The Global Deterioration Scale for Down Syndrome Population (GDS-DS): A Rating Scale to Assess the Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease

Global deterioration scale; Down syndrome; Alzheimer’s diseaseEscala de deteriorament global; Síndrome de Down; Malaltia d'AlzheimerEscala de deterioro global; Síndrome de Down; Enfermedad de AlzheimerThe aim of this study is to adapt and validate the global deterioration scale (GDS) for the systematic tracking of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression in a population with Down syndrome (DS). A retrospective dual-center cohort study was conducted with 83 participants with DS (46.65 ± 5.08 years) who formed the primary diagnosis (PD) group: cognitive stability (n = 48), mild cognitive impairment (n = 24), and Alzheimer’s disease (n = 11). The proposed scale for adults with DS (GDS-DS) comprises six stages, from cognitive and/or behavioral stability to advanced AD. Two neuropsychologists placed the participants of the PD group in each stage of the GDS-DS according to cognitive, behavioral and daily living skills data. Inter-rater reliability in staging with the GDS-DS was excellent (ICC = 0.86; CI: 0.80–0.93), and the agreement with the diagnosis categories of the PD group ranged from substantial to excellent with κ values of 0.82 (95% CI: 0.73–0.92) and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.72, 0.99). Performance with regard to the CAMCOG-DS total score and orientation subtest of the Barcelona test for intellectual disability showed a slight progressive decline across all the GDS-DS stages. The GDS-DS scale is a sensitive tool for staging the progression of AD in the DS population, with special relevance in daily clinical practice.This research was funded by the Spanish Government, grant number PI12/02019, PSI-2014-53524-P. The APC was funded by S.E.-C,’s SESMDI research start-up funds

Robust Characterization of the Uterine Myoelectrical Activity in Different Obstetric Scenarios

[EN] Electrohysterography (EHG) has been shown to provide relevant information on uterine activity and could be used for predicting preterm labor and identifying other maternal fetal risks. The extraction of high-quality robust features is a key factor in achieving satisfactory prediction systems from EHG. Temporal, spectral, and non-linear EHG parameters have been computed to characterize EHG signals, sometimes obtaining controversial results, especially for non-linear parameters. The goal of this work was to assess the performance of EHG parameters in identifying those robust enough for uterine electrophysiological characterization. EHG signals were picked up in different obstetric scenarios: antepartum, including women who delivered on term, labor, and post-partum. The results revealed that the 10th and 90th percentiles, for parameters with falling and rising trends as labor approaches, respectively, differentiate between these obstetric scenarios better than median analysis window values. Root-mean-square amplitude, spectral decile 3, and spectral moment ratio showed consistent tendencies for the different obstetric scenarios as well as non-linear parameters: Lempel-Ziv, sample entropy, spectral entropy, and SD1/SD2 when computed in the fast wave high bandwidth. These findings would make it possible to extract high quality and robust EHG features to improve computer-aided assessment tools for pregnancy, labor, and postpartum progress and identify maternal fetal risks.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the European Regional Development Fund (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE RTI2018-094449-A-I00-AR) and the Generalitat Valenciana (AICO/2019/220 & GV/2018/104)Mas-Cabo, J.; Ye Lin, Y.; Garcia-Casado, J.; Díaz-Martínez, MDA.; Perales-Marin, A.; Monfort-Ortiz, R.; Roca-Prats, A.... (2020). Robust Characterization of the Uterine Myoelectrical Activity in Different Obstetric Scenarios. Entropy. 22(7):1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/e22070743S115227Wagura, P., Wasunna, A., Laving, A., Wamalwa, D., & Ng’ang’a, P. (2018). Prevalence and factors associated with preterm birth at kenyatta national hospital. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 18(1). doi:10.1186/s12884-018-1740-2Liu, L., Johnson, H. L., Cousens, S., Perin, J., Scott, S., Lawn, J. E., … Black, R. E. (2012). Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: an updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000. The Lancet, 379(9832), 2151-2161. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60560-1Howson, C. P., Kinney, M. V., McDougall, L., & Lawn, J. E. (2013). Born Too Soon: Preterm birth matters. Reproductive Health, 10(S1). doi:10.1186/1742-4755-10-s1-s1Euliano, T. Y., Nguyen, M. T., Darmanjian, S., McGorray, S. P., Euliano, N., Onkala, A., & Gregg, A. R. (2013). Monitoring uterine activity during labor: a comparison of 3 methods. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 208(1), 66.e1-66.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2012.10.873Devedeux, D., Marque, C., Mansour, S., Germain, G., & Duchêne, J. (1993). Uterine electromyography: A critical review. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 169(6), 1636-1653. doi:10.1016/0002-9378(93)90456-sChkeir, A., Fleury, M.-J., Karlsson, B., Hassan, M., & Marque, C. (2013). Patterns of electrical activity synchronization in the pregnant rat uterus. BioMedicine, 3(3), 140-144. doi:10.1016/j.biomed.2013.04.007Fele-Žorž, G., Kavšek, G., Novak-Antolič, Ž., & Jager, F. (2008). A comparison of various linear and non-linear signal processing techniques to separate uterine EMG records of term and pre-term delivery groups. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 46(9), 911-922. doi:10.1007/s11517-008-0350-yMas-Cabo, J., Prats-Boluda, G., Perales, A., Garcia-Casado, J., Alberola-Rubio, J., & Ye-Lin, Y. (2018). Uterine electromyography for discrimination of labor imminence in women with threatened preterm labor under tocolytic treatment. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 57(2), 401-411. doi:10.1007/s11517-018-1888-yVinken, M. P. G. C., Rabotti, C., Mischi, M., & Oei, S. G. (2009). Accuracy of Frequency-Related Parameters of the Electrohysterogram for Predicting Preterm Delivery. Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey, 64(8), 529-541. doi:10.1097/ogx.0b013e3181a8c6b1Hassan, M., Terrien, J., Marque, C., & Karlsson, B. (2011). Comparison between approximate entropy, correntropy and time reversibility: Application to uterine electromyogram signals. Medical Engineering & Physics, 33(8), 980-986. doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2011.03.010Lemancewicz, A., Borowska, M., Kuć, P., Jasińska, E., Laudański, P., Laudański, T., & Oczeretko, E. (2016). Early diagnosis of threatened premature labor by electrohysterographic recordings – The use of digital signal processing. Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, 36(1), 302-307. doi:10.1016/j.bbe.2015.11.005Garcia-Casado, J., Ye-Lin, Y., Prats-Boluda, G., Mas-Cabo, J., Alberola-Rubio, J., & Perales, A. (2018). Electrohysterography in the diagnosis of preterm birth: a review. Physiological Measurement, 39(2), 02TR01. doi:10.1088/1361-6579/aaad56Most, O., Langer, O., Kerner, R., Ben David, G., & Calderon, I. (2008). Can myometrial electrical activity identify patients in preterm labor? American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 199(4), 378.e1-378.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2008.08.003Verdenik, I., Pajntar, M., & Leskošek, B. (2001). Uterine electrical activity as predictor of preterm birth in women with preterm contractions. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 95(2), 149-153. doi:10.1016/s0301-2115(00)00418-8Horoba, K., Jezewski, J., Matonia, A., Wrobel, J., Czabanski, R., & Jezewski, M. (2016). Early predicting a risk of preterm labour by analysis of antepartum electrohysterograhic signals. Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, 36(4), 574-583. doi:10.1016/j.bbe.2016.06.004Lucovnik, M., Maner, W. L., Chambliss, L. R., Blumrick, R., Balducci, J., Novak-Antolic, Z., & Garfield, R. E. (2011). Noninvasive uterine electromyography for prediction of preterm delivery. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 204(3), 228.e1-228.e10. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2010.09.024Smrdel, A., & Jager, F. (2015). Separating sets of term and pre-term uterine EMG records. Physiological Measurement, 36(2), 341-355. doi:10.1088/0967-3334/36/2/341Maner, W. (2003). Predicting term and preterm delivery with transabdominal uterine electromyography. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 101(6), 1254-1260. doi:10.1016/s0029-7844(03)00341-7Leman, H., Marque, C., & Gondry, J. (1999). Use of the electrohysterogram signal for characterization of contractions during pregnancy. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 46(10), 1222-1229. doi:10.1109/10.790499Mischi, M., Chen, C., Ignatenko, T., de Lau, H., Ding, B., Oei, S. G. G., & Rabotti, C. (2018). Dedicated Entropy Measures for Early Assessment of Pregnancy Progression From Single-Channel Electrohysterography. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 65(4), 875-884. doi:10.1109/tbme.2017.2723933Garfield, R. E., Maner, W. L., MacKay, L. B., Schlembach, D., & Saade, G. R. (2005). Comparing uterine electromyography activity of antepartum patients versus term labor patients. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 193(1), 23-29. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2005.01.050Maner, W. L., & Garfield, R. E. (2007). Identification of Human Term and Preterm Labor using Artificial Neural Networks on Uterine Electromyography Data. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 35(3), 465-473. doi:10.1007/s10439-006-9248-8DIMITROV, G. V., ARABADZHIEV, T. I., MILEVA, K. N., BOWTELL, J. L., CRICHTON, N., & DIMITROVA, N. A. (2006). Muscle Fatigue during Dynamic Contractions Assessed by New Spectral Indices. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 38(11), 1971-1979. doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000233794.31659.6dNagarajan, R., Eswaran, H., Wilson, J. D., Murphy, P., Lowery, C., & Preißl, H. (2003). Analysis of uterine contractions: a dynamical approach. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 14(1), 8-21. doi:10.1080/jmf.14.1.8.21Zhang, X.-S., Roy, R. J., & Jensen, E. W. (2001). EEG complexity as a measure of depth of anesthesia for patients. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 48(12), 1424-1433. doi:10.1109/10.966601Garfield, R. E., Maner, W. L., Maul, H., & Saade, G. R. (2005). Use of uterine EMG and cervical LIF in monitoring pregnant patients. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 112, 103-108. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2005.00596.xGrotegut, C. A., Paglia, M. J., Johnson, L. N. C., Thames, B., & James, A. H. (2011). Oxytocin exposure during labor among women with postpartum hemorrhage secondary to uterine atony. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 204(1), 56.e1-56.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2010.08.02

Dietary animal plasma proteins improve the intestinal immune response in senescent mice

Increased life expectancy has promoted research on healthy aging. Aging is accompanied by increased non-specific immune activation (inflammaging) which favors the appearance of several disorders. Here, we study whether dietary supplementation with spray-dried animal plasma (SDP), which has been shown to reduce the activation of gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) in rodents challenged by S. aureus enterotoxin B (SEB), and can also prevent the effects of aging on immune system homeostasis. We first characterized GALT in a mouse model of accelerated senescence (SAMP8) at different ages (compared to mice resistant to accelerated senescence; SAMR1). Second, we analyzed the SDP effects on GALT response to an SEB challenge in SAMP8 mice. In GALT characterization, aging increased the cell number and the percentage of activated Th lymphocytes in mesenteric lymph nodes and Peyer's patches (all, p < 0.05), as well as the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α in intestinal mucosa (both, p < 0.05). With respect to GALT response to the SEB challenge, young mice showed increased expression of intestinal IL-6 and TNF-α, as well as lymphocyte recruitment and activation (all, p < 0.05). However, the immune response of senescent mice to the SEB challenge was weak, since SEB did not change cell recruitment or the percentage of activated Th lymphocytes. Mice supplemented with SDP showed improved capacity to respond to the SEB challenge, similar to the response of the young mice. These results indicate that senescent mice have an impaired mucosal immune response characterized by unspecific GALT activation and a weak specific immune response. SDP supplementation reduces non-specific basal immune activation, allowing for the generation of specific responses

Radicalización de la opinión y comportamientos arriesgados en jóvenes según el género

Introducción: La edad y el género son variables influyentes en la asunción de la violencia y los comportamientos arriesgados. Si a esto se le suma una condición de exclusión social, historias de vida pobres en relaciones familiares, amorosas, de amistad y comunitarias, se prevé que se activarán con más facilidad los motivos de competición y de búsqueda de estatus. Esta competición grupal e intrasexual aumenta la asunción de riesgos, lo que puede derivar en conductas disociales y agresivas, desembocando a su vez en una identidad incompatible con la del grupo mayoritario, dando lugar a individuos radicalizados, primero en sus opiniones y posteriormente en sus acciones. Objetivos: Analizar la relación entre la radicalización de la opinión (R. Opinión) y los comportamientos arriesgados (Riesgo) en la etapa de la juventud desde una perspectiva de género. ¿Es la R. Opinión un predictor de los comportamientos arriesgados? ¿Existe alguna diferencia según el género? Método: Participa el alumnado de un Instituto Educación Secundaria de Málaga ciudad, con un rango de edad de entre 15 y 25 años, compuesto por 81 chicas y 116 chicos. Los instrumentos utilizados son: Escala de radicalización de la opinión y Escala de comportamientos arriesgados. Se llevan a cabo análisis descriptivos, correlaciones y el Modelo de Moderación Simple para comprobar si el género está actuando como una variable moderadora entre R. Opinión y riesgo. Discusión: Los hallazgos reafirman la teoría The Young Male Syndrome, así como la necesidad de estudio de los factores psicosociales relacionados con la radicalización en jóvenes. Motivan la indagación sobre las diferencias de género en la asunción de riesgos que, desde la competición grupal, podría resultar beneficiosa tanto en la base como en la cúspide del estatus jerárquico.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Agrumes entiers dans les rations totales mélangeés pour brebis laitières méditerranéennes. Production et composition du lait

[Otros] Dans cette étude, 48 brebis en lactation, appartenant à 2 races méditerranéennes, la race Guirra (race autochtone rustique) ou la race Manchega (race mixte) ont été utilisées pour évaluer l¿effet de l¿inclu- sion de fruits d¿agrumes entiers (WCF) dans leurs rations. Quatre rations complètes ont été formulées pour être iso-énergétiques et iso-azotées. Elles se différenciaient par le taux d¿incorporation de WCF (0, 10, 20 et 30%) qui était substitué, sur une base matière sèche, à de l¿orge concassée ou à de la pulpe de betterave en pellets. La production et la composition du lait ont été mesurées une fois par semaine sur deux traites successives (matin et soir). La production de lait obtenue avec le group recevant 30% WCF a été supérieure de 12% à celle des autres groupes. De plus, on a observé une réduction du taux butyrique avec l¿inclusion de WCF. Elle était de 8,2; 7,95; 7,69 and 7,1 pour les groups recevant respectivement 0, 10, 20 et 30% de WCF (P<0,05). La teneur en protéines du lait a été maximale avec le group recevant 10% WCF (6,4%) et minimale avec celui ayant 30%WCF (6,0% ; P<0,05), car la teneur en caséine du lait a été la plus faible avec le groupe recevant 30%WCF (-0,3% par rapport aux groupes avec 0 et 10% de WCF; P< 0,05), tandis que la teneur en protéines solubles a été similaire pour tous les groupes (moyenne: 1,17%). Tout au long de la période expérimentale, on a observé une diminution de la production de lait standard (6%FCM) avec toutes les rations (-35% par semaine), mais il a été plus prononcé pour les groupes recevant 20% et 30% WCF que pour les autres. En conclusion, l¿incorporation de WCF pourrait contribuer à diminuer la dépendance vis à vis des céréales pour les brebis à haute production sans affecter les paramètres de production laitière ; mais d¿autres études relatives aux effets de WCF sur la condition corporelle et sur la capacité des animaux en lac- tation à mobiliser leurs réserves doivent être faites.[EN] A total of 48 lactating ewes, belonging to 2 different Mediterranean breeds Guirra (rustic native breed) and Manchega (mixed aptitude breed) were used to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of whole citrus fruits (WCF) in their rations. Four iso-energetic and iso-protein total mixed rations were formulated containing fresh WCF at 0, 10, 20 and 30% replacing dry-rolled barley and pelleted beet pulp on a DM basis. The milk yield and composition were obtained once a week at morning and afternoon milking. Total milk yield values observed for 30% WCF group were 12% higher than for the others. Also, a reduction of the milk fat content with the inclusion of WCF was observed, being 8.2, 7.95, 7.69 and 7.1% for 0, 10, 20 and 30% WCF groups (P<0.05). Milk protein content was maximum for ewes on 10% WFC ration (6.4%) and minimum for 30% WCF group (6.0%; P<0.05), due to the lower milk casein content of 30% WCF group (-0.3% respect to 0 and 10% WCF groups; P<0.05), while soluble protein content was similar for all the groups (mean: 1.17%). Throughout the experimental period, a reduction of 6% fat corrected milk (6%FCM) production was observed with all the rations (-35 ml per week), but it was steeper for 20 and 30% WCF groups than for the other 2 groups. In conclusion, WCF could contribute to diminishing dependence of high-milking ewes on grains without affecting the milk output, however further studies related to WCF effect on body condition and on the capacity of lactating animals to mobilize body reserves should be made.This study was subsidized by the Consejeria de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación of the Regional Government of Valencia, and by the project INIA CAL03-089. 6.Piquer Querol, O.; Rodríguez Garcia, M.; Blas Ferrer, E.; Cerisuelo, A.; Fernández Martínez, CJ.; Pascual Amorós, JJ. (2011). Whole citrus fruits in total mixed rations for Mediterranean milking ewes. Milk production and composition. Options Mediterraneennes. Serie A: Seminaires Mediterraneens. 99:251-258. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/147521S2512589

A Comparative Study of Vaginal Labor and Caesarean Section Postpartum Uterine Myoelectrical Activity

[EN] Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is one of the major causes of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide, with uterine atony being the most common origin. Currently there are no obstetrical techniques available for monitoring postpartum uterine dynamics, as tocodynamometry is not able to detect weak uterine contractions. In this study, we explored the feasibility of monitoring postpartum uterine activity by non-invasive electrohysterography (EHG), which has been proven to outperform tocodynamometry in detecting uterine contractions during pregnancy. A comparison was made of the temporal, spectral, and non-linear parameters of postpartum EHG characteristics of vaginal deliveries and elective cesareans. In the vaginal delivery group, EHG obtained a significantly higher amplitude and lower kurtosis of the Hilbert envelope, and spectral content was shifted toward higher frequencies than in the cesarean group. In the non-linear parameters, higher values were found for the fractal dimension and lower values for Lempel-Ziv, sample entropy and spectral entropy in vaginal deliveries suggesting that the postpartum EHG signal is extremely non-linear but more regular and predictable than in a cesarean. The results obtained indicate that postpartum EHG recording could be a helpful tool for earlier detection of uterine atony and contribute to better management of prophylactic uterotonic treatment for PPH prevention.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the European Regional Development Fund (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE RTI2018-094449-A-I00-AR) and the Generalitat Valenciana (GV/2018/104 and AICO/2019/220).Díaz-Martínez, MDA.; Mas-Cabo, J.; Prats-Boluda, G.; Garcia-Casado, J.; Cardona-Urrego, K.; Monfort-Ortiz, R.; Lopez-Corral, A.... (2020). A Comparative Study of Vaginal Labor and Caesarean Section Postpartum Uterine Myoelectrical Activity. Sensors. 20(11):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113023S1142011Ngwenya, S. (2016). Postpartum hemorrhage: incidence, risk factors, and outcomes in a low-resource setting. International Journal of Women’s Health, Volume 8, 647-650. doi:10.2147/ijwh.s119232Carroli, G., Cuesta, C., Abalos, E., & Gulmezoglu, A. M. (2008). Epidemiology of postpartum haemorrhage: a systematic review. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 22(6), 999-1012. doi:10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2008.08.004Souza, J. P., Gülmezoglu, A. M., Carroli, G., Lumbiganon, P., & Qureshi, Z. (2011). The world health organization multicountry survey on maternal and newborn health: study protocol. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1). doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-286Knight, M., Callaghan, W. M., Berg, C., Alexander, S., Bouvier-Colle, M.-H., Ford, J. B., … Walker, J. (2009). Trends in postpartum hemorrhage in high resource countries: a review and recommendations from the International Postpartum Hemorrhage Collaborative Group. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 9(1). doi:10.1186/1471-2393-9-55Callaghan, W. M., Kuklina, E. V., & Berg, C. J. (2010). Trends in postpartum hemorrhage: United States, 1994–2006. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 202(4), 353.e1-353.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2010.01.011Marshall, A. L., Durani, U., Bartley, A., Hagen, C. E., Ashrani, A., Rose, C., … Pruthi, R. K. (2017). The impact of postpartum hemorrhage on hospital length of stay and inpatient mortality: a National Inpatient Sample–based analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 217(3), 344.e1-344.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.05.004Prick, B. W., Duvekot, J. J., van der Moer, P. E., van Gemund, N., van der Salm, P. C. M., Jansen, A. J. G., … Uyl-de Groot, C. A. (2014). Cost-effectiveness of red blood cell transfusion vs. non-intervention in women with acute anaemia after postpartum haemorrhage. Vox Sanguinis, 107(4), 381-388. doi:10.1111/vox.12181Castiel, D., Bréchat, P.-H., Benoît, B., Nguon, B., Gayat, E., Soyer, P., … Barranger, E. (2008). Coût total des actes chirurgicaux dans la prise en charge des hémorragies de la délivrance. Gynécologie Obstétrique & Fertilité, 36(5), 507-515. doi:10.1016/j.gyobfe.2008.03.009Fukami, T., Koga, H., Goto, M., Ando, M., Matsuoka, S., Tohyama, A., … Tsujioka, H. (2019). Incidence and risk factors for postpartum hemorrhage among transvaginal deliveries at a tertiary perinatal medical facility in Japan. PLOS ONE, 14(1), e0208873. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0208873Vogel, J. P., Williams, M., Gallos, I., Althabe, F., & Oladapo, O. T. (2019). WHO recommendations on uterotonics for postpartum haemorrhage prevention: what works, and which one? BMJ Global Health, 4(2), e001466. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001466Lutomski, J., Byrne, B., Devane, D., & Greene, R. (2012). Increasing trends in atonic postpartum haemorrhage in Ireland: an 11-year population-based cohort study. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 119(9), 1150-1151. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2012.03370.xWilmink, F. A., Wilms, F. F., Heydanus, R., Mol, B. W. J., & Papatsonis, D. N. M. (2008). Fetal complications after placement of an intrauterine pressure catheter: A report of two cases and review of the literature. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 21(12), 880-883. doi:10.1080/14767050802220508Hadar, E., Biron-Shental, T., Gavish, O., Raban, O., & Yogev, Y. (2014). A comparison between electrical uterine monitor, tocodynamometer and intra uterine pressure catheter for uterine activity in labor. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 28(12), 1367-1374. doi:10.3109/14767058.2014.954539Alberola-Rubio, J., Prats-Boluda, G., Ye-Lin, Y., Valero, J., Perales, A., & Garcia-Casado, J. (2013). Comparison of non-invasive electrohysterographic recording techniques for monitoring uterine dynamics. Medical Engineering & Physics, 35(12), 1736-1743. doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2013.07.008Euliano, T. Y., Nguyen, M. T., Darmanjian, S., McGorray, S. P., Euliano, N., Onkala, A., & Gregg, A. R. (2013). Monitoring uterine activity during labor: a comparison of 3 methods. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 208(1), 66.e1-66.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2012.10.873Euliano, T. Y., Nguyen, M. T., Marossero, D., & Edwards, R. K. (2007). Monitoring Contractions in Obese Parturients. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 109(5), 1136-1140. doi:10.1097/01.aog.0000258799.24496.93Benalcazar Parra, C., Tendero, A. I., Ye-Lin, Y., Alberola-Rubio, J., Perales Marin, A., Garcia-Casado, J., & Prats-Boluda, G. (2018). Feasibility of Labor Induction Success Prediction based on Uterine Myoelectric Activity Spectral Analysis. Proceedings of the 11th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies. doi:10.5220/0006649400700077Euliano, T., Skowronski, M., Marossero, D., Shuster, J., & Edwards, R. (2006). Prediction of intrauterine pressure waveform from transabdominal electrohysterography. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 19(12), 803-808. doi:10.1080/14767050601023657Benalcazar-Parra, C., Garcia-Casado, J., Ye-Lin, Y., Alberola-Rubio, J., Lopez, Á., Perales-Marin, A., & Prats-Boluda, G. (2019). New electrohysterogram-based estimators of intrauterine pressure signal, tonus and contraction peak for non-invasive labor monitoring. Physiological Measurement, 40(8), 085003. doi:10.1088/1361-6579/ab37dbRooijakkers, M. J., Rabotti, C., Oei, S. G., Aarts, R. M., & Mischi, M. (2014). Low-complexity intrauterine pressure estimation using the Teager energy operator on electrohysterographic recordings. Physiological Measurement, 35(7), 1215-1228. doi:10.1088/0967-3334/35/7/1215Schlembach, D., Maner, W. L., Garfield, R. E., & Maul, H. (2009). Monitoring the progress of pregnancy and labor using electromyography. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 144, S33-S39. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2009.02.016Fele-Žorž, G., Kavšek, G., Novak-Antolič, Ž., & Jager, F. (2008). A comparison of various linear and non-linear signal processing techniques to separate uterine EMG records of term and pre-term delivery groups. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 46(9), 911-922. doi:10.1007/s11517-008-0350-yHassan, M., Terrien, J., Marque, C., & Karlsson, B. (2011). Comparison between approximate entropy, correntropy and time reversibility: Application to uterine electromyogram signals. Medical Engineering & Physics, 33(8), 980-986. doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2011.03.010Mas-Cabo, J., Prats-Boluda, G., Perales, A., Garcia-Casado, J., Alberola-Rubio, J., & Ye-Lin, Y. (2018). Uterine electromyography for discrimination of labor imminence in women with threatened preterm labor under tocolytic treatment. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 57(2), 401-411. doi:10.1007/s11517-018-1888-yLemancewicz, A., Borowska, M., Kuć, P., Jasińska, E., Laudański, P., Laudański, T., & Oczeretko, E. (2016). Early diagnosis of threatened premature labor by electrohysterographic recordings – The use of digital signal processing. Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, 36(1), 302-307. doi:10.1016/j.bbe.2015.11.005Mas-Cabo, J., Prats-Boluda, G., Garcia-Casado, J., Alberola-Rubio, J., Perales, A., & Ye-Lin, Y. (2019). Design and Assessment of a Robust and Generalizable ANN-Based Classifier for the Prediction of Premature Birth by means of Multichannel Electrohysterographic Records. Journal of Sensors, 2019, 1-13. doi:10.1155/2019/5373810Acharya, U. R., Sudarshan, V. K., Rong, S. Q., Tan, Z., Lim, C. M., Koh, J. E., … Bhandary, S. V. (2017). Automated detection of premature delivery using empirical mode and wavelet packet decomposition techniques with uterine electromyogram signals. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 85, 33-42. doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2017.04.013Fergus, P., Cheung, P., Hussain, A., Al-Jumeily, D., Dobbins, C., & Iram, S. (2013). Prediction of Preterm Deliveries from EHG Signals Using Machine Learning. PLoS ONE, 8(10), e77154. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077154Ren, P., Yao, S., Li, J., Valdes-Sosa, P. A., & Kendrick, K. M. (2015). Improved Prediction of Preterm Delivery Using Empirical Mode Decomposition Analysis of Uterine Electromyography Signals. PLOS ONE, 10(7), e0132116. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0132116Benalcazar-Parra, C., Ye-Lin, Y., Garcia-Casado, J., Monfort-Ortiz, R., Alberola-Rubio, J., Perales, A., & Prats-Boluda, G. (2019). Prediction of Labor Induction Success from the Uterine Electrohysterogram. Journal of Sensors, 2019, 1-12. doi:10.1155/2019/6916251Sammali, F., Kuijsters, N. P. M., Schoot, B. C., Mischi, M., & Rabotti, C. (2018). Feasibility of Transabdominal Electrohysterography for Analysis of Uterine Activity in Nonpregnant Women. Reproductive Sciences, 25(7), 1124-1133. doi:10.1177/1933719118768700Ye-Lin, Y., Bueno-Barrachina, J. M., Prats-boluda, G., Rodriguez de Sanabria, R., & Garcia-Casado, J. (2017). Wireless sensor node for non-invasive high precision electrocardiographic signal acquisition based on a multi-ring electrode. Measurement, 97, 195-202. doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2016.11.009Maul, H., Maner, W., Olson, G., Saade, G., & Garfield, R. (2004). Non-invasive transabdominal uterine electromyography correlates with the strength of intrauterine pressure and is predictive of labor and delivery. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 15(5), 297-301. doi:10.1080/14767050410001695301Shukla, S., Singh, S. K., & Mitra, D. (2020). An efficient heart sound segmentation approach using kurtosis and zero frequency filter features. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 57, 101762. doi:10.1016/j.bspc.2019.101762Ye-Lin, Y., Alberola-Rubio, J., Prats-boluda, G., Perales, A., Desantes, D., & Garcia-Casado, J. (2014). Feasibility and Analysis of Bipolar Concentric Recording of Electrohysterogram with Flexible Active Electrode. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 43(4), 968-976. doi:10.1007/s10439-014-1130-5Vrhovec, J., Macek-Lebar, A., & Rudel, D. (s. f.). Evaluating Uterine Electrohysterogram with Entropy. IFMBE Proceedings, 144-147. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73044-6_36Zhang, X.-S., Roy, R. J., & Jensen, E. W. (2001). EEG complexity as a measure of depth of anesthesia for patients. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 48(12), 1424-1433. doi:10.1109/10.966601Aboy, M., Hornero, R., Abasolo, D., & Alvarez, D. (2006). Interpretation of the Lempel-Ziv Complexity Measure in the Context of Biomedical Signal Analysis. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 53(11), 2282-2288. doi:10.1109/tbme.2006.883696Katz, M. J. (1988). Fractals and the analysis of waveforms. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 18(3), 145-156. doi:10.1016/0010-4825(88)90041-8De Lau, H., Yang, K. T., Rabotti, C., Vlemminx, M., Bajlekov, G., Mischi, M., & Oei, S. G. (2016). Toward a new modality for detecting a uterine rupture: electrohysterogram propagation analysis during trial of labor after cesarean. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 30(5), 574-579. doi:10.1080/14767058.2016.1178227Benalcazar-Parra, C., Ye-Lin, Y., Garcia-Casado, J., Monfort-Orti, R., Alberola-Rubio, J., Perales, A., & Prats-Boluda, G. (2018). Electrohysterographic characterization of the uterine myoelectrical response to labor induction drugs. Medical Engineering & Physics, 56, 27-35. doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2018.04.002Garcia-Casado, J., Ye-Lin, Y., Prats-Boluda, G., Mas-Cabo, J., Alberola-Rubio, J., & Perales, A. (2018). Electrohysterography in the diagnosis of preterm birth: a review. Physiological Measurement, 39(2), 02TR01. doi:10.1088/1361-6579/aaad56Fisch, G. S., Cohen, I. L., Jenkins, E. C., & Brown, W. T. (1988). Screening developmentally disabled male populations for fragile X: The effect of sample size. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 30(1-2), 655-663. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320300166Ye-Lin, Y., Garcia-Casado, J., Prats-Boluda, G., Alberola-Rubio, J., & Perales, A. (2014). Automatic Identification of Motion Artifacts in EHG Recording for Robust Analysis of Uterine Contractions. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, 2014, 1-11. doi:10.1155/2014/470786Alberola-Rubio, J., Garcia-Casado, J., Prats-Boluda, G., Ye-Lin, Y., Desantes, D., Valero, J., & Perales, A. (2017). Prediction of labor onset type: Spontaneous vs induced; role of electrohysterography? Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 144, 127-133. doi:10.1016/j.cmpb.2017.03.018Maner, W. L., MacKay, L. B., Saade, G. R., & Garfield, R. E. (2006). Characterization of abdominally acquired uterine electrical signals in humans, using a non-linear analytic method. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 44(1-2), 117-123. doi:10.1007/s11517-005-0011-3Marchini, G., Lagercrantz, H., Winberg, J., & Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (1988). Fetal and maternal plasma levels of gastrin, somatostatin and oxytocin after vaginal delivery and elective cesarean section. Early Human Development, 18(1), 73-79. doi:10.1016/0378-3782(88)90044-8Pickering, K., Gallos, I. D., Williams, H., Price, M. J., Merriel, A., Lissauer, D., … Roberts, T. E. (2018). Uterotonic Drugs for the Prevention of Postpartum Haemorrhage: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. PharmacoEconomics - Open, 3(2), 163-176. doi:10.1007/s41669-018-0108-xMorfaw, F., Fundoh, M., Pisoh, C., Ayaba, B., Mbuagbaw, L., Anderson, L. N., & Thabane, L. (2019). Misoprostol as an adjunct to oxytocin can reduce postpartum-haemorrhage: a propensity score–matched retrospective chart review in Bamenda-Cameroon, 2015–2016. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 19(1). doi:10.1186/s12884-019-2407-3Grotegut, C. A., Paglia, M. J., Johnson, L. N. C., Thames, B., & James, A. H. (2011). Oxytocin exposure during labor among women with postpartum hemorrhage secondary to uterine atony. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 204(1), 56.e1-56.e6. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2010.08.023Shen, Y., Oda, T., Tamura, N., Kohmura‐Kobayashi, Y., Furuta‐Isomura, N., Yaguchi, C., … Kanayama, N. (2019). Elevated bradykinin receptor type 1 expression in postpartum acute myometritis: Possible involvement in augmented interstitial edema of the atonic gravid uterus. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, 45(8), 1553-1561. doi:10.1111/jog.1401

Overdistention Accelerates Electrophysiological Changes in Uterine Muscle Towards Labour in Multiple Gestations

[EN] Background for the research: Premature birth and its associated complications are one of the biggest global health problems, since there is currently no effective screening method in clinical practice to accurately identify the true Preterm Birth (PTB) from the false threatened ones. Despite the high prevalence of PTB in multiple gestation (MG) women which amounted up to 60%, in the literature there is any work about their uterine myoelectric activities in vivo system. Electrohysterography (EHG) has been emerged as an alternative technique for predicting PTB in single gestation (SG) women. Purpose: The aim of this study was to characterize and compare the uterine myoelectrical activity in vivo system of SG and MG women in regular check-ups, to provide the basis for early detection and prevention of preterm labour in MG. Basic procedures: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted on 31 SG and 18 MG women between the 28(th) and 32(th) WoG who underwent regular check-ups in the Polytechnic and University Hospital La Fe (Valencia, Spain). The 30-minute bipolar recording was filtered in the 0.1-4 Hz bandwidth and downsampled to 20 Hz. Signal analysis was performed in 120-second moving windows with 50% overlap, after removing artefacts by a double- blind expert process. A set of 8 temporal, spectral and non-linear parameters were calculated: root mean square (RMS), kurtosis of the Hilbert envelope (KHE), median frequency (MDF), H/L ratio, and sample entropy (SampEn) and bubble entropy (BubbEn) calculated in the whole bandwidth (WBW) and the fast wave high (FWH). The 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles of all windows analysed were calculated to obtain representative values of the recordings. For each parameter and percentile, statistically significant differences between the SG and MG groups and their statistical power (SP) were analysed to determine both the existence of an effect and substantive significance, respectively. Main findings: In comparison to SG, MG EHG exhibited significant higher impulsiveness and higher predictability than SG which was reflected in the KHE (SP10 = 85.2, p(10) < 0.001) and entropy measures (SampEn FWH: SP50 = 62.0, p(50) = 0.0.016; SP90 = 52.5, p(90) = 0.059. BubbEn FWH: SP50 = 75.2, p(50) < 0.001; SP90 = 60.3, p(90) = 0.002), suggesting an accelerated evolution of uterine electrophysiological condition. In addition, several EHG parameters were found to significantly correlate with foetal weight such as amplitude (RMS: r(90) = 0.311, p(90) = 0.006), signal impulsiveness (KHE: r(10) = 0.311, p(10) = 0.006) and entropy measures (SampEn FWH: r(50) = -0.317, p(50) = 0.005*; r(90) = -0.279, p(90) = 0.013*. BubbEn FWH: r(50) = -0.370, p(50) = 0.001*; r(90) = -0.313, p(90) = 0.005*), suggesting an electromechanical coupling between uterine overdistension and contractile activity in vivo system. Principal conclusions: In comparison to SG women, MG showed higher impulsiveness and predictability in early third gestational trimester, as reflected in KHE, SampEn and BubbEn, respectively. We found similar cell excitability between SG and MG women far from delivery. In addition, we confirmed the relationship between uterine overdistension and surface myoelectric activity, revealing the electromechanical coupling pathway in uterine smooth muscle.; Therefore, contextualized EHG-biomarkers would provide valuable information for early detection of PTB risk, which would allow clinicians better PTB management through personalised therapeutic interventions. (c) 2024 AGBM.Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-NDlicenseThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the European Regional Development Fund (PID2021-124038OB-I00).Diaz-Martinez, A.; Prats-Boluda, G.; Monfort-Ortiz, R.; Garcia-Casado, J.; Roca-Prats, A.; Tormo-Crespo, E.; Nieto Del-Amor, F.... (2024). Overdistention Accelerates Electrophysiological Changes in Uterine Muscle Towards Labour in Multiple Gestations. Innovation and Research in BioMedical engineering. 45(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irbm.2024.10083745

Social Effectiveness of Tertiary Education for Adults in Mid-life

No abstract available

Attachment-based compassion therapy and adapted mindfulness-based stress reduction for the treatment of depressive, anxious and adjustment disorders in mental health settings: A randomised controlled clinical trial protocol

Introduction Depressive, anxiety and adjustment disorders are highly prevalent among mental health outpatients. The lack of funding for mental health problems produces inefficient results and a high burden of disease. New cost-effective group interventions aimed at treating these symptoms might be an appropriate solution to reduce the healthcare burden in mental health units. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have shown significant reductions in anxious, depressive and adjustment symptomatology. Recent research highlights the influence of compassion as a key mechanism of change. However, MBIs only address compassion implicitly, whereas compassion-based protocols consider it a core aspect of psychotherapy. In this randomised controlled trial, we hypothesise that the provision of attachment-based compassion therapy (ABCT), which is a compassion-based protocol, will be more effective than mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which is a conventional MBI programme, for the treatment of depressive, anxious and adaptive symptoms in patients in mental health settings. Methods and analysis Approximately 90 patients suffering from depressive, anxious or adjustment disorders recruited from Spanish mental health settings will be randomised to receive 8 weekly 2 hours group sessions of ABCT, 8 weekly 2.5 hours group sessions of adapted MBSR (with no full-day silent retreat) or treatment as usual (TAU), with a 1:1:1 allocation rate. Patients in the ABCT and adapted MBSR groups will also receive TAU. The main outcome will be general affective distress measured by means of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21'' at post-test as primary endpoint. Other outcomes will be quality of life, mindfulness, self-compassion and the use of healthcare services. There will be a 6-month follow-up assessment. Intention-to-treat analysis will be conducted using linear mixed models. Per-protocol and secondary outcome analyses will be performed. A data monitoring committee comprising the trial manager, the ABCT and MBSR teachers and an independent clinical psychologist will monitor for possible negative side effects. Ethics and dissemination Approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the General University Hospital of Castellón, Spain. The results will be submitted to peer-reviewed specialised journals, and brief reports will be sent to participants on request

Optimization of Imminent Labor Prediction Systems in Women with Threatened Preterm Labor Based on Electrohysterography

[EN] Preterm birth is the leading cause of death in newborns and the survivors are prone to health complications. Threatened preterm labor (TPL) is the most common cause of hospitalization in the second half of pregnancy. The current methods used in clinical practice to diagnose preterm labor, the Bishop score or cervical length, have high negative predictive values but not positive ones. In this work we analyzed the performance of computationally efficient classification algorithms, based on electrohysterographic recordings (EHG), such as random forest (RF), extreme learning machine (ELM) and K-nearest neighbors (KNN) for imminent labor (<7 days) prediction in women with TPL, using the 50th or 10th-90th percentiles of temporal, spectral and nonlinear EHG parameters with and without obstetric data inputs. Two criteria were assessed for the classifier design: F1-score and sensitivity. RFF1_2 and ELMF1_2 provided the highest F1-score values in the validation dataset, (88.17 +/- 8.34% and 90.2 +/- 4.43%) with the 50th percentile of EHG and obstetric inputs. ELMF1_2 outperformed RFF1_2 in sensitivity, being similar to those of ELMSens (sensitivity optimization). The 10th-90th percentiles did not provide a significant improvement over the 50th percentile. KNN performance was highly sensitive to the input dataset, with a high generalization capability.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the European Regional Development Fund (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE RTI2018-094449-A-I00-AR); by the Generalitat Valenciana (AICO/2019/220).Prats-Boluda, G.; Pastor-Tronch, J.; Garcia-Casado, J.; Monfort-Ortiz, R.; Perales Marín, A.; Diago, V.; Roca Prats, A.... (2021). Optimization of Imminent Labor Prediction Systems in Women with Threatened Preterm Labor Based on Electrohysterography. Sensors. 21(7):1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21072496S11821