Perspectiva històrica de la tècnica

La Història de la Tècnica té un perfil autònom, tot i les vinculacions que existeixen amb la història de la ciència. La tradició tècnica ha estat fonamentalment pràctica, empírica, de manera que la literatura associada a ella té un paper no tan determinant com ho és en el cas de la ciència. En la formació del professorat, cal començar posant de relleu aquest caràcter empíric, poc literari de la tècnica, per analitzar la influència recíproca dels desenvolupaments tècnics i socials. Un altre element que cal destacar és el caràcter no determinista dels desenvolupaments tècnics, és a dir, històricament la revolució industrial. Finalment, cal assenyalar que la tècnica és un element imprescindible per al coneixement d’una societat, però s’ha de tenir més en compte la tècnica que és usada efectivament, i no tant la que s’inventa o es promou

Perspectiva històrica de la tècnica

La Història de la Tècnica té un perfil autònom, tot i les vinculacions que existeixen amb la història de la ciència. La tradició tècnica ha estat fonamentalment pràctica, empírica, de manera que la literatura associada a ella té un paper no tan determinant com ho és en el cas de la ciència. En la formació del professorat, cal començar posant de relleu aquest caràcter empíric, poc literari de la tècnica, per analitzar la influència recíproca dels desenvolupaments tècnics i socials. Un altre element que cal destacar és el caràcter no determinista dels desenvolupaments tècnics, és a dir, històricament la revolució industrial. Finalment, cal assenyalar que la tècnica és un element imprescindible per al coneixement d'una societat, però s'ha de tenir més en compte la tècnica que és usada efectivament, i no tant la que s'inventa o es promou

Cáncer de cuello uterino: factores de riesgo y prevención

Cervical Cancer (CC) is one of the public health issues of greatest importance in the world, due to high rates of morbidity and mortality presented in recent years. This paper provides a review of cervical-uterine cancer and its relation to human papilloma virus (HPV),the lesions in the cervix are caused by this infectious agent, the risk factors associated with its presentation and the prevention measures. Finally, we discuss the importance of vaccines as a preventive of HPV infection and cytology as a screening test coupled with an adequate and timely treatment.El Cáncer de Cuello Uterino (CaCU) es uno de los problemas de salud pública de mayor importancia en el mundo debido a las altas tasas de morbi-mortalidad presentadas en los últimos años. En este documento se hace una revisión sobre el cáncer cervico-uterino y su relación con el Virus del Papiloma Humano (VPH), las lesiones producidas en el cérvix por este agente infeccioso, los factores de riesgo relacionados con su presentación y las medidas de prevención. Finalmente, se discute la importancia de las vacunas como método preventivo de la infección por VPH y de la citología como prueba de detección precoz aunada a un tratamiento adecuado y oportun

Reflecting on loss in Papua New Guinea

This article takes up the conundrum of conducting anthropological fieldwork with people who claim that they have 'lost their culture,' as is the case with Suau people in the Massim region of Papua New Guinea. But rather than claiming culture loss as a process of dispossession, Suau claim it as a consequence of their own attempts to engage with colonial interests. Suau appear to have responded to missionization and their close proximity to the colonial-era capital by jettisoning many of the practices characteristic of Massim societies, now identified as 'kastom.' The rejection of kastom in order to facilitate their relations with Europeans during colonialism, followed by the mourning for kastom after independence, both invite consideration of a kind of reflexivity that requires action based on the presumed perspective of another

Optimizing the use of pressurized bladders for the assembly of HL-LHC MQXFB magnets

The use of pressurized bladders for stress control of superconducting magnets was firstly proposed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the early 2000s. Since then, the so-called bladders and keys procedure has become one of the reference techniques for the assembly of high-field accelerator magnets and demonstrators. Exploiting the advantages of this method is today of critical importance for Nb3Sn-based accelerator magnets, whose production requires the preservation of tight stress targets in the superconducting coils to limit the effects of the strain sensitivity and brittleness of the conductor. The present manuscript reports on the results of an experimental campaign focused on the optimization of the bladders and keys assembly process in the MQXFB quadrupoles. These 7.2 m long magnets shall be among the first Nb3Sn cryomagnets to be installed in a particle accelerator as a part of the High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC. One of the main practical implications of the bladders technique, especially important when applied to long magnets like MQXFB, is that to insert the loading keys, the opening of a certain clearance in the support structure is required. The procedure used so far for MQXF magnets involved an overstress in the coils during bladder inflation. The work presented here shows that such an overshoot can be eliminated thanks to additional bladders properly positioned in the structure. This optimized method was validated in a short model magnet and in a full-length mechanical model, becoming the new baseline for the series production at CERN. Furthermore, the results are supported by numerical predictions using Finite Element models

Analysis of gene expression data from non-small celllung carcinoma cell lines reveals distinct sub-classesfrom those identified at the phenotype level

Microarray data from cell lines of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC) can be used to look for differences in gene expression between the cell lines derived from different tumour samples, and to investigate if these differences can be used to cluster the cell lines into distinct groups. Dividing the cell lines into classes can help to improve diagnosis and the development of screens for new drug candidates. The micro-array data is first subjected to quality control analysis and then subsequently normalised using three alternate methods to reduce the chances of differences being artefacts resulting from the normalisation process. The final clustering into sub-classes was carried out in a conservative manner such that subclasses were consistent across all three normalisation methods. If there is structure in the cell line population it was expected that this would agree with histological classifications, but this was not found to be the case. To check the biological consistency of the sub-classes the set of most strongly differentially expressed genes was be identified for each pair of clusters to check if the genes that most strongly define sub-classes have biological functions consistent with NSCLC

Can creatine supplementation improve body composition and objective physical function in rheumatoid arthritis patients? A randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid cachexia (muscle wasting) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients contributes to substantial reductions in strength and impaired physical function. The objective of this randomised control trial was to investigate the effectiveness of oral creatine (Cr) supplementation in increasing lean mass and improving strength and physical function in RA patients. METHOD: In a double-blind design, 40 RA patients, were randomised to either 12 weeks supplementation of Cr or placebo. Body composition (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry, DXA, and bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy, BIS), strength and objectively-assessed physical function were measured at: baseline, day 6, week 12 and week 24. Data analysis was performed by ANCOVA. RESULTS: Creatine supplementation increased appendicular lean mass (ALM; a surrogate measure of muscle mass) by 0.52 (± 0.13) kg (P = 0.004 versus placebo), and total LM by 0.60 (± 0.37) kg (P = 0.158). The change in LM concurred with the gain in intracellular water (0.64 ± 0.22 L, P = 0.035) measured by BIS. Despite increasing ALM, Cr supplementation, relative to placebo, failed to improve isometric knee extensor (P = 0.408), handgrip strength (P = 0.833), or objectively-assessed physical function (P's = 0.335 - 0.764). CONCLUSION: In patients with RA, creatine supplementation increased muscle mass, but not strength or objective physical function. No treatment-related adverse effects were reported suggesting that Cr supplementation may offer a safe and acceptable adjunct treatment for attenuating muscle loss; this treatment may be beneficial for patients suffering from severe rheumatoid cachexia. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved