Pulsed Electrochemical Micromachining in Stainless Steel

This chapter presents research on pulsed electrochemical micromachining of stainless steel. Suitable equipment to study the process is described as well as a fitting procedure to machine and measure the variables involved. The pulse on-time must be maintained in the order of ns to achieve a good current confinement since the tool is active. Some experiments were carried out to assess the most important variables of the process: current confinement, surface roughness, material removal rate and efficiency. The current confinement has been observed to worsen when the pulse on-time increases, as well as the surface roughness. The material removal rate and efficiency increase with the voltage amplitude and the pulse on-time. The voltage amplitude must be higher than 12 V so that the phenomenon of passivation does not affect the process. There is a compromise in the choice of the variables, so a suitable combination of parameters is determined in order to achieve a good material removal rate with an acceptable result

GeoBotánica: Aplicación Web para la visualización, análisis y estudio de taxones vegetales. Caso de estudio Cuenca Media del Tajo.

La geobotánica (fitogeografía), rama de la biogeografía, estudia cómo la tectónica de placas y las orogénesis determinan una distribución de tierras, mares y accidentes geográficos, el aislamiento o la conexión de poblaciones, la distribución espacial de las especies y los fenómenos de especialización. La corología, por su parte, se ocupa de la distribución geográfica de cada especie, siendo el clima y el suelo los principales factores que influyen en la misma. Como resumen podemos decir que para la geobotánica es de interés poder obtener y analizar: mapas corológicos, los factores limitantes climáticos y químicos, y la relación con el medio y otras especies. El objetivo de la aplicación Web desarrollada, basada en estándares OGC para el acceso y visualización de información geográfica, es dotar a los geobotánicos de una herramienta sencilla y accesible en Web, que ayude en los procesos de estudio y análisis de la distribución de especies vegetales en el territorio y sus condicionantes. La aplicación, desarrollada a partir de los datos del inventario botánico del profesor Martínez Labarga de la cuenca media del Tajo, permite realizar estudios y análisis geobotánicos, apoyándose en la confección de mapas corológicos y la correlación de la distribución de cada especie con las magnitudes climáticas de temperatura o precipitación y las características de los suelos sobre los que aparece. Esta aplicación dispone de una arquitectura de 3 capas (almacenes de datos, servicios y clientes) y ha sido desarrollada con tecnologías OpenSource (PostGIS, Geoserver, Apache httpd, OpenLayers, GeoExt, php) y consume datos propios publicados mediante estándares OGC (WMS y WFS) y capas de la IDE tanto de suelos (litológico, geológico, topográfico, ortoimágenes) como climáticos (precipitaciones y temperaturas ?CREAF). El desarrollo de la aplicación y la prueba de concepto han permitido identificar algunos problemas de rendimiento a la hora de realizar consultas al Atlas Climático de la Península Ibérica y se ha propuesto una solución basada en el cacheado de datos consultados en tiempo de ejecució

Renal prostacyclin influences renal function in non-azotemic cirrhotic patients treated with furosemide

The influence of prostaglandins on renal function changes induced by furosemide was analyzed in 21 non-azotemic cirrhotic patients with ascites. Patients were studied in two periods of 120 min immediately before and after furosemide infusion (20 mg, ev). Furosemide caused an increase in creatinine clearance in 15 patients (group A: 99 +/- 7 vs. 129 +/- 5 ml/min; mean +/- S.E.) and a reduction in the remaining six (group B: 102 +/- 13 vs. 71 +/- 9 ml/min). Parallel changes were observed in the urinary excretion of 6-Keto-prostaglandin-F1 alpha (metabolite of renal prostacyclin) which augmented after furosemide in 14 of the 15 patients from group A (478 +/- 107 vs. 1034 +/- 159 pg/min, p less than 0.001) and decreased in all patients from group B (1032 +/- 240 vs. 548 +/- 136 pg/min, p less than 0.05). In contrast, the urinary excretion of prostaglandin E2 was stimulated by furosemide in all patients (group A, 92 +/- 19 vs. 448 +/- 60 pg/min, p less than 0.001; and group B, 209 +/- 63 vs. 361 +/- 25 pg/min, p less than 0.05). In all of the patients furosemide-induced changes (post- minus pre-furosemide values) in creatinine clearance were closely correlated in a direct and linear fashion with those in 6-Keto-prostaglandin-F1 alpha (r = 0.74; p less than 0.001). These changes were associated with a higher furosemide-induced natriuresis in group A than in group B (641 +/- 68 vs. 302 +/-- 46 mumol/min, p less than 0.001

Misconceptions about HIV infection in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo): a Case-control Study on knowledge, attitudes and practices

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of HIV-related misconceptions in an Outpatient Centre of Kinshasa (D.R.Congo) and analyze the association between these beliefs and HIV infection. Methods: A case-control study was carried out from December 2010 until June 2012. We assessed 1,630 participants aged 15-49 attending a primary outpatient centre in Kinshasa: 762 HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing attendees and 868 blood donors. A 59-item questionnaire about knowledge, attitudes and practice was administered during a face-to-face interview, followed by an HIV test. Cases and controls were respondents with a newly diagnosed HIV positive or negative test, respectively. Unconditional logistic regression was used to analyse the association between misconceptions and HIV seropositivity. Results:Two hundred and seventy four cases and 1,340 controls were recruited. Cases were more likely than controls to have a low socioeconomic status, no education, to be divorced/separated or widowed. An association was found between the following variables and HIV-seropositivity: having a poor HIV knowledge (adjusted OR=2.79; 95%CI:1.43-5.45), not knowing a virus is the cause of AIDS (adjusted OR=2.03; 95%CI:1.38-2.98) and reporting more than three HIV-transmission-related misconceptions (adjusted OR=3.30; 95%CI:1.64-6.64), such as thinking an HIV+ person cannot look healthy and that HIV is transmitted by sorcery, God´s punishment, a kiss on the mouth, mosquitoes, coughs/sneezes or undercooked food. Conclusion:Despite having access to health care services, there are still many people in Kinshasa that have HIV-related misconceptions which increase their HIV risk. Our findings underscore the need for a culturally-adapted and gender-orientated basic HIV information into Congolese HIV prevention programs

Linum austriacum var. collinum Gussone ex Boissier, MPU 1869

Linum austriacum [β] var. collinum Gussone ex Boissier (1869: 864) ≡ Linum austriacum subsp. collinum (Gussone ex Boissier) Nyman (1878: 125) ≡ Linum collinum Haussknecht (1893: 60) ≡ Linum perenne var. collinum (Nyman) O. Bolòs & Vigo (1974: 81) ≡ Linum alpinum subsp. collinum (Guss. ex Boiss.) J.-M. Tison (2010: 124) Type (lectotype, designated here):— [GREECE], Athos, [in protologue: “ Hab. in Macedoniae monte Atho ”], 1 May [1]864, P.M.R. Aucher-Eloy 836, MPU (barcode MPU020918!) [the lectotype is the fragment plant mounted on the middle of the sheet] (image available at https://herbier.umontpellier.fr/zoomify/zoomify.php?fichier=MPU020918) (Fig. 2). = Linum immaculatae Sennen (1926: nº 5679) [in sched] Type (lectotype, designated here):— [SPAIN], “ Cerdagne: Llivia et Villeneuve, coteaux, 1250-1400 m.”, 18 Jun. 1926, F. Sennen nº 5679 [Exssicata “Plantes d’Espagne”], MA barcode (MA72763!) (Fig. 3); isolectotypes: BC barcodes (BC983360! and BC983361!), BCN (barcodes BCN 25145! (ex BCF]) and BCN 25146! (ex BCC)), MA (barcode MA471208!), MAF (barcode MAF59987!), PH (barcode PH 00015290!). – L. collinum Gussone (1844: 808), nom. inval., nom. prov. (ICN Art. 36.1) Note:— Gussone (1844: 808) included in “ Linum austriacum ” this comment: “Ic. Adenolinum austriacum. Reich. cent. 46 f. 5456. In descriptione lege: filamenta divergentia, stylis erectis albidis duplo breviora!, calycem aequantia, basi coerulescentia; antheris viridulis. In planta sicula folia omnia pellucido-punctata et tuberculata, multo angustiora ac tenuiora (nam fere filiformia), quam in planta austriaca; sepalcrum nervus medius non usque ad apicem productus ut in icone citata, sed usque ad medium ut in icone L. squamulosi Reich. l. c. f S5456 b; ita ut inter utrasque species media, ac forsan nova, et tunc L. collinum appellanda”. Therefore, according to Art. 36.1 of the ICN (Turland et al. 2018) the name “ Linum collinum ” indicated by Gussone (1844: 808) is not validly published because it is merely proposed as a provisional name. Type designation of Linum immaculatae::— The name Linum immaculatae Sennen (1926: exssicatum nº 5679) was mentioned by Sennen (1927: 636) and described in the Sennen’s exsiccata “Plantes d’Espagne” with the number 5679 in a printed label. There are several specimens belonging to this exssicatum nº 5679 (e.g., barcodes PH 00015290, MA471208, MA72763, MAF59987, BCN 25145 (ex BCF), BCN 25146 (ex BCC), BC983360, BC983361). In these herbarium sheets, the original printed label includes the name “ Linum Immaculatae Sennen / gr. alpinum ”, the provenance “Cerdagne: Llivia et Villeneuve, coteaux, 1250-1400 m.”, the date “18-VI [1926]”, a complete description of this species “NOTE.- Souche et racine épaisses-ligneuses; tiges longues-nombreuses-ascendantes-ramifiéeslaxifoliées; feuilles linéaires devenant obscures, un peu élargies sous l’inflorescence allongée-laxiflore; pédicelles longs arqués-divergents, atteignant 15 mill.; sepals largement elliptiques, obtus, à mucron oblique et à sommet énervulé; petals d’un très beau bleu, grands, 15 mill. et plus; capsule très exerte-mucronulée, 7 × 5 mill.; grains de silhouette étroite-oblongue, bien marginées”, and the comment “Dévote dédicace de ce bel endémisme à l’Immaculée”. All the sheets bears complete and well-developed material. We designate the specimen at MA (with barcode MA72763) as the lectotype of Linum immaculatae (Fig. 3).Published as part of Ferrer-Gallego, P. Pablo & Martínez Labarga, Juan M., 2022, Effective typification of the name Linum austricum var. collinum (Linaceae), and its synonym L. immaculatae, pp. 287-293 in Phytotaxa 536 (3) on pages 291-292, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.536.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/633194