The effect of postural freedom to increase the neutral positions during laparoscopic surgery

[EN] Laparoscopic technique has demonstrated numerous advantages compared to open conventional surgery. Nevertheless, this procedure increases the surgeons fatigue and thus, the potential to commit errors that may harm the patient during the operation. The post-surgery pain is also augmented because the surgeons are forced to adopt non-neutral postures during the practice. This study reveals how a postural freedom element could help surgeons to improve the postural hygiene. During this study, thirteen participants with and without previous experience in laparoscopic surgery performed a test with two instruments: a prototype that implement this postural freedom concept and a conventional fixed instrument. The results obtained indicate that the postural freedom element allows the participants to maintain neutral positions during greatest part of the experiment and suggest that the implementation of an articulated element could increases the neutral positions adopted during a real laparoscopic procedure. The use of the postural freedom concept allowed to the participants to reduce the awkward positions during upper limb motions and to reduce displacements, avoiding extreme abductions that are common with the conventional fixed instruments.Pace-Bedetti, HM.; Dolz, JF.; Martínez-De-Juan, JL.; Conejero Rodilla, A. (2019). The effect of postural freedom to increase the neutral positions during laparoscopic surgery. International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM). 13(2):627-631. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-018-00527-6S62763113

A Surface Electromyogram Evaluation of the Postural Freedom Effects in Laparoscopic Surgery

[EN] It has been demonstrated that laparoscopic procedures benefit patients in terms of recovery time, exposure to infections and trauma. Nevertheless, it increases the number of problems for the surgeons, including the frequency and duration of awkward postures for surgeons. The repetition of these movements is considered the main cause for musculoskeletal disorders in surgeons' upper limbs. The goal of this study is to evaluate the muscular activity and muscular fatigue effect produced by both, a conventional instrument and an instrument provided with the Postural Freedom (PF) feature; which consists in a ball socket articulation that allows a variable handle-to-shaft angle, on a conventional laparoscopic pistol-grip handle. Seventeen participants were evaluated during a static simulation using both instruments. Surface electromyography was used to compare the instruments in terms of muscular activity in each target position and muscular fatigue produced in the muscles trapezius, deltoids, biceps, and flexor carpi radialis. Trapezius and deltoids were the muscles most affected. Entrance and exit targets and targets facing the participants showed the higher muscular activity values. The PF prototype reduced muscular activity in all the muscles and in the majority of the target positions showing a reduction greater than 70% of the activity required by the trapezius and deltoid muscles in comparison to the conventional tool. Muscular fatigue was produced by both instruments but it presented lower frequency values with PF prototype. The results indicated that the use of conventional instruments impacts negatively on muscular activity during laparoscopic procedures, in terms of positions adopted. The PF feature in laparoscopic instrumentation reduced the muscular activity and also decreased the signals of muscular fatigue in the muscles evaluated in comparison with the conventional tool.Pace-Bedetti, HM.; Martínez-De-Juan, JL.; Conejero Rodilla, A.; Prats-Boluda, G. (2019). A Surface Electromyogram Evaluation of the Postural Freedom Effects in Laparoscopic Surgery. IEEE. 3143-3146. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2019.88579193143314

“Own doctor” presence in a web-based lifestyle intervention for adults with obesity and hypertension: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Online interventions have long been shown to be an effective means to promote a healthy lifestyle, thereby helping to control body weight and blood pressure figures. Likewise, using video modeling is also considered an effective way to guide patients through behavioral interventions. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to analyze how the presence of patients' “own doctor” in the audiovisual content of a web-based lifestyle program (“Living Better”) aimed at promoting regular physical exercise and healthy eating behavior, compared with an “unknown doctor,” influences the outcomes of adults with obesity and hypertension. Materials and methods: A total of 132 patients were randomly assigned either to the experimental (n = 70) or control (n = 62) group (“own doctor” or “unknown doctor”, respectively). The body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, number of antihypertensive drugs used, physical activity level, and quality of life was assessed and compared at baseline and post-intervention (12 weeks).Results: The intention-to-treat analysis showed intragroup significant improvements in both groups in terms of the body mass index (control group: mean difference −0.3, 95% CI [−0.5, −0.1], p = 0.002; experimental group: −0.4 [−0.6, −0.2], p < 0.001) and systolic blood pressure (control group: −2.3 [−4.4, −0.2], p = 0.029; experimental group: −3.6 [−5.5, −1.6], p< 0.001). In addition, there were also significant improvements in the experimental group for the diastolic blood pressure (−2.5 [−3.7, −1.2], p < 0.001), physical activity (479 [9, 949], p = 0.046), and quality of life (5.2 [2.3, 8.2], p = 0.001). However, when comparing the experimental with the control group, no between-group significant differences were found in these variables.Conclusions: This study suggests that the presence of patients' “own doctor” in the audiovisual content of a web-based intervention, aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle among adults with obesity and hypertension, do not show significant additional benefits over the efficacy of e–counseling.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04426877. First Posted: 11/06/2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04426877

Medición de parámetros fisicos, biológicos y químicos en el tramo estuarino del río Ebro

En este artículo se describen las campañas de campo CYTMAR I y II realizadas en la primavera y el verano de 1997, con el fin de estudiar los procesos y los flujos físicos, biológicos y químicos en la zona del Delta del Ebro, tanto en el tramo estuarino del río como en la pluma de agua dulce que se forma en las cercanías de la desembocadura. Aquí el estudio se ha centrado en la zona estuarina, presentando algunos resultados preliminares y analizando las diferencias estacionales observadas

Análisis de la situación de los estudios agronómicos y forestales en Europa. Anexo III: análisis de los estudios europeos

El documento que se presenta es el resultado del análisis de la situación actual en estas ingenierías y del estudio del futuro de las mismas. Todas las propuestas que aquí se hacen se han consensuado en las sesiones del Plenario del grupo de trabajo. Por ello, es justo reconocer la aportación que este trabajo puede suponer a la futura Convergencia Europea en la Educación Superior

Novel indole-based tambjamine-analogues induce apoptotic lung cancer cell death through p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase activation

Lung cancer has become the leading killer cancer worldwide, due to late diagnosis and lack of efficient anticancer drugs. We have recently described novel natural-derived tambjamine analogues that are potent anion transporters capable of disrupting cellular ion balance, inducing acidification of the cytosol and hyperpolarization of cellular plasma membranes. Although these tambjamine analogues were able to compromise cell survival, their molecular mechanism of action remains largely unknown. Herein we characterize the molecular cell responses induced by highly active indole-based tambjamine analogues treatment in lung cancer cells. Expression changes produced after compounds treatment comprised genes related to apoptosis, cell cycle, growth factors and its receptors, protein kinases and topoisomerases, among others. Dysregulation of BCL2 and BIRC5/survivin genes suggested the apoptotic pathway as the induced molecular cell death mechanism. In fact, activation of several proapoptotic markers (caspase-9, caspase-3, and PARP) and reversion of the cytotoxic effect upon treatment with an apoptosis inhibitor (Z-VAD-FMK) were observed. Moreover, members of the Bcl-2 protein family suffered changes after tambjamine analogues treatment, with a concomitant protein decrease towards the prosurvival members. Besides this, it was observed cellular accumulation of ROS upon compound treatment and an activation of the stress-kinase p38 MAPK route that, when inhibited, reverted the cytotoxic effect of the tambjamine analogues. Finally, a significant therapeutic effect of these compounds was observed in subcutaneous and orthotopic lung cancer mice models. Taken together, these results shed light on the mechanism of action of novel cytotoxic anionophores and demonstrate the therapeutic effects against lung cancer.Spanish Government and EU funds through the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS, project PI13/ 00089) and from La Marat o de TV3 Foundation (project 20132730) to R. P erez-Tom as. R. Ramos was supported by the Sociedad Espa~nola de Neumología y Cirugía Tor acica (SEPAR, Project 017/2013), R. Quesada by the Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León (project BU340U13) and by the La Marat o de TV3 Foundation (project 20132732) and A. Villanueva by the FIS (project PI13/01339)

Medición de parámetros fisicos, biológicos y químicos en el tramo estuarino del río Ebro

[ES] En este artículo se describen las campañas de campo CYTMAR I y II realizadas en la primavera y el verano de 1997, con el fin de estudiar los procesos y los flujos físicos, biológicos y químicos en la zona del Delta del Ebro, tanto en el tramo estuarino del río como en la pluma de agua dulce que se forma en las cercanías de la desembocadura. Aquí el estudio se ha centrado en la zona estuarina, presentando algunos resultados preliminares y analizando las diferencias estacionales observadas.Este trabajo forma parte del proyecto FANS (contrato No. MAS3-CT95-0037) del Programa MAST-III de la Unión Europea y del proyecto MAR96-1856 del Programa CYTMAR de la Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT). También se agradece la contribución de todos los que participaron en las campañas de campo. Finalmente cabe destacar la colaboración de la Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, que proporcionó los datos de caudales del río y del Centro de Estudios de Puertos y Costas (CEPYC) del CEDEX, que prestó algunos de los equipos utilizados en las campañas.Sierra Pedrico, JP.; González Del Río Rams, J.; Flos Bassols, J.; Sánchez-Arcilla Conejo, A.; Movellán Mendoza, E.; Rodilla, M.; Mösso Aranda, C.... (2001). Medición de parámetros fisicos, biológicos y químicos en el tramo estuarino del río Ebro. Ingeniería del Agua. 8(4):459-468. https://doi.org/10.4995/ia.2001.2879SWORD45946884Bruno, M., Fraguela, B., Alonso, J.J., Ruiz Cañavate, A., Mañanes, R. and Rico, J. (1997). Atmospheric pressure variations and water mass exchange between the continental shelf and the Bay of Cadiz. Scientia Marina, 61, pp. 379-387.Day, J.W., J.F. Martin, L. Cardoch and P.H. Templet (1997). System functioning as a basis for sustainable management of deltaic ecosystems. Costal Management, 25, pp. 115-153.Geyer, W.R. and Farmer, D.M. (1989). Tide induced variation in the dynamics of a salt wedge estuary. J. Physical Oceanography, 19, pp. 1060-1072.Huisman, J. and Weissing, F.J. (1995). Competition for nutrients and light among phytoplankton species in a mixed water column: theoretical studies. Water Sci. Tech., 32, pp. 143-147.Ibáñez, C. (1993). Dinámica hidrológica y funcionamiento ecológico del tramo estuarino del río Ebro. Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Barcelona, 196 p.Ibáñez, C., Pont, D. and Prat, N. (1997). Characterization of the Ebre and Rhone estuaries: A basis for defining and classifying salt-wedge estuaries. Limnol. Oceanogr., 42, pp. 89-101.Morris, A.W., Bale, A.J. and Howland, R.J.M. (1981). Nutrient distributions in an estuary: evidence of chemical precipitation of dissolved silicate and phosphate. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 12, pp. 205-216.Smith, N.P. (1986). Subtidal Exchanges between Corpus Christi Bay and Texas Inner Shelf Waters. Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies. Ed. Van Kreeke, Springer Verlag, 16, pp. 143-152.Valle-Levinson, A. (1995). Observations of barotropic and baroclinic exchanges in the lower Chesapeake Bay. Continental Shelf Research, 15, pp. 1631-1647.Velasco, M.J. (1998). Descripción de los procesos hidro-biogeoquímicos en el Delta del Ebro. Tesina de graduación. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 133p.Zessner, M. et al. (1996). Regional materials accounting of nitrogen in upper Austria. Water Sci. Tech., 33, pp. 89-97

Design of a WSN for smart irrigation in citrus plots with fault-tolerance and energy-saving algorithms

[EN] Wireless sensor networks are widely used for monitoring different processes, including agriculture, in order to reach sustainability. One of the keys to sustainable crops is water saving. In particular, saving water is extremely important in arid and semiarid regions. In those regions, citrus trees are cultivated, and drip irrigation is used to save water. In this paper, we propose a smart irrigation system for citrus trees using a WSN. We describe the employed sensors and nodes for this proposal. Next, we present the proposed architecture and the operational algorithms for the nodes. Moreover, we designed different algorithms for fault tolerance and energy saving functionalities. The energy saving algorithm is based on the relevance of the gathered data, which is analyzed in order to consider whether the information should be forwarded or not. A TPC-based protocol is proposed to perform the communication among the nodes of our system. In addition, we present different simulations of the proposed system. Particularly, we show the consumed bandwidth and the remaining energy in the different nodes. Finally, we test different energy configurations to evaluate the network lifetime and the remaining energy when the first node depletes its energy.This work has been partially supported by the “Conselleria d' Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport” through the “Subvenciones para la contratación de personal investigator de carácter predoctoral (Convocatoria 2017)” Grant number ACIF/2017/069, by the “Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte”, through the “Ayudas para contratacion predoctoral de Formación del Profesorado Universitario FPU (Convocatoria 2014)”. Grant number FPU14/02953 and finally, the research leading to these results has received funding from “la Caixa” Foundation and Triptolemos Foundation. This work has also been partially supported by European Union through the ERANETMED (Euromediterranean Cooperation through ERANET joint activities and beyond) project ERANETMED3-227 SMARTWATIR.Parra-Boronat, L.; Rocher-Morant, J.; García-García, L.; Lloret, J.; Tomás Gironés, J.; Romero Martínez, JO.; Rodilla, M.... (2018). Design of a WSN for smart irrigation in citrus plots with fault-tolerance and energy-saving algorithms. Network Protocols and Algorithms. 10(2):95-115. https://doi.org/10.5296/npa.v10i2.13205S9511510

Gestión de la identidad digital del investigador como medio de coordinación y seguimiento en el Programa de Doctorado de Formación en la Sociedad del Conocimiento

Memoria ID-0129. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2013-2014