Surface nanostructuring of TiO2 thin films by ion beam irradiation

This work reports a procedure to modify the surface nanostructure of TiO2 anatase thin films through ion beam irradiation with energies in the keV range. Irradiation with N+ ions leads to the formation of a layer with voids at a depth similar to the ion-projected range. By setting the ion-projected range a few tens of nanometers below the surface of the film, well-ordered nanorods appear aligned with the angle of incidence of the ion beam. Slightly different results were obtained by using heavier (S+) and lighter (B+) ions under similar conditions

Development and application of depth damage and sealing coefficient curves to estimate urban flooding economic impact on Spanish urban areas

[EN] In order to estimate pluvial flood damages within urban areas, a widely element employed are the well-known depth damage curves, which relate water depth to a certain level of damage. This study presents the development carried out in order to obtain depth damage curves tailored for Barcelona city and related to 14 types of properties. Moreover, a conceptual model to transfer outside-of-properties water depths into inside-of-properties water depths. The developed curves, have also been transferred to Badalona municipality and damages for actual flood events have been estimated for both cities. The obtained outcomes have been considered accurate enough, according to the conducted validation process based on the comparison with actual flood claims provided by the Spanish re-insurance company Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS).[ES] Para la estimación de daños por inundaciones pluviales en zonas urbanas, un elemento ampliamente utilizado son las llamadas curvas de daños, que no son más que la relación de los daños producidos en un tipo de propiedad para un cierto nivel de agua. En este estudio se presenta el desarrollo llevado a cabo para obtener curvas de daños asociadas a 14 tipos de propiedades para la ciudad de Barcelona. Se propone también un modelo conceptual para transferir el calado en las calles al calado en el interior de las propiedades. Las curvas desarrolladas, han sido trasladadas a la ciudad de Badalona y se han estimado los daños de dos eventos reales de inundación para ambas ciudades. Los resultados obtenidos han sido aceptables, de acuerdo con la validación realizada a partir de los datos de indemnizaciones facilitados por el consorcio de compensación de seguros (CCS).Los autores agradecen el apoyo del proyecto RESCCUE y BINGO, ambos financiados por el programa H2020 de la Unión Europea (Acuerdo No. 700174y No. 641739 respectivamente).A los autores les gustaría manifestar también su agradecimiento al Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS), por su colaboración en la disponibilidad de datos que han permitido validar los resultados obtenidos.Martínez-Gomariz, E.; Guerrero-Hidalga, M.; Russo, B.; Yubero, D.; Gómez, M.; Castán, S. (2019). Desarrollo y aplicación de curvas de daño y estanqueidad para la estimación del impacto económico de las inundaciones en zonas urbanas españolas. Ingeniería del Agua. 23(4):229-245. https://doi.org/10.4995/ia.2019.12137SWORD22924523

Correction: Russo, B., et al. Assessment of urban flood resilience in barcelona for current and future scenarios. the resccue project. (Sustainability 2020, 12, 5638)

The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [1]. The changes are as follows: (1) Replacing Table 4. Reference 1. Russo, B.; Velasco, M.; Locatelli, L.; Sunyer, D.; Yubero, D.; Monjo, R.; Martínez-Gomariz, E.; Forero-Ortiz, E.; Sánchez-Muñoz, D.; Evans, B.; et al. Assessment of Urban Flood Resilience in Barcelona for Current and Future Scenarios. The RESCCUE Project. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5638. [CrossRef]

Age protects from harmful effects produced by chronic intermittent hypoxia

Producción CientíficaObstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) affects an estimated 3–7% of the adult population, the frequency doubling at ages >60–65 years. As it evolves, OSA becomes frequently associated with cardiovascular, metabolic and neuropsychiatric pathologies defining OSA syndrome (OSAS). Exposing experimental animals to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) can be used as a model of the recurrent hypoxic and O2 desaturation patterns observed in OSA patients. CIH is an important OSA event triggering associated pathologies; CIH induces carotid body (CB)-driven exaggerated sympathetic tone and overproduction of reactive oxygen species, related to the pathogenic mechanisms of associated pathologies observed in OSAS. Aiming to discover why OSAS is clinically less conspicuous in aged patients, the present study compares CIH effects in young (3–4 months) and aged (22–24 months) rats. To define potential distinctive patterns of these pathogenic mechanisms, mean arterial blood pressure as the final CIH outcome was measured. In young rats, CIH augmented CB sensory responses to hypoxia, decreased hypoxic ventilation and augmented sympathetic activity (plasma catecholamine levels and renal artery content and synthesis rate). An increased brainstem integration of CB sensory input as a trigger of sympathetic activity is suggested. CIH also caused an oxidative status decreasing aconitase/fumarase ratio and superoxide dismutase activity. In aged animals, CIH minimally affected CB responses, ventilation and sympathetic-related parameters leaving redox status unaltered. In young animals, CIH caused hypertension and in aged animals, whose baseline blood pressure was augmented, CIH did not augment it further. Plausible mechanisms of the differences and potential significance of these findings for the diagnosis and therapy of OSAS are discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant BFU2012-37459)Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant CIBER CB06/06/0050)Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grant EXP/NEU-SCC/2813/2013

Influence of Obesity and Metabolic Disease on Carotid Atherosclerosis in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CordioPrev Study)

Background Recent data suggest that the presence of associated metabolic abnormalities may be important modifiers of the association of obesity with a poorer prognosis in coronary heart disease. We determined the influence of isolated overweight and obesity on carotid intima media thickness (IMT-CC), and also assessed whether this influence was determined by the presence of metabolic abnormalities. Methods 1002 participants from the CordioPrev study were studied at entry. We determined their metabolic phenotypes and performed carotid ultrasound assessment. We evaluated the influence of obesity, overweight and metabolic phenotypes on the IMT-CC. Results Metabolically sick participants (defined by the presence of two or more metabolic abnormalities) showed a greater IMT-CC than metabolically healthy individuals (p = 4 * 10−6). Overweight and normal weight patients who were metabolically healthy showed a lower IMT-CC than the metabolically abnormal groups (all p<0.05). When we evaluated only body weight (without considering metabolic phenotypes), overweight or obese patients did not differsignificantly from normal-weight patients in their IMT-CC (p = 0.077). However, obesity was a determinant of IMT-CC when compared to the composite group of normal weight and overweight patients (all not obese). Conclusions In coronary patients, a metabolically abnormal phenotype is associated with a greater IMTCC, and may be linked to a higher risk of suffering new cardiovascular events. The protection conferred in the IMT-CC by the absence of metabolic abnormality may be blunted by the presence of obesit

Diet and SIRT1 Genotype Interact to Modulate Aging-Related Processes in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: From the CORDIOPREV Study

We investigated whether long-term consumption of two healthy diets (low-fat (LF) or Mediterranean (Med)) interacts with SIRT1 genotypes to modulate aging-related processes such as leucocyte telomere length (LTL), oxidative stress (OxS) and inflammation in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). LTL, inflammation, OxS markers (at baseline and after 4 years of follow-up) and SIRT1-Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs7069102 and rs1885472) were determined in patients from the CORDIOPREV study. We analyzed the genotype-marker interactions and the effect of diet on these interactions. Regardless of the diet, we observed LTL maintenance in GG-carriers for the rs7069102, in contrast to carriers of the minor C allele, where it decreased after follow-up (p = 0.001). The GG-carriers showed an increase in reduced/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) ratio (p = 0.003), lower lipid peroxidation products (LPO) levels (p < 0.001) and a greater decrease in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels (p < 0.001) after follow-up. After the LF diet intervention, the GG-carriers showed stabilization in LTL which was significant compared to the C allele subjects (p = 0.037), although the protective effects found for inflammation and OxS markers remained significant after follow-up with the two diets. Patients who are homozygous for the SIRT1-SNP rs7069102 (the most common genotype) may benefit from healthy diets, as suggested by improvements in OxS and inflammation in patients with CHD, which may indicate the slowing-down of the aging process and its related diseases

XELOX (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) as first-line treatment for elderly patients over 70 years of age with advanced colorectal cancer

The purpose of this phase II trial was to determine the efficacy and safety of the XELOX (capecitabine/oxaliplatin) regimen as first-line therapy in the elderly patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC). A total of 50 patients with MCRC aged ⩾70 years received oxaliplatin 130 mg m−2 on day 1 followed by oral capecitabine 1000 mg m−2 twice daily on days 1–14 every 3 weeks. Patients with creatinine clearance 30–50 ml min−1 received a reduced dose of capecitabine (750 mg m−2 twice daily). By intent-to-treat analysis, the overall response rate was 36% (95% CI, 28–49%), with three (6%) complete and 15 (30%) partial responses. In total, 18 patients (36%) had stable disease and 14 (28%) progressed. The median times to disease progression and overall survival were 5.8 months (95% CI, 3.9–7.8 months) and 13.2 months (95% CI, 7.6–16.9 months), respectively. Capecitabine was well tolerated: grade 3/4 adverse events were observed in 14 (28%) patients: 11 (22%) diarrhoea, eight (16%) asthenia, seven (14%) nausea/vomiting, three (6%) neutropenia, three (6%) thrombocytopenia, and two (4%) hand–foot syndrome. There was one treatment-related death from diarrhoea and sepsis. In conclusion, XELOX is well tolerated in elderly patients, with respectable efficacy and a meaningful clinical benefit response. Given its ease of administration compared with combinations of oxaliplatin with 5-FU/LV, it represents a good therapeutic option in the elderly

Geographic Visualization in Archaeology

Archaeologists are often considered frontrunners in employing spatial approaches within the social sciences and humanities, including geospatial technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) that are now routinely used in archaeology. Since the late 1980s, GIS has mainly been used to support data collection and management as well as spatial analysis and modeling. While fruitful, these efforts have arguably neglected the potential contribution of advanced visualization methods to the generation of broader archaeological knowledge. This paper reviews the use of GIS in archaeology from a geographic visualization (geovisual) perspective and examines how these methods can broaden the scope of archaeological research in an era of more user-friendly cyber-infrastructures. Like most computational databases, GIS do not easily support temporal data. This limitation is particularly problematic in archaeology because processes and events are best understood in space and time. To deal with such shortcomings in existing tools, archaeologists often end up having to reduce the diversity and complexity of archaeological phenomena. Recent developments in geographic visualization begin to address some of these issues, and are pertinent in the globalized world as archaeologists amass vast new bodies of geo-referenced information and work towards integrating them with traditional archaeological data. Greater effort in developing geovisualization and geovisual analytics appropriate for archaeological data can create opportunities to visualize, navigate and assess different sources of information within the larger archaeological community, thus enhancing possibilities for collaborative research and new forms of critical inquiry

CSE algorithm: 'Canal survey estimation' to evaluate the flow rate extractions and hydraulic state in irrigation canals

One of the main problems in water management of irrigation systems is the control of the equitable distribution of water among different orifice offtakes. The difficulty of managing a canal is partly caused by the lack of knowledge of the canal state because the scheduled demand is often not fulfilled, since farmers extract more water than is scheduled and it is impossible for the watermaster to determine the canal state. However, an innovative developed algorithm called CSE is proposed in this paper. This algorithm is able to estimate the real extracted flow and the hydrodynamic canal state (that is, the water level and velocity along the irrigation canal). The algorithm solves an inverse problem implemented as a nonlinear optimization problem using the Levenberg-Marquardt method. The algorithm is tested, taking into account several numerical examples, and a practical implementation is made for a real case study in the PAC-UPC canal, a 220 m laboratory canal especially designed for research into irrigation canal control area and irrigation canal modelling. This useful algorithm evaluates the real extraction flow and the canal state and could be a useful tool for a feedback controller

GoRoSoBo: An overall control diagram to improve the efficiency of water transport systems in real time

Agriculture plays an important part in the food chain and water resources for agriculture are essential. A problem is that the water transport systems present low efficiencies in practice. Crop yields must be optimized, and the goal of an operational water manager is to deliver water to irrigation sites accurately and efficiently. In order to fulfill this objective, we propose a centralized overall control diagram to optimize the management of the canal. Our control diagram in real time is mainly composed of two algorithms, CSE and GoRoSoBo. The first one is a powerful tool in canal management, and is able to estimate the real extracted flow in the canal and the hydrodynamic canal state from measured level data at selected points. The second one is an essential tool in the management of the canal, a feedback control algorithm operating in real time. The GoRoSoBo algorithm (Gómez, Rodellar, Soler, Bonet) is able to calculate the optimum gates trajectories for a predictive horizon taking into account the current canal state and the real extracted flow, both obtained by CSE