A standardised approach to the biomechanical evaluation of tracheal grafts

[EN] The ideal tracheal substitute must have biomechanical properties comparable to the native trachea, but currently there is no standardised approach to evaluating these properties. Here we propose a novel method for evaluating and comparing the properties of tracheal substitutes, thus systematising both measurement and data curation. This system was tested by comparing native rabbit tracheas to frozen and decellularised specimens and determining the histological characteristics of those specimens. We performed radial compression tests on the anteroposterior tracheal axis and longitudinal axial tensile tests with the specimens anastomosed to the jaw connected to a measuring system. All calculations and results were adjusted according to tracheal size, always using variables relative to the tracheal dimensions, thus permitting comparison of different sized organs. The biomechanical properties of the decellularised specimens were only slightly reduced compared to controls and significant in regard to the maximum stress withstood in the longitudinal axis (-0.246 MPa CI [-0.248, -0.145] MPa) and the energy stored per volume unit (-0.124 mJ & BULL;mm(-3) CI [-0.195, -0.055] mJ & BULL;mm(-3)). The proposed method is suitable for the systematic characterisation of the biomechanical properties of different tracheal substitutes, regardless of the size or nature of the substitute, thus allowing for direct comparisons.This research was funded by the 2018 Spanish Society of Thoracic Surgery grant to National Multicentric Study [Number 180101 to N.J.M.-H.] and [PI16-01315 to M.M.-R.] from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. CIBERER is funded by the VI National R&D&I Plan 2008-2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, Consolider Program, CIBER Actions and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund.Martínez-Hernández, NJ.; Más Estellés, J.; Milián-Medina, L.; Martínez-Ramos, C.; Cerón-Navarro, J.; Galbis-Caravajal, J.; Roig-Bataller, A.... (2021). A standardised approach to the biomechanical evaluation of tracheal grafts. Biomolecules. 11(10):1-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11101461S112111

Optimization of a decellularized protocol of porcine tracheas. Long-term effects of cryopreservation. A histological study

[EN] Objective: The aim of this study was to optimize a decellularization protocol in the trachea of Sus scrofa domestica (pig) as well as to study the effects of long-term cryopreservation on the extracellular matrix of decellularized tracheas. Methods: Porcine tracheas were decellularized using Triton X-100, SDC, and SDS alone or in combination. The effect of these detergents on the extracellular matrix characteristics of decellularized porcine tracheas was evaluated at the histological, biomechanical, and biocompatibility level. Morphometric approaches were used to estimate the effect of detergents on the collagen and elastic fibers content as well as on the removal of chondrocytes from decellularized organs. Moreover, the long-term structural, ultrastructural, and biomechanical effect of cryopreservation of decellularized tracheas were also estimated. Results: Two percent SDS was the most effective detergent tested concerning cell removal and preservation of the histological and biomechanical properties of the tracheal wall. However, long-term cryopreservation had no an appreciable effect on the structure, ultrastructure, and biomechanics of decellularized tracheal rings. Conclusion: The results presented here reinforce the use of SDS as a valuable decellularizing agent for porcine tracheas. Furthermore, a cryogenic preservation protocol is described, which has minimal impact on the histological and biomechanical properties of decellularized porcine tracheas.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by grants MAT2016-76039-C4-2-R (MST) and PID2019-106099RB-C42 (MM) from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government, by grant PI16-01315 from the ISCIII (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Spain), and by grant PROMETEO/2020/069 (CC) from the local government of the Comunitat Valenciana (Spain), CIBER-BBN and CIBERER are funded by the VI National R&D&I Plan 2008-2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, Consolider Program, CIBER Actions, and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund.Milián, L.; Sancho-Tello, M.; Roig-Soriano, J.; Foschini, G.; Martínez-Hernández, NJ.; Más Estellés, J.; Ruiz-Sauri, A.... (2021). Optimization of a decellularized protocol of porcine tracheas. Long-term effects of cryopreservation. A histological study. The International Journal of Artificial Organs. 44(12):998-1012. https://doi.org/10.1177/03913988211008912S9981012441

Análisis del rendimiento académico en los estudios de informática de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia aplicando técnicas de minería de datos

En este trabajo presentamos un análisis del rendimiento académico de los alumnos de nuevo ingreso en la titulación de Ingeniería Técnica en Informática de Sistemas de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) a lo largo de tres cursos, aunque también se ha trabajado con las titulaciones de Ingeniería Técnica en Informática de Gestión y de Ingeniería Informática. Este análisis relaciona el rendimiento con las características socioeconómicas y académicas de los alumnos, que se obtienen en el momento de su matrícula, y que se recogen en la base de datos de la universidad. Hemos definido un indicador del rendimiento para cada alumno, teniendo en cuenta las calificaciones obtenidas y las convocatorias utilizadas. Para el estudio utilizamos técnicas de minería de datos, que pretenden determinar qué nivel de condicionamiento existe entre dicho rendimiento y características como el nivel de conocimientos de entrada del alumno, su contexto geográfico y sociocultural, etc… Esto proporciona una herramienta importante para la acción tutorial, que puede apoyarse en las predicciones de los modelos que se obtienen para encauzar sus recomendaciones y encuadrar las expectativas y el esfuerzo necesario para cada alumno, lógicamente dentro de la cautela habitual a la hora de tratar modelos inferidos a partir de datos.Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, a través del programa PACE

Differential clinical characteristics and prognosis of intraventricular conduction defects in patients with chronic heart failure

Intraventricular conduction defects (IVCDs) can impair prognosis of heart failure (HF), but their specific impact is not well established. This study aimed to analyse the clinical profile and outcomes of HF patients with LBBB, right bundle branch block (RBBB), left anterior fascicular block (LAFB), and no IVCDs. Clinical variables and outcomes after a median follow-up of 21 months were analysed in 1762 patients with chronic HF and LBBB (n = 532), RBBB (n = 134), LAFB (n = 154), and no IVCDs (n = 942). LBBB was associated with more marked LV dilation, depressed LVEF, and mitral valve regurgitation. Patients with RBBB presented overt signs of congestive HF and depressed right ventricular motion. The LAFB group presented intermediate clinical characteristics, and patients with no IVCDs were more often women with less enlarged left ventricles and less depressed LVEF. Death occurred in 332 patients (interannual mortality = 10.8%): cardiovascular in 257, extravascular in 61, and of unknown origin in 14 patients. Cardiac death occurred in 230 (pump failure in 171 and sudden death in 59). An adjusted Cox model showed higher risk of cardiac death and pump failure death in the LBBB and RBBB than in the LAFB and the no IVCD groups. LBBB and RBBB are associated with different clinical profiles and both are independent predictors of increased risk of cardiac death in patients with HF. A more favourable prognosis was observed in patients with LAFB and in those free of IVCDs. Further research in HF patients with RBBB is warranted

The continental ichtyofauna of the Segura river watershed. Historical evolution and present state

Se ha realizado una primera aproximación al conocimiento de la distribución que, en diferentes series temporales, ocuparon en el no las distintas espccies que han integrado la ictiofauna de la cuenca del Segura. Esta aportación consta de una somera seccióii preliminar de antecedentes históricos que permiten una perspectiva general entre los siglos XVI y XIX. Siguen unas consideraciones biogeográficas referentes a la ubicación de la cuenca dentro del contexto de la península ibérica y una recopilación de la información bibliográfica desde 1930 a 1952. Se describe después la situación actual. Se detallan y analizan algunas características faunísticas de interés, pormenorizándose las fechas y magnitudes de repoblaciones e introducciones. Todo ello se complementa con reflexiones sobre la evolución reciente que han sufrido las poblaciones de peces, y las posibilidades de recuperación que se plantean en el futuro inmediato.A study has been camed out on the distribution, during different periods of time, of the species of the ichthyofauna of the Segura basin. This contribution consists of a superficial preliminary section related to historical antecedents, to give a general perspective from the 16th to 19th centuries. It is followed by a biogeographical description of the position of the watershed in relation to the lberian Peninsula, and a summary of bibliographical information from 1930 to 1952. Finally, there is a description of the present situation. Some faunal characteristics have been analysed, detailing the date and magnitude of the repopulations and introductions into the ecosystem. This has been complemented with some considerations on the recent evolution of the fish population and on the possibilities of recuperation in the immediate future

Image compression on reconfigurable FPGA for the SO/PHI space instrument

In this paper we present a novel FPGA implementation of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems Image Data Compression (CCSDS-IDC 122.0-B-1) for performing image compression aboard the Polarimetric Helioseismic Imager instrument of the ESA's Solar Orbiter mission. This is a System-On-Chip solution based on a light multicore architecture combined with an efficient ad-hoc Bit Plane Encoder core. This hardware architecture performs an acceleration of ~30 times with respect to a software implementation running into space-qualified processors, like LEON3. The system stands out over other FPGA implementations because of the low resource usage, which does not use any external memory, and of its configurability. © 2018 SPIE.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, through Project No. ESP2016-77548-C5-1-R, including a percentage from European FEDER funds

Revisiting TrES-5 b: departure from a linear ephemeris instead of short-period transit timing variation

Aims. The orbital motion of the transiting hot Jupiter TrES-5 b was reported to be perturbed by a planetary companion on a nearby orbit. Such compact systems do not frequently occur in nature, and investigating their orbital architecture could shed some light on the formation processes of hot Jupiters. Methods. We acquired 15 new precise photometric time-series for 12 transits of TrES-5 b between June 2019 and October 2020 using 0.9-2.0 m telescopes. The method of precise transit timing was employed to verify the deviation of the planet from the Keplerian motion. Results. Although our results show no detectable short-time variation in the orbital period of TrES-5 b and the existence of the additional nearby planet is not confirmed, the new transits were observed about two minutes earlier than expected. We conclude that the orbital period of the planet could vary on a long timescale. We found that the most likely explanation of the observations is the line-of-sight acceleration of the system's barycentre caused by the orbital motion induced by a massive, wide-orbiting companion. © ESO 2021.G.M. acknowledges the financial support from the National Science Centre, Poland through grant no. 2016/23/B/ST9/00579. M.F. acknowledges financial support from grant PID2019-109522GB-C5X/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). M.F., F.A., and J.L.R. acknowledge financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). This research has made use of the SIMBAD database and the VizieR catalogue access tool, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France, and NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services.Peer reviewe

Effectiveness of dader method for pharmaceutical care on control of blood pressure and total cholesterol in outpatients with cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk: EMDADER-CV randomized controlled trial

Background: Although some studies have demonstrated that pharmacistintervention can improve drug therapy among patients with cardiovasculardisease (CVD), more evidence derived from randomized controlled trials(RCTs) is needed, including assessment of the effect of community pharmacistinterventions in patients with CVD. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the Dader Method for pharmaceuticalcare on achieving therapeutic goals for blood pressure (BP), totalcholesterol (TC), and both BP and TC (BP/TC) in patients with CVD and/orhigh or intermediate cardiovascular (CV) risk attending community pharmaciesin Spain. Methods: Patients aged 25 to 74 years attending community pharmacieswith a prescription for at least 1 drug indicated for CVD or CV riskfactors were randomized to 2 groups: an intervention group that receivedpharmaceutical care, which was provided by specially trained pharmacistsworking in collaboration with physicians, and a control group that receivedusual care (routine dispensing counseling) and verbal and written counselingregarding CVD prevention. Patients were recruited from December2005 to September 2006, and both groups were followed for 8 months.Study outcomes were assessed at baseline and at 16 and 32 weeks afterrandomization. The primary outcome measures were the proportions ofpatients achieving BP, TC, and BP/TC therapeutic goals (BP lower than140/90 mm Hg for patients with uncomplicated hypertension and lowerthan 130/80 mm Hg for patients with diabetes, chronic kidney disease,or history of myocardial infarction or stroke; TC lower than 200 mg perdL for patients without CVD and lower than 175 mg per dL for patientswith CVD). Secondary outcomes were mean BP and TC values. BP wasassessed manually by the pharmacist after a 10-minute rest in the supineposition. This measurement was performed twice for every participant,and the average of the 2 measurements was calculated. TC was measuredby the pharmacist during the study visit using the enzymatic dry method.Statistical analyses were performed using 2-tailed McNemar tests, Pearsonchi-square tests, and Student's t-tests; P < 0.05 was considered statisticallysignificant. Results: 714 patients were included in the study (356 intervention, 358control), and the mean [SD] age was 62.8 [8.1] years. The 2 groups weresimilar at baseline in clinical and demographic characteristics, includingthe proportion of patients at therapeutic goals for BP, TC, and BP/TC. After8 months of follow-up, there were statistically significant differences infavor of pharmaceutical care in the proportions of patients who achievedtherapeutic goals for BP (52.5% vs. 43.0%, P = 0.017), TC (56.5% vs.44.1%, P = 0.001), and BP/TC (37.1% vs. 21.8%, P <0.001). Researchconclusion: Compared with usual care plus written education, pharmaceuticalcare focused on patient evaluation and follow-up in collaborationwith physicians improved the achievement of BP, TC, and BP/TC treatmentgoals in patients with CVD and/or high or intermediate CV risk attendingcommunity pharmacies in Spain. © 2012, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy