Integridade estrutural de compósitos laminados em fibra de carbono sujeitos a diferentes taxas de desgaste e absorção de água : protótipo de máquina de testes

Trabalho final de mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia MecânicaDesde sempre no panorama do ciclismo de alta competição se fizeram todos os esforços para melhorar os resultados dos atletas. Grande parte destes trabalhos está no desenvolvimento das bicicletas e seus componentes. A empresa Morphis Composites que está em fase de desenvolvimento de carretos de desviador em fibra de carbono. Estando estes componentes em material compósito laminado expostos à atmosfera, poderá estar em causa a sua integridade estrutural pois sabe-se que irão absorver água por difusão e se vão desgastar de forma diferente de carretos de outros materiais. Tudo isto poderá levar ao aumento do seu atrito na transmissão, sendo que é necessária a criação de meios para a avaliação desta temática. No presente trabalho faz-se o projecto e construção de um protótipo para medição de atrito em transmissões de bicicleta. Inclui-se uma breve pesquisa bibliográfica sobre correntes de rolos industriais e de ciclismo, o seu funcionamento e mecanismos de atrito. Além disto fez-se também uma breve pesquisa sobre os efeitos da absorção de água na fibra de carbono. Para o dimensionamento do sistema de medição procuraram-se resultados de trabalhos similares de forma a aferir as grandezas a medir e a sensibilidade necessária. O protótipo deve medir a potência conduzida à transmissão para esta rodar em vazio a uma velocidade constante que foi fixada neste caso em 60 rpm, sendo que quanto mais baixa a potencia medida menor o atrito da transmissão. O sensor usado é uma roseta colada a +45 e -45 graus no veio que fornece movimento ao sistema. O sinal é retirado do veio em rotação através de um sistema de anéis deslizantes em bronze onde se usaram escovas de grafite e de filamentos de cobre. Após a construção do protótipo fez-se a calibração estática dos sistemas de medição com bons resultados de sensibilidade e repetibilidade. Estes resultados empíricos também foram comparados com os resultados teóricos não tendo havido discrepâncias relevantes, provando a qualidade das medições de binário obtidas pelos extensómetros. No entanto, devido ao ruído introduzido no sinal pelas escovas em movimento, não foi possível obter resultados de qualidade nos ensaios dinâmicos para a potência e atrito na transmissão em rotação com o presente protótipo. No final apresentam-se sugestões para melhoria em trabalhos futuros.Ever since the beginning of high competition in cycling, that every erffort has been made to improve the results of the athletes. Much of this work is in the development of bicycles and their components. The company Morphis Composites is in the development stage of carbon fiber rear derailleur sprockets. These components made of laminated composite material are exposed to the atmosphere, thus their structural integrity may be affected because it is known that they will absorb water by diffusion and will wear differently from sprockets made of other materials, such as metals. All this can lead to the increase of its friction in the transmission, and it is necessary to create means for the evaluation of this situation. In the present work, the design and construction of a prototype for measuring friction in bicycle transmissions is done. A brief literature review on industrial roller and cycling chains, their operation and friction mechanisms is included. In addition, a brief research was also made on the effects of water absorption on carbon fiber. For the sizing of the measurement system, results of similar work were sought in order to understand the quantities to be measured and the required sensitivity. The prototype shall measure the power delivered to the transmission to idle at a constant speed which has been set at 60 rpm in this case, the lower the measured power the lower the transmission friction. The sensor used is a rosette glued to +45 and -45 degrees in a section of the main shaft before the main sprocket. The signal is drawn from the rotating shaft through a bronze slip ring system where graphite brushes and copper filaments were used. Upon prototype building the static calibration of the measurement systems was made with good results of sensitivity and repeatability. These empirical results were also compared with what would theoretically be expected and there were no relevant discrepancies, proving the quality of the torque measurements obtained by the extensometers. However, due to the noise introduced into the signal by the moving brushes, it was not possible to obtain quality results in the dynamic tests for power and friction in the rotational transmission with the present prototype. At the end, suggestions are presented for improvement in future work.N/

Turnos de 7 horas versus 12 horas en enfermería intensiva: vivir a contratiempo

Resumen Los turnos de trabajo tienen repercusión sobre el bienestar de los profesionales sanitarios influyendo en su calidad de vida. El objetivo principal de este estudio es describir las consecuencias que tiene el turno de trabajo diurno de 12 h respecto al de 7 h en los profesionales de enfermería que trabajan en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos. Se trata así de un estudio descriptivo transversal en 2 hospitales de tercer nivel de Barcelona: Hospital Clínico y Hospital Vall d"Hebron (turnos de 7 h y 12 h respectivamente). La recogida de datos se ha realizado mediante cuestionario ad hoc de 29 preguntas cerradas, anónimo y autoadministrado, basado en 2 escalas: Standard Shiftwork Index y Shiftwork locus of control. Dichos datos fueron procesados a través del programa SPSS V.18.0. De las 85 encuestas realizadas 52 fueron válidas: 22 en el Hospital Clínico de Barcelona y 30 en el Hospital Vall d"Hebron. Cabe destacar que los profesionales encuestados que trabajan en turno de 12 h expresan niveles superiores de conciliación laboral y personal, concretamente en tiempo de ocio a disfrutar (× 2: 10,635; p = 0,031) y tiempo de dedicación familia-amigos, así como niveles más bajos de percepción de fatiga. No se han encontrado diferencias entre el tipo de turno y facilidad de desarrollo del trabajo profesional, a pesar de que el turno de 12 h presenta niveles más altos

Advances in greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) research: the DIVERSIFY project

The greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) is a species with high potential for the EU aquaculture due to its fast growth (6 kg in 2.5 years), excellent flesh quality and global market. Its farming in the Mediterranean region started in the 1990s with wild-caught juveniles, but the production is still negligible, as several bottlenecks exist for its industrial production. These include the absence of reliable reproduction, limited availability of juveniles, lack of knowledge on the nutrient requirements and pathology of the species. The EU FP7-funded DIVERSIFY project (www.diversifyfish.eu) examines the major aspects of greater amberjack aquaculture in order to overcome these bottlenecks and develop appropriate rearing methods for commercial production. This article provides some highlights from the first 2 years of the project.Postprin

Comparative study of CuO supported on CeO2, Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 and Ce0.8Al0.2O2 based catalysts in the CO-PROX reaction

CuO supported on CeO2, Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 and Ce0.8Al0.2O2 based catalysts (6%wt Cu) were synthesized and tested in the preferential oxidation of CO in a H2-rich stream (CO-PROX). Nanocrystalline supports, CeO2 and solid solutions of modified CeO2 with zirconium and aluminum were prepared by a freeze-drying method. CuO was supported by incipient wetness impregnation and calcination at 400 C. All catalysts exhibit high activity in the CO-PROX reaction and selectivity to CO2 at low reaction temperature, being the catalyst supported on CeO2 the more active and stable. The influence of the presence of CO2 and H2O was also studied

Breast cancer PAM50 signature: Correlation and concordance between RNA-Seq and digital multiplexed gene expression technologies in a triple negative breast cancer series

Background: Full RNA-Seq is a fundamental research tool for whole transcriptome analysis. However, it is too costly and time consuming to be used in routine clinical practice. We evaluated the transcript quantification agreement between RNA-Seq and a digital multiplexed gene expression platform, and the subtype call after running the PAM50 assay in a series of breast cancer patients classified as triple negative by IHC/FISH. The goal of this study is to analyze the concordance between both expression platforms overall, and for calling PAM50 triple negative breast cancer intrinsic subtypes in particular. Results: The analyses were performed in paraffin-embedded tissues from 96 patients recruited in a multicenter, prospective, non-randomized neoadjuvant triple negative breast cancer trial (NCT01560663). Pre-treatment core biopsies were obtained following clinical practice guidelines and conserved as FFPE for further RNA extraction. PAM50 was performed on both digital multiplexed gene expression and RNA-Seq platforms. Subtype assignment was based on the nearest centroid classification following this procedure for both platforms and it was concordant on 96% of the cases (N = 96). In four cases, digital multiplexed gene expression analysis and RNA-Seq were discordant. The Spearman correlation to each of the centroids and the risk of recurrence were above 0.89 in both platforms while the agreement on Proliferation Score reached up to 0.97. In addition, 82% of the individual PAM50 genes showed a correlation coefficient > 0.80. Conclusions: In our analysis, the subtype calling in most of the samples was concordant in both platforms and the potential discordances had reduced clinical implications in terms of prognosis. If speed and cost are the main driving forces then the preferred technique is the digital multiplexed platform, while if whole genome patterns and subtype are the driving forces, then RNA-Seq is the preferred method

Poor sleep quality decreases concurrent training benefits in markers of metabolic syndrome and quality of life of morbidly obese patients

Indexación: Scopus.Background: Sleep quality (SQ) plays a role in multiple activities of daily living, but little is known about its role in concurrent training [CT, high-intensity interval (HIIT) plus resistance training (RT)] adaptations for metabolic syndrome (MetS) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) markers. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of a 20-week CT programme on MetS and HRQoL markers according to the SQ of morbidly obese patients. Methods: Twenty-nine morbidly obese patients were allocated to one of two groups: good sleep quality (GSQ, n = 15, 38.07 ± 12.26 years) and poor sleep quality (PSQ, n = 14, 40.79 ± 11.62 years). HRQoL, body mass index, waist circumference (WC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP, respectively), and plasma outcomes were measured. Results: The GSQ group reported significant changes (pre-vs. post-intervention) in WC (114.0 ± 3.1 vs. 110.4 ± 3.4 cm, p = 0.012), SBP (137.0 ± 4.3 vs. 125.6 ± 1.8 mmHg, p = 0.006), and HRQoL general health (51.33 ± 21.08 vs. 64.33 ± 16.24, p = 0.020). By contrast, the PSQ group showed significant changes only in SQ (9.00 ± 2.42 vs. 5.36 ± 2.84, p = 0.004). Conclusions: Morbidly obese PSQ patients showed a lower response for improving MetS and HRQoL markers after a 20-week CT programme than GSQ peers. However, there was a greater effect size for decreasing WC and SBP in favour of the GSQ compared with the PSQ group, suggesting that there are limitations to CT benefits on these outcomes in the PSQ group. These results call for more complex future studies. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/680

Pathological response in a triple-negative breast cancer cohort treated with neoadjuvant carboplatin and docetaxel according to Lehmann's refined classification

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) requires the identification of reliable predictors of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). For this purpose, we aimed to evaluate the performance of the TNBCtype-4 classifier in a cohort of patients with TNBC treated with neoadjuvant carboplatin and docetaxel (TCb). Methods: Patients with TNBC were accrued in a nonrandomized trial of neoadjuvant carboplatin AUC 6 and docetaxel 75 mg/m2 for six cycles. Response was evaluated in terms of pathologic complete response (pCR, ypT0/is ypN0) and residual cancer burden by Symmans and colleagues. Lehmann's subtyping was performed using the TNBCtype online tool from RNAseq data, and germline sequencing of a panel of seven DNA damage repair genes was conducted. Results: Ninety-four out of the 121 patients enrolled in the trial had RNAseq available. The overall pCR rate was 44.7%. Lehmann subtype distribution was 34.0% BL1, 20.2% BL2, 23.4% M, 14.9% LAR, and 7.4% were classified as ERþ. Response to NACT with TCb was significantly associated with Lehmann subtype (P ¼ 0.027), even in multivariate analysis including tumor size and nodal involvement, with BL1 patients achieving the highest pCR rate (65.6%), followed by BL2 (47.4%), M (36.4%), and LAR (21.4%). BL1 was associated with a significant younger age at diagnosis and higher ki67 values. Among our 10 germline mutation carriers, 30% were BL1, 40% were BL2, and 30% were M. Conclusions: TNBCtype-4 is associated with significantly different pCR rates for the different subtypes, with BL1 and LAR displaying the best and worse responses to NACT, respectively

Marine reserves: Fish life history and ecological traits matter

Copyright by the Ecological Society of AmericaMarine reserves are assumed to protect a wide range of species from deleterious effects stemming from exploitation. However, some species, due to their ecological characteristics, may not respond positively to protection. Very little is known about the effects of life history and ecological traits (e.g., mobility, growth, and habitat) on responses of fish species to marine reserves. Using 40 data sets from 12 European marine reserves, we show that there is significant variation in the response of different species of fish to protection and that this heterogeneity can be explained, in part, by differences in their traits. Densities of targeted size-classes of commercial species were greater in protected than unprotected areas. This effect of protection increased as the maximum body size of the targeted species increased, and it was greater for species that were not obligate schoolers. However, contrary to previous theoretical findings, even mobile species with wide home ranges benefited from protection: the effect of protection was at least as strong for mobile species as it was for sedentary ones. Noncommercial bycatch and unexploited species rarely responded to protection, and when they did (in the case of unexploited bentho-pelagic species), they exhibited the opposite response: their densities were lower inside reserves. The use of marine reserves for marine conservation and fisheries management implies that they should ensure protection for a wide range of species with different life-history and ecological traits. Our results suggest this is not the case, and instead that effects vary with economic value, body size, habitat, depth range, and schooling behavior.S