period of the previous year. Methods: Retrospective observational study of all OE visits in four tertiary hospitals in Spain comparing data from March 16th to April 30th, 2020 (COVID-19 period) and the same period of 2019 (pre-COVID-19 period). Severity of the conditions was assessed following Channa et al. publication. Data on demographics, diagnosis and treatments were collected from Electronic Medical Records. Results: During lockdown, OE significantly declined by 75.18%, from 7, 730 registered in the pre-COVID-19 period to 1, 928 attended during the COVID-19 period (p < 0.001). In 2019, 23.86% of visits were classified as emergent, 59.50% as non-emergent, and 16.65% could not be determined. In 2020, the percentage of emergent visits increased up to 29.77%, non-emergent visits significantly decreased to 52.92% (p < 0.001), and 17.31% of the visits were classified as “could not determine”. During the pandemic, people aged between 45 and 65 years old represented the largest attending group (37.89%), compared to 2019, where patients over 65 years were the majority (39.80%). In 2019, most frequent diagnosis was unspecified acute conjunctivitis (11.59%), followed by vitreous degeneration (6.47%), and punctate keratitis (5.86%). During the COVID-19 period, vitreous degeneration was the first cause for consultation (9.28%), followed by unspecified acute conjunctivitis (5.63%) and punctate keratitis (5.85%). Conclusions: OE visits dropped significantly during the pandemic in Spain (75.18%), although more than half were classified as non-urgent conditions, indicating a lack of understanding of the really emergent ocular pathologies among population. © 2021, The Author(s)

Maternal and neonatal immune response to SARS-CoV-2, IgG transplacental transfer and cytokine profile

SARS-CoV-2 infected pregnant women are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 than non-pregnant women and have a higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes like intrauterine/fetal distress and preterm birth. However, little is known about the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on maternal and neonatal immunological profiles. In this study, we investigated the inflammatory and humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 in maternal and cord blood paired samples. Thirty-six pregnant women were recruited at delivery at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain, between April-August 2020, before having COVID-19 available vaccines. Maternal and pregnancy variables, as well as perinatal outcomes, were recorded in questionnaires. Nasopharyngeal swabs and maternal and cord blood samples were collected for SARS-CoV-2 detection by rRT-PCR and serology, respectively. We measured IgM, IgG and IgA levels to 6 SARS-CoV-2 antigens (spike [S], S1, S2, receptor-binding domain [RBD], nucleocapsid [N] full-length and C-terminus), IgG to N from 4 human coronaviruses (OC43, HKU1, 229E and NL63), and the concentrations of 30 cytokines, chemokines and growth factors by Luminex. Mothers were classified as infected or non-infected based on the rRT-PCR and serology results. Sixty-four % of pregnant women were infected with SARS-CoV-2 (positive by rRT-PCR during the third trimester and/or serology just after delivery). None of the newborns tested positive for rRT-PCR. SARS-CoV-2 infected mothers had increased levels of virus-specific antibodies and several cytokines. Those with symptoms had higher cytokine levels. IFN-? was increased in cord blood from infected mothers, and in cord blood of symptomatic mothers, EGF, FGF, IL-17 and IL-15 were increased, whereas RANTES was decreased. Maternal IgG and cytokine levels showed positive correlations with their counterparts in cord blood. rRT-PCR positive mothers showed lower transfer of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgGs, with a stronger effect when infection was closer to delivery. SARS-CoV-2 infected mothers carrying a male fetus had higher antibody levels and higher EGF, IL-15 and IL-7 concentrations. Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 infection during the third trimester of pregnancy induces a robust antibody and cytokine response at delivery and causes a significant reduction of the SARS-CoV-2-specific IgGs transplacental transfer, with a stronger negative effect when the infection is closer to delivery.Copyright © 2022 Rubio, Aguilar, Bustamante, Muñoz, Vázquez-Santiago, Santano, Vidal, Melero, Parras, Serra, Santamaria, Carolis, Izquierdo, Gómez-Roig, Dobaño, Moncunill and Mazarico

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Study in Pediatric Patients and Health Care Workers Using Multiplex Antibody Immunoassays

SARS-CoV-2 infection has become a global health problem specially exacerbated with the continuous appearance of new variants. Healthcare workers (HCW) have been one of the most affected sectors. Children have also been affected, and although infection generally presents as a mild disease, some have developed the Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome Temporally Associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS). We recruited 190 adults (HCW and cohabitants, April to June 2020) and 57 children (April 2020 to September 2021), of whom 12 developed PIMS-TS, in a hospital-based study in Spain. Using an in-house Luminex assay previously validated, antibody levels were measured against different spike and nucleocapsid SARS-CoV-2 proteins, including the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants of concern (VoC). Seropositivity rates obtained from children and adults, respectively, were: 49.1% and 11% for IgG, 45.6% and 5.8% for IgA, and 35.1% and 7.3% for IgM. Higher antibody levels were detected in children who developed PIMS-TS compared to those who did not. Using the COVID-19 IgM/IgA ELISA (Vircell, S.L.) kit, widely implemented in Spanish hospitals, a high number of false positives and lower seroprevalences compared with the Luminex estimates were found, indicating a significantly lower specificity and sensitivity. Comparison of antibody levels against RBD-Wuhan versus RBD-VoCs indicated that the strongest positive correlations for all three isotypes were with RBD-Alpha, while the lowest correlations were with RBD-Delta for IgG, RBD-Gamma for IgM, and RBD-Beta for IgA. This study highlights the differences in antibody levels between groups with different demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as reporting the IgG, IgM, and IgA response to RBD VoC circulating at the study period

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Study in Pediatric Patients and Health Care Workers Using Multiplex Antibody Immunoassays

SARS-CoV-2 infection has become a global health problem specially exacerbated with the continuous appearance of new variants. Healthcare workers (HCW) have been one of the most affected sectors. Children have also been affected, and although infection generally presents as a mild disease, some have developed the Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome Temporally Associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS). We recruited 190 adults (HCW and cohabitants, April to June 2020) and 57 children (April 2020 to September 2021), of whom 12 developed PIMS-TS, in a hospital-based study in Spain. Using an in-house Luminex assay previously validated, antibody levels were measured against different spike and nucleocapsid SARS-CoV-2 proteins, including the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants of concern (VoC). Seropositivity rates obtained from children and adults, respectively, were: 49.1% and 11% for IgG, 45.6% and 5.8% for IgA, and 35.1% and 7.3% for IgM. Higher antibody levels were detected in children who developed PIMS-TS compared to those who did not. Using the COVID-19 IgM/IgA ELISA (Vircell, S.L.) kit, widely implemented in Spanish hospitals, a high number of false positives and lower seroprevalences compared with the Luminex estimates were found, indicating a significantly lower specificity and sensitivity. Comparison of antibody levels against RBD-Wuhan versus RBD-VoCs indicated that the strongest positive correlations for all three isotypes were with RBD-Alpha, while the lowest correlations were with RBD-Delta for IgG, RBD-Gamma for IgM, and RBD-Beta for IgA. This study highlights the differences in antibody levels between groups with different demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as reporting the IgG, IgM, and IgA response to RBD VoC circulating at the study period