BioMet®Tools: from modeling and simulation to product design and development

BioMet®Tools is a set of software applications developed for the biometrical characterization of voice in different fields as voice quality evaluation in laryngology, speech therapy and rehabilitation, education of the singing voice, forensic voice analysis in court, emotional detection in voice, secure access to facilities and services, etc. Initially it was conceived as plain research code to estimate the glottal source from voice and obtain the biomechanical parameters of the vocal folds from the spectral density of the estimate. This code grew to what is now the Glottex®Engine package (G®E). Further demands from users in medical and forensic fields instantiated the development of different Graphic User Interfaces (GUI’s) to encapsulate user interaction with the G®E. This required the personalized design of different GUI’s handling the same G®E. In this way development costs and time could be saved. The development model is described in detail leading to commercial production and distribution. Study cases from its application to the field of laryngology and speech therapy are given and discussed

BioMet®Phon: A system to monitor phonation quality in the clinics

BioMet®Phon is a software application developed for the characterization of voice in voice quality evaluation. Initially it was conceived as plain research code to estimate the glottal source from voice and obtain the biomechanical parameters of the vocal folds from the spectral density of the estimate. This code grew to what is now the Glottex®Engine package (G®E). Further demands from users in laryngology and speech therapy fields instantiated the development of a specific Graphic User Interface (GUI’s) to encapsulate user interaction with the G®E. This gave place to BioMet®Phon, an application which extracts the glottal source from voice and offers a complete parameterization of this signal, including distortion, cepstral, spectral, biomechanical, time domain, contact and tremor parameters. The semantic capabilities of biomechanical parameters are discussed. Study cases from its application to the field of laryngology and speech therapy are given and discussed. Validation results in voice pathology detection are also presented. Applications to laryngology, speech therapy, and monitoring neurological deterioration in the elder are proposed

Estimating tremor in Vocal Fold Biomechanics for Neurological Disease characterisation

Neurological Diseases (ND) are affecting larger segments of aging population every year. Treatment is dependent on expensive accurate and frequent monitoring. It is well known that ND leave correlates in speech and phonation. The present work shows a method to detect alterations in vocal fold tension during phonation. These may appear either as hypertension or as cyclical tremor. Estimations of tremor may be produced by auto-regressive modeling of the vocal fold tension series in sustained phonation. The correlates obtained are a set of cyclicality coefficients, the frequency and the root mean square amplitude of the tremor. Statistical distributions of these correlates obtained from a set of male and female subjects are presented. Results from five study cases of female voice are also given

All about (nk cell-mediated) death in two acts and an unexpected encore: initiation, execution and activation of adaptive immunity

NK cells are key mediators of immune cell-mediated cytotoxicity toward infected and transformed cells, being one of the main executors of cell death in the immune system. NK cells recognize target cells through an array of inhibitory and activating receptors for endogenous or exogenous pathogen-derived ligands, which together with adhesion molecules form a structure known as immunological synapse that regulates NK cell effector functions. The main and best characterized mechanisms involved in NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity are the granule exocytosis pathway (perforin/granzymes) and the expression of death ligands. These pathways are recognized as activators of different cell death programmes on the target cells leading to their destruction. However, most studies analyzing these pathways have used pure recombinant or native proteins instead of intact NK cells and, thus, extrapolation of the results to NK cell-mediated cell death might be difficult. Specially, since the activation of granule exocytosis and/or death ligands during NK cell-mediated elimination of target cells might be influenced by the stimulus received from target cells and other microenvironment components, which might affect the cell death pathways activated on target cells. Here we will review and discuss the available experimental evidence on how NK cells kill target cells, with a special focus on the different cell death modalities that have been found to be activated during NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity; including apoptosis and more inflammatory pathways like necroptosis and pyroptosis. In light of this new evidence, we will develop the new concept of cell death induced by NK cells as a new regulatory mechanism linking innate immune response with the activation of tumour adaptive T cell responses, which might be the initiating stimulus that trigger the cancer-immunity cycle. The use of the different cell death pathways and the modulation of the tumour cell molecular machinery regulating them might affect not only tumour cell elimination by NK cells but, in addition, the generation of T cell responses against the tumour that would contribute to efficient tumour elimination and generate cancer immune memory preventing potential recurrences

Wavelet description of the Glottal Gap

The Glottal Source correlates reconstructed from the phonated parts of voice may render interesting information with applicability in different fields. One of them is defective closure (gap) detection. Through the paper the background to explain the physical foundations of defective gap are reviewed. A possible method to estimate defective gap is also presented based on a Wavelet Description of the Glottal Source. The method is validated using results from the analysis of a gender-balanced speakers database. Normative values for the different parameters estimated are given. A set of study cases with deficient glottal closure is presented and discussed

Procedimiento de preparación de partículas de tamaño micro y nanométrico con productos lábiles y partículas obtenidas

Procedimiento de preparación de partículas de tamaño micro y nanométrico con productos lábiles y partículas obtenidas. La presente invención esta relacionada con la obtención de partículas poliméricas de tamaño micro y nanométrico de una forma controlable y reproducible. Las partículas tienen forma esférica y una distribución de tamaño muy estrecha y homogénea. Mas particularmente, la presente invención describe el use y utilización de un método suave de formación de partículas y su aplicación a la encapsulación de compuestos frágiles de interés biológico, incluyendo desde péptidos y proteínas hasta células y microorganismos.Españ

Procedimiento y dispositivo para la obtención de partículas de tamaño micro y nanométrico

Procedimiento y dispositivo para la obtención de partículas de tamaño micro y nanométrico. La presente invención está relacionada con la obtención de partículas poliméricas de tamaño micro y nanométrico de una forma controlable y reproducible. Las partículas tienen forma esférica y una distribución de tamaño muy estrecha y homogénea. Más particularmente, la presente invención describe un nuevo método de formación de emulsiones y su aplicación a técnicas de micro y nanoencapsulación mediante extracción/evaporación del disolvente. Especialmente, la presente invención se refiere a la encapsulación de compuestos fluorescentes y su posterior aplicación.Españ

Micro-shear bond strength of different surface treatments on a polymer infiltrated ceramic network [version 1; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]

Background: Polymer infiltrated ceramic networks, or hybrid ceramics, are a combination of infiltrating polymerizable organic monomers into a pre-sintered porous ceramic matrix. In addition to having good mechanical properties, the polymer infiltrated ceramic network must comply with the possibility of adequate bonding to the resinous cement. The surface conditioning of this hybrid material must be carefully considered due to its organic composition and ceramic network. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effect of hydrofluoric acid and a self-etching ceramic primer, under two different application times, on the bond strength of a polymer infiltrated ceramic network. Methods: Blocks of a polymer infiltrated ceramic network were cut to obtain sheets, and these were randomized into five groups. For the group termed AAS, airborne-particle abrasion with Al2O3 (aluminum oxide) of 50µm was used. For groups HF2 and HF6, hydrofluoric acid was used for 20 and 60 seconds respectively, and for the groups MB2 and MB6, a self-etch ceramic primer was applied for 20 and 60 seconds respectively. A silane was applied to the groups AAS, HF2, and HF6 after the treatment. After 24-hour storage in distilled water, a micro-shear bond strength test was performed using a universal mechanical testing machine. All samples were evaluated in a stereomicroscope at 40x and 50x to determine the type of failure. Results: The highest and lowest values of bond strength were reported by groups MB6 and AAS, respectively. Groups HF2, HF6, MB6, and MB2 did not report statistically significant differences. The predominant failure pattern was a mixed failure. Conclusions: With the limitations of the present investigation, the treatments of self-etching ceramic primer and hydrofluoric acid followed by silane were reported to be statistically equal at 20 and 60 seconds

Association between use of enhanced recovery after surgery protocol and postoperative complications in colorectal surgery: the postoperative outcomes within enhanced recovery after surgery protocol (power) study

Importance: enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) care has been reported to be associated with improvements in outcomes after colorectal surgery compared with traditional care. Objective: to determine the association between ERAS protocols and outcomes in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. Design, setting, and participants: the Postoperative Outcomes Within Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol (POWER) Study is a multicenter, prospective cohort study of 2084 consecutive adults scheduled for elective colorectal surgery who received or did not receive care in a self-declared ERAS center. Patients were recruited from 80 Spanish centers between September 15 and December 15, 2017. All patients included in this analysis had 1 month of follow-up. Exposures: colorectal surgery and perioperative management were the exposures. Twenty-two individual ERAS items were assessed in all patients, regardless of whether they were included in an established ERAS protocol. Main outcomes and measures: the primary study outcome was moderate to severe postoperative complications within 30 days after surgery. Secondary outcomes included ERAS adherence, mortality, readmissions, reoperation rates, and hospital length of stay. Results: between September 15 and December 15, 2017, 2084 patients were included in the study. Of these, 1286 individuals (61.7%) were men; mean age was 68 years (interquartile range [IQR], 59-77). A total of 879 patients (42.2%) presented with postoperative complications and 566 patients (27.2%) developed moderate to severe complications. The number of patients with moderate or severe complications was lower in the ERAS group (25.2% vs 30.3%; odds ratio [OR], 0.77; 95% CI, 0.63-0.94; P¿=¿.01). The overall rate of adherence to the ERAS protocol was 63.6% (IQR, 54.5%-77.3%), and the rate for patients from hospitals self-declared as ERAS was 72.7% (IQR, 59.1%-81.8%) vs non-ERAS institutions, which was 59.1% (IQR, 50.0%-63.6%; P¿<¿.001). Adherence quartiles among patients receiving the highest and lowest ERAS components showed that the patients with the highest adherence rates had fewer moderate to severe complications (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.25-0.46; P¿<¿.001), overall complications (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.26-0.43; P¿<¿.001), and mortality (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.07-0.97; P¿=¿.06) compared with those who had the lowest adherence rates. Conclusions and relevance: an increase in ERAS adherence appears to be associated with a decrease in postoperative complications

Innovación y estrategias de intervención en acoso escolar

Los problemas de convivencia escolar, violencia escolar, bullying y cyberbullying, en los centros españoles son una realidad y, por tanto, es necesario que los futuros docentes cuenten con estrategias específicas para el abordaje de estas situaciones cuando se enfrenten a la realidad de las aulas. En este manual, profesionales del área de la convivencia escolar presentan las actuaciones, programas y herramientas disponibles que en estos momentos se están poniendo en práctica en los centros escolares con resultados positivos. Así, se pretende ampliar el conocimiento teórico-práctico en el ámbito de la convivencia, gestión de conflictos y violencia escolar.EducaciónPsicologí