Diagnostic accuracy of CT angiography and CT perfusion imaging for detecting distal medium vessel occlusions: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Distal medium vessel occlusions (DMVOs) represent 25-40% of all acute ischemic strokes (AIS). DMVO clinical syndromes are heterogenous, but as eloquent brain regions are frequently involved, they are often disabling. Since current intravenous fibrinolytic therapies may fail to recanalize up to two-thirds of DMVOs, endovascular treatment is progressively being considered in this setting. Nevertheless, the optimal imaging method for diagnosis remains to be defined. Stroke centers that use computed tomography as a routine stroke imaging approach rely on either isolated computed tomography angiography (CTA) or combined perfusion (CTP) studies. Despite a simplified non-CTP-dependent approach seeming reasonable for large vessel occlusion AIS diagnosis, CTP may still hold advantages for DMVOs workup. Therefore, this systematic review aims to compare the diagnostic performance of CTA and CTP in detecting DMVOs. Methods: We will perform a systematic search in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science Core Collection, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. In addition, grey literature and ClinicalTrials.gov will be scanned. We will include any type of study that presents data on the diagnostic accuracy of CTA and/or CTP for detecting DMVOs. Two authors will independently review retrieved studies, and any discrepancies will be resolved by consensus or with a third reviewer. Reviewers will extract the data and assess the risk of bias in the selected studies. Data will be combined in a quantitative meta-analysis following the guidelines provided by the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We will assess cumulative evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Discussion: This will be the first systematic review and meta-analysis that compares two different imaging approaches for detecting DMVOs. This study may help to define optimal acute ischemic stroke imaging work-up. Trial registration: PROSPERO registration: CRD42022344006.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Problemas psicológicos y socio-laborales de las personas que sufren epilepsia, .

En primer lugar se exponen unas generalidades sobre el concepto actual de epilepsia, analizándose después, de forma panorámica, la problemática psicológica y socio-laboral de los epilépticos. La tercera parte de éstos presenta alteraciones psicológicas diversas, y sólo la mitad alcanza el mercado laboral competitivo. El estigma social que conlleva la epilepsia, limita, junto a los déficits individuales, la inserción social de estas personas. Se analiza el origen de la animadversión social hacia los epilépticos, que tiene una raíz psicosociológica, estudiándose los grupos sociales que contribuyen a su mantenimiento. Se concluye afirmando que es necesario un esfuerzo de los profesionales de la salud para propiciar la plena incorporación de estos sujetos en la sociedad

Problemas psicológicos y socio-laborales de las personas que sufren epilepsia, .

En primer lugar se exponen unas generalidades sobre el concepto actual de epilepsia, analizándose después, de forma panorámica, la problemática psicológica y socio-laboral de los epilépticos. La tercera parte de éstos presenta alteraciones psicológicas diversas, y sólo la mitad alcanza el mercado laboral competitivo. El estigma social que conlleva la epilepsia, limita, junto a los déficits individuales, la inserción social de estas personas. Se analiza el origen de la animadversión social hacia los epilépticos, que tiene una raíz psicosociológica, estudiándose los grupos sociales que contribuyen a su mantenimiento. Se concluye afirmando que es necesario un esfuerzo de los profesionales de la salud para propiciar la plena incorporación de estos sujetos en la sociedad

Application of antisense conjugates for the treatment of myotonic dystrophy type 1

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is one of the most common muscular dystrophies and can be potentially treated with antisense therapy decreasing mutant DMPK, targeting miRNAs or their binding sites or via a blocking mechanism for MBNL1 displacement from the repeats. Unconjugated antisense molecules are able to correct the disease phenotype in mouse models, but they show poor muscle penetration upon systemic delivery in DM1 patients. In order to overcome this challenge, research has focused on the improvement of the therapeutic window and biodistribution of antisense therapy using bioconjugation to lipids, cell penetrating peptides or antibodies. Antisense conjugates are able to induce the long-lasting correction of DM1 pathology at both molecular and functional levels and also efficiently penetrate hard-to-reach tissues such as cardiac muscle. Delivery to the CNS at clinically relevant levels remains challenging and the use of alternative administration routes may be necessary to ameliorate some of the symptoms experienced by DM1 patients. With several antisense therapies currently in clinical trials, the outlook for achieving a clinically approved treatment for patients has never looked more promising

Prediction of the yield of grains through artificial intelligence

Grass turns out to be an appropriate food for cattle, mainly in tropical climate countries such as Latin American countries. This is due to the high number of species that can be used, the possibility of growing them year-round, the ability of the ruminant to use fibrous supplies and be an economic source (Sánchez et al., Data mining and big data. DMBD 2018. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 10943. Springer, Cham, 2018, [1]). In this work, an application of neural networks was carried out in the forecasting of more accurate values of production and quality of grasslands

A modular RNA delivery system comprising spherical nucleic acids built on endosome-escaping polymeric nanoparticles

Nucleic acid therapeutics require delivery systems to reach their targets. Key challenges to be overcome include avoidance of accumulation in cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system and escape from the endosomal pathway. Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), in which a gold nanoparticle supports a corona of oligonucleotides, are promising carriers for nucleic acids with valuable properties including nuclease resistance, sequence-specific loading and control of receptor-mediated endocytosis. However, SNAs accumulate in the endosomal pathway and are thus vulnerable to lysosomal degradation or recycling exocytosis. Here, an alternative SNA core based on diblock copolymer PMPC25–PDPA72 is investigated. This pH-sensitive polymer self-assembles into vesicles with an intrinsic ability to escape endosomes via osmotic shock triggered by acidification-induced disassembly. DNA oligos conjugated to PMPC25–PDPA72 molecules form vesicles, or polymersomes, with DNA coronae on luminal and external surfaces. Nucleic acid cargoes or nucleic acid-tagged targeting moieties can be attached by hybridization to the coronal DNA. These polymeric SNAs are used to deliver siRNA duplexes against C9orf72, a genetic target with therapeutic potential for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, to motor neuron-like cells. By attaching a neuron-specific targeting peptide to the PSNA corona, effective knock-down is achieved at doses of 2 particles per cell

Robot life: simulation and participation in the study of evolution and social behavior.

This paper explores the case of using robots to simulate evolution, in particular the case of Hamilton's Law. The uses of robots raises several questions that this paper seeks to address. The first concerns the role of the robots in biological research: do they simulate something (life, evolution, sociality) or do they participate in something? The second question concerns the physicality of the robots: what difference does embodiment make to the role of the robot in these experiments. Thirdly, how do life, embodiment and social behavior relate in contemporary biology and why is it possible for robots to illuminate this relation? These questions are provoked by a strange similarity that has not been noted before: between the problem of simulation in philosophy of science, and Deleuze's reading of Plato on the relationship of ideas, copies and simulacra

Optimization of flow shop scheduling through a hybrid genetic algorithm for manufacturing companies

A task scheduling problem is a process of assigning tasks to a limited set of resources available in a time interval, where certain criteria are optimized. In this way, the sequencing of tasks is directly associated with the executability and optimality of a preset plan and can be found in a wide range of applications, such as: programming flight dispatch at airports, programming production lines in a factory, programming of surgeries in a hospital, repair of equipment or machinery in a workshop, among others. The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of the inclusion of several restrictions that negatively influence the production programming in a real manufacturing environment. For this purpose, an efficient Genetic Algorithm combined with a Local Search of Variable Neighborhood for problems of n tasks and m machines is introduced, minimizing the time of total completion of the tasks. The computational experiments carried out on a set of problem instances with different sizes of complexity show that the proposed hybrid metaheuristics achieves high quality solutions compared to the reported optimal cases